People search services help you find people online. With the click of a button, people search sites can connect you with long lost friends and family members, not to mention undiscovered peers, partners and, of course, employees. For business owners, the result is a dynamic tool that allows them to not only search for people, but also to research, meet and build relationships with them. The potential is truly powerful. Among the possibilities:

1. Use people search services to perform employee reference and background checks.
2. Use people search engines to track down sales prospects and business contacts.
3. Use people search sites to research customers and study clients.
4. Use free people search services to update your Rolodex and address book.
5. Use people search to gather intelligence about competitors and colleagues.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Start your people search via online phone directories

The most basic of people search services, online phone directories are virtual White Pages where you can look for publicly listed names, phone numbers and addresses.

I recommend: Online phone directories perfect for people search purposes include WhitePages.com, Yahoo! People Search, Dex and Switchboard.

Search for folks by name using dedicated people search engines

People search engines specialize in people search services and function as online databases where you can quickly and easily find public information.

I recommend: Popular, and free, people search engines include ZabaSearch and ZoomInfo.

Use reverse search to do a people search with limited information

A reverse search enables one to perform a people search with as little as a phone number and produce the name and address that's associated with it.

I recommend: You can do a reverse people search at Google by simply typing a phone number into the search engine. Try typing in an e-mail address, too.

Take your people search to social networks with social search

An emerging class of people search engines specializes in helping you search for people via their profiles on popular social networks.

I recommend: Free people search sites like Spock, Wink, Ziki, PeekYou.com, Pipl and Rapleaf offer people search engines that look for people in all the usual places, as well as on social networking sites.

Search for people via paper trails using public records searches

If you're after government records such as court documents, property deeds or vital records, including marriage and death certificates, consult people search sites that specialize in public records.

I recommend: You can do a people search of government records at USA.gov or SearchSystems.net. If you're after criminal records, which aren't widely available online, you'll need to commission a company like Intelius to do a background search for you.

Find servicemen and women using military people search sites

If you're looking for someone who has served or is serving in the military, you can do so using special military-themed people search engines.

I recommend: Do a free people search for members of the military via Military.com's Buddy Finder.

Do a people search in the blogosphere via blog search engines

Because blogs are tagged with search terms, you can use them to search for people; you can search blogs for their authors, sponsors and subjects.

I recommend: Popular blog search engines where you can search for people are Technorati, Blogdigger and BlogPulse.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  The more information you have when you start your people search, the more information you'll produce at the end of it.
• •  Keep in mind that the information generated by people search services isn't always current; in fact, it's often dated.
• •  You might not be able to access personal information in your people search like birth certificates, credit scores, medical histories or other private records without showing proof of identification, getting written consent from the subject or paying a fee.
• •  Consider testing people search services with your own name before using them to ensure that the information they produce is accurate.