# Hits are misses

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2004/10/19/hits-are-misses/
- Published: 2004-10-19T23:00:00+01:00
- Author: Howard Lake

The Institute of Fundraising has praised its new online recruitment partner Charityjobs.
co.uk by referring to the misleading and irrelevant measurement of “hits”.

In a letter to members the Institute’s CEO Lindsay Boswell announces the partnership
with Charityjobs.co.uk whereby Institute members will be encouraged to pay to advertise
with one supplier rather than others.

The deal is promoted to members on the grounds that it will help generate new income
for the Institute. However, Boswell extols the deal in terms of the fact that Charityjobs.
co.uk attracts “more than one million hits to their… site each month”. Hits, as 
most users will know, is an irrelevant method of measuring a website’s popularity
since it merely refers to the number of files accessed on a website. These files
would include graphics, CSS files, javascripts, and a whole range of other types
of files. Not surprisingly just one page view trigger 20 or more ‘hits’.

## Advertisement

The partnership involves the Institute emailing those members who opt in to it a
weekly alert. However, the alert is just that – the same message published each 
week, without details of particular jobs. It’s an effective way of generating visits
to the charityjobs.co.uk site because subscribers, who’ve already indicated an interest
in receiving vacancy alerts by signing up, have to click through to the website 
in order just to see what is available. A surefire way of boosting visits and, if
you insist, ‘hits’ on a website.

Needless to say, UK Fundraising should declare an interest. As an online recruitment
provider this site earns income from selling recruitment advertising.

The Institute’s decision to promote one supplier over the many others in the sector
puts UK Fundraising, whose founder is a long time member of the Institute, in an
invidious position. As a member one is supposed to do all one can to support the
Institute, or at any rate not harm it. By promoting our online recruitment service
we are effectively encouraging advertisers to eschew that of the Institute, which
could financially harm the Institute.

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