Well, not exactly 200 years old, but the fledgling BumpZee affiliate marketing community launched by Scott Jangro has hit 200 members recently.

Here’s a snapshot of some member avatars:

I guess one might ask, “How’s listing yourself in the directory help generate more income?”

While it might be a realistic expectation to want to see a tangible ROI on your time in BumpZee, it might not be so ready in coming.

BumpZee is a community of affiliate marketing peers, rather than consumers, and it serves as a hub for affiliate marketing content, aggregating blog content specifically.

You know the old marketing mantra where it generally takes 7 exposures before you commit to a buying decision?

I believe on the Internet it could be as little as 5 exposures, however, the one caveat is the sheer amount of information we’re constantly bombarded with.

This “info overload” syndrome means that we need to get our names out there, whether through publising a blog, expanding our MyBlogLog community, or by participating in forums and social networking sites (hence leading to my “social traffic generation” paradigm).
Through BumpZee, I’ve become a more regular reader of:

• Carsten Cumbrowski
• Nevada desert camper Sam Harrelson
• Jim Kukral
• Wayne Porter

Being “social” only makes sense because it’ll give you a leg up in:

• Tapping on the expertise of others by learning from their experience
• Branding yourself in your chosen niche
• Facilitating the search for joint venture partners for collaborative product development and marketing efforts

I’ve found these tips to be useful in establishing your “online turf”:

• Use your first and last name. There’s only one major “Gates”, “Dell”, “Branson”, “Trump” at any one time. Unless you’re confident of constantly dominating your chosen niche, it’s easier to identify yourself by your first and last name.
• Use your photo as your avatar. For branding purposes, I know using a bikini-clad model might help recruitments for your social network, but it will ultimately hurt you if you don’t build face-to-name recognition early on. My preference is for the slower-and-organic route.
• Participation in the community. The major problem with the Dotcom crash of 2000 was that most companies spent hundreds of thousands (and millions in some cases) on their websites and left them there in the virtual wilderness to rot. I believe one of the major developments in recent years has been the evolution of SEO and traffic generation strategies. Likewise for online branding purposes, we’d need to do the equivalent of “SEO and traffic generation” for our personal brands too. This may involve visiting blogs and leaving relevant and content-rich comments, participating in forums and doing likewise, and taking note, participating in and commenting on industry trends. The “blog in the wilderness” concept doesn’t fly anymore.

Are there other strategies you’re using?