“Perry Marshall is more popular than the Rolling Stones and The Beatles!”

Alexa.com ranks the popularity of various websites. For example, Alexa tells you that the #1 website in the world is Yahoo!, MSN is #2 and Google is #3.

I checked out my own stats on Alexa and I discovered that I, Perry Marshall, am more popular than the Rolling Stones AND the Beatles.

(At least on the Internet.)

Yes, that’s right. And here’s a graph, generated by Alexa, to prove it:

The Beatles and the Rolling Stones are trolling the bottom, and mine is in the top 20,000.

In some circles I’m considered an “Internet Marketing Guru” – which is something I never actually set out to become. I was doing a lot of consulting work for other companies and selling marketing toolkits, and was actually pulled into the Internet Marketing business by Ken McCarthy, who needed a Google AdWords expert to speak at his renowned System seminar.

And yes – as you can see, I do know how to get people to come to a website – and come back – and come back some more.

So now that I am cast in this unlikely role, I need to point out that not everyone who’s selling you web marketing advice has proof that their methods work. “Internet Marketing” in particular is a field littered with charlatans and scam artists.

So be careful who you listen to out there! Alexa is not a bad place to check up on so-called experts.

“How to Lie with Statistics”

There’s still another twist, though.

What I just showed you is (potentially anyway) a textbook example of  ”How to lie with statistics.” Why?

Because my Alexa rating vs. a Beatles or Rolling Stone Alexa ranking is an apples-to-oranges comparison, in not one way, but two.

Do you know how Alexa gets their ratings?

Mostly with data from their Alexa toolbar, and also, I think, from Google.

Who uses the Alexa toolbar?

Marketing people. Not rock & roll fans.

Who advertises on Google?

I do, but Beatles and Rolling Stone fan sites probably don’t do so much of that.

My site may in fact get more traffic from those other sites, I don’t really know. But the Alexa rating is misleading if you want to compare my site to the Beatles. It’s NOT misleading, however, if you want to compare me with some other marketer.

Why? Because the same kinds of people go to marketing sites, and the situations are comparable.

There’s another thing: The biggest part of my business comes from the Internet, but that’s not the case with a rock band. The biggest part of a rock band’s business comes from live concerts.

A website and a rock concert –  not the same thing!

Which is to say that “offline marketing”  phone conversations, direct mail, seminars, TV and radio, trade shows, physical products and yes, even rock concerts – can be just as important to your business as your website.

My favorite strategy: Find people ON the web, then take them offline for more varieties of communication and experience. Phone conversations. Direct mail. Seminars. Trade shows. TV and radio. Real physical products. And maybe even rock concerts.

Perry Marshall

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