| Link Popularity | Patents |

Two-thirds of respondents to Direct magazine's annual online marketing survey indicated that they have a Web site, up from 52% in last year's survey.

Business-to-business-focused companies were most likely to be online, with more than three-fourths (77%) responding that they had a site, compared to just under 59% of consumer marketers, and 68% of companies targeting both consumers and businesses.

However, only 53% reported sales activity generated from their Web site, either through leads or actual sales, according to a Media Daily report. More than 70% reported Web-generated sales as accounting for less than 10% of their total revenue stream.

A year ago, B-to-B was the focus of more than half (51%) of respondent sites. Consumers were targeted by 40% of the sites, and both businesses and consumers were the focus of only 8%.

In 1997, the biggest shift has come in this "mixed focus" category, which has leaped up to 20% of the picture. B-to-B targeted sites are at just under 48%, while consumer-focused sites have decreased to under 32%.