Comments on: What Makes for a Good Author Photo in the Local Results? (Part 1)

By: Greg

Greg — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 18:29:17 +0000

I like #2, but I would think that the effectiveness of the avatar would have to also do with what the customer is searching. For instance, my firm practices bankruptcy law. I think that a customer looking for a bankruptcy lawyer wants a gentler touch than say someone looking for a divorce attorney. I would think that this would have to be one of the criteria in selecting the right avatar.

By: Mike Blumenthal

Mike Blumenthal — Sun, 10 Feb 2013 18:57:40 +0000

@Guillermo
thanks. Glad this was of use. Don’t be a stranger!

By: Guillermo Ortiz

Guillermo Ortiz — Sun, 10 Feb 2013 18:25:20 +0000

As promised Mike, I’m no longer a lurker

This is just the kind of information I was looking for regarding authorship photos! Here I was thinking of backgrounds and shapes, never thinking of the actual clothing itself to help the author standout….sigh

By: Travis Van Slooten

Travis Van Slooten — Thu, 13 Dec 2012 04:23:51 +0000

Mike:

AWESOME series here. I’ve always wondered about this very topic. I agree with what many have said here – that contrasts probably work best with the person facing the search results. And like others have said, I think the photo will depend on the industry and target market. In addition to that, I think you need to see what others are doing in your niche so you can do something different.

What I’m fearful of is that fast forward a year from now when everyone’s photo is showing up. We’ll all become blind to them like we have to banners. They won’t even stand out anymore – no matter what you do. I know…how about animated gifs:) Actually, that’s a good question…could a guy use an animated gif as their photo?

Travis Van Slooten

By: Andrew Huskinson

Andrew Huskinson — Wed, 12 Dec 2012 11:13:12 +0000

You will notice on postcards that there is always a red coloured item somewhere, touched in on old postcards.

Red catches the eye.

By: What Makes for a Good Author Photo in the Local Results? (Part 2) | Understanding Google Places & Local Search

Tue, 11 Dec 2012 13:28:26 +0000

[...] I promised to share the large scale (1500 responses) survey results as to which author avatar consumers [...]

By: Bill Bean

Bill Bean — Tue, 11 Dec 2012 12:31:54 +0000

The particular niche should certainly be considered, but it seems that general principles will hold true. In the first second or two I want to grab the eye. Seems color will have the most impact on that. If options, time, resources, etc… are limited, the simple choice to go with the red tie (or blouse) could make a big difference.

By: Mark

Mark — Tue, 11 Dec 2012 07:09:49 +0000

You do realize what is going to happen here? Everyone is going to come to a general consensus on the key elements to have in your avatar photo, thousands will update their photos to fall within these “rules”, and then Google will pull the rug out from under you.

Personally I hate avatars, notably in how they are being used within the local search realm. I am actually shocked that your clients were able to agree on which attorney would be associated with the listing for their firm. In my use of local for personal searches I have caught myself passing right by the listings with avatars as they appear to be less professional and more “blogish”.

By: MiriamEllis

MiriamEllis — Tue, 11 Dec 2012 05:32:48 +0000

Neat post, Mike. I think you have to take into consideration not what a bunch of marketers (like me) might thing, but what a person having legal trouble might think.

If I was in trouble, the dark background avatars would feel murky and ominous to me.

If I was out to ‘stick it to someone’ legally, maybe those dark photos would look powerful and threatening (the persona I might wish my go-get-’em lawyer to present in a courtroom).

If I was looking for a lawyer to do my estate planning, your Moses and Rooth looks the friendliest.

From a purely visual standpoint, the red tie in #2 drew my eye first, but the distant perspective and black border lessen the impact.

So…your guy should take a new photo with the same expression and he should sport a red tie in it, from a purely visual standpoint.

But emotionally, that’s just a whole different story.

By: Mike Blumenthal

Mike Blumenthal — Mon, 10 Dec 2012 18:10:49 +0000

@Mike Bayes
Google survey does provide very granular demographic results down to age, sex, income, location & urbanicity IF you get a large enough sample size to get details at that level. The survey I will publish tomorrow does have worth at the top level of any of those but not much deeper. Dig in and see what you think.

I wanted to use those doing the work to take their best shot and then see what we can learn from a consumer pov and then compare the two results. Fortunately AJ, Cyrus and Matt were all game.

@Chad
I have not figured out a way to split test in real time. Cyrus did a great job of testing his avatar changes (link above).

@Lyndon
I think you are right on all fronts… lots of variables in the photo itself and lots of different viewers, all of which will influence outcome.

As to more research, I am willing but will need additional funding sources rather than doing out of pocket like I did on this one.

@Andy
We will know tomorrow whether you are close to the average.

@Terry
I did not like the black border either……