Newsletter No. 105
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ISSN 1460-7239 7th February 2002 No.105
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IN THIS ISSUE
EDITORIAL
MY FAVOURITE TIPPLES
From Robert Berkman
FREE PINT BAR & STUDENT BAR
In Association with Factiva
a Dow Jones & Reuters Company
Reviewed by Simon Collery
JOBS
Researcher
Research/Analyst Telecoms
Finance Cataloguer
TIPS ARTICLE
"Business Information in Germany"
By David Scrimgeour
BOOKSHELF
"The Quintessential Searcher: The Wit and Wisdom of Barbara Quint"
Edited by Marylaine Block
Reviewed by Caryn Wesner-Early
FEATURE ARTICLE
"Pay Per Click Search Engines and Promoting your Website"
By Duncan Parry
FACT, EVENTS, GOLD AND FORTHCOMING ARTICLES
CONTACT INFORMATION
ONLINE VERSION WITH ACTIVATED HYPERLINKS
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EDITORIAL
This is going to be a great year for Free Pint, I just know it. There
was a lot of development work on the site last year, and this
continues as we work to enhance the site even further. Watch out for
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Pint Jobs. We are also working on ways of getting Free Pinters
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All these improvements explain why I know it's going to be a great
year. Therefore, we don't need to focus on the fact that I have a big
'decade' birthday tomorrow. I'm not telling you which one it is, but
hey, you're all researchers so you find out.
We're still regularly asked how Free Pint is funded. A good proportion
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There's loads of good stuff in today's newsletter. We look at business
information in Germany, paying to get your site listed in the search
engines, and loads of other site tips, news and happenings at the Bar.
If you enjoy today's edition then do pass it on. We're nearly at the
50,000 subscriber milestone. Make sure you visit the Web site too as
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Regards
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William Hann, Founder and Managing Editor
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MY FAVOURITE TIPPLES
From Robert Berkman
Some of my favorite free business research sites on the Web:
* <http://seitti.funet.fi:5000/etusivu_en.html> - If you're looking
for sources of official statistics around the globe, my favorite
site is the searchable database created by Library Statistics of
Finland.
* <http://www.globalarchive.ft.com/> - It's very hard to find a free
substantive searchable archive of news on the Web, but a real find
is FT's Total Search Global Archive.
* <http://bubl.ac.uk/link/countries.html> - Impossible to catalog the
Web? Not here - BUBL Country Studies has identified, described and
catalogued the best country information sites on the Web.
* <http://marketguide.com/screen/Sscreen.asp> - Market Guide
Screening lets you identify companies by a very specific type of
criteria; e.g. their earnings, valuation, and dozens more.
* <http://typewriter.rydia.net/> - Since I do have a life outside of
business research, I also like collecting antique typewriters - a
favorite site is the virtual typewriter museum.
Robert Berkman <bberkman@findsvp.com> is Editor of The Information
Advisor a newsletter for business researchers
<http://www.informationadvisor.com> and the Best of The Business Web
<http://www.bestbizweb.com> free E-letter.
Tell us about your top five favourite Web sites. See the guidelines at
<http://www.freepint.com/author.htm> and email <simon@freepint.com>.
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TIPS ARTICLE
<http://www.freepint.com/issues/070202.htm#tips>
"Business Information in Germany"
By David Scrimgeour
When it comes to gathering business information the main issues are
usually cost and quality. When seeking out relevant information on the
German market the language aspect will probably impact on the cost of
the information, i.e., translation may be required. And the sheer size
of the market can complicate the process of identifying quality
information. The good news for non-German companies is that there is
no shortage of good quality information on the German market. The bad
news is that very little of it is available in English. Indeed it has
been said that it is easier to get English language information on
China!
The main sources of information can be broken down into 4 broad
categories; Market Research, Databases, Government & Public Sources
and Business Intelligence.
Market Research
---------------
Assuming that you are not doing this yourself - often the best option
but requires specialist resources - then the basic choice is between
high cost, low quality or the middle way. All the main international
management consultancy and market research organisations have
operations in Germany. There are also some home grown companies such
as Roland Berger or Kienbaum Consultants. At the other end of the
scale are the "Market Reports" prepared by staff at the British
Consulates <http://www.tradepartners.gov.uk>. These can be good value
as an initial overview but no more than that.
The best option is usually to identify a smaller, specialised
consultancy which may also offer strategic input. However it is
important to identify consultants who have experience of working with
international clients. Using such an organisation you should be able
to combine your knowledge of your own sector and markets with the
information that they can provide on the local market. Two examples
are RMM <http://www.rmm.de> and PbS <http://www.pbs-ag.de/en>.
Databases
---------
These are numerous and serve a range of purposes. For example,
Hoppenstedt <http://www.hoppenstedt.de> is a German Dun & Bradstreet
(also available in Germany) with detailed information on companies
including publicly available financial data. However one should be
aware that the disclosure requirements for unlisted companies are less
stringent than in the UK. This regulatory difference is especially
important when one is researching the market for a joint venture or an
acquisition. As a result you will need support on the ground for this
type of search.
In order to check on the financial health of suppliers or customers
Credit Reform <http://www.konstanz-creditreform.de> is the main
source. This database is accessed through an accountant or lawyer. In
addition there are now plenty of online databases, sometimes connected
to a publishing house, where one can pay for a period of access or for
the downloading of specific information e.g.
<http://www.genios.de/english/index.html> or
<http://engl.gbi.de/index.htm>.
Government and Public Sources
-----------------------------
There is a wealth of general and sector-specific economic data
available from banks e.g. <http://www.db.com> and government
organisations e.g. <http://www.german-embassy.org.uk>. Such reports
are often free but not always available in English. So, if the data
looks useful, then it is worth considering having it translated. For
translations into English always use a native English speaker.
The Chambers of Commerce (Handelskammer) <http://www.ihk.de> in
Germany can be excellent sources of information and what they provide
for their members can also be of use for incoming companies. The
German government, through the Chambers, is generally supportive of
links with foreign companies so it is worth asking what programmes are
available - there may even be funding for market research.
Other good sources are the inward investment agencies. Each region
(Land) and all the major cities have such an agency and the provision
of information is part of their remit. Even if you are only
considering establishing a sales office you will get help and, if you
are planning a larger investment, financial assistance may also be on
offer. In particular, the agency responsible for the eastern part of
Germany has valuable data on different aspects of this regional
economy <http://www.iic.de>.
Trade associations, of which there are hundreds, also produce sectoral
studies. The best way to track down this type of material is using the
web. However, English language content is rare on such sites so a
German speaker is useful here.
Business Intelligence
---------------------
In many instances the best, most up to date information can be
gathered at trade fairs, conferences and from business partners and
contacts. In terms of trade fairs there are the international events
such as CeBIT and the Industrie Messe (both in Hannover) but there are
also dozens of German fairs at locations across the country
<http://www.auma.de>. Here you can get inside information from the
salesmen, relaxing in the bar after a hard day on their feet, who like
to show off their knowledge of the industry!
Conferences and seminars are undervalued as sources. Because the cost
of attending is relatively high then the participants are usually
senior managers and other decision-makers. In this case understanding
and speaking German is a necessity. The German business press also
offers a wide range of business information and some of this is now
available online and in English, e.g. <http://www.handelsblatt.com>.
An offline example is "German Brief", a fortnightly business news
sheet published by FAZ (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung). There are
also specialised search engines, such as
<http://paperball.fireball.de> for searching the daily press.
With over 4 million .de websites, there are rich pickings on
the German web. For example, press releases on corporate sites give
information on company strategies, partners, etc. Also the larger
companies may have their annual accounts available as downloads. In
this way it is possible to build up a picture of the main players in a
particular industry simply by surfing the Net. Search engines to use
are either the German versions of players such as Google
<http://www.google.de> and the German engines like Abacho
<http://www.crawler.de> or MetaGer <http://meta.rrzn.uni-hannover.de>.
Finally
-------
Whatever your source of business information, and it is likely to be a
combination of all four of the above categories, it is worth investing
in a competent German researcher who could be a member of staff or an
outsourced resource. If you are planning to be in business in Germany
for the long term then this approach will certainly improve your
research results and thereby speed up your successful entry into
Europe's largest market.
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KS Consulting GmbH specialises in business advising for UK and other
companies entering or expanding in the German market. David
Scrimgeour, a Scots lawyer with over 11 years German experience in
investment, business development, marketing and networking, has
advised a range of private and public sector clients.
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* Post a message to the author, David Scrimgeour, or suggest further
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FREE PINT BOOKSHELF
<http://www.freepint.com/bookshelf>
"The Quintessential Searcher: The Wit and Wisdom of Barbara Quint"
Edited by Marylaine Block
Reviewed by Caryn Wesner-Early
When word spread through the information community that this book was
forthcoming, the general response was "About time!". After years spent
reading the pithy words of bq (as Barbara Quint is known to her fans),
everyone was pleased that someone had finally shown up to organize
them so that they can be found when needed. With such sterling source
material, the only thing that could have ruined this book would have
been bad editing.
Luckily, Marylaine Block is a very good editor. Her introductory
comments explain, for the benefit of any benighted information
professional who hasn't heard of bq, who she is and why this book was
compiled. Editorial comments among the selections from Quint's
writing are brief and only inserted when necessary to establish
context. She has given us some (not all - that would make a much
larger book than practical) of the best of Barbara Quint, in a very
accessible format.
For those aforementioned benighted souls, Barbara Quint is one of the
best-known writers and editors in the library world. She has written
for and/or edited professional publications such as Information Today,
the Wilson Library Bulletin, and Database Searcher, and currently
edits Searcher. Her editorials and articles are usually the first
items turned to when a new issue is received, and probably the most
often recommended to colleagues as well. She was one of the founding
members of the famous SCOUG (Southern California Online Users' Group),
one of the first organizations to bring together information
professionals on all sides of information product production, sales,
and use.
Anyone who often makes speeches or presentations, or who writes on
information-related subjects, will want to keep this book right next
to Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, where it will probably be used more
often than that venerable work. Quint is Grand Mistress of the mot
juste, what we would have said if we could have thought of it in time.
Especially on the subject of database vendors, she says what needs to
be said, and says it well.
This is a good book, too, for anyone who does database searching
regularly. Without giving specific how-tos, Quint sometimes shines a
new light on the act of database searching. While reading this book,
I was working on a rather involved search myself, and got some ideas
on new places to look for what I needed. Reading this book and
thinking about bq's ideas feels a lot like brainstorming.
There will probably be a run on The Quintessential Searcher this
spring, as information people welcome new graduates to our ranks.
This will make a very good graduation present for someone finishing an
MLS or related program. It would also be a good gift for someone just
starting out in a library program, to help them keep a realistic
concept of library and information services. Barbara Quint pulls no
punches about what is idiotic about information services and products,
but serves up the bad with the good in grand style.
As Mick O'Leary said in Link-Up, "What Clapton is to the guitar, what
Jordan is to the court, Barbara Quint is to online searching - the pro
the other pros admire." (p. 198). Just buy the book.
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Caryn Wesner-Early is a librarian interested in writing and the
Internet. She maintains a Web site at <http://home.dencity.com/CarynW>.
> - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
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* Find out more about this book online at the Free Pint Bookshelf
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or Amazon.com
<http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1573871141/freepint00>
* "The Quintessential Searcher: The Wit and Wisdom of Barbara Quint"
ISBN 1573871141 published by Information Today Inc. and edited by
Marylaine Block
* Search for and purchase any book from Amazon via the Free Pint
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>>> STUDYING FOR AN INFORMATION-RELATED QUALIFICATION? <<<
Whether you're considering the options or have already enrolled on
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FEATURE ARTICLE
<http://www.freepint.com/issues/070202.htm#feature>
"Pay Per Click Search Engines and Promoting your Website"
By Duncan Parry
Pay per click engines have been a hot topic of recent months amongst
web marketers and search engine commentators, with popular search
engines like Yahoo! and Lycos incorporating their results alongside
their own. So how do pay per click engines work, and how can you use
them to promote your website for a low cost?
What are Pay Per Click Engines?
-------------------------------
Conventional search engines send out spiders to gather information
about websites and build the database of web pages used to serve up
search results. This means that web designers must build web pages to
achieve high rankings on search engines for relevant words - using
meta tags, etc. - and adjust these for each engine. This takes time
and costs money; and three months down the line competing websites may
have moved up the search results, so the process has to start again.
Pay per click search engines take a different approach, and are aimed
at commercial sites that have an advertising budget, big or small.
Websites only appear in PPC search result for words and phrases
relevant to the products/services they offer, with titles and
descriptions they choose. Every time a user clicks on the website's
link in search results, the website pays the PPC engine a small fee
(starting around 5 pence) for the traffic. If several websites have
chosen the same words, they can increase how much they are willing to
pay to be at the top of search results - this is often referred to as
bidding on keywords. This means the website only pays for relevant,
targeted traffic it receives; and the searcher only gets relevant
(mainly commercially orientated) search results to look at.
PPC engines employ editorial teams to ensure websites only bid on
relevant search terms and use grammatically correct titles and
descriptions that meet their style guidelines. Many offer online
tools to help websites select the most relevant words, monitor traffic
and improve their campaigns over time - and will write and manage
campaigns for a fee.
The advantage of listing your website on PPC engines are two fold;
firstly you only pay for the traffic you receive and secondly their
results are used by many of the popular search engines you need to be
promoting your website on. Often these are described as "sponsored
listings" or "partner links". The "sponsored matches" on this page at
Yahoo! UK are from the PPC engine Espotting, for example:
<http://uk.search.yahoo.com/search/ukie?p=travel&y=uk>.
Pay Per Click Engines and their Search Engine Partners
------------------------------------------------------
So who are the PPC engines, and which search engines use their
results? Below are the main engines and their partners; most of them
are also used on ISPs.
Europe
Espotting Media <http://www.espotting.com/>
Currently operates PPC engines for the UK, France and Germany, with
plans to move into Spain and Italy.
Results used upon these engines in the UK:
Yahoo! UK <http://www.yahoo.co.uk/>
Lycos UK <http://www.lycos.co.uk/>
HotBot UK <http://www.hotbot.co.uk/>
BTLookSmart UK <http://www.looksmart.co.uk/>
Ask Jeeves UK <http://www.ask.co.uk/>
UKPlus <http://www.ukplus.co.uk/>
Netscape UK <http://www.netscape.co.uk/>
Overture (formerly GoTo) <http://www.overture.com/uk>
Currently operates USA, UK and German engines; believed to be
planning moves into other European territories.
Search results used upon these engines in the UK:
Freeserve UK <http://www.freeserve.co.uk/>
Ask Jeeves UK <http://www.ask.co.uk/>
AltaVista UK <http://www.altavista.co.uk/>
Google UK <http://www.google.co.uk/>
Currently, Google's "AdWords" PPC style advertising is only shown
on their website; but press speculation suggests they will begin
to offer them for incorporation into other websites.
Sprinks <http://www.sprinks.com/>
Although mainly US focused, this PPC engine is owned by About.com,
and provides some results that appear next to About's UK guides
<http://www.about.com/aboutuk/index.htm>.
USA
Overture <http://www.overture.com>
The heavyweight of the US PPC scene, which started the business
model off as GoTo.
Used on these US engines:
Yahoo! <http://www.yahoo.com/>
AOL <http://www.aol.com/>
AltaVista <http://www.altavista.com/>
Lycos <http://www.lycos.com/>
Netscape <http://www.netscape.com/>
InfoSpace <http://www.infospace.com/>
Kanoodle <http://www.kanoodle.com>
Used on:
Ask Jeeves <http://www.ask.com/>
CNET <http://www.cnet.com/>
Dogpile.com <http://www.dogpile.com/>
NetZero <http://www.netzero.com>
Metacrawler <http://www.metacrawler.com>
Mamma.com <http://www.mamma.com/>
Google US <http://www.google.com/>
Currently their own "AdWords" only appear at their websites; expect
this to change.
Sprinks <http://www.sprinks.com/>
Results used on About.com amongst others.
FindWhat <http://www.findwhat.com>
Promoting your website on PPC Engines
-------------------------------------
Each PPC engine has a different signup fee - some charge a
registration fee, some don't but include a minimum spend in the signup
cost. You can always add extra funds to your account or suspend
certain words if you no longer want to receive traffic on them. Most
will not make your words live straight away; instead they'll be
reviewed by an editor first to ensure relevancy, correct grammar, etc.
Writing your Campaigns
----------------------
To write and manage your campaigns on PPC engines is easy, but there
are some important points to note. The steps below will help you
easily create campaigns that are highly targeted and easily
maintained. From experience, I'd suggest you do this in a spreadsheet
with a column for each campaign. This makes it easy to compare
campaigns and copy text as you go along. Make sure you use the
spellchecker, too.
1) Realise you should write a campaign for each page on your website
that details a different product or service.
This will make it easy to manage your campaigns in the future; if you
stop offering a product or service, you can just remove the campaign
for that item. If you create one campaign covering everything, you'll
have to manually sort through that, removing words that have become
irrelevant - or start again from scratch. This is time consuming if
you've got thousands of words, or campaigns running on more than one
PPC engine.
2) Write lists of the relevant words for each campaign.
These should be based upon the text of the pages, your meta tag
keywords and words supplied by the online tools PPC engines offer
advertisers. These will suggest the most popular words for a
particular type of search, but aren't foolproof, so some good old
fashioned thought comes in here. Make sure you cover combinations of
words, synonyms, plurals and the most common spelling mistakes. Note
that some engines won't let you use these.
E.g. for a car price comparison service:
car
compare car prices
compare car price
compare price car
compare car price
car price comparison
car price comparisons
motor car price comparisons, etc.
Remove any duplicates and common words like "the", etc. - you can't
bid on these, and the PPC engine's editors will remove them from your
campaigns anyway. Don't include competitors name's, brands or URLs.
Include variations with your country's abbreviation before the most
popular terms, e.g. "UK price comparisons" - people type this sort of
thing into search engines regardless of them being a territory
specific engine like Lycos.co.uk.
Make sure you include a campaign for your homepage with:
- the most generic terms, e.g. (for a fictitious price comparison
site):
price comparison
compare prices
shopping bargains, etc.
- variations on your URL, e.g.:
www pricecompare co uk
www pricecompare
pricecompare website, etc.
- variations of the company name
pricecompare ltd
pricecompare uk
3) Write a title and description for each of these campaigns.
Make sure the title includes a short sentence to catch the searcher's
eye - something that matches the search word and makes clear what your
site offers. In the description expand on the title.
E.g.:
Compare car prices at PriceCompare
Compare the price of your dream car from the major car suppliers and
save money at PriceCompare, the unbiased price comparison website.
Some PPC engines offer a piece of code which will insert the words the
searcher types into your description and title. If you can use these
(and preserve good grammar in your campaigns), do - it reinforces the
relevancy of your website.
E.g. (for the search "car prices"):
Compare <> at PriceCompare
Compare <> at the major car suppliers and save money at
PriceCompare, the unbiased price comparison website.
4) List the links for each campaign.
Don't just include the link of the page you want the visitor to go to
- you need to setup a tracking link so you can see how much traffic
the PPC engine sends you (although their advertiser area on their
website should also do this, it's best to have your own way of
monitoring this).
On most websites this is easy; just add this to the end of your link:
"?= "and type the name of the PPC engine after the "=" sign, e.g.
www.freepint.com/index.html?=espotting. Make sure your link works.
You need to make sure that the software you have installed to monitor
the traffic to your website will record this - a good free (with
limited features) example of this is WebTrendsLive
<http://www.webtrendslive.com/>.
5) Some PPC engines also let you display a logo next to your
description; this is useful as a way of reinforcing your brand. Make
sure you obey any instructions the PPC engine lays down regarding file
size and type, or you are likely to have your logo rejected.
Managing your campaigns
------------------------
So you've written your campaigns, the PPC engine's editors have
approved and made them live, and you are seeing a steady flow of
visitors to your website. Now you need to manage your campaigns and
optimise them from time to time.
1) Keep your campaigns up to date.
If you remove a page on your website, remove the campaign that drives
traffic to it (or you are wasting your money). If you change your
site structure, update the links in your campaigns. Many websites
don't do this, and waste their own money as a result - or wonder why
some of their campaigns are suspended by the PPC engine.
2) Add more words once a month.
Only add new, relevant words that you haven't got in any campaign -
this might be new combinations of words, plurals you missed, or new
words suggested by the PPC engine's tools.
3) Rewrite your descriptions occasionally.
How often depends on how much traffic your website receives; the more
times your descriptions are viewed, the more likely they will soon
become "stale" as many searchers have already seen them.
4) Add new campaigns as you add new products or services to your
website.
Many websites forget to do this, and wonder why their amazing new
product isn't getting any PPC engine traffic.
5) Increase your bids.
Make sure there is enough money in your account and occasionally check
you are listed in the top three results for each search, and increase
your bids accordingly to move above your competitors - most of the
major search engines only use the top three to five results from PPC
engines that are partnered with. If you aren't in these, the traffic
you receive will decrease - or stop completely.
Conclusion
----------
Pay per click engines can drive highly targeted traffic to exactly the
right page of your website that the visitor requires; this can offer
increased conversion rates, turning more visitors into customers. You
only pay for the traffic you receive and can reach potential clients
across the majority of major search engines in one go using the top
two or three PPC engines (I'd include Google's "AdWords" advertising
in this). As the signup fees are relatively low compared to the cost
of full scale meta tag optimisation, this means that SMEs can start to
advertise their services and products alongside multinationals with
large online and offline advertising budgets.
Of course, they are not a full replacement for ensuring your website
has the right meta tags and page titles or building reciprocal links -
but they are a valuable tool for anybody with a website to promote
online.
> - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Duncan Parry works in the UK editorial team of European PPC search
engine Espotting <http://www.espotting.com/>, writing and maintaining
campaigns on behalf of websites. He also writes for EuropeMedia about
the UK Internet industry
<http://www.europemedia.net/editors.asp?EditorID=113> and promotes
business websites <http://www.digitalstrike.co.uk/>.
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<http://www.freepint.com/go/p183>
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FORTHCOMING EVENTS
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You won't be short of things to do if you want to visit some top
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In the UK, the Association of UK Media Librarians (AUKML) have their
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organising the "1st International Conference on IT & Information
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Information Today Inc. are busy with their fourth annual "Internet
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Also Stateside, the Association of Dissemination and Information
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Whilst back in Europe, TFPL'S European Business Information Conference
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This time last year we introduced ADSL, something we wouldn't be
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* Free Pint No.80, 1st February 2001. "An adventure in ADSL: the
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<http://www.freepint.com/issues/010201.htm>
Two years ago, Martin White supplied a selection of his favourite
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* Free Pint No.55, 3rd February 2000. "Classical Music Web Sites"
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<http://www.freepint.com/issues/030200.htm>
In 1999 there was a personal account of using the Web as a free
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* Free Pint No.31, 4th February 1999. "Researching from home" and
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* Free Pint No.7, 5th February 1998. "Fabricating Information" and
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