There is a lot of confusion about real traffic of websites. This confusion is created both by some website owners not having a clear understanding of their statistics and some others making false claims because they think that their real statistics cannot be verified. This last category is most often composed or website owners trying to make money through advertisers. Free programs like Webalyser give false hugely inflated statistics because they are unable to distinguish human visits from computer visits generated by robot machines from search engines traveling the Web 24/7. A lot of people bragging about their statistics are even confusing (voluntarely or not) real visits with clicks and hits. There are different ways to measure the quality, relevance, popularity and credibilty of a website and it would be too long to explain them all here in this post. As an example, Google considered the best search engine in the world (67% of all searches) ranks its results on 2 main criteria (the others are secret): relevance of a website content to a topic (key words you entered), and popularity (number of links incoming only from other top ranked quality websites). Google eliminates sites with poor and/or unreliable content. Google is even smart enough to detect and penalize websites with fake visits created manually or with a clicks machine (computer(s) instructed to hit a homepage) by the site owner or accomplices. Being top ranked by Google (in the top 5 results) is the most prized marketing position in the internet sphere. SEO people (Search Engine Optimization) make a living trying to get these high results for their clients. Being ranked at the top creates huge traffic to a website, increasing exponentially the number of relevant (or qualified for purchase) visitors. Since 3 years, Cyril Huze Customs is ranked by Google # 1 in the world for the search “Custom Harley-Davidson” and # 3 in the world for the search “Custom Motorcycles”. Go to Google and try it. Another independent company called Alexa, observes traffic with its own methodology and ranks the most popular websites in different categories. Cyril Huze Customs is ranked again # 1 in the world in the category “Motorcycle Customizing” (check all results Here). Cyril Huze Customs is ranked # 3 in the world in the category “Harley-Davidson” (check all results Here). It is important to mention that Cyril Huze Webstore and Cyril Huze Blog are both part of the same website Cyril Huze Customs, although these web pages can be accessed directly. Next time a website owner throws at you big traffic numbers check them out attentively. It will make internet a better digital world. Make sure they are 1- real visitors 2- relevant to your objectives (like with any media, quality of readership is as important as quantity). For more info go to page Advertise. And yes, we will accept a few more selected advertisers.
Update February 16, 2007. Cyril Huze is now ranked # 1 in Google both for internet search "Custom Motorcycles" and "Custom Harley-Davidson".
Your points are all valid, but you also need to realize that advertisers don’t go by numbers alone. They also take into consideration content quality (which includes writing), how much activity–in the form of comments–a site has and how many other sites link to that site.
I’m working on generating numbers but I’m also constantly working on developing those other things.
I like your blog, by the way. Found it a couple of weeks ago.
All I know is I like this blog because you consistently post interesting stuff. All about the bikes!!! Keep up the good work.
Thanks DJ.
Cyril you are a Pro. Very few are…
You rock.
I agree with MotorCry2. It’s not just a numbers game, it’s also quality of leads–and the targeted nature of the traffic. If you’re selling the kind of chopper gear and parts you find in a mag like The Horse, you probably won’t bother advertising on Motorcycle.com, even though its Alexa rank is very high. You’ll want to find the best sites in your niche instead–to get the best bang for your advertising buck. But traffic is always nice… 🙂
And I also like your blog–found it just now via whybike.com.
I belong to the industry. I read this blog since it started. It’s excellent. About readership, through the posts it’s easy to realize that most people here are really into custom bikes. At the v-twin expo everybody in the industry I talked to knew about the blog and read it. I am sure it is hard work. So, congrats Cyril.
Hey, Just to let you know I added your blog to the Blog Aggregator at WhyBike.com so you will be getting more links, every time you post. Take it easy.
– James
#1 on Google for “motorcycle blogs”
Most interesting, educative, entertaining blog. Period.
I agree with both Cyril and motorcy2. The importance of choosing where your advertising dollars go can sometimes be a ballancing act of how you drive your web vs. print costs. Cyril points out the importance of becoming a “High ranked” Google search item, very important to budget money there, but as well from an advertising perspective one should gather as much information about what source contains the most value added, including; the amount of good content, niche’ buying trends, the number of current quality advertisers, “true or unique visitors”, honest web statistics and click-through’s that count, large user forums, and most importantly the material that the audience “treasures” and keeps them coming back for. Everyone wants a gold nugget!
John Smolinski
Sales Representative
American Iron Magazine
http://www.aimag.com/
johns@TAMCommunications.com
203-425-8777 X121
In addition of high ranking and volume of traffic let’s not forget credibility. Cyril Huze is one of the best builders in the industry and his posts are interesting because they are his personal views on different topics. Logically, everybody wants to know what he thinks. I observe that even important print medias come to comment here. It means credibility.
Well said and analyzed Cyril.
Quality of content is what I am looking for. I get it here because I no more read print motorcycle magazines. Cyril, keep up the good work.
You do have the best site. New information nearly daily. Like the way the archives are set up. Cyril you are a class act. I admire you for letting people state their opinions. I am like Joss I do not read print magazines anymore, I read it here. No need to tell you to keep up the good work. All your work is good.
Thanks, thanks, thanks. On my way to Daytona now….
Finally someone who can write a good blog ! I loved your post and will be telling others about it. Subscribing to your RSS feed now. Thanks