In my first post on this blog, I explained how the concept of Professional 2.0 included the key aspect of on-line presence.

And by presence, I mean all the Web 2.0 tools and services that can be used to let a professional show their expertise, availability, credibility and credentials to an on-line world. It also means taking direct responsibility for these elements rather than leaving them to out-of-date brochures and other proposal documents produced by someone else. This entry will cover these key elements of a professional on-line presence using a few examples from my personal web site and other links.

A multitude of user-driven tools now exist to let professionals present their expertise on personal web sites and blogs. As well as rich interactive text with relevant pictures / links, professionals can use podcasts to let potential clients listen to past presentations, slide shows to explain key concepts, video hosting sites for a full conference experience and even live webcam feeds for a real-time web conference. See the slide show using pictures I have on my personal web site for an example of what takes about 10 mins to put together.

In the area of availability, on-line presence indicators from Skype can show if you are on-line, busy or back in a few minutes and you can also share your diary on-line with some/all contacts to make sure that key meetings are arranged quickly. You can even include a web chat service like Meebo to let possible clients make contact with you directly via your web site before sharing contact details. See my make contact page for how these tools look and work in practice.

And if a client wants to stay in touch with what your latest thoughts and ideas are, they can access your blog entries through RSS feeds so your latest input is in their browser favorites (IE7) or even a folder in the latest versions of Outlook.

To make progress on the above, professionals will have to come to terms with new ways of presenting their ideas and insights in an on-line world, learn a few new techno skills and make the transition from text to text plus pictures, sound and motion.

But the potential benefits are significant

- a wider audience to showcase your expertise to

- a better forum in which to outline complex concepts, and

- a way to build credibility in major topics by being thought leaders not followers.