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Is this guy lying about his site traffic?

Discussion in 'Traffic Analysis' started by ryangassxx, Apr 15, 2015.

0
  1. #1
    I recently inquired with a website that I was interested in advertising on. He sent over his "media kit" that boasted traffic stats as follows..

    Per Month
    Hits: 12,719,181

    Page views: 1,938,956

    Number of visits: 224,049

    Unique visitors: 92,394

    So, this guy is claiming over 3,000 unique visitors per day! Which is a pretty bold claim. Had he not "jumped the shark" with these stats I may have never questioned it. But after doing some following up, I can't find a single external website traffic metric to substantiate that this website is even getting minimal traffic. Heck, my site that I'm trying to advertise has him beat in Alexa, AHREFS, MOZ, and seomastering.com's tools. I realize that these things are not really all too accurate with specifics, but between those claims and what these traffic services reflect - the disparity is so great that something just doesn't add up. He only ranks in google serps because his domain itself is keyword rich, other than that he doesn't have a great SEO situation.

    The site is Chicagolandradioandmedia.com

    Check into it and let me know what you guys think. I'd be interested in hearing some other opinions, because believe it or not I'd actually like to advertise there because it's well targeted for an audience I'd like to have. But his advertising prices are reflective of a website with the traffic as he claims it to be, but I don't know if it's legitimate..
     
    ryangassxx, Apr 15, 2015 IP
  2. PoPSiCLe

    PoPSiCLe Illustrious Member

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    #2
    Tell him to give you a guest-account on Google Analytics, for instance? So you can look at the stats yourself?
     
    PoPSiCLe, Apr 17, 2015 IP
  3. bluntlycreative

    bluntlycreative Peon

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    #3
    Sounds suspicious without guest access to back it up.
     
    bluntlycreative, Jun 28, 2015 IP
    deathshadow likes this.
  4. deathshadow

    deathshadow Acclaimed Member

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    #4
    Yeah, unless you can actually see the server-side stats/logs processed via something like Analog or Webalizer, it's EXTREMELY difficult to take such claims seriously, particularly on a site like that.

    Those third party stats tools you listed -- that have no access to those logs -- are universally full of it. 100% grade A farm fresh manure pulling numbers out their ass. Simple fact is unless you are running a tracking script on the site you want stats for or have access to the server's logs, you CANNOT say what the traffic to that site is; it's pure fiction which is why things like Alexa and SeoMastering are scam artist snake oil -- there's NO polite way to put it; They're more full of manure than Biff Tannen's 1946 Ford Super De Luxe.

    I'm not certain if that site owners claims are intentional bull, or ignorant bull -- given the pointless halfwit scripttardery, "semantics, what's that?!?" and "WCAG, what's that?!?" design, I am highly skeptical those numbers are a realistic reflection of that site's traffic. Generally speaking it has become FAR too easy for people NOT qualified to have much less run/maintain websites be deluded into thinking they can do so by scam artist "designers", off the shelf content management systems created by people not qualified to be making websites for others, and a host of other sleazy shortcuts that do little more than exploit people's ignorance, apathy, and wishful thinking.

    As such, to be brutally frank -- I would be SHOCKED to have anyone who would deploy code like this on a website:

    <body id="s5_body"><div id="s5_scrolltotop"></div> <script type="text/javascript">/*<![CDATA[*/document.write('<style type="text/css">.s5_lr_tab_inner{-webkit-transform: rotate(270deg);-moz-transform: rotate(270deg);-o-transform: rotate(270deg);}</style>');/*]]>*/</script> <div id="s5_header_area1"><div id="s5_header_area2"><div id="s5_header_area_inner" class="s5_wrap"><div id="s5_header_wrap"><div id="s5_logo" onclick="window.document.location.href='http://chicagoradioandmedia.com/'"></div><div id="s5_loginreg"><div id="s5_logregtm"><div id="s5_register" class="s5box_register"><ul class="s5boxmenu"><li>Register</li></ul></div><div id="s5_login" class="s5box_login"><ul class="s5boxmenu"><li> Login</li></ul></div></div></div><div id="s5_social_wrap"><div id="s5_facebook" onclick="window.open('http://www.facebook.com/ChicagolandRadioAndMedia')"></div><div id="s5_google" onclick="window.open('http://plus.google.com/107519727306778138005')"></div><div id="s5_twitter" onclick="window.open('http://twitter.com/ChiRadioMedia')"></div><div id="s5_rss" onclick="window.open('http://chicagoradioandmedia.com/news?format=feed&type=rss')"></div></div><div style="clear:both; height:0px"></div></div></div></div></div><div id="s5_menu_wrap" class="s5_wrap"><ul id='s5_nav' class='menu'><li class='active'><span class='s5_level1_span1'><span class='s5_level1_span2'><a href="http://chicagoradioandmedia.com/">Home</a><span onclick='window.document.location.href="http://chicagoradioandmedia.com/"' class='S5_parent_subtext'>Return Home</span></span></span></li>
    Code (markup):
    Much less the halfwit mix of ignorance on how JS works and 1990's thinking that is this disaster:
    <script type="text/javascript">$(window).addEvent("domready",function(){new S5Box(".s5box_register",{width:"38%",inline:true,href:"#s5box_register"});new S5Box(".s5box_login",{width:"25%",inline:true,href:"#s5box_login"});new S5Box(".s5box_one",{width:"35%",inline:true,href:"#s5box_one"});new S5Box(".s5box_two",{width:"35%",inline:true,href:"#s5box_two"});new S5Box(".s5box_three",{width:"35%",inline:true,href:"#s5box_three"});new S5Box(".s5box_four",{width:"35%",inline:true,href:"#s5box_four"});new S5Box(".s5box_five",{width:"35%",inline:true,href:"#s5box_five"});new S5Box(".s5box_six",{width:"35%",inline:true,href:"#s5box_six"});new S5Box(".s5box_seven",{width:"35%",inline:true,href:"#s5box_seven"});new S5Box(".s5box_eight",{width:"35%",inline:true,href:"#s5box_eight"});new S5Box(".s5box_nine",{width:"35%",inline:true,href:"#s5box_nine"});new S5Box(".s5box_ten",{width:"35%",inline:true,href:"#s5box_ten"});});</script> <script language="javascript" type="text/javascript">var s5_hidecar="true";</script> <script language="javascript" type="text/javascript">var s5_hidebut="true";</script> <script language="javascript" type="text/javascript">var s5_hidetext="true";</script> <script language="javascript" type="text/javascript">var s5_dropdowntext="Open Gallery";</script> <script src="http://chicagoradioandmedia.com/templates/sports_nation/html/mod_s5_image_and_content_fader/js/jd.gallery.js" type="text/javascript"></script> <script src="http://chicagoradioandmedia.com/templates/sports_nation/html/mod_s5_image_and_content_fader/js/jd.gallery.transitions.js" type="text/javascript"></script> <script type="text/javascript">var s5_multibox_path="templates/sports_nation/js/multibox/";</script>
    Code (markup):
    Anyone who'd do that? Doesn't know enough about websites to even know how to pull such numbers about a site's traffic, unless they themselves are being packed full of it by someone else.

    I've managed websites with higher traffic than that, and from what I'm seeing in FB likes and message board traffic, (assuming you can call that steaming pile a message board) it is doubtful those traffic numbers have any basis in reality.

    The general ineptitude shown in that site's development methodology makes me far less likely to think said fairy-tale numbers are intentional... Ever heard the saying "Do not blame on malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity!" ? Yeah -- that.
     
    Last edited: Jun 28, 2015
    deathshadow, Jun 28, 2015 IP
  5. Andy-Jones

    Andy-Jones Member

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    #5
    Sounds suspicious, there are many only marketing people online who lie about the stats for the sale. I would recommend you to ask this guy to provide access to the stats. And dont believe on images, it can be photoshopped.
     
    Andy-Jones, Jun 29, 2015 IP