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Photos, blogs, and cameras for site.

by justray
4 replies
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Product photos: How many of you take your own photos for your products, finish them with PS or something else, and upload all? This can be time-consuming but better overall, since they are originals. What is your process?

Blogs: How many of you have a blog linked to your store? Does this add any value to your overall conversions? Do you see more traffic? I just began working on mine, and it's a lot of work to manage both, but a personal business coach (I could only afford one session) suggested that this can increase sales dramatically, depending on the related link between the two: store and blog. Images is what people want to see, nowadays.

Camera: Finally, do those of you doing all, or any of these things, find that one camera does everything you need? I just bought two cameras: a Nikon dslr and a Canon G15 (compact, not point and shoot). I've yet to take final product shots for my store, but have taken numerous people shots for my blog. I don't know if I should keep both; perhaps take one back? Don't know. Need advice.

**What is your experience with all of the above? Product photos better done by you for originality? Blog enhancing conversion rates? Which camera has been a better choice for you?
#blogs #cameras #photos #site
  • Profile picture of the author CynthiaAngel
    I have a website with over 200 products and I keep adding more products to it, there is always a new product to add. I recently bought a cannon DSLR, because I was having professional photographers come out and take pictures of products and they were charging me $500 per session. So I decided to get a camera, and learn how to use it myself, even though it is so time consuming.

    What I have been doing, is taking the pictures, and then send it to a graphic designer who I hired on Odesk. He touches it up/fixes it and uploads it to my website. I spend enough time taking the pictures; I just don’t have the time for touchups and uploading.

    I have a blog but it really doesn't do much for my website, am probably not utilizing it properly- SEO and all.
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  • Profile picture of the author WeavingThoughts
    I am not a fan of taking photos but prefer websites which publish them And a linked blog is a must.
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    • Profile picture of the author OnlineStoreHelp
      I think it all depends. If you are selling branded products, most times the company insist on you using their stock photography of their products. That doesn't stop you from doing what I call an action shot (showing the product as it was intended to be used) but most times, the brand has spent a lot of time and money on the photos.

      When it comes to taking my own photographs, again it all depends on what you are taking photographs for. I used a Canon DSLR and it takes a bit to learn but with a good Macro lens where you can get close up, they can't be beat. If your lighting is good, many times you don't need to photoshop it out.

      Lighting is key. If they are small products, spend the 50 bucks on a light box to place your products in. If they are larger, you need to get a lighting kit. I know many times (clothes for example) people will spend the time to photoshop out the base of the mannequin but I actually like showing part of the base, looks more real to me.

      I think the biggest deal for editing is when you have a lot of reflections. In that case I would agree with the above and hire someone to edit them for you.

      Remember the key here is that the potential customer can see what they are buying.
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    • Profile picture of the author justray
      Originally Posted by WeavingThoughts View Post

      I am not a fan of taking photos but prefer websites which publish them And a linked blog is a must.
      What do you think the conversion rate difference between a site w/o a blog vs. one with a blog? And, how thematically concentrated should a blog be?
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