Web-based customer prospects harvester system

Abstract

A web-based customer lead harvesting system. The system is based on an application service model, with the programming for the system being accessible to users of the system via web browsers and the Internet. The users, who are typically business enterprises, may access the system to search unstructured Internet data to obtain leads for prospective customers. The system accepts criteria from the user that describes a type or types of potential customers, as well as addresses of Internet sites of interest. A crawler process retrieves the web site data, and stores the data in a web archive. A harvester process then searches the Internet data according to the client-provided criteria. The system returns the names or the identifying information about the prospect together with a link to the document that verifies the prospect's match to the criteria.

1 . A method of providing customer lead information from Internet sources to a client, comprising: 
 receiving criteria describing prospective customers and specified Internet web sites;    retrieving web site data from the specified Internet web sites over the Internet;    storing the web site data in a first database;    searching the first database for one or more prospective customers matching the criteria, wherein said searching produces the customer lead information for the one or more prospective customers matching the criteria; and    delivering the customer lead information to the client.    
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein said delivering comprises providing a link to at least one document that verifies that the one or more prospective customers match the criteria.  
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein, for each of said one or more prospective customers, said delivering comprises providing a link to at least one document that verifies that the prospective customer matches the criteria.  
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising: 
 linking the one or more prospective customers to related business information.    
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein said linking is performed using a value add process.  
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein said using the value add process is performed online.  
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein said using the value add process is performed offline.  
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising: 
 performing one or more look up processes to obtain contact data about the one or more prospective customers.    
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein said performing the one or more lookup processes comprises performing the one or more look up processes offline by accessing a second database.  
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein the second database comprises internal business information provided by the client.  
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein said performing the one or more lookup processes comprises performing the one or more look up processes online by accessing the Internet.  
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising: 
 indexing the retrieved web site data for said searching the first database.    
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising: 
 preparing correspondence for the one or more prospective customers.    
     
     
         14 . A memory medium comprising program instructions for providing customer lead information from Internet sources to a client, wherein the program instructions are executable by a processor to: 
 receive criteria describing prospective customers and specified Internet web sites;    retrieve web site data from the specified Internet web sites over the Internet;    store the web site data in a first database;    search the first database for one or more prospective customers matching the criteria, wherein in searching the first database the program instructions are executable to produce the customer lead information for the one or more prospective customers matching the criteria; and    deliver the customer lead information to the client.    
     
     
         15 . The memory medium of  claim 14 , wherein, in delivering the customer lead information to the client, the program instructions are executable to provide a link to at least one document that verifies that the one or more prospective customers match the criteria.  
     
     
         16 . A system, comprising: 
 a network interface for coupling to the Internet;    at least one memory medium which stores: 
 information specifying criteria describing prospective customers and specified Internet web sites, wherein the information is received from a customer;  
 first program instructions executable to retrieve web site data from the specified Internet web sites over the Internet;  
 a first database for storing the web site data;  
 second program instructions executable to search the first database for one or more prospective customers matching the criteria, wherein said searching produces customer lead information for the one or more prospective customers matching the criteria; and  
 wherein the customer lead information is operable to be provided to the client.  
   
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 16 , wherein, for at least one of the one or more prospective customers, the at least one memory medium further stores a link to at least one document that verifies that the at least one prospective customer matches the criteria; 
 wherein the link is operable to be provided with the customer lead information to the client.    
     
     
         18 . A prospects harvesting system for providing, to a client, customer lead information from Internet sources, comprising: 
 a web database for storing web page data retrieved from the Internet;    a crawler coupled to the web database, operable to receive specified Internet web site addresses and to download web page data from the specified web pages to the web database; and    a harvester coupled to the web database, operable to search the downloaded web page data for prospects, based on criteria provided by the client, and to provide the results of the search to the client with a link to a document that verifies the prospect's match to the criteria;    wherein the harvester is operable to receive the criteria from the client via a client browser system and the Internet.    
     
     
         19 . The system of  claim 18 , further comprising: 
 a value add component, operable to link the prospects to related business information.    
     
     
         20 . The system of  claim 18 , further comprising: 
 a look up component, operable to provide contact data about the prospects.    
     
     
         21 . The system of  claim 18 , further comprising: 
 an indexer, operable to index documents retrieved by the crawler for access by the harvester.    
     
     
         22 . The system of  claim 18 , further comprising: 
 a correspondence generator, operable to generate correspondence to the prospects.