Cix
www.cix.co.uk
Run, don't walk, to this extraordinary collection of ongoing "conferences" (nearly 10,000 of them) where you can exchange views with or beg for help from others in your own business or line of work. It's a great way of avoiding feeling exposed and alone. The website also has a searchable directory of the more active conferences. You'll have to pay: it's £7.34 inc VAT per month.

Small Business Advice
www.smallbusinessadvice.org.uk
A site from the National Federation of Enterprise Agencies, which offers free information and advice to anyone in England who is starting or running a business with fewer than 10 staff. There are discussion areas (more of a question-answer tool) and chat rooms.

Startups.co.uk
www.startups.co.uk
This explicitly named website promises "everything you need to know about starting up and running your business", and in terms of coverage it does a good job of living up to that claim. There's also a pretty active discussion area.

BusinessZONE
www.businesszone.co.uk
Another portal for smaller businesses with the usual mix of information and advice. This one does have rather more direct participation from members who can post messages in the "any answers" section.

Small Business Gateway
www.sbgateway.com
Scotland has some of the best "official" sites for the smaller business. This one is exemplary, a mix of hard information and arm-around-the-shoulder support. Although it's provided by the Scottish Enterprise Network for Scottish businesses, it's well worth looking at wherever you're from.

Better Business
www.better-business.co.uk
A direct competitor to Startups, with the added advantages of being longer-established and having a well-regarded paper magazine too. The resource directories are excellent, if a bit long-winded to navigate, and the free information is also good. There's no public discussion area, though.

Best for Business
www.bestforbusiness.com
Created by specialist staff at Birmingham's Central Library, this is an excellent free resource - business information on just about every topic, more than 500 fact sheets, good information for West Midlands users on grants and tenders.

ClearlyBusiness
www.clearlybusiness.com
Barclays-backed resource for small businesses with lots of useful and usable information. There's a slight air of headmasterliness about the site, but it is probably the richest and most useful of all the bank offerings for small businesses.

Smallbiz UK
www.smallbiz.uk.com
Smallbiz works with a range of content providers to deliver practical information and advice. That's OK, as far as it goes, and for the home-based business there's not too much here; but Smallbiz does have a modest but useful discussion forum available to members.

2WM
www.2wm.co.uk
The West Midlands "business support website" was developed by the Regional Development Agency (Advantage West Midlands) with BT, Coventry University and the European Commission. So there's not much obvious attention to the home office user there. But for anyone in the area it's a good guide to business resources, grants, news and events.

The Bag Lady
www.the-bag-lady.co.uk
One of the best web portals for women in business. It's mostly a directory of members' services and other resources, and there's also a discussion forum.