Web data company Alexa and other ranking guides such as eBizMBA, Compete and Quantcast provide detailed lists of the most popular websites in the world. The figures are updated daily and a variety of criteria is used to determine the rankings, including page views and global reach.
The Best of the Best
Some of the most popular websites today are listed below:
Google, 1,100,000,000 unique visitors a month. Founded in 1998, this search engine aims to make sense of the vast amount of information available on the World Wide Web.
YouTube, has 1,000,000,000 unique visitors a month. Allowing billions of people to distribute, share and watch original video content. YouTube is a Google company, launched in 2005.
Facebook, has 900,000,000 unique visitors a month. With a mission to give people across the world the opportunity to connect and share what’s important to them, Facebook was founded in 2004.
Yahoo, has 750,000,000 unique visitors a month. Described as the largest start-up in the world Yahoo is known for its search engine Yahoo to Search and other services, such as Yahoo Mail, Yahoo News and more. It was founded in 1995.
Amazon, has 500,000,000 unique visitors a month. The largest Internet retailer in the US, Amazon runs individual websites for different geographical areas. Amazon was founded in 1994 and in recent years has diversified significantly.
So what has made these particular websites so successful? Apart from having a unique business concept, taking care that website visitors are not disappointed by what they find is one of the most important ways to ensure they come back again and again. Failing to meet growing expectations reduces the effectiveness of a website.
Ways to maximize impact by making sure a website is:
Full of quality and engaging content – The type and quality of content posted on a website is fundamental to its success or failure. Not only does it play a pivotal role in conversions, it also has a direct impact on rankings in the search engines.
Accessible – A good site must be accessible from every platform or device.
Usable – A website can be all singing and dancing, look great, and get a lot of attention. However, this amounts to nothing if it is too complicated for people to navigate and use. Before launching a site it is really important to check it is usable by asking a few volunteers to complete some simple tasks. Use the feedback they give you to improve your site.
Properly marketed – Traffic needs to be continuously directed to a website through active promotion. Some of the best ways to achieve this is through Search Engine Optimisation, flyers, radio and print, as well as Pay Per Click advertising.
Designed with the target audience in mind – No matter how good-looking you find your website, is it also appealing to the target audience? If not you are in hiding to nothing. Don’t forget to update it regularly to keep it current and fresh.
