No offense to ugly people. Some of my best friends are ugly.
You must have a photograph of yourself on your website.
More importantly, your website picture needs to resemble you.
- If you’re using some sort of uber-photoshopped image of yourself, it’s time to come clean.
- If your picture was taken 20 years ago and you’ve become old, fat, and wrinkly, then you’ve got a problem that needs solving (and it doesn’t involve diet, exercise, and human growth hormone).
- If you had the photographer apply the skin smoother filter, followed by the slimming filter, followed by the hair filler filter, then you’ve got a problem that needs solving.
- If your picture is taken at a steep angle and zoomed in on your eyes and nose to distract attention from less appealing elements of your body, then you’ve got a problem that needs solving.
Thankfully, the solution to these problems is easy.
Go to a photographer and have a picture taken that actually resembles you.
When people look at your picture and then look at you in the flesh, they should know that it’s the same person.
Get a picture that would be helpful to searchers on a “MISSING” poster.
Why You Need to Keep It Real
I understand the desire to look good on your website. But it undermines your credibility if your picture more closely resembles your attractive neighbor than you.
People walk in to meet you and immediately suffer cognitive dissonance when they see your face. “This isn’t the person I read about,” they think. You’re undermining trust from the first second.
You’ve got to have a picture of yourself on your site. A picture truly is worth 1,000 words. The photo just needs to be an accurate and faithful representation of the person or place it purports to portray (Chicago & E.I.R. Co. v. Crose, 214 Ill. 602, 73 N.E. 865 (1905)).
If you’ve got an old picture, an odd picture, or a photoshopped picture, then it’s time to go get a new picture and pop it up on the site. Don’t wait until you’ve lost the weight, had the surgery, or fixed the problem. Just go get a picture.
