Track Page Views on Craigslist
If you knew how many times your post was viewed on Craigslist, would you find it useful?
I post on occasion in search of ride pools, stuff I’m selling, etc. You may or may not recall the age-old methods of spammers, where opening an email sent a ping back to them saying, “Yes I opened your email, here I am.” Well it’s all in the image.
So whether an image is relevant or not for your post, it’s key for metrics, not to mention the fact that your post will stand out from all the rest without. Don’t worry. This isn’t unethical like SPAM. It’s easy for those who operate a server. (Windows friends–don’t feel neglected; this is geared toward Apache running on linux.)
I’m not too sure about javascript or anything like that, but when you write your post, HTML is allowed. Throw up an image to the HTML dir on your server and add this to your post:
Thus, every time someone views your post, they load the image from your server. You can track metrics with any GUI such as Webalizer, or use the following shell script:
file=”filename.jpg”
log_path=”/var/log/httpd/access_log”
cat $log_path | grep $file | wc -l
The pipe to wc will give the number of times Apache has served the image, also indicating the number of page views.
In addition, Craigslist is receptive to CSS, but in a limited fashion, so you can get creative to a point. I’ve been able to change fonts and other little things here and there.
In your post, for example:
If you don’t know anything about linux, Apache, or would ever care to, I’d be happy to host your image for you (until your post expires) and give you access to a private web page (which runs this script on my server in the background) and displays your specific stats in an easy-to-read manner.
Edit: Stat Counter works fine too, for those without a server (personally untested).
[...] for free? Please share in the comments. Here are a few more ways to get the most out of Craigslist. Track Page Views on Craigslist [Benjamin D. [...]
I don’t know if it will work, but statcounter.com allows you to place an invisible and free tracker. This way you can actually view extensive stats from your craigslist.
I tried statcounter.com, and it’s working!
Yes StatCounter is the way to go! But both methods will work. Great work from the boyz over @ http://www.askTheAdmin.com do you mind if we repost this??
If anyone is interested, this has been a side project of mine.
http://www.spideemail.com
http://www.squidoo.com/spideemail
Here’s a sample:
http://www.spideemail.com/logip.php?email_id=d0upkpbdc126lx3bbcbtflfg9h9c1hw514vwcdki718ke&id=87
[...] for free? Please share in the comments. Here are a few more ways to get the most out of Craigslist. Track Page Views on Craigslist [Benjamin D. [...]
doesn’t work
craigslist will cut
to
exactly as your blog did
Cool tip…
Someone could also use a service like Google Analytics or as razornl mentioned statcounter. This saves people the trouble from running their own server.
I dout it will allow google analytics cos its javascript.
I’ve tried Google Analytics some time ago and will confirm it does not work.
i’m using idlogger (http://www.idlogger.com) for web statistics, it’s very powerfull and affordable.
I’m using KeywordRadar.com
There’s some really good tools to track stuff like this and determine which keywords led people to your ads.
I’d like to know how statcounter is working for you guys. I tried to edit an ad using statcounter invisible, html and got a “The ad is being blocked” notice.
Ben, I’m interested in your web page and script for a couple of my ads. I have my own server with webalizer, but I am too stupid to understand how to implement your html example and aquire the stats from webalizer.
FREE Craigslist-Hits is what it is called
What more can you want? It’s FREE. Simply and Easy…
Download your stats in Excel or CSV format and View your stats chart and graph. It is very specific to Craigslist.
Some Stats Features:
1.Your Most Recently Viewed Craigslist Ads
2.Your Most Viewed Craigslist Ads
3.Your Most Recently Added/Created Craigslist Ads
4.Download Full Stats in Excel Sheet or CSV file
Some Chart/Graph Features:
1. Your Craigslist Cities Percentage Breakdown Pie Chart
2. Your Craigslist Categories Percentage Breakdown Pie Chart
3. Your 10 Most Popular Craigslist Ads.
http://www.craigslistcompanion.com/clstats/
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