See, I noticed when we started this blog that whenever Thad added a comment to a blog post on here a little pic appeared next to it.

All I got was this faceless dull silhouette. Can’t have that.

So, I dug around WordPress searching in vain for somewhere to upload my super cool image. No such luck. AND Thad wouldn’t tell me how to do it… gave me some bull about health & safety issues.

Anyway, I foiled him. And I’ve noticed a few of our regular commentators like Jay (kpfingaz) from Wealthy Affiliate and an ANC member had done the same.

What you need is a Gravitar.

What is a Gravatar? Well, first it’s free, so no worries there.

“A gravatar, or globally recognized avatar, is quite simply an image that follows you from site to site appearing beside your name when you do things. Avatars help identify your posts on blogs and web forums, so why not on any site?

Signing up for a gravatar.com account is FREE, and all that’s required is your email address. Once you’ve signed up you can upload your avatar image and soon after you’ll start seeing it on gravatar enabled sites!”

So, why should you even bother?

Recognition and branding… that’s why.

This does not just apply to the IM niche either. If you want to recognised as an authority in your niche it helps if you are… well… recognised.

So, if you pop up in forums in your niche, on other people’s blogs, on Squidoo lenses… keep your image consistent.

A Gravitar allows you to do that on enabled sites like a WordPress blog.

You don’t have to use a real photo but I would recommend it. But then I am a bit of a looker.

You can sign up for a Gravatar here

Your Gravatar is associated with the e-mail address you signed up with. And whenever you add that e-mail address, when submitting a comment on an enabled site, your pic pops up.

So, if you multiple ‘identities’ in different niches, then you can have a different pic for each one provided you also use seperate e-mail addresses.

The new report and video uses Google’s Ajax Feed API which we are now using on the Member site and on the ANC Blog.

You can see it in action here.

Step by step instructions are included on how to use the API in the new report and video which is available NOW from the member’s area.

Google’s Ajax Feed API is not only stable, it’s super cool, highly flexible, can be used in any niche and is sooooo easy to set up.

Enjoy!

PS. ANC Members can also fully rebrand the report and change ALL the affiliate links in the report to their OWN links.

I’ve just added the first of my FREE Tutorial Lenses over at Squidoo. It’s on ‘Niche Research‘ and you can check it out here:-

Niche Research Tips | Niche Reaper Lenses

Head on over there and let me know what you think, get voting, join in the fights…

More to come…

The next one will be on ‘Article Marketing‘…

And then I’ll work my way through the list. So, don’t forget to keep voting on the ‘home’ Niche Marketing Reaper lens for what you want to see next…

AND there’s still a girlie heading our ‘Guru’ list on there! Our Grim friend ain’t happy, he ain’t happy one bit. LOL!

Maybe this will pacify him…

Even if you haven’t, don’t sweat it, and there are no real major changes at all… more changes in the way we as marketers should be using it.

In a nutshell most people (and there are 175,000,000 of them) use Facebook to communicate with their friends, family, work friends, etc. And that’s what you should do… on your personal account.

If you want to use it for marketing set up a seperate page or group for that. But which one…

Well a group is more like a forum, so Thad and I could set up one for Affiliate Marketing but we’re not gonna do that.

Instead we are gonna set up a page (in fact Thad set it up month’s ago) for the AffiliateNicheClub.

We’re then gonna invite you to become ‘fans’. LOL! I know I hate the terminology but that’s what they use.

I’ll post up the link to our new Fan Club as soon as Thad reminds me of the log-in details.

I’ll apologise here and now for using my personal account for marketing to my Facebook friends in the past.

AND I’ll apologise here and now because I’m gonna be deleting many of you as friends from my personal account unless I really do know you personally. I hope you understand why…

No wonder my boys would never go near my Facebook account… it was full of ANC stuff… they know what I do and think it’s cool but they are only interested in my personal stuff. Get it!?

On top of Des’ great Squidoo guides I’ve just pointed you at on the post below, I now have the pleasure of telling you about a great FREE Squidoo guide from the one and only PotPieGirl of OneWeekMarketing fame.

Not only is PPG (Jennifer) an ANC member, she’s also a great friend and superb teacher.

This guide will get you started ‘step-by-step’ on how to create a great Squidoo lenses!

(Errrr… like our very own Niche Marketing Reaper lens. )

So, don’t delay…

Grab Your FREE Copy of PotPieGirl’s Squidoo 101 Here!

If you haven’t checked it out yet, head on over here and do so now because I’ve added some really cool additions.

First, I’ve added a genuine pucker Opt-in form right there on the lens. You can’t do that, right? Well you can if you’ve got friends like mine…

A Wealthy Affilate buddy of ours and ANC Member called Des showed me the ropes and, even better than that, he’s produced a great FREE guide on how to do it!

Download a copy of Des’ ‘Add an Opt-in’ Guide here!

And if you scan Niche Marketing Reaper closely you’ll also spot that I’ve added some of those Clickbank HopAds to the lens. (The ones I told you about a couple of posts back.)

Again, Des had a guide on how to do that and it’s available NOW for AffiliateNicheClub members in the members area.

But it would be a bit churlish not to let our blog readers have access to it as well. So for a limited time only you can grab this guide from Des himself…

Grab a copy of Des’ ‘Add HopAds’ Guide here!

These are both great additions to your lenses so get cracking and enjoy!

Check out Niche Marketing Reaper here!

It’s all just for fun (and donates to ‘Big Cat Rescue’… what else? LOL!)

It’s an ‘Affiliate Marketing’ fun lens and you can vote for your favourite (or least favourite) AM video or ‘Guru’ or even add your own faves. Fancy a flame war? Fire away.

And there is a (semi) serious side to it. There’s an option on there that you can vote for and ask us to do a lens on a specific aspect of Affiliate Marketing.

If you’re especially nice, we might just do one! Well, I do have to go to the pub now and again you know.

Check the lens out here and give us your feedback and votes!

If you are promoting the ‘Magic of Making Up‘ (by TDub… alias you know who) stick this on your blog, lens or site…

Went to a ‘rock concert’ last night. My nephew was playing the drums to that very song. He’s only 11 and I’ll tell you what. I’m gonna get him to sign the ticket and I’ll get a set of drum sticks off him.

Awesome!!

But we ALL know what’s coming right? And at ANC we are doing everything we can to help point you into those recession proof areas. (Oops! Even I daren’t use the the ‘D’ word now. LOL!)

Anyway, spotted an interesting article in the UK’s Daily Telegraph Business section a couple of days back. I’ve copied it below (I hope they don’t mind.):-

Businesses fail to grasp website search opportunities

Almost one in five small businesses remain invisible to their customers on the internet despite significant progress in the use of websites in the last three years, a poll suggests.

Fasthosts Internet, a website hosting company which conducted the research, said the percentage of business sites that are invisible to search engines like Yahoo and Google has improved from 49pc in 2006 to 17pc this year.

But the company found that one in three firms had not done anything to make their websites attractive to search engines, which would improve their chances of appearing near the top of a search query by a potential customer.

Many felt unable to try to do it themselves and believed hiring out help would be too costly.

Despite this, more than two thirds of the 400 small firms polled said that they thought consumers did rely on search results to find online retailers.

Steve Holford, Fasthosts’ marketing officer, said: “No business today can afford to neglect its position within search engines. In learning the basics of how internet search works, a business owner will appreciate what a powerful impact it can make on their sales function.”

Richard Tyler (That’s a direct link to the article.)

Mmmmm… makes you think doesn’t it?

As Affiliate Marketers (even if you haven’t been in the game for very long) I guarantee that YOU know way more than the average small business person on how to get listed, and listed on the front page, of Google and Yahoo.

So, there’s an opportunity here. The last thing any business should be doing at the moment is cutting back on marketing (although some may require convincing) so why not check out some local businesses in your area. Have they even got a website? How well is it optimised? Would a PPC or article campaign help them? What about some Social Marketing (Twitter, Facebook, etc)?

Could YOU help them?

OK, it’s not affiliate marketing but it’s another potential income stream. Think about it… I know I am and I know Thad has recently done some (paid) PPC work for a friend of his.

You may need to knock on doors… you may need to do a couple for free to build up a reputation… get some credibility… get testimonials…

Worth a try? I think so!

Travis Sago (BumMarketingMethod) has often been asked in the Wealthy Affiliate forum what he would do if he was starting out again / needed some quick cash / Google delevered an almighty big slap / etc. And the above is pretty much always his answer.

Like I said… think about it…

PS. There’s a great cartoon in the Telegraph as well by Alex… here’s a sample:-

]]> http://affiliatenicheclub.com/blog/2009/02/12/diversify-in-a-depression/feed/ 7 http://affiliatenicheclub.com/blog/2009/01/21/recession-marketing-a-change-of-emphasis/ http://affiliatenicheclub.com/blog/2009/01/21/recession-marketing-a-change-of-emphasis/#comments Wed, 21 Jan 2009 22:54:12 +0000 DaveB http://affiliatenicheclub.com/blog/?p=231 Hmmm…. I watched TV the other night… I do now and again. Mainly the news but occassionally more cheerful stuff.

Anyway, before I wander off on a tangent, what struck me was not the programme I was watching (a crappy sitcom) but the adverts in between…

Three in particular…

One from one of our major supermarket chains here in the UK, Asda.

The emphasis of the advert was all about how their staff are being encouraged to come up with ideas to save money. They even show a ‘worker’ going round turning off all the lights in the warehouse… to save money… a couple of other things as well but it was all about how Asda are looking at ways to save money to pass on those savings to us as consumers…

Next, was an advert from one of our major High Street banks, Nat West. Now, the less said about Banks the better but they are now employing people in branches not to sell you anything (OK, no sniggering at the back. LOL!) but to advise people on how they can save money on all manner of things such as changing their power supplier, etc.

The third was from a holiday firm. Traditionally, in the UK, a cold and bleak January is the time they show us that glimpse of sun, sand and sangria. But the emphasis of the ad was as much about how the holiday company, Thompson was protected by ABTA. An insurance scheme that compensates you should you lose your holiday (or get stranded abroad) if the travel company goes bust.

All three examples represent a major shift in marketing… a shift to recession marketing.

A shift we as Affiliate Marketers need to take on board and focus on…

Our FREE Bailout Bonanza report focuses on this so if you haven’t already grabbed a copy do so now by just signing up on the right. (You’ll also get our free sample niche report.)

We’ve already started focusing on recession marketing within the ANC members area and will continue to do so… so grab the free reports and then check out ANC now.

The times they are a changing…