Internet resources for small businesses

We have reviewed a large number of web sites looking for resources that can assist small business owners and organizations.

The web sites listed below offer information or services, usually free, that can be very valuable.

General Web Sites for Small Business Owners		smalloffice.com This site includes sections on sales and marketing, law, finance, tech tips and reviews, management, as well as software reviews, a weekly newsletter, links and a business research center.
		Idea Cafe Their motto is "A fun approach to serious business", and you can see it in action at their CyberSchmooz discussion group, in the business tips posted on The Fridge, and in their hardware and software reviews. You can also submit questions in their Coffee Talk with Experts area.
Web Sites for Women in Business		Home Working Mom This is the web site of the Mother's Home Business Network whose purpose is to provide inspiration and support for mothers who choose to work at home. Their web site features a mentor program, sections on daily success strategy tips, how to keep your kids happy, how to get your business started, links and a newsletter.
		Bizy Moms This was created by Liz Folger, author of The Stay-At-Home Mom's Guide to Making Money. It includes advice on creating a successful home based business, a collection of articles on a wide variety of business related topics, ideas how to avoid scams, a weekly newsletter and personal phone consultation with Liz Folger.
U.S. Government Sites		Small Business Administration The U.S. Small Business Administration, established in 1953, provides financial, technical and management assistance to help Americans start, run, and grow their businesses. With a portfolio of business loans, loan guarantees and disaster loans worth more than $45 billion, SBA is the nation's largest single financial backer of small businesses. Their web site contains a huge amount of very useful information for small business owners plus links to other government agencies.
		U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Here's everything you always wanted to know about how to get a patent or trademark.
		U.S. Business Advisor The "one-stop electronic link to government for business" The U.S. Business Advisor exists to provide businesses with one-stop access to federal government information, services, and transactions. Their goal is to make the relationship between business and government more productive. The web site includes a FAQ section with links to the FAQ sections of other government agencies, a "How to" section for learning about everything from addressing an envelope to the EPA's small business waste reduction guide.
		U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Small Business Resources Lots of small business resources, self-directed online tools and tutorials, their own ChamberMall, and strategies for going global can be found here.
		Securities and Exchange Commission, Small Business Information This site features information on investor assistance and compliance, enforcement, the EDGAR database, SEC Digest, and information specifically for small businesses, plus their own news section and links.
E-Commerce & Credit Card Processing		CyberCash CyberCash is the preferred method for transferring credit card information from your web site to your credit card processor (such as Nova or Cardservice International). They offer real-time credit card authorization and are an integral part in any serious e-commerce web site. Definitely worth a visit.
		Nova Information Systems Nova Information Systems is the fifth largest credit card processor in the U.S., and they interface with CyberCash. Their web site contains all the information you need to know to establish a merchant account.
		Cardservice International Cardservice International is the credit card processor of choice for many web site owners, and they also interface with CyberCash. Instructions on setting up a merchant account can be found at their web site too.
		ICVERIFY Another credit card processor widely used by web site owners. They were recently acquired by CyberCash.
		Credit Card Transactions - Real World and Online This is one of the best explanations I have seen on how the whole credit card authorization and transaction process works. This is a must read for anyone considering e-commerce as a part of their web site.
Small Business Associations & Organizations		Vantage Services, Inc. This company allows web site owners who cannot get their own merchant account the ability to accept credit card payments from their customers.
		National Association for the Self Employed They are a Washington D.C. based lobbyist organization, and they offer quite a few business and personal benefits with paid membership to the organization.
		Institute for Business and Professional Ethics This is a part of DePaul University in Chicago. Their mission is to promote ethical decision making by providing a forum exploring ethical practices in businesses and organizations. In addition to their web site they also sponsor lectures, on-site training, discussion and written publications, a variety of ethics related programs and projects plus a quarterly newsletter.
Internet Marketing		The Marketing Resource Center The focus here is in assisting businesses with marketing on the Internet as well as through traditional means. They have over 250 articles online, a biweekly newsletter, their Marketing Forum message board, links and other marketing tools.
		eMarketer The eMarketer features marketing news, statistics, links, and several discussion boards. You can also find many articles, studies and interviews on exploring marketing tactics, techniques and strategies. They also offer a free weekly marketing newsletter.
		Internet News Bureau They offer helpful tips on dealing with the media and tracking media coverage. They can also write and distribute press releases for you.
Internet Demographics & Surveys		NUA Internet Surveys NUA Internet Survey are one of the best sources of information regarding Internet trends. A survey released on February 10, 1999, for example, of Internet penetration in US cities and metropolitan areas reveals Oakland and Orange County California hold the #1 and #2 spots, with 75% and 70% of the adult population with Internet access. Seattle was #3 with 69%. They have the results of thousands of surveys.
		GVU Center's WWW User Surveys The Graphics, Visualization & Usability Center at Georgia Tech conducts an annual survey of Internet users, and the results of the Tenth Survey are now available at their web site. In addition to questions about general Internet use habits, the most recent survey included questions about online privacy, security, purchasing on the Internet, (and reasons for NOT purchasing online), modem connection speed, etc. Some of the results are quite surprising!
Internet Infrastructure		Internet Weather Report This web site provides graphs showing the packet loss to dozens of ISP's around the country, shown in 15 minute increments.
		Atlas of CyberSpace This is a fascinating web site that displays twelve types of cybermaps, which are two-dimensional or three-dimensional visualizations of the Internet backbone, locations of ISP's, traceroutes, and Internet connectivity, to name a few.
Legal Information & Advice		Nolo.com Operated by Nolo Press, this web site offers plenty of help for those of us who would prefer not to hire an attorney to deal with routine legal problems and responsibilities. They have a large collection of books, guides, and legal forms for sale in their Law Store, but what I really like about their web site is their free online Legal Encyclopedia. It features hundreds of articles dealing with almost any type of legal situation in which you may find yourself.
		CCH Business Owner's Toolkit CCH is the famous publisher of those legal and tax books you see filling up the shelves in the offices of lawyers and accountants all across the country. They've been at it since 1913, and now they offer a Business Owner's Toolkit, a collections of brief articles that cover all aspects of starting and operating your own business.
		Copyright Law Information Copyright law is something we all should be aware of, in order to protect our rights, and so we do not impinge upon the rights of others, especially unknowingly. To deal with this complicated subject, check out this very well organized and easy to understand web site.
Miscellaneous		Default Fonts for Windows 95 & 98 If you don't have Windows 95 or 98, you can use these formatted lists to see which fonts your browser supports.

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