Have you ever questioned how big the internet is? Like, we know its big, but HOW big? Similar to the stars that dot our universe, the exact number of websites seem to be forever multiplying, with no one really knowing the exact total.

Here are some interesting things you may not know…….

Internet Live Stats indicated last year that there were over 1 billion websites on the wonderful world wide web. What is important to note is this number is made up of active and inactive sites. At the moment between 60-75% of all sites are “inactive” which means that most pages are just parked or only have a small amount of content which hasn’t been touched since it was created. This means that there are about 300 million active websites in the world. Now that’s a lot of information at our fingertips. With each day that goes by, more and more information is added to the web and it becomes increasingly more important to stand out and reach the people who are looking for your content.

The number of pages on a Google page search seems to be unlimited, but I almost nearly never pass the second page of search results. I tried one day testing just how many search pages I needed to rifle through to get to the very end page, but to be honest just gave up because, life.

Here are some cool website stats that Up & Running Technologies Incorp came up with last year which were also interesting:

• Contrary to common belief, only 4% of internet sites are porn related
• There are about 3.4 billion Internet Users
• GoDaddy is the largest registrar in the world and is about 4 times as large as its nearest competitor
• Google processes about 5 billion searches per day
• About 225 billion emails are sent every day
• Facebook has about 1.75 billion active users
• About 7.2 million smartphones are sold each day
• Nearly 200 million Skype calls are made each day

That’s alot of activity showing busy people doing busy things. It’s amazing to think of life before the internet, things like encyclopedias or facsimiles are all but a fading memory. (Well, only for some, as amazingly I still see faxes being used in place of PDFs). Lastly, don’t forget the endearing tune of a 56k modem Dial Up while you patiently wait for your information, but just incase you have forgotten then you are in luck because we found this page for your bookmarks: Dial Up Sound.

With all that information out there and all those website to compete against it’s so important to ensure your site cuts through the clutter and stands out from the pack. Are you doing enough to be different and to get to those first few pages of Google to reach your audience?

Renée Blakeley
Senior Finished Artist / Studio Co-ordinator