We have talked in a previous article about how easy it is to have an online presence now days. The key is not in creating an online presence but also learning to develop and maintain this online identity clean, friendly and professional.

This is the second part of my previous post called How to Create, Develop and Maintain a Successful Online Identity.

Build and Maintain a Good Online Reputation

Regardless of what the purpose of your profile/website/ blog is, it’s important to keep a clean online reputation  – even if you are not planning on doing business online.

Have you tried “googling” yourself? Try it and see what comes up. What you will see is what’s your online identity today.

Brand Yourself with Gravatar

There are some really good tools you can use if you are trying to create a successful online identity. One of them is Gravatar.  To quote from the website “A gravatar, or globally recognized avatar, is quite simply an image that follows you from site to site appearing beside your name when you do things…”

Benefits of using Gravatar

Avatars allow people to recognize you  easier whenever you comment or post something on websites, blogs and web forums.

How to Create an Avatar

All you need to do is just go to Gravatar and create an account. You can create different avatars for different email addresses, this can come in handy if you have different businesses and you decide to create different avatars according to the business you are promoting.

Use a Self Portrait

It’s recommendable to use a portrait of yourself in your blog, and as avatar.  A portrait of yourself will help people relate to you easier and feel more comfortable when reading/commenting – plus it will help increase your online identity and reputation.

…but above all, make sure you have fun meeting new friends!

About the Author

My name is Karina Myers, I'm a web developer located in Michigan, US. To learn more about my work visit my portfolio, and services page. You may also contact me via email. I'd love to hear from you!

Did you enjoy this article?

karinamyers.com is a one person's operation. I try to make every article useful and well presented. Sometimes, writing an article can take weeks to just do the research and gather information. So, if you feel like returning the favor, buy me a cup of tea!

Tags: Blogging, Tutorials

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 6th, 2009 at 8:22 am and is filed under Blogging, Tutorials. You can follow any responses to this entry through the feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.