Time will tell if their new venture into hostile waters will succeed. Many marketers and Webmasters are struggling to understand and communicate site statistics and what they mean. It is very important to understand that generating statistics from site traffic is an art, rather than an exact science. While there are many factors and variables to consider when calculating site statistics, some of which can be misleading, valuable information can still be obtained. This number can give a quick idea of traffic, it is also very inaccurate, as it only reveals the total number of successful requests for information from the Web server, of which there can be many for each page viewed.
Factors affecting 'hits' include the number of html files and graphics requested for each page.
A site with frames will greatly affect hits, as each frame requires a separate file- usually between three and five files total for each page. A more accurate number has since been developed, 'pages viewed,' which incorporates the number of hits divided by the number of information requests. While the pages viewed number cannot tell how many users are accessing how many pages, it has been adopted as the industry standard for measuring site traffic until better statistical packages are developed. Simple but effective content delivery includes hotlinks to related stories, audio and video enhancements as well as a searchable article archive. Like other news delivery systems, there is a free customized news feature which requires registration, not to worry, they do not divulge the data to third parties.