Company Information on the World Wide Web

Abstract

Used in conjunction with more traditional business reference resources, the World Wide Web can help fill out a company' s picture. Corporate Web presences may range from single-page company descriptions to multi-layered sites that take fuller advantage of the Web' s immense capacity and interactive nature. Maintained primarily to promote and advertise a company' s products and services, company sites often contain information on company history, employment opportunities, news, and company philosophy. They can reveal a great deal about a company' s image and can serve as a case study of its marketing strategy. Sometimes information about a particular company can be found on the Web and in no other library resource. This article describes items typically found in corporate Web sites that complement what is contained in a library' s more traditional business resources. In addition, it recommends some business-related directories on the Web and gives tips for using Web search engines to find company home pages.