[Kevin]

I know it's odd for a stats nut like myself to be behind the times on an open source analytics solution, but I have to say I started playing with Piwik this weekend, and I love it.

From an affiliate perspective, it gives you the option to set up goals to measure outbound clicks, so you can track click throughs to SAS, CJ, Avantlink merchants etc in your interface.

No, it won't tell you if those customers bought anything, but for those of you just looking at traffic sources, as opposed to actions, it's a tremendous step in the right direction.

And, the stats are saved on your own server, so those of you that don't want Google nosing around will be satisfied.

As always, let me know if you have questions, or PLEASE post here if you have a Piwik trick or experience you'd like to share.

[superCool]

superCool looked into this a little but has not implemented yet. is it true that you can view stats for all your sites together on the same page/report? seems like they had some type of one-stop view where you can see everything you have. THAT would be COOL!!

if you have multiple sites, do you keep your stats all together in one place?

[Kevin]

They don't really aggregate them all in one page so much, but you do have a central console to navigate from. For example, I installed the software once on Level Analytics, and I track multiple websites quickly and easily from their.

[loxly]

Will be giving this a try. I downloaded the software a few months ago and never got around to installing it.

[Kevin]

I think you should, Deb. Interestingly, I showed a click through/Goal Conversion to Shareasale today that hasn't shown up on my SAS stats yet... <glares towards Chicago...>

I have to figure out if those goals are going to be triggered by spiders. If they are, my impression of Piwik might drop right quick Yes, I'm sure I can ban the bots IP (from the reporting), but I don't want to spend an hour a day doing that...

[Kevin]

UPDATE: I found the problem, and it's a common one: PIBCAC error.

I was looking at Sunday's stats, not today's.

<removes glare from the direction of Chicago>

[superCool]

Hi Kevin, any updates on your test of piwik?

[lintlin]

I love Piwik, I have been using it since it was phpmyvisites (not a big fan of giving google spy-rights to my sites traffic...)

They have been upgrading like crazy the past few weeks and are at version 0.8. I just wish the clickmap would work with this version.

I love that you can track so many sites with just one install.

Kevin, it would be fantastic if you did an overview on really using piwik. I look at my stats, but I don't use the goal setting yet (I know, I know...) I'm sure many others would appreciate a little input, too... *pleasepleaseplease* lol

[Kevin]

Still loving it. I'll do a through review next week after I have a few weeks under my belt.

[superCool]

OMG! superCool installed Piwik today for one site and it's already teaching him a lot about the site (not all good ). this seems like a great tool!. superCool has always been afraid of Goo Analytics, and he's never had this type of info for his sites. it will be a big help. love the fact that you can track all sites from one install.

superCool will probably have some questions over the coming weeks. thanks for getting this started.

your dear dear friend, superCool

[Kevin]

I would add that after my initial reviews, Piwik is an ADDITION to Google Analytics, not a replacement. Unless there are plug ins out there that I haven't found yet.

Two big things that are missing:

1.) Segmenting. Google does a gorgeous job of letting you see stats for very specific sub sets of visitors, i.e show me only folks from Twitter that viewed 3 or more pages. Or from Facebook that added something to their cart.

2.) Funnels. Google allows you to set funnels so you can see where people "fall out" of the path you want them to take to achieve goals.

I need those 2 things. Maybe plug ins are being developed. I sure hope so

[superCool]

Originally Posted by Kevin

I need those 2 things. Maybe plug ins are being developed. I sure hope so

well analytics dude, why don't you find out and let us know

[Kevin]

I'm trying

[lintlin]

Piwik 1.0 has been released!

Have you updated yet? I will be looking to see what plugins the community comes up with. Maybe we should give them a heads up that we need those two plugins for piwik to be able to replace google analytics.

I wouldn't know where to start with funnels lol

[Kevin]

Haven't installed it yet.

I would say though that Piwik is pretty near a "must have" for any affiliate site doing PPC to their own domain.

Setting Goals to monitor Click Outs through affiliate links is pure gold. No, it won't monitor resulting sales out of the box, but it's still going to give you a decent view of success if you utilize Campaigns and Goals properly.

[BurgerBoy]

I just installed it on one of my sites and it works fine.

[arthur_drag]

i never use Piwik, but i will try to use as i am using Google analytics, from long time for my websites...
@KIVIN: YOU SHARED GREAT

[JoyUnltd]

One caveat for running any open source analytics app on a shared server with a decent amount of traffic: you may find your site(s) not loading when the SEs hit it as your mysql database processes may get overloaded. After a few minutes, your site will load again, but this will probably occur several times throughout the day.

I changed my.conf to lower wait_timeout, added minor delays via robots.txt for Yahoo/Bing, increased delays in Google via Webmaster Tools, but that wasn't enough. You certainly don't want to increase delays to the point that it impacts SEs spidering your site(s).

I've tried Piwik, phpTrafficA (has page path tracking), TraceWatch, OpenWebAnalytics (which has custom tracking actions available) and have found that once the database becomes a bit hefty, periodic site loading issues occur. There's just so much memory you can extend to mysql without impacting the rest of your site's functioning.

Maybe others on a shared server haven't experienced this, just posting my experience.

[John Powell]

I had to try it and, WOW what an easy setup. It really looks like it has big promise, and no call out to another server. It does set a cookie, but GA might too and hadn't noticed.

[Kevin]

GA definitely sets a cookie.

[PatrickAllmond]

Regarding the outbound tracking - does it do it on any page it is on automatically? Because if not this is a feature that GA already has. It is a called Events. You can add some special JS to each outbound link and Google will track it and group it for you.

[PatrickAllmond]

Now this is cool - piwik has a mobile client

Piwik Mobile now available! - Piwik

[John Powell]

I can't get adding another site to work in Piwik. I entered it in the admin and hit submit, but it doesn't show up in the dashboard. Registered for their forum but the login won't display. Not my lucky day.

[PatrickAllmond]

Settings -> Websites -> Add a new website. Fill out everything and click the green checkbox on the right. Just did it here

[John Powell]

Originally Posted by BatteryFuelPatrick

Settings -> Websites -> Add a new website. Fill out everything and click the green checkbox on the right. Just did it here

How simple when you have a brain. I didn't even notice that little green check. I was focused on the "Save" button at the bottom.
Thanks,