Website Reviews
Reviews of websites offering information to small businesses (written
by Richard Gabrio for a large software company, 7/27/97).
FTSBN: www.ftsbn.com
FTSBN (the Fran Tarkenton Small Business
Network) is "success guru" Fran Tarkenton's latest infomercial
on the web. Geared to business and web neophytes, it promises a lot but
doesn't deliver much.
Most areas in the site pitch FTSBN products
for sale: membership in the network, web software and services, promotional
placement in The Marketplace, etc. Unfortunately, The Marketplace, hyped
as "Simply the BEST shopping mall on the Internet," contains only
a few FTSBN member sites in each of the 46 categories listed.
If you don't want to pay Mr. Tarkenton
just yet, go to the Coaching and Education Center, click on the "Business
District" link, and you'll get a useful list of small business information
websites free!
AMEX "Small Business Exchange": www.americanexpress.com/smallbusiness
Offering classifieds, small business info
and advice, and its own products and services, the American Express "Small
Business Exchange" claims to be "a place to find information,
resources, and customers for your small business."
However, the Online Classifieds and Business
Directory area is a disappointment: searches either produce no listings
or lead only to sparse address, phone, and e-mail information, and the Expert
Advice section boils down to a list of small biz questions linked to text
answers.
The strongest part of the site is the
Business Planning & Resources area: it's an oversight not to have website
resources here, but the text information is crisp, well organized, and directly
geared to small enterprise concerns, including timely entries covering online
and web marketing issues.
Builder Online: www.builderonline.com
If you're in the Building Industry, put
Builder Online -- the website arm of Hanley-Wood, Inc., publishers of Builder
magazine -- on your bookmark list.
There's some great info here, and it's
readily accessible from the homepage. With a few clicks of a mouse, users
can read up-to-the minute news and weather reports, communicate with others
on the bulletin board, use the Products Guide to search a database of over
10,000 building products, and access current and past issues of Builder
magazine. If you want a set of plans, go to the House Plan database, or
kick back and take a virtual tour of the "New American Home."
And, Builder Online doesn't forget the
value of web resources, as a well organized collection of sites from the
"Web sites for Builders" section reveals.
@griculture Online: www.agriculture.com
Publisher Meredith Corporation's @griculture
Online, created by the folks at Successful Farming magazine, is probably
the most comprehensive "ag industry" site on the internet.
The site bristles with current info from
grain and livestock markets, offers daily weather satellite pitures, and
delivers ag news feeds from around the world . . . but there are farms and
cows for sale, too, and a big 'ol message board with 27 forums covering
everything from humor to antique farm machinery.
Community is the word here: a unique collection
of corporate and individual partners -- print and web publishers, service
providers, manufacturing companies, and individual users -- all work together
to create a cornucopia of ag info with a truly global reach.