What’s a Gravatar and Why Every Modern Realtor Should Have One

15 Sep What’s a Gravatar and Why Every Modern Realtor Should Have One

Every Tuesday, here at the CV Escrow website, we post Technology Tips designed to help you, the Realtor, grow your business, keep up to date on the latest technologies, and move you forward into the new era of Real Estate.

The picture below is a screen shot of multiple comments that were left on a blog post that was promoting a happy hour gathering at a social media conference that happened earlier this year.

Quick, take a look at the image and tell me at first glance which of the people commenting:

1. Did you look at first?
2. Do you think is the most professional?
3. Do you think is the most technically proficient?
4. Seems the most like a real person?
5. Are you most drawn to?

I’m willing to bet that the people who have images next to their comment (me, CWaterhouse, and Colleen Truax) were the answers you gave.  If I ask you which people appear to be the least professional and least technically proficient, which would you answer?  The one’s without a photo?  Probably so.  Which camp would you rather be in?

In an earlier post, I explained what an Avatar is (your visual image of yourself online – usually your photo), and how it is an essential consideration of the brand image for any modern Realtor.  This post expands upon that and introduce you to Gravatar.com, a service that will make including your avatar in your blog comments, simple and easy.  Here is a brief video which clearly explains the service:

As the video mentions, once you sign up for a gravatar account, you can associate ALL the email addresses that you have with your account (your brokerage email, your gmail account, your home account, your college alumni account, etc).  And, then when you go to comment on a blog or forum, no matter what email address you use, your photo is automatically included when you make a comment (assuming the site supports gravatars…which many blogs and forums do).

A gravatar is a great way for a Realtor who participates in blog commenting to be positioned with a professional, consistent brand image across many sites.  It also centralizes and automates the posting of your photo when you comment on the web.  By using a gravatar, you are more effectively branding yourself with the image you choose and you are more likely to be perceived as more professional and technically proficient.  So why not continue the brand image you have created off-line to on-line and sign up with Gravatar.com?

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