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The following sites offer general advice and information to businesses,
and provide help to prospective UK SMEs on setting up a company. Additional
sites that provide information that is useful to small businesses, for
example interest rates, postal codes, currency exchange can be found on
the
Day-to-day Essentials page.
Information on mailing lists and direct marketing can be found on the
Direct Marketing page
Starting points & general information
Businesslink www.businesslink.gov.uk
Set up by the Small Business Service (SBS), a UK government agency whose
aim is to help small businesses in a variety of ways. The SBS oversees
and partly funds the work of the network of local Business Link offices
that operate throughout England.
Scottish Enterprise
www.scottish-enterprise.com
General Information on doing business in Scotland and details of the Local
Enterprise Companies (LECs). The Business
Gateway (www.bgateway.com) provides information for start-up
and existing business in Scotland.
Highlands and Islands Enterprise
www.hie.co.uk
Help and advice for SMEs in the Scottish Highlands and Islands.
Big Wales www.bigwales.com
Primarily set up to offer help and information to businesses in Wales,
this site also provides links to information that is of general interest.
Business Eye www.businesseye.org.uk
Network of centres providing advice, training, information and support
for businesses in Wales.
Invest Northern Ireland www.investni.com
Provides company information, sources of business support and advice,
and guides on many aspects of starting up and running a business.
British Chambers of Commerce
www.britishchambers.org.uk
Best for Businesswww.bestforbusiness.com
Created by the staff at Business Insight, Central Library, Birmingham.
Best for Business provides free business information covering all topics,
with a slight West Midlands bias for more specific services such as grants
and tenders. There are over 500 fact sheets on the site under the Business
Advice heading as well as Know How guides (Business Research).
Better Business www.better-business.co.uk
Web site of the magazine for small and growing businesses.
Better Payment Practice Campaign
www.payontime.co.uk
Advice on Credit Management aimed mainly at the SME sector. Includes a
guide to getting paid on time, current legislation and credit management
letters. There are also private sector league tables showing how quickly
(or not!) companies pay their bills.
Business Zone www.businesszone.co.uk
"The key resource for SOHO and SME professionals on the Internet".
One of the SIFT communities. Advice and articles on running an SME and
access to ICC company reports on a pay-per-view basis.
Clearlybusiness www.clearlybusiness.com
Owned by Barclays, this site has guides and articles on all aspects
of running your own business.
CobWeb Information www.cobwebinfo.com
A specialist business information and content provider based in Newcastle
Upon Tyne in the UK. Cobweb's subscription products are designed for business
advisers, trainers and other professional business intermediaries and
include Business Opportunity Profiles (BOPs), Business Information Factsheets
(BIFs), UK Market Synopses (UKMS) and the Complete Business Reference
Adviser (COBRA).
There is also a free fortnightly current awareness service called Business Advisers' Digest ("BAD News"). The same organisation
produces and maintains Scavenger
(www.scavenger.net) and Enterprise
Quest (www.enterprisequest.com), both of which are aimed directly
at small businesses themselves.
Enterprise Quest - Ideas and
know-how for small business www.enterprisequest.com
Home of a weekly coaching and ideas bulletin called EnterQuest and published
by Cobweb Information. Provides tips, ideas and know-how for small business
and home business owners.
Federation for Small Business www.fsb.org.uk
Scavenger www.scavenger.net
Approximately 800 reports and factsheets to help research a business idea
and market, help write a business plan or marketing plan, and start a
small business. Scavenger is produced and maintained by Cobweb Information.
You can buy factsheets and guides through a pay-as-you-go service and
they are delivered electronically in PDF format.
Startups.co.uk www.startups.co.uk
Offers no-nonsense, plain-speaking guides for small businesses. Topics
covered range from funding to finding premises and employing people to
writing a business plan. Set up and maintained by Crimson Publishing who
publish magazines such as Start and Run your Business, Growing Business,
and eBusiness.
Telegraph Business Club www.telegraphbusinessclub.co.uk
The Daily Telegraph Business Club aims to help SMEs through weekly case studies, information, free seminars and membership discounts. Registration is free and the club has a page every Tuesday in the Business Section of the Daily Telegraph.
West Midlands Collaborative Commerce
Marketplace www.wmccm.co.uk
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.
Grants
Access Funds - Grants information
for the British charitable and non-profit sector www.access-funds.co.uk
Grantfinder www.grantfinder.co.uk
Claims to be the most comprehensive database of UK and EU funding,
including grants, loans, subsidies and other incentives that are available
to UK businesses. Subscription only.
Grants Online www.grantsonline.org.uk
Information on the latest and current calls for proposals from the European
Union, UK Government, National Lottery and New Opportunities Fund. Also
offers an External Funding Alert, which is a fortnightly publication providing
information on the latest calls for proposals. Subscription service.
J4b - Search for Government Grants for
your Business www.j4b.co.uk
Searchable database of grants and loans available to small businesses.
Free but registration required.
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