See, I noticed when we started this blog that whenever Thad added a comment to a blog post on here a little pic appeared next to it.

All I got was this faceless dull silhouette. Can’t have that.

So, I dug around WordPress searching in vain for somewhere to upload my super cool image. No such luck. AND Thad wouldn’t tell me how to do it… gave me some bull about health & safety issues.

Anyway, I foiled him. And I’ve noticed a few of our regular commentators like Jay (kpfingaz) from Wealthy Affiliate and an ANC member had done the same.

What you need is a Gravitar.

What is a Gravatar? Well, first it’s free, so no worries there.

“A gravatar, or globally recognized avatar, is quite simply an image that follows you from site to site appearing beside your name when you do things. Avatars help identify your posts on blogs and web forums, so why not on any site?

Signing up for a gravatar.com account is FREE, and all that’s required is your email address. Once you’ve signed up you can upload your avatar image and soon after you’ll start seeing it on gravatar enabled sites!”

So, why should you even bother?

Recognition and branding… that’s why.

This does not just apply to the IM niche either. If you want to recognised as an authority in your niche it helps if you are… well… recognised.

So, if you pop up in forums in your niche, on other people’s blogs, on Squidoo lenses… keep your image consistent.

A Gravitar allows you to do that on enabled sites like a WordPress blog.

You don’t have to use a real photo but I would recommend it. But then I am a bit of a looker.

You can sign up for a Gravatar here

Your Gravatar is associated with the e-mail address you signed up with. And whenever you add that e-mail address, when submitting a comment on an enabled site, your pic pops up.

So, if you multiple ‘identities’ in different niches, then you can have a different pic for each one provided you also use seperate e-mail addresses.