Profitcast: Monetize Your Podcast | Grow A Large And Loyal Audience

One of the most overused phrases from classic film is from Field of Dreams (1989): "If you build it, he will come." It is whispered to Kevin Costner's character Ray at the beginning of the film when he's walking through the cornfield on his farm. In a way similar to Noah of the Bible, Ray acts on the instruction from this mysterious voice in spite of the ridicule he receives and the outcome is unlike anything anyone has ever seen. Have you ever met someone who just seems made to do what they do? I'm sure many of you believe that podcasting is your "calling". Maybe you heard a mysterious voice that said, "If you talk about this and publish it on the internet, they will come." I'm not here to judge that! What I am here to do is tell you that building something is only half the story. Read more... The post PC 70 | Go To Where Your Listeners Are with Danny Pena appeared first on Profitcast: Profit with Your Podcast.

Welcome to Profitcast! Whether this is your first time trolling the site or you are a regular listener, we are so happy you found us and hope to provide some valuable and entertaining material for you to chew on. This week, The Real Brian is joined by Jessica Kupferman of She Podcasts and of the more recent Moneycast, which, as it might sound, is a venture dedicated to helping people understand methods of making money through podcasting. To hear the full story of how Moneycast came about, and Jessica’s discovery shortly thereafter of Profitcast, you’re going to have to listen to the episode. Brian and Jessica have their own takeaways, and they are good takeaways, having to do with looking beyond the numbers and selling your podcast as a product. Several weeks ago, Brian reported some findings he compiled after speaking with a range of potential sponsors and essentially came away believing that in order to make anything work out, he would need 100,000 downloads per episode or more! Jessica challenges this in a

To the loyal listeners of the Audiobooks.com Podcast, we get an extra dose this week as Brian brings his co-host, Addy Saucedo, in on this episode of Profitcast! I’m a huge fan of these two together and you are definitely in for a treat. We get a great conversation that covers what Addy is up to and what her passion is, the limitations of imitation, and a tease into what Addy and Brian are working on together. Read more... The post PC 68 | Leave Your Listeners Wanting MORE with Addy Saucedo appeared first on Profitcast: Profit with Your Podcast.

Welcome back to Profitcast! In this week's podcast, Brian drops some observations he's been making about the top podcasters and performers. It is his mission, after all, to discern what it is that sets them apart from everyone else. What are the people at the top doing to succeed? We've established by now that it's difficult to replicate the success of other podcasters. We can follow the same steps and make the same choices, but the chance of seeing the same return is very slim. That said, it is still worth knowing what they've done to put it into context and glean insight in that way. Brian brings up the important fact that many successful podcasters managed to become the first in their topic or niche, and frankly that is hard to do still at this point in the industry. However, the great fact about life is that we all, as individuals, are unique! Even if we can't be first, it is still possible to find that niche that gives us the same opportunities as being first did for others before us. That is largely th

What time is it? Tool time! Fans of the classic television show, Home Improvement, still say this when asked what time it is. I still say it. Sometimes people who never have seen the show say it. Tool Time with Tim the Toolman Taylor was the alliteration of my childhood. The premise of Tim's reality show, Tool Time, is a great parallel for the vast array of information Brian and Harry discuss on this week's Profitcast. Having abundance with your podcast harkens back to weeks past when we've discussed similar topics, such as the good-cheap-quick ideal, the you've-got-to-give-to-receive mentality, and in general, the focus on community and building relationships. This discussion is very important because it covers an area that we don't touch on a lot, and that is the establishment of your tool bench. Read more... The post PC 66 | Having ABUNDANCE With Your Podcast With Harry Duran appeared first on Profitcast: Profit with Your Podcast.

I read The Alchemist for the first time only a couple weeks ago. The premise of this novel, originally published in 1988, is astounding and has one of those perpetually relevant themes about pursuing dreams (or treasures, depending on your interpretation). I’ll try to briefly describe plot without either giving anything away or failing to do it justice. Santiago, the protagonist, attended seminary as a boy but chose instead to become a shepherd so that he could travel. One night he has a dream about seeking treasure and it initiates his journey to Egypt, to see the pyramids, in search of this treasure. He demonstrates a healthy balance of curiosity and caution, but soon realizes that caution is a bigger threat to his happiness than taking a risk. Read more... The post PC 65 | Is This Holding You Back From Success? appeared first on Profitcast: Profit with Your Podcast.

Last week Brian got nerdy about DragonCon so that he could relate the importance of building a community. This week, Brian gets nerdy about business with very special guest Tom Schwab. It's not purely about business, mind you, but as starting, growing, and maintaining a podcast is very much a business venture, many of the same principles can be applied as we consider the various options available to us in marketing. One of the most disheartening facts to hear about is how little time people spend reading in lieu of audio or visual resources. It's not an exclusive fact, as I am likely one of few people my age who prefer holding a local newspaper in my hands over a global, glowing newspaper in the palm of my hand, but it’s foolish to ignore the fact that listening is the preferred method of information consumption. This isn’t to say blogging isn’t useful, but everything does have its place. Read more... The post PC 64 | How to Double Your Growth By Becoming a Podcast Guest appeared first on Profitcast: Profit w

Nerd alert! No, not you. Well, maybe not you. Brian let's his nerd flag fly in this episode as he recaps some of his experiences at DragonCon 2015, but there is undoubtedly something for everyone. Whether you're a nerd of the DragonCon variety, or simply a nerd, or maybe you don't consider yourself a nerd at all (in which case, I must ask, why not? It's all the rage), Brian touches on some very critical points that have to do with every podcaster, regardless of your affiliation with nerdery. I've been podcasting for only a couple years. For any who are unaware, I was actually mentored in a pretty remarkable way (the story of that journey can be found here) and I've grown and expanded my experience with several different co-hosts since my debut with Darrell Darnell on the TV Talk network. I never did, and still really don't, consider speaking to be my forte. I like the written word, there is something about sitting with a pen in my hand or a keyboard beneath my fingers that finds words quicker and easier than

What? What is essential to podcasting? That's why you're here, right? You want to know how to profit with your podcast. Let me share a secret with you: even magic potions have recipes. That's right! Love Potion No. 9 is a recipe. It might smell like turpentine and look like Indian ink, but Madame Ruth mixed it up right there in the sink. The road to profiting is a recipe, and everybody's recipe is a little bit different. Luckily, creatively combining the various ingredients of a podcast is far less worrisome than creative cooking. In fact, it's much less stressful, in my own opinion. Following recipes can be difficult; maybe you don't have all the ingredients and have to hunt down substitutes, maybe you don't have a utensil required, maybe you don't understand what the recipe means exactly. Take, for example, this recipe from my mother (to the right). I was looking for my Nana's incredibly yummy roll recipe in my mom's recipe box and found this. I quickly took a picture of this notecard with my phone, put the

"I deep early, man!" The soon to be immortalized words of Andrew Alliance, this week's Profitcast spotlight and all around excellent human being. What an episode! Andrew and The Real Brian get real in this week's episode, talking about building relationships as the key to growing a meaningful audience. The correlation between building relationships and growing a podcast audience has come up a few times on Profitcast. The concept itself certainly isn't anything new, but the lessons and insight we get from the various perspectives each time it does come up is incredibly humbling and grounding. Numbers aren't everything, slowly sponsors will begin to see that, but sometimes, in our podcasting heads, we still don't fully understand what that means. When we look at our numbers and see them dip, or see them plateau, or compare them with podcast audience numbers similar to our own, we don't think of the individuals who make up those numbers. We only see the number. And that's dangerous. Read more... The post PC 61 |

Every season of life presents knew challenges which require us to assess and recalibrate our lives to accommodate for its changes. In the midst of a few things that remain consistent, like nourishing ourselves and getting sleep, the activities of various sizes that fill the rest of our 24 hour days are almost never consistent. As a person who loves consistency, the minute changes in scheduling can often drive me nuts. I'm the kind of person who will give someone several days notice when I want to make plans. My flaw, in this regard at least, is that I expect the same out of other people as well. I don't like last minute changes to plans and it's hard for me to adjust when something new is sprung on me. This has been something I've acknowledged, however, and am working on because, more than anything, I get this distinct feeling of selfishness every time I get frustrated by spontaneous changes in plans. In my head, I see that the other person didn't care enough about me and my time to give me more notice; very

In this reactionary podcast, The Real Brian looks back on his time at Podcast Movement 2015. A couple critical, and eye-opening, lessons were learned; many introductions (and re-connections!) and observations about the state of podcasting were made. Whether you're new or a seasoned Profitcast veteran, there is something to be gleaned from his reflection of this podcasters-only convention. Having been experiencing the world of podcasting monetization strategies through the eyes of Brian over the last year, it is incredibly interesting to hear how much his perspective on profiting has changed since the beginning. Not only has his criteria changed for what it means to profit with a podcast, but the approach has started to change as well. Amongst the stories Brian shares about his entertaining weekend, a definite theme resonates through them all: reminding yourself why you podcast. Just as gas fuels a car, podcasts require passion fuel. But gas does not drive a car. It can certainly influence the person driving

Not too long ago, Brian covered a listener question that was: when should I monetize my podcast? (That was episode 40.) Based on current models and expectations of sponsors, trying to monetize too quickly can often yield frustrating and discouraging results. But this week, Brian chats with Espree Devora of We Are LA Tech and finds that someone is finally defying the traditional safe, though nonetheless calculated, approach to finding sponsorship for your podcast. And finding it before launching a podcast. Honestly, it's best if we just let Espree explain her methodology, because her passion and excitement outweigh any feeble attempt I make here of regurgitating her words! Instead, I'd like to get you excited about what this woman is up to in podcasting and encourage you to take a close look at her approach to a super niche. Read more... The post PC 58 | Get a Full Sponsor BEFORE Launching a Podcast? | Interview with Espree Devora appeared first on Profitcast: Profit with Your Podcast.

Catchy headlines are by no means a new idea. Since the dawn of print media, either newspapers or tracks or pamphlets, distributors have put a lot of effort into making information appealing. Headlines present a unique challenge in that they must make the potential of information appealing. Anything that has a headline likely utilized one of a number of tactics: humor, pun, alliteration, wow-factor. The goal, essentially, is to quickly and briefly draw attention to the content of a story or article. Hopefully once the reader is committed to the article, the content speaks for itself. As Brian points out on the podcast, this is always a tricky combination of making the headline interesting and informative, while not being misleading or boring. Read more... The post PC 57 | Good Headlines = More Listenership appeared first on Profitcast: Profit with Your Podcast.

Super niche, activate! I enjoy it when Brian goes with a superhero theme for an episode of Profitcast because it means that I can write about superheroes. I suppose I could always write about superheroes, but at least now it isn't totally out of left field. Several weeks ago I wrote about superhero origin stories and the similarities to a podcaster's origin story, and in many ways this post will build off that same idealism. If you missed it, click here. Whether you're into the modern model of superheroes or not, don't get hung up on the box office successes (and failures) that our culture loves to glorify. Think instead about the model of a superhero, or even just a hero. A person living in the real world with an extraordinary ability who feels drawn to make an effect on the world because X-Y-Z; at first their efforts are awkward or ineffective because they don't know how to properly use their powers to effect the greatest change; as they settle into their powers and differentiate between allies and villains

This week's Profitcast features an interview with Jason van Orden, one of the masterminds behind Internet Business Mastery and as the title of this episode suggests, Jason is adamant that there is still money to be made in podcasting, but it's not something to be taken lightly. I'm going to address the aspects of Jason's interview that resonated with me and how important the terms differentiation and curiosity suddenly became to my daily vernacular. Read more... The post PC 55 | There IS Money in Podcasting | A Story and Strategy of Millions with Jason Van Orden appeared first on Profitcast: Profit with Your Podcast.

Selfish versus selfless. Both of these terms deal with where a person's concern lies; with oneself or with others? We've talked about this dichotomy in less explicit terms for the last couple weeks without even realize we were building up to this podcast. As it goes, podcasting isn't just about the podcaster, it's not just about the host. Yes, you [the podcaster] decide on a topic and begin making your commentary on that topic available, but the moment you have one single listener, it is no longer just about you. Read more... The post PC 54 | Selfish & Selfless Podcaster: How To Be Both! appeared first on Profitcast: Profit with Your Podcast.

Frankly, my (Emilee) speaking to anything on the name of this episode would be a spoiler alert! Yet, on that point, it is interesting to contemplate the end of something and gauge our reaction to that contemplation. From an introspective manner, does the end make me feel relief or sadness? At the end of a long project, for example, I might feel relief; but at the end of an enjoyable vacation, I feel sadness. From an objective standpoint, when considering the end of something I enjoy, but am not directly part of, am I bummed out or do I feel indifference? For example, I was extremely bummed out by the end of Fringe, but I didn't have a strong opinion over the cancellation of Revolution. Read more... The post PC 53 | The Last Episode of Profitcast! appeared first on Profitcast: Profit with Your Podcast.

We talk a lot on Profitcast about reorienting around what profiting with your podcast means for you and your situation. The traditional, or go-to, definition is monetization, and that's natural and it doesn't hurt to have that as a goal. But lately we've taken to broadening this definition. To me, profiting with my podcast means ___________. Rob and Martha Southgate seriously challenge the idea of monetization as the pinnacle of profiting with podcasting. Their story is a remarkable one, a miraculous one, we might say. In many, many ways it differs from other success stories we often hear on Profitcast; one of Brian's guests will explain the strategies he or she employed to reach the stage they are at now and can offer up suggestions or helpful hints for others currently fighting through the smog. Rob and Martha, though they have fantastic insight, truly have a unique (and likely non-reproducible) story that will challenge us in new ways. Read more... The post PC 52 | Doing What “Makes Sense” Does

Everything we cover here at Profitcast is meant to encourage, enlighten, education and, hopefully, entertain; this week is no different. Sometimes we broach some topics or concepts that are harder than others to soften our pride to, but there are some issues that cannot be left to work themselves out, and as such we like to open the forum for an honest conversation about some of the roadblocks that get put in our way as podcasters. Read more... The post PC 51 | If You’re Busy, Your Podcast Will Fail! appeared first on Profitcast: Profit with Your Podcast.