Yeah, it's pretty crazy...I'm not really interested in my stats for the purpose of selling ad space. I know a lot of guys do. And that's why I looked at the numbers I was seeing in comparison to what the big counters show and was shocked. I was thinking that maybe I wasn't counting right or something.
But the guys at Sex Counter just IM'ed me and gave me a little education on how they do it. And also gave me an insight into how and why some of the crazy numbers that some sites are showing work.
I guess I need to get a work around for how to count people that come to the sites. We have a lot of bookmarked surfers who are very loyal and visit us everyday. But just counting them every 24 hours means that they (and me as well) can NEVER be a unique again. That's the drawback to straight counting. I figure that if a guy is surfing the site at 6 in the afternoon and then comes back at 9 the next morning....he should be a unique. But what about the guy who is surfing at 12:30 a.m. and comes back at 7 in the evening the next night? He wouldn't be a unique...but he probably should be.
All the big counters use cookies...and some of the older ones now trigger every antivirus software known to man...plus all the new anti spyware is working on them too. So the cookies get stripped. And then the next time a surfer visits...even if it's 5 minutes later...guess what? They are a "unique".
And they will be counted as a "unique" every damn time they come to the page!!!!
That's why I'm saying that the counters may not be completely accurate.
They probably look good to the guys who are trying to sell ad space based on "uniques" But since I don't sell "hits" I just want to know the truth about my traffic. Even if it hurts
my ego! LOL!