The current financial meltdown happening on Wall Street and in the City of London is not going to affect the Internet, according to some recent research. This study suggests that far from investing less money online, businesses will spend more online in the coming year or two.

That bodes well if you are running an online business – especially if you accept advertising. Reading the current crop of negative financial stories it’s enough to make anyone take to the hills and stuff their cash under the mattress. But confidence online is apparently strong.

If a recession does hit – and it seems increasingly likely – the Internet could well be a place of safety for anyone trying to make money. Yesterday, for instance, Vodafone announced 400 job cuts at its Newbury headquarters. And Northern Rock, unsurprisingly, is to shed 2,000 staff. Other companies are looking shaky too, particularly in the financial services sector. So, it won’t be long before thousands of people will be turning to the Internet in the hope of making some cash.

If your online business has anything to do with saving money, getting good deals, entrepreneurship, home-based businesses, retirement planning – the list goes on and on, then you will have a whole host of new customers coming your way if the economy goes belly-up.

Remember, the amount of money going out of the financial services and retail sectors has to go somewhere; it doesn’t disappear. That means if there are problems in the City, that money is going to end up somewhere else. It looks like the Internet is where it is heading.