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Larry Eddy -> RCUniverse Challenges Industry to... (3/17/2004 8:46 PM)
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RCUniverse Challenges Industry to Stand Behind Web Traffic Claims
Company hires independent firm to track and report its Web stats
LONE TREE, CO -- RCUniverse.com today boldly challenged the radio control industry to drop the hype and back up their claimed Web traffic stats with independent, 3rd party verification. "With all of the hype and doubt that often surrounds Web traffic claims, we thought it was time to set the hobby industry standard in Web reporting and encourage advertisers to demand independent and accurate Web traffic reports from media companies with whom they advertise online," said Michael Kranitz, CEO of RCUniverse. According to RCUniverse, traffic to its site is now tracked and reported by DeepMetrix, an independent, third party agency with state-of-the-art tracking software. "This enables us to erase all doubts about our traffic and silence competitors who have challenged our statistics in the past. We publicly challenge other online media in the R/C industry to do likewise," said Kranitz.
[image]http://www.rcuniverse.com/magazine/reviews/leddy/deep1.jpg[/image][image]http://www.rcuniverse.com/magazine/reviews/leddy/deep2.jpg[/image]
To prove its point, RCUniverse now offers on its site a direct Web link to DeepMetrix, where any user can examine detailed, real time traffic reports for RCUniverse.com. The reports will be open to the public for one month beginning March 15, 2004 and thereafter will be made available when requested by potential or current advertisers. "We have always kept traffic stats based on our own server logs, but DeepMetrix offers our advertisers a whole new level of accuracy, independence and reliability that they have long demanded from the print and broadcast media," said Kranitz. Rather than using a company's own log files to generate statistics, DeepMetrix uses its own software to cull real time, anonymous tracking statistics directly from the visitor's browser as it courses the subject site.
This allows DeepMetrix to take the Website's company out of the stats equation, eliminating any doubt among advertisers as to the veracity of their reported numbers. In addition, the reports are generated and displayed in real time allowing viewers to see the moment-by-moment activity of the site.
For most advertisers, it's almost impossible to judge the validity of traffic claims, especially from sites who tout million-plus "visitor" figures each month. According to Kranitz, "most companies confuse user sessions (visits) with actual unique visitors and, in doing so, artificially inflate their true traffic flow. A single visitor may have multiple sessions within a given day. Counting each session as a visitor drastically overstates a site's true traffic. In addition, most companies count search engine robot and spider visits as actual visitors. DeepMetrix differentiates true visitors and tracks repeat sessions from the same individual, providing an accurate picture of site usage patterns.
Getting Them There is One Thing
Beyond gross user visits, RCUniverse emphasizes user loyalty and retention metrics, which most Web enterprises in the hobby space fail to offer advertisers. Loyalty metrics include aggregate user registrations, monthly registration rates, user return frequencies and average user browsing time. "If a Website does not offer a compelling array of content and superior technology, a user will not remain on the site long enough for advertisements to be effective and they will be less inclined to return, " says Kranitz. "Sites which offer little more than off-the-shelf discussion software and a smattering of content deliver little in the way of long term value to either users or advertisers, regardless of the size or reputation of the company behind the site," he added. Advertisers can better understand a site's "stickiness" by examining the site's feature set and reviewing its loyalty and retention statistics.
Don't Get "Google-Eyed" So Easily
As part of its industry challenge, RCUniverse also warns advertisers to be wary of overblown search engine ranking claims. "Being first in a few generalized keyword searches is nice, but most folks learned years ago that typing in specific keyword phrases is a far more effective way to generate relevant results," said Kranitz. So even though RCUniverse is number one on Google's search engine for general terms like "RC" or "glow motor," it has elected to apply its search engine technology to more detailed keyword phrases. RCUniverse has successfully positioned itself on Google as either the first non-retail Website listed or among the top 4 listings of any type for searches on literally thousands of R/C product combinations such as "Traxxas T-Maxx," "Hangar 9 Mustang," "Raptor 30," "Extra 330" and similarly effective keyword phrases. "Any media company worth their salt will tell you that frequency is critical in gaining user mindshare. The more you appear in targeted searches, the more users perceive you as a source of valuable information," said Kranitz.
Industry advertisers can also gain general perspective on a site's traffic volume through a service named Alexa Internet, Inc., a subsidiary of Amazon.com that tracks and ranks millions of Internet sites. The following chart shows R/C site ratings as compared to all sites on the Net as of March 12, 2004.
Website Overall Web Position
Yahoo 1st
Towerhobbies.com 7,246th
RCUniverse.com 18,826th
Hobby People 36,719th
Hobby-Lobby 40,836th
RC Car Action 84,870th
Wildhobbies.com 88,907th
Radio Control Zone.com 92,388th
Horizon Hobby 160,130th
ModelAircraft.org 210,617th
ezonemag.com 232,288th
RCM Magazine 362,263th
Hi-Torque's RC-Car.com 385,914th
Rotory.com 462,989th
RCBuyersGuide 548,933th
RCRacing.com 723,434 th
RCUniverse stated that advertisers should demand good Web stats just as they would insist on audited circulation numbers when dealing with a print magazine. Advertisers interested in accessing RCUniverse.com's independent, 3rd party, live-online statistics should contact Erick Royer via email.
Statistics reported by DeepMetrix began on March 11, 2004. The challenge is on.
<EDIT> removed starred out listing
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