Hack47.Make Money with Podcasts

Hack 47. Make Money with Podcasts

Google ads are an easy way to generate revenue that will offset your bandwidth costs. Learn to use this effective advertising mechanism.

Monetizing podcasting is a hot topic in the podcast community. People are trying to make money on all aspects of podcasting, including the hosting, software, networking, and audience itself. Podcasters are trying to see if they can cover the costs, or more, of podcast production and hosting through advertising.

The most direct way to do this is through ads placed in the show itself. There is no standard for this yet. I recommend that you develop an ad policy that covers ad duration, format, and content. You will also need to add a spot for ads in the format of your show.

If this podcast is an individual work, you will need to come up with a payment method. PayPal (http://paypal.com/) or a similar service can work well for this. You will also need to work out the tax details on your own or with an accountant. Payments from other companies will need either corporate billing information or a Social Security number that they can register in their books if you are in the U.S.

Traditionally, making money on the Web meant selling ad space on your web site or blog. This means driving people to your site both before and after they listen to your podcast. You should always mention your blog in the show and encourage your listeners to visit the site to find additional materials that supplement the show. I also recommend using full-text RSS feeds. With these feeds, the blog entry text is included in full and is not truncated. In addition, you can use services such as RSS Ads (http://www.rssads.com/) to monetize your RSS feeds directly.

You can monetize your web site using several methods. These are listed in the sections that follow.

7.5.1. Google's AdSense

Google provides an easy-to-use ad service that puts ad links on any of the pages of your site. Local tax considerations are handled through the interface. You request an account by going to the AdSense home page (http://www.google.com/adsense).

Once you have an account, you change your blog templates to add the AdSense JavaScript into the page to download the ads. You have a variety of shapes and sizes to choose from. Google does some magic to deduce what your topic is from the page contents, and customizes the ads to suit.

It's critical that your blog is more than just a set of links to your podcast. Your blog should augment your show with links and commentary. And the podcast should reference the blog to encourage your listeners to look at your site and to click your ad links.

7.5.2. Amazon Associates

If your podcast is about technology products, books, DVDs, music, or anything else that Amazon sells, you should use the Amazon Associates program. With this program, you can earn a commission on any product that is sold through Amazon that was referred from a link on your site.

The first step is to sign up as an associate. Then you get an associate ID that you tack onto the end of any Amazon product URL that you place on your site. Amazon does the rest of the tracking for you. You can get the referral money as either a check, direct deposit, or Amazon gift certificate.

Amazon provides several formatting options, including the usual text links. Amazon also has a handy wizard-style creation mechanism that builds the HTML for your page for you.

7.5.3. Tip Jar

Another option is to put a tip jar on your home page and on each individual blog entry page. One of the easiest ways to do this is to use your PayPal (http://paypal.com/) account. Under the Merchant Tools tab is an option for donation, which is a factory for creating HTML for your page. Use the tool to create the HTML, and then copy and paste it into your page templates for your blog.

Amazon also supports a tip jarstyle service it calls the Amazon Honor System (http://s1.amazon.com/exec/varzea/subst/fx/help/payor-faq.html). Your listeners who are Amazon customers can pay you through their Amazon accounts and you will receive payment by check. Amazon takes a small percentage of the donation amount as a processing fee. Handling the tax ramifications of these payments is left to you.

7.5.4. Commercial Status

You should be aware that once you start making money from your podcasts, you have become a commercial entity. This might change your ability to use licensed material [Hack #68] where that license distinguishes between commercial and noncommercial entities, such as the Creative Commons license.

7.5.5. See Also

• "Grab Audio Legally" [Hack #67]

• "Use Copyrighted Music Legally" [Hack #68]