• Several bug fixes. Some weren’t really noticeable; others resulted in internal server errors.
• A few SEO related changes were made including changes to title tags, and new META tags.
• Cleaned up several listings, especially related to search.
• Other little things that probably bothered us more than you.

If you haven’t already, please join our community and start sharing your passion for brew. If you have any ideas how we can make the site better, use the Contact link at the bottom of any page.

Over a year later, I’ve learned a few things.

• Keeping a steady flow of content is not easy.
  When I first started writing, I had a ton of ideas. As time went on, the original ideas were all written down, but my daily work kept me stocked with new ideas. Now that work has slowed down and consulting has stabilized into a few areas, I’m not being challenged with new ideas nearly as much.
• Stop scheming and just produce.
  I had the idea that generating traffic to the site would be the key to making money. To reach my ends, I looked for any scheme out there that could generate traffic with minimal effort. Although there is a relationship between traffic and income, no amount of scheming is going to win you any real fans. Once I dropped the schemes, I immediately felt better about myself and my accomplishments.
• Be realistic.
  I’ve come to terms with the fact that my site isn’t going to simply “explode.” Slaptijack tends to grow in fits and bursts. About four months ago (Feb 2008), my traffic jumped up to about 250 visitors a day and has held steady to date (Jun 2008). So, as I’ve stopped focusing on making money and just garnering reputation, I’ve felt less anxious about traffic.
• Ultimately, reputation is what counts.
  I often joke around with folks about “building the Scott Hebert brand.” Although I’m often kidding around, I am serious about building the brand. No matter what I do in my professional life, whether consulting or working for another company, in the end I work for myself. Slaptijack is an extension of my professional self on the Web. By building credibility, I’m investing in myself.
• Helping people is pretty darn satisfying.
  Every weekday around 250 people end up landing on Slaptijack. Historically, over 75% of those hits have come from search engines. This tells me that almost 200 people a day are looking for the answer to a specific question and end up reading something I wrote. Hopefully, all of those folks find their answer on Slaptijack. A lot of happy folks leave comments or drop me a line. The positive feedback makes me feel good about what I’m doing. Maybe I should start a testimonial page?
• Stop hiding behind a contact form.
  Not too long ago, Seth Godin asked his readers a few questions. Instead of asking folks to respond in the comments or giving them a link to a contact form, he gave his email address. I’ve used a contact form on Slaptijack since the beginning, but I’ve come to realize that this really de-personalizes the reader’s experience. If this is about “building the brand”, do I really want the Scott Hebert brand to be an impersonal contact form? Doubtful.

Prior to that, my most recent change was to consolidate some of my gigs under the heading “Technology Consultant” and give a general description of what I did.

All of this is driven by my desire to seriously increase my consulting workload. At the moment, my clientele is restricted to a few key clients that I do a lot of work for. I honestly think I can double my clients without any problems. My decision to travel to consulting jobs (something I’ve previously avoided) will hopefully open up new avenues for me.

Anyway, this wasn’t supposed to be about consulting — it was supposed to be about my LinkedIn updates. Go check them out. And if you’ve worked with me, please leave a recommendation!

Fortunately, there is benefit to working in a group. A group that is working well together encourages all members to take part in the discussion (Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning, 1997). This encourages less outspoken members to share their ideas without fear of ridicule or embarrassment. The varied experiences of the wider group create new ideas and opportunities not available to an individual.

Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning. (1997). Working in Groups, A Guide for Students. Retrieved May 9, 2008, from http://isites.harvard.edu/fs/html/icb.topic58474/wigstudents3.html

Gottlieb, H. (2004). Fear of Public Speaking. Retrieved May 9, 2008, from http://www.help4nonprofits.com/NP_Mktg_FearofPublicSpeaking_Article.htm

Van Dusen, A. (2006). Our Most Common Fears. Retrieved May 9, 2008, from http://www.forbes.com/2006/12/13/most-common-fears-forbeslife-cx_avd_1214commonfears.html

My goal over the next year is to convert all my existing documents into Google Docs and Spreadsheets. My preliminary estimates put this somewhere in the 200-300 document range. Currently (Sep 2007) Google has a limit of 5000 documents / presentations and 200 spreadsheets. Thankfully, I fit well under that limit.

The motivation behind this is fairly simple. At the moment, I use an application called Unison to synchronize files between 4 different locations: server, desktop, notebook, and emergency Windows machine.

Although this system works really well, I live in constant fear that things are going to get really broken and I’ll lose all my data across all locations. If my move to Google Docs is successful, I think I’ll be able to rest easily.

I’ll keep you posted.

To set the scene a bit, let me tell you I’ve got a lot on my plate at work this week. I’m standing in the shower this morning with a million thoughts racing through my head about what I needed to do today and in what order.

I’m staring at the little shelf with all the hygiene products and I can’t decide what I’m really supposed to be doing. I decide that since I can’t remember I must not have done anything, so I should go ahead and start with washing my hair.

I put a dollop of shampoo in my hand (nickel-sized, as my father used to tell us), lather it up a bit and put it right on top of my head.

That’s when I realize that my hair is already full of shampoo. Apparently I’d forgotten I was in the middle of shampooing.

Let me take one last moment to point out that shampoo really doesn’t sound like something I want to put in my hair.

Anyway, off to work.