MORE than 13,000 individuals accessed Fleet NewsNet - the Emap Automotive Internet website - in January. And during the month the site registered 292,000 'hits', an increase in excess of 100,000 compared to December 1997. The figures, monitored by London-based information technology specialist Aspect Internet Marketing, were announced less than four weeks after Fleet NewsNet introduced a new design to allow faster access and improved functionality.

Closing in on the 300,000 mark illustrates how the volume of traffic to the site has grown, but it is the individual user sessions figure which is far more significant. In January, these were 13,417, a rise of more than 500 on the previous month's unique sessions. This means that, on average, around 450 individuals key in to www.automotive.co.uk every day.

Like every other free-entry website Fleet NewsNet has its share of casual visitors, but based both on user feedback, including that from the current e-mail facility inviting readers to support the Fleet News 'Driving Business Forward' pre-Budget report, and site traffic statistics, the overwhelming majority of regulars have genuine fleet connections and use the site as a business tool - Monday to Friday 8.45am to 6pm. It has become part of their job.