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What is Gravatar and Why You Should Care

By Jereme Thomas - January 12,2014.
Posted in: Tips

What is Gravatar?

“An ‘avatar’ is an image that represents you online—a little picture that appears next to your name when you interact with websites.

A Gravatar is a Globally Recognized Avatar. You upload it and create your profile just once, and then when you participate in any Gravatar-enabled site, your Gravatar image will automatically follow you there.

Gravatar is a free service for site owners, developers, and users. It is automatically included in every WordPress.com account and is run and supported by Automattic.”

Via – https://en.gravatar.com/support/what-is-gravatar/

The official explanation from Gravatar.com is actually very sufficient. Straightforward and simple. Sometimes people get carried away with explaining what a service or tool is, but the above is perfect. No need to paraphrase this one.

Why You Should Care?

So now that you understand what a Gravatar is why should you care? If you are trying to build a brand or establish a business the person or people behind the brand or business is critical. Customers like to understand who they are working with and if they can trust them. This is especially true for small businesses who do not have the luxury of having a household name like Walmart, Samsung, or Ford.

A Gravatar allows for a simple way to put a face to a name. This will allow you to start establishing your online profile for your name, brand, or business. To get started you first sign up for a free account at Gravatar.com. Then upload the picture you would like to use. Add your email address to your account and assign a picture to your email. If you have multiple emails (who doesn’t these days!) add those as well. This way no matter what email address you use your picture will be tied to all of them.

Now when you use your email address on a site or application which supports Gravatar your picture will automatically be shown. A ton of popular sites like WordPress.com and Blog.com support Gravatar. They also have an easy to use API for using their service in custom applications.

Examples

Image of the default Gravatar icon.

See my profile picture below? That is my Gravatar image. You may be wondering what happens if you use your email address on a Gravatar enabled website but do not have an account? In most cases the default “blank” profile will be displayed. Similar to the one shown here on the right:

If you have any questions about Gravatar or how to start establishing your brand and growing your business contact us and I will be glad to help.


About Jereme Thomas

Jereme is the SEO Specialist and lead Programmer for Frogmo SEO and Web Development. With a degree in Management Information Systems and more than 12 years of experience in technology, he has the technical skills to set up, program, and maintain any website. His constant desire to learn has led him to expand his expertise to internet marketing and search engine optimization. Jereme’s skills and abilities play an integral part in getting clients’ websites noticed.

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