Avatars

I am curious what people think about Avatars. Those little icons next
to people's comments you see on blogs.

1) If you have them on a blog or a forum do they have any affect on
SEO? I have looked at the cache of a few sites that use them and I do
not think so. I use wordpress.

2) Do they make people stay on the site longer or do they clutter up a
site and make people leave?

These are just an "IMO" question as I debating using them and can not
find concrete advice either way.

Thank you,
Mark

http://www.claritaslux.com/blog/

http://peopleandlanguages.com/

mbiernat (AT) hotmail (DOT) com schreef:

I am curious what people think about Avatars. Those little icons next
to people's comments you see on blogs.

1) If you have them on a blog or a forum do they have any affect on
SEO? I have looked at the cache of a few sites that use them and I do
not think so. I use wordpress.

NO.

2) Do they make people stay on the site longer or do they clutter up a
site and make people leave?

This one is important. It all depends on 'pleasing the visitor'.

Some do like them due to the 'personal touch' it gives a comment or review.

I for myselve don't care about the faces, or more often, the 'look at me
how funny i am' pictures that are most of the time to small to recognise
anything.

But, it is all personal.

These are just an "IMO" question as I debating using them and can not
find concrete advice either way.

Thank you,
Mark

please place your links in a sig!


--
Webdesign: http://vision2form.nl/webontwerp/
Korte handleiding zoekmachine optimalisatie / gevonden worden:
http://vision2form.nl/webontwerp/gevonden-worden.html
Lifestyle - wonen reizen en genieten : http://vision4living.com

<mbiernat (AT) hotmail (DOT) com> wrote

I am curious what people think about Avatars ... on blogs.
1) do they have any affect on SEO?
2) Do they make people stay on the site longer or do they clutter up a
site and make people leave?

No seo value whatsoever, unless they have ALT text, and even then it will be
v. small.
Some say they enliven a boring forum page, some hate them.

Probably depends on the site and age / outlook / seriousness / time of the
readership.

As they are optional in most cases (if not all), get a feel for their
popularity by visiting broadly similar sites.

Personally, I like them, provided the user can upload their own, as it adds
toi a user 'personality', which otherwise may be lacking. I'm not so keen if
they're preselected, as they tend to be pathetic kiddie stuff.
--

Andrew
seo2seo.com
sick-site-syndrome.com

Tom, thanks for the reply. I might try avatars on one of my sites and
see if it gets people to stay longer (which IMO is a good thing). I
have always used a low image - high content philosphy on my blog, but
life is an art and not a science and people like fun things as well as
informative content as long as it does not dilute the focus.
ps How do I add a signature like you said? What is the difference - I
looked it up on google groups help and did not see the answer. But I
want to learn. For a signature I just add a link at the bottom like
this: , How do I do it your way?


Mark
--
Learn a language with your MP3: http://www.mp3languagelearning.com

mbiernat (AT) hotmail (DOT) com schreef:

Tom, thanks for the reply. I might try avatars on one of my sites and
see if it gets people to stay longer (which IMO is a good thing). I
have always used a low image - high content philosphy on my blog, but
life is an art and not a science and people like fun things as well as
informative content as long as it does not dilute the focus.

Jepp.

ps How do I add a signature like you said? What is the difference - I
looked it up on google groups help and did not see the answer. But I
want to learn. For a signature I just add a link at the bottom like
this: , How do I do it your way?

I use Thunderbird and that has the option to enclose a sig automatically.

I did make a text in Notepad and stored it into a folder where
Thunderbird picks it up.

A sig is separated from the posting by a 'sig separator'

it is:

dash dash space return

http://www.faqs.org/faqs/usenet/signature-faq/

or have a look at Google:
http://www.google.nl/search?hl=nl&q=...sig+for+usenet

Mark
--
Learn a language with your MP3: http://www.mp3languagelearning.com

Yours doesn't contain a space so it will not be recognised by readers as
a sig.

--
Webdesign: http://vision2form.nl/webontwerp/
Korte handleiding zoekmachine optimalisatie / gevonden worden:
http://vision2form.nl/webontwerp/gevonden-worden.html
Lifestyle - wonen reizen en genieten : http://vision4living.com