Some Internet Statistics to Ponder

• over 900 million people in 233 countries used the Internet in 2004
• 20% of the world's 6.5 billion population had used the Internet by the end of 2007
  
• 30% of users were English-speaking while 70% were non-English
• annual growth rate for Internet usage is about 30% per year or 600,000 new subscribers per day
• the Internet accounts for USD$41 trillion of the world's GDP
• North America, Europe and Asia are the top 3 continents that use the Internet
• 89% of internet users won't go past the first page when doing a search, while 10% will go as far as the second page and less than 1% will even consider searching beyond the third page (this proves the ultra-importance of first page positioning since anything lower is considered almost irrelevant by website visitors, so positive results can only be achieved by ranking at or near the top)
• 50% of browsers or surfers who can't access a web page will move onto the next competing site immediately
• over 100 million companies currently do business online today
• Google accounts for 40% of all daily searches, while Yahoo lays claim to 35%, and MSN comes in at about 20%; the remaining 3,000+ smaller engines account for only 5% of the total remaining market
• some of the best products and services to sell online are tourism services, information, health and wealth products, investment services, household items and so on; these days, items even in the tens of thousands of dollars are being sold online as well, which is a leading indicator of where the Internet and e-commerce is headed in the next few years