Tracking Overture referrals

[claudiasmt]

I would like to know how to track actual clicks thru from Overture. I have added the ?source=overture in my ad url at overture -- but when I look at my hitslink's stats -- the entry pages are only showing the actual file name that was accessed -- without the ?source=overture in the url or page name.

I am trying to determine what type of tracking software program I should use. Would I need to use a program that actually reads my log files to get the complete url (?source=overture) for the entry pages?

What tracking program(s) are you all using to track your site visitors and your client's site visitors??

Thanks

[WebSavvy]

I use Advanced Logger. It's pretty good, and easy to setup. It's written in perl. You can get it at: http://www.perlonline.com

[PayPerClickAnalyst.com]

Many tracking software solutions strip anything
out after the "?".

There are two fixes (at least that I know of
off the top of my head)

# 1
The easiest thing is to use a "#" instead of a
"?" in your advertising links.

# 2
The proper fix, but more involved depending on
the software you are using...
Go in an alter the code that instructs the
software to discard any info after the "?"

[claudiasmt]

So the url I should specify as my link for my Overture ad would be
(for example)

http://www.somedomain.com/home.html#source=overture

Will this work??

[PayPerClickAnalyst.com]

Exactly.

Good Luck!!!

[tbotech]

If you have an affiliate program, place a small affiliate link at the end of your Overture URL. That way you can track from click thru to sale. This is by far the best method of seeing what kind of traffic a PPC sends you. IMHO.

I've done this successfuly. Surpriseingly (sp), the tag at the end of the URL was accepted. However, a large number of words went thru the Editor filter and got rejected. Just have to target those words a little better. However, Findwhat didn't do any filtering, they just accepted the tag.