When I run an advert in an ezine, print or the web I use a simple little log trick to keep track of how effective each run is.

Let's say you are placing an add for your home page www.yourname.com. Instead of just using your home page address use the following: www.yourname.com?code If you type ?code after your address it will still take you right to your web page with no interference (go ahead try it I know you want to!) but what it does do is register the address in your web-server logs! You can of course substitute the word code with any combinations of numbers or letters that you want.

You will now be able to easily track as many ads as you want.

This is a powerful and free tracking system. All you will need to do to utilize this technique is take a peak into your web server log to see how each ad is doing. Just find the call for your unique URL plus your code and you can view it's hit's.

Don't understand your logs?

There are many log analysis tools available on the web so using this technique should be no trouble, even for an internet newbie.

One great program although it's for a more advanced user and complicated to set up is xav tracker. This is well worth the trouble learning. It gives you every tracking option you could want including what keyword a person used to find you. you can find it at: http://www.xav.com/scripts/axs/

If you are not comfortable using the code call for your ad or would like to use a unique URL for a search engine submission you can easily accomplish the same results by creating a unique directory using a code name. For example: www.yourname.com/adcode/ Just create a copy of your index page inside it or insert a page that redirects to your index.

Every time that URL is accessed it will show up in your logs. This is more tedious then using ?code but will produce the results you are looking for!

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Article by: David Seitz - http://www.associatesearch.com Taken from the free Helping Hand Newsletter Free subscription - mailto:subscribe@associatesearch.com "Helping you succeed online with little or no cost"
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