And about the Internet, if you are a company that is trying to stay at the forefront of business and technology.

MedCare Technologies, Oak Brook, Ill., is hoping to increase the brand awareness of its health care portal (www.medcareonline.com). A direct-to-consumer source, it includes information on travel health advisories, news, symposiums and publications. It also targets physicians as a research source.

But any Web site can do that. MedCare wants to do more.

Following the tremendous successes of such Internet juggernauts as Yahoo! and Amazon.com, MedCare wants to brand its online service in the same fashion and further attract the commercial potential of the $1 trillion health care industry. The portal (a Web site through which Internet users pass to gain access to other Web sites) hopes to expand on its content, include new features and services, and create an online magazine. It will advertise in different media to increase exposure to the brand.

MedCare is also the developer of the MedCare Program, which is a non-drug, non-surgical system for the care and treatment of patients suffering from urinary incontinence.

Saying that you'll be the next smash success is the easy part, but with an estimated 46 percent of online users turning to the Internet for medical information, MedCare might be right.