How To Add A Gravatar To Your Posts And Comments
If you have seen posts that have comments with the authors picture or an image other than a silhouette of a head and wondered how to do your own, this post is for you.
In my opinion it is best to use your own picture and not to hide behind an image of the devil or something. Unless of course you really are the devil.
People are more likely to associate with you if they can see your face and follow your link to your site.
It really is simple to have your own Gravatar and all you need is a picture of you and an email address.
The first thing you need to do is sign up at Gravatar.com .
Click the link to sign up and you will see a screen like this
Just enter your email address and you will be taken to a screen explaining how to confirm your email.
You will then be asked to provide an image to use as your Gravatar and there are a number of ways you can do this.
You will then be given your options for you to provide a picture.
Once you locate your image you are then asked to crop it to how you would like it to show. If it is OK as it is just click ‘Crop and Finish’
The next screen is where you rate your picture. I don’t mean that you say “great picture I am gorgeous” or “I didn’t like how the wind made me look bald”
You select one of the options shown on-screen.
On the next screen you are asked to choose an image to use for your email address. You can also add more emails if you like and also more images.
The next time you post a comment anywhere that accepts Gravatars just use the email address you signed up with and your lovely self will be there for all to see.
I know you are itching to try it out so go on comment away………
Tagged with: adding a gravatar • gravatar
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Hi Dave, that was a simple and straight forward enough mate.
I’ll just add that if people want the same Gravatar to appear on their blogs they should use the email address that is associated to their blogs, ie admin@ or whatever they’re using.
To help people get recognized online, at a glance, it’s always best to use the same photo for Gravatars as well as all of your social media sites, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and G+. This has the benefits of people recognizing us straight away and if we do this for our G+ accounts then when we +1 a post our image/photo will be displayed on google searches as well.
Hope that helps everyone see the importance of adding a photo as Dave suggested.
Thanks Dave, hope you’re well mate
Barry
Hi Barry,
Good point well put!
One other point and I think you should consider this Barry, is that you should update your photo occasionally.
It looks like you are still using one from when you were in your twenties!
Dave
Hi Dave
Great post, i shall go on over now and grab myself one,FYI the 30 Day Traffic is working great, i’ve seen a big difference in my traffic flow.Highly recommended!
Thanks again for a great post
To your continued success.
Kevin
Hi Kevin,
Thanks for the kind words.
Adding a gravatar is really easy to do but you see a lot of comments that the author doesn’t use one.
Maybe they don’t like to have their picture showing which is a shame because as you know blog commenting is a great way to attract visitors to your site and by adding a Gravatar it makes your comments more personal.
I am glad you are seeing some results with 30 Day Traffic Flow and blog commenting is one of the methods we use. I am looking at an addition to the worksheet to make it easier to track multiple blog comments.
It is important that you follow up with any comments you make or receive on your own or other peoples blogs.
Sometimes I forget to subscribe to the blog or comments feed and then when I think I will go back to see if there has been a response to my comment I can’t find it. So it is a search through my history to find it.
Dave
Good advice Dave, I wrote a post about the very same thing a while back. Marketers are missing a vital trick if they don’t use a picture of themselves for the avatar. I often see weird pictures used in forums too but it looks as if the person is hiding.
If you want to create a brand for yourself then it’s essential to have a nice picture of yourself out there wherever you can so you are recognised and people can identify with you.
Hi Sandy,
I agree wholeheartedly. It is really important to brand yourself and not to hide if you want to be taken seriously.
Dave
Hi Dave,
Great post, easy to follow and an excellent way to get some comments through the ‘try it out’ advice.
One thing I found was I needed to sign in using a previously created WordPress.com account and then add my new (preferred) email address, which avoided having to create a not so friendly username as my preferred one was already taken… by me @ WordPress.com
Barry also has a good point about the blog email address too.
Cheers,
Stefan
Hi Stefan,
As you know, you can add as many emails as you like and different photo’s too and when you comment the photo attached to the email you use will show up.
I tried finding some of when I was a bit younger but they were all in black and white.:)
Dave
Well I have attempted to create an avatar for my comments. If it worked it will show up with comment I guess. Thanks for the tip. An excellent idea.
Jenny Wren
Hi Jenny,
It looks like it worked. Now everyone can put a face to the name.
Dave
Love the post, Dave. Let’s see if it works. Thanks
Hi Kathy,
Looks like it worked fine.