Let's look how we can make use of it. A common download link (URL) will read something like that:

http://www.yoursite.com/goodies/archive1.zip

As you see, it just points to the file to be downloaded ("archive1.zip") and tells us that the file is located in the Web on the site "yoursite.com" in the directory "goodies".

For HitLens to be able to make a record every time someone downloads this file, we will change the link somewhat. We will send the user to Web CEO tracking center which will register their action and then redirect them to the necessary file:

http://track.websiteceo.com/r/123456/www.yoursite.com/goodies/archive1.zip

Please note the number "123456". You must paste here the ID of your site which you are able to find in the project manager opposite your site and under the "Site ID" column as soon as you activate HitLens.

Thus, when the host "track.websiteceo.com" receives the visitor's request, it registers the download and then redirects the visitor to the actual URL of your file found after the ID of your site. This process is very fast and invisible to the Web surfer who clicks on you link that reads something like "download archive", and, a moment later, the download begins.

This download will appear in the HitLens reports as "archive.zip". However, you may want to give a user-friendly name to appear in reports for all downloads of this file. Do it by specifying an additional "resource" parameter in the URL reference of the download link:

http://track.websiteceo.com/r/123456/www.yoursite.com/archive1.zip?resource_name=freebie1

Thus, after this download is tracked, this parameter is cut from the URL, the visitor is actually redirected to "www.yoursite.com/archive1.zip" and the download starts.

If you use other parameters in your initial download URL, leave them intact:

http://track.websiteceo.com/r/

123456/www.yoursite.com/archive1.zip?par1=val1&par2=val2&resource_name=freebie1

If you need to pass your own parameter "resource_name" with the URL, put it anywhere in the URL after the first one:

http://track.websiteceo.com/r/123456/www.yoursite.com/archive1.zip?resource_name=freebie1

&resource_name=smth

In this case, after the download is tracked and the first parameter resource_name is cut from the URL, your visitor is actually redirected to  "www.weatherscreen.com/freebie.cgi?resource_name=smth".

When you have finished, upload all the changed pages that contain the modified download links to your hosting server. In a few minutes, you will start seeing file downloads in the " Downloads by Files" report from the " Traffic" report category.

Tracking clicks on links within the site and outbound links

Actually the mechanism of download tracking allows you to track user clicks on any link. It's enough only to change the link as shown above, to direct the visitor to the destination through the host "track.websiteceo.com", and you will see all these clicks in the "downloads" report.

With HitLens, it is not necessary to track the internal links of you Web site, because HitLens gets enough data about user navigation through your site from the tracking scripts on your pages across which they navigate. However if you run an affiliate Web site, you may come across the situation where the number of clicks your visitors make on outbound links matters to you, but you cannot put the tracking script into the pages of the site that the affiliate links point to. In this case, you may use the same workaround used for downloads tracking to get the precise report of how many clicks have been made on your outbound links.

For instance, you link to the site "www.superwidgets.com". They pay you a certain commission for every visitor who comes from your site. You want to double-check their statistics, so you modify your link like this:

http://track.websiteceo.com/r/123456/www.superwidgets.com?resource_name=swlink

So, every time someone goes from your site to superwidgets through this link, the action is recorded for your own statistics and shown in reports as "swlink".

What you should remember

1. HitLens is able to track file downloads. To do it, replace the URL in your actual download link into the special tracking URL which points to the tracking center host where the visitor is later redirected to the file you offer for download.
2. This tracking, as well as any other kind of HitLens tracking, will work only after you activate HitLens for your Web site.
3. If you need to track user clicks on outbound links, you may use HitLens download tracking as workaround.
4. The downloads reports are shown under the "Traffic" report category in HitLens.

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