Method and apparatus for evaluating visitors to a web server

• US 7,558,741 B2
• Filed: 07/22/2005
• Issued: 07/07/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 01/29/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: WebTrends Incorporated (WebTrends Holding, Inc.)
• Inventors: Montgomery, David S., Boyd, W. Glen, Shapira, Elijahu
• Primary Examiner(s): Jeanty; Romain
• Application Number:
  US11/187,681
• Publication Number:
  US 20050256954A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,446 Days
• Field of Search: 705/10, 705/14, 709/223
• US Class Current: 705/7.29
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0637 Strategic management or analysis, e.g. setting a goal or target of an organisation; Planning actions based on goals; Analysis or evaluation of effectiveness of goals
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06375 Prediction of business process outcome or impact based on a proposed change
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0201 Market modelling; Market analysis; Collecting market data
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0204 Market segmentation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0242 Determining effectiveness of advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0246 Traffic
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0269 based on user profile or attribute
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0273 Determination of fees for advertising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0277 Online advertisement

Abstract

Different web pages on a web server are associated with different qualification profiles, each of which is assigned a value by the web-site proprietor. Traffic data hits at the web-site are analyzed to determine which web pages the visitor viewed on the web server. Each qualifying visitor is thereafter associated with a qualification profile and a corresponding value. In another aspect of the invention, visitors arriving as a result of an advertisement on a remote web-site are tracked. The web-site proprietor is consequently able to determine a return on advertising investment based on the value of visitors brought to the site by the tracked advertisement.

Claims

1. A method for analyzing traffic data generated by one or more web servers connected via a network to a plurality of computing devices operated by visitors, said method comprising:

associating web pages on the one or more web servers with one or more of a plurality of qualification levels, at least two of the qualification levels associated with different levels of interest in a product or service;

receiving a plurality of traffic data hits, each hit corresponding to data exchanged between the one or more web servers and one of the computing devices operated by a visitor;

analyzing the traffic data hits; and

associating, responsive to the analyzed traffic data hits, each visitor to the one or more of a plurality of qualification levels wherein the step of associating, receiving, analyzing and associating are performed in a computer.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein associating web pages comprises associating web pages on the one or more web servers with one or more qualification levels so that each qualification level corresponds to different advertised products or services on the web pages.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least two qualification levels associated with different levels of interest in a product or service include fully qualified, moderately qualified, and minimally qualified.

3. A system for analyzing traffic data generated by one or more web servers connected via a network to a plurality of computing devices operated by visitors, the system comprising:

memory for storing a plurality of traffic data hits, each hit corresponding to data exchanged between the one or more web servers and one of the computing devices;

a processor structured to analyze the traffic data hits and to determine which web pages a visitor viewed on the one or more web servers; and

a comparator for assigning one or more of a plurality of qualification levels to each visitor based on a set of predetermined criteria for assigning the one or more qualification levels, each of the qualification levels having a quantitative value reflecting an interest in the one or more web pages.

4. The system of claim 3 further comprising a timer for determining a selected time period for associating a qualification level to each visitor.

5. The system of claim 3 further comprising a calculator for multiplying a number of visitors to a qualification level times a quantitative value of the qualification level.