Global Fastener News

PERSPECTIVE: What is the Meaning Of 100,000 Hits?

John Wolz

Many web sites are bragging about the number of hits � or visits � they receive, but one fastener Internet service provider said he barely pays attention to the totals.
This month FIN has received several news releases from fastener web search sites proudly claiming 5- and 6-figure �hits� for January.
�How many are the constant spiders from search engines? How many are people finding the site and moving on?� asked Ralph Nissen, the president of Industry Trade Systems ITS Inc.
A claim of 100,000 hits in a day, a week or a month �is not a very valuable number � unfortunately,� Nissen said.
It is unfortunate because many of those selling advertising on web sites honestly want to be able to give good numbers to advertisers.
�How many of those are actually using and benefiting from the site?� is the better question, Nissen said. But there aren�t easy answers yet.
For decades there have been third-party auditing systems monitoring the quantity and quality of magazine readership for advertisers. In the past few years similar quality assurance programs have been developed for trade shows.
But Nissen said he hasn�t seen a good system for web sites.
His www.tradesys.com/fasteners web site does provide testimonials from customers in the U.S., India, Taiwan and Canada with e-mail addresses of those doing the praising so inquirers can verify their individual results.
There is software to monitor steps at a site and where people go from there, Nissen noted. The Excite search engine is studying ways to keep people at a site longer.
But how much time do busy people want to spend on questionable statistics, Nissen asked.
�That is very tedious,� he finds. �We�ve got plenty better to do. We are not spending any effort monitoring hits. There is absolutely no significance.�
Nissen has paid for banner ads for ITS on search engines and found it �a rather expensive way to generate traffic.�
ITS even tried advertising on Yahoo but, like other independents, got bumped when the Thomas Register negotiated a contract for all industrial products.
The number Nissen does watch is the number of Requests for Quotations. He says his numbers show a 360% increase from 1998 to 1999 in the number of RFQs submitted. �That is the key issue,� he emphasized.
Indeed his web site proclaims, �Find buyer, make sale. Isn�t that what it�s all about?�