Frequently Asked Questions

1. What is Work.com?
2. Who is Work.com for?
3. Which topics does Work.com cover?
4. How does Work.com choose topics for Guides?
5. What will I find in a Work.com How-to Guide?
6. Can I participate in Work.com?
7. What is the How-to Guide's 'How Useful?' rating?
8. Do I need to register to use Work.com?
9. Can I write a Work.com How-to Guide?
10. Do you have pointers on how to create a better How-to Guide?
11. Who is behind Work.com?
12. How can I advertise on Work.com?
13. Does Work.com have editorial guidelines?
14. What happens when Guides don't follow Work.com's editorial guidelines?

1. What is Work.com?
Work.com is the owner's manual to the Web for the small business leader. It is comprised of more than 1,000 How-to Guides on common business tasks, which highlight the Web's best resources for business owner/operators, and how to get the most value from them.

2. Who is Work.com for?
Work.com is for the small business owner/operator. It's for the entrepreneur. It's for those contemplating starting their own business. Work.com is created for anyone who needs to know where to find the best resources on the Web for solving common and essential business tasks.

3. Which topics does Work.com cover?
Work.com's How-to Guides cover more than 1,000 topics in the following areas:

4. How does Work.com choose topics for Guides?
Work.com is part of Business.com, the largest business-to-business search engine and directory. Because Business.com and its distribution network attract more than 31 million business owners and decision makers each month, we know the tasks for which they look to the Internet for help. Work.com How-to Guides cover those topics. We know there are many more topics to cover, and invite our users to suggest topics for new Guides and to write their own to showcase their business knowledge and expertise in front of our audience of small business owner/operators.

5. What will I find in a Work.com How-to Guide?
How-to Guides combine the learning of a standard article with the action steps of a search engine result. They are quick-read guides to what you need to know to complete a given business task, and the best Web sites to visit to quickly and confidently get things done. Each Guide includes an overview on the topic, a set of Action Steps with an expert's picks of the best providers for completing the task, a Tips and Tactics section with helpful pointers, and a comprehensive list of the best Web sites to purchase solutions, learn more, and see what others have said about the topic in blogs and discussion forums. Additionally, How-to Guides include a rating of how useful other work.com users have found each guide, as well as an open forum for comments about the Guide and topic. You can learn more about what's in a How-to Guide at Anatomy of a How-to Guide.

6. Can I participate in Work.com?
Work.com is a community of small business leaders like you, and we invite you to participate. There are many ways to participate in the community. You can add your rating to each Guide's 'How Useful?' rating system, you can add comments to Guides, you can suggest new Guide topics and write your own How-to Guides to showcase your expertise.

7. What is the How-to Guide's 'How Useful?' rating?
The best measure of a Guide's quality is how useful it is to helping you get something done. That's why each How-to Guide includes a numeric rating, compiled from input from users like you and Work.com editors, for how useful the content is judged to be. The ratings are on a 1.0 to 10.0 scale, with 10.0 being the best, or "Supremely Useful". Work.com highlights the highest rated Guides, and removes the Guides that our users have said are not useful. When viewing a Guide, we encourage you to take note of the 'How Useful?' score, and add your own rating. Registration is not required to rate a Guide.

8. Do I need to register to use Work.com?
You can use all the How-to Guides, and rate Guides based on how useful you find them, without registering. But there are several benefits to completing a free Work.com registration. Registered members can add comments to Guides, suggest topics for new Guides, and write How-to Guides.

9. Can I write a Work.com How-to Guide?
Yes. We hope you choose to write a Guide to showcase your expertise to Work.com's audience of small business leaders. To start, visit the Write a Guide section of Work.com

10. Do you have pointers on how to create a better How-to Guide?
Yes. In fact, we've created a How-to Guide on that topic! Visit the Guide to Writing a Great Work.com How-to Guide for some pointers.

11. Who is behind Work.com?
Work.com is a new service from Business.com, the largest business-to-business search engine and directory. Business.com makes it easy to find the most useful business websites, products, and services, saving our users time and money. Business.com's proprietary taxonomy and classification system of over 65,000 business categories allows professionals to intuitively locate the most relevant and authoritative business information, without consumer clutter. As the leading vertical search engine for business, Business.com attracts more than 4 million diverse business owners and decision makers and reaches another 27 million through its distribution network, which includes top-tier publishing partners such as Entrepreneur.com, Forbes.com, Businessweek.com, Inc.com, FastCompany, and Internet.com. To learn more, visit Business.com.

12. How can I advertise on Work.com?
If you are a Business.com advertiser, then your listings already appear in relevant portions of Work.com. If you're not a Business.com advertiser, visit the Business.com Advertiser Center to learn how to participate. To advertise, please complete the form in the Advertise With Us section at Business.com, and one of our sales representatives will contact you.

13. Does Work.com have editorial guidelines?
Yes. We have editorial guidelines, and Work.com editors review every new guide soon after it's published. Our most important rule is a positive one: be useful to the small business owner who needs information. Our second most important rule: provide links to great Web resources to help Work.com users to get things done. It's OK for authors to include links to their own sites if they're truly useful, but authors must reveal their affiliations, if any, with sites they recommend. This policy applies to Guides and comments posted to Guides.

Here are some examples:

For pointers, visit my blog.
GreatCompany is an excellent resource (I am VP Marketing at GreatCompany).

14. What happens when Guides don't follow Work.com's editorial guidelines?
Work.com editors assign a rating to each new Guide. Ratings are a measure of how useful a Guide is to our audience. Guides with low ratings appear less prominently in search results. Guides in violation of Work.com editorial guidelines will receive low ratings and, in extreme cases, may be suspended from publication.