@cathyb

It all depends: how attractive are they?

I believe that photos increase trust with site visitors, but it’s a case by case basis.

Years ago, before Facebook and Twitter, I wanted to put a photo of our team on our site. 

There was push back, as people didn’t want their photo on the web. (As I said, it was a different time.)

We looked at getting illustrations done, but it was too much money for our small startup.

We ended up going with kid photos, which has gotten great response from our site visitors, and also shows our irreverent attitude.

You can check out the results here: http://www.flyte.biz/about/staff/

In short, use photos if they help establish your brand and build trust. 

@cathyb I think images are important, but put more attention to using real team members in photos rather than stock images. I do like what @rich-brooks suggests and using fun photos can work

It all depends on your company and its image–not sure a buttoned-up firm would do the child photo, and perhaps there the “corporate” look works.

I also think that if you are a solo business practitioner, such as an accountant or an attorney, you should have a recognizable photo headshot–again whether its an uber professional look or something more casual depends on your target market and the personality of the owner(s)

@cathyb

I think including your real picture is crucial for company recognition of small businesses under 25 employees.

Companies above that would be better off including only photos of executives and the positions they hold at the company. Again, including their real pictures.

If you boss is camera shy, have him/her get a professional photo using Photoshop for any touch-up needed.

Hope this helps!

@cathyb one point I’d like to add to the discussion is that now that you have the name and the pic of the key team players, you would also like to really get in touch with them for specific issues; in most cases however there’s only a generic info@ email account which does not please anybody because we are all familiar with the trend to use it mainly as a sort of trash bin; so even without necessarily disclosing the personal email account, one that would be read by the assistant would be beneficial

My husband has a construction business, and since knocking on people’s doors is involved, both he and our project manager are pictured on the company’s About page, along with a brief bio. Depending on the proximity of driveway to front door, people can’t always see the truck, so it helps to know ahead of time who should be at the door…