when you want to buy link or advertise on a site, how do you know that site's traffic? do you usually ask some proofs from the owner or check it out at any traffic information sites? if it's the last one, what sites are giving accurate information about traffic?
You may want from webmasters proofs of traffic statistics for their site Or you can try to getting traffic info via Alexa.com
It's pretty hard to grasp another sites traffic if you don't own it. Definatly ask the owner for Screenshots is the only way.
When I've done big advertising deals I've actually temporarily changed the password to my server stats and given the login info to the buyer so they can log in and verify the stats before completing the purchase, then I just changed the password back. This of course has downsides... Such as them being able to see details such as exactly where your visitors are coming from, etc. Plus, someone may not be willing to do that for someone who is just buying a link. Also keep in mind that the amount of traffic doesn't really matter... It's the source of the traffic and the quality of visitors. I have one site that gets over 12,000 unique visitors every day, yet it only makes me about $65 dollars per day. While I have another site that only gets about 200 visits everyday (sometimes less) yet they are highly qualified and they result in an average income of about $100 per day. Don't worry so much about the amount of traffic, but the quality of it. Ryan
I know its a long shot, but you could ask them to place a snippet of google analytics code on their site for a day, and then you can login to that and see what kind of traffic they are getting. -- Phil
Compete. It's not accuarte, but it gives you a good or somewhat good idea. Also, if the Webmaster is serious, he will show you his stats from his host. Many hosting co's have that feature in their service.
It is high time that some one has to formulate a tool to check the traffic details (in depth) of other sites (alexa is no good) without yourself divulging the username and password. Hello software machos! Are you listening?
sorry for not coming back earlier... alexa or compete is not accurate IMO especially for low-medium traffic sites... so what you're doing is asking for the proof, okay seems it's the only quick way, so if you're selling the ads you will provide it as well? because sometimes I found webmasters don't want to reveal it. @dairyman as i know there is a web statistic service, extremestats or extremecounter (can't recall the correct one), if a website use it you can just see its traffic there, but not many websites are using this. @RyanEven I agree, but good traffic + good quality is the best...