Joined: 10 Oct 2003 Posts: 91 Location: New England
Posted: Sun Oct 12, 2003 2:23 am Post subject: Why Alexa?
Why do SBI people put so much attention on Alexa rankings? Doesn't anyone realize how easily manipulated they are? I see this constantly mentioned as a measure of a site's success. I consider it a very poor measure of success. Yes, I do look at Alexa rankings, but not for the reasons people here look at them. I have several sites in Alexa's top 100,000, and I don't consider any of them successful (yet).
Let me explain a bit about how Alexa works, and why it's not a good measure of a site's success. Alexa ranks sites according to how many people who've installed their toolbar visit those sites. Let me put that in a context everyone can understand. Let's say in New York City, you have a group of friends, Jerry, George, Kramer, and Elaine. George, Kramer, and Elaine visit Jerry's home far more often than the group visits any of the other's homes. Thus, Jerry must be the most successful person in New York City. Well, maybe he is successful, maybe he isn't, but you couldn't really measure that based upon these terms, could you?
Alexa's sampling is very small, and the problem that SBI people in particular might face is that you're all looking at Alexa, and you're all looking at one another's websites, thus the rankings aren't going to be a good measure of your site's success. _________________ http://www.smallbusinessforum.com http://www.petertdavis.net
I personally don't put much stock in Alexa ratings and I have an SBI site. What I love about SBI is the Search Engine HQ and the Mailout Module. Makes it loads easier for me to deal with submissions, newsletters and such. Not to mention resources, tips, and more presented concisely, and on target, for what's happening on the internet today.
Success is relative ... what you consider successful may not be what others feel success is. I feel my site is very successful as it has exceeded my expectations. Others may feel it is not because it doesn't bring in huge income. I like it because it does bring in a nice steady income that I wouldn't have otherwise.
While my site has not been successful breaking into top rankings on various SE's, I get a lot of targeted traffic in a very competitive niche, so I'm happy.
The interesting thing to me about Alexa is it being owned by Amazon, and Amazon preparing to enter the Search Engine market. It will be interesting to see how Alexa evolves over the next couple years.
Debs _________________ Learn how to turn keyphrases into quality, well-targeted articles your visitors and SE's will love with Gary Antosh's new ebook "Web Content Made Easy!"
Ok Alexa isn't the answer... So what is a better measure of success? Don't assume that all of us SBI'ers use it as a measure. As Debs says... success is all relative. I have a site that gets twice the traffic of a site that is rated much higher in Alexa, yet its ranking is 2.5 times lower. So what up with that? I view the Alexa number as a measure of how effective the SE's are pushing traffic that way.
I guess I measure success not based on Alexa... but when I go to the mailbox and pick up my checks. _________________ Gary
- ONE is to small of a number to be a success!
Learn HOW TO create targeted, focused Content for your website!--> http://webcontenttips.com - Join Our Weekly Newsletter
Joined: 10 Oct 2003 Posts: 91 Location: New England
Posted: Sun Oct 12, 2003 2:54 am Post subject:
speedguide wrote:
I guess I measure success not based on Alexa... but when I go to the mailbox and pick up my checks.
Yea, actually that is a better measure of success than Alexa. Not to say that revenue is the only measure of success, but it would make a better marketing pitch to say that 60% of SBI webmasters make over $1000 a month on their websites than it would to say 60% of SBI webmasters are in the top 6% at Alexa. _________________ http://www.smallbusinessforum.com http://www.petertdavis.net
Money is always a good measure, however this is all a numbers game. It doesn't happen in all cases but you should be able to look at the Alexa rating and get a quick determination and see if any traffic is going to the site.
You can't use dollars as a guage completely either. Making a $1000 per month in the US may be nice extra income, someone in another part of the world that could be equal to $10,000 - 15,000 per month.
So who's more successful? The person in the US that still has to work or the person overseas that works completely online and feeds their entire family with money left to spend.
As Debs says.... Success is relative _________________ Gary
- ONE is to small of a number to be a success!
Learn HOW TO create targeted, focused Content for your website!--> http://webcontenttips.com - Join Our Weekly Newsletter
I understand that, I just don't waste a lot of time on it. Having a great Alexa rating or not in the scope of things doesn't matter. I use it more as a research tool. It's just another tool in the toolbox.
You have to admit that generally the more traffic the higher rating. Look at it like a psycographic study. You don't need to ask 1,000,000 people to get results. After a run of 500 you'll get a good general read of a subject's impact.
Back up and look at all the other tools in the toolbox... _________________ Gary
- ONE is to small of a number to be a success!
Learn HOW TO create targeted, focused Content for your website!--> http://webcontenttips.com - Join Our Weekly Newsletter
Joined: 10 Oct 2003 Posts: 91 Location: New England
Posted: Sun Oct 12, 2003 3:29 am Post subject:
Gary, I do look at Alexa's rankings when I am evaluating a website. I feel that if you understand the weaknesses, that it is a valuable tool. I do, however, think that the way it's used by the SBI people is a bit misleading and it makes me more nervous about making a purchase than if Alexa rankings were never mentioned at all. This type of sales pitch probably works better with novice webmasters than it works with me, though. _________________ http://www.smallbusinessforum.com http://www.petertdavis.net
Peter, you should contact Sitesell and talk to them about it. They are very happy to answer questions. You can start with the submit form if you like at support.sitesell.com, or call them direct.
You can also browse the results.sitesell.com And email several of the owners asking them about their traffic. This forum has a lot of SBI'ers here, but might not have the big traffic ones, or they are kinda quiet
Except Rupert of course.
BTW, Rupert did write several articles, step by step stuff on using SBI, which are posted here. You might want to check them out, if you haven't already.
Debs _________________ Learn how to turn keyphrases into quality, well-targeted articles your visitors and SE's will love with Gary Antosh's new ebook "Web Content Made Easy!"
I have always considered Alexa rankings more a matter of vanity, though my sites are all small...
Now I'm moving more towards the larger content site model, maybe my opinion will change in the future.
petertdavis wrote:
Yea, actually that is a better measure of success than Alexa. Not to say that revenue is the only measure of success, but it would make a better marketing pitch to say that 60% of SBI webmasters make over $1000 a month on their websites than it would to say 60% of SBI webmasters are in the top 6% at Alexa.
I doubt very much whether the statistics they could produce would look anything like as impressive, if they used earnings rather than traffic as the qualifier.
Just my opinion,
Charlie. _________________ "Before I speak, I have something important to say."
- Groucho Marx
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