Personal photo on blog

[Ariel70]

Hey there everyone, I have a question...

Do you think a personal photo is mandatory on a blog to get readers and followers trust?

[MuttzNuttz]

Depends what you're selling - and how well written your blog is!

[Ariel70]

Let's say I'm a professional blogger who needs followers trust and I'm writing about some applications and tools, software and hardware

[MuttzNuttz]

In which case it may well be worth putting a photo on. But really, it doesn't guarantee trust. How many dating sites for instance have - at best - photo's that don't represent the current state of the people posting the personal ads.

If trust is really what you are looking for have you thought of 'real world' contact information?

[Ariel70]

Any comments, please?

[Betsyanne]

I think a photo is helpful. But I have seen some very popular sites that use an avatar or another kind of logo instead of a photo. I have also seen drawings of the person that are used. Some people use a MUCH younger version of themselves on blogs or other sites.

I think some people just don't like to have their photo on their pages.

So... my vote would be to use your photo, but you don't have to. Trust can also come from timely postings, testimonials, comments from other people, links to your other sites, and good advice. Having your blog for awhile helps too. A lot depends on the kind of site you have.

[Ariel70]

Interesting thoughts... thanks

[Ariel70]

Any other opinion/comment, please?

[ChickenFreak]

Personal photos have no impact at all on how much I trust a blog. In fact, the facing-front well-dressed big-smile ones that look like they belong on campaign posters often annoy me and make me less likely to trust the site. A personal snapshot that caught an engaging expression is nice, but it's not a big critical trust thing, it's just part of the overall package of the blog.

Edited to add: Now that I think of it, many of my favorite blogs use a piece of art as the "author" icon, and that works just fine with giving me a personality for the author. One of my favorite perfume bloggers uses, if I recall correctly, an image of Ozma of Oz on her throne. Works great.

[Ariel70]

That is really interesting, I think content it's obviously much more important than design, but some people really consider an image important, while, others, would be annoyed... Interesting