10 Tools for Web Research

Sat, Mar 7, 2009 Posted By:Eric Friedman

Marketing.fm, Technology

At any given time I am usually trying to find out more information about a website or company and I thought I would share 10 ways I search for information and tools I use on the web.

10tools
Photo by booleansplit


dataopedia
1. DataOPedia – Basis stats, PR, Screen capture, traffic from Alexa, quantcast, and compete. Also has great popularity links from a variety of services.
Facebook Example Looking forward to them getting the email service working…

quarkbase
2. QuarkBase Similar data as above but with “similar” sites listed. It also shows popular pages within that domain over the past week, top feeds, breakdown by country, and the typical traffic stats. Listings of people at the company are also helpful.
Facebook Example

portfolio
3. Portfolio.com Company Lookup This is great for finding out information for publicly traded companies. Specifically things like financial data and a calculated EBITDA.
Google Example

tradevibes
4. TradeVibes Latest info about companies and competitors. Has a marketplace for ratings and predictions on success. Example: DIGG

simplespark
5. SimpleSpark Information profiles on startups but with a way to organize them into your own account. Also very easy to browse and search by category if you are not sure what you are looking for. Example: Green Living

crunchbase
6. CrunchBase As maintained by the public and TechCrunch this is a great resource to find out about recent fundings, fundings to date, and use the data in their awesome API that is publicly available.
Example: YouTube
compete
7. Compete – Pretty standard web analytics and much better than Alexa.
Example: Marketing.fm vs. Marketing.com (who says you need a .com!)

alexa
8. Alexa: Honestly, I rarely use Alexa anymore because so many people argue the data. Every now and again somebody will throw up some Alexa numbers and I wonder why they do not use different data or internal numbers – but its on the list nonetheless.

quantcast
9.QuantCast: My secret favorite of the list because their analytics are usually pretty good. I have been lucky enough to see behind the curtain at some sites and its nice to see data sync. up. Of course, sometimes it is way off which makes me think twice about ever fully trusting the data in the first place…
Example: CNN (not all sites available though: See Last.fm)

pingdom1
10. Pingdom – Paid service ahead! There is a free version but the paid service is worth it. I use it to check the uptime and availability of sites via a variable string check. This is a great way to see real load times from multiple locations, daily, weekly, and monthly uptimes, and overall information on a site. No live examples here but they do have a great API.

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]
, ,

This post was written by:

Eric Friedman - who has written 671 posts on Eric Friedman – Marketing.fm.

Directof of Client Services at Foursquare - formerly the analyst at Union Square Ventures, blogger at www.marketing.fm You should follow me on twitter @EricFriedman

Contact the author

View Comments to “10 Tools for Web Research”

  1. hoteblog Says:

    quantcast is my favorite. It provide graph, site info, competition and many more

  2. EricFriedman Says:

    It is definitely very good – I think its best to use them all

  3. winter123 Says:

    In this welcoming atmosphere, customers will discover the new and the renowned in Tiffany design and the option to experiment with it all, mixing different looks to play up personal style and individual expression tiffany jewelry online shop sells varieties of tiffany & co jewelry silver products, including tiffany bracelet, tiffany necklace, tiffany ring, tiffany earrings, tiffany pendant and various other tiffany replica jewelries. We are one of the biggest suppliers of tiffany jewellery company store in the globe.Tiffany translates the allure of it all in classic style with the new Tiffany Notes collection.

  4. winter123 Says:

    In this welcoming atmosphere, customers will discover the new and the renowned in Tiffany design and the option to experiment with it all, mixing different looks to play up personal style and individual expression tiffany jewelry online shop sells varieties of tiffany & co jewelry silver products, including tiffany bracelet, tiffany necklace, tiffany ring, tiffany earrings, tiffany pendant and various other tiffany replica jewelries. We are one of the biggest suppliers of tiffany jewellery company store in the globe.Tiffany translates the allure of it all in classic style with the new Tiffany Notes collection.

  5. Laptop Battery Says:

    Thanks for these useful suggestions! Very helpful.

  6. Frances Olimpo Says:

    Very handy article! Thanks for this!

  7. Frances Olimpo Says:

    Very handy article! Thanks for this!

  8. search engine optimization Says:

    I've been using Alexa, Quantcast, and compete for a while now. I'll check out the other site as it might have some other features that i might need. This is a very useful post. Thanks.

  9. ladybird1005 Says:

    Hi! I would like to suggest you my favorite tool – http://www.estimix.com -a web site statistics and web analytics service. Here you can find information about every single page on the web.


Trackbacks/Pingbacks

  1. [...] 10 Tools for Web Research Today I have received an info about 10Tools for Web research from two sources: http://www.eninvent.com/?p=10408 http://www.marketing.fm/2009/03/07/10-ways-for-researching-web-traffic/ [...]

  2. [...] 10 Tools for Web Research (Marketing.FM) [...]

Leave a Reply

blog comments powered by Disqus