Mike Ran

What Your Email Address Says About Computer Skills

mike — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 04:36:02 +0000

CANCUN

mike — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 04:18:04 +0000

Thats right! Mai and I are taking a vacation in Cancun for 6 days!

Mike Ran Interviews Fedor

mike — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 04:13:30 +0000

I had a surreal experience interviewing Fedor Emelianenko last week. Here are a few of my thoughts on The Last Emperor. It wasn’t easy though, thats one busy man!

Trailer for Strikeforce: Nashville

mike — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 21:21:27 +0000

Cung Le: I’m Hoping for a Rematch with Scott Smith ASAP

mike — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 10:47:24 +0000

Catching up with Daniel Cormier

mike — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 00:22:20 +0000

Taken right after I beat Daniel 4 times at the UFC game. lol

Scott Coker Joins Twitter!

mike — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 06:05:45 +0000

I decided to film this historic occasion. @cokersf

The Fresh Prince Strikes Again

mike — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 23:45:49 +0000

What do Alexa Rankings Really Mean?

mike — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 09:39:29 +0000

Alexa is commonly used to quantify the value of websites by comparing their rankings. However, how do sites like Alexa, Compete, or Quantcast gather their traffic data?. Most people overlook the fact that you can’t directly or legally monitor someone else’s website activity. As a result, these websites take samples from the population. Alexa only gathers information from those with the Alexa Toolbar installed. You know, the thing on Alexa.com they REALLY wants you to download:

This may be old news for online advertisers and such, but the statistics on Alexa, Compete, and Quantcast can be extremely misleading for the general public. After all, the information is presented in such a way that it appears as fact. But alas, that data is collected from the surfing patterns of a tiny sample of the population.

Moreover, Alexa rankings heavily favor websites with a focus on web, social media, online marketing, or the like. This is because a tech-savvy fan base drastically increases the likelihood of the Alexa toolbar being installed.

In conclusion, Alexa is tremendously flawed as a method of measuring a website’s traffic. However, since Alexa purports that their information is accurate, and since we live in an imperfect world, Alexa rankings will still be commonly used by advertisers to measure your site’s worth and by CEO’s to back up their late afternoon emails.

My advice: Use a real method to track your own web traffic so you have some accurate numbers and charts to show potential clients or bosses. If you still care about your Alexa rankings, download the toolbar (if you don’t mind having your internet activities tracked) and visit your own website at least 5 times a day (who doesn’t already?). Even if you are the only person visiting your site, your ranking will dramatically improve. Also, install a widget on your site so your visitors are more likely to install the toolbar as well.

The Life, Times, and Death of Internet Explorer 6

mike — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 22:18:51 +0000

by Brad Colbow