How do I add my picture to blog comments and contacts?
This is a question that has been put to me a few times, both in person and online. In my opinion, adding a picture is another tool in the marketing box. Here’s why it’s worth doing, and how to do it.Adding your image when you can is an excellent branding opportunity. It can appear wherever you make comments, and in other situations too, and provides more of a personal touch than a business logo.You may have noticed that many blogs now include an image, or “avatar” (wikipedia explanation), displayed next to the comments made by a blogging individual. The avatar is usually a picture of that actual person.Avatars are increasingly being used in a variety of ways: by many forums, on social networking websites and in email systems. In addition, most modern mobile phones can download avatars into contact lists so that, when you call someone, your image will be shown on screen.You can achieve these same marketing effects yourself by using the website Gravatar. This stands for Globally Recognized Avatar. All you have to do is sign up and upload your image, which is then linked to your email address. The net result is that whenever you subsequently make a blog comment/forum post using your email address, your gravatar is automatically uploaded for you. It’s easy and the service is free of charge.
If you have not already seen it, this is my current gravatar:
