Competitive Intelligence Marketplace

Alacra Adds Wright Investors Service

Alacra announced the addition of Wright Investors Service to their Premium and AlacraStore.com products.

SEC Actions Blog & The Daily Caveat

Here's an interesting blog: SEC Actions.  It's sub-head reads "A Blog Covering SEC Investigations, Civil and Criminal Enforcement Actions, Class Actions and Internal Investigations".

Hat tip to The Confidential Resource for pointing to it.  They in turn were pointed to it by Michael Thomas of The Daily Caveat, a blog with the sub-head "Corruption, Corporate Fraud, White Collar Crime & Investigative Research".

1.8 Million Pages of Federal Case Law Available Online

Public.Resource.Org announced that 1.8 million pages of US federal case law are being made available at no cost online.  From the release:

WASHINGTON, D.C. / SEBASTOPOL, CA—November 14, 2007—Public.Resource.Org and Fastcase, Inc. announced today that they will release a large and free archive of federal case law, including all Courts of Appeals decisions from 1950 to the present and all Supreme Court decisions since 1754. The archive will be public domain and usable by anyone for any purpose.

“The U.S. judiciary has allowed their entire work product to be locked up behind a cash register,” said Carl Malamud, CEO of Public.Resource.Org. “Law is the operating system of our society and today's agreement means anybody can read the source for a substantial amount of case law that was previously unavailable.”

Fastcase, the leading developer of next-generation American legal research, has agreed to provide Public.Resource.Org with 1.8 million pages of federal case law. This is a marked departure for the online legal research industry, which traditionally has charged expensive subscription fees to access this information.

“For eight years, Fastcase has been ahead of the market curve, working to democratize access to the law,” said Ed Walters, CEO of Fastcase, Inc. “At the same time, we have been advancing the science of search, combining the precision of traditional legal research with the simplicity of Web-based searches.”

Fastcase has reversed the traditional subscription model for lawyers, contracting directly with 11 state bar associations to make the national law library free for lawyers in their states. “Through this agreement with Public.Resource.Org, we are proud to expand our efforts beyond lawyers, and to make more of the law available to the general public at no cost,” Walters said...

Public.Resource.Org intends to perform an initial transformation on the federal case law archive obtained from Fastcase using open source “star” mapping software, which will allow the insertion of markers that will approximate page breaks based on user-furnished parameters such as page size, margins, and fonts. “Wiki” technology will be used to allow the public to move around these “star” markers, as well as add summaries, classifications, keywords, alternate numbering systems for citation purposes, and ratings or “diggs” on opinions.

ROCKETinfo Launches New Channel Partner Program

From the press release:

ROCKETinfo, the leader in Enterprise Web 2.0 information search and delivery solutions, announces the launch of a new Channel Marketing Program designed for SEO companies, PR agencies, web marketing & design companies, advertising agencies, SEM firms, web hosting & Internet service providers, and online publishers/web portal managers. ROCKETinfo’s Channel Partner Program is already attracting leaders in online subscription services and interactive marketing.

AlacraBlog: Information Economics

AlacraBlog's post about LexisNexis, Thomson, et. al.:

While I don't disagree with the points made in the article or the commentary, they only touch the surface of the dramatic changes in the economics of the business/legal information industry over the past decade.  True, the larger providers find it difficult to move the needle on their large revenue bases with their legacy platforms and business models.  But in some segments they still provide the best product at the price.  What users often under-appreciate are the younger, smaller content and software providers that are able to move more quickly and offer excellent customer support - the kinds of businesses often acquired by the giants:  Starmine, Sharkrepellent, Capital IQ, Interaction, First Research, mergermarkets, etc.

Teardown.com

Portelligent's teardown.com website describes the company's services this way:

We deliver technology intelligence in wireless, personal, and consumer electronics through product teardowns and related analysis.

Our goal is to enable our clients to make faster, better, and more cost-effective decisions about their competitive positioning, technology options, investment strategy, intellectual property position, and marketplace opportunities.

The Portelligent team gained experience in competitive technical intelligence issues and high technology while working with the global electronics industry at the Microelectronics and Computer Technology Corporation (MCC). Team members have backgrounds in engineering, software, high-volume manufacturing, and Japanese technology and business culture.

Check out the site for a full list of products and services.

Asking and Answering the Right Questions

Arthur Weiss has an excellent post I won't even bother to summarize here.  Please just follow this link and read it.

And no I don't think it's excellent because he references this blog. I am pleased, however, to know that Arthur actually reads it.

HillSearch.org

I came across a service called HillSearch.org today while perusing a Q&A on LinkedIn.  That led to a long phone conversation with Jim Poole, the Membership Development Manager and I have to say I'm impressed.  Here's what I learned:

• HillSearch.org is a service of the James J. Hill Reference Library in St. Paul, MN.  The library is totally dedicated to business and has a TON of resources, including such databases as ProQuest and D&B, and some incredibly large number of business titles.
• It's a non-profit.
• As part of their agreement with their providers they cannot accept members from companies with over 100 employees.
• They host meetings for local chapters of SCIP, SLA, AIIP, AMA and others.
• All of their staff are librarians and they will do custom secondary source scans for something like $100/hour.

I have not used the service, but the comments on LinkedIn were quite positive and I'll bet you'd be hard pressed to find a similar service at the price they provide ($60/month or $650 year).

Got White Papers?

MarketingSherpa just ran a great article about the dos and don'ts of getting your white paper syndicated.  Actually it's a great primer for white papers in general, but the part about syndication is a definite bonus.  Until you can read the full article for free http://www.marketingsherpa.com/sample.cfm?ident=29791 and after that it will cost you around $5 to read the full article.  Here's a quick overview:

White papers are hot. Our research shows that 69% of prospects who download and like your white paper will actively pass it along to their colleagues. 36% of total downloads will be passed on to a supervisor.

The more people who read your white paper, the better your chance of closing a deal. One 2004 study showed that 57% of IT purchase decision makers said a white paper influenced at least one buying decision in the past 12 months.

But, with more than 48,000 white papers being promoted online by business-to-business marketers, you had better make sure your white paper isn’t a dud. To help you get the most bang for your buck, we bring you the soup-to-nuts dos and don’ts that can make or break a white paper campaign.

And here's an outline of the dos and don'ts, but you'll need to read the article to get the meat of the information:

12 Steps to Develop a Successful White Paper
Step #1. Ask lots of questions BEFORE you start writing...
Step # 2. Solve a tactical problem or offer fascinating data...
Step #3. Shorter is better...
Step #4. Get a marketing expert to write a compelling title...
Step #5. Format your paper for online scanning *and* offline reading,,,
Step #6. Write the summary/abstract for search engines and prospects...
Step #7. Keep registration form questions to a minimum...
Step #8. Place your paper with syndication sites...
Step #9. Orchestrate your listing dates...
Step #10. Turn white papers into podcasts...
Step #11. Promote your white paper...
Step #12. Lead Follow-Up...

Eight Additional Tips Regarding PDF Files and Download Pages
#1. Always include a live contact for people to contact if the PDF "isn't working.”...
#2. Make the file as small as possible...
#3. Put your company contact information on every page as part of the standard header or footer...
#4. Make sure hotlinks are easy to hand-type in...
#5. Consider including your complete library on your PDF download page after prospects have registered to access one white paper...
#6. To take advantage of the viral aspect, add a "tell a colleague about this free resource library" form on the top or far right of the download page...
#7. Don't assume that just because a registrant gave you their email address to see a white paper, it means you can add them to your list and send them broadcasts...
#7. Don't assume that just because a registrant gave you their email address to see a white paper, it means you can add them to your list and send them broadcasts...

Eight Mistakes You Don’t Want to Make
Mistake #1. Bait/promotion disconnect...
Mistake #2. Registration question/demo target disconnect...
Mistake #3. Asking two questions instead of one...
Mistake #4. Asking for a sales call...
Mistake #5. Asking questions that have obvious answers...
Mistake #6. Asking questions the syndication vendor has already asked...
Mistake #7. Using brand names in titles...
Mistake #8. Not keeping your white paper “evergreen”...

More white paper samples from KnowledgeStorm:
http://www.knowledgestorm.com/main/MarketingSherpa/index.jsp

Bank Info Security:
http://www.bankinfosecurity.com

CNET Networks Business:
http://www.cnet.com

CMP Technology:
http://www.cmp.com

Find White Papers:
http://www.findwhitepapers.com

IndustryWeek:
http://www.industryweek.com

IT Business Edge:
http://www.itbe.com

IT Toolbox:
http://www.ittoolbox.com

KnowledgeStorm:
http://www.knowledgestorm.com

Michael A. Brown:
http://www.michaelabrown.net/

Netline Corp.:
http://www.netline.com

RetailWire:
http://www.retailwire.com

TechTarget:
http://www.techtarget.com

Web Buyers Guide:
http://www.webbuyersguide.com

WhitePaperSource:
http://www.whitepapersource.com/

Factiva Acquires Synapse

Factiva recently purchased Synapse, a company that describes itself thusly:

In the world of taxonomies, thesauri and knowledge management, Synapse Corporation offers ready-made taxonomies, enterprise-class software solutions, domain expertise, and professional lexicography and indexing services.