Marketing Strategies - Use Your Photo

Hi fellow blogger, let’s get personal. Can I see your photo?

No, this isn’t an attempt to hook up via a dating service. Even though I’m covering list building and marketing strategies in this article,we can learn a lot from online couples services. If you were looking for the perfect mate would you even consider using a service that doesn’t provide pictures of that potential Mr. or Mrs. Right? I don’t think so. So why not use a picture of yourself on your WordPress blog to get a little more personal? You may just be able to hook up with your readers.

You need to develop a relationship with your readers. You’ve got to get more personal. One way to get more personal is by adding your mugshot to your WordPress blog. Since I’m using a logo as part of my branding I’ll also be speaking about it in this article.

Note: This article is part 5 of the “12 Ways to Double Your Subscribers in 30 Days” series.

Why Should You Add Your Snapshot To Your Blog?

Part of good marketing strategies is list building. Adding a personalized “Subscribe” image and button to your WordPress blog’ can help you to get more subscribers. Why is this? Readers want to know that there is an actual person behind the content of a blog. A nice picture of yourself will speak more loudly than a 1000 words. Studies have shown that the most effective manner of communication is person-by person. Word of mouth is preferred to public events, advertising, and even public speaking.

Since you can’t actually personally verbally communicate via your WordPress blog (unless you use audio via a messenger service) the next best venue is to communicate one on one with your readers. By the way, seasoned blog communicators will tell you that you should write your articles as if you were composing a personal letter to an actual person. Now add your glamor shot to these personalized words and you’ve gone a long way in breaking the barrier between public speaking and word of mouth.

One more benefit to take into consideration in your marketing strategy is the “Alt” tag. The alternate descriptions of the images that you use can be very effective when writing articles with SEO considerations since search engines tend to place a high level of importance on the alt tags.

The Location of Your Personal Images

Where should your photo be displayed? How about the location of your logo?

That’s easy, display your picture in a prominent location on your WordPress blog.

The best marketing strategies include using these top locations for displaying your personal image:

The right sidebar
The header of your WordPress blog
A special feature box

I like using the sidebar for displaying an image of myself. I almost always run my sidebars on the right hand side. In fact you’ll notice that the right sidebar is my preferred location since you most likely can see my picture there now.

Many bloggers prefer their header as part of their marketing strategies. This is a very good location and maybe even better. However I’m using my header for displaying my logo since I want people to relate the image to my website also. See the About page to find out why the domain name for this Website is “Real Life Purpose.com”

Because I use the Thesis Theme, I also have the option of using the Feature box which displays immediately under the header. I’m currrently using this for the Free Members Only Internet Business Success Vault:

The place you display your pic really depends on the layout of your blog. However it should be above the fold and shouldn’t be in conflict with your subscription form. See the previous article (Part 4) in the 12 ways to Double Your Subscribers series entitled Free Subscription Form To Get More Subscribers

To further illustrate how different blog layouts dictate the placement of your mugshot think about this; if you are running two widget bars side by side on your blog (preferably on the right hand side) then you can easily use an image or button along with your subscription opt-in form in each column.