Members of WA often post requests in the forums asking people to review their sites.  One of the things I’ve noticed is the reluctance for some people to display so much as a photograph of themselves anywhere on their sites.

 I sympathise because I think I’m one of the most unphotogenic people on the planet and I absolutely loathe any photograph of myself.  However, I’m a Confidence and Career Coach  and although I do a lot of my work online or over the telephone potential clients want to know what I look like.  Whether I like it or not my photograph forms part of their first impression and whether they will buy into my brand, services and products.

With equal reluctance I also produce audio recordings and videos using my voice, even though my voice has variously been described as “strange”,  “like a little girl” “raspy”  “sexy” , “like sandpaper”, “forceful”, “gentle” ... !! Yes quite enough to make me paranoid but needs must.

Next step for me is to produce a video where people can actually hear and see me!  I’m working on that because I want to do some recordings about confidence and I think it's important that I'm seen.

Now I’m not suggesting every site has to have a photograph or video of you, but even if you’re reluctant to have any type of visual representation of yourself,  don’t dismiss the idea out of hand.

 When people’s pictures weren’t working recently  in the Live Chat  - members were getting frustrated.  Why?  Because it’s harder to engage with someone when there’s  no photograph to help you build an image of the person you’re talking to.  

One of the reasons that Kyle and Carson are so successful at what they do is (not just because they are clever, creative, innovative and knowledgeable), it’s also because they are literally the ‘face’ of the Wealthy Affiliate brand. We know what they look like and they are great at making that connection with people.  It’s how they have built our trust.

Someone else who followed that philosophy was the late Steve Jobs .  Not only was he responsible for producing beautiful  innovative products bought by millions across the globe – he never shied away from being the ‘face’ of Apple. His laid back style – jeans and black polo neck jumpers were almost as iconic as his products.

You may know successful companies which you have no idea who’s the current face of them (eg Amazon) but that will not always have been the case.  

When you’re starting off your site that personal touch (photograph, video)  can make a huge difference to customer engagement and help to establish consumer trust .

 So are you prepared to be the face of your brand?