Keep track of where your users are entering your web site. Users can reveal their personalities by showing their entry point. Reading the access log file is about as interesting as reading the white pages. And depending on the popularity of your site, the usage log can also be as long as the telephone book. There are a handful of web statistic analysis tools that will interpret the usage log.
Some tools help webmasters measure and fine-tune server performance.
Other tools help marketing departments acquire information to sell advertising. You generally get what you pay for. But buying the cheapest or the most expensive makes as much sense as choosing a Yugo or a Ferrari for a newsroom vehicle. Most of these tools will e-mail customized reports as Word, Excel or HTML documents to your assignment desk. They can also analyze and graph data in real time.