Current Company News Tips
Read these 22 Current Company News Tips tips to make your life smarter, better, faster and wiser. Each tip is approved by our Editors and created by expert writers so great we call them Gurus. LifeTips is the place to go when you need to know about Business Research tips and hundreds of other topics.
Get Your Company Profile Up and Running
What if your company isn't being profiled? You may want to have a company profile available to any reputable site that allows visitors to search by company name. There are some directories that allow companies to build their own profiles online and then offer the option of an enhanced profile for a fee -- Superpages.com is an example of this model. Other providers will allow anyone to submit information about a company, but won't guarantee to include it. These free profiles are often less detailed than those created by professional business information specialists, and don't include news and articles from different sources about the company. But they do allow search by company name and every time you can get your company name out there, it will help.
Whether you're searching company information or you want your company to be searched, a form is available to search by company name or location. These results from Manta produce company profiles and information from business analysts.
Manta Gets Straight to Useful Information
The core usefulness of most business news and articles is simple: How credit-worthy is the company and what are its financial prospects, both short-term and long-term? Knowing this, Manta.com makes it easy for its customers to drill down to the information they need. With Manta.com's tiered purchasing plan, customers can get a credit score report, a payment analysis a report, a supplier evaluation report, or a complete company profile. Not all of these plans are available for every company. Search by company name to find out if there's a complete report for the company in which you are most interested.
Enjoy Newspapers? Keep Reading But Don't Ignore the Web
It's still worth reading printed business publications if you enjoy the process of reading newspapers and magazines -- a slowly vanishing art. You can almost always get all the business news and articles you find in print online, too. And you can search by company name, industry and location. But searching computer databases doesn't offer the same tactile experience as reading a printed publication. So if you're a newspaper reader, by all means keep reading. But remember that online business information specialists like Manta.com are the places to go when you need to look up detailed information on a specific company.
News Alerts and RSS
You can pay a clip service or Lexis-Nexis to keep you updated on current company news about any business that interests you. But it's not so hard today to build your own online news service. Between Google news alerts and blogs with RSS feeds, you can set yourself up relatively easily to receive email alerts every time current company news is published. Best part: It's all free and you can create as many alerts as you want.
Forget Clipping Services -- Look Online
It's tough to follow all the business news and articles written about all the businesses you want to follow. In the past, businesses with the interest -- and the money -- used newspaper clipping services or subscribed to dozens of newspapers and magazines. But today, there are many different online sites that capture and categorize business news and articles about certain companies. Instead of having to search different publications looking for company names, you can simply search by company name -- or industry, or country -- and get all the recent business news and articles about the company. It's a lot easier and sometimes free.
You can search for up to date business news and articles by industry or company name through business research providers websites like Manta. Find reports on market trends or industry analysis, or get trusted information on breaking business news.
Business Blogs and RSS Feeds
Recent advances in Internet technology have really helped anyone looking for business news and articles about specific businesses or industries. The blog revolution has created serious coverage and analysis in vertical markets that otherwise wouldn't have been big enough to be covered by print media. Google "Apple blog" just for fun and see how many blogs are covering events out of Cupertino or "Microsoft blog" for coverage out of Redmond. And with RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds and an RSS reader, you can set yourself up to automatically get updates to any blogs with RSS feeds. It's a great -- and free -- way to keep up with news on your favorite businesses and industries.
Free Company Profiles on the Web
There are plenty of free sources of company profiles online. They generally aren't as detailed as those from business specialists who charge for their information, and fewer companies are covered, but you find solid basic information -- and the price is right. A good example is Yahoo Finance, which offers about 9,000 Yahoo company profiles. The profiles come with Reuters business news and articles, and there are only 9,000, as opposed to 90,000 or even 900,000 from other sources. But the information is updated and reliable, you can search by company name, and you can't beat the cost - it's free.
News Alerts and RSS
You can pay a clip service or Lexis-Nexis to keep you updated on current company news about any business that interests you. But it's not so hard today to build your own online news service. Between Google news alerts and blogs with RSS feeds, you can set yourself up relatively easily to receive email alerts every time current company news is published. Best part: It's all free and you can create as many alerts as you want.
The Cream of the Crop
There are plenty of business information publishers out there claiming to be the best source of business news and articles. But Manta.com does its customers four times better. Manta.com subscribes to four of the leaders -- Dun & Bradstreet, Icon, Datamonitor and Snapdata. This gives its customers a chance to choose from four of the top-rated publishers of business information, instead of being forced to use a single information source.
Manta.com's Business Sources
How does Manta.com get its business news and articles? From well-known business information providers like Dun & Bradstreet and Icon. And how do those companies get their business news and articles, especially from closed-mouthed private companies? From a variety of sources, including the following:
* All federal bankruptcy filing locations
* All U.S. secretaries of state
* Millions of trade and bank experiences
* Public utilities
* The U.S. Postal Service
* Over 2,500 state filing locations
* Daily newspapers, publications and electronic news services
Search By Company Name
One of the great advantages of using the Internet as a source for business news and articles, as opposed to printed sources, is the ability to search by company name. Manta.com allows its users to search by company name, as well as by industry, location and even the business publishing service used. It's so much easier than searching print publications yourself and less expensive than hiring a clipping service or a Lexis-Nexis subscription.
9,000 vs. Millions: Which One is Better for You?
Don't Yahoo company profiles have the latest business news and articles? Yes, they do. But Yahoo only profiles about 9,000 public companies, whereas Manta.com has millions of company profiles available online from leading publishers of business information. You get what you pay for. And if you want a better selection of public and private companies, with the latest business news and articles, Manta.com's selection is a better choice than Yahoo company profiles.
Information Available in Business Newspapers?
With all the content available on the Internet that you can search by company name, is there any reason to read mass-market business newspapers and magazines like the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Barron's or Business Week? Yes! All of the business publications have highly informative and entertaining web sites that will aid in your research and business information quest. Many people still subscribe to newspapers and magazines because they find the print format informative. If you're one of those people, no reason to stop now.
Sample Before Buying, Whenever Possible
All company profiles are not created equal. While most company profiles available online from solid sources have the basic information you expect, you should still sample the goods whenever possible before paying. Find out if the company you're thinking of working with offers a free sample company profile, or the first month free, or any other promotion designed to allow customers to see what kind of information they're buying before they actually sign the credit card slip.
The Leaders in Profilers
It's pretty hard to tell which service has the best selection of online company profiles. There's no single standard these businesses need to follow in terms of what they claim to offer, and no one seems to have sat down and verified each company's claims. But here are claims of some better-known sources of business news and articles available through a search by company name:
* Hoover's -- 16 million companies and 3,000 news sources.
* IDexec -- 900,000 company profiles.
* Goliath/ECNext -- 3 million profiles, articles and reports.
* Onesource.com -- 1.7 million in depth profiles.
Write Your Own Company Profile
Company profiles are great publicity tools. You can find them everywhere from local directories, to chamber of commerce web sites, partnership directories, to national and international business content providers from Yahoo to Dun and Bradstreet/Hoover's and independent resellers like Manta.com and MarketResearch.com. So having a solid, well-written company profile can be an essential part of business marketing. But who knows how to write a company profile? You can hire a consultant for $500 and up, or you can purchase profile writing software, or you can seek out sites that have built-in profile-writing tools. You may end up doing all of the above. But the important thing is to get a good company profile out to as many potential publicity sources as possible.
Buy Lots of Newspapers -- Or a Single Download
If you want business news and articles about a certain company, you can subscribe to the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Barron's and Forbes and make sure you don't miss an article that might mention that company. But it's much easier -- and less expensive -- to use Manta.com. With millions of company profiles available from leading publishers of business information, Manta.com keeps up with all the news. So all you have to do is search by company name and download the latest profile.
Bloggers Break News
You can read a blogger for free, and with an RSS feed, you don't even have to go to the bloggers' site. The news comes to you. But can you trust a business blogger as an accurate source of business news and articles. A good blogger in your business or industry is still a worthwhile read. Why? Bloggers are often first with an important story. And when someone else breaks an important story online, a good blogger will point to it, too. While nothing beats information straight from the source, when a big business story breaks, you'll likely hear it first from the blogger. And that's worthwhile, as long as you consider the source.
What's in a Business Profile?
A key component of the information offered by any business information provider is a collection of business profiles, allowing any user to search by company name to get information about the business. Here's a typical example of a company profile: * A description of the business. * HQ address and phone. * Company offices. * Annual sales * Employees * Year founded * Web addresses * Stock exchange and ticker symbol * Year founded
Try Before You Buy
Looking for a business information supplier to help with business intelligence and competitive research? Make sure any potential business information partners offer a free sample company profile. Not all business information publishers are alike. Some present much better, more accurate and complete information than others. If you can see an example of a company profile online before you buy, you'll get a better idea about the quality of the information offered. Manta.com offers both free sample company profiles and synopses of specific information available about any of the millions of companies in its online database.
Bloggers Part of the Mix, But Solid News Still the Core
Bloggers are good sources of business news and articles. The problem is that bloggers aren't always accurate sources of business news and articles. And if you're basing business decisions on the intelligence you're gaining from specific business news and articles, you need them to be absolutely accurate. So while business bloggers can be part of the mix, you need serious business information as the core of your research efforts. With four different leading publishers of business information contributing to the Manta.com web site, Manta.com offers news and information backed by the reputation of some of the biggest and best-known names in the industry.
Getting Your Company's Profile on Manta.com
Here's a twist: What if instead of wanting to find other company profiles online, you want to get your own company profile available for others to see when they search by company name? And what if you're not sure how to write a company profile? To get your company profile onto Manta.com, you will need to contact Manta.com's content partners: Dun & Bradstreet, Icon, Datamonitor or Snapdata. If you need help leanring how to write a company profile, you can search online for resources or hire a consultant to help you.
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