Podcast monetization is the dream goal of every podcast creator. You would be able to easily pay for post-production and hosting costs if you monetize your podcast. However, the real question is, “how do you make money from podcasting?”
Although there are several innovative methods on how to monetize a podcast, they are a bit challenging. But it is also important to note that everything worthwhile takes a lot of patience and time. And the same applies to building a podcast show from scratch, gaining a loyal and dedicated audience, and making money from it.
But if you have podcasting passion and you are committed to growing your podcast, you will monetize it with time. So check out these five top-secret pieces of advice on how to make money podcasting.
Five Brilliant Strategies to Make Money Podcasting:
1. Affiliate Sponsorships
Affiliate sponsorships are one of the best ways on how to monetize a podcast. You don’t need to have a massive following before having an affiliate account. You can start for free. You can do this by recommending a product or service to your followers and audience. You will be paid a percentage of the revenue from each lead you refer to the brand. So, think about a product or service that you genuinely love, ensure that your audience will also love the product or service, and make sure that the product fits the kind of podcast you do.
After ensuring all these, recommend the product or service to your followers through an affiliate link. Again, a Google search can help you with numerous affiliate sponsorships. You can also learn about other affiliate sponsorships by registering with an affiliate network that will connect you with multiple affiliate programs and go directly to companies with affiliate programs.
Having affiliate programs is not enough for podcast monetization. You also need to know how to promote your programs. You can do this by including the program in the intro and outro of your podcast, podcast website, social media, and email signature. Also, remember to create unique links and direct them to your affiliate links. This will make calls to action more straightforward, and input them in your podcast intro and outro.
Above all, the most crucial part of affiliate sponsorship is you must always recommend suitable products to your audiences. Trust is vital if you want your audience to believe you and click on your affiliate links.
2. Donations
Asking for donations is another simple but effective way for podcast monetization. This is easier if you have a large loyal audience and listeners. Many listeners don’t mind parting away with a few dollars to support their favorite podcast creators and shows. You can use numerous financial platforms to ask for donations, including GoFundMe, Stripe, and PayPal.
Create an account on any of these platforms, add the link to your podcast description and ask the audience to donate if they can. Also, ensure that your reasons for the donations are genuine and authentic. Will the donations help to churn out more quality content and episodes?. Do you need the donations for better equipment?. Always be transparent with your audience. If they see your reasons flare genuine, they are more likely to help out.
New creators can also try asking for donations since promoting is easy. Only that they might not get the same response as an established podcast creator. You must thank the audience if they donated anything to you. It will make them feel they are a part of the show and want to do better the next time.
3. Podcast Memberships
Podcast membership is another great way to monetize your podcast. This is when podcast hosts create episodes privately for their paying members. To do this, paying members will pay a monthly subscription to access these private podcast episodes through a password-protected site or unique RSS feed.
One crucial thing to note is the word “subscribe.” The podcast industry is rapidly evolving from using “subscribe” for free podcasts. Instead, they use “follow.” This means that when you tell your listeners to follow your podcast, then it’s free. But if you ask them to subscribe to your podcast, it means it’s a paid membership. This is a reliable way on how to make money podcasting.
There are numerous types of private podcasts. Check these few ones out to get you started.
- Extended Interviews: only allow your paying members to access off-air conversations and extended interviews with your guests.
- Secret Podcast: create new content exclusively for your members.
- Educational Course: make a knowledgeable audio-only course, put a price on it and make it accessible for paying members alone. This can encourage others to subscribe when they see the exclusive bonuses members enjoy.
- Ad-Free Podcast: You can make your podcasts ad-free if you often advertise brands on your podcasts.
Check out how you can use memberships for podcast monetization
- Choose the idea for your private podcasts
- Register an account on Substack, Podia, Memberful, Patreon, or Superast.
- Advertise your private content on all your social media platforms
- Ensure your content have great value
- Start earning from the monthly subscription of members.
4. Selling Merchandise
If you have listeners who love and are loyal to your podcast, you should consider selling merchandise. You have a wide range of options, including hoodies, keyholders, T-shirts, and stickers. You can make your audience interested by branding these products with your podcast logo, brand name, a catchphrase your audience loves, and so on. Of course, the best way to sell your merchandise is through your official website to make it easy for your audience to order. You can also use a third-party plan that will sort and handle the branding and selling of your merchandise.
Selling merchandise has numerous benefits. You are not only making money, but you are also enlarging your reach and connecting with your audience.
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5. Selling Courses
Selling online courses is one of the most popular ways on how to monetize podcasts. Famous podcast creators are making their masterclass courses and selling to their loyal audience. These courses come in different forms, including written summaries, videos, resources, and assignments. In addition, you can use your podcast to promote your courses. One of the best ways to do that is to give them a glimpse of the course, what they will get, and a taste of the content on your free podcast episode. You can use different platforms to monetize your online courses, including Udemy, Podia, Teachable, Skillshare, and Memberful.
Check out these guidelines if you don’t know how to create an online course.
- Determine your niche
- Write your topics
- Record and edit the videos you will use.
- Choose your platform and create an account
- Advertise the course on your podcast before and after you upload it.
- Upload your course
- Use part of the course to create an episode on your podcast for your audience.
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The Epilogue:
There are several ways on how to make money podcasting. And while podcast monetization is possible, it can also be challenging. You might not have much success selling merchandise and courses for a new podcast host.
