Investing Site a Draw in Wash.
- By Dan Caterinicchia, Dan Caterinicchia
- May 01, 2000
Washington state officials knew there was a need for an Internet guide aimed
at beginning online investors. But they had no idea just how big that need
was.
Washington launched the Investing Online Resource Center last November without
spending a dime to advertise it.
In its first 10 weeks, the IORC logged 5 million
hits, said the site's founder, Deborah Bortner.
"Clearly, we underestimated the extent to which current and potential
online investors were desperate for high-quality, noncommercial information
about the basics of investing on the Web," said Bortner, director of Washington's
Department of Financial Institutions Securities Division, which is running
the project.
The IORC site features basic online trading information, a ranking of
online brokerage firms and an online investing resource center that lists
helpful World Wide Web sites.
Thirty online brokerage firms provide a direct link or a prominent back
page to the IORC site.
"We realized that people from all over the country would be using our
site, but we're getting many international users as well," Bortner said.
"Our goal with IORC was to put the investor education information right
in front of people's noses when they most needed it — when they're thinking
about doing business with an online broker."
The IORC site is funded through Investor Protection Trust, a nonprofit
group that has the dual goals of serving as an independent source of investor
education materials and helping to prosecute securities fraud.