Don't Skimp on Product Photos and Descriptions

The one drawback of online shopping is that consumers can't hold the product, turn it, twist it, or otherwise experience it from all angles before deciding to buy it. To improve your sales, you'll need to minimize this obstacle as much as possible by painting the most vivid picture possible of each item you sell. That means taking the time and making the effort to shoot eye-catching, appealing photos of each product you sell. This includes shots from multiple angles, a few different magnifications (magnification capabilities might be available automatically with some inventory-management and online-shopping systems), and, at least for higher-priced, higher-margin items, some application shots (showing the product in use).

In addition to photographing your inventory, you'll also need to provide a product name for each item and a catchy, punchy, well-written product description. These descriptions should be written in such a way that they tell consumers everything they need to know about each product, encourage them to make a purchase, and maximize the potential for search engines to find them. (This last point is called search engine optimization, or SEO. It involves writing copy that uses certain keywords and phrases in certain ways so they're more likely to be picked up by search engines such as Google when people perform keyword searches.) This can be cumbersome. If you're not a competent writer, you may want to hire a freelancer to take care of this for you—especially if you have a large number of products.

(MLA 8th Edition)