New York SBDC Research Network

Looking for basic information on insurance coverage for businesses? Check out the following links: You are not required by law to have liability, property damage or other types of business insurance, but very few businesses can realistically operate without some form of optional coverage. Read more on the different types from Empire State Development . The Insurance Information Institute has launched an online edition of Commercial Insurance to help businesses better understand the basics of commercial insurance -- what it is and how it works. The site, which will be updated as new data comes in, can be accessed at http://www.commercialinsurancefacts.org . A business owner's policy protects against economic losses caused by damage to the owner's property and by legal liability to others for bodily injury and property damage involving the business. This page begins a section covering the three basic types: liability, special business forms and property insurance: http://www.fin

I’ve seen a number of articles on good web design but I sometimes wonder if anyone reads them. Maybe it looks so straight forward – like a page in Word, but really it is a unique venue and some guidelines are needed for a business to put their best foot forward. Issues to face are the overall impression of a site, the actual content, including language usage and grammar, the speed of access to your information, the design of the site, text that one can actually read organization, navigation and privacy. These books take various approaches: Don’t make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability by Steven Krug A quick low-down on what web users are looking for and how to evaluate sites and all doe with a sense of humor. Web Pages That Suck: Learn Good Design by Looking at Bad Design by Vincent Flanders, Michael Willis . Vincent Flanders also maintains a blog highlighting more examples of what not to do on http://www.webpagesthatsuck.com/ Creating Killer Web Sites 2nd ed. By David

The Census Bureau has some statistics on the number of folks affected by Hurricane Katrina here and here . A PDF report on the construction and real estate implications in New Orleans Unfortunately, the Red Cross and FEMA had been working different systems while trying to find the missing, but appear to be working more closely now. Another sad occurrence: as with every disaster of late, there are unscupulous people operating in the alleged name of Katrina victims . The National Restaurant Association has planned a Dine for America event to help hurricane victims on October 5. After Katrina, and also after 9/11/01, there has been a greater emphasis on anticipating the possibility of fire, flood and other natural and human-made disasters at home and at the office . FEMA has a 204-page document about citizen preparedness . Generaslly speaking, FEMA's plan expects that individuals should have a 2- to 3-day supply of food, water and other necessities before expecting to be rescued.

Recently, I answered a request for a client who wished to retail her products at fairs and festivals. She wanted a list of such events in a given region of the state. During research, I came across a site called EventsCrazy.com. It's managed by Events Media Network, Inc., who, among other things, publish selected events directories. The site can be reached at www.eventcrazy.com , and it had the answers I needed for this client. If you've clients with similar needs, I recommend going there. On your first visit, you (or your client) will have to register. It's free, but you can't search until doing so. The site allows you to search for events and attractions in three different ways: 1) those within a given radius around a ZIP code that you provide, within dates that you specify; or 2) those by a city & state that you provide, within dates that you specify; or 3) by clicking among a list of states (say, New York), and then clicking on a given city.

Recently, I read about this scam in TVC Alert, an e-newsletter I receive daily. Thought this might be of interest to you and your clients. The Federal Trade Commission put a stop to a small business directory scam . The Montreal-based businesses, Datatech Communications Inc. and 9102-3127 Quebec, Inc. (doing business as I-Point Media), and 3 businessmen contacted small businesses in the U.S. about renewing a company directory listing when no prior relationship existed. "The defendants routinely denied requests to cancel the directory listings and harassed customers who refused to pay." The settlement and default judgment against one of the businessmen bans them from the business directory industry and from assisting others involved in the industry. SEE: FTC v. Datatech Communications FTC Filed Documents, Civil No. 03 C 6249, 25 August 2005 (Amended complaint, stipulated order, default judgment, order of dismissal, news release) < http://www.ftc.gov/os/caselist/datatech/dat

For current events, I like to check a few international papers to see their take on the news. There are a number of aites that make short work of listing international papers and sometimes magazines in one place. Here are a few. http://newslink.org/ NewsLink Associates is an academic and professional research and consulting firm studying electronic publishing and visual journalism. http://www.onlinenewspapers.com/ “Thousands of world newspapers at your fingertips” Simple drop menus arranged by region, the site does not list the total number of papers. Like many other sites, once you find the list of papers by region or city, unless you are familiar with the papers there is no way of knowing which are the major papers. All You Can Read.com http://www.allyoucanread.com/ Described as “the largest database of magazines and newspapers on the Internet, with listings for about 22,800 magazines and newspapers from all over the world. AllYouCanRead.com is a complete guide to world media sources

The sight of crossing guards and bright yellow buses mean the "dog days of summer" and the traditional summer break have come to a close — our nation’s schools have reopened! This edition of Facts for Features highlights the many interesting statistics evolving from students and teachers returning to the classrooms. >Back-to-School Shopping $6.0 billion The amount of money spent at family clothing stores in August 2004. Only in October, November and December — the holiday shopping season — were sales higher. Similarly, bookstore sales in August 2004 totaled $2.0 billion, an amount equaled in 2004 only by sales in December and January. (The dollar volume estimates have not been adjusted for seasonal variations, holiday or trading day differences or price changes.) If you’re not sure >where to do your back-to-school shopping , choices of retail establishments abound: In 2003, there were 24,065 family clothing stores; 6,457 children’s and infants’ clothing stores; 27,352 s