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Whether you have a small or large podcast, you can make money from it. While this is not an exhaustive list, Daniel J. Lewis shares his top five ways to monetize the content you’re posting on the Internet in your podcast or blog.
1. Premium stuff
Charging a price for something that isn’t available for free.
- Full access for members and limited access to nonmembers
- Bonus features or content
- No ads
2. Donations
When you ask people to give money or buy something for you.
- PayPal donate button and subscriptions
- Amazon.com wishlists
- “Sponsor” an episode and have a message read
3. Ads and affiliates
Typically products or services you advertise but have no relationship or long-term agreement with the company. These can be text or banners on your site or spoken in your podcast.
- Sales are when someone buys something.
- Leads are when someone visits or joins without parting with money.
Popular places for affiliate links
Use Pretty Link to “mask” your affiliate links to prevent their being blocked by ad-blockers. Pretty Link can also tell you how many people click through that link.
4. Sponsorships
Typically when there is a relationship or long-term agreement with a sponsor for regular inclusion in your podcast or blog.
Three models of sponsorship
- CPM—cost per thousand downloads
- CPA/CPC—cost per action / cost per click
- Flat rate—paid no matter how many downloads or actions
5. Self-promotion
Promoting something that you offer and furthering your own brand.
- Products—something you sell, like digital products, physical products, fan “swag”
- Services—something you do, like photography, baking, consulting, etc.
Include disclosures
CMP.LY is a simple solution for required social media disclosures and “fine print”
CMP.LY provides tools to document compliance, track and measure your social marketing campaigns
I quit my job to be self-employed
After ten years in a nonprofit ministry and fulfilling my goals there, I saw God blessing my life in another direction. So I am officially resigning to pursue self-employment as a web designer, apologetics and social-media speaker, and podcast consultant.
Need personalized podcasting help?
I no longer offer one-on-one consulting outside of Podcasters' Society, but request a consultant here and I'll connect you with someone I trust to help you launch or improve your podcast.
Ask your questions or share your feedback
- Comment on the shownotes
- Leave a voicemail at (903) 231-2221
- Email feedback@TheAudacitytoPodcast.com (audio files welcome)
Connect with me
- Subscribe to The Audacity to Podcast on Apple Podcasts or on Android.
- Join the Facebook Page and watch live podcasting Q&A on Mondays at 2pm (ET)
- Subscribe on YouTube for video reviews, Q&A, and more
- Follow @theDanielJLewis
Disclosure
This post may contain links to products or services with which I have an affiliate relationship and may receive compensation from your actions through such links. However, I don't let that corrupt my perspective and I don't recommend only affiliates.
Congrats on launching into self-employment! I hope to do the same myself in the next year or so. May God bless your efforts. Keep up the great work. I'm glad you'll be returning to a weekly schedule and am looking forward to the more frequent content. Thanks Daniel!____-JD
I think it's great that you're pursuing your dreams. I wish you the best of success. May God bless your efforts.
Thank you for your support, Jeremy!
I have a small network of podcasts that focus on various topics from a Christian and/or family friendly viewpoint. We are also working on a live stream of Christian music. The network site is at http://www.RadioCSS.com.
My goal is to be able to do this full-time eventually. I am just still working on the ways to monetize these efforts and/or offer some other product or service in order to support my family. I absolutely love podcasting and I am excited about the prospect of being able to focus more time and energy on content creation. I have several more show ideas that I’d love to be able to work on, but don’t have the time to do so.
I’m sure you can relate to that! Once you've been bitten by the podcasting bug, you never stop thinking about it. You hear or see something and you think "That'd be a great podcast topic/theme." 🙂
-JD
Yes, I know the feeling, but I'm an artist before I'm a podcaster.
I have ideas for four more podcasts, but I need to be careful that I don't spread myself too thin.
Exactly. That is always a concern.
What are some of the resources or people from which/whom you have obtained guidance, help, or inspiration for launching and growing your business?
I am a listener of Dan Miller's podcast and have also just purchased his 48 Days book and am currently reading it.
Definitely 48 Days to the Work You Love! I'll have to make a list and share it when I'm successful and it'll make sense to say, "These people inspired me."
Hey Dan!
The sponsorship element is an interesting one. I'm consulting right now with an advertiser who is tetchy about committing spend to a range of podcasts.
Fair enough, I say. Different strokes for different folks. I talked to some of my podcasting clients and suggested they consider a 'CPC' style sponsorship package whereby they get paid when listeners use their hop/affiliate link designated by the sponsor.
As far as I know this is pretty radical but one that works for both parties if the podcast has garnered a solid reputation among its audience as an authority.
I'll let you know how it pans out!
Thanks for your comment, Dave!
As you say, it does totally depend on the podcaster and their audience. If the sponsor is a great fit for the podcast and its audience (and the podcaster believes this wholeheartedly), then I believe that there will be only success with almost any kind of campaign.
Seriously? This is basic information. Way to reblog other ppl's work!
"Some other podcaster," I'm sorry to have disappointed you. If I had merely reblogged someone else's work, then I would have given them credit, like I did in "The Disadvantages of BlogTalkRadio."
Although my points are very similar to what others would share, I discuss them from a unique perspective. This is the whole reason there are a dozen podcasts about podcasting—everyone has their own perspective and helps construct the concept of podcasting for others.
But I do appreciate that you took the time to consume my content (hopefully in podcast form) and took the time to comment (despite your apparent running out of time when you got to "ppl").
I hope that you will continue to listen and someday not feel that you have to hide your honest opinions behind an anonymous name.
Don't forget when it comes to ads, you can sell ads on your website as well. Some podcasters use that as a package. Buy X amount of episodes, and have this size ad on the website, as well as an ad in the newsletter, etc. Whatever format you are putting your content out as, you can put a sponsor. The key to sponsorship is the product HAS to match your audience.
What a great podcast I have been podcasting for 9 months and have learnt quite a bit
Thank you, Kevin! I’m glad my site and podcast have been helping!
I have a small podcast and we have been offered our first sponsorship opportunity and will be charging a flat rate for ads as our CPM/CPA are not sufficient yet. The money received will only cover operating expenses and won’t provide any profits. Is this still considered taxable income?
In the USA, the safest assumption is that all income is probably taxable.
But you should really talk to an accountant to be sure. If nothing else, the easiest thing you may be able to do is list the extra income in the “extra income” field of your taxes. You probably can’t deduct any expenses unless you are running your podcast as a business. But, again, you should find an accountant to answer these questions.
I’m starting a sports podcast where I wish to offer an annual subscription to my listeners to have full access to my data and metrics used to help predict the outcomes of games. Do I need to form a business entity to collect the money I make from this subscription based plan? Or can I simply set this up without a formal business entity and write off any money I make on my taxes?
If I pursue to make money in other ways from my podcast in the future (selling physical products, sponsorships, etc), at what point should I turn this into a business entity?
That’s a popular question, but I’m not qualified to tell you what to do. So I highly recommend talking to an accountant who can address this for you.