We are long time subscribers to Discover magazine, and this morning there is a sidebar column chalked full of information useful to those of us using the internet – be it for fun or business. According to this analysis, written by Adam T. Hadhazy, here are some amazing facts (worth noting!):

Fact 1: Number of Bytes Transmitted Online

According to a University of Minnesota report, researchers estimate the volume of internet traffic is growing at an annual rate of 50 to 60 percent.

The number of bytes transmitted over the course of last year:

o A whopping 78,000,000,000,000,000,000

Fact 2: e-Commerce Spending

In 2008, the United States alone spent $214.4 BILLION online. These statistics come from comScore reports. They continue to draw the conclusion that online spending is increasing by 7 percent per year. However, this is down from previous years (before the huge financial mess the country and world has gotten itself into or had done to us by greedy s.o.b’s, which was growing at a rate of 20 percent per year). Time for those recovery plans to kick in!

Fact 3: Trojans, Worms, Viruses, etc.

Symantec reports a total of 5,060,187 bot-infected computers, the same computers that deliberately send out spam to the rest of us poor suckers, have produced 1,122,311 different trojans, worms, malicious code, etc.

To make matters even more critical, and to highly encourage you to PROTECT your computer (I recommend Kaspersky!), the Sophos internet security firm “discovered a new infected WEB PAGE every 4.5 seconds, on average).

NOTE: If you’re using nothing but the feeble Windows firewall to protect your computer, change NOW. It’s much better to get a real firewall/antivirus and malware protection system (again I recommend Kaspersky) that to trust to the fact that the folks at Microsoft 1) stay on top of things (they don’t) or 2) give a damn whether your system gets infected or not. BE SMART.

Fact 4: Number of Minutes We Are All Online

Viewing JUST the social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace, internet users have racked up a whopping 34,916,000,000 minutes in the United States alone viewing just these sites. In fact, in January 2009 all by itself, the average user spent 10 percent of all of his/her minutes online in these network communities.

Fact 5: What State Ranks Highest for Adult Website Subscriptions?

That dubious honor goes to none other than… Utah. In fact 5.47 households out of 1,000 have adult-content site subscriptions. Montana comes in with the lowest rate, only 1.92 out of 1,000 households. And, just to round things out, 36% of all internet users spend time on at least one adult web site per month (reported again by comScore).

So what does this all mean to those of us using the net for say internet marketing?

o Online purchasing (e-Commerce) though lower than recent years, is once again on the rise.

o Facebook and MySpace may be very popular (duh) – and worth investigating – but also make us warn that you best have a truly unique approach to getting some of that traffic. Invest real time into building the community. You’ll get the traffic, but you still need to persuade them to choose you for the sale.

o Not protecting your computer, and not having a firewall warning system in place, has got to be the dumbest thing anyone owning a computer can manage not to do. There are those out there with, apparently, plenty of time on their hands to figure out ways to either ruin your computer or, at a minimum, make it necessary for that trip to say the Geek squad at Best Buy to fix it up. This can be very expensive, so why allow it to happen in the first place? Get the best program out there that covers everything from surfing to email to… And again I suggest Kaspersky.

o Maybe, just maybe, we all need a bit more fresh air. I know I am guilty of rarely stepping outside. While I have, and continue, to lose weight, really watch and upgrade my diet, and get a bit of strength training indoors, nothing beats stepping out your door. In fact, medically, to ensure you get enough Vitamin D, you need to spend from 5 to 20 minutes outside every day – during the critical 10 to 2 hours (high noon) WITHOUT sunscreen to absorb the Vitamin D your body needs. Step outside, do a bit of weeding, talk to your neighbors, walk the dog. But get some fresh air LOL!

o Well… the last being the adult websites, don’t know what to say about that, but the fact that it’s Utah (we live in Nevada) has us laughing our heads off.

Okay, there are enough stats to keep you busy and maybe planning some internet and marketing strategies and plans for your business, blog, website online.

PLEASE Don’t forget to COMMENT!

I need to start this post by telling you that we (Scott and myself) have been around for a LONG time. I know more about advertising and marketing online then any individual program/membership owner can ever tell you. I do this day in and day out, trying to help you make sense of what it is you are doing online – and how to get it done.

Scott, with a background long on years in affiliate marketing, is also an expert when it comes to marketing, advertising, and promoting online. We teamed up a few years back, (the best move either of us ever made!) and provide several online business resources tailored specifically to help you be successful online, too.

Each and every thing we do – whether planned that way or not – revolves around helping others be as successful as possible online (with offline ideas thrown in for good measure).

With that bit of hoopla and flag waving out of the way, today we’d like to help anyone who’s stuck in what can be a vicious, yet unnecessary, cycle… (more…)

Welcome to the beginning of hopefully a wonderful weekend for everyone!

I’ve had a small file of things to blog about going for the past several days, but always find there is one more thing to do before I can get to doing what I love to do… write!

But, there is a lull in the storm, so I’m picking something that I should have blogged about a long time ago. However, if truth be told, I’ve been greedy and keeping it to myself LOL! (more…)

Woke up this morning and, as always, (thanks Entrecard users!) we had requests from advertisers through the Entrecard service. Logged in, did my approval thing, and then started dropping cards.

I try very hard to make numerous comments as I do this – sort of the whole point don’t you think? Sometimes I can, sometimes I can’t, but I give it my best shot.

Lucky for me I was paying close attention this morning! (more…)

Now before you get your panties in a bunch over the title of this post, let me begin by saying it’s not what you think. Okay, maybe it is what you think, but that’s a good thing

Jack Humphrey’s has been around a long time and has made it his crusade to put together information useful and usable by bloggers and website owners alike. His information will greatly improve your success online. Yes, flat statement.

If you remember, back in 2007 the Authority Black Book was ranked #1 for free ebook for bloggers according to Mashable.

Well now you can get your hands on the 2008 Version of The Authority Black Book for FREE

“Social Marketing Is Bigger, Badder, And Far More Effective Than Any Marketing Tactic, Including Paid Advertising, For Driving Huge Amounts Of Targeted Traffic!”

Grab yourself a copy, sit back, relax and read up on ways to increase your bottom line this year. Because, unless you’re independently wealthy, or like living on the edge of no income, we believe deep down everyone would like to have a successful, money-pulling blog or website.

Even the diehards need money to live, right?

Enjoy!