February 10, 2004 -- In its March 2004 issue, Prevention magazine lists Lab Tests Online under the title “Smartest health sites on the Web.” The article recommends Lab Tests Online as one of four web sites “used by Prevention editors [that] provide independent expert advice we trust.”

The print version of the magazine includes a description of Lab Tests Online, which is the first of the four sites covered, as well as the web address for the site. On its web site, Prevention includes a link to Lab Tests Online.

With a subscription base of more than 3 million readers, Prevention is the most widely distributed health/fitness magazine in the country. The impact of its recommendation was felt almost immediately. In fact, the staff learned of the Prevention reference from a user within 2-3 days of the March issue’s publication. Responding to the site’s request for user input, the user sent in this comment:

“This IS ABSOLUTELY what I had hoped was available. Saw it mentioned in "Prevention" magazine. WONDERFUL & THANK YOU ALL.”

At the same time, George Linzer, Lab Tests Online’s Executive Producer, noticed an upsurge in traffic. “We saw our usual jump in traffic in January -- reaching 262,000 visits, but the Prevention mention looks like it has boosted the number of visits early in February as well. Even though it’s a short month, we could hit 280,000 in February.”

Lab Tests Online averaged 220,000 per month last year for a total of 2.6 million visits in 2003.

(Ed. Note: As it turns out, traffic for February was higher than expected, with more than 310,000 visits logged.)