Links>
Our Favourite Sites  
 




Included in this section:

Accommodation
Awards
Cars
Customer Service
E-books
E-cards
Fun Stuff
Gifts
Grants
IT
Learning
Newsletters
Research
Resources
Shopping
Sport
Travel
 






Other sections:

Sites for start-ups
Freebie sites
Creative thinking
Government sites
Business info sites
Business news sites
Personal finance sites
Marketing sites
Search engines






Other interesting sites:

www.friendsreunited.co.uk
A fantastic site to catch up with your old school chums. Amazingly powerful.

www.symbols.com
Online list of graphic symbols you never quite understood.

www.bartleby.com
Quotes to spice up letters, reports and speeches.


www.algebra-online.com
A haven for parents whose algebra days seems a distant memory.


www.streetmap.co.uk
Zoom into every street in the UK. A very useful site indeed.


www.faxyourmp.com
Simply type in your postcode and it will present a blank fax addressed to your local MP. Please don't get carried away.


www.number-10.gov.uk

Email Tony Blair


www.whitehouse.gov

Email George Bush


www.ask-the-doc.com
Self diagnose yourself to almost any disease.


www.theonion.com
Satirical social commentary.


www.bt.com
Click on the link to BT directory enquiries online.


www.royalmail.com
Find a postcode for an address or the address if you know the postcode.


www.weather.co.uk

Find out today's weather.






Glossary of Internet terms & phrases:

ADSL
High-speed broadband Internet, otherwise known as broadband.

Bandwidth
If you had a water pipe, you would talk about its capacity and its diameter; bandwidth means exactly the same but for an Internet connection.

Broadband
A term for high speed Internet access currently being offered by many ISPs.

Browser
A software programme to look at Web pages and other Internet resources. The most common browsers are Internet Explorer and Netscape.

Cookie
A cookie is a file that is left on your computer by a web site. The file contains information about your visit and information you might have left on the site, often containing your username and password.

Domain name
The name that points to a site on the Internet. The domain is everything after the www in the web address.

GIF
One of the 2 main formats for images on the web (the other being JPEG). Gifs are used for flatter graphics.

Firewall
If you use a network at work to access the Internet, your company may have a firewall blocking access to certain sites or file types. This reduces the threat from viruses and other unwanted downloads.

Flash
This has become one of the most popular ways to create moving graphical images on web sites. They are small and download quickly. The flashing bulb on this site is a flash image.

Hits
A hit is the number of files downloaded from a website server. It is often a misunderstood term - if one person visits a page that has 15 pictures on it then this will count as 16 hits. The best way to record traffic is the number of "unique users".

HTML
This stands for HyperText Markup Language and is the code behind a web page.

Hyperlink
This is a link on a web page that when clicked will jump you to another location on that page, another page or another web site.

ISP
An Internet Service Provider is an organisation that allows you to access the Internet.

JPEG
One of the 2 main formats for producing images on the web, the other being GIF. They are used for photos and other more complex graphics.

Newsgroup
The name for a discussion group on the Internet.

Spam
Spamming is the delivery of large amounts of unwanted email.

URL
Meaning Uniform Resource Locator, a URL is the entire address of an Internet resource.




Accommodation
 
www.where2stay.uk.net
Find hotels and B&B's in the UK.
www.smoothhound.co.uk
One of the main sites we recommend for hotel searching
www.laterooms.com
You can get discounts on some of the hotels but you can only book 2 weeks in advance.
www.hotelexpress.com
Express hotel booking site.
 
Awards
 
www.growingbusinessawards.co.uk
A superb site celebrating companies that grow their businesses successfully. Backed by the CBI and Real Business. Enter their annual competition.
 
www.ecommerce-awards.co.uk
E-commerce awards for SME's sponsored by Daily Express, Royal Bank of Scotland, Cisco and UK Online for Business.
 
http://website-awards.net/
The Website Awards Worksheet is a free resource! It helps you apply for Web awards and track your activities. Apply to over 600 Award Sites around the world!
Cars
 
www.virgin.com/cars
New cars and bikes plus advice from Quentin Wilson.
 
www.pistonheads.co.uk
An 'escapist' web site for speed freaks!
Customer Service
 
www.ecustomerserviceworld.com
A great site for learning more about how to give great customer service. Full of articles and you can sign up for their free newsletter.
 
www.thewowawards.com
This is run by AVN member Derek Williams of Stephens & Co. Derek is now receiving worldwide attention through his free newsletter about wowing the customer.
E-books
 
www.ideavirus.com
You can download Seth Godin's free e-book here.
 
www.asamanthinketh.net
This site is for your spiritual and mental well being and download the e-book. Links to motivators and subscription to newsletter.
 
www.writerswrite.com/epublishing/ebooks.htm
Lots of links to free e-books - more than we can mention here!
E-cards
 
Sites for you to send free email cards to your friends and colleagues. Go on cheer someone up!

www.egreetings.com

www.hallmark.com

www.messagemates.com
Fun stuff
 
www.fishphilosophy.com / www.pikeplacefish.com
These 2 sites teach you the "fish philosophy" and how to turn work in to a fun place.
 
www.spiceuk.com
Lots of ideas for fun things to do to 'spice' up your life!
 
www.frankandernest.com/
Premium cartoon site liven up your life.
 
www.join-me.co.uk
It's not a cult - it's a collective. A charitable web site committed to 'Random Acts Of Kindness'.
Gifts
 
www.rainbowflowers.com
Send someone a bouquet by post.
 
www.redletterdays.co.uk
Great ideas for rewarding people or just treating yourself.
 
www.davy.co.uk
You can search for and purchase fine wines over a secure server. Information on Davy's own specialist tobacconist, Segar & Snuff Parlour, is also available.
Grants
 
www.j4b.co.uk
You'll find all the information you need here about grants. Don't forget to register for their free newsletter.
IT
 
www.grc.com
Test your firewall to see if it's really working!
Learning
 
www.motivationaltraining.com
Sales training (plus others) for you and your employees.
 
www.astd.org
Lessons on how to teach effectively . A benchmarking service to benchmark your training programmes.
Newsletters
 
www.dummiesdaily.com
Subscribe to one or all of their daily newsletters to keep you on the ball with various subjects.
 
www.ewaydirect.com
If you want to see what different industry newsletters look like, visit the site and click on the members' button. You can also subscribe to receive 'Some to one' publishing newsletter.
Research
 
www.compuserve.co.uk/channels
A useful site for checking out their extensive links to articles and other websites.
 
www.lawzone.co.uk
The online community web site for the law profession.
 
www.thetimes.co.uk
Top up your current affairs knowledge.
 
www.hints-n-tips.com
Hints and tips for anything and everything.
Resources
 
www.amazon.co.uk
Bookmark this site to find all the latest books, CD's etc.
 
http://officeupdate.microsoft.com/templategallery/
A link to Microsoft's template gallery. If you're looking for an elusive document and we cannot help, try here next!
 
www.goalpro.com
Very comprehensive goal setting software for $89.95.
 
www.bplans.com
Business planning software and free subscription to their bi weekly newsletter.
www.itoeye.co.uk/powerpoint/
Free backgrounds for PowerPoint presentations.
 
Shopping
 

One of the most appealing things about shopping online is the promise of big savings. OK you may have to wait a few days but the following price comparison sites help you get the best bargains:

www.123pricecheck.com

www.beeb.com

www.dealtime.co.uk

www.easyvalue.com

www.uk.kelkoo.com

www.onlinepriceguide.co.uk

www.shopsmart.com

Sport
 
www.espn.com
Scores for all sports, with a distinctly American bias.
 
www.skysports.com
Hot sports news from Sky.
 
www.soccernet.com
Score flashes from all UK games.
 
www.sporting-life.com
News, scores and betting advice on everything from football to NFL.
 
www.golfonline.com
For up-to-date golfing scores and news.
 
www.scrum.com
Find out the latest rugby news.
 
www.football365.com
Humour, news and features on football.
 
www.cricinfo.com
The 2nd most popular site in the UK! It is the bible of online cricket with scores updates as they happen.
 
www.itv-f1.com
News, articles and chat from the world of Formula One.
 
www.talksport.net
Listen to the radio station's sports coverage as it happens.
Travel
 
www.gner.co.uk
Book tickets or find our "How's my train running?"
 
www.easyjet.co.uk/en
Airline bookings.
 
www.virgin.com/trains
All about travelling with Virgin and you can buy your tickets online.
 
www.rac.co.uk
Check the traffic, journey planner and hotel finder.
 
www.theaa.co.uk
See travel watch, advice on buying cars or the getaway service.
 
www.thetrainline.com
Buy your train tickets here.