Net small business

NORTH Shore Home
Based & Small
Business Association
member Ramona
Materi recently shared
with her associates
helpful information on
conducting business
research on the Net.

Materi operates MEC
Consulting (environment,
economics, Internet}.

She tikens the World
Wide Wed to being “a huge

- bazaar.”

Materi’s list and com-
ments regarding worthwhile
Web search cvgines (the
tools for finding informa-
tion):

@ Yahoo

(hrep: / /www.yaicn:.com)
Good. place to stazi
Powerful and easy to use.
Also can search for sites
from a particular country or
city;

B Excite

(http:/ /www.excite.com)
Huge database — not the
easiest engine to use, but
developers say it’s one of the
quickest;

@ Alta Vista
(http://altavista.digital.com
) Another big, fast search
_engine. Also searches news

groups;

& Ulera (http://ultra.infos-
eck.com) One of the easiest

" search engines to use, and
consistently produces a list
of highly relevant sites. Built
to compete with Alta Vista;
@ Northwestern University
Library
(http://www.library.nwu/re
sources/internet/scarch)
Links to best search engines,
also links to tools to help
you find people and soft-
ware;

@ The Argus Clearinghouse
(http: //www.clearing-
house.net) A list of guides to
Internet resources for a huge
variety of subjects. Some
business guides, though, are
little more than ads for a
particular company;

@ Virtual Reference Desk

North Vancouver company
opens virtual shopping mall

(http://thorplus.lib.pur-
due.edu/reference /index.ht
ml) Links to a myriad of
subjects — like it says, it’s a
reference desk. f

Here is Materi’s list of
sites of interest to small and
home-based business own-
crs:
@ Entrepreneurs on the Net
(http://www.pei.sympad-
co.ca/Contents/ Business)
Lots of good Canadian busi-
ness links;
@ Home Business Review
Magazine
(hetp://www.tab.com:80/H
ome. Business) An education-
al source for home-based
businesses. Interesting arti-
cles on marketing, using the
Net:
i Business@Home
(hitp://www.gohome.com/
Departments/Welcome/ind
ex.html) Magazine for peo-
ple working from home.
Weli written articles on
many topics;
@ Entrepreneurial Edge On-
line (http://www.edgeon-
line.com/) Somewhat slow
(very heavy on the graphics)
but helpful articles and links;
@ Hom- Office Association
of America
(http://www.hoa.com/main
-htm) Good links to a multi-

~ tude of marketing, govern-

ment sites. American
focused, but still lots of
helpful information;

® American Home Business
Association
(hetp://www.homebusi-
ness.com) News, sports,
home business mali, fre-
quently updated links to
other sites;

@ Catapult

(http://www. jobweb.org/ca
tapult/) University oriented,
but has strong section on
personal assessment, good
links to business sites; —

@ Madalyn: Business
Research Tool
((htep://www.udel.edu/alex
/mba/main/netdir2.html)
On-line small business work-
shops, B.C. web sites,
Canadian information
sources for business;

#3 Business Information
Sources on the Internet
((http://www.dis.strath.ac.u
k/business) Excellent site
with links to business
sources from around the

world. Librarian dates her
links;

@® Nationa! Small Business
Development Centre
((http://www.smaitbiz.suny.
edu/entre.htm) Great links,
useful free articles, interna-
tional trade, start-ups, indus-
try specific information;

@ Smart Business Supersite
((http://www.smartbiz.com
) Good free articles, but a
bit slow at times.

For more information on
MEC Consulting contact
Materi at 990-4091,

eoe.8

The North Shore Home
Based & Small Business
Association meets at 7 p.m.
on Thursday, Dec. 12, at the
Mapiewood Pub, 1970
Spicer Rd. in North
Vancouver.

Super Once A

Thre session offers a great
opportunity to nerwork with
other business people.

The association was
est: olished in 1993 to sup-
port the North Shore’s bur-
geoning home-based and
small business sector.

The group mects month-
ly. For more infornstion
contact Garfield Johnson by
email at vci@vciglobal.com,
or by telephone at 929-
2262; or contact Marion
Taggart by cmail at
Marion, Taggart@mindlink.b
c.ca, or by calling 929-8541.

eee

A North Vancouver based
company opened an on-line
virtual shopping centre on
Monday.

RetaiiWorks Interactive
Retailers Ltd. has created a
web site for B.C.'s indepen-
dent retailers at retail-
works/be
(http://www. retailworks.co

m/be).

Day
Get your -
Nutritional

insurance
Plan today

special

While quantites last

2470 Marine Dr.,\
2635 West 4th Ave

1929 Lonsdale Ave:N,Van

Wednesday, December 11, 1996 — North Shore News — 47

resources abt

RetailWorks is the cre-
ation of Darcie Buzzelle, 43,
and Tim Rhodes, 48.
Thev’ve operated Buzzelle
Design Led. for the past 15
years, offering consulting
services to shopping centre-
based retailers.

The virtual shopping niall
uses its own server and
offers on-line credit card
transaction. Said Rhodes,
“On-line credit card transac-
tions here are as safe or safer
than in the traditional store.
Our technical consultants,
OpenRoad
Communications, have built
the system using the
Netscape Commerce
Server.”

On-line stores at the site

Se

include a gift store, Damask
Designs; Nancy Lord
women’s wear; Kites &
Puppets & Flying Things;
Jeans North.

Said Buzzelie about the
virtual retail approach, “On-
line retailing can give the
independent retailer an
advantage over the big guys:
they don’t have to create a
new management infrastruc-
ture; they have a product
thar, unlike the nationals
and brands, creates the
opportunity for the cus-
tomer to discover something
new, and they can react very
quickly to change direction
or focus.”

Contact Retai!Works at
924-2454. ;

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