Today I read a press release which grossly understated a websites statistics and referenced Compete.com as the source. Journalists, please note – this is not a credible source. How do I know the numbers are off? I am the one who actually tracks them for the site mentioned.

I decided to check it out using my blog, and I was encouraged to see that I got over 20,000 visitors in January. The only problem is that I really didn’t get that many visits. At the risk of full disclosure, lets just say, they are (way) off — the site, while growing, did not see even 10,000 visitors in January — or December of February for those that are thinking it may be off by a month.

So what’s the moral of the story? Trying to speculate a site traffic is not a good thing, and I imagine could get you in trouble if you are a journalist.

As for Compete.com – I don’t think that is a great way to demo analytics software, but that’s just my opinion. If customers notice this kind of discrepancy, it may alter their perception of the paid versions of the software.

NOTE: I regret that I am unable to disclose the exact reference or website due to my relationship with the company.

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