| Vol.
I, No. 2 | Thanksgiving | Nov.
17th, 2000 |
Links
to Business & Finance On-Line
The amount of info on the web is enormous, as anyone who's ever tried to run a
search can attest to. And, to put it all in context, best estimates say
that only a fraction, maybe 20 - 40 % of what's out there is actually making its
way to the search engines.
Well ...
Here at DownStreet, we'd like to try to help. So each issue, we
post a few links in Business & Finance to sites that might interest
you. Sometimes the links will be related to one another ...
sometimes we'll just offer up a somewhat random sampling. In either case,
we think we might be able to help you find the kind of site you've been looking
for.
Of course, while we can't vouch for the fact that
every link we provide will be of interest to everyone, we do our best to filter
out the noise and the bustle. ... More
'Small' Business Resources ...
Before you go perusing the links we've
provided below, you should know that most of them think of 'small' businesses in
much the same way the IRS has -- as businesses with gross receipts under $5
million. That said, even if your business is considerably smaller, these
sites can still provide you with some useful info. Free
On-Line Small Business Tools from American Express Like
lots of others, American Express has jumped into the business of serving
small businesses with both feet. And their web site places them among
the top contenders. In our most recent visit, AE's Gift
Giving Guide 2000 topped the links -- a help site for "selecting and
buying holiday gifts and greeting cards for your clients." On the
more interesting & useful side, you can also access any of their other
help sites including: Create an Effective Business Plan, Web Site
Marketing Workshop, Manage Your Receivables and Collections, Open a
Dot-Com: Internet Startup Workshop, or Find the Right Small Business
Insurance. AE also offered an interactive calculator that lets you
Take Your Fiscal Temperature with Financial Ratios. The site is
reasonably quick and easy to navigate.
Needless to say, you can also
access any of a number of other sections of AE that'll let you do anything
from apply for a card to find out how to buy, sell, manage or otherwise
tweak your business.
Rating: **** [4 stars]
Businessweek's
Small Business Guide The Businessweek site
actually focuses almost exclusively on small business legal issues through a
collaboration with FindLaw. That's all it does; but it does it very
well. These legal resources are linked from the main page
with titles like From Hiring to Firing: The Legal Survival Guide For
Employers; Legal Guide for Starting and Running a Small Business; and The
Working Woman's Legal Survival Guide. BW also provides links to other
resources, including the FindLaw Small Business Web Guide, Lawyers
& Courts, and a Legal Dictionary, where you can "find the
definition of over ten thousand legal terms."
The legal info
here is a good complement to last
month's Nolo offering. And BW knows the business of business, so
its web site, which is straightforward, fast and easy to use, is definitely
worth a look.
Rating: **** [4 stars]
Yahoo!
Small Business If lots of folks are getting
into the business of serving small business, then you can be sure that
Yahoo! is somewhere to be found. The Yahoo! site is
broken up into four main section: Your Business, Topics, Featured
Articles, and Tools. The first focuses on start-up, management, and,
of course, putting your business on-line. Topics include
Communications, E-commerce, Finance, Government Services, Human Resources,
International Business & Trade, Legal, Office Supplies, Printing, Sales
and Marketing, Startup Basics, and Technology. The Featured Articles
are up-dated periodically, with offerings coming primarily from other web
sites. Finally, the Tools offered are varied, including Accounting,
Address Book, Bookmarks, Briefcase, Calendar, Connected Office,
Invites, Mail Messenger, Notepad, Postal Center, Print Center, Sales Force
Automation, and Yellow Pages.
Yahoo! has been bent on continually
expanding its offerings way beyond the original focus on being a directory
of web sites hand-picked by its staff. This small business offering is
a good step in that direction.
Rating: **** [ 4 stars]
*******
******* If you know of any
links that you think are worthwhile, why not send them along to ...
links@downstreetmagazine.com
... If we agree, we'll be happy to include
them in an upcoming issue to pass the word along. ...
Thanks. *******
******* .
|
