Sandy claims to be very knowledgeable about sports.  She was an athlete in her younger days and all her kids are heavily involved in sports. Her main concern, however, is that she is a woman and most popular blogs on this topic are written by men.

She read my blog post, “Being Anonymous Can Hurt You” and agreed with my points, but was concerned about revealing her picture/identity because she didn’t think men would take her content seriously (or at least as serious) if they discover she is a woman.

What I’ve learned is that there are always going to be people who will discriminate because of something, whether it’s your sex, age, race, religion, etc.

I cannot count the numerous “N word” comments I’ve received on my YouTube channel over the years.  I even had a guy tell me he would have taken my information about making money online more seriously if I wasn’t black.

However, I believe that the benefits of displaying a picture and sharing a little about about who you are outweigh the negatives by far.  It gives your site personality and also helps build a degree of trust with your audience — particularly if your goal is to earn an income from your site.

Of course, there are always going to be intolerant / ignorant people in this world who judge people on their appearance, but fortunately most people are not that way.  People go online searching for information, entertainment, answers to their questions, etc. So if your site can help someone and provide value, most people are not going to care what you look like.

And as far as Sandy’s situation goes, being a woman could actually help in some instances.  Many men will respect and be impressed by the fact she is a woman tackling a subject that is mostly dominated by men, and this could work to her advantage.

Will there be some who won’t take her info seriously because she is a woman?  Perhaps, but as I said earlier, I think the advantages of providing information about yourself usually outweigh the disadvantages by far  — especially if you know your stuff and have an interesting approach to the topic.

I’d love to open up a discussion about this.  What are your thoughts?  Have you ever thought about staying anonymous because you fear discrimination of any kind?  What do you think Sandy should do?

Due to the fact her site includes a lot of personal information about her own depression, she didn’t want her family and friends to find out about her condition from the web.

So she registered a private domain and chose to remain anonymous.

After reading numerous blogs and websites that discuss the importance and advantages of getting more personal, she realized it may be doing her site a disservice to remain anonymous.

So she created an “About The Author” page that includes a few details about herself. Even though Arial does not disclose her real name, she tells her story about her battles with depression.

You won’t find a photo of Arial on her site, but she uses her Yahoo Avatar and playfully promises her audience, “It looks pretty close to the real me.”

Arial admits a real-life photo would be better, but due to her situation, I can certainly understand why she chose not to go there.  Nevertheless, she believes telling her story and being honest about her situation is much better than having no information about herself at all.

I asked if she’s noticed a difference since she added her “About The Author” page.  Here is her reply…

The first thing I noticed was how I am able to connect with my readers better than before.  Now that I’ve told my story, many people have emailed me because they can relate to my story, and they’ve given me ideas for other topics.

Feedback from my About The Author page has provided greater insight to what my audience wants to learn about so my content will be more relevant and useful going forward.

And the best thing is, my affiliate commissions have gone up by about 30% even though my traffic has remained steady.

While I have no proof it’s all because of my About The Author page, it’s hard to believe that doesn’t have some impact.

I also just updated my design using your free 3 column template, so I’m sure that helped as well.  My old layout was pretty drab.

Nevertheless, I still believe people are more likely to buy things you recommend when they know about your relationship with the topic.  That’s hard to accomplish when your website is anonymous and you don’t explain how you’re connected with your subject matter.

My site may not be completely un-anonymous (Is that a word?), but it’s better than before.

Arial’s right.  Telling your audience about yourself and how you relate to your topic can do a world of good for your credibility.

People want to know what qualifies you to be the “expert” on the subject, so adding a few sentences about yourself can breathe some life into your site or blog. I encourage you to think of ways you can connect with your readers better. If you’re not comfortable adding a picture, it’s not a necessity but definitely helps.

Also explain how you got involved with your topic and why you created your site or blog. Small changes like this can make a big difference in the long-run.