As you may have noticed, I recently had some new professional photos taken for the About, Work with Me, Speaking, and Contact pages on this blog. Why did I do this? It’s simple. When you look at your blog’s traffic over time, you start to notice that these supporting pages get a ton of traffic in aggregate. Individual posts come and go but these pages are timeless and part of the blog’s overall packaging of me and my services. With all of these impressions, these pages deserve more polished visuals.
Another reason for these photos is the fact that I, like many today, don’t have a public office with an open door where people can stop by and see me. I work out of my home office with a distributed work team throughout the state and beyond. Our work is either done in-person in our clients’ offices or remotely. And yet, as a professional services firm we are essentially selling ourselves (insert joke here). Ultimately you need some decent “product” shots to help paint the picture. Not just a good headshot, which I strongly advocate for as well, but actual photos of you out in the wild performing your knowledge work, whether that’s consulting, speaking, or writing.
This does two things. First, to reiterate, it shows the product — you. Second, it helps set an expectation of you in their space working with them to change the condition of their business for the positive. It also helps integrate your offline personality into your online brand experience.
A final point … Pay a professional to have these photos shot. Impromptu photos rarely come out as well. Especially those taken in the midst of a speaking event where you are often moving fast with many uncontrollable variables like odd lighting and angles of the stage. A pro can guide you through and get you the shots you need. As always, my photos were done by the talented Todd Adamson of Adamson Studios in Iowa City.
The Brand-Driven Insight? If your brand has an online office that your clients and prospects see more than they might see your physical office, you need to invest in your look and feel through professional photos and design just as you would in nice furniture and wall art. You need to connect your online brand with your offline services and personality.
Other than photos, how do you make your services real and tangible online?