the Crow Digital Media Blog

The history and culture of the Internet is all based around free content. Not many people charge you to visit their Web site for instance. Making money from a podcast is not as straightforward as it might sound, the fact is that most podcasts don’t make money for their hosts directly but they do however contribute to an organization’s bottom line in other ways, like the value of building a loyal audience, the PR and promotional value etc.

But many people are looking for more direct measurements, frankly they want cash not good PR. That’s what the rest of this post is all about.

I wanted to research for you what some of the latest thinking is on the topic of monetizing blogs and podcasts and came across Paul Colligan’s blog site which dedicates itself to “examining the reality of profitable podcasting.” Just this past week Paul gave two presentation at the New Media Expo 2008. One was titled “The Move From Maker to Merchant: Taking Your Podcast From Hobby To Business in 27 days” and the other “7 Proven Strategies to Monetize Your Podcast.”

Paul told his audiences there are 3 basic types of podcasting revenue:

• Indirect
• Direct
• Integrated

He pointed out selling ad space on your podcast site, or inserting ads into your actual show content are two options. (I would caution you here that most advertisers want to see a regular audience size in the several thousands before they will want to advertise on your show but if you have those kind of numbers you may want to check out Podtrac, an ad agency that will sell ads into your show for you.)

Speaking of ads on your site, don’t forget Google’s AdSense program which places small text ads on your site and you earn a small fee everytime someone clicks on one of those ads. Just be aware that while Google’s ad insertion engine will try to match the type of ads to be presented on your site with your site’s topic, you actually have no control over exactly what is shown. (Heck, the ad might even be from a competitor!)

Paul also mentioned joining an affiliate marketing program. Offered by hundreds of online companies like Amazon.com, you essentially list or promote products from their site and get a small commission on each sale.

Perhaps the best option is making your own products to sell since you are not sharing the profit. CD’s, DVDs, T-Shirts, Books, gear, and software are all things you could create specifically for online sale.

And yes, if your content is really good, some small percentage of your site visitors may be willing to pay for it. Paul called that the “Premium Podcasting” model and from what I read I think he really presented it in the right light. You still need to offer free content (think of it as a sample) but then offer bonus, extra content or higher quality content for those who elect to become paid members of your site.

Here’s another tactic that I think a lot of people balk at: asking for donations. The smaller your organization is, the more likely this tactic is to work. Again, a small percentage of people will donate small amounts of money to help you keep providing content they find valuable.

If your blog or podcast is from General Motors or Microsoft I wouldn’t hold my breath waiting for donations. You’re too rich already.

Tags: blog, monetize, podcast

This entry was posted on Sunday, August 17th, 2008 at 5:00 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.