Tracking users through dynamic pages

How can I effectively track users through my e-commerce site? The whole site is custom built using PHP and mySQL. We tried using WebTrends Enterprise Suite 5.5 and it only shows vistors going to a dynamic page (such as product_page.php) but it doesn't show which product. We need something to tell us what products people are looking at and what they put in their shopping cart etc.

Any cheap solutions would be greatly appreciated.

Also besides using log files how can you analyse traffic. I've read about some live traffic analysis solutions but I'm not sure how they work.

Sessions...
PHPBuilder has some articles about using databases to store session variables etc, which I think you could find interesting... Then you would be able to generate all possible kinds of statistic reports.

//NoXcuz

yep, and I think zend.com has an article on generating statistics (as well as sessions). yep, here

Thank you for the helpful articles, however I'm looking to outsource my web stats. I just signed up for the trial version of WebTrends Live and it looks like I can configure that enough to see what products people are looking at and placing in their cart.

I also plan on trying hit box professional as well. Has anybody used either of these products?

I'll post my thoughts after had time to go over each product.

I can't see the point in outsourcing the stats when you have a custom built site with MySQL and PHP, but that's up to you. I mean, you've got everything you need to get all the statistics you want just in front of you...

//NoXcuz

Yeah,
I think you can just add few lines of code in your script to track them.

I did similar thing and I dont think here you need to outsource this.

JD.

P.S. : You can outsource your work of modifying script to track user to me !!!

Always looking for some work, right jd?

//NoXcuz

The reason I'd like to outsource this is because we have very little developement resources. I just don't think it's a good a idea to waste our resources building fancy graphs and learning how to manipulate graphics in PHP when other companies already provide these services.

I see were you guys are coming from (being devlopers) but I don't think our developement team is ready to handle this kind of job at the present time.

If you have code you want to donate (open source that would be great. Or if you want to help build the infastructure for less that $35 a month (the cost of an outsourced solution) I'd be happy to discuss this.

Thanks for all the info.

Yeah, need some work to make some good portfolio and need some money too.

and davef8 what you are offering is low to be honest.
Anyways, what you have with you and what you want to do,
put up details,lets see if me or someone else is interested.

Also, You can search hotscripts and see if some thing there suits you.

All the best,
JD

oh the joy of a small business and the budget that comes with it