This is according to eMarketer, which stated that in approximately three years, 70 per cent - or almost 44 million people - will be accessing the internet.

 

Already, over 39 million Britons are digitally aware, with figures from the Office of Communications revealing that 73 per cent of those users who have logged on in the last three months are also daily users of the web.

 

This compares to 69 per cent in 2008 and eMarketer senior analyst Karin von Abrams, author of new report UK Internet Users and Usage: Demographic Splits Persist, observed that nearly all segments are going online.

 

The reasons for this include the desire to "research products and services", as well as "[keeping] tabs on brand offerings," Ms von Abrams noted.

 

However, she did go on to say that, for companies whose audiences are not mass-market, "such as affluent rock-music fans in Liverpool", internet marketing consultants and other professionals "will probably need to work harder to keep up with them".

 

Online forums may be a good idea for those wishing to attract different groups of people. Marketing Sherpa recently reported that manufacturer Nitto Tire managed to improve hits on its landing pages - with rates reaching 83 per cent - by using community pages on the internet.