A Bounce for JohnKerry.com
By Brian Faler
Wednesday, August 11, 2004; Page A07
The Democratic National Convention may have done little to improve John F. Kerry's standing in the polls. But JohnKerry.com? That's another story.
Nielsen/NetRatings, an independent research firm, reported that traffic to the nominee's official Web site increased by 191 percent during the week of the convention, making it the fastest-growing major Web site in the country (for that week, anyway). In all, about 771,000 people visited the site from their homes. The firm distinguishes between Internet use at home and at work, and it did not release data on how the Massachusetts senator's site, or any other one, fared among those on the job. It estimated that visitors spend an average of eight minutes on the site.
Overall, the Kerry campaign's site was the 213th most popular in the country, just ahead of the online home of the business supply company Staples and right behind InPhonic.com, a site for a communications firm. JohnKerry.com was more popular than, for example, United Airlines' site, but it had fewer guests than either the Boston Globe's site or one called "Kara's Adult Playground."
His audience was paltry compared with some of the Web's most popular destinations. Yahoo.com had 45.8 million visitors for the week ended Aug. 1. MSN.com, the second most popular site, had 45.6 million. It is also likely that the nominee attracted only a tiny percentage of those online.
But Kerry's readership far eclipsed that of his Republican rivals. Nielsen/NetRatings estimated that the Republican National Committee's site had about 275,000 readers during the convention week, a 32 percent increase over the previous seven-day period. President Bush's campaign site, meanwhile, did not have enough visitors to register with the firm.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A55047-2004Aug10.html?nav=rss_politics
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