Research Edge

I Know It’s Here Somewhere!

Do you know how to quickly find a word or phrase on a website?  Ninety percent of U.S. internet users do not.  If you are visually scanning a page for the section you want, read on.

Most internet browsers have a “Find” function.  The exact commands and the sophistication of the tool will vary depending on which browser you use.  In the popular Internet Explorer 8, use Control F.  A new dialog box appears where you can enter your search term.  You can also access the function from the internet tool bar by clicking Edit, then Find on this Page.

Let’s say that you are on the City of New Orleans’ website trying to locate the City Planning Commission.  City departments are located under one of three tabs – Residents, Businesses, or Government.  Which is it?  You could manually click on each tab and scan the list.  Or use the Control F function.  Here it is, under Residents. 

If you are searching for particular keywords, your browser may help you to go directly to the keywords on a given page.  In Google, you can hover your mouse to the right of a resulting entry, and a preview of the section of the web page containing the term will appear.  (Note: Google features change frequently!)  For example, a search for “city planning commission” new orleans yields the following: 

I’ll Just Google It

A common misconception is that information available on the web can easily be located by entering search terms into a major search engine.  Even for those who have mastered search techniques, this approach is often not an efficient (or successful) way of finding information.

A major factor, especially when looking for business information, is that much of the data is housed in searchable or “dynamic” data bases.  Data is assembled at the time of your query based on parameters you select. When no longer needed, the results disassemble.  The temporary results cannot be indexed, and will not appear in a query using a search engine.

 Let’s say you want a list of government contracts awarded to BigCo.   If you search for BigCo “government contract” in Google or another search engine, the results will likely be a hodgepodge of media articles mentioning various contracts it has received.  You may be able to assemble a list by reading through enough of the articles and extracting information.  But if you go to USASpending.gov and enter BigCo in the search field, you will retrieve a neat list of contracts, along with description, awarding agency, date, and dollar amount.  Much easier – but you need to first identify the database housing the information.  Your google search will not efficiently get you there.

A lot of commonly used business data is stored in this type of format.  Subjects include various statistics (demographics, labor force, industry), facts on individual companies, geographically based data, real estate, and so on.  The federal government, especially through the Census Bureau and Labor Department, generates a wealth of useful information.

I have hundreds of sites bookmarked and tagged for future reference.  Quickly finding the facts leaves more time for analysis and problem solving!

Maps – Powerful Data Presentation

Mapping is a powerful way to present information with a geographic component.   Patterns buried in a spreadsheet of data leap out when presented visually, and interactive maps allow the user to explore different aspects of the subject matter.  Several recently released applications illustrate different uses of this tool.   

Trulia, the nationwide residential real estate search engine, has released the interactive Crime Maps that lets you explore, compare and comment on crimes across the country.  The beta version has data for fifty metro areas, including New Orleans, collected from over 1,000 different sources.  Users can access the number and types of crimes by zip code or intersection, and compare one neighborhood against another.  Heat maps show historical crime patterns over the previous twelve months.  Via Facebook’s social plug-in, users can leave detailed comments, providing personal context and relevance to the crime data.  An interesting presentation of hyper-local data combined with social media.

To mark the beginning of hurricane season, the U.S. Census Bureau released an updated version of its map based data tool depicting disasters.  On the Map for Emergency Management tracks fires, floods (both occurring and likely), and tropical storms (including current wind patterns and forecast area).  It automatically incorporates real time data updates from the National Weather Service, Departments of Interior and Agriculture, and other agencies.  Users can also access historical data on previous events, and details on the number of workers impacted by the disasters.  Very relevant during this period of extreme weather conditions.

What a long way we have come from atlas books and highway maps!

Challenge your Brain (and Improve your Search Skills)

It is fairly easy to learn the mechanics of finding information on the internet.  What is far more difficult is conceptualizing the search strategy, especially when complex, multi step queries are required.  As with any new skill, the best way to master it is to practice. 

A couple of months ago I came across a blog written by a gentleman named Dan Russell.  Once a week, he presented a search challenge to his audience, a question that could be answered using freely available internet resources.  He later shared the solution, outlining each step of the process.  These challenges were fun!  While I consider myself a fairly adept problem solver, I often learned more efficient search approaches.  And I admit that I was stumped a few times.    

Dan has taken his challenges to another level, launching AGoogleADay.com.  Each day, you will find a search puzzle, increasing in difficulty throughout the week.  At any time you can click on the “show answer” button to find the solution and the strategy for arriving there.   A special version of Google prevents you from getting hints from others’ queries.  You can easily share the question each day via Twitter, Buzz or Facebook, or e-mail it to a friend. 

The first question (April 11) is easy – a great time to start improving your skills!

$30 Billion Program for Woman Owned Businesses

Are you a woman business owner looking to expand your markets?  The federal government will implement a new program effective February 4, setting aside 5% of total contract value for woman owned small businesses (WOSB).   With over $30 billion in play, it’s definitely worth checking into!

Does your business qualify?  The federal government buys a huge variety of goods and services, $518 billion in 2008.  Woman owned businesses have been underrepresented in 83 different NAICS codes, which qualify for the program.  The definition of a “small business” is quite expansive, with a ceiling of $6 million in annual sales for most retail and service industries.  The business must be at least 51% woman owned, and the management and day to day operations woman controlled.  (There is another category of set asides for economically disadvantaged WOSBs, determined by income, net worth, and other variables.)

What will you need to apply?  A DUNS (Data Universal Numbering System) number, which can be obtained for free from Dun & Bradstreet, is required to do business with the government.  You should also determine all the 6 digit NAICS codes applicable to your business – multiple codes may be entered.   You will be asked for your Federal Supply Class or Product Service Class (FSC/PSC) Codes, the 4 digit codes used to identify the products or services purchased by the federal government.  Other information to have on hand includes your federal tax ID number, bank routing and account number, and general company data. 

Where to apply?  Central Contractor Registration (CCR) is the primary registrant database for the U.S. Federal Government.   CCR collects, validates, stores and disseminates data in support of agency acquisition missions.  WOSB registration is self-certifying through its website, and should take around an hour.  Be sure to also register your business with the SBA  – this will give you the opportunity to input specific keywords and a short narrative describing your product or services, increasing your chances of showing up in search results.  Additionally, you will have to file various certifications. 

Where to get procurement information?  Federal Business Opportunities is the central depository of open contract solicitations, although a number of fee based services will alert you to relevant  opportunities based on your products or services.   The Federal Procurement Data System tracks a variety of award information, with reports available for vendor, amount of contract, point of performance, NAICS codes, FSC or PSC codes, set aside program, etc.  Subcontractor data may be obtained through the FFATA Subaward Reporting System (FSRS).   Additionally, each federal agency has an Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization (OSDBU) that produces an annual forecast og goods and services to be purchased. 

For the right business, the WOSB program can be extremely profitable!

The New American Factfinder

The U.S. Census Bureau launched a revamped version of its primary data delivery tool, American FactFinder, this month.  As this will be the primary vehicle for accessing 2010 Census data, the redesign is timely and welcome. 

The 2011 FactFinder offers a new look, new tools and easier access to Census Bureau information.  Users can search and analyze demographic and economic information about the nation and its communities using a variety of methods, with searches available based on keywords, geographies, population and ancestry groups, industries, and predefined topics.    The data can be downloaded in a variety of formats, and enhanced manipulation of tables, such as transposing rows and columns, is now available.  An especially nice feature is the ability to create customized maps based on many data sets.

What exactly is included in American Factfinder besides the Decennial Census?

American Community Survey is an ongoing annual survey drawn from a sample of households, designed to give communities current information needed to plan investments and services.  Data is collected on age, sex, race, family and relationships, education, health care, veteran status, where you work and how you get there, and where you live and how much you pay for essentials.  A comparable survey is available for Puerto Rico.

The first wave of neighborhood level data was released in December.  But there is a caveat for Louisiana. For the first time, the Census Bureau used a five year estimating period, with data collected between January, 2005 and December, 2009.  Given the Katrina related disruptions, the information does not reflect the current size and characteristics of the population. 

 Population Estimates Program publishes estimated population totals for the previous year for cities and towns, metropolitan areas, counties, and states.  Existing data series such as births, deaths, Federal tax returns, Medicare enrollment, and immigration are used to update the decennial census base counts as of July 1 of the current year.

Economic Census is the collective name for the censuses of construction, manufacturers, minerals, minority- and women-owned businesses, retail trade, service industries, transportation, and wholesale trade.  It is conducted by the Census Bureau every five years, in years ending in 2 and 7, and profiles the U.S. economy from the national to the local level and by detailed industry and business classification.

Annual Economic Surveys.  Three different surveys are included in Factfinder.  The Annual Survey of Manufactures provides sample estimates of statistics for all manufacturing establishments with one or more paid employee, including employment, payroll, supplemental labor costs, cost of materials consumed, operating expenses, value of shipments, value added by manufacturing, detailed capital expenditures, fuels and electric energy used, and inventories.  County Business Patterns , which covers most of the country’s economic activity, is useful for studying small areas.  It includes the number of establishments, number of employees, and payroll data by NAICS code.  Nonemployer Statistics collects economic data by industry for nonemployer businesses, ones that have no paid employees, annual business receipts of $1,000 or more, and are subject to federal income taxes.

Successful Internet Search Strategy

Successful on line searching is as much an art as a science.  It involves a combination of technical skill, creativity, and sometimes, a bit of luck.  Here are some thoughts to consider as you search. 

Define the concept.  It should be well defined and specific, neither too broad nor too narrow.  Carefully consider the choice of keywords.  Are there unique words or acronyms associated with the topic?  These will show up readily in most searches.  Utilization of advanced operators will help to refine additional queries.  Are there synonyms or other terms that describe the concept?  Join them with the OR operator within parentheses.  Are there ideas not related to the concept also associated with your keywords?  Exclude them using the NOT or – sign to eliminate to reduce irrelevant returns.  Are there other words that are frequently associated with your keywords to describe the concept? Require returns to include both words using the AND operator.  You also want to define the broader categories into which your concept may fall.

Choose your strategy.  A basic search engine such as Google is generally a good place to start.  Does it make sense to use one of the predefined filters (news, books, scholarly publications, images, blogs, etc.)?  This will target your search.  Is the concept relatively unfamiliar to you? Look closely at any Wikepedia results or other reference source for context and keyword suggestions.   Do any of the results point to subject matter directories (also called portals or gateways)?  Approaching the task from the broad to the specific may yield new threads to explore. 

Vary the approach.  Not finding what you need?   Repeat the process with synonyms, identified either initially or through review of returned search results.  Shift to another search engine – results may vary significantly even among Google, Bing, and Yahoo.  Use a tool designed specifically for social media.  Blogs, podcasts, videos and other social media contain a wealth of information not found elsewhere.  If applicable, use a specialized engine focused on business or science, or perhaps one that clusters results.     Don’t get bogged down – if relevant information is not on the first results page, move on.  Keep records of productive sites to return to later if needed. 

Still no success?  Think out of the box.  Consider who cares about the information.  A trade association?  Governmental agency?  Shift from a general search to focus on their information.  Not finding free content?  Market research reports, professional and trade journal articles, and company lists are typically fee based; you will need to purchase the material.  And don’t overlook primary research.

Eighth in a series

On-Line Reputation Monitoring

What’s the value of reputation to the success of your business?  It’s priceless.  With the growth of social media consumers have more access to information about your company, both good and bad, than ever before. Businesses need proactive online strategies for managing reputation, and the first step is to monitor what people are saying.

An earlier post identified a number of tools to tap into on-line mentions and conversations.  You could perform periodic searches, but why do extra work when the process can be automated? 

Using Google Alerts is an easy first step.  At a minimum, you should set up notifications for your name and company.  By clicking on “advanced features” you can set the frequency of alerts (instantaneous, daily, weekly), tolerance for relevance, sources searched (web, blog, or news), and delivery method (e-mail or RSS feed).  You are allowed up to 1,000 different alerts. 

The trick here is to target the search so you are not overwhelmed with irrelevant items.  Carefully choose your keywords, and refine based on returned results.  For example, my company name is comprised of common words.  I encountered numerous ads for audio speakers and an African company with the same name in hiring mode.  Adding some Boolean logic (“research edge” –acoustic  –kenya) eliminated a lot of the irrelevance.  My own name is unique, but I need to include both my given and nickname (“cindy fromherz” , “cynthia fromherz”). 

Google Alerts will return mentions in indexed pages, but is less reliable for blogs and virtually useless for applications such as Facebook and Twitter.  You can set up a parallel set of alerts using a search engine designed specifically for social media.   Social Mention, for example, aggregates across most of the popular applications, and allows you to receive free daily e-mail alerts.   

For a comprehensive program there are other things you will want to monitor – key company personnel, brands, competitors, industry activities, etc.  Repeat the above keyword refinement exercises for each concept you need to track, using both Google Alerts and Social Mention. 

But the more searches you incorporate, the more tedious it will become to sort through the e-mail notifications.  Choosing to receive the alerts via an RSS feed rather than e-mail makes it more manageable.  I build dashboards for my own monitoring using iGoogle, grouping alerts into logical categories via its tabs.  Feeds are simple to set up with Google Alerts, under the advanced features tab. Unfortunately, I have not found a social media aggregator engine that reliably delivers results in RSS.  Depending upon the sources you wish to monitor, you will need to repeat the keywords using the RSS feature of specific engines – Technorati (blogs), Board Reader (forums), Kurrently (Facebook) or Twitter Search. 

Does initiating an on-line reputation monitoring system involve work? Undeniably.  But not nearly as much work as repairing your reputation after being trashed by a disgruntled customer!

Seventh in a series

Search Engines for Social Media

Do you monitor on-line conversations relating to your company, product or industry?  The growing role of social media in the business world makes this as important as examining financial statements.   There are many search engines that allow you to explore one or multiple sources of information to see real time results.

Several variables distinguish one search engine from another – the type of social media incorporated (blogs, microblogs, social networks, social bookmarks, comments, events, videos, images, audio, Q&A), the display/interface, and special focus or features.  Many products are evolving, adding features, changing emphasis, or even merging with competitors. 

Google and Bing have made perfunctory forays into the world of social media, but their performance in this area cannot compare to the specialized search engines.  I’ve included links to some of the most popular – play with them to find your favorites.

Aggregators.  Established engines for power searching across categories include Addictomatic, Who’sTalkin,  Icerocket,  Collecta , and Surchur.    Also try Social Mention, which ascribes “sentiment” to a post; OneRiot (which just merged into Topsy) for emphasis on “social influencers”; and Backtype, for tracing social impact.  Others have exotic names like Joongel  and Gajeebo.

Specific media.  If your primary interest is blogs, Technorati or BlogPulse are good bets.  For forums and discussion groups try Board Reader.  Use Samepoint or Omgili -“oh my god I love it”- to listen in on conversations. 

Specific programs.  Targeting Facebook?  Use Booshaka or Kurrently.   There are a huge number of tools to search Twitter – try Topsy,  TweetQA, and  Twazzup, but don’t ignore the excellent Advanced Twitter Search.  If you are into Google Buzz, Buzzzy will find what you are looking for.

A huge number of choices.   And these are only the search engines, not the tools designed to help you organize, analyze, post to, and otherwise manage social media!

Sixth in a series

Social Media – Navigating the Maze

Everyone by now has heard of Web 2.0.  It represents a shift from read only information on static websites to the sharing of user generated content.   It incorporates a dizzying array of applications and tools.   What exactly is it all about?

It is helpful to group the tools into broad categories according to function. 

Social Networking sites give you the opportunity to connect with others – friends, people with similar interests, potential customers – and to grow your connections.  Three top sites, in terms of both profile and user numbers are Facebook,  Twitter, and  LinkedIn.   LinkedIn was created specifically for professional networking, and remains the premier business oriented site.  However, Facebook via its “page” feature and Twitter are becoming increasingly important for business promotion. 

Social Bookmarking sites (such as del.icio.us, Furl, and Reddit) allow you to organize your favorite sites, tag them for keywords, and keep them all in one place.  You also have the ability to share them with others.   Feel free to look at my own del.icio.us bookmarks – I save lots of useful research tools.  Taking the concept one step further, Social Recommendation sites encourage users to submit items they like and give others the opportunity to vote on them.  Digg, StumbleUpon, and Yahoo Buzz fall into this category.

Social Content sites include YouTube (video), Flickr (photos), and SlideShare (presentations), to name a few. Users create and manage the content, generally making it available for public use.  This group also includes Wikis – collaborative websites that can be directly edited by anyone with access to them

Blogs - a blend of the words “web log” – are a type of web site or part of a website. They are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material.  Most blogs are interactive, allowing visitors to leave comments and even messages for each other via widgets on the blogs.  The material you are currently reading is in blog format.

Groups, forums, message boards, chat rooms were Web 1.0 vintage networking vehicles, but still host a huge volume of online conversations.  Each provides a venue for communities of users with a common interest to share thoughts and information.   They vary on such measures as real time versus post, free or fee, and requirements for moderator approval of posts. 

You can use a tweet to inform followers of a blog post that is also available through LinkedIn or a Facebook page, and save it to a bookmarking site for future reference.  It’s all interconnected!

Fifth in a series