Here are some Internet usage statistics.

• Around seven new people use the internet every second
• For the millions of Internet users, every 4th person is using it to purchase something.
• An average of US $1 Billion in Internet transactions are conducted every month.
• In a year, this figure rises to roughly US $1 Trillion.
• In a year, there are 88 million new users. And this figure is constantly rising.

Looking at these figures, it wouldn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that you indeed have a large market out there. And these are people from different countries, with different backgrounds, taste and interests. In short, it isn’t as simple as advertising to everyone. Not everyone is interested in computers or the environment.

So what are these people interested in? What do they want to buy? What do they want to see? And how do they buy or look for these?

Studies have shown that:

• 88 percent of these users employ search engines to find what they are looking for.
• Thirty-seven percent used a top search engine to do online shopping. Around 25 percent used search engines for holiday gift ideas and purchases.
• More car buyers decided to buy their vehicles after going online - 26 percent. This is higher than the 17 percent who saw the TV commercial and went out to the dealer.
• Around 90 percent of those belonging to the more affluent set use the Internet to get information on the item they intend to purchase. Whether these are computers, television sets, cars, they turn to online reviews to see which brand is good and which is not.

Make no mistake about it. More and more people are discovering the value of online reviews, e-shopping websites and the Internet in general. And these people use search engines to find what they’re looking for. And it makes sense really. All you have to do when wanting to know how the new Jaguar X-Type performs, for example, is simply type in “Jaguar X-Type” and bingo! There's a wealth of listings of sites that contain reviews, pricing, product features and even demonstration videos.

So be a wiser business and make full use of the resources available to research on your target audience for effective Internet marketing. Know your audience, know what they want and how they behave. Do this and you will have them visiting your site and even buying your product in no time.