• by February 17, 2006

Daily traffic to nearly 30 top Valentine's Day sites, including greetings, specialty gifts, jewelry, and flower sites, rose 114 percent on Monday, Feb. 13, compared to traffic on Feb. 12, according to Nielsen/NetRatings. Traffic for these sites grew 106 percent Monday-over-Monday.

Nielsen reports that the gifts and flowers category experienced a steady rise during the past few weeks, with a 33 percent jump in weekly unique visitors during the week ending Feb. 5. The category grew 12 percent year-over-year during the week ending Feb. 5 as compared to the same period in 2005. FTD.com, RedEnvelope, and 1800Flowers.com led the category, with all three sites experiencing double-digit growth rates.

Most greeting card sites, on the other hand, maintained flat growth during the past few weeks, Nielsen reports, as well-wishers typically wait until the actual holiday to send e-greetings. On a daily traffic basis, American Greetings led with 1.3 million unique visitors on Monday, Feb. 13, followed by Hallmark, Yahoo Greetings, and 123Greetings.com.