I have just worked out how to attach an image to my e-mail address for any comments I make on this blog, and pretty much any other blog or forum, so I thought I would share with you all how you can do the same.

This picture is known as an avatar. This a simple way of creating a graphical representation of yourself.

You could use a simple head shot, like I do, a photo of some faraway place, some sort of cartoon character or pretty much anything really.

Avatars are used all over the internet and are a great way for people to put their stamp on anything the write. On Facebook, for example, your avatar is known as your profile picture. This then appears against any comment you make anywhere on the site.

I am going to show you how to set up an avatar that will automatically be attached to any comment you make using your e-mail address.

A Bit Of Background

Many forums have had he ability to upload an avatar for a long time but this was a bit of an effort trying to find the appropriate image to upload to each new forum you join.

What happens if you want to update your picture? You have to go around every single forum you are a member of and upload the new picture.

This makes it pretty hard to make it obvious that comments you make in different places over the internet all come from the the same person, you. If you are trying to create a name for yourself than what better way to do it than to get your face all over the internet just by commenting on all the blogs and forums you are interested in.

I have recently started making the occasional comment on some of the blogs I read and noticed that there was no image appearing next to my comments.

This felt a bit unprofessional as most of the other comments have some kind of image next to them. This makes the comments stand out a bit and gives things a bit more of a personal feel.

So I set out to find how to add an image to all my comments. Being used to the old forum idea I was expecting to have to sign up to each blog and upload an image but there wasn’t anywhere to sign up?

So I started looking at my own blog which I have complete control over. This led me to a new central place to maintain your avatar which has the added bonus of allowing you to automatically update your image at multiple sites at the same time.

Globally Recognised Avatar

You can set your Globally Recognised Avatar over at gravatar.com.

Here’s a little video, from the Gravatar site, as a brief introduction:

Set Up Your Avatar

OK so now all you need to do is go and set up your avatar and post a comment below to show it off…

Image: Torley