We are still only new in the Blogosphere, but already we have picked up a lot of traffic and seem to be drawing a lot of interest from many quarters. great stuff!What we thought might be interesting is to post on the technologies, programs and blogs that we have used continually to get us to this point, and what we are planning to use to take us to the next steps. Most of these are free, Web 2.0 type technologies, but there are a few that we have paid (willingly) for.
1. Blogger - I don't really get into the functional debates regarding Blogger versus Wordpress etcetera. For me, I have found Blogger to be an excellent tool, one that is versatile, able to be easily modified, and (using the "Layouts") very easy to modify. If you are going to start blogging, then I really suggest you look at Blogger as a platform.
2. BloggerBuster.com - Great site. Came across it a while ago when I was trying to get the whole template thing worked out. Borrowed some stuff from there, and I continually put their tips, techniques and advice into practice. Again, if you are going to get into Blogging, the check out this invaluable resource.
3. Zoho - What did I ever do without an online word processor? Just one year ago I was happy wandering along in desktop land with my version of word, then I came across this in an internet search.
Absolutely changed the way I work! Today ALL of my documents are backed up on Zoho, all of my reports are there, I write the first drafts of my posts there and I am starting to use other elements of the service as well. For example, I am dead keen to learn about their project management software and will probably be starting a project there shortly.
If (when?) I ever go into business for myself Zoho will probably be my office productivity suite of choice.
4. Gmail - What can you say about Gmail that hasn't already been said? great program, lots of storage, the ability to send from other email addresses, the labels, groups and uploads and so much more. Again, this is my email choice, I am off desktop software for email right now, and as long as I always have my blackberry or an Internet connection there will be no need for me to use desktop email again.
5. Blackberry - I am a new convert to the world of mobile working. And I will probably never own a normal telephone again. (What's normal anyway?)
Today, instead of newspapers, my day starts checking out Google ne news on the BB, then I go to my Gmail and run through the recent emails that need urgent attention, then I spend some time running through some of the blogs that I read regularly, then maybe a few searches.
All the while I am getting ready for work, going through the morning routine, and by the time I arrive at the office I am caught up on everything, I have already initiated the days actions, and I am ready to take on the world!
I also am starting to use it for mobile blogging. Not too sure how this is going to work out as I haven't been able to work it through yet - but if I am able to get started and it works out like I think it will - then the blackberry becomes my "way of doing business".
6. LinkedIn - Another recent discovery and one that I can't do without anymore. My network is now pretty large, and I regularly get contacts from peopole I haven't spoken to in years! (That alone makes it worth while) But the killer app on LinkedIn for me is the ability to do reaearch there.
Many of our posts come from discussions I have started, or stumbled upon, in the LinkedIn Q&A section. it amazes me that there are so many VERY senior and succesful people who are willing to spend their time trying to provide information of value to other people. Fantastic resource that has helped me to get a new perspective on the nature of consulting, and on the nature of people in general. I am there daily!
7. Force.com - Great concept, and the AppExchange is another winner from the team at Salesforce.com. I have yet to release anything that we are working on from their but we are progressing well. Our goal is to provide our community with a range of cheap useful small programs that they can use to manage the day-to-day activities in their consultancies. (Stay tuned)
Visionary stuff the Force.com platform. If you are not familiar with it then as a consultant I suggest you start to get familiar with it. It has unrivaled potential for helping you as a company, and in the services you deliver to your clients.
9. iStockphotos.com - One we pay for, and pay for willingly. iStockPhotos.com has a vast range of good photos, illustrations and videos that we often use to emphasis points in our posts, as well as in newsletters.
10. Amazon - (The associates program) Okay, so I have been using this for many years and haven't really earned much from it. BUT, I do earn enough every three months to buy a book or two using gift certificates, and it does provide additional value for the people who come to the site.
By having lists of readily chosen books, that we have already reviewed, read and recommend means less time for our readers to find what they are looking for. Anyway, thats my thinking.
11. SimplyHired - We use this site as an affiliate program for hosting our job board. If we are really aiming to be "the beating heart fo the consulting industry" then we have to offer more (a lot more) than just opinions and interviews.
So the job board was a natural extension to that. We are pretty happy with what we have, it can be altered and modified easily enough. But we are still thinking that our own board will be necessary one day... (maybe)
Anyways, it has worked well. Our job board is bristling with opportunities and more appear every day. We get a lot of traffic to that part of our site in particular and hopefully there are some good stories starting to come out of there.
12 The Blogs - We read a lot. And every day I find something on one of the blogs I read that intrigues me, challenges my thinking, and drives me (often) to the point where I think I need to write something about it myself.
If you are in consulting, or just in business management generally, then I really recommend any of these to you as real thought provoking blogs:
- e-Government@Large - A site by Alan Mather, former CEO of the Office of the e-Envoy in the UK and the guy responsible for much of the pioneering work that went on there to introduce e-Thinking into their governmental operations. A lot of his ideas and thinking (I have noticed) have spread far and wide and seem to be getting adopted by countries all over the globe. Alan is a real original thinker, a quote of his that sticks in my mind is "What do you mean they all need to sit together? I have run countries where nobody needed to sit together!"
- How to Change the World - Guy Kawasaki's blog on all things to do with technology and entrepreneurship. Introduced, strangely enough, by Alan Mather to this blog. I take a LOT from Guy's stuff, I am an avid reader of his books, and I hold him fully responsible for my sudden and unrelenting addition to blogging! Great stuff by a great and enduring talent in the game.
- TechCrunch - The phenomena. This site is fascinating as well as being a great story of what can be achieved in e-Media today. I check in there at least once or twice a week to see how they are going as well as to see what they are writing about. I take some ideas from there, but not too many. Most of their stuff is for a particular audience, which is only a small part of consulting. What is really fascinating about this site is watching it develop into a fully fledged business and seeing how it evolves over time. Great stuff!
- CTO Blog - Written by a bunch of heavyweight thought leaders at CapGemini - this blog is part of my regular reading and something I would recommend to all of you in the game. These guys really capture the essence of modern consulting I think, particularly around future trends and changes. Good work, well written, and great themes.
- Contrarian Consulting - What can I say about Alan Weiss? This guy is the reason why I really took to consulting with added zest, he is the reason why I have published three books, why I have articles all over the internet and the cause of my current situation in the consulting game. Alan is the poster boy for Entrepreneurship in consulting and if you still haven't read any of his stuff; then start doing so!
13. BusinessWire - Great source for any online journal. You can get to see all of the announcements that are relevant to any industry. And by working through them you can easily piece together many stories about what is happening, who is buying who and why, and who is forging ahead in different areas of the game.
They are press releases - so you need to proceed with caution. Not everything you read is as rosy as it appears. But they provide at least a glimpse into the otherwise clouded world of consulting company management and growth.
14. ConstantContact - We are only just starting to work through all of the elements that we are going to be delivering in the ConsultingHub network that we have started. But it is really starting to develop well. One thing that we will be doing is incorporating regular newsletters into it. Opt-in newsletters delivering news of the community, news of changes to functions and services, and news related to the consulting industry as well. For this we have chosen ConstantContact.
After a while reviewing some of their competitors, we decided that this program was the most user friendly, had great functionality in terms of the java-type interfaces, and appeared to be as ethical in their operations as we hope that we are. So we recommend it fully to you for your newsletter and survey programs.
So that's where we are at the moment. All of the above sites have contributed to, and continue to contribute, to our growth, our features and our perspectives here. As well as providing us with technology to continue trying to deliver value to our readership.
Of course there is more, a lot more. iGoogle for providing me my daily News feeds and Dilbert cartoons, Google News for providing me with regular alerts relating to the consulting industry and the major players in it, Digg for allowing people to bookmark our site and our feeds, Feedburner for allowing us to track subscriptions, and to provide additional functionality to the blog, Google Analytics - allowing us to be able to track the traffic to our sites... and so on.
In advertising we are grateful to LinkShare and of course Google Adwords and Adsense, Google custom search.... etc. The list goes on, but I think I have mentioned all of the main ones.
At the heart of it all is the unrelenting belief that consulting is a noble calling. The drive that enables people to work extraordinarily long hours, make great sacrifices and deliver monumental changes - comes from one basic principle. The drive to improve a clients condition in some way or other.
When we meet clients they often have a problem, and when we leave them, if we are doing our stuff right, they have improved in some (often measurable) fashion. You can't get better job satisfaction than that!
