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Many free directories on the Internet are really only useful if you are
looking for individual or a small number of companies. If you require
a database that can provide you with data in a format that is suitable
for mailing list applications (labels, mail merge etc.) you will usually
have to pay for the service. Links to some of these are in the Direct
Marketing section.
Key starting points
Yahoo
Company and Trade Directories uk.dir.yahoo.com/business_and_economy/directories
FITA Global Trade Portal www.fita.org
Select Really Useful Links in the left hand menu, and then on
Business Directories and Trade Information. Directories are organised by country/region and industry.
Telephone Directories on the
Web www.infobel.com/teldir/
FreeDirectories.com
www.freedirectories.com
A world-wide directory of free access directories and databases. Search
by country, industry or by keyword from the title of the directory. The
listings give you the language of the directory and the "type",
for example Archive Contacts, Links, Portal, Ranking.
International resources
Bureau van Dijk www.bvdep.com
Free directory giving basic information on all 5.5 million companies covered
by the BvD collection of priced services. Search by name, country or activity,
and size. Information provided free of charge: company name, town, country,
activity, size.
Expo21XX www.expo21xx.com
A directory that mimics a trade exhibition in its design. There are "fairs"
for industry sectors: textiles, automation, fluid power, motors and motion,
maritime, yachting and water sports, finance and insurance, logistics
and transportation, and office supplies. Each "fair" is subdivided
into halls, and each company in the hall has a "stand" with
a brief description and a flag showing the country in which it is based.
The amount of additional information on the companies varies depending
on their subscription level. There are currently over 1,300,000 "exhibitors".
Faust Information
- National & International Directories and Mailing Lists www.faust-information.com
Distributor of international address data CD ROMs, phonebooks and Yellow
Pages. Products include residential listings, business (yellow) pages,
mailing lists, listings by country and importers. Importers products include
the well known International Importers Directory, and industry listings
ranging from the agricultural sector to woodworking equipment. Prices
vary depending on the level of detail and type of directory. Priced
service.
Hotfrog UK www.hotfroguk.co.uk
This is the UK version of a range of country Hotfrog directories set up by Reed Business Information. A tag cloud forms a major part of the home page, highlighting the top 50 products/services. There is also an alphabetical index if you wish to browse all the categories. In addition you can browse an A-Z of companies or use the search box to carry out a key word search.
Limiting your search to a region or county is a two step process. You first search on a category and a location box appears on the results screen alongside the companies.
Business owners can add their company to the directory free of charge and can determine how they want their business classified. They can also include brand names in their entries.
The other country versions are listed at the bottom of the home page.
Kompass www.kompass.com
Directory covering 1.6 million companies in over 60 countries. You can
search free of charge but only some of the information is free.
Process Industries
Supplier Directory www.processregister.com
This is a supplier directory for process industries and includes news,
links, forums and an event calendar. You can browse and search for suppliers
of 8000 products by category, product or company name. Information on
each company includes a "profile", full address, contact name, telephone
and fax numbers and a list of products that they produce or supply.
Thomas Global Register
www.thomasglobal.com
A directory of 700,000 manufacturers and distributors from 28 countries,
classified by 11,000 products and services categories. Search by product/service,
company name or browse the categories. Free of charge.
Zibb.com - Strictly Business www.zibb.com
Zibb.com unifies over 900 of Reed Business titles into a single vertical portal. It also crawls the indexes of other publisher's content. There are tabs for searching by News, Directory, Web and Blogs, and All (the default).
By country
Europe
Bureau van Dijk www.bvdep.com
Free directory giving basic information on all 5.5 million companies covered
by the BvD collection of priced services. Search by name, country or activity,
and size. Information provided free of charge: company name, town, country,
activity, size.
Europages www.europages.com
Details of 550,000 European companies. Search by keyword and country,
by company name or industry sector.
Kellysearch www.kellysearch.co.uk
Search 2 million companies from the UK, US, Europe, Australasia, Africa.
Wer liefert was? www.wlw.de
Directory of 240,000 firms and their products covering Belgium, Germany,
Croatia, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Austria, Switzerland, Czech Republic,
Slovenia, Slovakia. The basic free options let you search by product,
service or company and display company names and postcodes. Additional
information is priced (payment by credit card or corporates can be invoiced).
You can access 10 free full company profiles with a trial password. Searchable
in German, English French and Dutch. Free service displays name and
postcode of companies only. Additional information is priced.
UK
Applegate UK and Ireland
Directories www.applegate.co.uk
Applegate offers separate directories for the electronics, engineering,
plastics & rubber, chemical engineering and recruitment services industries.
The directories are updated on the first weekend of each month and can
be can be browsed individually by company name, products, towns or post
code. Unfortunately, you cannot combine search criteria such as products
and towns. The Top People for each directory are selected by the title
of their position and linked to the companies that currently employ them.
Information on each company includes company name, address, telephone
and fax numbers, Web address, email address, contact names e.g. marketing,
sales and managing directors, and products and services. A few companies
have additional data such as year established, turnover, number of employees.
Companies House
www.companies-house.gov.uk
The official UK body to which UK companies have to send their accounts.
This site gives free access to the Companies Name and Address Index.
CountyWeb
www.countyweb.co.uk
Information on businesses and doing business by county. The Direct Marketing
section takes you to the List Locator where you can search 2.45 million
UK companies by category and region/county. Records cost GBP 25/1000 or
GBP 200/1000 depending on depth, usage and quantities involved. There
is a minimum order of 1000 records.
Crawfords Directory of City
Connections www.crawfordsonline.co.uk
The free Quick Search options are limited to searching by company
name and/or type or name of professional adviser. The full service is
available by annual subscription only.
Data Now www.datanow.co.uk
Mailing/Marketing lists from AP Information Services. Lists include
professional sectors such as Personnel, Training, Marketing, and the UK
and International Pension Funds Industry. Users can view sample data,
refine searches and pay only for those records that they download. Pay-as-you
go service.
Digital Library of Historical
Directories www.historicaldirectories.org
Historical Directories is produced and owned by the University of Leicester.
It is a digital library of local and trade directories for England and
Wales from 1750 to 1919, and includes reproductions of comparatively rare
books, and sources research into local and genealogical history. The project
aims to provide at least one directory for each geographical area for
the 1850s, 1890s and the 1910s. Pre-1850s, there is a small selection
of directories published between 1750 up to 1849. Since the project is
based at the University of Leicester, special in-depth coverage is given
to Leicestershire. There is also substantial coverage of London and Wales.
Once you have a directory "open" you can search for keywords within that.
You can then view the pages that contain your search terms, which are
highlighted, and print off interesting pages. (More detailed review in
Tales from the Terminal Room, July/August
2004)
West Midlands
Collaborative Commerce Marketplace www.wmccm.co.uk/WMCCM/DesktopDefault.aspx
A free West Midlands on-line business directory and networking resource
for West Midlands SMEs. Information available includes details of regional
business, events and news. The local company directory is searchable by
product, service, type of company and location.
Invest Northern Ireland www.investni.com
Invest Northern Ireland is a new agency formed as a result of a merger
between LEDU, IDB, IRTU, and the Company Development Programme and business
support activities of the Northern Ireland Tourist Board. The site provides
company information, sources of business support and advice, and guides
on many aspects of starting up and running a business. There is a database
provided by Dun & Bradstreet and covering approximately 40,000 companies
in Northern Ireland as well as a Key Northern Ireland exporters directory
of 800 companies.
Kompass UK www.kompass.co.uk
Covers approximately 180,000 manufacturing and service companies. The
search options are similar to those for the Kompass.com site but the default
is to search for UK companies only. You can view a list of your companies
showing the name, town, post code and county. Detailed information for
some companies is free but the full service is charged for. Priced service
but some information is free.
Scottish Food and Drink
www.scottishfoodanddrink.com
A directory of over 1500 Scottish food and drink producers and specialist
advisers developed by the Scottish Enterprise Food Team as part of the
cluster strategy development. You can search by keyword, product, browse
the business A-Z or the sector guide. Information on each company includes
name, address, telephone number, fax number, email address and a link
to further information or the company Web site. An excellent resource
for locating suppliers in this area.
Scottish Law Online
www.scottishlaw.org.uk
A listing of legal sites and sources of information in the Scotland,
the UK and world-wide. Includes a link to a Scottish Law Firm Directory.
Trade Association Forum (TAF)
www.taforum.org
Includes a searchable directory of UK trade associations. Information
on each association includes address, telephone and fax numbers, main
contact, and a link to the association's Web site.
Back to the list of countries
Austria
Compnet.at www.compnet.at
Directory of 200,000 Austrian companies. Search, in German, by product
and name (free). The free option displays company name and town and a
link to the Web page, e-mail address, address, telephone and fax numbers,
products. The priced service gives access to further information and financials.
Free basic search and displays. Priced service for full company information
and financials. Free fax contact.
Belgium
Top Business www.topbusiness.be
Directory of around 55,000 Belgian companies, associations, institutions
and professionals.
Croatia
Croatian Homepages www.hr
Czech Republic
Czech
Embassy in Washington www.mzv.cz/washington/
Contact details of Czech companies based in the USA, US companies based
in Czech Republic, profiles of Czech companies seeking US partners and
information on establishing a company and doing business in the Czech
Republic.
Back to the list of countries
Denmark
Kraks Forlag AS www.krak.dk
Excellent source of information on exporting Danish companies (in English
and Danish) and one of the best free directories on the Internet. Extensive
search options including company name, product, trademark, export percentage,
number of employees. Information on the companies includes address, telephone
and fax numbers, number of employees, year established, key personnel,
export ratio, bankers, products and trademarks.
Finland
National Board of Patents and Registration
of Finland www.prh.fi
Official company register for Finnish companies. As well as information
on registering a company, there is a Trade Register of 470,000 Finnish
companies that can be searched via BIS Search
( www.ytj.fi/). Free of charge and available in Finnish, English
and Swedish.
France
EURIDILE - Le Registre National
du Commerce et des Sociétés - RNCS www.euridile.inpi.fr
Official register of over 3,200,000 French companies. Basic company
information free of charge. Priced service for detailed information and
accounts. In French.
Germany
Business Deutschland
www.businessdeutschland.de
Extensive database of German companies searchable by product, company
name, Bundesland, zip code, area code and trade group. Contact details
include company name, address, telephone, fax number, email address and
Web URL. Available in German and English.
Greece
Athens Chamber of Commerce and Industry
www.acci.gr
In Greek.
Hungary
Hungary Home Page
- Commercial Web Sites www.fsz.bme.hu/hungary/c_com.html
List of companies with web sites, sorted by location.
Back to the list of countries
Iceland
Iceland Export Directory.
The Official Guide to Quality Products and Services in Iceland. www.icelandexport.is/english/
Contact details of internationally trading Icelandic companies, produced
by the Trade Council of Iceland and Midlun Ltd (directory publishers). Search
by browsing the alphabetical company list, product/service list or customs
number list. Company information includes name, address, telephone and fax
numbers, e-mail address and a link to their web page, if they have one.
Ireland
Kompass Ireland www.kompass.ie
Latvia
Lursoft www.lursoft.lv
Provides information about all enterprises, public organizations and
foreign company agencies registered within the territory of Latvia including
their managers, shareholders fixed capital and annual accounts. The information
is based on original documents of the Register of Enterprises (RE). In
Latvian and English. Basic company information free of charge. Priced
service for more detailed information including accounts.
Netherlands
Kamer van Koophandel : Trade Register
www.kvk.nl
In the Netherlands registration in the trade register is compulsory for
almost every company. Searching the trade register is free, but there
is a charge for the business extracts, accounts and other information
products. In Dutch and English.
Track www.track.nl
(Formerly Dutch Home Pages). Available in Dutch.
Dutch yellow pages
www.markt.nl/dyp/index-en.html
Directory of web sites, available in Dutch or English. Commercial organisations
arranged by category or can be keyword searched.
Back to the list of countries
Norway
Brønnøysund Register Centre www.brreg.no
The Brønnøysund Register Centre is a government body under the Norwegian
Ministry of Trade and Industry, and consists of several different national
EDP registers. These registers contain information and key data on: liabilities
and titles in mortgaged movable property; more than 280,000 business enterprises;
more than 1,300,000 annual accounts and auditor's reports of limited companies;
bankruptcies and compulsory liquidations; approximately 200,000 marriage
settlements. In Norwegian and English. Priced service.
Poland
TeleAdreson Polish company directory
www.teleadreson.com.pl
Contact details for approximately one million Polish companies. Searchable
by various criteria in Polish and English. There are browsable indexes
for the industry codes (US SIC and NACE) so you do not have to worry about
having the relevant code books to hand. The entries for the companies
are quite detailed but you can only view them one by one. The limit on
the number that you can view has now been lifted. You can also have your
results sent to you in a variety of formats (DBF, Excel, Access etc.)
on CD-ROM, diskette or by e-mail. Addresses can also be supplied on adhesive
labels. Prices are on the web site.
Portugal
Business in Portugal
www.portugaloffer.com
This site claims to be "the most exclusive business club in Portugal...".The
companies to be found at PortugalOffer have been subjected to very careful
scrutiny. Business in Portugal has only 500 companies, covering 30 industry
and 19 Service and Trade sectors. You can browse the sectors or search
on any combination of company name, keywords, region, business area, number
of employees and turnover. Available in English.
GuiaNet: Portuguese Business On the
Internet www.guianet.pt
Browse by sector, or keyword search by company name or sector. Available
in English and Portuguese.
Back to the list of countries
Slovenia
Chamber of Commerce
and Industry of Slovenia www.gzs.si
Links to various company directories under Business Opportunities. The Register
has 52,000 active members of the chamber and you can search the database
by name, NACE code or keyword, region and size. The amount of detail for
each entry varies but the standard format usually includes name, address,
telephone number, activity, directors, number of employees and sales.
The SLO-EXPORT Directory is a database of major Slovenian companies,
which in 1998 accounted for more than 90% of Slovenia’s total exports
and 70% of total imports. Also included are major service companies: trade,
banks, insurance, transport and communication, engineering and consulting,
and tourism. The data on each company includes the usual contact details,
e-mail and web address if available, directors, and type of company. Additional
notes, information on products exported and imported are also given.
PIRS www.slo-knjiga.si/pirsn.htm
Claims to be the biggest and most complete Business Directory of Republic
of Slovenia covering businesses, sole proprietors, institutions and other
business establishments.
Back to the list of countries
Spain
Central Mercantile Registry. Legal Information
of companies, statistics and company names www.rmc.es
Subscription required. In English, French, German and Spanish.
Sweden
Swedish Export Directory
sed.swedishtrade.se
Switzerland
Central Business Names Index on
the Internet www.zefix.admin.ch
Based on the Central Register administered by the Federal Commercial Registry
Office. Contains approximately 320,000 active and cancelled Swiss business
names and names of associations and foundations. There are also about
40,000 branch offices of inland and foreign companies. Information available
includes current registered business name, former names, legal form, legal
domicile (political municipality).
OSEC Swiss Export Directory www.osec.ch
Extensive directory of Swiss companies. Search by product or service,
company name, trademark. Available in English, German, French and Spanish
Swiss Directory www.swissdir.ch
Swiss Firms www.swissfirms.ch
Database from the the Swiss Chamber of Commerce and Industry covering
9000 companies. Search by company name and state. The advanced search
includes search options for industry sector and activities.
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Asia
China
Chinese Business World www.cbw.com
List of links to information on Chinese companies.
China Market www.chinamarket.com.cn
There are two main directories linked from the home page. The Companies
link takes you to a page where you can browse for companies by sector.
There is also a Companies Search which enables you to search by name,
city, keyword, category and province. Information on each company includes
address, telephone and fax numbers, email address, Web site, contact name
and products. The Made in China directory allows you to search
for products and by keyword or category. Details provided include contact
details of the company, trademarks, prices of products and production
capacity.
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India
Web India Business Portal webindia.com
Business directory searchable by sector and giving links to the companies’
web pages.
khoj: The Great Indian Search Engine
www.khoj.com
The business section has links to other sites offering directories and
company listings, and general business information. Within khoj itself,
there is a directory of companies that you can browse by subject, a list
of exporters, details of trade associations, and links to stock exchange
sites.
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Taiwan
Taiwan Business Express business.com.tw
Classified directory gives contact details, product area, and information
such as turnover for Taiwanese businesses.
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Oceania
Australia
Australian Business Register
www.abr.gov.au
The Australian Business Register is a publicly available, online database
that contains some of the information that is provided by businesses when
they register for an Australian Business Number (ABN). The information
that is publicly available includes Australian Business Number (ABN),
ABN Status and date of effect, legal name, trading name(s), entity type,
State or Territory and postcode of the main business location, associated
Australian Company Number (ACN) or Australian Registered Body Number (ARBN)
or Australian Registered Scheme Number (if applicable), goods and services
tax (GST) and deductible gift recipient (DGR) details and dates of effect.
ASIC National Names
Index www.search.asic.gov.au/gns001.html
The Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC) has a company
search facility that offers basic information on a company or business
name. The free information that is available is the same as that in the
Australian Business Register but additional data including financials,
if available, can be purchased through commercial brokers that are linked
from the ASIC site.
The Americas
US
BizWeb www.bizweb.com
Directory of approximately 46,000 companies organised into over 200 categories.
Knowx www.knowx.com
Services include a Business Yellow Pages covering 20 million US companies,
a name availability database, and an owners and officers database. There
is also an option that enables you to search the company databases of
most states of the US. These include Limited Liability Companies (LLC).
Follow the link "Corporate Records", which is under "Ultimate Business
Finder". You can then search on company name and a state or all states.
It lists, free of charge, the companies it has found and the state in
which they are incorporated or registered. Further information is available
for a fee. Payment is by credit card.
Web100 www.w100.com
Ranked lists of top 100 USA companies and top 100 world-wide companies,
with links to their web sites.
ThomasNet www.thomasnet.com
Database of over 650,000 industrial suppliers that can be searched by
product, company name or brand name. If you register (free of charge)
you can save searches, company details, subscribe to newsletters and alerts,
and customize news feeds. You can receive newsletters by email or select
a category from the Industrial News Room and receive news as an RSS feed
or add it to My Yahoo.
D&B Sales & Marketing Solutions - sales
leads, mailing lists, and direct marketing business data www.zapdata.com
Dun and Bradstreet's Zapdata provides a directory of over 14 million
US companies in its "Company Lookup" section. You can search,
free of charge, by company name or Duns number. The results list gives
you the company name, address - with an indication of whether it is a
branch or the headquarters - and industry sector. Additional information
is priced.
The standard Company Lookup Report is USD 5 and gives name, address,
DUNS number, legal structure, top executive, annual sales, employees,
year established, and details of the ultimate parent company (if applicable).
In addition to the standard Company Lookup Report, you may choose to add
Data Bundles such as contact names and estimated IT, Telecom, and Wireless
usage profiles. (Data Bundles may not be available for all companies).
Back to the list of countries
Telephone Directories
Key Starting Points
Telephone Directories on the
Web www.infobel.com/teldir/
UK
BT UK Phone Directory www.bt.com
(Follow the link to Directory Enquiries). BT's directory or residential
and business numbers. To search, you have to enter part of a name and
an "area" (town or county). Initials and street name are optional. You
cannot enter a telephone number and retrieve a name and address. If you
are looking for businesses, unlike Electronic Yellow Pages (see below)
you cannot search by business type. The service does not include Directory
Enquiry only or ex-directory numbers.
Scoot www.scoot.co.uk
Scoot lets you search by business type and location or by company name
and location.
UK Electronic Yellow Pages www.yell.com
BT's UK Yellow Pages. Search by company name and location, or by business
type and location. For business type there is an A-Z of categories. Details
displayed are name, address, postal code and telephone number. Results
are displayed 10 at a time in random order.
Thomson Directories www.thomweb.co.uk
Access to over 2 million businesses that appear in the UK local Thomson
directories. You can search by company name, type of business or
location, or any combination of the three.
192.com www.192.com
Produced by i-CD, this site offers the UK Electoral Roll, Directory Enquiries,
Business Directory, UK street maps and aerial photographs.
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US
Switchboard: The Internet Directory
- Yellow Pages - White Pages - Phonebook www.switchboard.com
This is the site to use if you do not know the person's or company's location.
Most other US telephone directories require a city or state as well as
the name.
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Domain Name Registries
All Whois allwhois.com
World-wide coverage.
Nominet www.nic.uk
Registry for UK Internet domain names
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