As part of researching a client or their competition, I often use tools that help me to understand a websites overall position. There are a lot of great resources that are available to be able to judge several dimensions of a website including traffic, keywords, pay-per-click programs and web analytics programs.

I have listed a few of the applications that are helpful with these tasks:

• Alexa – a stalwart that shows you traffic, web position, global website rank
• Compete – shows traffic, engagement and keywords
• QuarkBase shows keywords, traffic, and also provides some insights into linking and other company plus technical information
• Domain stats – it shows you what statistics package a website is using – I use this to help prepare for new client presentations
• MS Ad Center Labs – a great resource for demographics about users

There are a ton of tools available online to help do research and complete evaluations, there area just a few to get you going.