Web 2.0 Changes Web Analytics Pricing Models

Most hosted Web Analytics vendors charge you according to page views -- not unreasonable since each view is a call to their server and a new record in their database. But what happens when Ajax and other rich applications eliminate the notion of a "page"? Well, vendors are now talking about pricing in terms of "events" or "server calls," rather than page views.

Expect to be asked about the number of Flash- and Ajax-based applications you're running. And if you add applications over the course of a SaaS contract, expect a scheduled audit to count these, assuming they have been tagged.As one vendor explained at a recent event, "If I want to track any new events - whether new page updates, Video Play Activation or whatever else - they all insert a new row in my database."

Look for vendor marketing literature and contracts to start replacing "page views" with "events." But then again, that's what you should be tracking, too. As Web Analytics Report readers know, vendors differ in the way they handle (or want you to handle) intra-page activity tracking.

Phil Kemelor is founder of PKWeb Communications, a Web strategy and measurement consultancy, as well as the lead analyst and author of The CMS Watch Web Analytics Report.Most hosted Web Analytics vendors charge you according to page views -- not unreasonable since each view is a call to their server and a new record in their database. But what happens when Ajax and other rich applications eliminate the notion of a "page"? Well, vendors are now talking about pricing in terms of "events" or "server calls," rather than page views.