How technical is your web-site visitor?

Every month, the Seattle startup community waits eagerly for the list - a list that will be debated, commented upon, written about, sometimes criticized, but always initiates bouts of navel-gazing and moments of satisfaction. The Seattle2.0 list is maintained by Marcelo Calbucci, a Seattle entrepreneur who founded and runs Sampa.

The composite index is driven by a startup's performance in getting web traffic, as measured on Alexa and Compete, and besides providing some insight into the eyeball movers and shakers of the month, also provides increased publicity to media-shy Seattle startups.

Given that this information was neatly tabulated, I tried getting additional information from this data. Using that fact that there is a serious skew towards internet developers in Alexa data, and that Compete doesn't suffer from this skew ( but can be gamed, nevertheless), I created a normalized TechScore, which shows how technical the website's audience is likely to be.

What it means:

A higher TechScore means that your audience is skewed towards Tech folks/ Internet developers - and you can use this information to your advantage when continuing to add features to your web site.

How can you use it:

If you are getting a tech-savvy audience, you can spend less resources on making detailed online help available. You could also make the experience richer because these folks are more likely to have a broadband connection and a good computer.

Caveats:

A higher TechScore could also mean that

• the site is new and Alexa seems to have recognized and started gathering information about the site earlier than Compete (Compete doesn't yet have statistics for November - and there may be a lag ).
• Traffic has significantly increased the last month, and the comparison of Alexa and Compete rank may be an apples to oranges comparison.

A lower TechScore could also mean that the webmaster may have the Compete toolbar installed.

Company	Alexa Rank	Compete Rank	Normalized TechScore	Seattle20 Rank
ReelTime	114,988	501,512	100	86
LiveMocha	30,485	108,734	100	42
goChongo	144,268	514,694	100	89
Bill Monk	284,797	938,222	100	121
SEOmoz	1,517	4,640	100	5
Shelfari	5,677	17,122	100	14
Athleon	265,331	778,663	100	113
Ohloh	21,251	48,834	98	29
Movaya	192,854	385,139	94	84
WidgetBucks	6,374	12,054	93	12
Should Do This (Robot Co-Op)	100,512	189,516	92	64
MixPo	359,254	652,277	91	111
Biznik	72,642	135,887	91	55
FEEDJIT	42,998	74,441	90	37
Pelago	504,607	861,790	89	129
Openomy	469,358	801,366	89	123
PixPulse	352,108	571,190	86	105
Jookster	448,666	725,930	86	120
Jambool	254,712	410,964	86	91
Versionate	337,575	538,422	86	100
PeepCode	137,726	221,847	85	72
ProgrammableWeb	18,843	28,835	84	25
Jackson Fish Market	367,097	551,137	83	104
Others Online	231,758	349,930	83	85
MyTypes	68,519	105,336	81	50
Zoji	112,162	165,733	80	62
ZooDango	262,597	367,232	78	87
Popshops	57,116	83,027	77	43
Picnik	12,709	15,832	73	17
RescueTime	97,974	128,066	73	57
Down2night	407,352	509,365	73	103
SWiK	8,283	10,028	72	11
BlueDot (now Faves.com)	8,204	9,905	71	10
Sampa	34,313	40,894	71	31
PhotoSleeve	375,652	448,999	70	98
Wishpot	167,714	198,298	68	74
ImageKind	19,199	21,628	68	23
Earth Class Mail	76,843	93,074	67	48
nuTsie.com	48,732	53,545	66	35
Wishlisting	303,093	337,903	66	88
EyeJot	164,391	180,489	64	70
GridNetworks	373,608	385,218	62	96
They're Beautiful	558,987	571,246	62	115
FeedWhip	674,975	681,169	61	128
Zeenami	837,113	806,441	59	133
Wetpaint	5,024	4,738	58	7
LiquidPlanner	696,134	653,778	58	127
Just Cause	785,719	727,072	57	132
FlowPlay	390,850	359,877	56	94
Redfin	21,239	18,911	55	21
Treemo	161,858	150,222	55	67
Instacalc	463,538	410,291	54	99
43 People	126,645	114,779	53	59
Synapse	956,376	807,295	53	136
NewsCloud	95,757	84,630	51	52
SimplifyThis	546,495	448,697	51	108
Estately	237,846	198,499	51	79
Konnects	127,867	109,256	51	58
TeachStreet	540,162	439,047	51	106
SecondSpace	414,418	337,705	51	95
Ripl	496,833	392,706	49	101
Pluggd	106,919	88,667	49	54
Trailfire	44,411	33,068	48	32
PrestoGifto	585,499	418,623	45	109
ActiveRain	6,875	4,730	45	8
Cdigix	1,382,173	954,746	44	145
Fyreball	973,832	671,700	44	134
Cocktail builder	849,637	567,360	43	130
Inrix	797,785	525,962	43	125
The Phrogram Company	866,758	567,880	42	131
Jamglue	23,940	15,153	42	20
Medio Systems	801,835	507,153	41	124
Etelos	199,017	130,763	41	68
SnapTune	1,394,772	869,159	41	144
Linebuzz	617,437	371,102	39	107
LexBlog	221,860	136,194	39	71
Bus Monster	800,963	461,252	38	122
ClayValet	1,257,235	714,508	38	137
Findory	75,079	47,704	37	40
Walk Score	114,654	68,784	37	53
Dashwire	362,909	202,813	37	82
TrenchMice	752,182	412,007	37	118
nPost	188,490	108,278	37	66
Scriptovia	758,423	410,248	36	119
Robot Co-op (43 Things)	369,859	200,835	36	83
Avvo	179,401	98,885	36	63
FinancialJoe	1,309,443	678,478	36	139
TalentSpring	1,123,447	580,647	35	135
SmartSheet	241,129	125,899	35	75
Broadband Sports	102,255	56,837	34	45
CoolToors	1,463,438	715,522	34	143
43 Places (Robot Co-op)	49,571	23,571	34	30
BuddyTV	4,967	2,348	34	6
Jott Network	50,317	30,314	33	33
OwnYourPhone	904,975	421,525	33	126
SongSlide	1,366,510	621,085	32	138
All Consuming (Robot Co-Op)	115,479	58,572	32	51
AlphabetLane	1,776,698	802,983	32	149
Blist	267,729	125,268	32	77
Bioscreencast	1,748,576	778,695	32	148
iMedExchange	1,638,401	723,085	32	146
PhoneMyPhone (KeenScreen)	1,697,185	740,435	32	147
HomeMovie	700,579	306,962	31	110
You Just Get Me	2,035,156	866,593	31	155
Appature	1,941,322	815,324	31	153
Urban Spoon	38,412	15,722	30	26
Noonhat	577,713	238,184	30	97
43 Things (Robot Co-op)	4,078	1,605	30	4
Ontela	1,912,409	752,757	30	151
Overcast Media	1,551,030	603,451	29	142
SportsUltra	646,289	253,041	29	102
Lists Of Bests (Robot Co-Op)	86,063	39,299	29	41
MerchantOS	99,415	43,816	29	44
ActiveWords	544,050	206,096	28	93
EmptySpaceAds (KeenScreen)	2,170,926	785,513	28	156
Minecode	2,211,166	780,735	28	157
PhoneSherpa	267,979	99,831	28	76
AdReady	160,820	62,132	27	56
Crush or Flush (IceBreaker)	267,271	96,843	27	73
Catch the Best	1,540,278	520,683	27	140
Weedshare	1,960,327	644,243	27	150
Melodeo	877,890	283,761	26	117
SNAPforSeniors	852,401	275,083	26	114
ResortScape (SecondSpace)	503,493	161,001	26	90
PilotOutlook	2,336,438	713,139	26	158
Conenza	2,044,021	623,906	26	152
Frigy	2,858,639	862,735	25	161
Style du Jour	3,327,129	988,497	25	164
TripHub	220,994	71,935	25	65
Knouen	2,758,509	810,972	25	160
CalendarData.com	896,904	252,044	24	116
iLike	2,962	785	24	2
Zillow	3,031	802	24	3
Formotus	1,656,751	428,850	24	141
GarageBand.com	30,055	7,643	24	18
Trendi	3,423,175	876,825	24	163
Metafos	2,206,776	553,981	23	154
YourSports	584,137	150,698	23	92
RealSelf	134,130	34,632	22	47
Audiosocket	3,586,655	690,772	21	162
Bag Borrow or Steal	39,930	7,087	20	24
TrustedWord	2,802,424	484,868	20	159
SnapVine	34,667	5,614	20	22
Jobster	20,734	3,242	20	15
Postacrime	874,387	137,993	19	112
Judy's Book	33,087	4,799	19	19
Thrift Books	350,679	56,812	19	78
PayScale	14,872	2,068	19	9
3Guppies	55,396	14,430	19	28
Mercent	301,264	43,583	18	69
Cozi	240,692	34,419	18	61
Menuism	89,419	16,491	18	36
Farecast	18,622	1,742	17	13
Healia	236,452	27,707	17	60
Peppers and Pollywogs	410,725	43,085	17	80
Yapta	102,434	15,730	17	38
BigOven	51,888	10,817	17	27
Mpire	24,577	1,569	16	16
LandWatch (SecondSpace)	143,717	15,954	16	46
Atomic Moguls	108,900	11,056	16	39
Intelius	3,585	106	15	1
Trumba	84,653	9,152	15	34
GotVoice	171,807	1,479	13	49

How is TechScore calculated?

I do a simple regression of Compete Rank (independent variable) against Alexa Rank (dependent variable) to get a slope (1.94 this month, intercept = - 13,174), and calculate a projected Alexa rank = Slope * Compete Rank + Intercept. I calculate a ratio of Calculated Alexa Rank to actual Alexa Rank and normalize it on a curve to give it a score of 1- 100.

I did not add the intercept to sites with Alexa ranks less than 50,000 - so sites with Alexa ranks of less than 50,000 may have a slightly higher tech-score. However, this doesn't affect the scores on the vast majority of websites.