There are countless guides about increasing the popularity of your blog. More or less, they are all concentrating on socializing, participating and of course creating quality content. Indeed, these are the most direct methods of getting your work noticed. These techniques are more or less taken for granted for everyone who has been in the blogosphere for a while. But there are also more indirect, more subtle ways to increase your popularity. One of them is the way you manage to combine your blog with your persona, your avatar.
The Avatar
The avatar is your face in cyberspace. It represents you in the networks in which you participate, it even says something about you: if you have humor, if you like cartoons, if you have artistic tendencies, what combination of chromosomes you have. It is only natural that you spend some time choosing this avatar. After all this is the first impression you leave.
A more wise, careful selection of your avatar can significantly boost your position in the networks in which you participate and, consequently, the popularity of your blog.
Let’s first see why and then concentrate on how.
Pavlov’s Dog
Ivan Pavlov’s famous experiment with his dog showed how animals (and humans) can be trained to respond in a certain way to a particular stimulus. I wouldn’t go so far as to say that people just react on signals without any critical thinking, but there are studies that prove that people tend to categorize objects and information. One simple reason is that it helps them manage their narrow memory scope. The study of social representations is just one theory explaining this natural human function.
In simpler words, our mind combines…
…logos with products…
…ideals with colors…
…dressing styles with music…
..and avatars with blogs.
That’s why if you make a very good selection of an avatar, it will help you increase your authority and your popularity.
How To Choose an Avatar
So your purpose when choosing an avatar is to combine it with your blog. When people see your avatar, they should immediately think of your blog. There are two main ways to do that:
Consistency
Be consistent. When you choose your avatar, use it in every network you participate. This doesn’t necessary mean using your blog logo. It can be the style of your blog, or its colors, even the type of images you use in your blog. Be creative. But when you choose this avatar, use it everywhere.
Mark Dykeman’s avatar is a very good example. His blog is called broadcasting-brain and his avatar stays on topic. I’ve seen him in at least 4 social networks (digg, mixx, SU, Sphinn) and he always uses the same avatar. After a while, the name of his avatar becomes irrelevant. The image is doing all the talking.
Difference
Try to be different. Choose an avatar, that draws attention. Remember, an avatar is your face and a mirror to your personality; you don’t want to look like everybody else.
Wouldn’t you click at Rhea’s avatar, to check her profile? Wouldn’t you go to her blog?
Conclusion
We sometimes don’t pay too much attention to details and choosing an avatar might not seem that noteworthy, but it is one of those small details that can really make a difference.
To prove my point here’s a question for you:
Can you guess whose avatar is this? (click on it to find out)
This is a guest post by robojiannis. He writes at changemod.com about social networks and the evolution of the web.
Those associations between images and ideas are much more powerful than I had originally thought. Time to work even harder at designing a good logo.
Thanks for noticing the avatar. I originally wanted it for social news sites, but now I take it with me almost everywhere.
I agree that Mark and Maki (the anime character) probably have the two most memorable avatars I’ve ever seen. Terrific branding!
Another great post.
Thanks for noticing the avatar! I can’t take full claim for it as I swiped it from a quick Google Image Search for “monkey in bikini” lol, but it works for now. I’d like to get a little crazier when I have the time and meld my face with the monkey’s.
Great points though, especially about Dosh Dosh.
The anime character avatar is doshdosh’s..^^..I just couldn’t forget that avatar..^^
Anyways..I really agree with you on this one..choosing an avatar is really important..^^…in my case, also I used the same avatar in different social sites that I’m in..^^ that way it is easier for my friends in other social sites to identify me once they saw my avatar..^^
I also find Maki’s avatar the ideal example.
I just wonder if it came up to him (anime avatar & anime pictures in the blog), during the blogging process, or if he had it planned all along…
I agree having a consistant avatar helps – or even a consistant username. People know me everywhere as “Tabz”.
Now, graphic ones are nice – but if I ever saw Maki on the street I’d breeze right by him. Where as Robert Scoble – I’d recognize in an instant.
So, do you feel that using an actual photo for an avatar is a bad idea?
I don’t know If I said it already but …Excellent site, keep up the good work. I read a lot of blogs on a daily basis and for the most part, people lack substance but, I just wanted to make a quick comment to say I’m glad I found your blog. Thanks,
A definite great read….