Contact Consonant owner and copywriter Anna Schibrowsky at 312.316.6508 or Talent@ConsonantInc.com to discuss your copywriting project.
Top Ten Free Research Websites
Consonant specializes in 360° research. We capture quotes from your leaders, employees and customers, and we conduct extensive library research to find facts and figures from trusted third parties.
Occasionally, though, we just need to confirm or reference a simple fact. For instance, how many women live in Kenya? What year was that author’s book published? These are our top ten free research websites, in alphabetical order.
Amazon
Amazon’s book section gives away a wealth of information to entice you to buy new books. You’ll find publishing details and sales rank for every book, and sometimes you’ll get lucky and find the facts or quotes you need on the Look Inside pages.
CIA World Factbook
Every week, the CIA updates its factbook’s geographic, demographic, economic and political data on the world’s nations. In addition to facts and figures, the website includes copyright-free maps and photos.
Data.gov
Not limited to statistics on the federal government and its programs, Data.gov also provides hundreds of thousands of datasets covering every subject the government regulates, taxes or simply tracks to guide policymaking.
Google AdWords: Keyword Tool
Google’s Keyword Tool can help you identify keywords for your SEO or PPC efforts, of course, but it can also provide you with considerable insight into what consumers want and the words they use to describe it.
Google Books
Google Books does for out-of-print books what Amazon and its Look Inside feature do for new books. You can search and browse books, and you can read select pages of out-of-print books and entire volumes of books that have fallen into the public domain.
Google News
Compared to libraries’ paid databases, Google News returns fewer results, and many listings require you to pay for the article. However, Google has free full text for many small and historic newspapers from the American Revolution to just a couple years ago.
Hoovers
Hoovers gives you teasers hoping to sell you a report or subscription, but often the teaser has all the information you need on a company, executive or industry. You can check your industry’s associations and paid research firms for similar online freebies.
PubMed
PubMed includes 20 million human, animal and in vitro biomedical literature citations, with abstracts for most and links to some free full-text articles. Citations cover case studies through Stage 3 trials and treatments from surgery to meditation.
U.S. Census Bureau
Some census data is available through Data.gov, but the bureau’s own website offers quick access to dozens of ready-to-use facts about people and businesses. When you need demographic information for a specific U.S. geographic area, this is the place to turn.
Wikipedia
Despite its reliability shortcomings, Wikipedia remains an efficient first stop for learning about new topics. In addition to providing quick overviews, the website’s articles point to keywords you can research and more trustworthy references you can seek out.
For assistance with your marketing research project, call Consonant owner Anna Schibrowsky at 312.316.6508.