How to find what you want on the internet

Search engines
Unless you know the exact URL (universal resource locator) or ‘address’ of the website you are looking for, search engines provide the most obvious way of locating specific information.

Three of the most rapid and comprehensive search engines are www.northernlight.com, www.alltheweb.com and www.google.com. But entering general terms such as ‘business news’ or ‘business advice’ will tend to produce only the most popular sites or worse, an avalanche of irrelevant US material.

Search engines are most effective if you enter more specific information such as the actual names of products or companies, or carefully-selected key words and phrases, like office supplies stationery (name of town). Most engines also have ‘advanced search’ facilities, allowing you to narrow your search by choosing domain names (e.g. only search co.uk) or to limit findings to sites containing an exact phrase by couching your search terms in inverted commas.

Web directories and portals
Directories offer an alternative route to finding sites, allowing you to gradually narrow your search by browsing categories and subsequent sub-categories. Yahoo! – www.yahoo.co.uk – is the most successful directory, but www.lycos.co.uk also offers a useful starting-point.

For more specifically business-related material, Business Answers UK – www.businessanswers.co.uk – provides an excellent information portal to thousands of useful sites. Meanwhile, www.scoot.co.uk and www.yell.com (the online version of Yellow Pages) are ideal if you are looking for the contact details or websites of specific businesses.

Official information
The government has recently made significant investments in its online services. There are several good entry points to official information. Visiting actual government department sites such as the Department of Trade and Industry (www.dti.gov.uk) or the Inland Revenue (www.inlandrevenue.gov.uk), is one option, but the Central Office of Information (www.coi.gov.uk) and www.ukonline.gov.uk provide more efficient ways of finding news and information.

The Small Business Service offers perhaps the government's most successful online innovation for businesses. The main site – www.businessadviceonline.org – has a range of useful advice for small businesses, while the Direct Access Government site at www.dag-business.gov.uk provides access to regulatory guidance and official forms.