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,