Why You Are Losing Out Without A Gravatar (And How to Create One)

• Tweet
• Share
• Sharebar

• Tweet
• Share

My previous post talked about why i prefer less traffic as i hate spamming comments. Under the comment section, Steve Scott‘s comment brings out one important point with spammers, that is they normally don’t have an avatar. He mentioned people who include avatar are considered “real” people while spammers do not. From what i have noticed, even bloggers who have a decent blog do not have avatars.

I am very surprised until now people are still giving Gravatar a miss. Come on, it’s not that difficult to set up one (I will show you how to create one later in this post). Maybe you are shy in nature. Well, you don’t have to include your photo if you do not want to. You can use a picture to reflect what your blog is all about. We are talking about branding here. It’s time to get one if you do not have.

What is a Gravatar?

First lets understand what is a Gravatar. Gravatar stands for globally recognized avatar. It is an image which associate with your email address and follows you whenever you are making a comment or posting on your blog. An example is my Gravatar you can find below.

As you can see, that is the picture i am using when i comment in my own blog or other blogs as long i am using the same email address. An image tells a thousand words and a little Gravatar is going to make a big difference. If you are still not convinced why you should get a Gravatar, this is why.

Why you are losing out without a Gravatar

If you are serious in building a successful online venture, then having a Gravatar is all part of the game. You are losing on four areas if you are not willing to get one.

• You won’t be consider as comment spammers

More and more bloggers are seeing commentators without a Gravatar as one who publish spam comments. Steve Scott has mentioned that in his comment to my previous post. Mavis Nong is also giving a shout in her recent post, requesting people to use a Gravatar if they want to feature in her blog.

Of course there are others who are spammers but also having a Gravatar. At least having yours will give you more pros than cons. You won’t receive the death sentence without giving a chance to tell who you are.

• It is associated with your branding

Part of our blogging mission is to create our own online brand and this is what Gravatar can help you with. As a blogger, you know branding is important to your success. You are easily recognizable when you leave a comment in other blogs. It is especially essential when you are leaving a comment in a A-list blog flooded with comments.

Not only you need to stand out with a valuable comment but a Gravatar that brings out who you are tells people about your site and what does it brings to them. Just imagine your name is John, out of a seas of “John” how can the blog owner recognize you if you don’t have a Gravatar.

• Having a Gravatar encourages relationship

If you have no branding image means there is no identity from you. There isn’t any people who is willing to develop an online relationship with you. I constantly see some familiar faces in my comments and immediately recognize who they are.

I tend to be more willing to check out their site as they give me the “real” feeling they are human.

• It increases credibility

What is credibility? Credibility is the quality of power to inspire belief and trust. Gaining people’s trust in the blogosphere can be a tricky task. You need to provide lots of value to show your authority on the subject. An empty image accompany your valuable comment does not increase your credibility at all. It diminishes your authority on the topic.

Are you convinced to get one now? I can only think of the benefits and you have plenty to lose if you are still hesitating in getting one. I wonder how many of you do not know how to create your own avatar. If you google it, there is a lot of information you can find. Nevertheless, I will show you how to get yours below.

How to create your own Gravatar

First go to en.gravatar.com home page and you will see the page as below.

Click “Get your Gravatar today”.

Enter the email address you desire in the box and click “Signup”. A welcome message will be send to your email address. Click the link provided to activate the account.

Enter your “Username” and “Password” and click “Signup”.

By now, you are just one step away from creating your own avatar. You avatar is still a default image. Click “Add one by clicking here” to add the image you want to use. After you have upload your image, you can crop your image. Click “Crop & Finish” to confirm your image.

Choose the rating you want and click the button accordingly.

Congratulations, you have your own Gravatar and ready to create an exposure for your blog brand.

You should get a Gravatar now

For people who has a decent blog, i strongly encourage you to get your Gravatar today. If the spam comments problem is getting serious day after day, one day you will find all your comments deleted by blog owner just because you don’t have a Gravatar. Don’t bet against that happening.

Do you have your own Gravatar?

If not, why are you not getting one?

Please leave a comment to discuss about it.

Please Help to Share This Post

I appreciate your kindness if you can share this post making use of the share buttons on top, below or at the side. Alternatively, any retweeting or stumble of the post is helpful to my blog growth. Thank you very much for doing so. I look forward to see you soon.

Cheers.

If you like this article, you may also like:

1. How To Create A Sticky Blog Post To Glue Your Visitors