Hill Library Blog - Web Search

See and Be Seen on eCorpTV.com

Mon, 02 Feb 2009 17:36:00 -0500

Do you have a great business video that’s languishing on your company’s Web site? Consider uploading it to the recently launched video site eCorpTV.com, which calls itself the “YouTube for business.”

eCorpTV is free and totally dedicated to corporate videos. You can use it to share your own videos, check out what kind of videos other businesses in your industry are producing, or if you just get a kick out of product demonstrations (click to see water dispersible paper—wow!).

Which list suits you? Two top 100s from PCMag

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 14:12:00 -0500

Librarians – cautious, painfully analytical people that we are - are never exactly hasty in adopting new tools without evaluating them over time. Especially out there on the flash-in-the-pan Internet. So we were happy to be alerted to PCMag’s Top 100 Classic Web Sites, a listing of the best sites in several categories that have stood the test of time. We’d trust these sites to offer time-tested utility for finding reputable information online.

Of course, stereotypes are hurtful, so bleeding-edge librarians will be happy to pass along the fact that PCMag has another list: Top 100 Undiscovered Web Sites. We’d trust these sites to be worth a look.

Whether you’re cautious or adventurous – or a librarian or not – these lists at least provide a fun Friday diversion. Have a good weekend!

(thanks, Scott)

Researching a public company with EDGAR

Fri, 23 May 2008 16:31:00 -0500

Maybe you’re hoping to sell into a big business. Maybe you’re applying for a new job. Maybe you’re trying to find operating statistics on a competitor. Or maybe you’re just curious about your friendly neighborhood conglomerate. In any case, there’s a wealth of enlightening information to be found on public companies via the Securities and Exchange Commission, and you can get it for free online.

Public companies, as you know, sell shares of their stock to anybody interested in buying them. Because their shares are open to the public, these companies have to make certain financial information publicly available. They file this info with the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the SEC houses it.

You can search these SEC holdings for free with EDGAR. This database is a primary source, and lists everything a company files – which is often confusing, misleading, overwhelming, and terrifying. But still, there’s good information to be had here, if you know where to look.

So where should you look?
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Have your customers got the time?

Mon, 19 May 2008 18:43:00 -0500

It’s fairly easy to track down statistics on how much money people spend on particular types of products and services. But these days, (especially with the dollar’s value being what it is) time seems to be becoming the more valuable commodity. So how much time do your customers spend using your product or service? That can be a more difficult question to answer. A good place to start, though, is the American Time Use Survey. From the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Time Use Survey looks at broad activities, from lawn and garden care to child care; from housework to work work; and from watching television to exercising. Use this data for feasibility studies, marketing purposes, or just to see how the average American’s day is broken up. Is there room for your product or service? Can it help your customer save increasingly valuable time?

Search for Web Sites by Visitor Characteristics

Fri, 16 May 2008 17:22:00 -0500

If you’ve ever been to Quantcast.com, you know the site gives traffic statistics and site user demographics for specific Web sites. A search on jjhill.org shows that our home page is pretty heavily visited by women between the ages of 45 and 54. It also says that a huge percent of visitors have a graduate degree and make between 0 and $30,000 per year. That’s right: librarians. Quantcast also notes that the ethnicity of jjhill.org visitors is off the charts for "Other."

Admittedly, this seems a bit shady. Still, I can’t help but pass along a recent beta addition to Quantcast that lets you build a list of Web sites that attract particular types of visitors. If you’re buying ads online, use this tool to identify targeted sites. If you’re researching a target audience, use the tool to learn more about where that audience spends their attention online.

From quantcast.com, just click the Advanced Search button and sign up for a free account. While I wouldn’t base a business plan solely on Quantcast’s data, it’s an interesting way to while away a Friday afternoon.

(Source: Read Write Web)

It's all free online: industry research, the Internet, and pet food

Thu, 15 May 2008 16:43:00 -0500

All right, truthfully, it’s not really all free online. For very current and very specific business research, you’ll probably have to turn to premium research databases like those available to HillSearch members and, in varying degrees, at your local public library. But there is still quite a wealth of business research available for free on the Internet… if you know where to look. If you don’t, well, that’s what the Hill Library is for.

We bring together the best free online business sources in the BizToolkit. Click Free Access and check out the Industry Research, Demographics, and Market Research options in the main drop-down menu for starters. By way of example, here’s a report I drummed up – using only free online sources – on the Pet Food industry.
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Company ground through the rumor mill, comes out okay

Fri, 07 Mar 2008 12:08:00 -0500

Ask.com is, as you know, a search engine. They’re not as popular as Google, but they’ve done some interesting things with search technology and helping people to refine their searches. Check out an example of Ask search results on a search for James J. Hill. Note especially the left-hand column, where one can narrow, expand, or find related info. Also the images, encyclopedia entries, news, and blog links along the right-hand column.

Back at the end of February, I saw an article at Silicon Alley Insider describing how Ask was going to abandon their search technology, called Teoma, and just bolt the Ask logo over a Google search engine. It sounded crazy, so of course I wanted to post about it – but it fell off my radar.

Then the other day, an AP article appeared discussing recent cuts at Ask. This article said that Ask was abandoning its efforts to compete with Google, and was instead going to focus attention on helping married women in the southern and Midwestern states find information on recipes, hobbies, and health. Crazier still! I totally have to blog about this, I thought. But didn’t.

Then yesterday, I saw this well-reasoned and completely sensical article featuring quotes from an Ask.com spokesperson. Directly from the horse’s mouth: Ask is not getting rid of its Teoma search engine in favor of Google, and the idea that Ask is “going to become a women’s site is just plain wrong.” They are focusing on their core group of users, and they’re trying to understand how these users use their product, but that’s not crazy.

In fact, that seems like a pretty good strategy.

So through the awesome power of blog procrastination, what started off as a “WTF?” post turned into a little note about how every business would probably benefit by following Ask’s lead and paying closer attention to their core customers.

Who are your core customers? Are you paying attention to them?

Can you trust this information? The motivation behind free Internet research

Fri, 29 Feb 2008 11:46:00 -0500

A recent comment on this blog post brought an issue that’s been percolating to the forefront of my mind: Can you trust information that you find online?

The short answer is “kind of.” Here’s the longer answer.

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Special Issues Index: A Free Research Goldmine

Mon, 11 Feb 2008 17:51:00 -0500

Here at the Hill Library we subscribe to hundreds and hundreds of highly specialized industry trade journals. There are few better tools for learning more about a specific industry.

Every time we get a new issue of one of these trade journals, we browse through it, looking for so-called special issues. A special issue can be a state of the industry report, a trend analysis, a buyer’s guide, a top company listing... Basically any kind of special report.

We keep track of these special reports in the Special Issues Index. This tool can help folks here at the library get access to our trade journal collection. But what if you’re not here in St. Paul?

There is a document delivery option (free for HillSearch members), but we’ve also gone through and looked for online editions of these reports at trade journal Web sites. If they exist, we’ve linked to them.

In addition, we regularly scour the Web for free special reports from government and trade sources. These are labeled in the Special Issues Index as “Online Only.” We just dumped a couple dozen new Online Only reports into the Index, including:

As you can see, these reports cover numerous industries and topics. The Special Issues Index is a great free tool for doing all manner of market research, industry research, and customer research. Search the Index by broad industry heading, then dig into the results.

(HillSearch members: Find the Special Issues Index on the Custom Search page once you’ve logged into your account.)

Who Are the Collectors of Information?

Thu, 07 Feb 2008 18:50:00 -0500

If you offer services to small businesses, as we do here at the Hill Library, you probably know that the SBA is a great collector of information regarding this group of organizations. And you’ve probably already seen this full listing of 2007 SBA research reports on small business. Using these reports, our library can get a pretty good idea of the issues facing small business in America today, which can help us to better serve these clients.

Is there an organization that collects information about your clients, and can help you to get to know them better? I’d bet so. And I’d further bet that that organization is most likely either a governmental body or an industry association.

The Gateway to Associations is a useful tool for finding industry associations. From this page, scroll down and keyword search for the industry you serve. If you can find an association for that industry (and I bet you will), visit that association’s site and look for links to research, publications, or press releases.

To find a governmental office dealing with your industry of interest, try searching by industry heading in Google’s U.S. Government Search; or dig through Yahoo’s government agency or department directories; or browse this federal government agency index.

Here are some examples of industries and the .gov sites that track them:
For statistics on the construction industry, check out HUD
For research on the telecommunications industry, visit the FCC
For information on the banking industry, investigate the FDIC

In many cases the government or a trade association is doing a big portion of your customer research for you. Finding that source - that collector of information - is the key.

And the (Economic Census) Survey Says...

Thu, 03 Jan 2008 13:48:00 -0500

If you’re into free business research and have an Internet connection, you’re probably a fan of the Census Bureau. You know we are.

This, then, is happy news: The survey for the 2007 Economic Census went out a couple of weeks ago. Peruse this press release to find out more about the survey, which tracks U.S. employer businesses and is conducted every five years.

This same release also offers an excellent introduction to the vast amount of information you can find using Economic Census data.

Let the waiting – for forms to be returned (due Feb. 12) and results to be published (one to two years!) – begin.

Google Tricks: Beyond Quotation Marks

Thu, 03 Jan 2008 13:18:00 -0500

Forever dedicated to making your life easier, Lifehacker offers up the Top 10 Obscure Google Search Tips. Learn how to use Google to:

10. Get the local time anywhere
9. Track flight status
8. Convert currency, metrics, bytes, and more
7. Compare items with "better than" and find similar items with "reminds me of"
6. Use Google as a free proxy
5. Remove affiliate links from product searches
4. Find related terms and documents
3. Find music and comic books
2. ID people, objects, and foreign language words and phrases with Google Image Search
1. Make Google recognize faces

Visit the site for an explanation of each of these search tips, and don’t miss the additional tips left by readers in the comments section.

[via Phil Bradley – thanks!]

The Secret of Google's Search Algorithm: People?

Wed, 19 Dec 2007 17:33:00 -0500

A Technology Review interview of Google’s Director of Research Peter Norvig has set off a flurry of speculation about how Google gets the results it does.

In this interview, Norvig discusses consultants that Google hires to review and rate search results. The question left dangling is whether or not the ratings and suggestions of these reviewers have a bearing on the specific search results that they rate.

It’s a question of whether Google’s algorithm is purely mathematical or if results are at least partially determined by people (as they are in directory sites like Yahoo).

To learn more, read this great post at the New York Times and this one from Read Write Web.

Finding Company Organizational Charts, Wiki-Style

Fri, 14 Dec 2007 17:18:00 -0500

Back in September, Allen pointed us to the Email Pattern Wiki, which helps determine how businesses set up email addresses for their employees.

Another wiki, Cogmaps, offers potential help in determining company “org charts.” Use it to map out who reports to whom at your favorite B2B prospect or potential partner.

Biz Researchers Heart Census Bureau

Fri, 14 Dec 2007 13:03:00 -0500

Here at the Hill Library, we love the Census Bureau. It’s simply the best source to start with when conducting just about any kind of business research. Plus, it’s free. The Census Bureau counts almost every person in the U.S. and keeps statistics on virtually every industry.

Sometimes, though, when we send researchers to the Economic Census site for industry research, they come back all crestfallen because that actual data comes from 2002.

“2002,” they say incredulously, “that’s, like, totally ancient.”

Well, here’s a day-brightener for those gloomy searchers. The Census Bureau puts out much more current research on specific industry sectors, at sites like this one for the Service Industry.

Currently, one can find 2006 reports on these service industries:

Information Industry (any NAICS code starting with “51…”)
Health Care Industry (NAICS code starting “62…”)
Securities and Investment Industries (NAICS “52…”)

…along with some 2007 quarterly updates, more 2006 service industry reports coming soon, and lots of 2005 reports now available.

If you’re instead looking for retail sector industry statistics (including food and accommodations), check out:
Annual Retail Trade Survey, which includes 2005 data.

Or if you’re researching the manufacturing sector, try:
Manufacturing Current Industrial Reports, with many 2006 reports along with selected 2007 quarterly updates.

The Census Bureau is a powerful industry research resource, if you know where to look. Start with these sites – we think you’ll heart them.

p.s. You can find these links along with more free industry research sites on the BizToolkit, by selecting Industry Research from the drop-down menu.