My inbox is overflowing this week with questions about Ether.com, the paid calling service that I got excited about in March. The idea is that a client or blog reader can hit a button on your site, enter her credit card details and get a phone call from you right away. So is it any good? I think the short answer is "yes", but there are still a few bugs to be ironed out.
I've been doing Web 2.0 consulting via Ether since last week. As I already do consulting as a day job, this is really just about streamlining the process and making it more accessible to smaller clients. If you want to spend 30mins getting my opinion on something, it's much simpler to get an instant response via Ether than to throw emails back and forth, schedule times and take care of billing.
To my surprise, the new consulting service has been popular. Unsurpringly, a lot of the calls come from pre-launch Web 2.0 startups who want to get an outside opinion. It's easier to fix the problems before launch than to get a grilling from the blogosphere. It's also good to get a sense of what your competitors are up to. Others contact me earlier - what ideas should they invest in, what do I think of their business idea, how can they modernize their "web 1.0" site? And of course there are people and companies that want to get involved in blogging, podcasting and new media, but don't know where to start. However, I should put in the disclaimer that all of these calls are referred via Mashable, and the fact that I'm already a consultant makes Ether a good fit. The number of calls I receive is definitely above average and the vast majority of Ether users I've spoken to haven't taken a single call yet. Since Ether will do no promotion for you, it helps to have a well-trafficked blog and plenty of experience under your belt.
Overall, I think Ether is pretty neat. Most of the time, it successfully connects people from around the world and handles all the billing and scheduling for you (you can even book calls in advance, or request to be called back with a certain number of hours). Taking 15% of your wages (10% for beta testers) might sound like a lot, but it's well worth it. There's much more to say about Ether - but if you'll excuse me, I've got to take a phone call...