Information is the key to good business decisions. There is a great deal of good information freely available on the Web. The following websites provide a starting point for your business research activities. They are arranged in categories to help you expedite your search. Note that the opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed are those of the websites’ producer(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the SBTDC.
Associations – Directories
ASAE & The Center for Association Leadership
www.asaecenter.org
This page allows you to search for an association by name, interest area, or geographic location. You also can search using a combination of fields.
Weddles
www.weddles.com
Free listing of associations arranged by industry
Internet Public Library
www.ipl.org/div/aon/
A collection of over 1100 Internet sites providing information about a wide variety of professional and trade associations
Associations – Business
American Marketing Association
www.marketingpower.com
The world's largest and most comprehensive professional society of marketers
National Retail Federation
www.nrf.org
The world's largest retail trade association
Biotechnology Industry Organization
www.bio.org
The mission of BIO is to be the champion of biotechnology and the advocate for its member organizations –both large and small
National Restaurant Association
www.restaurant.org
The leading business association for the restaurant industry
Software & Information Industry Association
www.siia.com
The principal trade association for the software and digital content industry
Benchmarking
Fintel Scorecard
www.fintel.us/products/BusinessScorecard.html
Compare your company to others in the industry based on 9 core ratios
Biz Stats
www.bizstats.com
Compare your company performance to others in the same industry
Business Plans
BizPlanIt
www.bizplanit.com/free.html
BizPlanIt's Virtual Business Plan is an online business plan resource based on real-world business planning advice.
Entrepreneur Magazine
www.entrepreneur.com/businessplan
Articles and resources for creating your business plan
SCORE Business Plan Template
www.score.org/node/803280
Easy to follow template for creating a business plan, preferred by counselors
American Express
www.openforum.com/idea-hub/topics/the-world/article/how-to-write-a-business-plan-guy-kawasaki
How to write a business plan
Business Link North Carolina (BLNC)
www.blnc.gov/start-your-business/business-plan-resources
Business Plan Resources
Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh
www.clpgh.org/subject/business/bplansindex.html
Guide to business plans by type of business
SBA Business Plan Basics
www.sba.gov/smallbusinessplanner
Step-by-step instructions for creating a business plan from the SBA
Competitive Intelligence
Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals
www.scip.org
Provides education and networking opportunities to business and competitive intelligence professionals (including marketing, market research, strategy, and information.
Fuld & Company
www.fuld.com/HomePage.html
Specialist in competitive intelligence
Investigators Toolbox
www.virtuallibrarian.com/research/ci.html
Tools for performing a competitor search
Law & Tech. Resources for Legal Professionals
www.llrx.com/category/793
Articles on competitive intelligence
Zapdata
www.zapdata.com
D&B Sales & Marketing Solutions' online source for B2B sales leads, mailing lists and business information
Securities & Exchange Commission
www.sec.gov
Search for required filings of publicly traded corporations
Demographics / Psychographics
American Fact Finder
factfinder.census.gov/home/saff/main.html?_lang=en
Ongoing data collected by the Census Bureau
Melissa Data
www.melissadata.com
Free address information for businesses and individuals
Websaras
eslmi40.esc.state.nc.us/websaras
Electronic information dissemination tool that displays statistics for the states and areas therein, in the Bureau of Labor Statistics regions. This system gives geographic based access to a variety of census, economic, labor market, and local information.
NC Rural Databank
www.ncruralcenter.org/databank/index.html
Statistical information on North Carolina's rural counties
My Best Segments-Claritas
www.claritas.com/MyBestSegments/Default.jsp
MyBestSegments features information about Claritas' segmentation system PRIZM NE and is the only source for detailed segment descriptions for all of Claritas' market segmentation products.
EASI Demographics
www.easidemographics.com
Free reports based on the 2000 Census
FreeDemographics
www.freedemographics.com
Free demographic market analysis reports
Economic Development
EconData
www.econdata.net
Regional Economic Data
NC Commerce Site Selectors' toolkit
www.nccommerce.com/en/BusinessServices/
LocateYourBusiness/SiteSelectorsToolkit
Information for site selectors considering NC as a business location
Entrepreneurship
Council for Entrepreneurial Development
www.cednc.org
A private, non-profit organization formed to identify, enable and promote high growth, high impact entrepreneurial companies and to accelerate the entrepreneurial culture of the Research Triangle and NC
Kauffman Foundation
www.kauffman.org
Focuses its grant making and operations on advancing entrepreneurship and improving the education of children and youth.
Edward Lowe Foundation
www.lowe.org
To champion the entrepreneurial spirit by providing information, research and educational experiences that support entrepreneurship and the free enterprise system
Inc Magazine
www.inc.com
Provides small-business information, Web-based tools, products, and services
Entrepreneur Magazine
www.entrepreneur.com
Small business tools; business plan guide; entrepreneur’s databases for business opportunities and franchise information
Entrepreneurial Connections
www.entrepreneurialconnection.com/About.asp
Provides tools, tips and training for the self-employed and small business owners
Financing Resources
Capital Opportunities for Small Business
www.sbtdc.org/resources/publications/capital-opportunities/
SBTDC's online publication for finding capital resources for NC businesses
SBA-Financing your resources
www.sba.gov/services/financialassistance
Describes loan availability, eligibility, sources of grants
Franchising
Entrepreneur Magazine-Franchise Opportunities
www.entrepreneur.com/franchises
Franchising opportunities plus tips on buying/running a franchise
Franchising.com
www.franchising.com
Resource for On-line Franchise Information
The Franchise Registry
www.franchiseregistry.com
Listing of companies registered with the SBA available for franchising
Franchise Direct
www.franchisedirect.com
Listing of franchises for sale
Government Resources – Federal
Code of Federal Regulations
www.gpoaccess.gov/cfr
US Small Business Administration website
www.sba.gov
An independent agency of the federal government to aid, counsel, assist and protect the interests of small business concerns
US Patent & Trademark Office
www.uspto.gov
Search for patents and trademarks
Internal Revenue Service
www.irs.gov/businesses/small
Tax information for small businesses
Laws & regulations by industry
www.business.gov
Provides a single access point to government services and information to help the nation's businesses with their operations.
FedBizOpps
www.fbo.gov
Federal government procurement opportunities above $25,000.
Government Resources – North Carolina
NC Department of Commerce
www.nccommerce.com/en
Websaras
http://eslmi40.esc.state.nc.us/websaras
Electronic information dissemination tool that displays statistics for the states and areas therein, in the Bureau of Labor Statistics regions. This system gives geographic based access to a variety of census, economic, labor market, and local information.
NC State University Industrial Extension Service
www.ies.ncsu.edu
Supports North Carolina business in the workplace – in the office, on the factory floor or in the hospital
NC Biotechnology Center
www.ncbiotech.org
Supports biotechnology research, business and education statewide
Defense Logistics Agency
www.dla.mil/db/
The Defense Logistics Agency is DOD's largest combat support agency, providing worldwide logistics support in both peacetime and wartime to the military services as well as several civilian agencies and foreign countries. Find info on selling to the military.
NC Secretary of State – Corporations Division
www.secretary.state.nc.us/corporations
Responsible for the examination, custody and maintenance of the legal documents filed by corporations, limited partnerships and limited liability companies in NC
Human Resources
Employee Benefit Research Institute
www.ebri.org
Contributes to, encourages, ands enhances the development of sound employee benefit programs and sound public policy through objective research and education.
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
www.eeoc.gov
Commission which enforces laws protecting against discrimination in employment
Society for Human Resource Management
www.shrm.org
World’s largest professional association devoted to human resource management whose mission is to serve the needs of HR professionals by providing current and comprehensive resources, and to advance the profession by promoting HR’s role.
Salary.com
www.salary.com
Benchmark salaries
Industry Research
NAICS Classification System
www.census.gov/epcd/www/naics.html
New classification system for industries. Replaces SIC codes.
Valuation Resources
www.valuationresources.com
A directory of resources which address subjects such as industry overview, issues, trends, and outlook, industry financial information and financial ratios, and compensation and salary surveys for a wide variety of industries.
ZapData
www.zapdata.com
Free industry reports from Dun & Bradstreet
Alacra Industry Spotlights
www.alacrawiki.com/index.php?title=Alacra_Industry_Spotlights
Detailed proprietary reviews and commentary on the best web-based sources of industry specific content previously available only to Alacra subscription customers
International Trade
Country Briefings
www.Economist.com/country briefings
Socio-economic information about individual countries
World Fact Book
www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook
Detailed information about countries of the world including political and economic aspects
Ex-Im Bank
www.exim.gov
Assists in financing the export of U.S. goods and services to international markets.
Overseas Private Investment Corp.
www.opic.gov
OPIC helps U.S. businesses invest overseas, fosters economic development in new and emerging markets, complements the private sector in managing risks associated with foreign direct investment, and supports U.S. foreign policy.
US Trade & Development Agency
www.ustda.gov
Advances economic development and U.S. commercial interests in developing and middle income countries. The agency funds various forms of technical assistance, early investment analysis, training, orientation visits and business workshops that support the development of a modern infrastructure and a fair and open trading environment.
Legal
FindLaw
www.findlaw.com
Legal information for lawyers and general public, including case law, statutes, lawyer search
Martindale
www.martindale.com
Directory of lawyers
MegaLaw
www.megalaw.com/forms/nc/ncforms.php
NC Legal forms
The Red Book (NC Licenses and Permits)
www.nccommerce.com/en/BusinessServices/StartYourBusiness/BusinessLicensesPermits/
Lists the licenses and permits needed for businesses in NC
Market Research
Quirks
www.quirks.com
Magazine for market researchers
Hoovers
www.hoovers.com
Company descriptions and industry info.
Annual Reports
www.annualreports.com
Online access to annual reports
Securities and Exchange Commission
www.sec.gov
Corporate filings
Marketresearch.com
www.marketresearch.com
Reports to purchase
Valuation Resources
www.valuationresources.com/IndustryReport.htm
Free industry reports
Marketing
ListFinder
listfinder.directmag.com/market
Searchable database of more than 50,000 direct mail lists.
Standard Rate and Data Service (SRDS)
www.srds.com/portal/servlet/LoginServlet
Database of media rates and information
American Marketing Association
www.marketingpower.com
Resources for marketers and advertisers
M Plans
www.mplans.com
Choose from several free marketing plans or purchase others
Publications
CEO Express
www.ceoexpress.com
Gateway to online business magazines
BusinessWeek
www.businessweek.com
Weekly magazine containing information useful to entrepreneurs
Harvard Business Review
www.hbr.org
Online version of HBR which provides summaries of articles in print edition
Wall Street Journal
www.wsj.com
Daily News Voyager
www.Newspaperlinks.com/voyager.cfm
Gateway to many online newspapers
USA Today – Money
www.usatoday.com/money/smallbusiness
Online magazine with articles of interest to small business owners
Science and Technology
National Technical Information Service
www.ntis.gov
Has science, technology and business information.
American National Standards Institute
www.ansi.org
Has standards information and links to standards sites.
Department of Defense Single Stock Point
dodssp.daps.dla.mil
US Patent and Trademark Office
www.uspto.gov
Protect intellectual property by patenting
Association of University Technology Managers
www.autm.org
Promotes, supports and improves academic technology transfer worldwide and demonstrate its benefits globally through education, advocacy, networking and communication.
Social Media
Social Media for Small Business Guide
ducttapemarketing.com/socialmediaforbusiness.pdf
This eBook breaks social media down into easy-to-understand pieces to help make sense of and make use of social media as a tool to help grow a business.
10 Small Business Social Media Marketing Tips
mashable.com/2009/10/28/small-business-marketing
Twitter 101 for Business
business.twitter.com/twitter101
Has standards information and links to standards sites.
Mashable.com’s Twitter Guide Book
mashable.com/guidebook/twitter
Statistics on Small Business Social Media Usage
mashable.com/2010/03/02/small-business-stats/ OR http://www.briansolis.com/2010/05/social-media-in-small-business-is-anything-but-small/
Facebook Guide Book
mashable.com/guidebook/facebook
Statistics
U.S. Census
www.census.gov
Main census website
County Business Patterns
www.census.gov/econ/cbp/index.html
An annual series that provides subnational economic data by industry. Businesses use the data for analyzing market potential, measuring the effectiveness of sales and advertising programs, setting sales quotas, and developing budgets.
Statistical Abstract
www.census.gov/compendia/statab/
Summary of statistics on the social, political, and economic organization of the United States.
FEDStats
www.fedstats.gov
Gateway to federally collected stats
