Ray’s Web 2.0 Business Minitests: Guru.com
by
on November 13, 2006,
I have liked this site for years, it has a very clear purpose and objective: state your business and what you would like to charge for doing that. People who are looking for specialists can thus choose if they want your services or the services from your competitor. Naturally it helps if you have some positive feedbacks and a low fee per hour.
One example; about a year ago I made my profile on Guru.com, stating my business as a business consultant. Naturally I put down my hourly fee and about a month later I got an email from Guru.com telling me that someone had a ‘business proposition’ for me. Naturally I logged into the system and checked it out. It turned out to be a shop-owner who wanted to have done some legal work and was looking for someone to help him writing his business plan. So I put down my offer to him and we were in business. Very simple and easy, and yes, Guru gets a (modest) commission for being the online broker.
Every kind of service is represented on Guru.com and people are hiring. The only thing is that you first have to put down your services at very low costs in order to generate some leads and some positive feedbacks before you can make realistic normal fees. But it works!
The sad thing is that it hasn’t any networking tools. It therefore doesn’t reach out to the masses yet, like LinkedIn or Myspace does. It’s all about business, no communication and no fun at all. If they would combine Guru.com with e.g. Tribe.net and built-in IM and / or Skype integration, it would have everything a business portal needs.
Naturally they really need to reach – out to the masses, so that there is a real choice in expertise for local areas. Now it is too much US-based. One strategic idea: merge with Ebay? In my opinion Guru.com would be a wonderful takeover candidate for Ebay.com.
SummaryGuru.com is not new, but has a lot going for it. The basics in their niche are all provided for. If they would partner with real networking portals, it can become a winner.
| Key-web 2.0 factor | Points (1-10) | Remarks |
| 1) Manage and view profile |
7 |
Good but very skills oriented, why not integrate some online tests of competences? |
| 2) Manage contacts |
2 |
No focus there |
| 3) Communication options |
4 |
Email only no IM |
| 4) Effective business use |
8 |
All real business, but you will have to invest time to create your online business and recommendations from scratch |
| 5) Growing potential |
7 |
What a good takeover candidate |
| 6) Money making potential |
8 |
No-nonsense business focus has always worked. |
| Total |
36 |
Verdict: very mixed; no networking but real business |
Got any ideas for tests or do you want strategic / consulting advise?: email me: bel3bel@yahoo.com Have a look at my profile Regards, Ray
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