It also means big business. The world's largest companies are keenly aware of the volume of Internet log-ons. Of course IBM and Digital are buying ad space in cyberspace. Naturally Microsoft is spending gigabucks on banners. Finding an Audience In July of this year, the Internet Advertising Bureau tallied Web ad revenues for the first quarter of 1997 at 18 percent higher than the same quarter of 1996.
Nobody expects buying to stay flat.
The answer comes in two forms. First, depending on what survey you read, anywhere from 18 million to 75 million people are surfing the Web, and the profile of those people is starting to look like your average cross-section of humanity. From this pool of people, some will be in the market for your products. OK, if you sell shoes and gloves to peasants in Guiyang, China, it's going to be a few years before your customers are online. But if you think selling Medicare augmentation plans to seniors is out of line, think again.