Best Profile Pictures and Web Traffic
75You may not care very much about profile pictures.
After all, a profile picture is just an image that appears next to your fake online name. Rather than fretting about profile pictures, you are probably more interested in web traffic and getting rich from home.
It turns out, however, that profile pictures can have a significant impact on web traffic and earnings potential. Think of it this way, your profile picture is your brand logo, and your profile name is your brand name. Companies pay millions of dollars to come up with a brand name and logo. Then, they pay many millions more to market that brand name, and logo.
While you may not have millions to sink into the creation of a profile picture, you do have the time to carefully consider which profile picture would be most effective for marketing your online writing and products.
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How to Pick a Profile Picture?
1. Trust
Trust is crucial. Before someone will click on your online product, or even read your second paragraph, they must have some trust that they are going to get something useful from you in the end.
If there is a lack of trust, readers will quickly move-on to the next search engine link.
2. Popularity
Some brand names and logos (e.g. Disney and Mickey Mouse) have excellent name recognition that is the result of many years of careful marketing. When you are starting out with a new profile name and a new profile picture, you must put in a lot of work to self-promote your brand.
This process of self-promotion will be easier and more effective if you choose a profile picture that resonates well with your readers, and that carry natural positive associations.
3. Originality
You are trying to make money online through affiliate links and online advertising. Guess what? So are millions of other people. To stand out you need to produce original content, and that starts by picking an original brand logo, or profile picture.
4. Consistency
To get the most out of your self-promotion efforts, it is important to keep your profile picture constant or at least consistent. You do not see large companies changing their brand logos every other day, and you should not do that either.
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Should I use my own face as a profile picture?
When it comes to profile pictures, a common question is,
"Should I use my own face as a profile picture?".
My gut reaction is -- Heck no!
Even if you are extremely attractive, it would be difficult to compete with the looks and popularity of Jack Sparrow and Angelina Jolie.
On the other hand, if you use your own face, it is easier to earn the trust of your readers. In addition, excepting the small portion of the population that truly looks like a famous celebrity, you probably have a very unique face, which will help you establish a very original brand.
Perhaps, then, a photograph of yourself is a good choice. If you do go this route, stay away from passport photographs.
A head-shot often looks goofy because it puts everything out there; zits, yellow teeth, and receding hairline. Instead of a passport head shot, use an angle shot; with interesting lighting and shadows. This says that you are artistic, mysterious, and creative. And for those of you who are hairline challenged, make good use of the shadows.
Eyes, Boobs, & Other Body Parts
a) Eyes
There are many body parts to choose from. The most common, are eyes. A good set of eyes can be very sexy and mysterious at the same time. Eyes are, after all, the windows into our soul, so a profile picture of eyes indicates that you are a very trustworthy person.
However, eyes are also very commonly used as profile pictures, so you will lose much in terms of originality. Unless you have on amazing and artistic eye makeup, or are selling eye products, you may want to skip this picture profile option. After all, you do not want to be dismissed as just another pair of eyes.
b) Boobs
The second most popular body part is probably a show of cleavage.
Personally, I do not think that there is anything wrong with cleavage. If you have it, there is nothing wrong with flaunting it, ... sometimes.
However, flaunting it all the time, as you would in a profile picture not only nullifies its effects, but may also bring with it a whole set of negative associations and assumptions about your character. At the very least you may alienate a large segment of readers who prefer to get quality content from something other than a pair of boobs.
c) Other
In addition to eyes and boobs, there are many other body parts to choose from for your profile picture.
By using some other random body part, you may win some small number of points on originality; but from a trust standpoint it is difficult to compete with eyes, and from a popularity standpoint, it is difficult to compete with boobs.
Perhaps if you can tastefully integrate eyes and cleavage, you would really have a winning profile picture. After many experiments however, I have yet to come up with a "tasteful" combination.
Multiple Profile Pictures
Another approach to creating a successful brand, is to specialize and create multiple brands; each targeted at a specific area.
This means you must create separate stories, blogs, and websites for each profile, and that could end up taking a lot of time.
In addition, each time you create a brand new name and profile picture, you would have to launch a separate self-promotion campaign. It is possible to transfer some of the goodwill from your current, more successful accounts, but much of it will have to be re-earned.
Profile Picture Ideas
In addition to using our own face and various body parts, there are a whole range of other possible profile pictures -
- Picture of a celebrity.
- Picture of our beloved pet.
- Picture of our hobbies, interests, or writing topics.
- Picture of something abstract.
In our Profile Picture Ideas article we explore all of these other possibilities and highlight their advantages and disadvantages.
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CommentsLoading...
I keep changing my profile picture from time to time. My present profile picture was taken when I was a five year old.
I recognize other hubbers by their avatar more often than by their names.
Cujo Inu really is a cute dog! :)
Very informative, thank you:)You gave some great advice here, but I'm still confused as to which way to go with my picture...I get tired of seeing the same picture every day, I need change. But like Quicksand commented, it's many times easier to identify fellow hubbers by their picture. If they're changing it all the time, you cannot rely on that system, obviously. I can remember names and faces so it's not a huge issue for me, but I'm still not sure which way to go. I loved this hub though, great job:)
I got more traffic with the avatar with me holding my home-made sausage
[Feline Prophet] lol - I love your profile name! It is so original - I wish I had come up with something like that. And the profile picture really fits the name. And they both fit your words and cheeky humor :) You must be getting loads and loads of traffic all due to your profile picture as well as due to the 4 and 8 ;)
[quicksand] I also really liked that partial face-shot that you used before this. I'm waiting on that full face-shot next :) Many times I *do* catch myself constructing what people look like behind their avatars. There are some very interesting psychological studies on this.
Thanks Jamie! I know how you feel. I have had the same profile picture since joining Hubpages. Often, I feel like I should change it, but can't seem to find something that I really like better. I think I have grown somewhat attached to it. Can one fall in love with one's own avatar? :) Hub topic!
lol Cindy. I think I will leave all the sausage jokes alone :) But this would also make a very interesting hub - "I say sausage, You say web traffic"
Would you be writing a hub on that "psycological" thing concerning faces?
:)
lol - maybe I will. But I think I'll wait for a bit more data. Now, how about that full face-shot ? ;)
A great article and very informative---I really had not considered the significance of a profile picture. However, I like the one I have right now so I will keep it for a while. I must say thought; I agree with you, the eyes are the windows to the soul. Therefore, I would probably choose that type of photo. You have invoked thought!
"You have invoked thought!"
Yikes! That is very dangerous. Thoughts lead to ideas, ideas lead to change, and very soon I will have to buy all these new gadgets and gizmos that I end up not using :)
I don't know about eyes. I really like your current profile picture - it is quite beautiful and very unique. Eyes alone are too commonly used. Maybe you can integrate eyes into the butterfly wings :)
My avatar does show my full face. How come you did not notice? :)
*poke* *thud* *thud* *thud*
Still waiting for your Cujo's picture. Or did I *not* notice that too? ;)
I like looking at pictures, so I made it a point to choose carefully on what to put on my profile. I personalized it with my name underneath. I like Thanksgiving and Autumn colors and the Black Cat posing made it more interesting and colorful.
Hi Elynjo, You are way ahead of me on this. I think many people (including me) do not realize the importance of profile pictures and indeed pictures in general wrt. online communities.
In the real-world, we often judge people based on how they look and it is natural for us to do the same online. This is often even unconscious and we can't help but be affected by it.
ok, so mine is pretty unoriginal, but I personally don't like avatars that have NOTHING to do with the person (although, MissJamieD's is very cool). The whole idea of an avatar is to represent yourself. So, to me, it should be you (full-on traditional or mysterious shadows or whatever), or something "of" you, for which pets qualify as long as it's YOUR pet. The abstracts are one step down, but it's still acceptable if it represents something about you or your personality. I don't like celebrities as avatars at ALL; it really rings as disingenuous, and I can't help but not trust the person. So, you like a celebrity; big friggin' whoop! Am I supposed to think that you are just like that celeb? That you are NOTHING like that celeb and wish you were? That you think that celeb is neat-o and you are basically indifferent to what others use to identify with you? That you really don't care about being taken seriously?
And WORST of all.... the not-so-famous celeb pic that looks like a normal picture of anyone. I was actually fooled by a hubber for a little while, then I said, "huh, s/he kinda looks like so-and-so". Then it became unmistakable; and I lost all respect for that hubber.
Pic of a non-famous person that's not you? Maybe noone would know, but I won't even go there....
Sorry this turned in to a bit of a rant. I didn't realize I was so irritated by this until I read your hub! :) At any rate, everyone is obviously free to use whatever the heck they want as there avatar, so this is all just an opinion; but if anyone is even still reading at this point and is trying to decide on an avatar, I might not be the only one that feels this way....
Droj, Thanks for your high-quality rant :)
Trust is especially important in online venues, because we know so little of each other and there are many "scammers" out there. So automatically, we are already on a higher alert level when it comes to trust.
I think celebrity profile pictures that are just of the celebrity are a bit boring. However, I very much enjoy the ones who pick interesting characters, and then role-play those characters. To me, they *are* showing a personal side of themselves, and are having some fun at the same time. Role-playing a character well is not easy, and those that succeed usually share something in common with the characters they play. So the character/avatar is used as an extreme representation of some of their self traits, which in many cases is a lot more personal than say using the picture of a dog :)
If you choose a well-known character, or an animated character, then trust is not breached because clearly you are not passing yourself off as the real deal - just having some fun.
However, as you pointed out, when you use a not so well known celebrity, or a morphed picture, there is a greater risk of breaching trust. In these cases, it may seem like you are trying to pass yourself off as something which you are not. When that gets revealed, all that you say and all that you do may become suspect. Whether that was your original intent or not, does not matter much, as long as your audience perceives it to be true.
So I agree with you. In those cases, I would make it clear in my profile page, or even write a hub about the origins of my profile picture and name. By doing this, I show that no misrepresentation is intended. I am also sharing something personal and special with the people who are interested enough to read my profile picture origins hub.
I will have to add this to the hub. Thanks!
Ditto on the animated characters. Now you've got me thinking about a particular one for myself... :-P
That's a good point about the celeb/character pics. I can see using one if you identify with that character in some way. To me, that would make a bit more sense from the character standpoint, rather than the actor him/herself, unless it's someone whose real-life story is widely known (like Einstein or Britney). But I would suggest that, if this is the case, the photo used should somehow reflect whatever trait it is you identify with. So, if you identify with Britney's struggles, her stress, and her multi-directional outside pressures, then the album cover of her sucking a lolly-pop is probably not the right choice. :)
lol - I think the lolly-pop picture would probably reflect a whole bunch of other Britney traits.
Looking forward to that new profile picture :)
Hmm, i've never really given enough thought on choosing which profile pic to use but my partner had made one before but it's not as striking as it should have been. And we've used that ever since. We might change the logo of our business into a more attractive one soon. Thanks for this hub!
Feline Prophet Level 5 Commenter 2 years ago
Gosh, I didn't know choice of profile pictures could have such far reaching consequences! I chose mine to match 'Feline Prophet', a name chosen for me by a friend, and I was lucky to find a somewhat apt picture featuring Garfield, who I completely identify with! :P
I haven't a clue how my choice affects traffic to my hubs but I haven't a clue about making money off them either...so I don't suppose it matters. Thanks for an eye opening hub shibashake! :)