Our Alexa rating is rissing steadily !

[emporiumdays]

adruml says....

Let's get more involved in figuring out these stats. Reading through the forums there are a lot of unanswered "why's" maybe it's something we might be missing and if we happen to stumble upon what "it" may be by chatting about it here in the forums I say let's explore.

Just as an example (right or wrong) when visitors are going to the help page are they being directed to where they want to or should go? Do the FAQ pages actually direct to the forums? Are visitors pleased and comfortable with navigating the site?

That makes sooooo much sense to me - Brilliantly put....
I just wish I had the technical knowhow to help sort it...

I reckon the single most important part of eBid to get 100% right - Is the 'Front Door'

[PetBazaar]

The thing is, if Alexa is right, eBid doesn't have a single front door.

Below is a breakdown from Alexa of the sub-domains that 99.9% of the visitors to eBid land on - how many of the top 5 do you recognise?

No's 2, 4 & 5 combined account for more arrivals than 3, 6 & 7 (the ones that would have thought to be the most obvious choices) why should this be?

No answers here from me unfortunately, so I'll let someone else have the lightbulb moment.

Oh, and if anyone is interested in some more numbers: Google Trends (and these are estimated figures, based on arrivals from google's search results), is suggesting daily vistors of approx 25k, with the UK acounting for approx 14k of those. The list below (if realistic), makes the numbers going directly to eBid.net seem a bit on the low side.


helpdesk.ebid.net...20.5%
four.ebid.net...........19.5%
uk.ebid.net.............15.0%
ten.ebid.net............10.6%
nine.ebid.net.......... 9.6%
us.ebid.net............. 7.8%
ebid.net.................. 6.1%
three.ebid.net........ 4.7%
eleven.ebid.net...... 2.1%
secure.ebid.net......1.8%
in.ebid.net.............. 0.9%
au.ebid.net............. 0.5%
it.ebid.net............... 0.3%
six.ebid.net............. 0.3%
se.ebid.net............. 0.2%

[bykimbo]

I really would suggest that people google "how accurate is alexa" before putting in too much work. You can then make a more informed choice about whether or not it's work putting a lot of your time and effort into the project. Time and effort that could be spent listing or promoting, maybe?

[emporiumdays]

bykimbo

I really would suggest that people google "how accurate is alexa" before putting in too much work. You can then make a more informed choice about whether or not it's work putting a lot of your time and effort into the project. Time and effort that could be spent listing or promoting, maybe?

That makes sooooo much sense to me - Brilliantly put....

Hay... wait a minute.... how come every one sounds so brilliant even when they don't agree with each other?

Guess I'm easily swayed ?

I'm certainly no expert on web traffic, and there's definately some google reports that question alexa's accuracy.

So, I guess I'll stick to my listings and leave this to the techsperts to comment on...

We'd all probably like to know how eBid is rating though - wouldn't we?

[adruml]

That makes sooooo much sense to me - Brilliantly put....

Hay... wait a minute.... how come every one sounds so brilliant even when they don't agree with each other?

Guess I'm easily swayed ?

I'm certainly no expert on web traffic, and there's definately some google reports that question alexa's accuracy.

So, I guess I'll stick to my listings and leave this to the techsperts to comment on...

We'd all probably like to know how eBid is rating though - wouldn't we?

It would be nice to know if that many are truly going to the help desk and if that is really where we want visitors to go. Do these stats include visits from within ebid or just new searches.
Although I agree we should keep promoting and listing but if their might be an issue with visitors visiting wrong pages, getting aggravated then leaving why not look into it. I believe in promoting but would have no problem whatsoever listing, sitting back and let items sell. Ideal situation but something to strive for.

[emporiumdays]

Yeah adrumi, you and bykimbo and PetBazaar all have valid points (in my mind).
It would be nice to have answers to the questions you've raised, but how that can be achieved is out of my depth, and there's no doubt ways to get the answers using something more reliable than this alexa approach.... but how ??? Don't know - sorry.

[PetBazaar]

I guess Alexa is a bit like opinion polls, saying that we're ranked 10,000 or 11,000 should probably be taken with a large pinch of salt. I reckon though that for identifying trends and peculiarities like the 20% landing on helpdesk it's probably reasonably usefull.

I know it all relies on the Alexa toolbar user, but you would have to hope that they are at least vaguely representative of web users in general and so the figures should scale up albeit losing accuracy as they go.

And besides, I've already listed all my stock on eBid.

[darklisruthven]

well its all good news

[adruml]

From a different computer (change of ip address from what I am registered on ebid) I googled ebid. The suggestions came up with ebid.net first so I clicked on that which took me to a page to choose my location. I selected US and it brought me to a home page. Before being asked to sign in, log in or register I was able to view or search anything I wanted however I was a little disappointed seeing titles to recent forums showing up on this main page. Just visiting here is what a first timer would have seen at that particular moment...Forum Titles....
No Bids (not something a visitor should see)
After a Gadget ( not detrimental to a visitor but they should see "looking for a gadget, or something else")
Designer bag plug (this is what visitors should see)
Alexa Rating rising (maybe okay for a visitor maybe not)
I've had enough (even though the thread begins with a squirrel issue the title is something we don't want visitors to see at first glance)

During this brief search I was never asked to go to help pages nor did I see a need to view help pages. By now I would have to ass u me on line shoppers know how to navigate sites and I don't believe ebid is any more difficult to navigate then any other.

So where are these help page ratings coming from and if the ratings are fact, or even close why are so many visiting the help pages.

Also should we ask Gazza and Mark to only allow "Plug Your Auction" Forum posts on this first page visitors see? The top 5 most recent Forum posts come up on this page and just think about what we have all posted in the past. The first thing folks are going to see are the current (newest replied to) forum posts/threads. Don't know about you but I don't want potential customers on first view seeing titles such as "No Bids", I've had enough", "Disgruntled" or some of the other Forum posts which may turn off a potential buyer. Instead Plug your auctions posts only should be shown here...don't ya think?

[emporiumdays]

Yep - Agree...
There are some postings that are perhaps best left for only members to see... if you want the best impression to be put across.
But then, you have to admit that the way it is now - is extremely honest & transparent.....