Verifying Traffic

[Gas Scooter Guy]

Hi folks, I have an opportunity to purchase an up and running site that claims to have 17K hits per month. Is there another means to verify this other than trying to interpret Alexa ranking 1 week 190,000 and 3 month 350,000?

Keyword google ranks 47 in a very competitive field.

thanks,

Harvey

[Linker]

Before you pick up the site, you always have the right to request for a stats report or access to their stats link and log files. That way, you can verify it yourself using stat software like WebLog Expert or WebTrends.

[mobilebadboy]

First off, DO NOT base any site's traffic on Alexa. That is THE MOST USELESS information you have at your disposal. As Linker said, request the information from them, they should, at the least, be able to provide a screenshot of their web logs, and if they decline then they're obviously not on the up and up. I wouldn't request a text based report because that can be skewed very easily (of course). But the abiliaty to view them yourself would be beneficial.

[Linker]

That's correct! Any company who refuses to reveal their log files when selling a site that boasts such high traffic should raise a BIG RED FLAG :shoot:

[eitemiller]

Agree. Alexa is way too easy to manipulate. If they really want to sell the site to you, polietely ask to see thier logs. If they refuse, i would run the other way.

[jlknauff]

[QUOTE=Gas Scooter Guy]an up and running site that claims to have 17K hits per month.[/QUOTE]FYI-17K hits is not a lot. More importantly, hit are VERY easy to manipulate-you need to look at unique visitors.