Your company isn't the only one feeling disgruntled with the lack of a standard to measure Web site traffic. Sixty-four percent of new media companies surveyed by Intenet software developer Andromedia, Inc. believe they don't have a firm grasp of their Web site traffic patterns, and 80 percent said the industry must develop a standard measurement criteria.

Having a Web traffic measurement standard could be used to provide data that's crucial to attract advertising dollars.

San Francisco-based Andromedia conducted the survey during the "Performance Measurement for Web Sites" conference sponsored by the Internet Profiles Corp. (I/PRO) earlier this month. The survey was distributed through a no-obligations hand-out to the companies in attendance, which included Hot Wired, Starwave, Nielsen Media Research and Yahoo! Inc. [YAHOO].

These companies also revealed their dissatisfaction with the use of hits to gauge the success of a site. Only 3 of the 28 companies involved in the survey randked this as the most important statistic they want tracked.

This was no surprise to executives at Andromedia, who said the current "standard" of using hits will be changed by the Audit Bureau of Verification Services Inc. and BPA International, the two audit bureaus competing to define an industry-wide traffic measurement system.

"The definition of hits and pages is going to change," said Jennifer Meighan, director of worldwide marketing at Andromedia. Regaurdless of their length or number of frames, pages likely will be the benchmark for Web traffic, predicted Meighan.

If the use of page views becomes the standard to determine the popularity of a site, and thereby its importance to advertisers, the decision would force publishers, search engines and every other company with an ad-sponsored site into redesign mode. Pages will be made shorter, with companies adding more white space as they subtract content from each page, Meighan said.

This method of measurement also would cause companies to rethink the commonly used CPM ad model. Because more than one ad can be placed on a page, advertisers could argue that the number of impressions delivered is not a true restament to the consumer's exposure to their message.

1. Visitor Demographics
2. Number of Users
3. Navigation Patterns
4. Length of Visit
5. Number of Hits

Advertisers will play a big role in driving the new standard, according to Meighan. "It's really about return on investment. It will be up to advertisers to determine what works for them," she said.

Hit counts may not work for Web companies, but learning about their users' identity does. the survey showed that visitor demographics are the most important data to track, followed by the number of users, navigation patterns and length of visit.

Thirty-nine percent of the respondents indicated that on-demand or real-time measurements of their site traffic is "very important," and 68 percent plan to develop "dynamic content or rotating ads based on their user profile information."

New media companies don't need to know the vital statistics of their every last user. Three key demographics will allow publishers to create content and deliver advertising that is suited to their audience.

Age, income and family status (married or single, with or without children) are more important for Web publishers than the viewer's name, email and home address and telephone number, Meighan said.

That demographic information can be used by companies that want to send unsolicited ads via email. But this tactic of sending junk email will cause viewers to stop providing any information at all, which would send new media firms stumbling backward.

There are three methods that publishers and other companies with an online presence can use to determine viewer demographics, Meighan said. the first is to purchase a Web tracking software solution that tells you who is coming to the site and what they are looking at.

Andromedia, which devlops and sells the Aria World Wide Web Recording and Reporting System, Net.Genesis, Accrue and Interse are some of the top companies producing this software, which allows Webmasters to monitor Web site activity at any time. This software can cost a one-time fee that ranges from $500 to $50,000, depending on the software and the side of your site, the number of pages, traffic and type of servers used.

The second and third methods are more cost-efficient. Questionnaires and surveys can be placed on the site to learn about your users. A registration process that grants viewers access to your site can be used, but the last two methods will only be effective if the information is gathered and processed to build a better site, Meighan said.

Most of the companies said their sites were intended to promote their products. Ninety-three percent of respondents said one of the goals of the site is to market products or services, followed by goals such as customer support (54 percent), internal applications such as the Intranet (36 percent) and hosting third-party content.