Woopra - Website Analytics
I have long been curious about how people find my site and what they do when they get here. There 
are a number of plugins you can install for WordPress, but there isn’t (as far as I know) one tool which shows everything. And now there is.
Woopra is an application which analyses your site traffic and can bring up a number of facts about who they are and what they do. Signing up is free - you sign up, submit your site(s) and await notification. At this time of writing, it can take around 7 days but I believe they are working on ways to speed this up. Once you have signed up, download the WordPress plugin, install the app (with a few extra steps for Ubuntu users!) and watch the graphs fill up.
Woopra is in beta at the moment, but I must say that it’s one of the most polished beta apps I have used. For example, on starting up you are presented with the dashboard (click for bigger):
Just on that one page, you can see how visitors find their way to your site (where they land and leave), which searches they do to get there, which referrers pass you the traffic and numbers of visitors by country. There’s also a little stock ticker at the bottom of the page which gives info on your numbers and tells you whether they are up, down or static.
The “Live” page gives live information on your visitors. For example:
Visitor number 304 lives in the US (in the Chicago area) and is a Mac user browsing with Safari. They are reading the Amarok Installation page and browsing at a resolution of 1600×1200 - useful to see if you are interested in making your site readable at various resolutions. I have hidden the IP address of this user.
I won’t bore you by showing screenshots of every page, but I hope you can see how detailed the information is and, by exporting to a .csv file you can analyse and manipulate the data to your heart’s content! You can view visitors by browser, by OS, a mix of the two and a variety of other mixtures. I have discovered that someone is using Windows 98 when they visit!!
This tool isn’t for everyone. If you have one or more sites that pull in revenue for you, this tool will be of great help. If, like me, you just like trying things out an are nosy it’s also a good tool 
For one thing, the number one search for this site is “lesbians” - frustrated porn viewers ar emy greatest source of traffic.
drew
Says:
There are a few things I don’t like about tracking software like this. First, they cut off tracking after your site hits 10k hits for beta. I’m sure it’ll be the same once they start charging for it which seems like their goal once out of beta.
Also their privacy FAQ doesn’t give me warm and fuzzy feelings:
We rely on our clients to use it for ethical purposes? What the hell? It should be, we make our clients use it for ethical purposes only, those that don’t, we drop kick them.
8 May 2008, 11:33 am UsingAnd of course, the only other thing I hate about remote tracking is it’s just a waste of bandwidth. I’d rather install something locally if I felt the desire to track visitors to my site.
Ray
Says:
Good points all. I think the privacy policy is a result of them wording it to be friendly. Rather than saying “we install a cookie and use it for tracking only. We have no control on what our users do with that cookie though”.
As for installing locally - this is useful for people with multiple sites in different places, or even for people who don’t have full access to their server(s). It keeps everything on your desktop and off the network - except for the monitoring traffic, of course.
Rays last blog post..Woopra - Website Analytics
8 May 2008, 12:57 pm Usingdrew
Says:
But you do have full access to the server?
But then again, I don’t keep web logs for that long, they just take up space.
8 May 2008, 9:41 pm UsingRay
Says:
I know - but this one has pictures and moving bits!
But my comment still stands - and it’s good because it’s all there for you - no analysing logs and combining things, it’s all there in glorious technicolor.
8 May 2008, 10:16 pm Usinghari
Says:
I don’t like tracking software either. They might not be 100% accurate and besides they waste bandwidth as Drew said.
Much better to have some server-side installed software like awstats.
haris last blog post..Don’t Fall for Marketing Gimmicks by Papa Hari
9 May 2008, 3:41 pm Usingdrew
Says:
Yeah, I just don’t care who visits my site(s). A long time ago I once did but that was like 7 or 8 years ago.
But if you do ever want anything installed on the backend, just let me know, I can set something up.
9 May 2008, 8:57 pm UsingGino J
Says:
I tried this a week ago and it didn’t impress me. Limit for 10K and some other things I didn’t like. I’ll keep using google analytics.
Gino Js last blog post..Why getting a job is a bad idea?
11 May 2008, 4:32 pm UsingRay
Says:
Welcome Gino. I can see that for the heavier traffic blogs it wouldn’t be much use. But for those of us with less well read sites it’s useful to help target those posts which do bring in traffic and to try to keep going on the same lines - if that’s what you want to do.
For people like me though, it’s very shiny
11 May 2008, 6:27 pm UsingRenato
Says:
Personally I like analytics, I don’t need anything that isn’t present on it, but I will check Woopra, maybe something new to me emerge..
I will reply my opinion later…
12 May 2008, 8:22 pm Usingray from place of stuff
Says:
Hi Renato and welcome
12 May 2008, 9:33 pm Usingray@place of stuffs last blog post..Woopra - Website Analytics
Annie Maloney
Says:
I personally love using Google analytics. I have not heard of Woopra before reading this. I will check into it though and see what it has to offer. Thanks.
14 May 2008, 12:45 pm UsingRay
Says:
It looks as though Google Analytics does much the same as Woopra, but with Woopra you can look at your stats without having the browser open. As it’s free to use, definitely give it a try!
Rays last blog post..Woopra - Website Analytics
14 May 2008, 1:02 pm UsingJeff from Houston Texas Realty
Says:
I am a big fan of Google Analytics, I’ll have to give Woopra a look though.
14 May 2008, 10:44 pm UsingTara Nigma
Says:
Another great one to check out is ExtremeTracker. We use the free version on Psychic Chat Online and the pro version on kajama. I find the free one essential as any alternatives take a bit to get going and Extreme tracker gives like the best quick and dirty snapshot for the day.
I haven’t check out Woopra, but I imagine from a quick glance it’s more of a contender to replace Analytics, which i use as well.
Take care.
Tara Nigmas last blog post..Free Paranormal Chat Rooms and a Lively Community, Check out Anybodythere.net
17 May 2008, 12:42 am UsingRay
Says:
Haven’t seen extreme tracker - I’d be interested in your take on the comparisons between it and woopra though.
17 May 2008, 10:00 am UsingTara Nigma
Says:
I just installed Woopra on one of my sites, so i’ll have to get back to.
Thanks for the tip, I always love checking out new Web 2 stuffs
17 May 2008, 5:05 pm UsingTara Nigmas last blog post..Snoop Dogg & Wille Nelson in Amsterdam
Pinnacle Trade Show Booths
Says:
“I have long been curious about how people find my site… ”
23 May 2008, 7:32 pm UsingJust like life, a lot of it is randomness. I was at untwisted vortext and clicked through on hari (don’t know why, just did), then three or four clicks later I’m here - doubt I could ever get back. That’s what I love about the internet - I’m never sure where I’m going but it’s always an interesting trip…
Ray
Says:
Well, I have been blaming/crediting
RT for helping me get traffic, mostly through his suggestions for things like adding graphics and many links and so on, but manual traffic never occurred to me.
I suppose it’s one of the good things about having a network, however loose, of sites - traffic to one can mean traffic to others.
Nice displays, by the way.
23 May 2008, 9:49 pm UsingBarbara Ling
Says:
I just started using Woopra a few days ago - so far, it’s rather neat. I’m looking forward to the more detailed analyzing….
Barbara
Barbara Lings last blog post..32 Resources To Make Your Blog Warm and Welcoming - Day 2 of 7 Days To Making Your Blog Blossom
5 June 2008, 8:03 pm UsingRay
Says:
Excellent - let me know how you get on
5 June 2008, 8:52 pm UsingGames
Says:
Never heard of it before, i am going to check it out right now
8 June 2008, 8:22 pm UsingRay
Says:
Nice - it’s one more tool for your online toolbox
8 June 2008, 10:07 pm UsingApril from Buy PDA
Says:
I’ve been looking for an alternative to Google analytics for my blogger blogs but so far haven’t really liked sitemeter, or maybe it’s just because I’ve still to figure it out properly. Anyway this Woopra looks a good choice.
25 June 2008, 1:45 pm UsingRingtones
Says:
Never heard of it before, i am going to check it out right now
9 August 2008, 5:56 pm Using