Visitor Identification

Data provided by the web site usage statistics provides useful information on visitor activity, numbers, popular pages, etc. However, the web server logs cannot collect personal details about individual visitors.

This type of information can only be collected if a web site visitor can be persuaded to volunteer it via a web site form and most users are unwilling to do this unless they can see some advantage in doing so.

The most common way to persuade a visitor is to provide a certain amount of information publicly on the web site, and then to offer additional information in return for completing a form. It is worth noting that if users wish to provide misleading information there is little to prevent them doing so, but this is a practical approach and it delivers results.

Refinements are added by way of passwords and cookies to identify users on subsequent visits to the site and logs of user activity on the site can collect a variety of useful information.