What does the number next to info on the Alexa tool bar mean ?

[Banned: NickStagg]

Trying real hard to get my head round all this domain/seo stuff while managing a dozen live websites, theres a few questions I have and I hope its not just me........ah well....I will ask anyway.

What the heck does the number next to info on the alexa toolbar actually tell me ? I have read the link on the alexa results but it sounds uber tech speak to me and has no meaning to me. And why are some of my domains getting changing numbers (getting smaller), when all I have done is parked the domains ?

Thanks

Nick

[GodBlessYou]

that is its alexa ranking if i'm correct.

[NameYourself]

The lower the rank the better. Alexa ranks websites in terms of how much traffic they receive. They determine this by analyzing all the people who use the Alexa toolbar and which sites they visit. If more people using the Alexa toolbar start visiting a particular site, the number for that site gets smaller, a good thing.

[stevey]

the number is your alexa ranking, the lower the better. no-one really trusts alexa rating anymore as its easy to get a better ranking, ie install the bar and visit your sites and you will get better ranking, i got a website that has 2/3 uniques a week as its not developed and has nothing on it and its nearly in the top 100,000 and thats just cus i visit it to read my webmail