How to Make Money Podcasting
For many people, podcast is just for fun. But more and more people are looking for ways to make money podcasting. This post will give you a quick guide to how to make money podcasting
Make Money Selling Your Podcast
The most obvious way to make money from your podcast is to charge people to download it. However, you do have to have a very good reputation before people will hand over their cash to hear you. If you are brand new to podcasting and don’t have that reputation, it is unlikely you’ll be able to sell the podcast.
One alternative is to give away you most recent podcast and have your back catalog up for sale. This allows listeners to listen to your podcast for free (and discover how intelligent, witty and entertaining you are) but allows you to make money from your podcast at the same time.
This method of making money podcasting is most effective for people who have a general entertainment podcast with a strong fan-base.
The most cost efficient way to process sales of your podcast that I have found is E-junkie.
Make Money from Sponsorship
An increasing number of high-profile podcasts are making money by having their podcasts sponsored. Even if you don’t have a huge number of subscribers, companies may still be interested in sponsoring you if you have a very specific audience. For example, if you have a podcast that discusses the latest sci-fi DVD releases, you’ll be more likely to be able to get sponsorship than if you talked about what’s in the news.
The best way to get sponsorship for your podcast is to contact companies directly. Many companies will be eager to tap into your audience if you are well established and have listeners interested in a particular area.
This method of making money from podcasting is most suitable for podcasts with many listeners and a tight niche.
Make Money from Affiliate Promotion
Affiliate marketing is a much over looked way of making money from your podcast. Affiliate marketing is making money by referring people who buy a product. For example, you review a book on your podcast, your listeners go to Amazon and buy the book and you make a commission on the sale.
Affiliate promotions are a great way for new podcasts with a small listenership to make money podcasting. It will depend on the niche, but a great way to start making money is to sign up for the Amazon and eBay affiliate programs.
Make Money from Consulting
Podcasting is a great way to establish your expertise in a particular area. It creates a real sense of connection with your listeners - much more so than blogging. One you have established yourself as an expert, depending on the field you are in, you can sell your services to people.
For example, if you have a podcast on search engine optimization, you can sell yourself as an SEO consultant to your listeners.
Deciding the Best Way to Make Money Podcasting
Which of these methods you choose very much depends on the type of podcast you have and what stage you are at. No matter where you are in your podcasting career, there will always be a way you can make money podcasting.
Podcast Recording Equipment - The Basics
Podcasts are very popular within the blogosphere these days. Many webmasters and bloggers alike are creating new podcasting channels to keep the competition fierce while bringing in tons of new content for new subscribers. Many of the podcasts sound great and maybe you are thinking that you need a huge investment for all the best podcast recording equipment, studio space, and other essentials. With the increasing number of people trying out podcasting there has to be some secret to this all.
The secret is that you don’t need all of the expensive audio recording equipment to make professional sounding podcasts. Remember that podcasts must be optimized for the web and dedicated podcast recording equipment and software are the only tools that can balance both quality and speed so your podcasts can sound good and save bandwidth when many subscribers listen.
Podcast recording equipment usually consists of standard audio computer peripherals such as a microphone or headset and some inexpensive extras including the pre-amp and podcasting software.
However, if you want to make sure your podcasts are fully optimized and presentable to your subscribers, you should get the right software and devices that can do the job best. Here are a few recommendations.
Samson CO1U Podcast Pak
This great bundle by Samson comes with a C01U studio condenser microphone and the popular Cakewalk Sonar LE digital audio workstation software and is a great way to start recording you podcast.
The C01U is the first studio quality condenser microphone that can be plugged right into your computer via USB so set up is easy. It is complete with a microphone stand and looks just like the microphones you see in big studios. The Cakewalk Soner LE software aids in recording your podcasts and saving them in podcast friendly formats. It’s a great start for new users and comes without any additional cost.
Koss SB40 Computer Headset with Microphone
Podcasts are usually listened to wirelessly by people on the go, so most likely they’ll be on headphones when they start listening. Therefore, you need to have a good computer headset of your own to test the quality of your podcasts as well as doing some quick voiceovers when the studio microphone isn’t needed.
The Koss SB40 Computer Headset is a good choice for these needs because of its good cushioned comfort for extended use and dynamic microphone that rejects unwanted noise. It’s pretty affordable as well and should be a lasting companion to your podcasting activities.
Koss SB40 Computer Headset with Microphone
Audacity
Your podcasts may not sound the best on the first run and some quick editing and fine-tuning may be needed. Cakewalk may be a bit of a hassle for sound editing or maybe you decided not to get it all together. There is a good freeware program out there called Audacity, which specializes in editing audio files. This can also be considered a simple and free alternative to the Cakewalk Sonar LE because it can record audio as well.
The amount of money spent for podcast recording equipment is actually a lot smaller than most people think. Just get the right headset and start out with the many free tools and podcasting services available and work your way up so you can get better, but still affordable equipment to make your podcasts sound crisp and optimized.
