Web Analytics For Everyone: Piwik
The success of any website depends on the type and structure of reports related to traffic statistical data. Web analytics can be performed with various software applications client side or server side based. A simple to use and implement server side utility for web analytics and various traffic reports management is Piwik.
Based on PHP and MySQL, ( it requires PHP 5.1.3 or later, respectively MySQL version 4.1 or later) Piwik needs less than five minutes to be installed on a compatible web server. This application is capable to monitor multiple websites with the help of a short JavaScript code that must be inserted into the web pages which need to be analyzed in order to obtain the traffic related reports.
The user is able to add or remove Piwik features, because they are based on plugins. Also, developers could rapidly build custom plugins to make the application functionality to suit their needs. For example, in case of WordPress, Dotclear, Typo3 and more content management systems, there are already created certain plugins that simplifies the inclusion of Piwik tags in an existing website.
From the website analysis options point of view, Piwik offers many features like precise visitors statistics over a period of time, visitor frequency, geographical statistics, customizable user interface for reports display and more. Traffic related data is owned by the user because it is stored in a personal MySQL database on a given server.
Piwik wants to be an open source alternative for Google Analytics service by providing different and unique features, which also make it an accessible application even for beginners webmasters.
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