Chapter 10: Monetizing Your Podcasts
We have already discussed that you can make offers during your podcasts for people to purchase your products or services or an affiliate offer where you make a commission. But it doesn’t have to stop there. There are a number of other ways that you can monetize your podcasts.
Request Donations
A lot of successful podcasters use a donation service like Patreon.com as a way to collect donations from their listeners. You can announce this on all of your podcasts and tell your listeners that it is a great way for them to support you to create more podcasts in the future.
Find Sponsorship and Advertising Partners
One of the most common ways to monetize a podcast is through sponsorship. This is great for you as you don’t have to do any selling. Usually a sponsor will ask you to add a specific line at the beginning and maybe the end of your podcast such as “this podcast is brought to you by [company name]. If you want …”
There are a number of places that you can look for sponsors including:
AdResultsMedia.com
Adopter.media
AdvertiseCast.com
TrueNativeMedia.com
Of course a broker will want a cut of the sponsorship or ad money but they are worth using because they are in contact with a lot of companies that are looking to sponsor podcasts. It is much easier than trying to find sponsors yourself.
Create Premium Content Podcasts
Once you have an established listener base you can create premium podcasts which your listeners have to pay to access. Some ideas for premium podcasts are:
Live streamed podcast episodes
Q & A sessions with special guests
Interviews with esteemed experts
Sell Consulting or Coaching Services
Your listeners see you as an expert and a total authority in your niche. They would love to know what you know. So you can offer your listeners a series of high priced consulting or coaching sessions that you perform online over Skype.
Make Money from YouTube
You can earn additional income by syndicating your podcasts on YouTube and signing up for a Google Adsense account. When people are listening to your podcasts on YouTube they will be presented with relevant ads. Because you are not using video, these ads will seem a lot less intrusive. You will receive a commission for the ads that are clicked.
Experiment with Different Monetization Strategies
Test to see which monetization strategies work the best with your podcasts. There are other strategies that you can use as well to make some money. Sponsorship and donations are the most common form of monetization. They bring in regular income without you having to do much for it.