massive increase in traffic???

[essdeekay]

Tweet

Hello,

I have today had a massive increase in traffic - more than the rest of December put together!

I have awstats installed - how can I find out where this traffic is coming from - in particular since 7 am this morning.

I would love to know - maybe I've hit the big time on some of my search terms??!!!!


Si

[rich7111]

If you have cpanel you may be able to check the last 300 visitors, that usually tells you about search phrases or referrals

[Brett]

Hello,

I have today had a massive increase in traffic - more than the rest of December put together!

I have awstats installed - how can I find out where this traffic is coming from - in particular since 7 am this morning.

I would love to know - maybe I've hit the big time on some of my search terms??!!!!
Si

My AWSTATs doesn't update until the following morning. I would check your raw log files if you need up to date information on visitors (or use the lastest visitors section of Cpanel if you have it).

Cheers
Brett

[mattlindsay]

This might sound a little odd.....but
Be a little careful.

The reason I say this is that I have in the past (ahem) tested a market using PPC (adwords etc) to check some popularity of keywords. If I don't have site ready I will point them to someone elses's relevant site. There's a chance they will get a flood of traffic from it.

So my warning would be that there might be someone trying to bust into your market. Search Goog and note all the PPC campaigns. If any of them point to your site and you havn't made them, then watch out, you will likely have a new competitor coming in!

but obviously check the referer stats in Awstats!

(p.s. if anyone didn't know this technique for market research, naff off, it's mine )

[essdeekay]

Thanks all,

Matt, why would someone do that - would it just be to gather some google stats???

Si

[KieronD]

The reason I say this is that I have in the past (ahem) tested a market using PPC (adwords etc) to check some popularity of keywords. If I don't have site ready I will point them to someone elses's relevant site. There's a chance they will get a flood of traffic from it.

What an expensive way to test keywords! There are loads of free tools out there to check keyword popularity, I can't believe you are paying to send visitors to a competitors site!

[mattlindsay]

Too true, it is an expensive way, and I would hesitate before doing it nowadays, but tbh I have never found a REALLY accurate way of assesing the depth of a market before getting in. If at all possible I would send the visitors through an affiliate link, but I know of others using this kind of principle.

In all fairness though, spending a few quid (or a few hundred quid) before investing thousands is not unreasonable. I always believe that a business starts before you start a business and I rarely resent investing in things that enable me to make a well informed decision.

Having said all that, it was only a possible theory I was suggesting. Have you got any further to the bottom of this?

[essdeekay]

Yeah it would seem to be that someone had dropped a link to my site on a very popular forum (thanks!) as well as a link from someone else's blog.

Cheers

Si