Is it necessary to put a human face to an online business (especially one selling information products)?

Will it screw over my conversion rates if I don't? I can't a/b test it either, so it's halting my progress.

Are there any other alternatives? Could having a persona based off of a character help to decrease the negative impact of not having a real human person in the about section? Would it have the same "trustworthiness" effect? I REALLY don't want to lose my privacy, but I'm worried that I'll be crippling my business.