By coding your url's with some kind of software or an online third party service, you'll know at a glance just how many hits you've received from your latest venture. It's really not as hard as it sounds and there are many free services you can use that won't cost you a dime. Let's take a closer look at a few of them.

1) HyperTracker: http://www.Hypertracker.com

Offering two versions, a free and a paid service coined "Professional," it's simple to sign up and start using. The Pro version runs $10.95 a month and allows you to not only track clicks, but actual sales - plus you can use your own domain in coded links. The free option is simply a stripped down version - minus advanced features and counting only clicks. Complete reports can be mailed to you weekly or daily; your call.

2) StatCruncher: http://www.Statcruncher.om

Offering a 30 day free trial with no software to install, as this is a third party solution. If after 30 days you like it and decide to continue on, it will cost you only $49.00 a year with no additional monthly fees.

Proper testing and tracking can give you most accurate and reliable answers to virtually any marketing question that arises. You can then make important marketing decisions based on facts, instead of theory or guesswork.

Online Testing Strategies

In a nutshell, online testing involves keying each different test variable with a unique identifying code (so each desired response can be tracked to its source), running test campaign, keeping records, and tabulating and comparing results. The winning variable then becomes control, or bench mark, which future ones are measured against. Let’s look at testing in more detail...

Scientific testing involves following steps:

1) Determining which element(s) of an ad or marketing communication that you want to test. (Tip: It's usually best to test only one variable at a time.)

2) Creating test ad(s).

3) Keying each ad with a unique tracking code.

4) Keeping good, accurate test records.

5) Running test campaign.

6) Tracking and comparing results to determine which test variable is winner.

7) Repeating cycle, constantly attempting to beat your existing control.

Keying ads and tracking responses online can be done in a variety of ways. For accuracy, be sure to use a unique tracking code for each different test variable and keep accurate records. The tracking method used will vary based on your circumstances and type of response you want.

Tracking Web Page Hits

If you have access to your log files or another way to track number of hits to your site, you can track hits to your web pages by placing a ? after URL used in each ad, followed by a unique tracking code. For instance:

Ad #1 could be keyed with this tracking code: http://ProfitInfo.com/catalog/v3.htm?1A

Ad #2 could be keyed with this tracking code: http://ProfitInfo.com/catalog/v3.htm?1B

Links with 1A and 1B tracking codes in URL don’t adversely affect ability of visitors to access web pages in any way, but will show up in server log files.