“There are literally hundreds of millions of websites on the Internet today. I don’t know who I can trust. I often feel insecure on the Internet. Is there any way I can reduce my tension?”
Ivan: This is a typical case of “dot com insecuritus.” Take Alexa.com whenever needed. Enter the URL of any website in the box on Alexa’s site info tab and it will tell you its estimated website traffic rank. The more traffic the site gets, the higher the rank the site will achieve (“1” being the ideal rank). Whenever you are not sure who to trust, you can compare Alexa ranks with. You can also use Alexa to compare your own website with your direct competition in Vancouver.
Cyri: Alexa also provides a list of the top websites. Here is Alexa’s top 10 list as of January 14, 2011:
1. Google
2. Facebook
3. YouTube
4. Yahoo
5. Windows Live (www.live.com)
6. Baidu
7. Blogger
8. Wikipedia
9. QQ.com
10. Twitter
Ivan: You will feel even more relieved if you download the Alexa toolbar; if you do you will always have Alexa rank displayed in your browser as you visit any website.
Ivan: To prevent any problems in the future, it might be a good idea to extend your Alexa analysis and get even more stats about the site that you are researching. For example, if you click on “get details,” Alexa can tell you how many incoming links the website has or when the site was launched, where the site is hosted, what the bounce rate is, etc.
Cyri: It’s all about stress-free peace of mind. You do want to know who you’re doing business with.
Cost: Free
Ivan: To me, Alexa.com is primarily a “traffic rank” or “website relevance” tool. Alternative medicine would be to download the Google toolbar (www.toolbar.google.com), and you will be able to know Google’s page relevance (GPR) of any website page as you surf the Internet. FYI, GPR goes from zero to 10 (10 being for a page with the highest relevance).
Cyri: Yes. And here is one more tip: do both diagnostics at the same time! Go to www.urltrends.com and you will see Alexa’s rank, Google’s GPR and also how long the site has been online, how many links it has, etc.
Ivan: The problem with most tools like Alexa is that they’re based on statistical estimates (mostly based on online behaviour of Alexa toolbar users) and as such they are not 100% reliable. This is why I would recommend combining Alexa stats with GPR, www.linkpopularity.com, etc.
Cyri: There is, however, one other important “side effect” of Alexa to consider that has to do with privacy: you may want to view Alexa’s privacy policy before you decide whether to download the Alexa toolbar (note: downloading the toolbar is optional). If you use the Alexa toolbar, Alexa will be tracking what sites you visit. I like to use the Alexa reports that are publicly available from the website, but I feel uncomfortable downloading the Alexa toolbar.
Rating:Ivan: HHHHCyri: HH
Cyri Jones teaches entrepreneurship, project management and information technology at BCIT and Capilano University and is the co-founder of ZedPress.com, a lifelong learning publishing platform and social network. He blogs at 24posts.com. Ivan Surjanovic is marketing faculty at Capilano University and CEO of iPower Lab. He blogs at whereispuck.com and bizpharmacy.com.
