Design Your Own Gravatar

Gravatar is an acronym for Globally Recognized Avatar. It is the image that follows you all over the Internet. You've seen it as the little picture that shows up next to your name if you make a comment on a blog site or forum.

In too many cases, the image that appears next to your name when you hop around the Internet is some generic graphic. You can change that gray block or weird little pic to an image that personally identifies you, and only you.

An example is the image that illustrates this post -- the JR logo I created -- that is linked to me. Any time I make a comment, that image is posted next to my identity. It's easy to create your own gravatar.

Follow me as I tell you how to create your own gravatar so you can use it to help in branding your name or product.

Get Your Own Gravatar

Visit Gravatar.com and sign up for a free account. All you need is your email address. Once you've done this, read the image size requirements. Create the image you want to use based on those parameters, and then upload the image. In mere moments, you have your Globally Recognized Avatar or Gravatar – your personal avatar.

Then register any email address you use so it will be linked to the Gravatar you created. You'll have to click the email confirmations they send for each email account, but that's all there is to the process.

Setup

You can link any number of email accounts to your gravatar. If you want to set up your sites to display gravatars when someone comments on your site, it's easy because there are plugins available for the leading blog softwares and content management systems. You can view the tutorials on Gravatar.com if you need some help along with more information about the subject.

By the way, all gravatars are rated with an MPAA style rating so you can restrict your site to show only the gravatars whose content you are comfortable with. That way you won't have any naked body parts or anything else popping up on your site that your other visitors might find offensive.

Takeaway Truth

Creating and displaying your own gravatar is just another way to brand your identity and Internet presence.