If you have ever wondered how to get an image to appear next to the blog comments you leave – you need to go and sign up for a Gravatar. Technically known as “globally recognized avatars”, Gravatars are images associated with a particular email address. Since they are tied to your email, anytime you leave a comment on a blog that requires your email (and has gravatars enabled on their site) your image will appear next to your comment.
It’s a pretty cool way to let people easily recognize you around the web and kind of connect a bit with you when they see your image.
So how do you get a Gravatar?
The great thing about Gravatars is that they are completely free. You simply need to sign up for one and you can be up and running in a few minutes.
How to create your own Gravatar
I’ll walk you through the process here, and in a few minutes – you’ll have your very own!
- Visit Gravatar.com and choose “Get Your Gravatar Today“
- Enter the primary email address that you want to associate your image with
- Create or upload the picture that you want to use (recommended size is 80px by 80px). If it’s larger that’s alright, because you can crop it after it’s uploaded.
- Once your image is uploaded, you will be asked to assign a rating from G (all audiences) to X (extremely graphic)
- You’re finished!
Using your Gravatar
Now that you have finished creating your gravatar, anytime you leave a comment on a site or blog that has gravatars enabled – your image will appear next to your comment. Pretty cool, isn’t it!
Anytime you want to change your image, simply log into your Gravatar account and upload a new one – and all of the blog posts you have made in the past will now reflect your new picture.
I’ve had my gravatar for about a year now, and I have to say it is pretty awesome. I like to be able to identify other bloggers and friends from just looking at their pics.
On a busy blog with a lot of comments it is much easier to scan and look for people that you know to see what they had to say.
Nice tip!