Whats the deal with Alexa?

[phuckbunny]

I don't fully get alexa. I just checked on a splog I built in about an hour 3 months ago and haven't updated since, in fact I pretty much forgot about it. It's getting probably 200 uniques a day. Been working on a real blog that's averaging around 2000 a day.

Alexa for splog is sth like 6,000

Alexa for blog = 750,000

Huh?

[theviking]

Originally posted by phuckbunny


Alexa for splog is sth like 6,000

I guess that is a free hosted blog?

[Hammer]

Originally posted by theviking
I guess that is a free hosted blog?

Yep.

[phuckbunny]

Yes of course I get that part b/c you're in the network etc - but shouldn't your alexa 'reach' or whatever they call it count for more than that otherwise what's the advantage of having your own domain and then we can all use thumblogger ad infinitum and jerk each other off that way?

[theviking]

Alexa is a tool that shows appx. rank and traffic to a domain. It is not a traffic analyzer tool.

[phuckbunny]

Yup. I'm just observing that it's grossly inaccurate from this example, but yet it still holds a lot of clout among webmasters.

[theviking]

Originally posted by phuckbunny
Yup. I'm just observing that it's grossly inaccurate from this example

Is it inaccurate?
Are you sure the free bloghost ain't getting quite a bit traffic?
If it does, it is not inaccurate.

But yes, as i said, it is not a traffic stats tool. If you need that, try out statscounter.

[phuckbunny]

Got it. So this means that any webmaster with a site on a freehost who says he/she has great alexa is talking bollocks.

I learn something new every day.

[mynameisjim]

I didn't have time to read through this whole thread but all my thumblogger blogs are ranked 703 on Alexa.

I'm offering one on one SEO consultations if you're interested. I think my results speak for themselves.

[phuckbunny]

How much do you charge?


Hey I really didn't get it at first. But it still means alexa is at least partly bollocks.

Time to finish this bottle of two buck chuck and go to bed before I start posting more silliness.

[razor]

If I want to set up a few blogs, does it make sense to set up a couple on free host like thumblogger?

[Hammer]

Personally I think Thumblogger is about as big a waste of time as TGPs, but I know others will disagree. If you want to run a real blog, get your own hosting and do your own updates with your own content and sponsors.

Alexa is a very crude tool when it comes to ascertaining the traffic of a particular site, but it can come in handy.

For example, the other day I was contemplating buying some advertising from a site that claimed to get 500,000 uniques a month. He only wanted $40 so I figured it was probably a bargain. Until I looked at his Alexa. He had an Alexa of approximately 113,803.

So... what did I do next? I emailed the sheister and asked how it was that he claimed he got 500k uniques a month but his Alexa showed that he probably got more like 25k at best and he replied, but his answer was that he really gets 300k a month and that Alexa wasn't accurate.

Fuck him. I agree that Alexa isn't accurate, but it sure as hell isn't that inaccurate.

BTW, I asked him for more definitive proof, like actual stats and he declined my request.

As for Blogger and other freehosts, their Alexa is based on the traffic to that domain and there is no way to find out the Alexa for the individual subdomains.

[razor]

Good point, Hammer. I noticed that everytime I get a gallery listing on the Hun you can see the spike in the Alexa graph, so it must be reasonably accurate.

I am thinking of running splogs on thumbblogger and basically using it as a link farm to my hosted blogs, any merit in that strategy?

[mynameisjim]

Hope everyone knows I was kidding about my successful thumblogger blogs and my SEO services.

As for thumblogger, I agree with hammer that you need to get your own hosting and domains if you plan on growing. However, starting with a thumblogger blog to learn probably won't hurt you, but you do need to spend money to earn money.

I started about 15 thumblogger blogs at the beginning of the year and of those, 5 still get between 400 and 1000 uniques a day and are all on autopilot so they do bring in traffic and sales. My point is, the time I spent early in the year on those blogs probably could of been spent better elsewhere but it was not a total loss.

The way Google views thumblogger is really strange though and I can't figure it out. I had some blogs that got delisted by google within weeks and others built the exact same way work their way up even when they haven't been updated in several months.

[jonnydoe]

I respect Hammer and am stocking up on bandaids but I will respectfully disagree with him on free hosted blogs and TGPs...they have their place and can be very good traffic tools. I doubt you could actually live off of them, but you can use them if you are bright enough to figure them out.

[rei1974]

Free blogs are good to put link to your "real" sites, with SEO keywords on the anchor text. For that, they're good, not for bringing lot of traffic directly.

[porn punk]

Alexa is good for amount of traffic to your site without any actual regard for quality (although this is extremely debately).

If you get accepted to the hun more than a couple times in one month from one particular domain, your Alexa ranking will go through the roof. You can take a nothing site and make it appear in the top 100,000.

Why does this matter. I don't have a clue, but it certainly doesn't mean a flying fucking shit what your google page rank is. That's another sorry fucking fact.

[phuckbunny]

I don't get google PR either. I just checked some of my sites and the numbers just don't add up - not at all.