Last week we talk about being a "hobby podcast" and that you can be a hero to someone. We mentioned that you do NOT have to make money with your podcast. Today we are going the other way and looking at making money with your podcast. So let's start right there.
YOU DON'T MAKE MONEY WITH YOUR PODCAST. YOU MAKE MONEY WITH THE RELATIONSHIP YOU BUILD WITH YOUR PODCAST
This is why it takes time. In the same way that it takes time to develop a relationship, it takes time to build an audience that will like and trust you. Things that can speed up this process:
Strategies for Making Money with Your Podcast
1. Sell your own product
This is by far the most lucrative because people know, like and trust you. This can be a book, a course, consulting, etc.
2. Refer to other products through affiliate links
Pick a product that matches the audience. Preferably one that you actually like so you can talk open and honestly about the product. Many people use Amazon. or Audible as well.
3. Donations
You can put a paypal button on your site, or websites like Patreon make it easy to build a community by rewarding them for different levels of support. Be careful with the reward and make sure you don't spread yourself too thin.
4. Sponsorship
When you get over 5,000 download per episode, you can start thinking about getting a "big" sponsor (squarespace). As 92% of podcasters are nowhere near that number you are not out of luck. You can find smaller businesses that may be looking for more of a branding play. Check out my interview with Glenn The Geek who is making a living with sponsors by making sure his sponsors fit his audience and he gets them involved.
Check out this super powerful shopping cart plugin that allows you to safely sell digital downloads
Gumroad is a handy website that make's it easy to sell digital downloads if you're not using Wordpress. Selz.com is another great looking shopping cart.
The School of Podcasting was founded in 2005 and I used Digital Access Pass to to make sure the general public could not access my material. I also used it to manage my affiliate program, and e-mail m members. It created coupons for discounts, and generated reports. Is is the cheapest platform? No. But the money you save using different plugins is wasted in the time you spend trying to get them all to work together.
Today I interview Ravi Jayagopal from Digital Access Pass and the author of the book Subscribe Me: Making, Marketing & Monetizing Online Digital Content with Membership Sites, Online Courses and Recurring Subscriptions
The biggest advantage of a membership site is you can build it once, and then sell it many times. Digital Access...
