Doing Business on the Internet

Unless otherwise noted, the sites listed in this directory are provided by organizations outside the Library of Congress. These links are offered as a convenience and for informational purposes. Their inclusion here does not constitute an endorsement or an approval by the Library of Congress of any of the products, services, or opinions of the external provider. The Library of Congress bears no responsibility for the accuracy or the content of external sites. Please contact the external site's administrator for answers to questions regarding any of these sites.

Go to: General Sources for Doing Business on the Internet | "Netiquette" for Doing Business on the Internet | Internet Business Directories | Internet Services and Consultants for Businesses

General Sources for Doing Business on the Internet

• CommerceNet
  A not-for-profit 501c(6) mutual benefit corporation which is conducting the first large-scale market trial of technologies and business processes to support interoperable electronic commerce via the Internet.
• comScore Data Center
  comScore is a global Internet fee-for-service information provider serving clients with data from multiple proprietary databases that provide a continuous, real-time measurement of Internet use, including such data as site traffic, uudience demographics, search engine usage, local market measurement, and Internet trends worldwide. Limited free sample data is available through the site's Press Center.
• Free Pint
  Written by information professionals in the UK, this free e-mail newsletter gives "tips, tricks and articles on how and where to find reliable Web sites and search more effectively."
• Global Internet Statistics (By Language) (GlobalReach)
  Global Reach is a fee-based service focusing on global online marketing, multilingual Web promotion and Website translations. The site provides some limited free data (last updated in 2004 as of October 2007) on the estimated number of native speakers online worldwide by language. Includes links to more detailed language information by country, as well as a chart showing the evolution & projections of online linguistic populations, beginning with 1996 through 2005. Also includes a section on projected e-commerce by country. Sources for the data are included. Site is being re-launched per the main Global Reach web page (as viewed October 2007).
• Internet Fraud Watch (National Consumer League)
  Part of the National Fraud Information Center, the Internet Fraud Watch assists consumers to "distinguish between legitimate and fraudulent promotions in cyberspace and route reports of suspected fraud to the appropriate law enforcement agencies."
• Market Segmentation: A Guide to Sources of Information
  This Business Reference Service guide includes books and other resources that discuss marketing to particular segments of the population along with other sources that are important in determining the size and power of a particular market segment. Also included are statistical books and other sources whose main focus is on a specific generational, ethnic or other group.
• Nielsen NetRatings
  Fee-based service that provides clients with Internet media and market research. Limited free data on Internet usage is available through the site.
• PeerSpectives (Edward Lowe Foundation)
  Designed for the business owner, the site emphasizes peer-networking and "next-level" thinking, encouraging business owners to anticipate issues the company is likely to encounter at the next level of growth and to understand the organizational changes required to move the company to that level. Includes numerous short articles on such topics as building an organization, acquiring and managing finances, human resources, legal issues, taxes, operations and technology. Some articles include citations to additional sources of information, including books, articles, research centers, professional associations, and web sites.

"Netiquette" for Doing Business on the Internet

• Learn the Net
  Covers a wide range of Internet basics, including a brief history or the Internet, netiquette, email, web browsers, newsgroups, web publishing, multimedia, conferencing, security, and privacy. Presents a guide and tutorial for learning to use the Internet, describes publishing, researching, and doing business on the Internet. Contains a glossary, a FAQ section, and a site search form. Provides access to French, German, Italian, and Spanish versions of site information.
• Netiquette Home Page (Seth T. Ross )
  Provides information on the responsible use of the Internet. As described on the home page, "'Netiquette' is network etiquette, the do's and don'ts of online communication. Netiquette covers both common courtesy online and the informal 'rules of the road' of cyberspace."

Internet Business Directories

• Alibaba
  A Forbes "Best of the Web" pick for B2B, Alibaba, which is based in Hangzhou in eastern China, with offices in Hong Kong, Switzerland and the United States, describes itself as "a leading online B2B marketplace for global buyers and importers looking to find and trade with suppliers from China and other manufacturing countries. As of June 30, 2007, it had more than 3.6 million registered users in over 200 countries and regions."
• BizWeb: Business Guide to the Web
  Internet resources of businesses, arranged by the companies' products and services. Uses broad subject categories.
• AllBusiness (AllBusiness)
  Claims to be "the largest and most comprehensive business catalog in the world.".
• SuperPages.com
  Maintained by Verizon Information Services, the site allows users to search yellow and white pages nationwide. Also includes other features such as product reviews and an interactive MerchantMatch page.

Internet Services and Consultants for Businesses

• BtoB: Advertising Age's Newspaper of the Marketing Revolution (Crain Communications)
  Site includes the Web Price Index, a monthly study of the cost of web services; NetMarketing 200, a ranking of two hundred business-to-business sites, searchable by name, rank, or industry; and the BtoB 100, a listing of top advertisers by spending or by medium.
• BizSeer.IST Academic Business Literature Digital Library
  "BizSeer is a publicly available vertical digital library and search engine hosted at Penn State's Smeal College of Business that focuses on academic business documents. SmealSearch crawls the web and harvests, catalogs, and indexes academic business documents. ... The search engine crawls websites of academia, commerce, research institutes, government agencies, etc. for academic business documents, including published articles, working papers, white papers, consulting reports, etc." From the BizSeer.IST Web Site, October 19, 2007. For additional information about the search engine, see http://bizseer.ist.psu.edu/SMEALSearchAbout.html.
• eCommerce-guide.com
  This portal to information on electronic commerce offers daily news, feature articles, product reviews, case studies, and an e-commerce events calendar, as well as an e-commerce-focused discussion forum.
• Internet Access Providers (Yahoo)
• Internet Business Consultants (Yahoo)