Alexa traffic rank?

[lost as always]

I have a question on the stats Alexa shows. A couple actually...

1st, how reliable are they? I have heard they are akin to the "Gold standard" for ranking your site vs others.

2nd, I run two sites. One is listed, one isnt (It's new.)The one that is listed is in the 1.5 million range and it has a green arrow saying I have moved up 2 million over 3 months? What does that mean, good or bad?

It shows my reach increasing by 400%.

They are both small sites (obviously..) The newer one should do a lot better, better content, w3c, etc. Lessons learned..

Can anyone help me out with my questions?

thanks

[hp11]

I have a question on the stats Alexa shows. A couple actually...1st, how reliable are they? I have heard they are akin to the "Gold standard" for ranking your site vs others.

Very unreliable until you start getting into the five and four digit range and then still not that reliable. For example, your traffic can remain exactly the same, but if your visitors have the Alexa toolbar installed while visiting your site - your Alexa ranking will start to go down (where lower is better with Alexa).

2nd, I run two sites...What does that mean, good or bad? It shows my reach increasing by 400%.

Please see above.