Results just in. Office.com and inc.com have tied for the #1 spot on Cahners’ In-Stat hit parade for online business centers catering to small business. In-Stat’s Director of Ebiz Infrastructure & Services, Kneko Burney saw both sites’ above-average editorial content as their key to traffic marketing success.

For Office.com, market research was “one of the things that makes us smarter” as a website, says Eric Jones, director of communications. The company conducted over 100 focus groups in order to learn that “small businesses don’t think of themselves as small businesses,” Jones comments. Instead, a small business identifies with its industry. “A 10 person ad agency thinks of itself as an ad agency, not a small business,” says Jones. That’s why the site was built around industry lines. In marketing the site whether it be online or offline, “we try to highlight that there’s something there for everybody,” Jones remarks.

Says inc.com’s Vice President of Marketing Paige Arnof-Fenn, "The fundamentals of marketing still hold true with Internet businesses. When it comes down to it, it's the customer who matters, so we have concentrated on delivering tools, solutions, service and information that benefit small business owners as they start, operate and manage their business. Through a mix of advertising, promotions and direct mail -- including email -- we've been able to communicate the offerings at inc.com, build the customer base, and keep them coming back with new products, solutions and information."