When assessing websites as a potential advertising platform, marketers and buyers consider many factors.  One of the prime buying triggers is your website traffic statistics.  Website traffic and usage is inherently very measureable – there are a lot of statistics surrounding the performance of your site, a lot of debate surrounding the best measurement platform to use - all constantly evolving in line with new technology and advertiser needs. 

Only some available website statistics are relevant to advertising buyers and there are several free and paid measurement platforms to consider beyond the statistics which may already come with your site.....

Free Website Traffic Measurement Platforms

Google Analytics – is a free tool which offers multiple functions to measure traffic coming to and using your website.  Particularly for small or niche sites, Google Analytics (GA) should be considered a standard with these statistics reported in place of your own site stats.

When using GA the most relevant statistics for advertising buyers are:

 - Absolute Unique Visitors – the number of individuals (browsers) coming to your site
 - Page Views – the number of web pages downloaded or viewed on your site
 - Time on Site – the average time spent by each visitor on your site
 - Geographic Breakdown – Show your Australian domestic traffic as a % of your total traffic

Alexa – a free ranking tool which allows you to benchmark or compare against sites in your competitive market – there is a lot of controversy regarding their methodology.  The accuracy of their results should not be relied upon but they can be used as a guide to understand your competitive market and your position in it.

Paid Website Traffic Measurement Platforms

Hitwise (Experian) – a ranking tool which is not considered effective to promote to advertising buyers – but does offer other benefits to marketers, media and business owners.

Nielsen NetRatings - provides the digital industry measurement standard or currency and works closely with major media, advertising and marketing bodies across several media platforms. 

Ad agencies and marketers - pay Nielsen a subscription to access a range of audited website statistics and competitive rankings to aid their advertising buying decisions.

Websites - pay Nielsen a monthly (min period) or annual fee.  Sites are then tagged, monitored and provided with audited website traffic results according to their rigorous measurement criteria.  Site statistics are then available in various ways:

Audit Bureaux of Australia – their website audit service measures traffic based on industry best practice taking into account ongoing measurement issues such as auto-refresh of pages, cookies, domestic audience and incorrect page tagging.  Once these standards or rules, have been applied to your site, statistics are available and highlighted as ‘ABA audited’  in Nielsen’s *site statistics and competitive market rankings.

See an example of Nielsen competitive rankings for ABA audited Business Sites here

The ABA have made this audit service available to smaller and niche sites with monthly costs starting at $95 per month + gst.  These costs do rise depending on the number of page view or impressions you serve per month – see further information and costs here

ABA audited sites and statistics are also actively promoted through various advertising media and resources - including MediaScope.  See ABA audited sites (and their statistics) appearing on MediaScope here 

Nielsen Netratings - direct - As the industry standard Nielsen provides a broad range of audience and traffic insights, website analytics and competitive data, directly to agencies and publishers.  Costs vary depending on the level of information you subscribe to and while there may be benefit, can be prohibitive for small-medium publishers.

Online Sales Representation Agencies and Networks - If you sell part or all of your advertising inventory through a third party sales representation agency or network you may be able to access some Nielsen statistics through this relationship.  MediaScope is publishing a Guide to Sales representation agencies and networks in May. Subscribe to our newsletter to see this Guide

Online and digital media is evolving fast – overseas measurement businesses such as ComScore are also entering the Australian market with a growing range of businesses offering internal site analytics, customer relationship management (CRM) and performance platforms. See MediaScope's directory category with early listings of businesses offering research, measurement & analytics.

Some other tips when quoting your website statistics:

 - Always source your stats
 - Give a time frame (showing stats from the most recent calendar month is usually best)
 - Don’t round off numbers
 - Never use the term ‘hits’ to describe traffic coming to your site

While there is a lot of controversy and debate surrounding website and online measurement, most media platforms in the broader advertising industry (ie outdoor, print advertising etc) are having similar debates as marketers require more accountability with their advertising investment. 

By reporting your site statistics accurately and where possible supporting initiatives such as the ABA audit service, you will not only benefit your site but the digital industry at large.

mUmBRELLA is holding an online measurement masterclass in Sydney in mid May - see further information here

'There are lies, damned lies and statistics' - Mark Twain

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