Hi Harold,

I took a quick glance at the website from the viewpoint of a potential client. (With the same caveat as Ismael about not being a marketer..) ... Here are some things I noticed:

1) Regarding the yellow blurb at the top of each page. What I like about it: the yellow is eye-catching and attractive, it appears on all of your website pages, the summary makes you sound like the intelligent and thoughtful guy you are, and the 'intersection point' of your work just sounds really interesting!

What I'm not sure about....
I know you're passionate about informal learning and open-source business models, but I don't know if they should get top billing in the list of what you do, IF the purpose of the statement is to attract business. (And perhaps that is not the purpose; perhaps the purpose is to frame the blog. In this case, the sentence serves well).

But if it is part of your marketing, I would suggest giving top billing to the types of contracts you seek AND that are likely to be available.

Now I have no idea about the consulting business... perhaps there are lots of potential contracts in informal learning and open-source business models. But I imagine that most clients' budget dollars are earmarked for 'performance improvement'. This isn't a big make-over suggestion, just switch around the order of words.

Now of course, performance improvement does not preclude informal learning or open-source business models: it can all be part of the same package. But perhaps the potential client doesn't know that yet.

Perhaps they haven't thought of informal learning or open-source, so when they see those phrases they just think "sounds interesting, but not for us". You want them to think, "hmmmm, maybe he is the guy we need". This thought then leads to the next point...

...At the end of the yellow paragraph, how about adding another sentence that says "Click here to find out about my consulting projects".
(Only, you might want to find a more dignified way to say it!)

I know, I know, the "Consulting" tab is directly above the yellow box, but you want to lead your horses to water! Make it easy.

The good thing about websites is that you can easily track and find out if adding that sentence led to more consulting page visits.

Then, once your horse is at the water (um, the consulting page), I agree with an earlier comment that it takes too long to get what we're looking for (just the facts, ma'am!). What about opening with 3-5 bullet points listing your absolute favourite projects which are also most likely to relate to potential clients' needs. The rest of your project list could stay where it is.

As soon as your potential client sees your list of projects, that client will think... "hey, Harold does the kind of stuff we need... I think he IS our guy ". Then they can read on to confirm their hunch.

Also, I think your first paragraph is quite philosophical and abstract. The first two sentences could apply to many disciplines. They don't tell us what exactly it is you do.

Now THIS paragraph, on the other hand, which appears down the page...
"I realise that many companies cannot afford a full-time Chief Learning Officer, web & learning trends analyst or a human performance technologist. However, you may need these kinds of expertise from time to time."

That paragraph... THAT is what you do! Move that up to the top, after your list of projects.

So to summarize...
Open the consulting page with examples of your work (which is really an advertisement for the work you want). Select practical projects that also sound cool.
Follow with the sentences about chief learning officer (rewritten to reflect its new position on the page.)
Then follow with the "as an independant consultant" para, plus the list of services.

It's a long page. Perhaps you want to link off to separate pages for the rest of the material. Perhaps you don't need to list all your projects. I think at this point, they've decided whether or not to call.

Okay... now I'm going to go the work I was supposed to do when I sat down at the computer..

Good luck with your ongoing search, I think it's always a good idea to reach out!
I'm curious about the consulting world. Networks are obviously critical. Do cold calls/cold letters ever work?