Resources Worth Noting: Access eCommerce Guide

Resources Worth Noting

Minnesota

Accessibility

Accessify.com
Tools, links and resources to make websites accessible.
Designing an Accessible Web Page
Links to key resources on the topic
DisabilityInfo.gov
The central clearinghouse for disability-related government resources

Affiliate Marketing

Commission Junction
LinkShare
PayPerClick SearchEngines.com
Pay per click search engines popular with affiliate sites

Banner Advertising

Google AdSense
Offers website publishers revenue sharing from text ads precisely targeted to the specific content of their individual web pages
Google's AdWords

Best Starting Points

CEO Express
Includes the most useful business links all on a single webpage
Yahoo Small Business

Browser Plug-ins

Adobe Acrobat Reader
View PDF format documents
Flash Player
Runs vector graphics animations--lots of sizzle
QuickTime
Popular video player for both MACs and PCs
RealPlayer
Multi-media player--Real SlideShow, Real Presenter, Real Producer multi-media creation tools also available
Shockwave Player
Can support dazzling interactive content
Windows Media Player
Multi-media player

Business Directories

Business News

Business Plans

Business Owners Toolkit Guidebook: Planning Your Business
Business Plan Outline
From the Small Business Administration
Writing an Effective Business Plan
PDF from Deloitte & Touché

Business Resources

Alibaba Manufacturer Directory
Leading B2B portal for Suppliers, Manufacturers, Exporters and Importers
Business Owners Idea Cafe
"A Fun Approach to Serious Business: Yes, we firmly believe there's a clear need for some whipped cream topped with a cherry in every entrepreneur's diet!"
Federal Marketplace
GovCon
Information source for the Government Contracting industry
Government Bids
Hoovers Online
Company information resources
MelissaDATA Free Online Lookups
Find addresses, zipcodes, and statistics quickly
National Restaurant Association: Industry Research
Free research studies
Onvia
Federal, state, local, and international government bids
Quicken
Reference For Business
Free and searchable access to Gale's Encyclopedia of Small Business, Business Biographies, Business Plans, and Encyclopedia of American Industries
Small Business
From The Wall Street Journal
Small Business and Self-Employed One-Stop Resource
IRS portal for small business
The Motley Fool
ThomasNet
Comprehensive resource for industrial information from the Thomas Registry and Thomas Regional
VocationVacations
Enabling you to test-drive your dream job; empowering you to turn your passions into your career.
World Trade Point Federation
Yahoo Finance

Directories

Gateway to Associations Online
Searchable directory of association websites
State and Local Government on the Net

Domains

000Domains.com
Registration $13.50 per year for com, org, and net domains
BetterWhois
The WHOIS domain search that works with all registrars
ICANN
Manages the domain name system
Internet Domain Survey
Tracks the growth of domains
Whois.net
NTT/Verio whois server

E-commerce Collections

Center for Research in Electronic Commerce
An academic center with links to research and courses
E-Business Knowledge Center
From Computerworld
Electronic Commerce Interest Group
From the World Wide Web Consortium
Enterprise E-Business
From CIO Magazine

E-commerce Guides

E-commerce News

ClickZ Today
Includes a search engine covering online advertising, marketing and commerce
E-Commerce Times
E-CommerceNews
From Internet World
Econtent
formerly Database Magazine
InternetRetailer
E-business strategies for merchants and catalogers

Electronic Payments

Examples

Ben & Jerry's
Main site has everything but online shopping
Ben & Jerry's Gifts By Mail
Uses Yahoo Stores for hosting
FlamingoWorld
Successful site built on affiliate marketing
L.A.R.K. Toys
Retro-toy store
Main Street Outdoor Shop
The ChildFun Family Website
Odd mix of great information, affiliate marketing, and annoying pop-ups. Also features Gator spyware!
The Thanks Company
Offers volunteer recognition gifts and greeting cards. Includes some free resources.

Financing Your Business

Americas Business Funding Directory
Financial Assistance
From the Small Business Administration

Government Resources

Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance
CenStats Databases
Free online access to popular Census Bureau business databases
Census 2000 Demographic Profiles
Local and state socio-economic statistics in PDF format
CourthouseDirect.com
Public records for a fee
Department of Commerce
Links to US statistics and economic data
Export.Gov
U.S. Government Export Portal
Federal Business Opportunities
FedBizOpps.gov is the single government point-of-entry (GPE) for Federal government procurement opportunities over $25,000.
FedWorld.gov
Internal Revenue Service
Tax forms, rules and regulations
International Trade Administration
International Trade Office
Small Business Administration
Office of Small Business Development
Science.gov
Science.gov is a gateway to authoritative selected science information provided by U.S. Government agencies, including research and development results.
Securities and Exchange Commission
Small Business Administration
Program information, educational materials, and links to resources
U.S. Census Bureau
USA.gov
The main portal to federal resources online
WomenBiz.gov

Graphics

Public domain image resources
Wikipedia links to image resources by topic
stock.xchng
The leading free stock photo site

Graphics: Clip Art

Art on the Net
You can use the art on your pages but read the copyright statement first.
ClipArt.com
Inexpensive preofessional graphics
Ideabook Clip Art Tutorial
How to choose and use clip art
Microsoft Design Gallery Live
Design Gallery Live is the place to find clip art, photos, Web animations, and sounds.
TASK FORCE Clip Art Home Page
Professional quality clip art on CD-ROM at rock bottom prices. Offers a very nice sampler for Windows

Graphics: Tools

CoolText
Create logos and buttons online for free
ditto.com
Search engine for graphics--check copyright before using images
HTML Background Color Selector
Interactive utility
MediaBuilder 3D TextMaker
Create free animated or stationary banners or signs
PaintShop Pro
Inexpensive full-featured graphics programs
QuickBanner
Lots of free banners [requires registration]
The Banner Generator
Makes fairly simple banners; offers lots of font, size, and color options.
WebFX
Apply special effects to web images

Guides

Bare Bones Guide to HTML
Covers HTML 2/3 and Netscape extensions. Available in several formats (plain text, HTML, tables) and languages (English, French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Dutch, and Japanese).
Netiquette

Legal and Ethical Issues

Business.gov
Business.gov guides you through the maze of government rules and regulations . and provides access to services and resources to help you start, grow, and succeed in business.
Consumer's Guide to Legal Help on the Internet
From the American Bar Association
Copyright FAQ
Good articles and links
Ethics of WWW Site Engineering
Highlights the ethical implications of the decisions involved in creating and managing a website
U.S. Copyright Office FAQ

Marketing

Email Marketing Resources for Small Business
Co-sponsored by the SBA
PRWeb
A free press release service
Tips for Press Release Writing and Effective Media Relations
Web Marketing Information Center
Hundreds of articles and links from an authority on web marketing.

Organizations

American Marketing Association
Association of Internet Professionals
Better Business Bureau
eMarketing Association International
Institute for Public Relations
International Association of Business Communicators
Mothers Home Business Network
National Association for the Self-Employed
Public Relations Society of America
SCORE: Service Corps of Retired Executives
Free and confidential small business advice for entrepreneurs

Privacy

Anonymizer
Electronic Privacy Information Center
How to Comply With The Children's Online Privacy Protection Rule
Model Privacy Statement
Useful template for creating a privacy statement. A little stiff and corporate. (DOC format)
OECD Privacy Statement Generator
The best online privacy statement generator
OnGuard Online
Practical tips on how to protect your privacy and guard against spyware, phishing, and Internet scams.
Privacy Analysis of Your Internet Connection
Privacy Policy Generator
From the Direct Marketing Association
Privacy Resource Guide
Includes guide and model privacy statement

Public Records

NETRonline
Real estate, public records, and research information portal
Pretrieve
Free Public Record Search Engine
Search Systems
Access over 12896 Free Searchable Public Record Databases

Research Reports

Intuit Future of Small Business Report
A three-part study that examines significant trends affecting small business over the next decade.
MarketResearch.com
Search the collection of 50,000 publications from over 350 leading research firms. Purchase only the information you need with the Buy by the Slice option. Instant Online Delivery available for most publications.

Resources

BuzzWhack: The Buzzword Compliant Dictionary
Baffled by the latest Internet or computer jargon, check here.
Craigslist
Free online classifieds for jobs, apartments, personals, for sale, services, community, and events
Dictionary of Small Business
Useful content but not not very technology savvy
Incoming Links Development Guide and Directory
Incoming links from appropriate sites bring traffic and can also help your site's search engine rankings
Internet Archive
The Internet Archive created the Wayback Machine which makes it possible to surf more than 10 billion pages stored in the Internet Archive's web archive.
MyBusiness Magazine
MyBusiness magazine is the exclusive member magazine of NFIB.
PdfMeNot
Creates a flash version of a PDF file
PlanetFeedback
A free services to send feedback - compliments, complaints, questions, suggestions - to companies
Wikipedia
A free online encyclopedia

Search Engines

100hot Directory
Popular searches in last 24 hours
A9.com
A powerful search engine, using web search and image search results enhanced by Google, Amazon, GuruNet, and other reference sources
alltheweb.com
AltaVista
Bing Search
Clusty Government
Powerful meta-search engine for US government and politics
dmoz.org
Dogpile
Excite
FindArticles.com
Indexes full-text articles dating back to 1998 from more than 300 magazines and journals.
Google
Google US Government Search
HotBot
Lycos
MetaCrawler
Search Engine Watch
Tips About Internet Search Engines & Search Engine Submission
Who? Me? People Finder
A reverse people finder site: is someone looking for you online?
Yahoo
Yahoo! Netrospective
10 years, 100 moments of the Web

Security

CERT Coordination Center
A federally funded Internet security research and development center at Carnegie Mellon University
Computer Security FAQs
Cyberfraud
Internet ScamBusters
The World Wide Web Security FAQ
Trust inCyberspace
What is a Digital Signature?
World Wide Web Security FAQ
Ready reference on web security issues for site administrators
Zone-H.org Digital Attacks Archive
Maintains mirror images of hacked sites.

Shopping

DealCatcher
DealCatcher helps shoppers find coupons, rebates, promotions and the best prices for over 500 online merchants.
Safeshopping.org
Information site created by the American Bar Association covers: security, privacy, payments, terms, complaints and tips for online shoppers
Shopping.com
Free online comparison-shopping service that lets you compare products, prices and stores on the Web
techbargains.com
Lists current bargains for tech equipment

Small Business Collections

411SmallBusinessFacts.com
A searchable data base about American small businesses produced by the NFIB Research Foundation
AllBusiness.com
Information, forms, and other tools for small business owners
Nolo Press
Publishes legal guides for small businesses
SOHO Online
Resources for Small Office/Home Office Entrepreneurs
WorkZ.com
Small Business portal with over 3000 articles, ideas and resources to help you build, manage, promote and maintain your Web business.

Social Networking

Docstoc
Docstoc is the premier online community to find and share professional documents. Serves an open document repository.
FriendFeed
FriendFeed enables you to keep up-to-date on the web pages, photos, videos and music that your friends and family are sharing
Meetup
Helps groups of people with shared interests tomeet in local cafes (and other places) around the world.

Software

Business PlanPro
From Palo Alto Software ($99.95)
Google Desktop Search
Free desktop software that searches your email, files, media, web history and chats instantly
PlanWrite Expert Edition
From Business Resource Software ($229.95)
Scotiabusiness Plan Writer
A free Windows program--highly recommended
Windows Search
Free desktop software that searches your email, files, media, and web history

Statistics

A Nation Online: How Americans Are Expanding Their Use Of The Internet
This report is based on the September 2001 U.S. Census Bureau's Current Population Survey - a survey of approximately 57,000 households and more than 137,000 individuals across the United States.
BizStats.com
Instant access to useful financial ratios, business statistics & benchmarks, effective and understandable online analysis of businesses & industries.
ClickZ Stats
Internet Statistics and Market Research for Web Marketers
eMarketer
Gartner Group
GVUs WWW User Surveys
The Georgia Tech survey cover the growth and development of the Internet and eommerce for 1994-1998.
Home Broadband Adoption 2009
Source: Pew Internet & American Life Project
Internet Use by Region in the United States
Regional comparison of Internet use. From the Pew Internet & American Life Project
Media Metrix U.S.
Nielson Media
Online Video
From Pew Internet & American Life Project
Pew Internet & American Life Project
Ongoing surveys and topical studies
Use of the Internet at Major Life Moments
Web information is an important resource for Americans making important choices related to education and job training, investments and big-ticket purchases, and health care for themselves or for loved ones. From the Pew Internet

Style Guides

Guide to Web Style
An excellent guide is based on the experience of Sun Microsystems.
Style Guide for Online Hypertext
Useful ideas for web site administrators and web page developers alike
Web Style Guide
Lots of images and a definite point of view--not the last word on web style although it sounds like it. An excellent resource.

Trends

Small Business and Web Sites
Dan Bricklin's take on small business websites.
Ubercool
Market and Internet research "Tracking the Future of Cool"

Tutorials

eHow
Tutorials for everyday life and business
FindTutorials.com: The Tutorials Search Engine
Over 450 free tutorials
How to Make a Web Page
Very specific advice for MAC users on software and strategies for making web pages
W3Schools Online Web Tutorials
Free Web building tutorials, from basic HTML and XHTML tutorials, to advanced XML, XSL and WAP tutorials.

Typography

Typofile Magazine - The best faces for the Screen
Solid advice about onscreen fonts from an expert
Typography on the World Wide Web
Offers background information and free fonts for Macintosh and Windows computers (Arial, Comic, Courier, Impact and Times New Roman fonts)

Usability

Usability Basics
Provides a basic overview of and general information aboutusability.

Web Applications (Fee)

MyWorkTools
The first employee to employee (E2E) knowledge exchange that enables employees to find business tools to complete specific business tasks. Mostly inexpensive templates and spreadsheets
TrueSwitch
Makes moving to a new Internet account easy

Web Applications (Free)

All My FAQs Wiki
Good example of an easy to use collaboration tool--Wiki.
Extreme-Tracker
Jott
Jott converts your voice into emails, text messages, reminders, lists and appointments.
Microsoft Office Live Small Business
Create a site, market it, and manage your online business with a set of free or inexpensive tools
Online Conversion Tools for Adobe PDF Documents
Provides online tools to help visually disabled users whosescreen reader software is not compatible with the AdobeAcrobat Reader 5.0. These online tools convert PDF documents into either HTML or ASCII text, which can then be read by a number of common screen reader programs.
OnlineHomeBase.com
A free online personal information manager (PIM)
PDF Online
Provides quick and free document conversion into PDF andHTML formats.
SiteKits
desktopPublishing.com offers dozens of SiteKits for personal or non-commercial use.
Skype
Free software to make free calls anywhere in the world via broadband
SurveyMonkey.com
WebApp: Create online surveys quickly and easily. Freeversion available.
Web-Counter
Yahoo! Babel Fish
Yahoo's Translation Service
Yahoo! Local Listings
Free local listing and 5 page website
Zamzar
Free online file conversion
Zoomerang
Online survey tool

Web Design

100Things
Title: "100 Things you Can do Right Now To Make Your Web Site Better" - doesn't have 100 items but offers good advice
A Standard for Robot Exclusion
How to keep the pesky critters out of your private directories...
Browser-optimized Content Delivery
Tips on how to produce pages that work with a variety of browsers--not just Netscape
Elements of Style for Web Design
Open Source Web Design
Free website templates sortable by date submitted, rank,number of downloads, or author.
Web Pages that Suck
Some good advice but not the best-designed set of pages on the Net!
What Makes a Great Web Site?
Andrew King's article is well-worth reading and his conclusion (Original content is the most important trait of a great Web site.) is absolutely right.

Web Hosting (Fee)

mycompany.com
Cheap domain registration and hosting
ShopSite Manager
Easy-to-use shopping cart software for small to medium-sized businesses.
Yahoo! Small Business: Merchant Solutions

Web Hosting Services

Budget Web
A directory of inexpensive web hosting services for small businesses, includes primer for business websites
CNET: Hosting
Directory and tips on choosing a Web hosting service
Compare Web Hosts
Tool for comparing hosting services
Comparison of Popular Stores
A useful comparison of the major features of Amazon.com zShops, Yahoo! Store, Lycos Stores, iCat Web Store (discontinued), and ShopSite Manager SC
HostSearch
Search engine for web hosting services, includes reviews and buying guide
ServerWatch
Top Hosts
Search service also includes guide to choosing a hosting service and interactive connection testing

Webmaster Resources

Copyscape
Website Plagiarism Search
InformIT.com
InformIT offers free online access to a variety of articles and books excerpts technology, ecommerce, and web development
InternetNews.com
Java Boutique
Great source for Java information and applets
SelfPromotion.com
Free site submission service
TechRepublic
Resources for advanced web developers
Web Developer Magazine Online
Like most print publications for webmasters this is loaded with technical articles and ads for cutting edge technology - little here for beginners or folks who think that content is king

Webmaster Tools

Dr. HTML
Checks webpage spelling, image syntax, link validity, and document, form and table structure. First rate!
Matts Script Archive
Forms for guestbook, counter, random links and more
NetMechanic
Free online tool that monitors website performance
OptiView
Tools to optimize site download time
Submit Express
Submit your site for free.
TAW. Web Accessibility Test
Test website compliance with existing accessibility guidelines
W3C CSS Validation Service
W3C HTML Validation Service