How to Make Money With Podcasts
By Eric Hammer
If you’ve been trying to figure out how to make money
with podcasts, you’re not alone. Thousands of podcasts are
released every day, many of them free, some of them by subscription
and a handful purchased as one off items. Because podcasts (which
are in essence either audio or video shows which can be downloaded
from the Internet and played on an MP3/MP4 player, though they
started with the iPod, hence the name) have a relatively low
barrier to entry (after all, you simply have to know how to use
a microphone and how to upload a file to the Internet), there
is a tremendous amount of competition in this business. However,
there are ways to make money with podcasts. You just have to
find the right kind of material.
For example, if you happen to be a famous commentator, you
could offer your opinions online for a fee and would likely be
able to sell your podcasts simply because people would pay to
hear what you have to say. Unfortunately however, most of us
aren’t famous enough to command a payment for our work just
because of our names. Most of us need to offer some additional
value to people. Therefore, your podcasts need to be more than
your opinion (one out of six billion opinions on the planet)
about what’s wrong with this that or the other thing. The
best way to make money selling podcasts is to offer podcasts
that provide genuinely useful information that is difficult to
find elsewhere and or which is well developed and explained in
your podcasts.
For example, one gentleman started offering podcasts about
a year ago which explain simple math terms. He happens to do
his work for free, offering the podcasts to the world at large,
however his work is so popular that were he to charge for his
podcasts, he could easily do so and make a tidy living from it.
It’s simple supply and demand – millions of children
the world over need help understanding math and he provides that
help in a way that makes good sense to them. Your podcasts, in
order to be successful and earn money need to do the same. While
you could tell stories or offer opinions or news in your podcasts,
given that there are so many places to get such material for
free, you are unlikely to see many customers.
How Much Can You Make?
Relatively few people make their full time living just doing
podcasts. Most people do them for fun. However, if your podcasts
provide something truly useful, for example, you provide a video
series where you (a handyman – if you are one) explain in
simple terms how to do some basic home repairs, you can sell
the podcasts to people who might need to learn how to do these
things. Typically, don’t expect to earn more than 99 cents
to around $9.99 for a podcast, depending on how long it is, what
the information you provide on it consists of and how much demand
there is for it. The amount you will sell in any given month
depends largely on your own initiative and on the quality of
your work. If you provide a quality product, people will hear
about it from friends and go take a look. If your work seems
like you are in it just to make a quick buck, don’t expect
to sell many podcasts.
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In addition to selling individual podcasts, you may also be
able to sell subscriptions. For example, if you were to create
a series of podcasts on professional photography tips (assuming
you are yourself a professional photographer), then you might
sell subscriptions to your podcasts to other professional and
amateur photographers.
Another possibility is to create a kind of aggregating service
where you gather together links to many different podcasts and
then make your money selling advertising.
No matter what you do however, the thing that is most important
to remember is to be professional. No one is likely to pay for
your podcasts if they don’t look like they are professionally
done. That means if you are doing video, you dress appropriately
and use a high quality video camera. If you are doing audio,
you use a good quality microphone and you make sure there are
no extraneous sounds in the background. You should also follow
a script when creating podcasts in order to make sure they stay
professional.
Qualifications / Requirements
There are no formal qualifications needed to create podcasts
and sell them. What you will need is the right equipment (microphone,
video camera for video podcasts), a well designed web site which
looks professional and attracts people to come and buy individual
or subscription podcasts and the time to put in the marketing
effort to get the word out about what you have to offer.
First Steps
Start by looking at different podcasts and see which ones
seem to be the best. Consider purchasing subscriptions to a few
podcasts (there are even podcasts to teach you how to make podcasts)
to learn how they work. Also, be sure to either set up a merchant
credit card account or at least a PayPal business account to
accept payments.
Resources
Check out these helpful resources to learn more about how
to make money from podcasts:
http://www.apple.com/itunes/podcasts/specs.html
- Making a Podcast: This is the official guide from Apple on
making podcasts and getting them approved for sale or distribution
through the iTunes store (you can also put them on your own,
but the store provides good visibility).
About.Com: Making Your Own Podcast - A step
by step guide to creating podcasts.
Podcasting Bible, by Mitch Ratcliffe and Steve Mack
- Wiley 2007; A book which pretty much tells it all about the
art of creating podcasts.
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