It’s possible to make excellent money podcasting. 

With reports from Edison Research showing podcasting grew by 23% in 2015-2016, and in recent years it’s become a goldmine for advertisers. With reports showing upwards of one billion on podcast sponsorship opportunities, it’s clear podcasting will continue to be a goldmine.  

This medium is growing, and the potential is much more vast than ever – and that’s why today’s article will focus on the 9+ Ways To Make Money Podcasting. 

Get the Paid To Podcast Guide And Video Training that goes with this article.

Podcast Monetization Strategy #1:

Promote Your Services  

Promote your services first. 

When it comes to making money podcasting, most people think of sponsors. 

Overlooking selling your content will leave a lot of money on the table. 

While there are people like Joe Rogan, Tim Ferris, and many others who make a killing with sponsorship – the road to get there is steep. Not only is it hard to monetize with sponsors, but it’s also just not feasible for most podcasters. 

There is lower hanging fruit to help you make money podcasting. That’s why sponsorship for podcasts doesn’t come first. So, let me start with the fastest way to monetize your podcast. 

Sell your products. 

Instead of thinking of sponsors, become your own promoter first. 

Examples of products you can sell and promote on your show are:

(Down below I’ll get into how to promote and sell). 

• Swag (t-shirts, posters, stickers, USB drives with premium content) 
• Digital courses (more on this later) 
• Your Books (have an ebook or a physical book? Promote it on your show)
• Services and consulting 
• Speaking engagement opportunities (more on this below too) 
• Your podcast services (having a show makes you an authority) 

When you first start, try creating your own ads that focus on products, services, and content that you own. By doing this, you’ll take a 100% commission, and more likely see immediate financial results. 

By using this method, you’ll send listeners to your products, and you’ll get a chance to promote yourself. This will help you practice, see what your audience responds to, monetize, and promote yourself. Once you get some personal results, it’ll be much easier to sell others on sponsorship. 

With that overview, let’s get into the strategies on how to promote yourself and your products.

Make Money Podcasting Strategy #2: 

Create A Digital Course And Sell It

If you’ve listened to my advice and are on the bandwagon to promote yourself first, I’d like you to consider digital content and a digital course.

After studying a lot of the highly successful podcasters who operate with small and nimble teams (and aren’t celebrities already) – I’ve learned all of them have digital courses. 

In fact, in the world of podcast money-makers, digital courses seem to be the secret weapon no podcaster is telling you is the bulk of their income.

Examples of how online courses are making podcasters money

For example, if you look at Pat Flynn with his several courses, Lewis Howes with his online training, and even London Real all have online courses. When it comes to monetizing a podcast, the biggest hard-hitting strategy to make money podcasting is through digital courses. 

Sure, lots of the well-paid podcasters make money with sponsors, have speaking engagements, and huge audiences – but they also have digital courses. And as a podcast insider, I know much of the significant earning percent come from digital courses. 

Now that you’ve read this far, you’re privy to a little secret in the podcasting world – if you’re not famous like Joe Rogan or Oprah, monetizing your show starts with you selling your own products.  

Creating and selling a digital course takes upfront work – but later you’ll be glad you did it. Unlike services or live events where you have to keep working, a digital course can be scaled. You build it once and then sell it over and over again. 

While most revenue sources with podcasting require revenue share, with a course, you keep all the profit. Sure, some of your money will go to hosting your content and whatever services you’ve bought to make your course. After those tiny expenses, you get to keep all the money that comes in. 

Related: How To Promote Your Podcast, 7+ Strategies You Can Use Today 

Podcast Monetization Strategy #3:

Use Affiliate Marketing 

Have you ever listened to a podcast that at some point says:

“Today’s sponsor is (insert name of a super large company like Amazon Audible)” 

If that show isn’t super large, you can bet the company isn’t paying for that commercial spot. 

What you’re hearing is an affiliate offer where that code is tied to the show host. When anyone uses that code, the podcast host gets a little share of the sale. Of course, in some rare cases, it’s an affiliate and sponsor deal.  

Affiliate sales are a great way to monetize a podcast. The gateway to entry is low and doesn’t require that your show is getting 50,000 plus downloads a month. 

When we first started podcasting, we played around a lot with affiliates. I can still remember the first time Amazon affiliates paid us $150 in one month. It was a huge win – that money paid for most of our podcasting hosting and a new microphone. 

To get started with affiliate marketing, check out some of these websites:

(Nearly all these sites you can start using immediately *Granted you have a website*) 

• Thriving Launch Affiliate Partner Program (yes, we have an affiliate program)
• Rakuten affiliates 
• Amazon Affiliates 
• Amazon Audible Affiliates 
• Clickfunnels affiliate 
• Podcast Hosting Services (Blubrry and Podbean are excellent) 
• Fiverr Affiliate 
• 99 Designs Affiliate
• Clickbank Affiliate 

Here is a free training on how to become a super affiliate. (We’re practicing what we preach;)

This is by no means an exhaustive list, but it’s a great start. 

To find more affiliate offers, try typing the names of programs and products you like and include the word ‘affiliate sign up.’  

To get paid with affiliate marketing, you’ll want to do the following: 

• When you get a unique code that is tied to you, send listeners to use it. You can do this by creating commercials on your podcast, encouraging listeners to use your unique code.  
• Create podcast show notes/small blog articles that use your affiliate links (like we’ve done in this article, “The Best Podcast Hosting Services.” 
• Use your affiliate links in resource guides, ebooks, in the descriptions of YouTube uploads, inside your course, and even in emails. *Strong word of caution here: only use affiliates you respect and would use yourself. When you refer something, it’s your name that people are trusting* 

With affiliate marketing, the key to making money is that you’re using links and that your listeners use your unique code. Here is an example of a guy on YouTube who is using his affiliate links, and here is an instance where we reviewed a product, Clickfunnels Review. In each case, the reviewers are sincere about the product and only promote what they like, which is what I recommend you do too. 

To help encourage listeners and readers to use your code – tell them what they get with your code. For example, when we use our Podbean podcast hosting link, we tell everyone they get a free month of hosting (which is a nice incentive to use our code). 

Make Money Podcasting Strategy #4:

Crowdfunding 

Crowdfunding can be a great way to make money podcasting. 

Just like many public-funded channels such as NPR make their income through private donations – your podcast can get you paid through donors. 

How To Set Up A Crowdfunding Campaign The Easy Way 

Thanks to the internet, setting up a crowdfunding campaign is super simple. 

Here’s how you can get started and started raising donations (all year round):

1. Create a Patreon account
2. Fill in all your information 
3. Use your Patreon link on your website, social media, YouTube, and anywhere else. 
4. Tell your listeners where they can donate and encourage donations through your commercials. 

If you’re in any way hesitant or unsure that this method works, here are a few stats to inspire you: 

• The Bowery Boys podcast about New York City history makes over $3,800/month through Patreon.
• The Last Podcast On The Left makes over $57,000/month just through Patreon. They also sell shirts and do regular live shows in different cities (adding to their podcast monetization strategy). 

Those are just two examples, but if you look at the Patreon blog, you’ll find they’ve listed some of their highest earners right here. As you can tell, this additional revenue stream can help you make money podcasting – and do it in a way that allows your fans to donate/contribute. 

Get the Paid To Podcast Guide and Video Training that goes with this article.

Podcast Monetization Strategy #5: 

Sell Gated Premium Content

Here’s one more way to make money with your show. 

On select episodes, chose to withhold a bit of the interview. The juicy stuff – save it for people who will pay extra to access it. 

Personally, I’ve never done this, but I know it works well. One podcaster who makes a significant income from saving chunks of interviews and saving complete interviews for paying customers is Andrew Warner. With his Mixergy, Andrew can sell ‘premium content’ from his interviews, and he’s also made a high income from sponsors. 

See how Andrew organizes his ‘gated premium content’. 

Another example of a podcast monetizing their show with premium content is the Chapo Trap House podcast. According to records, this show makes around $150,000 a month.

Here’s to monetize your show with premium content:

• Release regular content each week (one episode)
• Release a second episode to those who donate via Patreon (or some other platform that helps you collect data of listeners so you can segment, which Patreon does). 
• Let listeners pay $5 get the extra podcast episode. That’s it. Donate and get additional premium content for a low price (you can use tools like Patreon or glow)

As you can tell, this formula is working well for Chapo Trap House, and it can work great for you too. 

A few ways you can sell premium content are: 

• Encourage listeners to pay $1-$20 monthly for extra content 
• Allow paying listeners to send in their questions 
• Create a part one and part two for interviews – those who pay get both parts 
• Record video of your episodes, which paying donors can watch inside a membership area 
• Use tools like Patreon or Podcast.co as a way to create ‘gated premium content.’ 

Gated content works well for many content creators, and it can work great for you too. As one podcaster put it: “This helps cover the costs of running the show and keeps my relationship with you [the listener] simple and honest.” 

Make Money Podcasting Strategy #6: 

Offer Masterminds 

One of my friends, and early students – Ryan Michler (Order Of Man Podcast) earns $300,000+ a year with his mastermind. 

His mastermind is mostly virtual, doesn’t cost a lot, and is highly appealing to his audience. 

If you’d like to sell events or a mastermind with monthly/annual dues, you first need to get good at building an audience. To make money podcasting, you must master the art of promoting your podcast to attract your perfect audience. 

To enroll people into your mastermind, events, and paid communities, you’ll want to follow these strategies: 

• Create a free community outside of your podcast. Facebook groups are an excellent place to build an open community. (The Gold Digger podcast does this well) 
• Let people know about your paid community and what’s included (do this on your podcast, through email, and in your free group)
• Offer up lots of value for those who pay, so they stay in your community 
• And to learn more, check out our free interview, Mastermind Marketing. 

 Podcast Monetization Strategy #7: 

Sell Sponsorships 

This option comes towards the end for a reason. It’s hard, takes time, requires pitching, and usually demands you have a big show. 

To get a sponsor with a small show, you’ll need to pitch yourself (or have an assistant send out pitches). To land a sponsor without cold pitching, you’ll usually need to be doing 5,000+ downloads per podcast episode and have about 50,000 monthly listeners. 

When your show is doing around 1,000 downloads per episode (and about 30,000 a month), you can qualify to use services like Podbean’s monetization tool to get sponsors. This strategy is great if you don’t want to pitch and manage sponsors. Using a service to help you with sponsors cuts into your profits, but can help you focus on your show. 

For new or smaller shows, getting sponsors is all about your ability to pitch, enroll, sell, and prove to sponsors you’re worth it. If someone is paying for ads, they’re likely going to want to see a return on investment. 

To land sponsors with a small show here are some strategies you can use: 

• Make a list of possible sponsors who would want access to your audience
• Create an outreach strategy and cold email brands, companies, and entrepreneurs enticing a conversation 
• During your call share why your show is a good match (and bring some data, i.e., ‘my show is small, but it specifically caters to your market)
• Don’t just sell sponsorship commercials – entice by adding that you’ll link the company via social media, posts on the blog, and even some email mentions with their link
• Consider including that your sponsorship guarantees x amount of clicks to their website which you’ll use a custom link to track (this can help newer shows sell themselves more) 
• Invite your guests to buy commercial spots  
• Email your list and invite readers and listeners to buy sponsorship spots 
• Rinse, repeat, and recycle 

The steps may sound tough, and that’s because it is. That doesn’t mean it doesn’t work. 

Inside of Paid2Podcast, we’ve had students like Nancy May of ‘Boardrooms’ Best’ podcast sell thousands in sponsorships with just a few episodes recorded. If you’d like our free Paid2Podcast training, grab that here. 

Here’s the strategy we suggested to Nancy (and that you can use too): 

1. Reach out to guests and invite them to discuss sponsorship spots  
2. During the call talk about sponsorships and the opportunity 
3. Make sure the potential buyers knew that her show was for a very niche audience that her potential client would love to connect with. 

The recipe I’ve used and had success with works, but will require elbow grease (i.e., this takes upfront effort). 

Want more ideas to land sponsors? Related Article: How To Get Podcast Sponsors 

For bigger shows, here’s where you can get sponsors: 

• Your podcast hosting service (Podbean and Blubrry) 
• Advertisecast
• Midroll
• Podgrid 
• And here’s a list of others that can help you sell sponsorship spots  

A quick Google will also likely yield for you more sponsorship brokering companies, but these are the main and most trusted ones. 

If you want sponsors and your show doesn’t meet the threshold of 2,000+ downloads daily, then give your podcast hosting a shot. In the case of Podbean, they will help smaller niche shows get sponsors (while taking their fee). 

Podcast Monetization Strategy #8: 

Offer Paid Interview Spots  

Here is an often unused strategy in the podcasting world. 

Sell guest spots. 

Yes, some shows do this, but it’s tough to do. 

To sell guest spots you’ll need:

• A show appealing to a specific audience 
• A big audience (or at last signifiers that make guests want to pay) 
• A proven track record of helping guests make money. (*If people know that your show made past guests money or grew their list, it’s an easy sell*). 
• Enough clout in your industry that garners you a long waiting list of guests dying to be on your show (a waiting list makes it much easier to sell interview spots without losing guests). 

As you can see, selling guest spots requires quite a bit from your show. For most podcasters, I wouldn’t recommend it. That being said, if you have a big enough show and the right accolades – I’d say go for it. 

Make Money Podcasting Strategy #9: 

JV Partners 

One strategy that we’ve briefly mentioned here is JV partners. 

In case you don’t know what a JV partner is, let me briefly explain. 

A JV partner is someone who you team up with to sell one product jointly. Both of you will email your list, and both of you will take a cut of sales. Unlike an affiliate where you sell one person’s product, and you get a cut of that sale, with a JV partner, you both split the revenue of said product sales. 

In my case, I’ve JV’d with people who had synergistic products. We bundled our courses and offered a special deal where our audience could get a 2 for one deal, or some kind of special discount that gave them access to both courses. 

Given that you’ll be interviewing all kinds of people with products, services, and books – you’ll have incredible opportunities to find synergistic partners. 

To do a JV partnership with a guest, here’s what I suggest: 

• Do an interview first 
• Keep an eye out and see if you genuinely like the potential partner 
• Set up a phone call to chat about JV potential 
• Once you decide to do the JV partnership – get clear on a revenue share 
• To track sales use software like Gumroad to track all transactions and to automate payouts *Counting on both parties to track sales and do payouts manually is risky*

These bullets give you a general overview, but if you want to learn more about it, check out this interview, JV Partners, with Sohail Kahn. 

A Quick Flashback On My Making Money Podcasting Journey 

When I first got into podcasting, I didn’t think it was possible to make money from my podcast. 

I only started podcasting to: 

• Interview my heroes, celebrities, and meet influencers 
• Influence and share knowledge to help others have better lives 
• Attract more visitors to my website 
• Grow an email list, make sales online and create a passive income tool 
• Have content to share on social media 

Little did I know that podcasting would open up a big world. Not only did I achieve my goals, but I also found new successes that included monetizing my podcast. 

Paid To Podcast Guide, Grab It Now: 6 More Ways To Make Money Podcasting PLUS a Video Training. 

When I first started my podcast, I was homeless, bouncing between sleeping in a park, on a friend’s couch, and in my car. 

Fast-forward a few years, and the successes are transformative. 

These are some of the wins I’ve experienced and can directly thank podcasting for it: 

(and to give you ideas for how to make money podcasting)

• Countless features in large magazines ( Entrepreneur Magazine, Forbes, Inc. Magazine to name a few)
• Named as one of Influencive Top 2017 Influencers
• Jack Canfield invited me to write two chapters for his books
• Invited to speak at live events, earning upwards of $20,000 for one talk 
• Appeared on over 150 podcasts
• Sent over $3,000 of podcasting equipment from sponsors 
• Grew several Facebook groups (paid and free) to over 2,500 members 
• Influencers like Ryan Stewman personally invited me to train and sell at private events 
• Hosted podcast interviews with the likes of; Marianne Williamson, Russell Brunson, Dr. Bruce Lipton, Drs. John and Julie Gottman, JP Sears, Don Miguel Ruiz, and many other incredible leaders, millionaires, authors, speakers, and coaches. 

Hopefully, this list from a formerly homeless nobody inspires us to see the monetization potential that a podcast can open up. 

I truly believe everyone can have some fantastic wins online, and podcasting is an incredible tool to help you accomplish your goals. 

As you can tell, there are many ways to make money podcasting. 

The only reason podcasters don’t make money are: 

• They don’t get produce a quality show 
• Hosts don’t use a good website (hurting SEO, email subs, and don’t have a way to sell) *Check out our podcast website design page to learn about optimized websites*
• Hosts just do interviews and don’t network with guests 
• They record, post it, and expect the show to do the work 
• Hosts don’t promote on their website and social channels 
• Hosts don’t convert their listeners to email subscriptions 
• Podcasters don’t pitch or put feelers out to land sponsors 

Getting paid with a podcast takes more than ‘record it and forget it.’ If you want to get paid you need to implement strategies like what we’ve outlined here. 

Want more podcast strategies? Get Our Make Money Podcasting Guide + Video Training 

A Quick Review On How To Make Money Podcasting 

It may seem redundant, but to make money podcasting, you need to grow your audience and then pitch that audience. Even if you’ve landed sponsors, you will need to do shout outs and little advertisements pitching your sponsors. 

In this article, we’ve covered many ways to monetize your podcast. 

Some more ways to make money from your show are: 

• Create and promote live events  
• Pitch yourself for speaking engagements 
• Attend live events as a media/journalist 
• Interview JV and affiliate partners 
• Network with those who you could make money with 
• Sell your ebooks, articles, and more gated content
• Convert your guests into clients (please don’t try hard-pitching your guests though)

It’s likely if you strategize a bit, you’ll uncover some other monetization strategies not mentioned here. For example, one strategy we didn’t discuss is offering trades with companies. Instead of selling sponsorship spots for money – offer giving companies shout outs/advertisement space in exchange for their products. 

Some exchanges might be of more significant value to you then what the company would pay. Similarly, in many cases, companies can easily give away experiences and products, but spending actual cash is harder for them. 

Here are some exchanges I’ve seen happen (and that you should try): 

• A short commercial for microphones 
• Ongoing ads in exchange for hotel/resort stays 
• Sponsorship package traded for premium access to training 
• Backstage access and short speaking engagement for sponsorship 
• Backlinks on website and mentions on the show traded for coaching 
• Shot outs inside emails (email drops) exchanged for product mentions 
• Services like Instagram growth for an interview 
• Help with Kickstarter campaign exchanged for a podcast interview 
• Full website build-outs, funnel builds, copywriting services traded for commercial spots 
• Flights, hotel stays, bitcoins, magazine shot outs (etc.) for sponsorship/interviews

This is a small list of all the great things I’ve seen done with trades. To learn a bit more about how to make trades (and how to get sponsors), check out my article, “How To Get Podcast Sponsors.” 

Be sure to pick up the Paid to Podcast Guide and Video Training that goes with this article.

Alright! That’s the full dive into making money with a podcast. Before you sign off and take massive action – tell me, which one of these actions are you most likely to try out?