Starting off a podcast can be pretty fun. Depending on your personal goals, you can start podcasting as a hobby, a pastime, a side hustle, or a full-blown business. If you manage to do it the right way, podcasting can bring in a good deal of money and can be a steady source of making money online. The exciting fact is you do not even have to invest a lot of resources to turn your podcast into a lucrative business. You already have the idea, all you need to do is to harness its potential and make that work for you.
This article will help you learn ways to start a podcast, the do’s and don’ts, and how to make money online. Let’s dive into the details and find out how.
Making Money Online with Podcasting: Is It Really Possible?
In a short and simple answer, Yes. You can of course make money online with podcasts from the comfort of your home but it won’t happen overnight. It will take some time to actually monetize your podcast and once you get a hang of it, there is apparently no going back.
How to Make Money Online from Podcasts?
There is no single answer to this question. There are plenty of ways to monetize your podcasts and you can experiment with as many techniques as you want as long as you are willing to make an effort.
However, an important thing to keep in mind is that some methods will work best at a certain point in time. What works for a podcaster may not actually be very beneficial to you if you are just in the beginning stage.
How Much Do Podcasters Make Per Episode?
There is no specific answer to this as the amount of money one can make as a podcaster depends greatly on the number of listeners and type of content shared.
Generally, the more listeners a podcast has, the more money a podcaster can earn. Successful podcasters who have hundreds and thousands of listeners on board can make $300 to $500 per episode.
Build up Your Following to Attract Potential Advertisers
Podcasts with a huge following and a diverse audience tend to attract more advertisers. Brands, marketers, and businesses will pay you a decent amount of cash to promote their goods to your listeners.
Podcasters who have a limited audience first need to build up their listenership to attract more advertisers. If you genuinely put in effort and time, your followers will grow organically with the help of smart marketing strategies, branding, and verbal recommendations.
Making Money Online with Sponsorships and Advertisements
Advertisements and sponsorships are highly profitable and do not require much from your side. Brands and organizations pay a premium to advertise their business to their audience. The bigger your listenership, the greater the number of revenues.
If you have been into listening to podcasts for some time now, you must be pretty familiar with the phrase “brought to you by XXX”. This is what sponsorship is. A brand sponsored the content you are listening to and the podcaster will be paid for airing the broadcasting of the show.
Several advertisement and marketing agencies help podcasters and advertisers connect. These companies take care of all the administration and management for a specific amount of money.
If you run a small podcast in a very limited space, you can connect with niche brands that target the type of audience you have as listeners. With the right strategy and planning, you may land a great sponsorship deal.
When is the Right Time to Monetize a Podcast?
It all depends on your goals and interests. You may start your podcasts quite randomly without any obvious intention to make money. Or you can also start your podcast with monetization as a primary goal. It also greatly depends on how much money you want to make.
Some people aim at generating a small amount of cash to manage their daily expenses while others plan on creating a steady source of income as part of a bigger financial plan. Your goal of making money will determine when and using which strategies will you make money online from a podcast.
It of course does not matter when you start monetizing. As your podcast grows with time, several lucrative opportunities will pop up along the way that you can utilize to make money as a side hustle.
12 Top Ways to Make Money Online From Podcasts
Now that you are familiar with some fundamentals of podcast monetization, here are some tips and ways with the help of which you can make money online.
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Request for Donations
To succeed, you have to ask around for help. Requesting donations from your audience is apparently the simplest way to make money online from the podcast. A reliable and supportive audience can support your cause by making donations through popular platforms like PayPal and Patreon.
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Offer Memberships
If you have a loyal and supportive audience, offering paid memberships can be a suitable way to make money from your podcast. It’s a great monetization strategy as your followers know they are accessing exclusive content that others cannot access.
Also, podcasters who do not prefer partnering up with brands can benefit from membership plans as it will help them earn money from broadcasting their show. If you have already tied up with a brand, you can perhaps offer your audience an ad-free membership where they can continue watching your show without being disrupted by ads.
There are endless opportunities and options when it comes to making money from your podcasts. Do whatever suits your interests and goals.
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What are Podcast Memberships?
A podcast membership is somewhat of a personal subscription that listeners pay for. A subscriber pays a specific amount of money per month or annum and gets access to special features and exclusive content
Podcast memberships are a great source of making money online and at the same time help in turning your listeners into a community who religiously follows and views your content.
Memberships work best for podcasters who have a huge and loyal audience that follows and engages with their content regularly.
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How to Utilize Memberships for Monetizing a Podcast?
- Make sure the membership you are offering is of some value.
While building your fan base, you may find that a huge portion of your audience is ready to support you out of compassion. A loyal audience may support you financially as they believe in your agenda and want to see similar content in the future.
However, you cannot rely on the fact that they will continue with this belief for a long time. Since they are making payments regularly, it now comes down to you to offer them good content to make them feel they are getting something of value in exchange.
- Offer Premium Content for Paid Subscribers
You can be as creative as you want and create engaging and entertaining content exclusively for paid subscribers. Creating special content accessible only to the subscribers will reinforce their behavior and they will continue paying for subscriptions.
You can invite your subscribers to access behind-the-scenes videos, live chat sessions, or polls where you can ask them for their suggestions and opinions regarding upcoming content.
You can do whatever it takes to keep the audience hooked and engaged with your podcasts.
- Offer tiered memberships
You can offer different types of memberships and include better content and attractive features in high-level subscriptions. The more the subscriber pays, the more the e3xclusive features they will be able to access.
You can set different prices for different membership levels so that people who are only willing to pay a little amount can also join in.
A basic membership plan can be a small amount of fee for calling out a member’s name during the show. On the other hand, a premium subscription might allow the subscriber to get access to exclusive live shows and chats where they get to talk and meet with you in person.
You may consider signing up for Apple’s Podcasters Program to be able to offer paid memberships to your audience through the Apple Podcasts. Alternatively, you may also opt for creating subscriptions via Patreon.
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Reach Out For Sponsorships or Sell Ads
As discussed earlier, signing into a deal with a brand for sponsorships can be a great way to monetize your podcasts. If you have a huge fan base or you specialize in a nice and large number of the audience following and listening to your content, you may look for niche brands who might sponsor your content in an attempt to advertise their goods through your show.
When you choose to sell a sponsorship or an ad, you agree to feature ads before, during, or after your show. The most suitable ad placement is during the show. These ads are the most expensive as the audience is less likely to skip them.
Placing the ads after an episode is the least expensive and is somewhat less effective as listeners do not have much interest left to view the ads after the show is over.
There are generally two kinds of podcasts ads explained below:
- One where the podcaster promoted the goods
In these ads, you as a podcaster introduce and discuss the goods and services offered by the sponsoring brand. These type of ads are effective as the flow of the episode is not disrupted and the audience stay engaged.
- One where pre-recorded ads are displayed before, during, or after the show
These are types of ads where the sponsoring company or brand who buys the ad slot provides the podcaster with a pre-recorded ad. You as a host just have to incorporate the ad somewhere in your episode according to the contract terms.
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Sign up for an Advertising Network
Advertising networks for podcasts such as Midroll allow podcasters to connect with businesses, brands, and organizations who are interested to sponsor content. Joining these types of networks can help you save time and effort in finding and reaching out to brands to get into ad partnerships.
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Sell Modified Content
You need to put a lot of time and effort into creating an informative, entertaining, and engaging podcast. Once you put your heart and soul into something, you need to make sure it works out for you in multiple ways.
You can transcribe your episodes for repurposing your content. One good option is Riverside’s automated transcription function. After transcribing your episodes, you can organize them into an article and get it published across several platforms that target your niche.
You can make a good amount of money by selling your articles to websites that are willing to publish your content.
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Publish your Episodes on YouTube
Synchronizing your episodes on YouTube is a good way to repurpose your content. Riverside.fm is a good way to record your video podcast, but if for some reason you are unable to record an episode, you can publish the audio on YouTube along with your podcast cover as the image to be displayed on the video.
- YouTube Partner Program
If you are interested to publish content on YouTube, you may join the YouTube Partner Program as it helps in monetizing your content. Partner Program allows you to utilize special features and resources to publish your videos to make money.
- How to make use of the YouTube Partner Program to Make Money from YouTube?
To utilize the features of the YouTube Partner Program, you have to meet certain criteria including having a specific number of followers and watch time.
Publishing videos on YouTube is a good way to reach out to a wider segment of the audience as some users do not prefer listening to podcasts on other conventional channels.
For detailed information and helpful tips on making money from YouTube videos, click here.
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Sell Products
Majority of the people love spending on branded goods and products. If you have some merchandise that you own or have a small side business you can advertise and sell your goods through your podcasts.
You may also design t-shirts, mugs, and posters, or sell e-books, audio files, downloadable media, printable stuff, and a lot more to make profits.
The sales will help you make money and the audience who buys the goods can promote your stud via word of mouth and your podcast will ultimately gain recognition.
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Hold Events and Seminars
After you establish yourself as a prominent podcaster, you can utilize your fame for making money through other sources as well. As a prominent and well-known figure, you can hold events and seminars where you can sell tickets for your live programs. You may also choose to speak at media events and charge a fee for your participation.
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Create and Sell a Course
If you have a skill or ability that you think you can educate others about, you can perhaps create and sell an e-course to monetize your podcast content. You do not essentially have to make a lot of investment to design a course. The content you share on your podcast can be transcribed and formed into a course along with some extra tips, suggestions, and helpful advice.
E-courses are quite popular in present times as most people prefer upgrading their skills from the comfort of their homes. As a podcaster, you may be able to sell a course to a lot of people as you would already be having a huge fan base who may be interested in learning more from your knowledge and experience.
Here are two interesting articles on making money online through Udemy and Coursera that you may find valuable if you decide on creating a course online to make money.
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Become a Podcasting Coach or Consultant
Once you manage to build a huge fan base and establish yourself as a competent podcaster, you can sell your services to other podcasters and train them on creating and running successful podcasts.
You can advise aspiring podcasters on how to grow their audience organically, market their content, and ways to monetize their podcast.
Working as a podcasting coach or consultant can be a good source of making money online without having to invest any resources.
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Sell Affiliate Products and Services
Selling affiliate services and products to your audience is all about advertising and promoting merchandise of brands who sponsor your episodes. A lot of times brands provide an exclusive discount code that you may share with your audience.
Every time someone buys a product using your discount code, you will get a commission from the brand and the buyer will get a discount. A win-win deal for all.
You can sign up for affiliate programs offered by renowned brands in your niche and start selling their goods to earn a decent amount of money via your podcasts.
Here is an informative article on making money from affiliate marketing that might help you in selling affiliate products on your podcasts.
Bottom Line
Starting a podcast can be a fun and highly rewarding experience. However much like any start-up, it requires a lot of hard work, dedication, consistency, and creativity on your part. With proper planning and a good strategy in place, your podcast can turn out to be pretty engaging and productive.
Not only the audience will benefit from what you share, but you will also be able to make money and generate a steady source of income as a side hustle.
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