What do you all think of adding pictures of yourself onto your site? Several businesses in my industry proudly post themselves in their About Us sections.

I guess the reason behind it would be so that if people can see you, they would be more likely to buy since it makes the customer 'get personal' with the owners.

Does anyone do this? Opinions?

Kimberly
www.flyingsouth.com

I would say no for a number of reasons. 1 is professionalism. I would like to think you have a large company with a number of people working at it. Just a few pictures make it look like a one man band working from home.

Also just like music pictures can stir up emotional response to which your customer could react. It's personal taste and that can attract some and scare of others. Take a leaf out of the big companies books, they don't do it... I mean, would you buy a £300 corset from this eejit...



See what I mean

[quote=northernladuk,Dec 16 2004, 07:19 PM]
I would say no for a number of reasons. 1 is professionalism. I would like to think you have a large company with a number of people working at it. Just a few pictures make it look like a one man band working from home.


I do see what your point, and we always try to portray ourselves as a large company with many, many employees, especially since we manufacture products.

But I also think that the people who do post their pictures and act as if they are a one-or two-man-band might get more sympathy votes than the larger corporations.

Some people like to help out the "little people" in life - know what I mean??

If they have a photograph in the "About Us" section, I feel that's a plus. I'm a people-person and love seeing who I'm corresponding with. I don't feel it's negative at all. Personally, I would rather buy from a small "Mom-in-Business" than from a large corporation (and usually do). The service is usually better, plus I like knowing I'm helping another woman in business, such as myself.

I guess this really comes down to two things: What you sell and preference.


We thought that having actual pictures of us on our website was a little unprofessional, so what we did was have Carictures made of our two main owners and it seems to work great. Although this is not good for every company it really matched the atomsphere and culture of ours.

As far as regular pictures. I think sites that offer services like , godaddy, etc people want to see actual faces of who is taking care of their website, domain name, servers, etc. I think a picture could either help or hurt you depending on the photo. Don't get me wrong, there are some nice people out there, but some people will not order from you because of the color of your skin, your hair, they feel you are ugly, who knows what! lol. people come up with some weird things.

I always thought those caricatures fit well with the theme and style of your site...

We did post a pic of our sales manager on our contact us page...because she talks with so many people about their garden projects, putting the face to the voice helps build trust.

I think it really does depend on the style of store and product sold. We only printed photos in our wholesale catalog 1 year out of the last 10. Then we had a sales person quit shoprtly after printing and had to go the rest of the year staring at this person in our catalog. Of course, web is easier to change.

I like the idea of posting pictures regardless of company size. One of the barriers of the Internet is the lack of personal interaction... I believe pictures help lower this barrier.

While I agree it is good to come off as a "big" company... I have found that I receive better service online from smaller merchants. I prefer the 1-20 person businesses over huge companies... I also like to help out the smaller guys to level the playing field. Every dollar counts for small companies so thats where I like to spend money.

This is a hard one and yes agree on one part to have pics on the web (such as does) and it makes it a more personal touch to see the person on the other end.
However as Krazy posted in here it could also deter some people from dealing with companies because of the wrong reasons.

We had an overseas customer a few years ago see a picture of one our ladies that handled our emails and started sending should I say improper emails to her here.

Not an easy answer on this one.
Dave

It was said I think - it depends on your product, and your preferance - but also your method. I mean depending on the overall image you are striving to produce, pictures can go a long way to help reinforce that image - depending on WHAT you post & HOW you post them.

is a great example of using personal photos to reinforce their desired image. wishes to appear very professional, extremely personable, easily accessable, and decidely approachable. This is reinforced in a number of ways - including the fact that everybody has their personal picture displayed on the web site.
(See them HERE)

When you talk to that individual on the phone - you get the feeling that you are truely 'connected' to the heart and soul of the business. (I mean seriously - has anyone ever talked to the CEO of another 'real' hosting company..?)

To me there is nothing as frustrating as getting the run around from some 'faceless voice' that doesn't give a rip about whether or not your issue is resolved. In this way the psychological advantage of face to face relationship building is revived on the otherwise service dead internet.

If you have a service oriented site, then NOT having pictures would be a huge disservice to your efforts.
If you have a product oriented site, then it really depends on your product, and the market you wish to reach.

If you sell high end home decorating items, then you could be doing yourself a favor to have a professionally photographed image of a room decorated with your items, and you gracing the center of the layout(think Martha Stewart pre-incarceration), but you would probably want to refrain from posting a dimly lit picture of you in sweats and a dirty t-shirt, hair pulled into a make-shift bun(complete with pencil to hold it in place) holding various trinkets available on your site.
(sited from an actual site I once saw - ruined the image completely- talk about "Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain" sheesh)

Anyways, thats my 3.5 cents.

In all that blabering I forgot to make my actual point.....

No picture is much better than the wrong picture.

Excellent point.

For our business, a picture wouldn't work.

For many others on here, it would work just great. I think Jally's site is the perfect example of a site that should have a personal picture on it. And of course she chose a great picture to put on there - very professional.

But Graeme is right about his. That picture he posted just wouldn't work on his site.

Again, as has already been said, it depends on the business, the products, and the impression you want to convey to your customers.

hmmm....Thank you for all the opinions. I am still torn. My husband wants to post our picture right now, but I still have reservations. I think seeing Ryan's post sold him on the idea.

Since we sell bird supplies and make a pet carrier, we might have the "type" of website that our picture would be good on. As I said, many people in our industry already do it. And it might make people feel more comfortable knowing who their products are being made by.

But then again, we are young (in my opinion), and it might also scare people away.

I still just dont know....

flyingsouth -
I should have replied directly to you earlier; I have seen your site, and I think an attractive picture of the proprieters, and a small welcome/about us note would be in excellent taste.

Pet owners travel in packs "Birds of a feather..." as they say.

What I mean is that pet owners tend to trust the opinions of their fellow pets owners, particularly persons who own similar or same breed pets.

That would definately work in your favor. (I think)

Thank you very much AsAkers!! You may have just pushed me over the edge, in a good way that is... I am going to find an appropriate picture and post it in About Us and have my husband write the note.

Thank you again!!

Would you buy from us? Here is the picture we are thinking of posting in our About Us section.

Do we look too young???

Please let us know what you think.

Thanks!

Good picture! You need a parrot on your shoulder, though!

We have chosen to use our newsletter to "get personal." True, only your customers or very interested potential customers have opted in, but it does give an opportunity to build some good karma. We are a family business and go to great lengths to let people know this. Plus, we are a family business with people "on the ground" in our source region, Indonesia.

This is what we did most recently CLICK. We got good feedback and a jump in sales.

Yes, I'd buy from you guys. But probably because Ive already formed a favorable opinion from your posting in this forum - not because of the picture.

The picture is very nice and you guys are a nice looking couple, but I think it needs to be either (1) a professional picture, not so restaurant casual, or (2) a picture in a setting that pertains to your product - like in a store (if you have a brick and mortar) or posed with birds in background - make a trip to the San Diego zoo for some great shots with birds if you want the full background.

IMHO

Really nice job with that Robert. Text and pics as you have them form a great trust level with customers.

Thanks for the feedback. Maybe I will photoshop our bird's onto our shoulders. Great idea!!

We are also adding pictures of our birds with descriptions, etc... so everyone can meet them as well.

Also, as suggested we are going to send out a newsletter, something to the effect of "Meet the Owners" Thanks for the link!!

How about this one??

Since we are standing up may seem less like a restaurant setting.

Much better, but the Parrot's not smiling.

That works great! I love it! That is definitely better and more professional looking. I'd go with it!

Thanks so much for your help guys!! Its going up and the email is going out today.

I don't think you look too young. Posting your pic in this case is a good idea (imo).

This has been a great thread.

Hubba hubba!!!

I am still not 100% about this I must admit although seeing the way have done it it's does seem to work and although it hasn't twisted my arm to buy monstercart I would still like to date half their staff

If you are going to put a picture up I still think it has to be professional. I would much rather see the picture like they are on the site, looking like business people than a very personal picture.

Again my comments may not be the best as I am not totally bought in to this yet but if a pic does go up I would like to see a professional one.

You suave Brits are all the same!

...does that mean you are looking for dual citizenship?


I have to agree...and on that note, everyones pic that I've seen posted on their sites that have shared in this thread are very tasteful and professional!
I applaud srg for presenting the person that "represents the face of the business" and not just the owners per se.

In regards to my site; I dont think it would be applicable, as the theme of the site really is best represented by the "image" of what I constructed as the "MartiniG**y"...doubtful that my own pic (or for that matter, most of my motley crew) could carry off the mystique that relates to the site.
The bottom line (IMHO) is that if it works, then there is a definite plus!