Stand-Out Sites in Frenzy to Court Small Businesses.

HUNDREDS of "dot-com" companies have raised millions of dollars in venture capital by promising investors they will profit by cashing in on the vibrant small-business market.

Of course, each site claims to be the ultimate and perfect resource for busy entrepreneurs who want to do everything from shop at major e-commerce sites to open a checking account or provide employees with affordable online training.

Even Amazon.com entered the mix recently by inviting small merchants to sell just about anything for a modest fee on its mega-site. The powerful U.S. Chamber of Commerce is also in the game with its new www.chamberbiz.com site.

But small-business experts are not sure who will survive the predicted shakeout.

"We see a lot of companies that want to get a quick hit, but we don't see much real-time, one-on-one help online," said Alice Bredin, principal of Bredin Business Information, based in Manhattan. "The companies that are really willing to go through the pain of developing sites with true value will be the winners. The losers are the companies that make big promises, take the easy route, and don't add any value."

Headlight.com

Here are some of my favorite small-business-oriented sites, based on content, ease of use and services of interest to overworked, stressed-out small-business owners:

Headlight.com, a San Francisco-based company, offers an extensive selection of online training courses for busy people who don't have the time or money to take outside classes.

"We are the only Web site that pulls together courses from different publishers," said Peter Mellen, chief executive of Headlight.com, which was founded two years ago but recently redesigned its site. "We offer over 1,000 courses ranging from how to use Microsoft Word to learning better listening skills."

With password protection, owners and managers can monitor what employees are taking as well as track their progress on the site. Fees are billed to a company credit card.

Headlight.com has several marketing alliances and co-branded efforts with other business sites, including Compaq.

"Our courses are 75 percent to 90 percent cheaper than most courses," said Mellen. "They cost $15 to $150 per course, and take about half the time to complete, because it's all tailored to the individual."

All courses are taught online, so you need a relatively fast and reliable Internet connection.

Alice Freid, marketing communications manager for Amherst Corporate Computer Sales and Solutions in Amherst, N.H., said she recently completed an eight-hour course to improve her understanding of Microsoft Word. Although her employer paid the $74 course fee, she worked on it after regular working hours and on weekends.

"It was very easy," said Freid. "I could go at my own pace, and go back to areas that I needed to review."

When she had a question, she called Headlight.com, and a real person helped her.

Onecore.com

Real help from real people is also what keeps customers happy at www.onecore.com. Although you can set up everything yourself on the site, OneCore.com staffers can help clients establish an interest-bearing bank account, or set up an affordable payroll account.

The Bedford, Mass.-based company, founded by Barry Star in 1998, has raised about $11 million so far to build an easy-to-navigate site that functions as an "electronic financial officer," according to Star.

"This business was built out of my personal frustration," said Star, who developed software for several major online securities-trading companies before becoming an entrepreneur.

When his bank charged him an 85-cent fee to deposit a $100,000 check into a non-interest-bearing bank account, he said he snapped. He also freaked out when a major payroll service mistakenly issued a $300,000 payroll rather than a $30,000 payroll for his five-person consulting firm.

"It's not about technology, it's that we pay attention to our customers," said Star, whose company operates as a broker-dealer, not as a bank (although accounts are insured by a combination of insurance policies).

"The response has been beyond my wildest expectations," said Star, who expects to close another round of financing in December.

So far, the company has about 1,000 customers in 40 states, and a handful of foreign countries.

"We were struggling with our financial affairs," said OneCore customer Pernell McGuire, president of Lake Powell Marine in Page, Ariz. "A lot of the time, I do my banking late at night on the weekend."

McGuire, whose company rents boats and jet skis to tourists at Lake Powell, opened a business bank account and merchant credit-card account with OneCore.com to streamline his financial operations.

"We need to get information quickly about our financial statements, and we don't always have access to a bank," McGuire said.

Onvia.com

Seattle-based Onvia.com has raised about $45 million in debt and equity financing to create an "anti-portal" for business owners. The company, which is in the midst of a major advertising campaign, sells everything from long-distance services to computers and software.

Instead of linking to affiliates, all sales transactions take place at Onvia.com.

"We never link you off our site," said founder and Chief Executive Glenn Ballman. Visitors supply their credit-card information once, and can buy all sorts of business-related products and services.

Reporting by Julieanne Neal. Jane Applegate is the author of "201 Great Ideas for Your Small Business."