Recently in Research Category

Times and technology may have changed, but the need for a business person to understand and quantify their market and industry did not. The methods around research have evolved with the growing capabilities of the internet, and so has the level and quantity of sheer data available to us today. Below are some posts and articles that can get you started in your research.

CNet has rounded up some great online services that help you "go straight to expert sources and keep track of your research". They have something for everyone, from the student to the businessperson.

Sometimes, the obvious is not where you'll find the information you need- the Online Education Database has what they call The Best Online Research Apps/Sites You Never Heard of. One such unheralded site -

Intute provides access to Web-based resources for science, technology, arts, humanities, and social sciences. The database contains well over 100,000 records and continues to grow. Subject experts review old records regularly to ensure that information is as current as possible.

Not everything is online, so I am still a big fan of widening your research base to include not only online, but hard copy resources as well. To get you started-- who better than entrepreneur.com to recommend the perfect research tools (both online and hardcopy) for the entrepreneur? In The Best Research Tools for Entrepreneurs they talk about some of their favorites - here is a snapshot.

• The Encyclopedia of Associations lists thousands of trade associations, offering contact information and vital stats. This is crucial to all entrepreneurs seeking information about a particular industry.
• The D&B Million Dollar Database offers access to online information on more than 1.6 million private and public U.S. and Canadian companies, their sales, their number of employees and other important information. This is helpful when checking out potential partners, seeking clients or customers, or "spying" on your competition. Visit the site for subscription information.
• Demographic information (crucial to learning about your target market) can be found in Editor and Publisher Market Guide and The Sourcebook ZIP Code Demographics.
• If you're looking for information on government contracting opportunities, visit FedBizOpps (formerly Commerce Business Daily).

In this day and age, everyone is just a couple of mouse clicks (or blocks) away from huge amounts of information, The smart entrepreneur is the one who understands the value of the information and knows where to find it.

Despite popular belief, there is search engine life beyond Google. Dare I say, depending on what information you need or the way you search, there might be a search engine or site that would fit you better than Google would . I think the right way to frame it would be that Google should be one tool in your set of “search” tools, not your only one. Here are some you might want to try out.

Need a quick answer to the meaning of a business term or the profile of a company? Answer.com might be your key to unlocking that kind of information. This search site bases their answers on a rich database of esteemed publishers such as Columbia University Press, Barron’s and Houghton Mifflin, to name a few. “Answers” come back laid out in an easy to understand yet comprehensive way.

So new to search you might even need a person to guide you through it? ChaCha might be your answer, they work pretty much like a typical search engine, but what they have that no one else does is the capability to have a “live” search guide actually help you find exactly what you need for free. After typing in your search, if you can’t find what you’re looking for, simply click on “Chat Live with a Guide” and a window appears, after the session, you rate the guide as to how they were able to help you.

Just for the fun of it, and for those of you into Trivial Pursuit, Dialogus.ru may still be in beta mode but it is a cool tool when you need access to quick facts without wanting to bother with going through links and more links to find your answer. Simply type in your question and watch it go.

If you want to look into more alternative search engines try altsearchengine’s The Top 100 Alternative Search Engines .

See Online Research Part 2

See Online Research Part 1

There will simply be those times when typing something into Google just will not give you the precise result you need, or actually it does-- all one million of them. Beyond the simplest of searches, I can almost guarantee that there is a better and faster way to get you to where you need to be—simply by looking at what you type into that search box. Here are a couple of quick tips for you—

Simplify your search – Take off modifiers or common “fillers” – a search should not be a sentence or even a phrase- in most cases search engines like Google usually ignore words such as where, when, to, etc. anyway. For instance if you are looking for “where the Olympics will be in 2008” simply typing in “Olympics 2008” is a better way to go.

Be more specific about your search. This is where what they call “boolean logic” comes in – simply explained, when used, it’s a series of simple words that search engines understand as commands to modify a given search. AND, OR, NOT are commonly used Boolean terms that you can use. If you want to read more on the concept behind Boolean logic, and how it applies to your search try - Internet Tutorial on Boolean Logic. Remember that this isn’t about learning a whole new language, rather it's about understanding how a search engine’s “mind” works and mining it correctly for the information that you need.

Not all search engines support Boolean language – for more information on which search engine supports what, refer to “Boolean Search” on searchenginewatch.

Also, Google’s “Advanced Search” option allows you to easily fill out their template to narrow your search without having to employ boolean language. Aside from the usual Boolean search capabilities, some cool things that Google can do for you include a “fill in the blank” search by simply adding an asterisk to your search query—such as “The airplane was invented by *”.

Here's Part 1 of the series--Internet Research 101

Next in line for Online Research Part 3 in a series – Some Tips on Where to Go for Information – especially for small to medium businesses.

This is the first of a series on doing research online. Whether for personal or business use, more and more people are doing their research and basing decisions on what they find online. But some people forget that most of the time the quality of results one finds online is only as good as their skill in “finding” that kernel of knowledge. The pièce de résistance is really your ability to make an educated decision regarding how reliable your sources are. Some thoughts on online search --

“I found it online, it must be right.” Wrong. Online, one can find every opinion, theory, fact and fiction imaginable on any given subject. Check the source, and then compare as much as you can against sources or online publications that you know are reputable.

“Google is the only place to go” Contrary to popular belief, there is still something to be gained by searching in other formats or engines, depending on what you are looking for. Google may be a pretty good place to start, but you may be able to find more valuable information by focusing on a specific aspect of your search topic – for instance an industry (retail, manufacturing etc.), or location (State, Country, etc.), and then thinking of possible repositories or sites that cater to that niche. Thinking this way may save you time and effort.

To learn more about online search, try--

Berkeley

Hannon Library

If you feel like going broad with your search -- Dogpile is one “crawler” that gives results from Google, Yahoo and Ask.com.

Next part of this series will be on Boolean-Search 101 —or “Boo-what? How to Phrase Your Searches to Get Results."