This is a plea to you freelancers & digital entrepreneurs not to use shitty or distant photos of yourself on your website and About page.
We need to see you.
Seriously, it’s a trust thing. If your face is half covered or you’re so distant I can’t see your facial features, I don’t know if I can trust you. Why are you so far away? What are you hiding?
That’s what I’m thinking. That’s what a lot of us are thinking.
How many times have you been poking around on someone’s Facebook page and because of their security settings, you can’t make their profile picture any bigger than a thumbnail? Frustrating!
What do they really look like? Do they look like someone I would like? Are they cool? Can I trust them? You know what I mean.
Faces are a big deal.
We look at faces, we look into eyes searching for a connection. To look for similarity.
“This person is one of My People.”
If you’re wearing heart-shaped sunglasses and a sombrero, that tells me you don’t take yourself seriously (definitely one of My People!) which is great…but give me more.
I need to see you.
We need to see you.
Do I trust your smile? Do you come across as someone who’s lost up your own ass?
First impressions go a long way.
Simple.
Genuine.
Accessible.
Clear.
Let those be your guides.
We need to see you.
This is so true, and thank you for pointing this out to me while I was creating my website. You managed to convince me to put *4* pictures of myself on my site, 2 of which actually show my eyes, say whaaaaaat?!?!? The cool thing is, once I launched it, 2 different friends told me that having those 2 pictures where they could see my eyes made them feel like they could really see who I was and what my message was about. Boom!
I’ve started looking for this on other people’s sites and you’re SO right, when I can see their eyes and smile specifically, it instantly lets me connect with them and shows me if it’s someone I would want to work with. It’s so interesting that even in this digital age, our humanness is still the most powerful factor!
Such great advice! Thanks for this Heather! xo