Most Useful Websites for Business

I'd like to talk about the websites that I find most useful for doing business in and around South Florida. I encourage everyone to submit comments on what websites they find useful and why.

1. Linkedin - This is a social networking site designed for the business word. What makes linkedin useful is, if you have a prospect, or even a client that you want to establish a relationship with them. If they have linkedin, you can find out if any of your other connections know them, and you can ask them to introduce you. It also has a great question and answer section, and its supposedly good for job searching and hiring.
2. SunBiz.org - This is the government website that provides you with the corporate information for all corporation registered in the state of Florida. It tells you the mailing address, the officers' names, the FEIN as well as incorporation documents.
3. Miami Dade Property Appraiser - Each county has their own property appraiser's website, but most of them enable the user to search by address, folio number or owner's name for any property in the county. It usually tells you who owns the property, their mailing address, the age of the building, the square footage, the last price it was bought for and when, and some other pertinent information.
4. Google maps or Maps Live both of these sites show you sattelite shots of properties any where in the world. Google maps has a feature called "street view" which enables you to view the property from the street from some more important streets. Maps Live has a feature which gives you a 3D view of the buildings. Both are great for property, and area research and directions.
5. Business Buzz with Ed Gorin and Network Miami by Brian Tannenbaum. Both of these blogs have great information about the networking groups in South Florida. They list many of the business associations, philanthropy groups, and social groups in the area, and Business Buzz gives a complete list of events.
6. Spock.com This is a search engine in the beta version of its development. However, the site is used for looking up people, and it searches the different social networking sites including MySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn and Webshots.
7. The South Florida Business Journal. I subscribe to the business journals daily email list. They give me the top 10 headlines everyday. I read the interesting ones, and I email the ones that I think my clients and contacts would be interested in to them. For example, I have a client that sells rebar. I saw a rebar company in Broward was being sold, and their truck leasing company was being bought. I sent them both articles and they were very happy to be informed about it.
8. Entrepreneur.com, even more specifically this link goes to Dr. Ivan Misner's collumns on the site. It offers many great articles by the founder of BNI. The website as a whole is also a great link.