If you have taken the time to brand your name or blog, you should be taking this information with you as you travel down the blogosphere super highway. It’s not a difficult task but sometimes, we get sidetracked or don’t fully consider the possibilities.

So, let’s discuss all the ways that you can take your brand on the road with you.

Your Avatar

I went through many pictures before capturing the right shot when I spent the weekend away from blogging. For me, choosing to use my picture was a no-brainer. But it’s not right for everyone. Your avatar should be the consistent image you use for all your social networking profiles.

Ultimately, you want this image to be identified with you so the more you dig into networking, the more people begin to recognize you as someone they want to network with. Choose something that is family-friendly and that you’re happy to have associated with your name. Be it your picture or your logo.

Because I use “Katy In Las Vegas” for my networking sites, having a picture with Treasure Island behind me seemed to be logical.

Gravatar

A completely free service, your Gravatar will follow you to sites you choose to comment on that has the Gravatar extension included. For an example, check out the comments here. Recently I implemented Gravatar into my comments so now if you have a Gravatar, it’ll show up. If you don’t, you’re stuck with my blog which only enforces my brand — not yours.

MyBlogLog

Some blogs use MyBlogLog, some don’t. And regardless if you want to put the widget on your site or not, consider signing up. This will allow you to use your preselected, consistent avatar when a widget appears on another blog (like I’m Blogging That). If your avatar is interesting, you may be followed to your MyBlogLog profile and gain a new reader.

Screenshots

Even I have a hard time keeping up with this after struggling for so long to create my brand for my blog. But screenshots of your website/blog are used all over the Internet. When you’re keeping a consistent design (as I suggest you should), you’ll want to ensure that the screenshots used all over the web are up to date and showing the right design for your site.

Here’s some places to check to make sure your blog’s screenshot is up to date:

Alexa: Visit Alexa’s site and get traffic details for your blog. When viewing your traffic details on the top left-hand side click on “Edit Site Info.” From this page, you can click on “Update Thumbnail of [site name].”

Snap: Click the link that I have provided here and scroll down to the heading “For Site Owners.” In this list of questions, click on question number 14. The answer to the question will appear under the question and will allow you to entire the URL of your blog to have your snapshot updated.

WebShots: This service is usually very behind but it’s still important to not neglect. To update your thumbnail, visit the site and enter your URL. When your current thumbnail loads click on “New Screenshot” to update.

There are some networking sites that require you to upload your own screenshot of your blog or click a link to get a recent screenshot. Two examples are BlogCatalog and MyBlogLog.

Your Brand

Your brand is who you are online. What you use to represent who you are matters because people cannot see you to make an identification. Not like you do “in real life.”

By ensuring that your brand follows you, you’ll enable people to begin to recognize who you are, take an interest in networking with, and keep your brand out there — generating more interest.

Your Turn

What do you do to take your brand on the road while traveling through the blogosphere?

[Image by Forgiss]