Audience measurement tools

These sites provide information about visitor behavior, including page views, time spent on pages, demographics, the sites that your visitors are coming from, pathways through the site, and more.

Measuring your audience: Free services

• Yahoo! Web Analytics
• Yahoo! WebLog Expert
• Google Analytics
• Alexa
• Compete
• Quantcast
• StatCounter
• WordPress Plugin Directory: Track your WordPress blog's statistics.
• Google FeedBurner: Tracking for your blog or podcast.

Measuring your audience: For-pay services

• ComScore: Also look for free information about top trends in the blog and Press & Events area.
• Nielsen NetRatings: Check the Insights menu for free information.
• Omniture
• Lyris HQ Web Analytics
• Hitwise

Miscellaneous tracking tools

• Yahoo! Site Explorer: Track incoming links to your site.
• Yahoo! MyBlogLog: Find out who's visiting your site.
• Google Webmaster Tools: See which keywords Google identified on your page, track incoming links, see what terms users are searching for on your site, and find out how many Google-based RSS feed subscribers you have.

User testing

• Nielsen Norman Group: See the Publications section for information on buying reports on audience segments and on conducting user testing. You can also find plenty of free information about the general Web audience and usability on Jakob Nielsen's site, useit.com.

Surveys

• SurveyMonkey: A tool for building surveys and collating the results, with both free and for-pay options.

Other research

• Pew Internet & American Life Project: Trends in U.S. Internet usage.
• U.S. Census Bureau: General demographic information on the U.S. populace.
• U.S. Census Bureau International Data Base: Global demographics.