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Today I signed up for a free subscription to a new trade publication focusing on the maternity industry. Maternity 360 promises to give a detailed look at the trends in the areas of apparel, beauty, accessories, nursing and newborns. They are offering the first 5,000 qualified businesses a free subscription. At last check there were less than 1,500 free subscriptions left so if this interests you, signup now before they are all spoken for. Hope you find this useful!

Calling all mompreneurs… you are not going to want to miss this one!

On October 30th, 2010, hundreds of moms will converge upon the Big Apple to learn how to turn their Small Business into Big Business at the Super Mom Entrepreneur Conference & Expo being held at the New Yorker Hotel. Organizers Heather Lopez of Happy Healthy Mom and Lucinda Cross of Corporate Mom Dropouts have teamed up to bring together some of the most influential and powerful authorities in business for moms, in order to show moms from all walks of life how to realize their potential to become “Super Mom Entrepreneurs.”

Take a look at what is planned for this unique event:

• Keynotes by Savor The Success’ Angela Jia Kim, Count Me In/ Make Mine a Million’s Nell Merlino, and Mompreneurs® Online’s Ellen Parlapiano.

• 16 workshops designed to teach moms how to start, build, & grow their businesses, led by powerful speakers such as, the Toilet Paper Entrepreneur Mike Michalowicz, the Entreprenette Sarah Shaw, Self Made Millionaire Bonnie Marcus of the Bonnie Marcus Collection, Mom Corps CEO Allison O’Kelly and more.

• A B2B & Mom2Mom Expo allowing both the opportunity for moms to highlight their own businesses and for moms to access products and services to grow their businesses.

• Numerous networking opportunities, including a pre-conference networking mixer on Friday night, designed to build lasting connections and support between attendees.

• An Awards & Grant Cocktail Hour, featuring the announcement of the winner of the Super Mom Entrepreneur Fund grant, a small grant designed to help a mom start or expand her business.

Tickets are now available, visit the website to register.  For more information, read the full press release.

Whether you’re selling your products on Etsy, in your own store or direct to businesses, you need high quality product photos. Period. When it comes time to promote those products to the media the quality of your photos becomes even more important. I highly recommend you save yourself alot of headaches (and rejections) and get them done right. With the affordability of today’s technology and foolproof photo editing tools this is something you can even tackle yourself (I did my own and then had them professionally retouched which costs alot less than using a professional photographer).

Here are some great tips on how to make your product photos the best they can be:

• The Branding Bitch has a some good advice in her article Just Shoot Me. I especially like how she talks about getting shots that show the product in action. See the article for a great example photo.

• The article How to take Great Product Photos for Online Selling on eHow.com gives a good step-by-step outline if you want to take your own photos.

• Something that has worked well for me is when I submit a product for a review on a blog and they take a great product shot (which many do), I ask for permission to use that photo. I’ve never had a blogger say no before!

• Another technique for getting professional photos that has worked for me with my Define*Me Clothing line is to offer free product to photographers in exchange for photos. There are lots of amazing mom photographers who are happy to help out and appreciative of the product you send. Ask around in any of the mom entrepreneur forums and you’ll be surprised how many responses you get.

I know that getting good product photos can be a daunting task. But trust me, it is worth every bit of time and money you put in to it.  When it comes to promotions, it is an absolute must.

One of the best ways I’ve found to get the word out about what I do is to connect with other mom entrepreneurs in forums. I find everyone to be extremely helpful and it makes building a network very easy. From these forums I have gotten ideas on how to promote and grow my business, been given advice on areas I was having troubles with, found partners to help me with promotions and received mentions on several sites. But most importantly, I’ve made friends that have the same goals as I do.

Here is a list of the most active online communities for mom entrepreneurs. If there are any I’ve forgotten (and I’m sure there are), please let me know and I’ll add them.

Of course this list is not going to do you any good unless you actually join these communities and get involved. Start by introducing yourself and then focus on adding value and helping others. It won’t be long before you start to see the benefits!

Until next time,

To be honest I don’t enter alot of giveaways.  Mostly because I know me and I know that if I got started, I would not be able to control myself. But this one is too good to pass up. Over at MarketMommy.com they are having a 1st Birthday Extravaganza. To celebrate there is a huge giveaway of business marketing tools valued at more than $2600.

There are too many things to list here but some of the highlights are…

* MarketMommy.com -  Two hours marketing consultation, 125×125 button ad design, 480×60 banner ad design, Written press release, Up to 5 pages of written website copy, Written short promotional article, 250 designed and printed business cards, 100 designed and printed postcards, One month of advertising on Market Mommy (web button, newsletter advertorial and spot in Market Mommy Favs e-mail).

* 2 Hours Business Consulting, via Skype with Boogie Moms (Owners and Founders of Boogie Wipes) Mindee Doney and Julie Pickens

* Advertorial on Chic Galleria Magazine

* One hour social media marketing consultation from Rebecca Buscemi at Savvy Women’s Business Solution

And so much more.  There are also great guest posts planned by some moms who really know their stuff when it comes to promoting a business.

Seriously, go over right now and enter this amazing contest. I’ve already done so and have my fingers (and toes) crossed that I win.

Good Luck!

PRomotingMompreneurs.com is a site I have been planning for a long time now.

I am thrilled today to be writing this welcome post to kick off what is sure to be an amazing resource for other moms like me who are trying to navigate the confusing (and often crazy) world of promoting a business.

You can read my story on the About Me page to learn more about what has brought me to where I am today. Then tell me your story. I would love to hear who you are, what you do and any questions you have about promoting your business. I respond to all of my email and will do my best to help.

I look forward to getting to know you and your business.

Until next time,