Bandwidth Increased Dramitically.

[overclocker23]

Hey,
I launched my website on July 1, 2003. In my first month I recevied about 25,000 visitors and my total bandwidth usage was 76.023 MB at the end of July. When I asked people that how come I received 25000 visitors but my bandwidth usage was only 76MB. They told me that my users were probably caching my website and that is why my website is not eating bandwidth. BUT now in August, so far I have received little over 4000 visitors in 6 days and my bandwidth usage so far is 108.32MB. My biggest page on the website is 30KB which is my index.html page.

Can anyone tell me what is going on here? Am I supposed to be using this much bandwidth or was my first month stats wrong?

Thanks for your help.

[Maxtr0sity]

Thats not bad, I keep my site uncached, I have 20GB of bandwith to waste and I've used around 300MB this month so far. The biggest file on my server is around 20MB. But then thats a private file. Biggest public file is less than 1MB always.

[overclocker23]

I know this is not bad at all. But I was really surprised at my stats for July since it only showed total usage of 76MB. How can you uncache or cache your website? Is there an option that I should look for in my control panel for the server?

[Maxtr0sity]

I think I'm using a javascript so the page or at least content won't save on their computer.

[overclocker23]

I see. I have 30GB of bandwidth to burn. If I run into problems then I might think about caching the website but other wise I am alright for now. :)

[Maxtr0sity]

Since most of my users are 56k+, I can do that, but if most are 56k-ers, then I'd cache more.

[overclocker23]

I just switched to dsl 2 weeks ago and I never had problems with my website not loading fast enough. The index page is only 29.9KB and every other page is smaller than that so I am pretty good for now. :)

[Maxtr0sity]

I think 20GB is well enough for most websites. Unless you are doing like a download site, no need for more.

[thoriphes]

how do you guys get traffic to your site? i've only gotten like 20 unique people since early yesterday.

[DigitalPimp]

Umm sorry guys but if the user is caching your site then it won't even register a hit. It is just like say using a local or offline copy of the site. Also, if your reading just logs of users hitting your site then that is skewed. For every page that the same user hits will register a hit in your logs. You are quoting 'pages accessed' and not unique impressions (or visitors).

[Maxtr0sity]

Thor, forums are really attractive, plus, often updates on the site with content helps too.

[overclocker23]

We are talking about visitors. I am getting over 1 million hits every month. Over 50,000 page views and over 25,000 visitors.

[DigitalPimp]

What's ur url?

[overclocker23]

Like Maxtor said content is the big thing. Design is not the biggest that people look for. It is nice to have a good layout but paying 100% attention to the design will not do you any good. Put more and more and more content for everyone to read. If your website is about flash then put daily news related to flash and what is going on in the industry. People want content and not some pretty website. Forums help alot. Forums give people something to look forward to.

[Maxtr0sity]

I wish I had that much. :blush:

[overclocker23]

www.CoolTechZone.com

[DigitalPimp]

Originally posted by overclocker23
Like Maxtor said content is the big thing. Design is not the biggest that people look for. It is nice to have a good layout but paying 100% attention to the design will not do you any good. Put more and more and more content for everyone to read. If your website is about flash then put daily news related to flash and what is going on in the industry. People want content and not some pretty website. Forums help alot. Forums give people something to look forward to.

What does this have to do with anything? :crazy: (-:

[Maxtr0sity]

Looks pretty cool. But your forum isn't too popular it seems. Otherwise, I think content is whats basically attracting.

[thoriphes]

Originally posted by Maxtr0sity
Thor, forums are really attractive, plus, often updates on the site with content helps too. so what, you're saying i should get a forum?

[overclocker23]

Like Maxtor said content is the big thing. Design is not the biggest that people look for. It is nice to have a good layout but paying 100% attention to the design will not do you any good. Put more and more and more content for everyone to read. If your website is about flash then put daily news related to flash and what is going on in the industry. People want content and not some pretty website. Forums help alot. Forums give people something to look forward to.

This is for the guy who wants to know how we get that much traffic.

[overclocker23]

Yes, definitly get a forum. It will help alot.

[Maxtr0sity]

Yea, definitely, but it's pretty hard to run a good forum. Personally, I run a pretty rough forum. We have around less than 20 active people, and they make the majority of the posts. It's rough because of mostly language and lots and lots of flame wars on my forum. But then it's just a general forum, it has nothing to do with flash mostly. A forum like kirupa is very difficult to expand. You'd have to make something amazing or really attractive to make a good site.

[overclocker23]

Looks pretty cool. But your forum isn't too popular it seems. Otherwise, I think content is whats basically attracting.

I know but it is alright I guess. I was looking at bigger tech sites and only some of them seem to have huge forums. Nowadays, I think people just want to read and that is it. No one has time talk about what they thought.

[Maxtr0sity]

Tech isn't much talk as to knoledge (mispelled). But I think theres too many out there to make one really successful. Some popular ones like Wired and such get big hits. Other than that, it's really hard to attract people in this field.

[overclocker23]

I agree. First of all, your site needs to have some experience. You can expect your forum to get popular like websites. I know that my website receives over 25000 visitors every month but that doesn't mean that my forum will become as popular as my website in month. Forums take alot of time to get popular.

[Maxtr0sity]

Same with my site, it's more general than a purpose. I've been asked man times what is the purpose of the site. Quite frankly, I don't really quite know. Right now, I'm just using it for a place to mellow out and let people socialize.

[overclocker23]

By tech I meant computer hardware. I am not talking about medical tech or anything like that. Motherboards, CPU, overclocking, hard drives, heat sinks are all part of my website.

[Maxtr0sity]

Plus, your site will become more popular if you offer services. Right now, the main attraction for my site is the few tutorials staff is poping out every once in a while. Also, I do much volunteer hosting for people, so basically, thats what the attraction is all about.

[Maxtr0sity]

Originally posted by overclocker23
By tech I meant computer hardware. I am not talking about medical tech or anything like that. Motherboards, CPU, overclocking, hard drives, heat sinks are all part of my website.
Again, there are too many other sites out there are more focused on specific topis. Such as overlclocking, www.overclockers.com (I think or something like that), that is a major one, and they've became really popular lately.

[overclocker23]

Attractoin for my website is reviews and articles about computer hardware. We talk about getting the ultimate performance from your hardware. We finished our first contest which attracted some people.

[DigitalPimp]

Originally posted by overclocker23
I agree. First of all, your site needs to have some experience. You can expect your forum to get popular like websites. I know that my website receives over 25000 visitors every month but that doesn't mean that my forum will become as popular as my website in month. Forums take alot of time to get popular.

You really need to redo your graphics. A lot of them have drop shadows with white backgrounds in a table that has a blue background.

[Maxtr0sity]

Contests are big. But then you have to do rewards and such, right now, I'm on a low budget plus I'm not even old enough to get a credit card yet so I can't afford such stuff. Other than that, I'm suprised how much people can stand this type of stuff. Every tech site (millions) do reviews and articles everyday about hardware. So, it's a hard market to attract visitors like this because there are simply just too many of them. But then once you've established a unique point of view to your general audiences, you can expand on that.

[DigitalPimp]

Originally posted by overclocker23
Attractoin for my website is reviews and articles about computer hardware. We talk about getting the ultimate performance from your hardware. We finished our first contest which attracted some people.

that isn't original either. Go check out www.tomshardware.com. He is better because they get beta hardware that isn't released yet.

[Maxtr0sity]

Originally posted by DigitalPimp
You really need to redo your graphics. A lot of them have drop shadows with white backgrounds in a table that has a blue background.
Hmmm, where?

[overclocker23]

Again, there are too many other sites out there are more focused on specific topis. Such as overlclocking, www.overclockers.com (I think or something like that), that is a major one, and they've became really popular lately.

I agree but when the sites get big they stop to care about their visitors. They get biased about products and they only care about money and that is why people look for smaller sites who can provide them with true reviews.

[Maxtr0sity]

Originally posted by DigitalPimp
that isn't original either. Go check out www.tomshardware.com. He is better because they get beta hardware that isn't released yet.
Good point, new stuff is crucial, but if you just write reviews and stuff after things come out and base it on what other people say, it isn't really that much exciting. You need a budget that you can get new stuff yourself or your company to be able to know this stuff and write about personal experiences.

[overclocker23]

For now my graphics are fine.

[Maxtr0sity]

Originally posted by overclocker23
I agree but when the sites get big they stop to care about their visitors. They get biased about products and they only care about money and that is why people look for smaller sites who can provide them with true reviews.
Hmm, I'm not sure I can agree with that. Visitors are crucial to a site and I think most webmasters care about visitors than anything else, afterall, they do make the site popular.

[overclocker23]

I agree that tomshardware gets stuff before it is released but how do expect a new hardware website to get stuff that is released before it out in the market. We don't base our reviews on other websites. We are all about truth. Once our alexa rating is under 40,000 we should get stuff before it is released.

[DigitalPimp]

Originally posted by Maxtr0sity
Hmmm, where?

http://www.cooltechzone.com/images/banner.jpg

Also, this image has a white bg but is in a table with a blue background.
http://www.cooltechzone.com/images/link_3.png

[overclocker23]

Tomshardwareguide is just a big sellout. They only care about money. They try to bash smaller sites. Trust me I have read alot from HardOCP and other websites. I have talked to the webmasters from other big tech sites and I have gotten a pretty bad response.

[overclocker23]

thanks for the info digitalpimp. I am trying to get some money in my pockets so I can get a professional graphic designer to work on my site.

[DigitalPimp]

Originally posted by overclocker23
I agree that tomshardware gets stuff before it is released but how do expect a new hardware website to get stuff that is released before it out in the market. We don't base our reviews on other websites. We are all about truth. Once our alexa rating is under 40,000 we should get stuff before it is released.

Umm.... They are in the corporate world. They have had relationships with these companies and do 'networking' with them.

[DigitalPimp]

Originally posted by overclocker23
thanks for the info digitalpimp. I am trying to get some money in my pockets so I can get a professional graphic designer to work on my site.

No problem. You should had offered to trade some design work for one of those processors... I would had done that. If you get anymore toys like that and wanna trade let me know.

[overclocker23]

So what if they have relationships with these companies. That doesn't mean that they should lie to their visitors and do favorable reviews. You can check out hardocp.com or anandtech.com They don't lie to their visitors. There are only few websites who don't care about money. Anandtech or hardocp refused to change their reviews when they were contacted by manufacturers.

[overclocker23]

I will let you know. :)

[overclocker23]

I used to love tomshardware guide one time but nowadays people don't want to talk about it because they are worthless these days. Anandtech and HardOCP are currently the 2 most visited sites by hardware enthusiasts.

[DigitalPimp]

Originally posted by overclocker23
So what if they have relationships with these companies. That doesn't mean that they should lie to their visitors and do favorable reviews. You can check out hardocp.com or anandtech.com They don't lie to their visitors. There are only few websites who don't care about money. Anandtech or hardocp refused to change their reviews when they were contacted by manufacturers.

Welcome to the real world.

There is a reason why Tom's is so big. Don't take offense but you must still be young. It is called politics (people doing favors to get what they want). However, I haven't seen Tom's do any skewed reviews. What products do they favor?

[overclocker23]

Check out this editorial done by amdmb about THG (toms hardware guide)

http://www.amdmb.com/article-display.php?ArticleID=243

[overclocker23]

I understand it is politics and the reason why they are so big. I may be young but I still understand what is going on? :)

One time I saw THG reviewing an Athlon XP and in the benchmarks they used a Celeron 333Mhz CPU against it. What kind of benchmarking is that?

They always try to make Intel look bad.
Have you read the editorial, what the hell is that? THG doesn't have the right to do something like that.

If it is polictics then how come hardocp and anandtech stick to their guns and doesn't change their opinions about products when THG changes their opinions all the time as soon as they get threatned by their advertisers.

[overclocker23]

THG can be compared to Anandtech and HardOCP.

Anandtech earns more than 1 million dollars in advertising alone and Anand received a car from one of the sponsors but does that mean that he should do favorable reviews for them.

I emailed anand and he told me that no matter what they don't do favorable reviews. He said that when manufacturers send them products they are well aware of Anandtech's strict rules of testing products and they will tell the truth whether manufacturer likes it or not.

[DigitalPimp]

Originally posted by overclocker23
I understand it is politics and the reason why they are so big. I may be young but I still understand what is going on? :)

One time I saw THG reviewing an Athlon XP and in the benchmarks they used a Celeron 333Mhz CPU against it. What kind of benchmarking is that?

They always try to make Intel look bad.
Have you read the editorial, what the hell is that? THG doesn't have the right to do something like that.

If it is polictics then how come hardocp and anandtech stick to their guns and doesn't change their opinions about products when THG changes their opinions all the time as soon as they get threatned by their advertisers.

You mean like when THG OCed a P4 2.26 to a p4 3.4? I don't think that is bad press...

http://www.tomshardware.com/howto/20030224/asetek_vapochill-12.html

Or how about this article where it shows Intel dominates the field?

http://www.tomshardware.com/cpu/20030217/cpu_charts-32.html#comparison_table

[overclocker23]

Hardocp overclocked a 3Ghz @ 4.44Ghz

[DigitalPimp]

Originally posted by overclocker23
Hardocp overclocked a 3Ghz @ 4.44Ghz

My point wasn't who could overclock more. It was, if they put more weight into AMD then why didn't they OC a AMD instead of Intel and furthermore, why did they push the limits on the CPU as much as they did if they wanted to make Intel look bad? You can't say look @ hardocp they oced it another .26ghz more so obvisiouly THG is biased because the architecture is different.

PS If I ended up not being good @ computers I would had been a lawyer...

[overclocker23]

By looking at the editorial I still believe that thg is very biased and everytime I talk to people and other webmaster they don't want to talk about thg.

[overclocker23]

My whole point is that small sites can go big if they stick to details, good content, unbiased reviews and articles.

[overclocker23]

Surely THG can't bias intel openly. They have to make people believe that they are truthful but they change their reviews alot. One night I read about Intel in which they gave good comments but in the morning they changed the whole point of view. I later found out they did this because they were threatned by AMD since AMD is their biggest advertiser.

[Maxtr0sity]

I think it all results by money. All sites starts out small wishing to make it popular, once it does, money starts to become a factor. When money is involved, everything goes down the drain and truth is not in the water anymore. It is almost impossible to have a big site and yet tell the truth without the money factor involved.

[overclocker23]

Anandtech has lots of ads but they still tell truth.

HardOCP doesn't have many ads and they still tell the truth but why does other big websites have to sell out.