Whether for competitive intelligence or sales lead research, the free Web sites and library databases listed here are the best you'll find for researching a company.

An in-depth investigation and analysis of your competition allows you to assess your competitor's strengths and weaknesses in your marketplace and helps you to choose and implement effective strategies that will improve your competitive advantage.

Examine your business and its key operations, policies and relationships with customers to determine what you should work on to compete more effectively.

Investigation and analysis of your competition and potential customer base are major components of a comprehensive market analysis. This checklist of resources for gathering market data provides perspective regarding common market research tools and methods.

Use this tool to identify your major customer groups, their distinguishing characteristics, and the market research needed to develop a customer profile.

You can't sell your products and services if you don't know who your customers are. Interviewing and data mining can help you create customer profiles, target your marketing and increase sales.

Get your message to the people who need and want what you have to offer! This guide takes you through a step-by-step process that helps you identify specific target markets within your industry and provides you with the know-how to create customer profiles to better channel your marketing efforts.

Put your limited resources into retaining old customers because that's where your profits will derive. Advances in technology now let you determine the lifetime value of your customers so you can work to please your most profitable and eliminate your least profitable.

Market research results can help an entrepreneur change company behavior. To that end, this author recommends a ten-step plan for tapping the power of focus groups to conduct research that is immediately actionable.

Alpha moms know what's hot in parenting--and they could be your best marketers.

Entrepreneur.com's predictions for the hottest industries in 2008.

A lot can happen in two years. Baby boutiques, home staging, and other businesses were hot in 2006 and '07. How about now?

This guide, from the James J. Hill Reference Library, will walk you through the steps and point out the online tools to get a handle on your industry research.

Preparing for the future is easier if you know what's coming. Use these tips from expert trendspotters and futurists to stay ahead of the consumer curve. Whether it's the tried and true or using innovative social media, anyone can take the time to get a grasp on the latest trends impacting your business.

Looking for an outlet for your creativity? Crafting is bucking the economic meltdown. Here are the latest crafting trends you should know about, from scrapbooking to green crafting and more. New businesses highlighting the latest crafting trends are featured.

Tapping the masses for brighter ideas and bigger margins using one or many "crowdsourcing" techniques for anything from new product development to advertising and marketing ideas. Crowdsourcing not only appeals to new and younger audiences, it can also help you save money and generate innovative ideas for your business.

Looking for an edge against the competition? Market research can help you anticipate customer needs, reduce risk when introducing new products and keep an eye on your competition.

Whether you want to buy a franchise or do it yourself, check out 7 hot markets that can make you a millionaire.

Validating your market after you've come up with a niche business idea is a crucial step you can't afford to skip. Of course, there's no way to guarantee success, but ask yourself the four questions within. If you can check off every one, you'll know--as much as possible--that you're onto a winner. Is it a market or just a mirage?

Defining your target market and converting it into a customer base can be an expensive and time-consuming process. Part of the process involves identifying the goods and services you can offer that will attract customers and bring a return on your investment. As your business grows, it's important to stay in tune with your customers by identifying their changing needs early on, before your competitors have a chance to react. Define your target market and stay up to date with its needs.

This article, compiled by Hill Reference Library Business Information Specialists, will walk you through the process of conducting market research online. Also included are write-ups of the top Internet tools to aid in your research.

Growing your business will eventually require more information regarding your customers and competitors. Should you do this research in-house? If not, how do you get your money's worth from the outside firm?

Knowledge of your industry can bring originality to your business.