• About 80% of North Americans have Internet access; a majority use the Internet as decision-making tool (Ipsos-Reid)
• More than 50% have made online purchases (Ipsos-Reid)
• About 40% of North Americans use online banking (Ipsos-Reid)
• 73.5% of e-commerce sites estimate sales growth of 15-35% this year (Internet Retailer)
• Total online retail sales in the U.S. alone is over $120 billion per year and approaching 4% of all retail sales (U.S. Census Bureau)
• 78% of small businesses now use spending more than US$43 billion on the Internet (Jupiter Research)
• 57% of small businesses generate leads from their websites (ISP Interland)
• 57% of small businesses said they made money either directly or indirectly (ISP Interland)
• 60% of small businesses use e-mail marketing (ISP Interland)

Let’s not forget the power and size of the e-mail marketing industry. I mean, who hasn’t sent a few thousand dollars to a former Nigerian Minister of Oil to help secure a piece of a $10 million pie that can only be eaten with your help!?!

According to eMarketer, e-mail volume in the U.S. is projected to be about to 3 trillion. Marketers will spend about US$1 billion on e-mail marketing. Why? Because, despite all our grousing and spam filtering, e-mail marketing works.

But e-mail and websites are becoming yesterday’s de rigueur. The new hot and hype is the powerful and viral simplicity bestowed by the new social media such as blogs, networking sites, podcasts and virtual worlds.

“These days, a Web site may not even be the best place to start promoting your products or services,” writes David Strom, a writer, consultant and Internet aficionado, in his New York Times piece Strategies to Succeed Online. “Instead, you can consider setting up a blog, participating in social-networking communities like Facebook and creating a storefront in virtual worlds like Second Life to get the buzz going.”

An InformationWeek Research survey earlier this year found that social networks were used by 48% of respondent companies. Uses include viral marketing, recruiting, peer networking, and even emergency coordination and communications. One in five employers admit to screening potential new employees using social-networking websites such as MySpace and Facebook; more than two-thirds “routinely conduct other online searches,” according to a survey by recruitment consultancy Joslin Rowe

Strom relates the story of AskPatty.com that have skipped the traditional ‘website’ altogether and moved right to Web 2.0.

“We launched our company in May 2006 with a blog, not a Web site,” said Jody DeVere, the president of an advice site that helps women find car showrooms and repair shops that are friendly to them. “Our blog has been the driving force of our branding effort and become the way we find our readers and our customers."

Earlier this year, AskPatty created a virtual coffee shop at the online community site Second Life, where pepole can swap tips and stories. That move turned out to be a gold mine for the company. ”The women in Second Life are the ultimate power Internet user, and are very comfortable doing business online," Ms. DeVere said. "Plus, it is a very cost-effective way to reach lots of people."

Virtual worlds like Second Life are free; as are many, many blogging sites such as Blog.com, Blogger, and WordPress.com

If you’re in a small business and are missing the boat, then why not buy a ticket? If you’re a larger business and have missed the boat, then you have no hope. ‘Fantasy world’ be damned; the Internet is recreating the business world and small businesses have the opportunity to be new world leaders.

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The author Toby Ward is an Interent / intranet consultant and the founder of Prescient Digital Media. He drank the Internet Kook-Aid long ago and is presently drinking other flavors including Web 2.0, SOA, and Tropical Punch. He'd like to know if anyone has Jim Jones' Facebook address?