Starting Places

Best of the Best Business Web Sites by BRASS
http://www.ala.org/ala/rusa/rusaourassoc/rusasections/brass/brassprotools/bestofthebestbus/bestbestbusiness.htm
Business librarians' choices for the top 10-15 best sites in different fields; sites chosen based on currency, stability, quality and authority

Librarians' Index to the Internet for Washington Business sites
http://wa.lii.org/search/file/busfinjobs
Includes many categories, with sites specific to Washington state

Best of BusLib-L
http://www.montague.com/review/buslibbest.html
Search the archives of this business listserv or scroll down to where to find it for good business websites

Foster Business Library Business Research Guides
http://www.lib.washington.edu/business/guides.html
Very useful pathfinders from University of Washington's Foster Business Library; includes online, print and local resources

University of Michigan Statistical Resources on the Web
http://www.lib.umich.edu/govdocs/stecind.html
Business and industry statistics from a wide variety of sources

Gary Price's List of Lists
http://www.specialissues.com/lol/
Large collection of ranked lists on a variety of topics

Invisible web directory
http://invisible-web.net/
Search for information on the invisible web

Global Edge
http://globaledge.msu.edu/
Meta-site for international business and industry information

Online subscription databases

Proquest
Business and Company Resource Center
Reference USA

Company Information

Business and Company Resource Center

Proquest

Hoovers
http://www.hoovers.com/free/
Quick source for company information

Annual Reports
http://www.annualreportservice.com/
Links to annual reports

Company's web site
www.dolby.com
One example of a company web site

Thomas Register
http://www.thomasregister.com/
Online version of this business classic

Corporate Information
http://corporateinformation.com/
Free registration is required for this collection of links to industries, companies and countries; especially useful for international links

Industry information

Business and Company Resource Center

Proquest

Competia Express
http://www.competia.com/express/index.html
Useful links for a variety of industries

Current Industrial Reports
http://www.census.gov/cir/www/alpha.html
Industrial reports from the Economic Census

Fuld & Company
http://www.fuld.com/Tindex/I3.html
Scroll down to see industry-internet resources

Trade Associations

Associations on the Net
http://www.ipl.org/div/aon/
Internet Public Library links to associations

National Sporting Goods Association
http://www.nsga.org/public/pages/index.cfm?pageid=328
One example of an association's web page

Demographics and Statistics

Proquest

University of Michigan Statistical Resources on the Web
http://www.lib.umich.edu/govdocs/stecind.html#market
Excellent site for both governmental and nongovernmental statistics

US Census
http://www.census.gov/
Use American Factfinder to navigate this site, which is packed with statistical and demographical information

Statistical Abstracts
http://www.census.gov/prod/www/statistical-abstract-04.html
An online version of this standard reference; search function is found within the index

Fedstats
http://www.fedstats.gov/
Statistics from over 100 government agencies

Consumer Price Index
http://www.bls.gov/cpi/
Covers the CPI, the composite of indices relating to consumer goods and services

Bureau of Labor Statistics
http://www.bls.gov/
Labor and other kinds of statistics, like consumer expenditures

Investments

Business and Company Resource Center

Edgar
http://www.sec.gov/edgar.shtml
SEC filings with a wealth of information about public companies

Superstar Investor
http://www.superstarinvestor.com/directory.html
Metasite of investor websites; descriptive summaries and links to 20,000 investor sites, arranged by topic

Investor Home
http://www.investorhome.com/
Entering a ticker symbol takes you to a page with your choice of stock quotes, charts, news, companies' home pages, etc.

Big Charts
http://bigcharts.marketwatch.com/Default.asp?&avatar=seen
Includes historical stock market prices from 1970

Small Business

Small Business Administration
http://www.sba.gov/starting_business/index.html
Good starting place for small businesses

Operating a Business in Washington
http://www.dol.wa.gov/mls/operate.htm
Comprehensive site for those wanting to start a business in Washington

SCORE
http://www.score.org/
Small business advice from a nonprofit network of retired and working entrepreneurs and executives

Business.gov
http://www.business.gov/
Guide to government rules and regulations for business

Nonprofits

FoundationCenter
http://www.fdncenter.org/learn/faqs/index.html#nonprofit
Database of grants and grant makers is fee-based, but the website contains other useful information of interest to nonprofits

KCLS Nonprofit and PhilanthropyCenter
http://www.kcls.org/sc/nprc.cfm#web
Includes many Washington state links

Marketing and Advertising

Marketing and Advertising Links
http://depts.washington.edu/balib/busref/busweb/catlist.cgi?catid=11
Good starting place for marketing and advertising from the Foster Business Library at the University of Washington

SBA Marketing Mall
http://www.onlinewbc.gov/docs/market/
Marketing links from the SBA

Competitive intelligence

CI Resource Index
http://www.bidigital.com/ci/
Competitive intelligence resources organized by categories

Fuld & Company
http://www.fuld.com/Tindex/I3.html
Contains links to over 600 different sites for CI

Competia Express
http://www.competia.com/express/index.html
ACI consulting firm's top websites

Daypop and Feedster
www.daypop.com
www.feedster.com
Search within blogs on these two websites for information about companies or industries

Google Groups
http://groups-beta.google.com/grphp?hl=en&tab=wg&q
Search more than one billion Usenet postings