How many radios are still around? The changes are good that if you are under the age of 30 you do not own a radio. Podcasts are an important part of the future. They reach a more diverse community of audiences. A really nice feature of podcasting is that you do not need to sit in front of your computer or television to listen to your favorite webcast.
In this article I am going to show you how to monetize from your own radio station and start making a full-time income from it. There are many other creative ways of monetizing podcasting.
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Best Ways to Make Money From Podcasting[/caption]1. Acquire knowledge from successful podcasters
Visit successful podcasters' websites. Some of these podcasters have an in-depth case study of how they made their money, how much they made, what their expenses were and on where their income came from and how much it was. The profit is given as well as the growth each month.
Remember, these guys also started from scratch. They also had fears. The big secret here is that they started. They also were not very successful with the first attempt, but they tried and tried until they had a successful system going.
2. Reviews will lift your podcasting business to higher levels
Every time you publish a podcast, you should push it through to everybody on your list, your family and friends, everybody you know. A lot of free information is available, so ask everybody to give you an honest review of your audio stream. You will gain a lot of experience. Your audio stream will also rank higher and higher in the guest web site. Your name will become known and more and more people will visit your website.
3. Once you can help yourself in podcasting, give away a few and charge for the rest
Start being very punctual in publishing your webcasts. People will start looking forward to your radio show at a certain time. They will schedule their day so that they are available when your radio show hits the air. This is the free version. If the community wants more insight on your podcast, charge them for the in-depth behind the scenes podcasts. One little trick is to give the listener an option. If they do not want to wait for your audio streams to hit the air, but would rather have the complete series available right away, let them pay for the opportunity.
4. Build your own radio station network of programming and sell advertising against it
Your radio network should control its programming and the overall brand. With you scheduling your programs, you can sell advertising packages by specific categories. The revenue from the advertising should show the amount of downloads per month which could be astronomical. 100,000 to 250,000 downloads per month should give you a nice little income.
Another money-making tip is to sell integrated sponsor packages across your radio station network that include advertiser images that appear on the shows icon within the hosts podcast directory. This method will increase your income stream.
5. Your webcast and an application goes together. Sell the application!
Distribute the webcast completely free. The client can pay for the application. In return the client can get quick access to your webcast. You can communicate other types of media to your client as well as an added benefit. Say for instance you have a special webcast of a very important nature. Your client will reach this very special webcast through the application he or she has paid for.
6. Sponsorship Income
Sponsorship is typically a 10 to 20 seconds audio advertisement. If you are a podcaster, you can recruit advertisers directly that wish to advertise. Another way is to work with an advertising agency to find potential advertisers. One of the methods used to see how successful the campaign is, is to track the return on investment at the end of the campaign. A satisfied sponsor will always use your services again.
7. New Subscribers
Ask listeners to become new subscribers at the end of your podcast. Also ask the listeners to subscribe to your radio station on the website. If you never ask, most of the listeners will never join.
Are you ready to leave your current job to become a podcaster? Remember, there will be a lot of sweat, however, anything is possible with determination. Work on the income strategy. The more income strategies you can come up with the more revenue podcasting will generate. Maybe you can combine podcasting with other marketing streams.
Guest Post By Liz A Marais
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