Don’t Hide

For better or for worse, our lives are digital now. Anyone can throw up a website. Trust on the internet is low. For good reason; there are plenty of people out there selling air, or worse.

Potential clients, customers or readers need to get to ‘know, like and trust’ you. The way humans do this is by looking at each others faces.

You need to have pictures of yourself on your website. Ideally these images should be taken by a professional photographer.

You also need to let your audience know who you are. You can do that through blogging, telling stories that relate to your work and having an about page that doesn’t obscure the person or people behind the business.

Honesty, openness and authenticity go a long way on the internet. It can feel uncomfortable at times, but you have to put yourself out there.

I don’t like it either. I was born before 1986. It isn’t natural for me to plaster my face all over the place.

The results are unmistakable though.

Content with my image on it gets more responses and shared more widely. Blog posts where I’ve really written from the heart show people who I am.

I work remotely. I have clients who have never met me, who I’ve never even talked to on the phone. We conduct business entirely online. That requires a lot of trust.

One of the ways I build that trust is by showing who I am on this website. A picture speaks a thousand words. When potential customers come to this website they get a sense of who I am, both through the images on this site and the thoughts I share.

It may feel more comfortable to hide behind anonymous stock photos, canned jargon and text written in third person, but it will leave people cold and won’t build trust.

Want to discuss your project with me?