[Sydney, AUSTRALIA] Business publisher CCH Australia is out to expand its offering of online information for the small business market, after taking a 29 percent chunk of small business site Entrepreneur Business Centre (EBC).
CCH will add the content from EBC’s site ebc.com.au, which includes guidance on how to buy, start and improve users’ businesses and products and services for the small business owner, into its specialist content network of sites. This network already covers law, accounting, management and human resources.
EBC’s site currently draws around 25,000 visitors a month, and covers 125 industries. Its content has also been incorporated into ninemsn’s Small Business site offering.
“We wanted to ensure our Web sites become the destination for small business needs,” said CCH regional director Willem van Zanten, of the publisher’s strategy linking the company’s current advisory markets to resources for the small business.
“With CCH’s involvement we will now be able to fast track our Internet developments as well as being able to tap into CCH’s content and technology reources,” said EBC managing director Greg Hart. The first step of this emphasis on development was the launch of a redesigned ebc.com.au site to coincide with the deal.
The next step for development is slated for early next year, when EBC launches a fully integrated XML-based publishing system in conjunction with CCH, which is designed to enable seamless publishing of the company’s content.
This will be followed by a Business for Business Web site called b4b.com.au, which will host around 80 industry-based sub sites offering content, products and services.
This deal with EBC followed CCH’s acquisition of Canberra-based Access Communications, which provides political database-driven information online. The publisher has also entered into a joint venture with legal publisher Dai-chi Hoki Shuppan to launch a site offering information to Japanese businesses.