Whats on the web
Marketing mustwww.btob.com
BtoB, is a magazine for marketing strategists, offering editorial on all disciplines of business-to-business marketing. Published monthly by Crain Communications Inc, it concentrates particularly on integrated marketing strategies. They have moved into online marketing territory recently and it is no surprise therefore to find their web site a model for interactive marketing. It is clear and easy to navigate and offers a number of interesting sections including an annual list of the Top 50 b-to-b agencies and Top 20 interactive agencies,.an inside look at ten “stellar” b-to-b web sites (meaning their own needs to be good). It also offers an Interactive marketing guide,profiles of the people who are making a difference in b-to-b marketing and an annual ranking of the top b-to-b advertising venues.
This is a good and useful American site.
How good?www.hp.com
“A fantastic site with lots of useful computing tools and tips. First-class e-commerce function; customer service options abound, including online chat. Beautiful, modern design.” This was the claim made by BtoB online (see above) about the Hewlett Packard site. It is very quick and has many good points, marketing a variety of products and services to numerous customer segments. It also presents a unified brand image, complete with in-depth information about the company.
I found the design rather dull however and, given that it is the shop window for a top computer company, the lack of any animation probably did not help. Good customer-focus but not quite the bees knees that BtoB claim.
3 Finance!www.finance.yahoo.com
Organized by Yahoo!, this metasite links to information on US markets, world markets, data sources, finance references, investment editorials, financial news, and other helpful web sites. Good sections on investing and personal finance as well as a comprehensive business news service – albeit mostly of the US variety. It has the usual irritating Yahoo text and graphics (designed by a primary school teacher?) but a useful site nonetheless.
4 Companies Onlinewww.CompaniesOnline.com
Using either name, location, type of business or telephone number, you can find USA companies in a yellow pages-style national directory. A location map and link to a company’s web site is given in the directory listing. This is a fantastic resource for anyone who wants to trawl US companies or find specific ones or those in particular areas.
In credit?www.ukdata.com
Of equal, if not even more use, is UK Data – one of the UK’s longest established credit reporting companies. They claim to have delivered credit reports to over 18,000 clients and receive more than seven million hits on their site last month.
They include UK and Offshore Company Formations, Tax Advice and Internet Services as part of the core services.
They offer a credit reporting system with cross-browser compatibility. Credit scoring is kept simple with a score between 1 and 100 giving a clear understanding of safety (or risk).
This is a pay service but there is a basic free search facility which will give you an idea of a company’s status. They also offer web-hosting packages for business web sites and even web design – though here the“jack of all trades” tag might seem to fit.
However this is a good site and is easy to get around.
And finally
Some good business one-liners:
I don’t believe you can do today’s job with yesterday’s methods and be in business tomorrow (Nelson Jackson).
I don’t blame Congress. If I had $600 billion, I’d be irresponsible too.
I don’t have an attitude problem. You have a perception problem.
I don’t know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody (Bill Cosby).
I can explain it to you, but I can’t understand it for you.
If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.
If it takes a lot of words to say what you have in mind, give it more thought (Dennis Roch).
Contact uswww.emeraldinsight.com
For a particularly interesting and useful site you could always try our own!And if you have any favourite (or otherwise) sites that you would like us to review on these pages, please drop us an e-mail and we will give them a rigorous review.
