Bulletin boards are a great way to network with other professionals. A wide variety of professionals “talk” to each other by posting messages to ask questions and to give and receive advice. Sometimes the desire is to get emotional support when going through a difficult situation, such as firing an employee. The major online services offer bulletin boards, but if you are not associated with one, you can still do the same thing through Internet newsgroups or mailing lists. Check into this one. It is definitely something you should consider for networking or marketing ideas.

You may wish to join a service that has a presence on the Internet. If you belong to a professional organization such as the Association of Professional Consultants, www.consultapc.org, you may list your consulting firm on its referral service.You may also check into a listing on the Expert Marketplace, www.expert-market.com/em, which considers itself the resource for technical and consulting services. Expert Marketplace maintains a database of almost 300,000 consultants. Whatever you decide about technology, you must admit that it’s here and it has its benefits. The Internet can help you do your job more effectively and efficiently, especially during prospecting. The internet, e-mail, and a laptop computer are almost a necessity if you travel a great deal. What marketing technology will work for you? Only you can answer that. A website is a no-brainer. You most likely need to have one to be viewed as a viable consultant. Some estimate there are over six billion URLs in cyberspace. So the likelihood of you putting up your website, then sitting back and waiting for potential clients to stumble on your site, is not very likely. That means you will need to identify ways to bring visitors to your website. Also remember, you want them to return. Determine what you will do to ensure that it happens. The next section of the book,Marketing Support, will present ways for you to do just that.