How Much Of 'You' Should Go Into Your Website? | Writing | Pictures | Personal Touches

There was a time when building a website was personal and creative. Back when the internet first started, people wanted to build websites for themselves in the same way that we make our Facebook profiles today. It was an exciting way to express ourselves and a great way to make our opinions known. Back then, even the websites that we made for business purposes would still be very personal and might include pictures of ourselves across the front page and a personal phone number – it was all very friendly.

But over time this changed to a large extent. Websites became much more about businesses and organisations, and few people understood the value of ‘personal websites’ anymore. More and more websites took on the form of magazines or business sites, with the amateur stuff disappearing into Google, and getting lost forever. Business websites no longer have pictures of their CEOs on the front, but instead just have slick, stark designs that look professional if not very personal.

But is there really no place for ‘you’ in your own website these days? Read on to find out how to inject some of your own personality into your site, and how to make it work.

Writing

When it comes to the text on your website, you shouldn’t shy away from being personal and showing your personality a little. This is a good way to inspire trust in a business in fact, as it can make people feel more like they know you. We are also generally more likely to sit up and pay attention top personal and emotional accounts, because they are more relatable and we have evolved to think of them as more important than cold content with no human angle.

Oh and if you have a one person business, use ‘I’ instead of ‘We’. If you pretend to be a big company it will only make you look much less professional…

Pictures

Using pictures of yourself however is a tricky territory unless you happen to look like Brad Pit or his wife. The purpose of pictures on your website is normally to showcase your services or your products and to make them look desirable – so if makes sense to use someone who is outlandishly attractive with professional makeup and clothes. If you use yourself as the model, or your partner, then it might detract from the quality of the message and it might lead people to assume that you couldn’t in fact afford to pay for a professional model, which of course is course makes you seem less professional.

Personal Touches

You can also include personal touches in the design. If you love squirrels for instance, then there’s no reason a squirrel can’t serve as your mascot. Just make sure that you serve the purpose of your site first – make sure that your site is intuitive to use and that it looks professional – if you can do that and still add the personal touches then there’s no reason not to. If you are honest with yourself though and your personal preferences detract from the overall experience or look out of place, then know when to let something go.

Dan Richards, the author of this article, works with Antelope Web, a leading Connecticut website design company. Whenever Dan is not working, he likes to spend some quality time with his family.