How To Create An Avatar
In today’s fast paced social media world it is extremely important to create your own online brand to make you stand out from the crowd.
Part of that online brand is your personal avatar that appears when you leave comments on other peoples blogs.
You want to make your Avatar easily recognizable and business like, without being too stuffy or putting on airs.
Additionally, to get the most out of your social branding, you want to make sure to use the same or similar Avatar on the different social media sites and when you blog.
<——————————————- You don’t want to do is be this guy!
Whatever you do, don’t sport this Grey Ghost of an Avatar when you post online.
People don’t join companies, comp. plans, products or opportunities, “They Join You.” What type of chance do you think you have of convincing people to join your business if you’re not serious enough about your business to have a personal avatar?
We live in an extremely fast paced and judgmental world. Many times, the first impression is the only chance you have. What type of impression do you think you give other marketers, potential customers and prospects with a plain jane, generic avatar?
The whole goal of having your own business, is to create more leads, drive more traffic, recruit more prospects and expand your business. You need to create a Brand, & stand apart from the crowd.
Bottom Line, You need to Have Your Own Recognizable Avatar or Gravatar.
Gravatar stands for a “Globally Recognized Avatar.” According to Automattic, the parent company for WordPress and Gravatar, “Your Gravatar is an image that follows you from site to site appearing beside your name when you do things like comment or post on a blog. Avatars help identify your posts on blogs and web forums. . . “
Look at these two comments.
Which one do you think is more likely to be accepted? I’m not talking about the green color, that’s because that one was a response to a comment on my blog. I’m talking about the difference in the appearance between the gray ghost and the picture.
Which one appears more professional. Which one makes a better impression on you? If you were the blogger, which one would you rather have on your blog? The one with the picture or Gravatar, right?
Ok, enough about what you have to do. Let’s get to how to create a personal avatar or Gravatar.
1. Go to http://www.Gravatar.com
2. Click on the button that says “Get Your Gravatar Today.”
3. Fill In Your email address.
4. Go to your email and click the activation link.
5. Go back to Gravatar and create your User Name.
6. Check to see if it’s available, if not choose another one.
7. Set your password
8. Click Sign Up.
9. Select your email address or you can add another email.
10. Click Ad image.
11. A Separate Panel Pops up. Choose where you’d like to get your image from and click it.
12. Click the browse button.
13. Locate the picture you want to use.
14. Click Next.
15. Next Crop Your Picture using the Dotted Box.
16. Use the 
and 
Keys to move the box up and down.
17. When your satisfied, click crop and finish.
18. Choose your Gravatar Rating. I would suggest checking the G rating or your Gravatar won’t appear on a lot of sites.
19. Go back to your email and find the activation email.
20. Open the email and click on the activation link.
21. Go back to Gravatar.
22. Check to confirm the email.
23. Check and confirm your photo.
24. You have the option to have as many different Gravatar’s as you have email’s. If you want to create more than one, just repeat the process.
25. Now, log into your WordPress blog.
26. Look on the Dashboard. If everything worked, you’ll see your Gravatar in your dashboard.
27. Now Your Gravatar will show up whenever you leave a comment.
28. If you can’t see your Gravatar in your dashboard, then you need to check to see if Avatars are turned on:
a. Go to Settings;
b. Click Discussion;
c. Scroll down until you see Avatar;
d. Check to see if the button is clicked for Avatar;
e. if yes, everything should work. If not check the button to activate your Gravatar.
Now you have a professional looking Gravatar. Now go out there and Brand Yourself by leaving a lot of Quality Comments on Relevant Sites.
Be sure to comment frequently. Let people know you’re out there. Post intelligent well thought out comments and people will take notice. In no time you’ll be driving quality traffic back to your site.
I recommend that you go over and check out my friend Rob Lindquist’s blog at http://RobLindquist.net
He’s an expert at Attraction Marketing and his site has excellent posts that will help you solve your problems and build your business. Additionally, since this post is about creating Avatars/Gravatars to Brand Yourself, look at how Rob uses his picture in his Signature and elsewhere on his site. You can learn a lot from Rob, I suggest you go check him out.
If you like the post, if you would do me a favor and click some of the social media buttons, facebook like, twitter,digg etc.
Also, be sure to leave comments or questions as well. Leave me a message if you’ve created a cool Gravatar and show it off. If you haven’t got a Gravatar yet, go create one, leave me a message that you just created one and I’ll add your comment in.
P.S. To find out more about how to use blog commenting to increase your SEO, Brand Yourself, Create Leads and Drive More Traffic back to your sites click on the links below.
How To Use Blog Commenting To Create Free Leads and Drive Traffic
{ 21 comments… read them below or add one }
This is a great information! Thanks for sharing.. This will come in handy someday..
Hi Raven,
Hope the info helps and hope to see your new Gravatar real soon!
Nice one, John! I love Gravatar – helps with branding online.
I just bookmarked this post! Good info.
Mike Massie recently posted..Best Network Marketing Companies
Great info. Is it possible to intergrate Gravator on my website?
Hello Anne,
Yes, you can add a Gravatar to your site. Many people do it by including it in their signatures. Here’s a link to a youtube video showing how to do it.
How to Create A Gravatar
Hope it helps. If you have other questions, let me know.
Hi Mike,
Nice to see you again. Your exactly right, Gravatar is excellent at helping you brand yourself online. And for all of you reading this, Mike is an Excellent Blogger and Marketer. I suggest you go check out his blog at Check Out My Friend Mike’s Blog
Hey Mike,
Thanks. Nice to see you here again. You’re right Gravatar is great for Personal Branding. To attract followers and build your brand everyone needs a Gravatar.
I think what amazes me the most is how many people don’t use it. Thanks for the write up you reminded me to go and update the image I’m currently using. I’ve changed it every where else but on gravatar. I think it’s an excellent service for bloggers when it comes to online branding.
bbrian017 recently posted..The Blog Engage Weekly Top User for October 14th 2011 is…
Hello Brian,
Your right. Gravatar is so easy to use and makes a world of difference when posting on the web. Glad the post helped. Feel free to stop by again and leave more comments.
Thanks for sharing this. I just want to make a gravatar but never knew enough about it. So thanks and keep on the good work!
Hello Peter,
Glad to help. Next time you come back to comment, I’m expecting to see your new Gravatar.
I also use gravatar to post comments on others blogs. So everyone knows when I comment on a blog even without seen my name. The gravatar is common in every website. You explained it well and it will help all the bloggers to make their gravatar easily. Good info.
Thanks. Gravatars can make all the difference between a comment being accepted or not, as well as personally branding you.
Hello John, I just wanted to thank you for this post. I have sent it to friends in need.
To your continued success…
Hi
I just joined a network marketing business and I rubbish at it already.Please I need help on how to promote my business online. Thank you.
Hello Francisca,
First of all, use the info in this post to create an avatar. Then you can take a look at the number of posts I have about how to create free leads. That should get you started. If you have more questions just ask.
Hello Jeffery. Thanks for promoting my blog. Welcome. I was just on your blog. Very nice, you’ve done a great job creating content and value. Feel free to come back anytime.
Great post. Thanks for sharing. More bloggers could benefit from reading your post.
Thanks Stacy. I’m glad you liked it. Stop by again.
If we want to promote our product as a brand than we should surely use avatar as our online identity so that people can remember us with our picture (avatar). But how to create a unique avatar that people can remember is other part of the game and you explain it very well even a small point.
Its very informative and valuable post for me. thank you so much for it sharing.
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