How Big is the Web?
The Online Computer Library Center, Inc recently determined that there are now 3.6 million web sites on the World Wide Web. In comparison, there were only 800,000 sites in 1997. The largest 25,000 sites make up about one-half of the content on the web.

About one million sites are "provisional" meaning the content is incomplete and therefore meaningless or trivial. Just over 2 million sites offer publicly accessible content on approximately 300 million web pages. Another 400 million pages are restricted and require either fees or authorization.

Of-the-Month Club Marketing
Of-the-month clubs are no longer just for books. Today, several industries have adopted this marketing strategy and are successfully generating sales via catalogs and the Internet. What kinds of companies are choosing to sell their wares in of-the-month club fashion? One pasta company, found at www.pastaconcerto.com, delivers two kinds of pasta with matching sauces, two aprons and a classical music compact disc. Fishing fans can order fishing flies at www.flyofthemonthclub.com. A monthly chocolate treat is a click away at www.givechocolate.com. Other items consumers can order include candles, beer, wine, coffee, seafood, steaks, cookies, nuts, hot sauces, magazines, neckties and even boxers.

Americans Dissatisfied with Physicians
One-quarter (26%) of American households changed physicians in the past two years. The most common reason was their dissatisfaction with the physician. Other reasons are detailed in the chart below.

Source: VHA 

www.eddiebauer.com "Try on" clothing using the virtual dressing room. 

www.ivillage.com/pets/petnames Find pet names based on category or sex. Favorite names and their meanings are listed.

www.imdb.com Search for movies by key word such as title, actor or director. Includes daily entertainment news and a list of films in production throughout the world. 

Studies show that more focused firms are also more profitable. Establishing a firm as the best in the field brings greater client loyalty and allows the firm to compete more effectively against potential competition

Branding is common for service-oriented fields such as banking, accounting and insurance. Many law firms expect to reap the same type of benefits from this marketing strategy.

Two-thirds of consumers select fortified foods in order to maintain their health and one-third purchase organic products for this reason. More than one-half purchase food products specifically for the health benefits they provide. The perception that eating healthfully is more expensive has declined to 50% compared to 1996 (57%). However, more people (37%) now believe that most healthy foods are not convenient to make, up from 29% in 1996.

Statistics show that consumers turn to magazines (69%) or books (68%) more often than consulting a health care professional (62%) about their health and nutrition.

Since the Internet economy generated $301 billion in U.S. revenue last year, supported by a work force of 1.2 million people, the online industry now ranks with the automobile ($350 billion) and telecommunications ($270 billion) industries as a major economic sector in America. 

While it may take longer to advance within a firm, the part-time label seems to have shed its prior stigma. In fact, many firms now have policies that state it is possible for part-timers in good standing to make partner. 

Why this lack of interest by the online audience? One theory is that now, where only one banner used to reside, there are several (flashing, rotating, morphing, etc.) banners on the screen. This confusing array of choices can be compared to someone watching television and all of a sudden being bombarded with numerous commercials on the screen at once.

What is the secret to designing a better banner? A recent study, conducted by Devlin Applied Design, shows that banner ads employing humor and color get a better clickthrough rate. What is pleasant to look at and evokes an emotional response (i.e. triggers a sentiment) will get better results with users. However, others who have studied the effectiveness of banner ads are quick to add that there seems to be no relationship between users clicking through and their intent to purchase. 

Juries decided 70% of the cases; judges handled 30%. Eighty-two percent of the time, plaintiffs were individuals. The juries found for the plaintiff in 49% of the 10,616 trials they heard; judges did so in 62% of the 4,628 cases they handled. Of the estimated $3 billion awarded in compensatory and punitive damages to plaintiffs, juries were responsible for $2.4 billion; judges gave $629 million.

Of these cases, 70% of bench cases and 56% of jury cases were completed in two years. The median processing time from filing to final verdict or judgment was measured at 22.1 months for jury cases and 17.8 for bench cases. 

Bullets

• During 1998, e-mail surpassed the telephone as the most frequently used tool for business communication.
• Charitable contributions given to health, human services, environment and public/society benefit organizations each increased 20% to 30% from 1997 to 1998.
• Almost one-half of the world’s roller coasters (427 out of 871) are located in the U.S.
• One in three teenagers would give up a date with Cindy Crawford or Brad Pitt in exchange for a healthy complexion.
• Seven in 10 Americans (69%) would not vote for a political candidate who does not believe in God.
• Three in four Americans grow plants and 25% garden as a hobby.
• Approximately 62% of Baby Boomers have credit card debt; 46% live day-to-day when it comes to finances.
• The typical online investor makes 12 trades per month. Each trade averages $4,000 and incurs a $25 transaction fee.
• Two thirds of Americans (69%) claim their eyes are their best feature.
• The average American adult thinks that 52% of the world’s population speaks English while the actual number is closer to 20%.
• The number of unmarried couples who live together increased almost 1,000% from 1960 to 1998. Over one-half of all marriages are now preceded by living together.
• Most adults age 30 and older (65%) live in the same state they lived in at age 16; 39% live in the same city. These numbers have not changed substantially from 15 years ago.
• Over a quarter (28%) of adult men and women strongly dislike grocery shopping and 17% (20% of men and 14% of women) never buy more than the express checkout lane allows.
• Eighty percent of Americans approve of mixed-race marriages. This is up from 70% in 1986.
• The average time spent at a full-time job rose to 47.1 hours a week compared to 43.6 hours 20 years ago. This adds up to an extra four weeks of work per year.
• Directly or indirectly, every American consumes his/her own body weight in primary resources—oil, coal, other minerals, agricultural and forest products—every day.
• In 1998, American consumers participated in 174,000 focus groups. This is a 12% increase over 1997 and a 56% increase over 1993.
• Around $7.7 billion worth of coin currency sits in U.S. households. The typical stash is worth about $30.
• Black, Hispanic and Asian Americans make up about one-third of today’s population while spending close to $1 trillion in goods and services. In the next 30 years, they are expected to, in aggregate, surpass the rest of the American population.
• Only 4% of consumers are delighted with service and product quality in the U.S. compared to 20% who are often or constantly annoyed with it.
• Compared to the average household, blacks spend 17% more on telephone service, 36% more on boys’ clothes, 13% more on shoes, 20% more on personal care products and services and 100% more on gifts of jewelry and watches. Hispanics spend 27% more on laundry and cleaning supplies, 82% more on baby clothes and 32% more on footwear.
• An eye examination is the only test or examination that more than one-half of adults (51% of men and 54% of women) have in a typical 12 month period.
• Four in 10 adults try to ensure good health through purchasing healthful groceries. Twenty percent tailor their grocery shopping purchases to manage or treat an existing health problem.
• Contrary to popular belief, men (79.5%) are more likely than women (60.9%) to stop and ask for directions or look at a map when they are lost.
• On an average day, 70% of Americans age 50+ drink coffee, compared to only 40% of the general population.
• Coffee drinkers are more likely (64%) to be married than non-coffee drinkers (40%).
• The number of people who did not diet to lose weight in the past year increased to 42% in 1998 from 34% in 1990. Concerns over diet programs’ effectiveness and the high cost of many formal programs are blamed.
• The number of people dissatisfied with managed health care plans (HMOs, PPOs, POS) rose from 17% in 1997 to 22% in 1998.
• Any two randomly chosen pages on the World Wide Web are, on average, just 19 clicks away from each other.
• A national survey of students shows that 12% of those ages 12 to 19 have and use credit cards in their own names.
• There are about 600 online casinos serving 25 million online gamblers.
• Over two-thirds of frequent travelers (70%) use cellular telephones, 51% carry laptop computers and 40% have pagers. On average, 31% find their hotel rooms wired for the Internet.
• Young adults age 21 to 24 think that online trading (68%), shopping online (64%) and meeting people online (54%) are "cool."
• One in four (26%) of American households have home offices, compared to 20% in 1998. Seventy percent of these are used to operate a small business.
• About 427,000 small businesses went online during 1998. Sixty percent of those that receive orders through their web sites reported gains of 23% due to their online presence.
• In households earning over $75,000 per year, Internet connections (72.1%) are more common than newspaper subscriptions (67.0%)
• In 1998, mail order catalog and Internet generated sales reached 3.5% of total retail sales (nearly $2.7 trillion). By 2004, annual catalog and Internet sales are projected to grow 6.1% and 50.2%, respectively.
• Internet shoppers who have trouble receiving items from a merchant are 73% less likely to shop again with that merchant.
• Over 11 million children age 2 to 12 are online. This figure is expected to jump to over 24 million by 2003.
• Employers win in almost 94% of final court decisions and 85% of Equal Employment Opportunity Commission administrative resolutions under the Americans with Disabilities Act Title I.
• There were 1.4 million personal bankruptcies filed in 1998; almost double the filings in 1990.

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