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Three good ways to find an industry association online are:
1. A general online search engine, e.g., Google, Yahoo!, Bing. Type in the keywords associated with your industry.
2. An online directory, e.g., Yahoo! or Google. Look in subdirectories for “Business and Economy,” or Business-to-Business, or Business Directories. Check “Professional Organizations” as well as “Trade” or “Industry” Associations.
3. The “Gateway to Associations” (asaecenter.org/Community/Directories/Associationsearch.cfm). This national association of associations maintains an online directory of trade and industry associations. A caution, however: This link may change because the site is frequently redesigned. You may need to dig around. Look for “Directories” and/or “Gateway to Associations.” Nevertheless, it’s often a better jumping-off point than a general search engine or directory, which may result in thousands of unrelated results or commercial “organizations” that aren’t genuine trade associations at all.
Finding trade associations can be difficult because they often use names that aren’t obvious. For instance, if you type in the word “dog groomer,” you might not find what you want. So check other words, such as “pet groomer” or “veterinary.”
When you search for associations, you may find a dozen or more, so start with groups that contain the name “National,” “International,” or “American,” rather than local organizations. Don’t be afraid to look at national trade organizations outside of your country as they often have information such as standards, glossaries, other site listings, and so on.
Check It Out
Check out USA.gov’s alphabetical list of associations: www.usa.gov/directory/tradeassc/index.shtml
Or Yahoo!’s list: www.dir.yahoo.com/Business_and_Economy/Organizations/Trade_Associations/
In addition to your industry association, you’ll find a substantial amount of industry information and data online. Of course, you’ll want to make certain the information is accurate and up-to-date. Be careful to rely on information from trustworthy sources, such as recognized market research companies. If possible, when using data from media sources (such as newspapers and magazines), find the original source of the data; journalists, after all, have limited space and have to edit information, often leaving out data that might be important for your planning.
RESEARCH SOURCES
| Type of information | Source | Website |
| U.S. Government | Census Bureau | www.census.gov |
| Federal Statistics Online | www.fedstats.gov | |
| American Fact Finder | www.factfinder.census.gov | |
| 2007 Economic Census | www.census.gov/econ/census07 | |
| Government Printing Office (access to all federal documents and regulations) | www.gpoaccess.gov | |
| Louisiana State University’s links to federal agencies | www.lib.lsu.edu/gov/index.html | |
| Canadian Government | Statistics Canada | www.statcan.gc.ca |
| Canadian Census | www.12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/index-eng.cfm | |
| U.S. Census Bureau state and local information | County Business PatternsQuick Facts | www.census.gov/econ/cbp http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd |
| Link to State Data Centers | www.census.gov/sdc | |
| State/Local/Regional information | Each state government has a website | www.state.[two-letter state code].use.g., www.state.ca.us for California www.state.md.us for Maryland |
| Library of Congress links to state and local government sites | www.loc.gov/rr/news/stategov/stategov.html | |
| Links to state and local government sites (this is a private company) | www.statelocalgov.net | |
| Small Business Development Centers | www.asbdc-us.org (click on “Resources”) | |
| S.E.C. Annual reports | S.E.C. Edgar database | www.sec.gov/edgar.shtml |
| Company information | Hoover’s | www.Hoovers.com |
| Dun & Bradstreet | www.dnb.com | |
| Supplier information | ThomasNet | www.ThomasNet.com |
| eBay Business and Industrial | http://businessebay.com | |
| Yahoo! business-to-business | http://dir.yahoo.com/Business_and_Economy/Business_to_Business | |
| Tradekey B2B directory | www.tradekey.com | |
| B2B Yellow Pages | www.b2byellowpages.com | |
| Trade associations and trade shows | Center for Association LeadershipTSNN—Trade Show News Network | www.asaecenter.org www.tsnn.com |