A Picture Speaks 1000 Words

A picture speaks 1000 words is an old saying but holds more true than ever. How many of you have spent a tremendous amount of time an effort working on your website? Writing and rewriting the content, making sure it says exactly what you want it to say, choosing colours, working closely with your designer or web developer to get it all just right.

It’s amazing to me with all the time, effort and money that goes into developing a website, the calibre of many of the photos I see on Websites. I’m always puzzled why the photo appears to be an after thought. Often outdated and poor quality.

Your photo is one of the most important pieces to your website. It tells your viewer who you are, it gives you credibility. It should be well aligned with your message. One of the exercises in my know your difference workbook is asking people to choose 1 feeling word out of a list of feeling words. This feeling word is to represent the feeling you want your customer or client to walk away with. For example, if you run a travel company and the feeling word you choose was adventurous, you want your customer to get that feeling by looking at your site and especially looking at the photo of you!

You want every aspect of the experience they have with you to feel like an adventure – perhaps it’s an adventure visiting your office! This is what makes brands stand out and differentiate. It seems to me like so many business are shouting out “we’re different, we’re different, we’re different” without really being different.

Take a hardcore look at your business, what’s really different? Is it your business model, is it your product? Is it the experience that your customer will have. Be honest with yourself. If you’re not really different, then get together with friends and brainstorm ways that you can be different. Once you know your difference, bring it to life with a great website and a great photo of you! Use this great photo of you consistently on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn so that everyone will start to recognize you. And remember…what’s the feeling you want your customer to walk away with?

P.S. My new photo was done by Donna Santos