WebTrends SmartView

My company has just purchased WebTrends Enterprise 7.1. The installation was a snap, but now we're trying to actually use it. It seems that the documentation was written by a marketer, so it has lots of info on what CAN BE DONE, but no actual instructions on HOW TO DO IT.

We're trying to get the WebTrends SmartView tool to work so that we can view an overlay of our site's home page that will indicate the number of visitors clicking on each link of the page.

So far, we've done this:

1. Created a Advanced SmartView profile for the site that is separate from the normal analysis profile.

2. Create a custom report and specified it as a SmartView report. The Dimension is default, and the measure is Visits. There are no filters.

3. Selected the custom report in the profile settings.

4. Cleared analysis data and re-run the analysis.

No dice. Nothing we do gets the overlay to show up as it does in all of the pretty marketing pictures that WebTrends includes in their documentation.

Has anyone else gotten this to work correctly? If so, what's your secret?

"lots of info on what CAN BE DONE, but no actual instructions on HOW TO DO IT."

I have been using Web Trends since 1999 and this situation has existed since at least then, even on log analyzer. Their instructions have always left a lot be be desired. This is why Clicktracks and Urchin have made such inroads into their market.

Unfortunately I can't help with Enterprise as I don't use it and I steer my clients to Clicktracks (due to the lack of Web Trends instructions and lack of clarity in the instructions they do have).

Having just ponied up $10 grand for the software, your boss may not be so understanding about this but probably your best option is to purchase a premium support plan. Then drive them crazy with questions.

This is why I now steer my clients away from Web Trends products - there are competitors with equally good products (cheaper as well) but with adequate documentation for those that want to help themselves.

Has someone else written and published a definitive guide on how to use it?

It is possible, especially if the official documentation has been so very poor for so many years.

Any chance of you getting a refund? As of May 3, 2005, Urchin is part of Google but more particularly, they have cut the price of Urchin on Demand from $495 per month to $199.00 per month.