Me

Sometimes you’ll hear them called gravatars (globally recognized avatars), but many just say “avatars”.

I like to call them ADvatars since they “ad”vertise who we are.

In some ways they are like our calling card.

Since they brand us in blogosphere, it’s suggested we use the same image on all sites we frequent and that they represent how we want to be known, whether by our photo, our logo or an image which best represents us.

Today’s Lesson

Recognition online is very important.

So the questions become, “What is the best way to brand ourselves?”, and “How will others recognize us?” .

By our name? By the name of our blog? By our avatar? Or, all three?

To test what brands us the best in blogosphere, I’ve created a little game.

Listed below are three columns with the names of 20 random blog authors, the name of their blog, and their avatars.

I then scrambled each category.

To play, take time to study each list and see if you can match the author to their avatar and to the name of their blog.

Don’t cheat. Honest answers will help all of us to gain better recognition in blogosphere.

Ready to match them up?

Good Luck!

AUTHOR . . . 1) George . . . . 2) Keith Davis . . . . 3) Kelvin . . . . 4) Mandy . . . . 5) Hilary . . . . 6) Tess . . . . 7) Raul . . . . 8.) Lisa . . . . 9) Tony . . . . 10) Joella . . . . 11) Heather . . . . . 12) Linda . . . . 13) Chania Girl . . . . 14) Julie . . . . 15) Wendi . . . . . 16) John Hoff . . . . . 17) Evelyn . . . . 18) Friar . . . . 19) J.D. Meier . . . . 20) Lori Hoeck

BLOG NAME . . . Practically Intuitive . . . . Alien Ghost . . . . Heather Villa . . . . WP Blog Host/Blog . . . . Trottersville . . . . Blogs With Wings . . . . Positive Letters . . . . Mandy Allen.com . . . . Sources Of Insight . . . . Tumblemoose . . . . Puppet Kaos . . . . . Easy Public Speaking . . . Living Happiness . . . . jbulie’s blog . . . . Think Like A Blackbelt . . . . Life’s Little Inspirations . . . . Abundance Tapestry . . . The Bold Life . . . . Roses 2 Rainbows . . . . Deep Friar

AVATAR

Today’s Assignment

How did you do?

How do you recognize  fellow bloggers? Is it by their name? The name of their blog? Or their avatar?

Care to share?

.

P.S. To repeat what I mentioned in an earlier post, for those of you who haven’t added an avatar/gravatar to your profile; it’s very easy. Refer to my post titled, “How To Get and/or Add A Gravatar to Your Post Comments”. If you have any questions of need help setting up your avatar, please feel free to ask.

Want more of the game? See: How Branding Works In Blogosphere and Are Domain Names Overrated?; earlier posts in which we matched other bloggers to their avatars.

Let’s face it, people can be judgmental. They see something or someone and instantly make an assumption.

Drive a flashy sports car and it implies you have money. Live on the “wrong side of the tracks”, some people think you’re “less than”. Wear wrinkled, dirty clothes and you could be labeled as “low life”.

It’s often written we only have a short amount of time (usually seconds) to make a first impression.

But what about online? On your blog? Does the same apply?

Yes, it does.

Today’s Lesson

I often stare at my blog and ask myself if it reflects my intent, if it reflects “me”, and the message I’m trying to convey.

When I look at my header, it fits my personality. It’s nothing elaborate, not too fancy, not too flashy, actually, rather simple, but professional looking. (I think.)

The body of my blog, shows others what’s important to me.

My content takes center stage. (well it’s not in the center, but you know what I mean)

My left sidebar starts with the most recent New Blog Of The Week. (you all know I love to promote new bloggers). Next, is my answer to Digg’s front page. It lists my highly most commented posts. ( I love comments). Below that are the most recent commenters, complete with the avatar and name. (I want to promote other blog authors, too.) Below that are random posts, and my blogroll.

The right sidebar is mostly for navigation purposes. You’ll find my subscribe buttons, what my blog is about, my most recent posts, categories and the beginning of my book review section.

As you’ll notice, what’s important to me is, or starts, above the fold.

As I visit other blogs, I look and make an assumption of what’s important to them. If everything above the fold is ads, that blogger is (probably) hoping to make money from their blog. If it’s half ads, half content, that says something too, as do photographs.

Today’s Assignment

If you look at your blog through a reader’s eyes, what will your readers first impression be?

Are you are on target with how you want your online presence portrayed?

Or, does it need to be changed?

P.S. Mine has changed many times since I started blogging.

Photo Credit: pedrosimoes7′s photostream

What an exciting week it’s been. We just concluded the second round of interview topics with Lorelle (of Lorelle on WordPress) and learned:

1) Revisitng old posts can provide fresh content

2) How to Manage our feed readers

3) And then we Wooped it up.

4) On Tuesday we welcomed our first teenage blogger to the NBOTW series

On to the Free ‘n Easy Friday Finds (FEFF).

If you didn’t follow the comment thread on Wednesday’s post, Lorelle stopped by and shared a link for anyone who uses Firefox and the Greasemonkey Scripts Extension which will help speed up our reading/commenting time. I used it last night while visiting blogs and estimate I shaved 20 minutes off of my visiting and commenting time. It’s fabulous.

Lorelle has written a post detailing the use of this script.

I’ve also been cleaning house (no, not my home, although that needs it, too). I’ve been tidying up my blog by removing the monthly archives list (it was 17 months long), taking off all affiliate ads (In over a year they haven’t made me a dime), and for my recent commenters, I removed the snippets. My “Recent Commenters” now shows your avatar and name with hopes of giving you more name recognition and traffic to your blogs.

Although it’s my blog, it’s all about you!

I hope you like the changes.

Have a great weekend!

The first time I left a comment on another blog, it was pretty exciting to see my name “in print”. When I registered my avatar, that was exciting to see, too.

I don’t think I’m alone. I believe most bloggers love to see their names and/or avatars on other sites.

So, to feed the egotistical side of us bloggers, I’m showcasing a plugin for my “Free-n-Easy Friday Finds” (FEFF).

This one is for recent comments.

What I like about this plugin, it also includes the commenter’s avatar (see it in action in the left sidebar).

The name of the plugin is: “Get Recent Comments”. (This link is for the author’s site.)

To download the plugin, go to “WordPress.org” Plugin Directory.

It is widget supported or can be manually inserted by using code. Use the options page to configure yours to your liking.

To show avatars/gravatars, you’ll need to add “%gravatar” (without the quotations) to the “comments” option. For reference, here’s what the coding (on the comments option page) looks like for my site:

<li><a href=”%comment_link” title=”%post_title, %post_date”>%gravatar %comment_author : %comment_excerpt</a></li>

Krischan Jodies is the author of this plugin. ///clap, clap, clap\\\. Thank you Krischan.

Did you miss the lesson on avatars (also called gravatars)? Here’s the link: How To Get and/or Add A Gravatar To Your Post Comments

If you really want to work behind the scenes of your blog and add/try other great plugins, John Hoff @ eVenturebiz.com just posted a list of 50+ WordPress plugins he found (links included).

Thank you John for all of your hard work.

Don’t forget, leave a comment and watch your name and avatar show up under “Recent Comments”

Enjoy!

We all know McDonald’s golden arches, Nike’s swoosh, and Starbuck’s circular green logo. It’s part of their brand.

But, how much is familiar as we travel through blogosphere?

Based on a name or avatar, do you know if a fellow blogger has visited the same blog you’re on? Do you recognize a blog author when you see their name?

Today’s Lesson

My previous lesson was How to Get and/or Add A Gravatar To Your Post Comments. Avatars are one method used for cyberspace branding.

I also wrote a post titled, “Blogger Exposes Herself, Traffic Soars”, where we discussed the necessity of letting fellow bloggers know a little more about ourselves, thus building credibility. That post inspired Deb Yost of Three Weddings to start using her full name.

Within the last week, as I’ve been traveling through cyberspace and reading comments, I finding more bloggers with the name “Barbara”. Oddly enough, a year ago, I found none.

Catherine encountered the same problem, and now either uses “CatherineL” or “Cath Lawson”.

As part of the branding process, it’s becoming essential to either show your full name, or use a name that is unique to you.

Much like picking a domain name, your name is blogosphere must also be memorable.

With that being said, I have begun using “Barbara Swafford” as my sign in name on comments.

This could pose a problem. If I “Google” my name, there are many others with the same name. So, I ask myself, should I look at other options?

Today’s Assignment

Is your name unique to you in blogosphere?

Do you notice when cyberspace friends frequent the same blogs that you do?

Any suggestions how I could remain unique, with a name that is not?