There was an interesting article in the Chicago Tribune this morning entitled "Web Words Become a Lucrative Market." In it they mention how companies are swarming to have their names and ads appear next to Internet search results, and now there is a burgeoning marketplace for search words, phrases and brand names. For example, Progressive Insurance pays $8.08 each time somebody clicks on its ad after searching the phrase "car insurance." "Laptop" sells for $2.02 per click, while "franchise" goes for $5 and "Internet service provider" for $6. "Financial help" fetches $5.76, although "financial advice" only brings in $2.72.<BR><BR>The prices for such words are set through auction-style bidding in which class-action attorneys have run up the word "Vioxx" to $16.50 per click, while "mesothelioma," a cancer caused by asbestos exposure, goes for $39.08.<BR><BR>In that interesting article (hmm, I wonder who would pay for "wordcraft" searches? <img src="http://wordcraft.infopop.cc/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_wink.gif" alt="Wink" width="15" height="15"><!--graemlin:;)-->), they cited the number of Internet searches per month in the U.S. It was mindboggling to me! <BR><BR>Which do you think it is (please don't look it up!):3 trillion280 million146 million4 billion

Sheesh...only 5 answers? Forget it! I am not going to post the correct answer until we have a few more participants here.

Okay, fine...you're no fun at all!

The correct answer is 4 billion.