I don’t know about you, but if someone invites me to connect with them on a social networking site, such as Facebook or LinkedIn, and they don’t have their photo as their avatar, I tend to ignore them.

Either they can’t be bothered to upload their pic to the site (so why should I bother to connect with them) or they prefer to hide behind a cloak of anonymity (what else are they hiding?).

The same applies to blog comments, when it’s clear that, whatever the mechanism of the site, some people have their photo next to their comment, and others don’t. Instinctively, I think we place more trust i people’s pinions if we can actually see the person - or their photo at least.

When I posted a comment of Jim Edwards blog, I saw that a few people had their pics, but most did not, including me! That bugged me!

There seemed to be no way to register as a “member” of Jim’s blog, so I dug deeper - and discovered the “Gravatar” service (”Globally Recognised Avatar”).

Here’s how it works:

You sign up for a free account at:

http://www.IanSays.com/GetYourGravator

Just enter your primary email address on the signup page, look out for the confirmation email, hit the confirmation link, and your account has been created. Now you can upload your photo (a square image - 80 x 80 pixels is ideal) which will be associated with your primary email. You can add other email addresses and associate them with different pics if you like.

Now, whenever you post a comment on a blog which has “Gravator” activated (and a lot of them have), your pic will appear next to your comment if there is one associated with the email address you use in posting the comment.

That’s all there is to it. Simple I suggest that you go and set up your gravator right away. It will help to build your image and reputation online.

The email I mentioned in my introduction - the one which caught my eye amongst thousands of others - was from Jim “I Gotta Tell You” Edwards. I always listen when Jim has something to say. I may not always agree with him, but he talks a lot of sense.

Recently, Jim set himself the challenge of making and posting a new video to his blog each day for 30 days. Wow!

The 5-minute video he emailed me about was one of these. It has him suggesting that conventional “mini-sites” (one-page sales letters) have had their day.

What is needed, argues Jim, is more interaction between visitors - “conversation pages” is the phrase that he has coined.

It’s a concept only. Jim doesn’t suggest how this can be done. Instead, he invited comments on the blog.. and very interesting reading these comments make - along with Jim’s reply to each and every one of them.. a true conversation.

Watch the short video, and read the comments, here:

http://www.IanSays.com/AreMiniSitesDead

Of course, I’ve chipped in my 2c worth

Green energy and energy conservation are HOT topics right now!

Energy costs are soaring, and more and more people are concerned about the environment.

These issues affect everyone!

If you only get this report to use yourself, you’ll get scores of ideas on how you can cut costs and save energy in your home and car.

You’ll learn about “passive cooling”, about using sunlight (and not just for solar panels), about how to plug “electricity leaks” and how you can “ride a bicycle” - in your car!

This brand-new 67-page report is full of ingenious ways that you can cut your energy costs. And please pass on the ideas (not the report!) to your friends and family. They’ll thank you for your help and concern.

You can pick up this low-cost report from here:

http://www.IanSays.com/NicheReport/GreenIdeas

Resale Rights to the report are available, along with an audio version - ideal for your iPod or playing in the car.

The Resale Rights include a superb set of sales, order and download pages, ready for you to plug in your payment provider and personal details. With the Resale Rights, you’ll easily and quickly get back the very modest purchase price.

I’m grateful to top internet marketer, Patrick Chan, for drawing my attention to this. I’d completely forgotten about it.

Google provides a lot of help and advice for webmasters in a variety of ways - such as their website optimizer or their webmasters tools (Google these to find them!)

But just over a couple of years ago, they produced an excellent 22-page PDF report, the “Search Engine Optimization Guide”. You can download a copy from here:

http://www.IanSays.com/Google/SEOGuide

I suggest that you get a copy, print it out, and then start to look at any websites you have to see if you can improve them in the light of the advice in this report.

It’s also worth keeping your eye on the Google blog where this report was published:

http://www.IanSays.com/Google/WMBlog

.. and, from time to time, hang around in Google’s Webmaster Central Forum:

http://www.IanSays.com/Google/WMForum

You can learn one heck of a lot from these resources.

Incidentally, I stumbled across the “Google Not Perfect” site whilst browsing an internet marketing news and forum site I’ve just discovered - Sphinn.

This is a site where you can simply “lurk” and read the articles and tips (some of which are very good) or you can jump in and participate - voting on articles, contributing material and participate in the forums.

It’s also a bit of a social networking site with “friends”, followers and so on.

To get the most from this site, you should really register as a member - it’s f’ree. My “handle” is “TheWebmaster”.. of course! See what you think:

http://www.IanSays.com/GoForASphinn

One of the most common “bad mindsets” which plagues many people (and not just internet marketers) is the so-called “Butterfly Mind”. A person afflicted with this acts like a butterfly, flitting from one attractive flower to another (another project, the latest “how-to” idea, etc).

The result is that nothing is completed, nothing is achieved.

This is such a dangerous state of mind that I’ve renamed it the “Mosquito Mind”. Mosquitoes are nastier critters than butterflies! Quite a while ago, I wrote an article about this problem:

http://www.IanSays.com/MosquitoMind

I don’t know whether or not you’ve made any New Year’s resolutions. If not, here’s one you should definitely make. Make a promise to yourself that, once you’ve started one project, don’t undertake anything else large without either completing or completely abandoning the first project.

If you stick to this, you’ll find that you will have achieved far more than you would have thought possible.

Something a bit light-hearted! Just think - what would Google’s pristine home page look like if they had to redesign it to get good search engine rankings?

One web designer, no doubt a little hacked off about trying all the SEO techniques on his clients’ websites, put up this website to show us:

http://www.IanSays.com/PoorOldGoogle

OK, so the site is a couple of years old. But I like the style of these guys!

I have been heaping good stuff into the Members’ Area at the beginning of this month. Here’s what Club Members now have access to

• 5 Internet Marketing PLR reports / eCourses
• 4 Niche PLR reports
• A new video set - “Membership Sites Exposed!” with RR
• A new Monthly Special Report “Let’s Create An e-Commerce Site”, which has been added to each Member’s Automated Store.
• The Premium PLR Package covering the intriguing combination of blogging and affiliate marketing - and how to select good ClickBank products
• Two “download protection” scripts, with PLR
• All this, and a lot more, for an extremely low monthly subscription!

I’m accepting new Members right now! Sign up now and get immediate access to ALL the above products.. and a lot more!

http://www.PrivatePLRClub.com

Through my many email discussions with “Update” subscribers, I have come to realise that many older people don’t want to spend all their spare time working online. Heck, retirement isn’t about that!

At the same time, many seniors do want to supplement their fixed incomes by generating some revenue online.

I believe that blogging can well serve the internet marketing needs of seniors. And that’s why I’ve published this 89-page, fluff-free report, “Profitable Blogging For Seniors”.

OK, a lot of the material in the report can be useful to anyone interested in getting into blogging. But my report is specifically angled at the needs of seniors. You can get more info on my report here:

http://www.ProfitableBloggingForSeniors.com/

I’m also aware of current financial pressures on people. So I’ve priced the report at less than ten bucks. I’m not aiming to make much out of this report. I’m just trying to provide some help to my subscribers. Currently, I’m not making it available to anyone else.

That may change, however, because optionally, I’m making Resale Rights to the report available for a small extra fee. After all, seniors represent a huge and growing online market!

I’ve tried to make my sales page as free from hype as I can. I don’t like hype, and you probably don’t, either:

http://www.ProfitableBloggingForSeniors.com/

Oh, and when you log in to the Download Library (see below), you’ll find another great resource to help to take your blogging activities to a whole new level!

“Update” subscriber Bob Kimball is making a generous off’er to all other subscribers. He’s giving away Private Label Rights to a superb new link cloaker and tracker.

Over the years, I’ve looked at dozens of such systems. I currently use two myself, and I sell another system. But there’s a number of things that I particularly like about the cloaking and tracking system that Bob’s giving away:

• It runs on your web server, but it’s very easy to set up and install. It doesn’t involve setting up a MySQL database.
• Once installed, it’s quick and easy to set up a new cloaked link.
• The links can be in an email, or they can be text links or banner links on a web page or a sign-up page.
• With everything except the email link, you can measure the number of times the link / banner has been displayed, as well as the number of people who’ve used the link.
• You can change and brand the script however you like and give it away - just as Bob is doing.

The web software comes with clear instructions - and there’s also an informative report (also PLR) on the need to cloak affiliate links - and the best ways to do this.

It’s a pretty neat package and I suggest that you take Bob up on his off’er. All he wants in exchange is the usual - your name and email addy! Here’s where you can pick up this script:

http://www.IanSays.com/BobsGift

And what’s in it for me? Nothing! I’m just doing Bob - and you - a favour!