Compete Traffic Numbers & Fusible Report – LOL

According to a post on the anonymously written* Fusible blog, “Elliot’s Blog experienced a big drop in traffic, going from over 46,000 unique visitors in March to under 21,000 visitors in April. Other blogs experienced significant falls in traffic – with Mike Berken’s popular TheDomains.com blog showing a difference of 20,000 visitors.

As I was writing a reply in the comment section of the Fusible blog , my blog’s hosting/server manager wrote me an email:

“Here are the server stats if you want to dispute Fusible’s incorrect post saying you’ve gone down in your traffic:

April Total Visits To Your Blog – 64,684″

I also added that for my blog at least, Compete is way off… I checked in Google Analytics and Stat Counter, and the # of visitors in April was up a grand total of 226 visitors (according to Google) and up 951 visitors (according to Stat Counter), which is virtually identical and a negligible difference.

As you can see from the aforementioned traffic numbers directly from my server, Fusible is incorrect in stating that “the results aren’t that far off.” Likewise, Mike Berkens’ commented about the traffic report as well. In any case, I am just writing this to clarify my blog’s traffic stats, and as my advertisers know, I am happy to share my traffic numbers with them.

*BTW, I only say “anonymously written” because there is little information about the writers on the website (other than the fact that it’s a husband and wife team), and the blog’s domain name is privately registered.

Elliot Silver
Elliot Silver
About The Author: Elliot Silver is an Internet entrepreneur and publisher of DomainInvesting.com. Elliot is also the founder and President of Top Notch Domains, LLC, a company that has closed eight figures in deals. Please read the DomainInvesting.com Terms of Use page for additional information about the publisher, website comment policy, disclosures, and conflicts of interest. Reach out to Elliot: Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn

35 COMMENTS

  1. Compete can be useful for glancing at how one site stacks up against another, but beyond that, the stats for several sites I’ve monitored are so far off that the monthly visits reported by Compete are actually more in line with daily numbers.

    Elliot, you may be interested that comScore is now offering free site tracking.

  2. I understand wanting to inform your advertisers that you are still receiving good traffic, but it’s obvious in the Fusbile post that they were basing that off of Compete. No need to be negative.

    • @ J

      Where’s the negativity in my post? I didn’t write anything about their blog or their business other than the fact that it’s anonymously written. Maybe they have a reason for staying private, but it’s not a negative comment.

      The only negative thing is that the information is factually incorrect, and I have provided details.

  3. I understand the value that Compete wants to provide by estimate traffic numbers & site demographics and then charge people to access these estimates.

    However, as is in this case and many others, the estimates can vary significantly. Compete’s solution to this is to install their own tracking/analytics code which essentially gives up your data with the only benefit being their estimate is more accurate.

    BTW isn’t Fusible the same site that implied CamRoulette.com didn’t sell, questioning another well-respected domainer’s credibility?

  4. “BTW isn’t Fusible the same site that implied CamRoulette.com didn’t sell, questioning another well-respected domainer’s credibility?”

    @ Terrell

    Yes, there was a blog post on Fusible asking if that sale was a sham and Berkens and I called them on it, since it was sold by a mutual friend in a public auction run by people we know and trust. They wrote a mea culpa

    /fusible.com/ourblog.php?entryid=576

  5. Ah, games people play. Fusible is known for constantly spam-baiting keywords and self-promotion of TrackEasterBunny. The Compete numbers are off by 30% in the case of DomainGang. They also boast about their twitter followers, which is another marketing sham: when the ratio of followers to following is 1:1 that’s an indication of mass-acquired followers without an immediate interest.

  6. Compete is being depended on too heavily and being utilized for the wrong reasons. I used it in one of my postings it compensated for the lack of stats in an interview and Michael Castello was quick to point out that it is an estimate at best. I now cringe when I see it posted in blogs to quote a sites performance… not the right tool for that.

  7. The numbers from these sites like Compete and Alexa are so far off the mark it is ridiculous (and I say that as someone who ranks very high in both – they are still grossly inaccurate and unreliable). If you drew numbers out of a hat they would have just as much credibility – neither has any clue what kind of traffic sites actually get and I would never reference either one as a credible source.

  8. Just curious…does anyone know for sure where Compete gets their data if tracking is not widely installed (either client or server)? I can see how Amazon compiles Alexa data via those who have installed their toolbar. In that case the small sampling explains how the statistics can be unreliable. Figured Compete was paying enough to sample more effectively, that appears to be wrong.

  9. My primary issue is that in the post it was written in a way to make their site look like it’s performing better than mine, with the only reason I can deduce being for advertising purposes. I wanted to clarify the actual numbers so others can see that there hasn’t been a big traffic drop as Fusible wrote.

    While some people might blog as a hobby, my blog now derives significant revenue from advertisers (it may be even more than I earned at AIG in 2007), and I would hate for any advertisers to quickly scan Domaining.com and think that there was an actual drop in traffic here.

    The funny part of this is that I’ve never mentioned my blog’s traffic numbers in public before, but I guess there’s a first time for everything.

  10. Compete is worthless. Unequivocally incorrect.

    HOWEVER, I find it very funny that this is what it took for everyone to actually “belly up” and admit that compete is completely wrong!!!

    Many people (some of whom commented on this post) have tried to use Compete numbers when either buying a domain from me or selling a domain to me.

    Now I can really pull the BS card…

  11. Ron Jackson is correct. Both Compete and Alexa are way off. Last week, I compared Scottsdale.com to another site, and Compete showed that the other site had twice the traffic that Scottsdale.com has; I then went to Alexa and did the same thing….the results were reversed! We (Scottsdale.com) receive an average of 80,000 unique visitors each month, peaking in our high season to 120,000. Sadly, Compete and Alexa show us at 20,000 to 40,000. I believe this has hurt us from time to time as a potential advertiser checks our “stats” with one of these entities, and believes we are being untruthful with our numbers. Scottsdale.com receives anywhere from 60% to 71% natural type in traffic; I wonder if this is one of the reasons the numbers don’t report properly. Anyway, the industry needs a common ground reporting method to level the playing field…..

  12. @Ron, @Elliot, @ others, so what is the most credible source, if any? aside from your own server stats, is there a public source that could be considered credible enough to reference?

  13. @ Mike C

    Not really sure. I’ve always just quoted Google Analytics stats, giving my advertisers the number of unique visitors per month. I haven’t even looked at the server stats. If anyone questioned my numbers, I would be happy to provide screenshots for them. Fortunately, I haven’t had many advertisers leave the site in the last year and that hasn’t ever come up before.

    At least IMO, the quality of the traffic is important and may be morso than the quantity when it comes to a targeted audience.

  14. Hmm. maybe it is time to build a better mousetrap. You guys are leaders in your respective industry and reading between the lines tells me – there is a need to solve a problem.

    Let Fusbile post what they wish. The good get paid forward, the losers always lose.

    I am surprised how everybody on these posts is always looking in somebody else’s back yard. Sedo this… Fusbile that.

    It truly does not matter what numbers they report. Spending time defending is wasted time creating.

    Rick Schwartz’s post on May 25th tells the truth. So little time to worry about the others.

    I bet you Elliot, that you and a handful of other industry leaders could piece something together that would deliver accurate web stats. Development is what you guys do.

    My two cents – for what it is worth.

  15. @ Mikey

    “I am surprised how everybody on these posts is always looking in somebody else’s back yard. ”

    My primary post was to dispel the incorrect information about my blog that was reported elsewhere. My blog was specifically called out as having dropped 20k visitors, which would be very significant and concerning if it was true.

    Hypothetically, if a site I was advertising on lost 50% of its traffic for some reason, I would be worried. Since this is false, I posted the correction. Why shouldn’t I post something on my blog rather than let it be buried at the bottom of someone else’s blog? It’s important for me to let my advertisers know that what was reported might have come from a reputable source (Compete.com), but since I have the actual numbers, I wanted to share them.

    If I didn’t have advertisers, the traffic numbers wouldn’t matter and I would just assume the Compete.com stats would be reconciled next month. Having an obligation to my advertisers, I wanted to clarify this.

    —–

    “So little time to worry about the others.”

    Yes, I agree with this, but if I didn’t address it and a company who is paying me $x,xxx to advertise saw that post, they might be concerned. I don’t worry about what anyone else is doing unless it impacts or could impact my business. Just about everything I blog about is to give assistance to others based on things I’ve learned, or it’s something that impacts my business.

    What you said (related to what Rick said) is a primary reason I don’t spend much time on other blogs or forums… most things just aren’t applicable to my business.

    ——

    “Development is what you guys do.”

    Development is not my forte… selling domain names is 🙂 I am a push button publisher and couldn’t code a thing.

  16. @ Elliott

    Very well said. I agree that you have an obligation to correct possible incorrect information.

    What I am saying is the underlying message in every post or reply here circles around the need to build a better mousetrap that catches more accurate numbers for webtraffic. The customer, your reader is telling you such.

    I am not saying to build Rome, ditch your curent business and blog and set off to build a better google analytics, compete or whatever, but I guarantee that you have enough people in your network to get it done.

    I am new to the industry and get to see things from a different perspective and I am baffled to learn why no one has yet delivered an accurate platform that identifies how much actual traffic websites deliver.

    I imagine it is extremely complex but is that statistic of traffic not warrant such an investment. It is the staple of the internet. Traffic. C you in Vancouver…

  17. @ Mikey

    I’m not going to Vancouver… headed to Paris tomorrow and didn’t want to do two long flights in a row. I will be in Hong Kong if you’ll be there.

  18. HK – no way. I am still trying to save for airfare to Vancouver. Do you sell domains on behalf of clients?

    I have a portfollio up for grabs with some short generics and a very marketable blogging domain. My loss is someone’s gain, but I have bigger things planned.

    I have been invited to pitch at TEST TRACK at the T.R.A.F.F.I.C. conference in Vancouver in 10 days. They were even kind enough to put me on the guest list.

    I am kinda nervous to be amongst some of the most web savy people out there, but what a better place to be, if you want to build a better mouse trap ont the web.

    Anyways – safe trip. Paris fascinates me because the consumer (the people) actually run that country.

  19. @ Mikey

    I don’t sell names on behalf of clients. I’ve found it’s more of a pain to try and negotiate in between two parties when my potential profit is something like 10%. Clients are too demanding, and if I think a name is well priced I’d rather buy it and take on all the risk. It takes a similar amount of effort to sell one of my names as it would to sell someone else’s name, and it’s more financially rewarding.

    Don’t be nervous to speak in front of those people. It’s a great opportunity and will open some new doors for you. This sounds like silly advice, but bring some water on stage in case you go hoarse, speak slowly and be confident. You’re there as an invited guest for a reason and the opportunity is great.

  20. Thanks for the words of wisdom. We would all be wiser to listen to others more often.

    Proof positive being that… “Most successful men have not achieved their distinction by having some new talent or opportunity presented to them. They have developed the opportunity that was at hand.”
    Bruce Marton quote

    I am looking forward to the opportunity 🙂

    If I may send you a list of domains for your consideration, you might get me a little closer to my plane ticket. If not, another opportunity will present itself.

    Regards
    Mikey

  21. “If I may send you a list of domains for your consideration, you might get me a little closer to my plane ticket. If not, another opportunity will present itself.”

    @ Mikey

    I don’t really buy names that I haven’t specifically targeted. Feel free to share a few if you’d like, but every time I say that, I get ALOT of people sending in their names and it becomes difficult to look through and respond. I probably won’t have time to research anything before I go anyway.

  22. No worries Elliot. I can understand the influx of incoming purchase requests.

    Your trade secrets or how you buy and sell are your business and apparently you have done well enough.

    Fusible too does well apparently…however I am over here, and not there. I have no time for negativity.

    Great post…enjoyed it.

  23. @ El and all….

    I know the people who run Fusible blog – and they’re nice people who are trying to get ahead with their domain investing, and are actually not trying to be acrimonious with anyone.

    Because of their lack of experience in the business, they have posted some things, mislead by other with an agenda, and I’m pretty sure they don’t want to stir things up.

    What cracks me up here is seeing Theo write accusatory statements about them, starting with “Ahhh… the games people play!” I like it when the Fox discusses how he thinks other foxes play.

    Anyway, what I want to really point out is that anyone, and I mean ANYONE, in the domain industry that puts their faith in an online analytic system to determine “value” based on traffic, visitors, hits, whatever, is being misled, to say the least.

    There isn’t ONE online service that will give you the true facts of a domain or website’s traffic stats. The only person who can do that is your website/server admin. Period. Everyone else is just hopelessly guessing.

    For domain noobies, hire human eyeballs and brains, because there isn’t a website that will find you the meat you’re looking for regarding traffic stats on a domain you don’t own.

    I can’t wait to see the flood of comments disagreeing with me.

    You’re welcome, El.

  24. the real information i was able to get from websiteoutlook is that :Net Worth $117,559 USD domaininvesting.com
    Daily Pageviews 41,700
    Daily Visitors 25,833
    Daily Ads Revenue $161.04 USD

  25. Again, I conquer. Somebody should build a better mousetrap.

    Is there a concensous amongst all what site provides the best statistal data? It would be kool to know which site I should use as a reference, being new to the domain game.

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