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Best Practices for Selling Mobile Phone Photos and Videos Online
Whether you’re a citizen journalist who uncovers a big story or just happen to be walking down the street and come across an interesting situation, one thing is probably true, you will have your mobile phone on you. In the past you would have wished you had your camera, but today with most mobile phones you can take pictures and even videos. Almost all new phones come equipped with a 2 MegaPixel camera or better. Some phones, like the Nokia N86 and the new N900 even take pictures at 8 megapixels. Though these camera phones may not have “professional grade quality”, it’s the timing and relevance of the content that is most important today.
Janis Krums from Sarasota, Florida found himself in this exact situation earlier this year. He used his iphone to take this photo of US Airways flight 1549 landing on the Hudson. Unfortunately for Janis, he decided to post this EXTREMELY valuable content on Twitter. By giving his copyright away through the Twitpix service, he helped big media companies make a considerable amount of money. Yes, he got his bragging rights, however he missed out on a once in a lifetime opportunity to make a substantial amount of money on a very valuable mobile phone photo.
If you find yourself in this type of situation, you should be prepared and know exactly what to do. Here are three tips that can help you to make the most of your “once in a lifetime” opportunity:
1. Do you know how to take that perfect photo?
It isn’t everyday you see a volcano erupt, a tornado touch down or a celebrity enjoying lunch at a local restaurant. These things may happen, but the question is whether or not you are ready to capture that magic moment with the camera on your phone. The helpful hints in the article “How to Take Great Newspaper Photos” may prove useful in getting that perfect shot.
Even when using the camera on your phone, you can still get a high quality picture. There are plenty of tips and tricks for angles and composition, lighting, etc. including apps that can help.
Nokia: The Nokia N86 is considered one of the best camera phones on the market with an 8MP Camera. Check out the review here.
iPhone: Here is an article from PC Magazine on 22 ways to improve your iPhone photographs.
Blackberry: Here is an article from ZDnet with tips for improving your Blackberry photos and videos.
2. Choose one site to sell your picture(s) and do not post anywhere else
When trying to sell a photo or video online, the worst thing you can do is post your media all over the internet. If you have posted your video on YouTube or CNN’s ireport for example, it is no longer yours, it is now in the public domain. Every news agency and news blog now has the right to post your unique content to their site, driving traffic and revenue to themselves instead of you.
A new alternative to consider is fizwoz, an online photo and video auction marketplace. Using our free mobile phone applications (available for most mobile phones) you can easily upload your content to the online marketplace. fizwoz will then alert all news and media publishers to encourage them to compete with each other to buy the content from you. By allowing you (the person who captured the photo or video) to auction off your content, fizwoz gives you the opportunity to make money by selling your photos and videos from your mobile phone.
3. Post your photo or video at a reasonable price.
When dealing with breaking news, it is critical to post the content as soon as possible. If you decide to sell it online with a company such as fizwoz, post it at a reasonable price, the best way to sell your mobile content quickly. It is much better to do this than try for a higher price and get nothing after similar images begin appear.
Though you may not be able to retire with the money you make from your first photo or video that you sell from your Nokia, Blackberry or iPhone on fizwoz, you will be able to make money. The more you capture and post, the more you can make, especially with the fizwoz business model.
The fizwoz phone application allows you to simply upload your photo or video directly from your phone to the fizwoz mobile media marketplace. From there fizwoz will present your content to all levels of media, from local, national and international publishers, increasing your chances of selling your content at the price you desire.
So, next time you come across a newsworthy event or interesting subject matter, be sure to pull out your mobile phone and take a couple of pictures. Who knows, your photo or video may become the defining image of a national event and make you a considerable amount of money! Good Luck!
