How To Earn Money From Podcasting During COVID

How To Earn Money From Podcasting During COVID

Many people are hurting right now. This nation (and the world) have been negatively impacted by this COVID-19 pandemic.

Many people have lost their sources of income. Others have lost their homes. Still others have lost their savings trying to stay in their homes and keep going until things “get back to normal.”

Being cut off from normal in person relationships, whether it is at the office or out social with friends, is having detrimental effects on our society. People are yearning for some sort of way to stay connected.

There is one area of e-commerce that has grown tremendously in this time of COVID-19. That is the growing availability of online course instructions. Whether it is for classroom instruction for school age children or adults trying to learn or improve a skill set that will help them in this environment, online is where everyone is turning.

It is exactly this type of environment that podcasting is beginning to thrive like almost no other alternative out there! Podcasting is quickly becoming the fastest growing communication medium on the planet right now!

If you have a message to share, starting a podcast is a good first step.

If you have a skill set that will help someone to accomplish something that will benefit them right now, you have a potential client who may pay you money to teach them.

See Also- Technology Is Effective in the Classroom

A podcast can be your way to earn some additional income in the process.

It really is not hard to start a podcast. You need a device to record your voice (and most smart phones will have this already installed).

You then need a topic to talk about. I have my podcast training clients to write down three or four topics where other people are asking them for help. This is a good opportunity to realize you could create a podcast around those topics.

Think of it like this, if others are already asking for your help in these areas, you are already being recognized as an expert in that area! That’s right! You are an expert!

Just start to record your thoughts and ideas of that particular skill set you have and then share it with others. Put it out there on social media. Do it for free as you get started.

As you become more widely known and you are getting more requests for help, then you can start to move over in charging a small fee to others who ask for your help.

Congratulations! You have now monetized your podcast!

This is only one small example of how quickly it can happen. I’ve been helping people for over four years (at this point) to excel in exactly this type of scenario. But with the onset of COVID19 resource right now, my business has exploded beyond my wildest expectations!

If you have an idea that will help someone else achieve their desired goals, share it in a podcast. Start the process now and you could soon have an entirely different career path that cannot be shut down by COVID!

How You Can Try To Monetise Your Podcast

First, if you are looking at starting a podcast in order to make money, I have to warn you up front. It is probably not going to happen (at least not right away).

Very few podcasters ever make any money with their podcasts. Very few!

It can be done. It is done. But it is very, very rarely accomplished without a lot of work and effort. It is almost never accomplished by someone who is just starting out in podcasting. The exception is someone who has already made a name for themself somewhere else (sports figure, actor, singer, tech blog etc.).

If you are looking to start a podcast in order to make money, you might be wondering if it is even possible. There actually quite a few different ways you can turn your podcast into a money-making machine, even if it is just off setting your podcasting expenses or possibly supplementing your other sources of income. Take a look at some of these different ways to use your podcast as a way to bring in some extra money.

You Can Get Sponsors or free guest posting

A common way to earn money with your podcast is to get sponsors. Sponsors will be businesses that are trying to promote certain products or services that they provide. You will typically have just one sponsor per podcast episode. You will then mention your sponsor either once during the podcast or multiple times.

You usually will not have multiple sponsors for each episode.

For example, if you are sponsored by a website, you might say “Welcome to (Name of Podcast), this episode is sponsored by (Company).” This is going to get their company name mentioned, and you might then later talk a little bit about the services they provide. You can then end the podcast by mentioning the sponsor again and including a call to action for your listeners to visit the company website or services as well.

Through Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing is where you are trying to promote products that someone else has created. That person or company will then pay you a certain percentage of all the sales from people you promoted their product to that purchase through a unique link you provide to your listeners (usually in your show notes).

For example, if there is a product relevant to a certain topic you are discussing in your podcast, you can include a link to that product in the show notes and on the blog post where you discuss the topic on the podcast (we discussed this in a prior article).

If someone clicks on the link and purchases the product, you earn a commission for whatever the seller has negotiated with you. This is a really good way to advertise products to a different market.

Some podcasters make a significant amount of money by offering to share affiliate links with their listeners.

By Mentioning Specific Products or Services

This is similar to getting sponsors, but some companies don’t just want you to mention their company name. They would prefer that you actually mention a specific product or service they provide. This is yet another way to use sponsorships in your podcasts to earn money.

Like affiliate marketing, this really works best when the topic you are discussing in that particular episode of your podcast is completely relevant to the product.

For example, you do not want to talk about a product for natural health when discussing politics. It would not make any sense to your audience and the sponsor will likely not be happy either.

With Donations

It is not uncommon for podcasters to earn their money through donations. Either direct donations only, or in combination with multiple methods of income for the podcast.

You can mention that you accept donations, or just place a link in the description and on your website where you are hosting the podcast (without actually pushing the fact). The donation feature is basically to give people the option of supporting you making more podcasts without having to charge them a fee to listen to your podcast episodes.

By Having Exclusive Podcasts For Paid Subscribers

This is something not every podcaster will do, but you can try it out and see how it works for you. You might have mostly free podcast episodes, but then have some exclusive podcast episodes where people have to pay to listen to them.

These won’t just be run-of-the-mill episodes but offer special information only to your paid subscribers. Perhaps you give a detailed tutorial or information hat you don’t want to be readily available to everyone listening to your podcast.

You could have a special guest. Perhaps someone will provide exclusive training for your listeners. Training that the guest normally charges for and has worked out an affiliate arrangement with you. But instead of the normal affiliate fee (for product purchases), they will work out a fee for their services sold through your podcast.

There are numerous ways for you to monetize your podcast. Do not simply rely on one method. The best policy is to try one for a few weeks or months. Then try another. Over the course of several months, you will know which program works best for your listeners. Usually, a combination of one or more will generate the best monetization results.

Some Podcasting Mistakes To Avoid Or How To Fix Them

1. Don’t get long-winded!

Yes, some popular podcasts go three or four hours (or more). But they already have a loyal audience and they discuss content their audience enjoys. You are not them!

Remember a post I shared before that “shorter is better.” Every time! Nobody ever stops listening to an episode because it is too short. If anything, they will see how much time is left and think “There is only 2 minutes left, I’ll listen to the rest… ”

What do you think their response will be if they look down and the timer says “2 hours 20 minutes” left? On an episode they have already lost interest in?

The easiest fix for that is to “Keep It Short!” How To Earn Money From Podcasting?

2. Know What You Are Talking About

If you do not sound intelligent, it is because you failed to adequately prepare for your show. Yes, if you do interviews with experts, you are bringing them on the program because they are experts. But that does not mean you should bring someone on “your show” to discuss something you are totally unfamiliar with.

Do your research before the interview. The guest may send you a list of talking points (that’s good)! But do not stop there!

Do some research on each one of those topics. I try to write down at least three questions for each and every single one of the topic points the guest wants to discuss. This allows me to sound a bit more intelligent during the conversation.

3. Do Not Know Too Much!

Not to totally dismiss the prior topic of “Know What You Are Talking About,” you should also not assume your audience knows the topic that you may be an expert at.

Take a little time to explain what some terms mean, etc. Do not refer to “a prior episode” unless you can also give the episode number. You may know it was 2 months ago, but a new listener does not.

Make it easy for people to go back and listen to the prior episode. If it was important enough to mention, it should also be important enough for you to give your listeners the information so they can go and listen themselves.

If the thought just “popped into your head” while recording, just a quick comment such as, “I can’t remember the episode number right now. But I’ll look it up and put a link in the show notes for you.” Then do so!

4. Do Not Stay A Secret

Many podcasters simply have their episodes on Anchor or perhaps only on Apple Podcasts. That’s it! No website. No blog. Just a link “out there somewhere.”

Your podcast is much more important than that! How To Earn Money From Podcasting?

Make it one part of your information delivery “system.” That’s right, you need a SYSTEM.

Website with blog, resources, contact information, etc. Have a link from your website that takes someone to your podcast.

On your Podcast site, have a link that takes them to your website.

Have social media links. How To Earn Money From Podcasting? Have links on your social media that take people to your website and to your podcast. Make it completely circular in nature!

This not only makes it easy for people to find you and your podcast, but Google loves it, too! That will increase your SEO because each of those sites create back-links to each other! This allows all of your websites (and podcast) to be found more easily by more people!

By implementing these suggestions as you create, edit and promote your podcasts, you will get more traffic, more listeners and podcasting will be more enjoyable for you, too.