Some time ago many local professionals were kind enough to join conticreative.com following an ad I posted on Craigslist.

The response has been encouraging and a lot of people have joined the site. The initial idea was to create a "Coop" of developers, photographers, web designers marketers and anyone else involved in the business of web development.

That goal is still foremost in my mind but at the same time I realized that we have an opportunity here to create something far more valuable: a citywide community of web professionals.

• The importance of community
• New and improved features
• What to do next
• Volunteering your time - help wanted to manage the community site
• Organizing a real life meeting

 The importance of Community

Sacramento is not San Francisco. That became evident soon after I moved here. But that doesn't mean we cannot create our own identity and find a way to better ourselves as professionals. By getting to know each other and by collaborating we can become more competitive and expand out skills.

To that effect I tried to build my site not only as a showcase of my work but also as a platform for all those local professionals that would like to utilize it to share ideas, work and friendship. Together we not only can work better, but we know more. Our cumulative knowledge and abilities are greater than each of us by our own and consequently we can deliver a better and more valuable product to our clients.

New and improved features

In the past few days I added several important features to the site, and other I have tried to improve. Here are some of the most recent additions:

• Free lance want ads from leading site (RSS feed) including Craigslist
• Newsletter engine (currently either not working well or caught by spam filter)
• Dot Project area (for eventual future collaboration)
• Form applications (for publishing forms and questionnaires on the site)
• Want ad engine Tied in to each member's profile
• Photo gallery (this should be working but I have not completely opened it to everyone)
• Portfolio area (currently there are a few sites from my past work, but any member can have their own portfolio)
• RSS Syndication for articles and such - not yet working perfectly is nevertheless a better option than newsletters

These new features are in addition to the existing areas most of you have already experienced, such as:

• User Forum
• Private community area
• Community list
• User profiles
• Publishing engine - This is a CMS after all
• Site Calendar
• Directory - I have currently 3 differnt directory areas, I am trying to find the best one.

Coming soon I will also try to implement:

• Project area for online collaboration (using the DOt project open source project management system - a beta is already on the site but this would be geared toward Coop members. Since I sell hosting I can install it for everyone interested)
• Instant messenger link
• Evite or similar invitation system for meetings and such
• Google Maps API for member's locations - This one is a royal headache. I actually had to suspend development because it worked sporadically.

And many other features that are currently hidden behind administrative privileges but that I'll be happy to open to others as needed.

I need your help

Speaking of which, I want to touch on the important part of this newsletter: I need volunteers to work with me at making this site a reality.

Your involvement need not be extensive, but it is clear that without compelling content and a little help managing the site our embryonic community is destined to be stillborn. Some of the features need some testing before they can be opened to widespread use, others need someone to own the area outright. Most of all, we need the willingness to make the site useful and compelling, with articles, forum traffic, links to member's sites, etc.

Community involvement and leadership

I believe every community needs a leader, at least for the beginning stages. Because this is my site for now, obviously I am it. However, my goal is to involve others, even on a rotational basis, in the near future. But as long as the burden of organizing the site is mine I would like to invite all of you to do the following:

• If you haven't done so already, visit the site and introduce yourself
• If you would like to have your portfolio and your company information on the site, let me know and I will place your work in the portfolio area and give you one page to advertise your services
• I would also like everyone to have a permanent ad in the classifieds area (connected to your profile and the portfolio). If you like I will create a category for that purpose.
• Create a Sacramento "clearing house" of services. I can open up and advertise the classified area on Craigslist and other venues to have employers and clients visit the site were they will find a roster of local talent to hire. This may take a while to establish but I think it would be a nice thing to have.

A very important step would be to meet in person. I can offer my home for the purpose (I live close to downtown) and I'll be happy to cook some Italian food for everyone. Call me at 916-920-9529 or This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it if interested. Also, you can IM me at: conticreative (MSN Live and Yahoo - usually I am on MSN)

 Thank you for your patience and i hope to see you again at the site. Soon I will place another ad and I would like to keep in touch with the many people that contacted me in person. It's up to us to make the community a reality but I can only do it with your continuing help.