Help for authors timid about technology
Have you ever noticed how some people’s photo’s appear next to their comments and others do not?
In this post you will learn how to get your avatar to show up automatically when you leave a blog comment or forum post.
What is an Avatar?
Avatars are the small photos that represent you online. Most authors use their author photo as their avatar.
Why Bother?
Having an avatar next to your name helps you look more professional and can boost traffic to your website.
How to Setup Your Universal Avatar
These steps take about 5 minutes and will save you tons of time in the long tun.
- Step #1 Go to Gravitar.com
- Step #2 Click sign up now!
- Step #3 Type in your email address and click sign up. Gravatar uses your email address to link your avatar with your comment.
- Step #4 Check your email and click the activation link.
- Step #5 Pick a nickname and password. Only lowercase letters and numbers allowed for the username.
- Step #6 Add an image by clicking “Add one by clicking here.” Gravitar can grab images from your computer, your webcam, and the internet.
- Step #7 Click “My Computer’s hard drive” to select a photo from your computer.
- Step #8 Choose file and find the photo you want to use on your computer.
- Step #9 Crop the photo. This is fun and fairly self explanatory. Then click “G” for your rating.
- Your done! Now your comments on blogs and forums around the world will have your avatar.
Did it work?
Feel free to test your avatar by leaving a comment below.
Tweetables
- I just got my avatar to show up EVERYWHERE. Thanks, @AuthorMedia! – Click to tweet.
- Get your avatar to show up everywhere on the internet. – Click to tweet.
- Ever wondered how to get your picture next to your comments? – Click to tweet.
- So simple! Get your avatar to show up everywhere. – Click to tweet.
- Wish I had done this years ago! Get your avatar to show up everywhere. – Click to tweet.
Thanks for posting this~ I gave this a try months ago without success and have suffered the heartbreak of Gravatar Envy ever since
Was easy to add my avatar via the Gravatar site. Thnx 4 the help!
Your Comments
Sorry — Trying again to say thanks! Apparently my Gravatar is smarter than I am.
I have never heard of Gravatar and I already love it!
Nice post. Thanks for the info.
Thanks. This was interesting and helpful. You’ve got a lot of good info here. I look forward to returning.
Easy! Thanks…
Hey Thomas –
You taught me how to do Skype and Gravatar all in one day. Now on to Tweetie!
Did it work? What is this that a comment can be too short?
Testing
Testing
Avatar. 1-2 1-2 screeeech!
Working?
Let’s see if this works…
Testing … 1-2-3 … Testing
The process was easy… testing….
Hopefully it works this time around.
thank you thank you, this is very helpful.
thanks for the great tips
Thanks for letting me try. Does it work???
nice article…lets test it out!
This is a great timesaver..thanks!
That was helpful. Thanks.
My recent post I AM with You
Totally not sure how this works. Crossing my fingers here!
Thanks, Thomas! Was just wondering about this and hadn’t yet had a chance to start poking around to see how to get the avatar on blog comments. So glad to see your post on this very topic today!
Excellent, simple and clear instruction – thanks!
My recent post Setting Up Your Blog Part 2 – Installing WordPress Initial Setup
Test.
Alright lets see if this works.
My recent post What Made Ronald Reagan The Great Communicator
testing avatar
Thank you – just the information I needed!
testing…
testing….
Thanks for the tips!
test
I hope that this worked
Very helpful….thank you!
Let's try this again…
Let's see if this works.
My recent post Adventures in Thumper-Think: The End Times for Christian Politics
Excellent, thank you for the helpful tips.
Hmmmmm, I wonder if this works.
hmmmm
Thanks for such helpful information.
Just want to see if it works
This is very nice. I wonder if this works as well…
Wow!
Thanks – i’m seeing it won’t work on other’s blogs – when i look at my gravitar account i see i’ve rated it G
but, when i go to the gravitar page where it shows how your image looks on variously rated pages including R and X – “see how your avatar looks on variously rated pages’ it shows my actual avatar (face) as the same on all of them. I don’t go on R or X rated sites nor leave comments on them but since I rated it as G why is it showing at all on any of the examples other than G. Hope that makes sense!
eg it’s not showing up on another photographers blog where i made a comment (think it’s the first time i’ve made a comment on someone’s blog – no actually i did make one other through my Google+ account and it did show up when I commented on another G+).
Shane
Shane,
I think the issue is whether that blog has Gravitar enabled. Most WordPress blogs have gravatar but not all other blog platforms fully support the service. The best way to test it is to go to WordPress.com and leave some comments and see if you can see your photo.
test.
thank you for sharing with us, I think this website really stands out : D.
Test
Still can’t get mine to work on Facebook. Works on my page but not when I comment on other people’s pages? Any idea what I need to do?
Oh, forgot to put my website page! See above.
Ureka!
Just read how to have a universal avatar. Hope it works!
It worked! Thanks a million, Thomas!
Taking my avatar out for a test drive.
Comment / Avatar test. Hello and thanks for the how-to!
Avatar test. Thanks.
Testing…1 -2 -3 testing!
Thanks! Now… about OpenID. That drives me nuts because it never seems to work for me.
Trying this again…
Did it work?
Yes!
Just checking to see if it works
Testing, 1-2-3 …
Trying again?
Jest a test
Test #7
Test.
Test
test
OCB test
Test from Authot Media
Testing my new Gravatar
Gravatar check..thanks.
Test
test Fail
test
testing gravatar here…
testing… thank you.
Darn.
Trying again.
Hi Thomas,
Looks like it’s working for me. Thanks for all the practical help you are giving.
Best,
Jean
Testing to see if it works! Thanks!
Maybe this will work.
Thanks Thomas
Fantastic. Thank you!
Sometimes my Avatar shows up and sometimes it doesn’t. What makes the difference?
What have we got?
Thanks for the tip. Here’s my test!
Using this as a test to see if the avatar was created;. Thanks!
Let’s see if this works
This is not working for me yet. I’m not sure what I’m doing wrong. I don’t want my email available for the public to see, only my nickname. How do I associate my avatar, nickname and allow my email to remain private. Can that be done?
It worked!!! Yea!
So far I’m lovin it.
Testing my new avatar
I think it worked!
I tried and I had one from another site showing. I don’t know.
I don’t know what I did wrong.
did it work?
again!
Gravatar uses your email address to match your Gravatar so the key is to make sure Gravatar has all your email addresses setup.
So how’d that turn out?
better now?
And now?
sb ok now??
please?
now?
Verifying that I can follow interactions…
Testing…..testing…
this is only a test…
testing
testing. Thanks.
shoot. I selected PG, since I use the occasional cuss word. hope that doesn’t stop it from working on many sites.
Just checking
test
testing
Well,
Is this going to work this time? I hope so.
Nope, did not work. Try another website.
We will try once more, but my photo is scary
Never mind-it didn’t work
test
trying PG
don’t know why it failed on other sites.
Testing
Thanks, Thomas for the tips.
test
Thanks for the terrific information. I read all your blogs.
Thanks for the simple tutorial.
Testing
Testing testing!
testing!
Thanks so much. I needed this information.
hi there -this works great for me everywhere except when i try to comment on blogger based blogs. i have a gravatar, and my blog is on wordpress… so when i select “wordpress ID” from the list of “identity” choices on a blogger blog, i get this weird generic wordpress icon which i hate. any thoughts?
Hmmm…did it work?
Looks like it did! Thanks very much for this post!
test
Does it work?
test
I realize this post was generated several years ago – unfortunately when I went to Gravitar.com the site came up as the domain being available for purchase. What is the alternative to create an avatar?
Here goes!
This is a test, hope this works! If so, then THANK YOU! (if not I will just try again)
Hello,
And thanks for the excellent advice!!
testing out… I believe I signed up for one long ago, and honestly can’t remember.
I am loving this feature ~ Author of “Who FARTED in the Boardroom?!”
Let’s see if it’ll work.