BR Newsletter March 22, 2002 Vol 5 No 4

THE BUSINESS RESEARCHER NEWSLETTER ARCHIVES
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
April 23, 2002 Volume 5, Number 4

CONTENTS

* Introduction - Editor's Comments

* What's New at www.gdsourcing.com

* Statistics Canada releases

* 2001 Census Tools Online

* Making Additional Money Online

* Small Business Stats Facts

For data table spacing, this newsletter is best viewed in Courier 10

RETURN TO ARCHIVES

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
NB: This newsletter is sent out only to those who have requested it.
If someone has submitted your e-mail address to us without your permission,
please send us an e-mail indicating you would like to unsubscribe at:
[email protected] or use our on-line form to unsubscribe yourself at
www.gdsourcing.com/newsletter.htm
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

INTRODUCTION - EDITOR'S COMMENTS

Hello,

Thank you for your subscription.

Summer has arrived and left in Southern Ontario making wardrobe selection
highly precarious! Of course at this time of year all you need is your
hockey shirt, a cap and a pair of jeans. (The pleasures of working from a
home office!)

Next Monday (April 29, 2002) I will be in the Edmonton area appearing as a
featured guest on Careers!HELP TV. It is a live and interactive show so
feel free to give me call on the air and ask a research question. It is on
at 6:00 P.M. Mountain Time on Canadian Learning Television.

I will also be speaking at the Richmond Hill Business Centre in Ontario on
the following Wednesday (May 1, 2002) from 1:30 to 4:30. No telephones
there but you can still ask questions. I will be talking about where to
find FREE and low cost market and industry data.

Finally, I would just like to mention that GDSourcing has reached a
milestone in operations. As of April 2002 we have officially been in
operation for five years. I am told this is a "silverware" anniversary.

I hope you find this issue helpful.

Sincerely,

John White
Editor

RETURN TO TABLE OF CONTENTS

--------------------------------------------------------------

WHAT'S NEW AT www.GDSOURCING.COM - BUSES, MOBILITY, HONEY & CABLE

The following web sites were added to the GDSourcing index over the last
four weeks. GDSourcing is a reference point for free Canadian statistics
on-line.

Canadian Urban Transit Association

Site: http://www.cutaactu.on.ca/
GDSourcing Site Summary: http://www.gdsourcing.com/works/UrbanTransit.htm
Highlights about Transit use in Canadian cities.

Canadian Physiotherapy Association

Site: http://www.physiotherapy.ca
GDSourcing Site Summary: http://www.gdsourcing.com/works/Physio.htm
Results of National Mobility Study

Canadian Honey Council

Site: http://www.honeycouncil.ca/
GDSourcing Site Summary: http://www.gdsourcing.com/works/Honey.htm
Honey production and trade

Cable Datacom News
Site: http://www.awcbc.org/

GDSourcing Site Summary:
http://www.gdsourcing.com/works/InternetCablemodem.htm
Cable Modem Market Stats & Projections

RETURN TO TABLE OF CONTENTS

----------------------------------------------------------------------

STATISTICS CANADA RELEASES

Statistics Canada released the following statistics over the last four
weeks. We have listed those releases we feel are of the most interest to
Canadian entrepreneurs.

Very few of these statistics are available on-line. The URL listed is a
direct link to the press release associated with the data. It provides
contact and ordering information.

If you want to purchase any publication related to these releases please
see our web site: http://www.gdsourcing.com/works/StatCan.htm

We offer a 20% discount on most Stats Can publications and a 10% discount
on Stats Can electronic products. For more information you can reach us at
[email protected]. Put "StatsCan" in the subject line of your e-mail.

AGRICULTURE

Farming operating revenues and expenses 2000 (final estimates)
http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/020328/d020328f.htm

ARTS, CULTURE, ENTERTAINMENT & RECREATION

Film and video distribution 1999/2000
http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/020325/d020325b.htm

BUSINESS SERVICES

Accounting services price indexes 2000 (preliminary)
http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/020405/d020405f.htm

Canada's international investment position 2001
http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/020327/d020327a.htm

COMPUTERS

High-tech boom and bust
http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/020417/d020417e.htm

CONSTRUCTION

Electric utility construction price indexes 2000 (final) and 2001
(preliminary)
http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/020411/d020411e.htm

Flows and stocks of fixed residential capital 2001
http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/020322/d020322c.htm

ECONOMIC INDICATORS

National balance sheet accounts, 2001
http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/020419/d020419b.htm

EDUCATION

Adult training in Canada: Snapshots from the nineties
http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/020328/d020328g.htm

Education Price Index 2000
http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/020405/d020405b.htm

Full-time enrolment in trade/vocational and preparatory training 1998/99
http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/020403/d020403a.htm

ENERGY

Electric power capability and load 2000
http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/020327/d020327d.htm

GOVERNMENT

Local government finance: Assets and liabilities December 31, 1999
http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/020322/d020322a.htm

INTERNET

Electronic commerce and technology 2001
http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/020402/d020402a.htm

JUSTICE

Criminal prosecutions personnel and expenditures 2000/01
http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/020417/d020417f.htm

A statistical profile of persons working in justice-related professions - 1996
http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/020411/d020411f.htm

MARKET

Annual demographic statistics 2001
http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/020408/b020408a.htm

The assets and debts of Canadians: Focus on private pension savings 1999
http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/020403/d020403e.htm

PRIMARY

Logging industry 1990 to 1999
http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/020411/d020411g.htm

TRADE

Small area retail trade estimates 1999
http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/020415/d020415d.htm

Quarterly Retail Commodity Survey Fourth quarter 2001 and annual 2001
http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/020410/d020410a.htm

TRANSPORTATION

Road motor vehicle registrations 2001 (preliminary)
http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/020416/d020416a.htm

Road motor vehicle fuel sales volumes (2000)
http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/020417/d020417g.htm

RETURN TO TABLE OF CONTENTS

--------------------------------------------------------------------

2001 CENSUS TOOLS ONLINE

With the release of the first set of 2001 Census results, a new and very
useful feature at the Statistics Canada web site has been launched.

Geo-Search is a FREE online database that allows you to focus on a specific
local market and assess its population size and dwelling counts.
http://geodepot.statcan.ca/Diss/GeoSearch/index.cfm?lang=E

This data is vital for any business targeting consumers. It provides up to
date insight into the overall size of your local market. Moreover, when it
is combined with household spending figures it can also be used to estimate
local market value and potential for your product or service. (For more
information on Household Spending data see:
http://www.gdsourcing.com/CMEinfo.htm

You can search the database by place name, street and even street
intersection. You can also point and click on a map of Canada and zoom in
on your city and neighborhood to find out local population counts. All
search results are displayed as an interactive map, on which you can zoom
in or out of or pan from side to side. It all works quite quickly and
effectively with a high-speed Internet connection. Even a standard speed
Internet connection works reasonably well however I recommend against too
much zooming in and out on maps as a new map graphic has to load each time.

The graphic icons for the various features of the database are not
particularly intuitive but a quick click on the "?" will provide you with
all the information you need to be able to easily use this Census tool.

The smallest geographical unit available for most areas is a Dissemination
Area. This is a small area composed of one or more neighboring blocks,
with a population of 400 to 700 persons. All of Canada is divided into
Dissemination Areas. By selecting the location of your business and
building up a profile of surrounding Dissemination Areas you can assess
your market size within a specific radius of your business.    You can then
compare the direct market of your location vs. that of your local
competitors. You can also assess larger standard Census geographical areas.

Census Geographic units can sound intimidating and appear confusing but
they actually operate in a straightforward fashion. What can sometimes
confuse the issue is the habit of Stats Can employees (and ex-Stats Can
employees - sorry about that - I try to avoid it) to use the initials of
each Census geographical area as opposed to the full name or vernacular
equivalent (e.g. CSD instead of "city" or "town"). Don't worry by the end
of the next few paragraphs you will be able to sound just as impressive as
any civil servant in Canada!

Dissemination Areas (DAs) are the primary building blocks of the Census.
When all the DAs of a community are combined together the resulting
geographic unit is called a Census Subdivision (CSD). It is an area that is
a municipality or an area that is deemed to be equivalent to a municipality
for statistical reporting purposes (e.g. an Indian reserve or an
unorganized territory).

Census Subdivisions (CSDs) are then combined together to form a Census
Division. A CD is defined as a Group of neighboring municipalities joined
together for the purposes of regional planning and managing common services
(such as police or ambulance services). For example, a census division
might correspond to a county, a regional municipality or a regional district.

Census Divisions (CDs) are then combined to form provincial totals and
provincial totals are combined to form the national total.

The story as it goes so far:

CANADA -> PROVINCE -> CD   -> CSD -> DA

Of course there is another wrinkle to the system. (It cannot be too simple
or else everyone would understand!) Metropolitan areas across Canada are
organized into Census Metropolitan Areas (CMAs) or Census Agglomerations
(CAs). These are areas consisting of one or more adjacent municipalities
(CSDs) situated around a major urban core. To form a census metropolitan
area, the urban core must have a population of at least 100,000. To form a
census agglomeration, the urban core must have a population of at least
10,000.

Census Metropolitan Areas (CMAs) and Census Agglomerations (CAs) are
primarily subdivided into Census Tracts (CTs). CTs are areas that are small
and relatively stable. They usually have a population of 2,500 to 8,000.
They are located in large urban centres that must have an urban core
population of 50,000 or more.

A Census Tract (CT) is then subdivided into Dissemination Areas (The same
geographic unit described above)

The rest of the story:

CMA/CA -> CT -> DA

Now you know all the basic Census geographical units and the initials
associated with each. (For some of the other odd units or to read complete
and technical definitions see:
http://www.statcan.ca/english/census2001/dict/geotoc.htm)

All of the above geographical units (Nation, Province, CMA/CA, CD, CSD, CT,
and DA) can be accessed in the Geo-Search database:
http://geodepot.statcan.ca/Diss/GeoSearch/index.cfm?lang=E

By combining all or any of the above geographic units you can accurately
profile any consumer market size.

Other 2001 Census tools available online include Thematic Maps, which
provide you with a visual presentation of Census data.
(http://geodepot.statcan.ca/Diss/Maps/ThematicMaps/index_e.cfm) As yet,
with only population and dwelling counts available, the "themes" are
limited but there are a few maps of particular interest to business
researchers.

First of all there is the CT (Census Tract) growth rate data which provides
a quick assessment of which neighborhoods within a metropolitan area are
growing the fastest. Another thematic map of interest is the Population
Density by Dissemination Area, which will provide you insight into
population concentrations.

Both these maps are Adobe Acrobat files.   You can download and view them
on your computer. Keep in mind the scale of these maps is quite small but
by using the Adobe Acrobat zoom feature (look under "View") you can zoom in
to get a closer look at a specific area of a province or of a city.

To download a free copy of the Adobe Acrobat reader see:
http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/main.html

As more and more Census results are released it is hoped that Statistics
Canada will produce more thematic maps. We will keep you informed.

Another useful 2001 Census tool online are the geographic reference maps.
(http://geodepot.statcan.ca/Diss/Maps/ReferenceMaps/index_e.cfm) In the
past business researchers were require to purchase these maps from
Statistics Canada. Happily, for this Census they are all available online
free of charge. You can view and download the borders of every DA, CT,
CMA/CA, CSD & CD across Canada including street names and intersections.
The Geo-Code numerical identification for each area is also provided. Once
again all the files are in Adobe Acrobat format.

While all of these online features are extremely helpful for many small
businesses, if you require detailed custom Census maps combined with your
own market data for the entire country by DA or CT, the online tools are
too cumbersome and tedious, especially if you want to compare and target
areas with specific population sizes or growth rates. (e.g. You can
compile a list of cities and towns in Canada with a population size of
100,000 to 250,000) In this case you are best to purchase the actual data
files from Statistics Canada.

The first release GeoSuite - Population & Dwelling counts is available at a
cost of $60.00 (GDSourcing price $51.00 - to order a copy see:
http://www.gdsourcing.com/works/StatCan.htm#index100). This CD-ROM
contains data for every Census geographic unit and is geo-coded for easy
export into a mapping software program or for tabular comparison.

On its own, combined with the online maps, it is a useful resource for
assessing population size and growth. In addition to the data included on
the web site the CD-ROM also includes 1996 Census population figures so you
can calculate growth rates for specific CTs. (NB: the CD-ROM does not
include any maps only geo-codes so the data can be linked to map software.)

This CD-ROM is most effective when it is used together with Statistics
Canada mapping software. If you have MapInfo or ArchInfo you can combine
the latest Census data and future releases together with your own sales
data into custom maps for detailed market analysis. The Census geography
software is not cheap but the demographic analysis they will allow you to
perform could easily prove their value.

GDSourcing is able to offer discounts of up to $3,700 on some geo products.
Please contact us for more information and available discounts
([email protected]). For a list of available geographic software
products see: Spatial information products:
http://geodepot.statcan.ca/diss/Reference/Catalogue/Catalogue_e.cfm (Near
bottom of page)

Statistics Canada has put together a generous collection of online research
tools. Make sure you use them to your market research advantage.

RETURN TO TABLE OF CONTENTS

----------------------------------------------------------------------

MAKING ADDITIONAL MONEY ONLINE

GDSourcing is a research & retrieval company that specializes in helping
new entrepreneurs and small business owners conduct market and industry
research.

Our primary source of revenue is research services but we have always
attempted to leverage the popularity of our web site as an additional
source of income.

In the past we have hosted online ads for a number of companies. The
income results were not spectacular and the maintenance required to
reconfigure the source code as new ad server programming was developed
proved tedious and cumbersome.

Worse than the inconvenience to us was the inconvenience to our site
visitors. Pop-up ads, slow loading pages and browser crashes (for those
without the most current version) were the most common complaints.

We decided in the end, when the last company selling ad space on our site
went out of business (a casualty of the dot com bust), to concentrate on
affiliate programs instead of advertising as an additional source of
revenue. At first our success was non existent but with a bit of fine
tuning along with some excellent advice from Ken Evoy (our favorite online
consultant) we have managed to generate some "decent change". Our site now
easily supports itself leaving us with more profit from our core business
activities.

The biggest challenge when you are an affiliate is to not only build a site
that generates traffic but that also encourages only targeted visitors to
actually visit merchant sites. There is no sense in sending all your
visitors to your affiliate merchants because not everyone will make a
purchase. In fact most people will not even be interested and worse yet may
take offense that you are trying to get them to buy something they don't want.

For most people the Internet is still considered a source of FREE
information. Despite the dot com predictions, the Internet has not become
the destination of choice for shopping. Therefore to make sales online,
especially affiliate sales, you need to tone down the sales pitch so only
those visitors who are actually interested will "hear" you.

Believe me, online surfers interested in making a purchase have very good
"hearing". Most have extensive experience sifting through web sites looking
for key pieces of information. You do not need grand fireworks to get
their attention. All you need is relevant information.

While it all sounds straightforward, there is an art to selling on the
Internet especially as an affiliate.

The absolute best guide to developing a successful affiliate program is the
Affiliates Masters Course. It was developed by Ken Evoy (author of Make
Your Site Sell! - the basis of GDSourcing's successful online strategy).
It covers all the information you need to execute a successful affiliate
program on your own site. It tells you step by step how to:

1) Create content that attracts targeted traffic.

2) Then convert that traffic into dollars by causing visitors to
click-through to the sites of the merchants that you represent.

3) Develop multiple streams of income through quality merchants.

And BEST OF ALL it is FREE!

You can download it from our Canadian Internet DataPoint website:
http://www.gdsourcing.com/gdsinternet.htm#index777

Why is it FREE?

Because SiteSell who developed the course is hoping that you'll buy their
amazing product, Site Build It! (SBI!).

But you know what, you don't need to buy their product. Everything is
included in the FREE Masters Course. The real benefit of Site Build It!,
is that all the strategies mentioned in the Masters Course are automated so
you do not need to spend as much of your own time developing and
maintaining your site. It is like have a full time consultant looking over
your shoulder. For more information see:
http://buildit.sitesell.com/MYSS22.html

While this is certainly convenient and well worth the cost (time is at a
premium for every entrepreneur) it is not necessary to be a successful
affiliate. I know many readers of this newsletter have extremely limited
resources available to them, that is why I am highlighting this exception
free resource.

The Internet is not a source of easy money. Nor is it a mysterious place
that requires a techno-wizard to succeed. It does however take commitment
and the wisdom to listen to the sound advice. If you are at all
considering joining an affiliate program for extra income, take this FREE
course: http://www.gdsourcing.com/gdsinternet.htm#index777

RETURN TO TABLE OF CONTENTS

----------------------------------------------------------------------

SMALL BUSINESS STATS FACTS

Each Business Researcher Newsletter ends with a collection of five
statistics that every entrepreneur should be aware of.

1. What percentage Canadian university and college graduates are
self-employed two years after graduation?

Two Years after graduation:
6.5% to 7.8% of males are self-employed
3.2% to 5.2% of females are self-employed.

Source: HRDC

2. What percentage Canadian university and college graduates are
self-employed five years after graduation?

Five Years after graduation:
9.9% to 11.1% of males are self-employed
5.3% to 6.7% of females are self-employed.

Source: HRDC

3. What field of study has the highest rate of self-employment among
college graduates and university (bachelor's) graduates? (Rate by degree)

College:
Engineering 13.0%
(Social Science & Humanities is second: 9.0%)

University (Bachelor's):
Health 6.8%
(Applied Science is second: 6.6%)

Source: HRDC (2001)

4. What field of study makes up the majority of the self-employed among
college graduates and university (bachelor's) graduates? (% of all
self-employed graduates)

College:
Social Science & Humanities: 37%

University (Bachelor's):
Social Science & Humanities: 74%

Source: HRDC (2001)

5. In 2000, e-commerce sales for Canadian small businesses doing business
online accounted for what % of total sales. How does this compare to the U.S.

2.0% of total sales vs. 10.0% of total small business sales in the U.S.

IDC Canada (2001)

RETURN TO TABLE OF CONTENTS

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
G D S O U R C I N G - R E S E A R C H & R E T R I E V A L
* www.gdsourcing.com * [email protected] *
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Copyright 2000, 2001, 2002 GDSourcing - Research & Retrieval. All rights
reserved.

You may circulate this newsletter freely as long as GDSourcing is clearly
credited as the source. We encourage people to subscribe directly. There
is no charge for this newsletter. A subscription and unsubscription form
is available at http://www.gdsourcing.com/newsletter.htm