Web analytics, web metrics, and how to use them to track and improve conversions

Seems to be a lot of talk in the Blogosphere on Metrics since HitWise muddied the water with the MySpace - Yahoo comparison a couple of days ago.  And just when Nielson came up with a study about podcasting and blogs Comscore comes out with a study showing the popularity of blogs.  According to Comscore:

• Visitation to blogs continues to grow rapidly, showing a 56-percent increase during the past year to 58.7 million visitors. This figure represents 34 percent of the total internet audience. [shorthand: 34% of the internet audience visited blogs]
  
  
• The top blog network is Google-owned Blogger.com, garnering 20.8 million visitors in May 2006. MySpace Blogs ranked second with 14.4 million visitors (up 115 percent), while MSN Spaces ranked third with 9.6 million visitors (up 205 percent).
  
  
• The top special interest blog in May was TVSquad.com with more than two million visitors, followed by FreeRepublic.com (up seven percent to 1.6 million visitors) and Breitbart.com (1.6 million visitors).
  
  
• Visitation to the Blogs category skews toward younger internet users. People between the ages of 12 and 17 are 21 percent more likely than average to visit blogs, while those 18 to 34 are 14 percent more likely to do so. [younger people are more interested in content  - not as tied to where it comes from]
  
  
• Blog visitation also shows slight skews to higher income households. Households with incomes of at least $75,000 are eight percent more likely than average to frequent blogs. [browsing the internet for blog content is something people who are strugling to survive are not as likely to engage in]

The Comscore gives direct numbers of uniques - for Blog Networks (see below)

Top 10 Blog Networks by Unique Visitor May 2006 vs. May 2005 Total U.S. - Home, Work and University Locations

Unique Visitors (000)   May-05 May-06 % Change Total Internet : Total Audience 165,420 172,120 4 Blogs 37,703 58,738 56 Blogger 12,871 20,811 62 MySpace Blogs 6,700 14,434 115 MSN Spaces 3,140 9,566 205 XANGA.COM 8,397 7,146 -15 Yahoo! 360° N/A 4,936 N/A TYPEPAD.COM 4,948 4,608 -7 LIVEJOURNAL.COM 7,394 3,904 -47 AOL Journals 2,199 1,367 -38 GREATESTJOURNAL.COM 987 666 -33 WORDPRESS.COM N/A 571 N/A

Source: comScore Media Metrix

In general, blogs that are not hosted in one of the big blog networks take up about 19% of the internet audience for blogs  with Blogger.com blogs taking up about 8%, etc; MSN Spaces and MySpace.com blogs are growing the fastest.

Special Interest blogs are also measured by Comscore and I only read two or three of these blogs (the one's on the bottom).

Top 10 Special Interest Blogs by Unique Visitor May 2006 vs. May 2005 Total U.S. - Home, Work and University Locations

Unique Visitors (000)   Mar-05 Mar-06 % Change Total Internet : Total Audience 165,420 172,120 4 Blogs 37,703 58,738 56 TVSQUAD.COM N/A 2,062 N/A FREEREPUBLIC.COM 1,507 1,612 7 BREITBART.COM N/A 1,577 N/A BLOGGINGBABY.COM 110 903 721 AUTOBLOG.COM 93 857 822 THESUPERFICIAL.COM 448 772 72 DEFAMER.COM 458 740 62 GAWKER.COM 312 735 136 ENGADGET.COM 641 686 7 GIZMODO.COM 250 659 163

Source: comScore Media Metrix

Finally, Comscore gives us Demographics for Online readership of blogs.

Demographic Profile of Visitors to the Blogs Category Percent Composition of Unique Visitors and Composition Index May 2006

% Composition of Unique Visitors Composition Index Persons - Age     Persons: 12-17 11.9 121 Persons: 18-34 30.0 114 Persons: 35-44 19.4 106 Persons: 45-54 19.5 97 Persons: 55+ 14.2 81       Household Income     Under $25K 8.7 92 $25,000 - $39,999 9.4 87 $40,000 - $59,999 25.8 96 $60,000 - $74,999 14.8 101 $75K+ 41.3 108       Region (US)     West North Central 9.8 111 Mountain 6.6 95 Pacific 16.6 107 New England 6.1 107 Mid Atlantic 14.0 99 South Atlantic 16.0 94 East South Central 4.6 87 West South Central 10.6 106 East North Central 15.5 95

Source: comScore Media Metrix

So, if you read blogs and participate in them you might well be in the 41.3% of the Internet Audience that makes over 75,000 a year.