Take down the scary Web site photo!
Posted: Friday, August 08, 2008 7:40 AM by Eve Tahmincioglu
Filed Under:
Marketing, Tech watch, Entrepreneurship
I have a serious piece of advice for all you business owners out there who have a Web site and insist on including unprofessional headshots of yourselves — take them down now!
Many of you have figured out how to upload photos to your Web site, and that’s a good thing. Lots of sites have been too text heavy, so it’s nice to see more entrepreneurs using photos and graphics online.
But just because you fancy yourself as a bit more tech savvy these days, it doesn’t mean you or your spouse or your nephew should be shooting the photos you include on your company site.
It’s time to hire a professional for that.
A potential source for a story I was working on recently sent me an e-mail with background about her company and a link to her Web site. When I logged on to the site, I gasped — there was a horrible photo of her on the front page. It was dark, blurry, her face was washed out and she was dressed in a blazer that looked like something Barbara Bush would wear.
It made me wonder how on top of her “A” game she is.
Did I use her as a source?
I must admit, I decided to put her contact info at the bottom of my source pile.
I know what you guys are thinking: You can’t judge a book by the cover. But the photo did make me wonder about her professionalism. Did she think this photo was a good way to represent her brand?
There’s been a lot written lately about older professionals getting Botox or surgery so they can look more hip and young. I’m not a believer in this. Frankly, I think it undermines a professional’s credibility instead of enhancing it.
But there’s nothing wrong with a little make up so a camera can see your features.
I rarely wear makeup, but recently I’ve done a few TV appearances and even though I look like a freak when I leave the makeup room, it always seems to look okay on camera.
I know, entrepreneurs are busy and they also want to try and do everything themselves, but sometimes you have to enlist the help of others to enhance our business.
Photographers and artists can be your best friends when it comes to a Web site.
A photo editor for the main newspaper in my town gave me a good tip. He said lots of businesses call him when they need a photo, and he has no qualms about giving out freelancers’ contact information because they’re always looking for extra work. The rate for one of these freelancers can be a fraction of what you’d pay a professional photo studio.
You should also review the photos of you on the big social networking Web sites, liked LinkedIn and Facebook. You might have a connection that has a connection that knows an artist or a photographer.
When I decided to add a photo to my workplace blog CareerDiva.net, I toyed with the idea of using an old photo that my husband had taken, but then I thought better of it.
I’ve seen a lot of Web sites that use caricatures of company executives, so I thought that might work for my site. I ended up with a cartoon of myself done by Alan Baseden, an incredible graphic artist from a major Philadelphia newspaper who is also a friend.
There are also some online services that will turn a photo into a caricature.
Now, I know a caricature won’t fly for every business. I would take a gander at a bunch of Web sites out there and figure out what would work for your firm’s image.
But before you do anything else, take down those scary photos.
I’m actually feeling guilty about the source I told you about who I ended up not using. Should I call her and tell her why I put her at the bottom of the pile? Would she appreciate my candor, or make a voodoo doll of me?
Would you want to know?
