WatchMouse offers site performance reports

Site performance monitoring firm WatchMouse offers businesses the chance to compare their web site against that of their peers

Site performance monitoring company WatchMouse has released a service that lets firms in vertical industries compare their web site performance against that of their peers.

The WatchMouse Site Performance Index (SPI) measures the sites of some of the biggest names in 30 different industry sectors, including media, banking, news and e-commerce. It assesses sites' availability and load times and awards them a score as a result. The higher the score, the lower the customer satisfaction. Sites with a score of 1,000 or less are performing well, but anything over 1,500 and WatchMouse would recommend that some maintenance be carried out, or more capacity provided.

In a report WatchMouse showed IT Week, the UK banking sector performed fairly well, with most sites coming in under the 1,500-mark. However, Stan P. van de Burgt, chief executive officer at the firm, said, “Google gets a score around the 500-mark, which is the benchmark for firms. Yes, it is a simple interface, but that counts for search results, and is more impressive when you consider the demand on its servers.”

Reports are refreshed every quarter and results are presented in easy-to-understand graphs and tables, designed to quickly show how campaigns and areas of a site are performing.

Subscribers to the WatchMouse service can compare themselves against any number of competitor sites, or by industry. Pricing for the service is dependent on their needs but starts at about £750.