The Compete Top 50 List – No Surprises Here!

Writing by Nick Stamoulis Tweet

Web Pro News shared some information from Compete.com that lists the top 50 websites in the United States by volume of visitors.

Here is the actual Top 50 Website List:

Here are a few observations on the list:

• The No. 1 site on the list is no surprise: Google
• 4 of the top 10 sites are search engines (5 if you count You Tube)
• 3 of the top 10 sites are Microsoft properties
• 2 of the top 4 sites are Google properties
• The top 5 sites are all search engines or social media websites
• The No. 1 e-commerce site on the list is Amazon.com (No. 6)
• The top 3 e-commerce sites are Amazon.com, eBay and Walmart

Let’s stop right there. Of the top 13 sites, only 4 are not a search engine, social media site or Wikipedia – and one of those is Microsoft.com. This begs the question, what does it take to be a top website (or a highly trafficked one)?

Judging by the list I’d say you need to own the real estate, rent it (all of the top 10 sites are sites that provide a service for others in some manner that allows the owner to benefit from the usability of the masses). Secondly, you’ve got to offer a service with broad appeal. This is an appeal that is much broader than having a niche website. We all know that having a niche website is key to build your business online and is also a must to do very well with you search engine optimziation and search engine marketing efforts.

I believe it will be more and more difficult to break into the top 50 sites, but companies that manage to do so will do if they do all the right things and have a substantial marketing and advertising budgets. Even companies that focus on the best marketing practices, will stand a better chance of being considered a high traffic website, whether they make the top 50 or not, at the end of they day they too can be very successful online.