Honesty in Advertising on the Internet
Defining The Terms
There is an awful lot of misinformation being tossed around about advertising on the internet. First, let's define the terms. This is important because the number of "hits" can be up to 50 times the number of "visitors".
Page = A "Page" is what you are looking at now. It is like a page in a magazine. This page has no "Frames".
Frame = A "Frame" is a Page within a Page. This is important because even though a "Frame" may be only one line long it is still counted as a "Hit" if it is clicked by a "Visitor".
Visitor = A "Visitor" is someone who come to a Page. In many ways, this is the ONLY measure that counts.
Pages Visited = "Pages Visited" is the number of pages a "Visitor" goes to. Pages Visited are NOT repeat NOT"Hits".
Hit = A "Hit" is a click on either a "Page" OR a "Frame" within a "Page". Some advertisers have as many as a hundred "Frames" per "Page". Then if they get 100 "Visitors" and each visitor clicks on every frame, (for example in a catalog) that space seller can claim 10,000 "Hits", and that is where the deception begins - Ho, Ho, Ho..
Click Through = A "Click Through" is when some one visits a "Page", clicks on a link and goes to another "Page" or "Frame" on the same page. It doesn't matter which, it still counts as a "Click Through". For example, a "Visitor" might click and go from your Home Page to Directories, to Hunting, to Bird Hunting, to Waterfowl, to Ducks, and finally to Mallards (One "Visitor", 6 "Hits" or 6 "Click Throughs" depending on how the salesman wants to define it.). Deceiving The Advertiser
Unscrupulous space sellers will define "Hits" as "Visitors" or often as "Impressions", which is often just a made up promotion word to make it seem as though a page is having more "Visitors" than is true. Find our what kind of "Impressions" they are talking about.
Remember, only YOU can determine, from your own statistics, how many people "Visitors" come to your page.
Remember, "Number of Pages Visited" is a very important figure but it is NOT "Hits". Hits are a measure of the number of "Pages" PLUS the number of "Frames" on those Pages clicked by a Visitor. "Hits" is an a space sellers dream term because it can be so easily manipulated.
Remember, given the present technology, the only you can tell you how many "Click Throughs" there are to your site from another site (from your own statistics which will tell you where a "Visitor" comes coming from). NO advertiser can tell you that.
Don't fall for promotional words like "Impressions" or "Viewership" as statistics. These are promotional words. There is no service that measures these things.
Finally, and I guess no one has to tell you this, if an advertiser uses deceptive terms, he is probably using deceptive figures as well. Good luck and take care