Show Notes

Welcome back to the Designer Practice Podcast. I’m your host, Kayla Das.

It’s been a little over 14 months since I first launched the Designer Practice Podcast. And I’m going to tell you it has been an amazing ride that I hope continues for years to come.

One of the most common questions, though, I get asked about the podcast is how do I keep it going since it’s free?

Most people charge hundreds, if not thousands of dollars for similar information that I give or provide a platform for, for free on the podcast.

Well, the simple answer is through my monetization efforts. I monetize my podcast so that it helps bring in additional and passive income inside of my practice.

I do want to give a huge shout out though to you, the listener, because really any monetization effort would be fruitless if it weren’t for you. So, thank you from the bottom of my heart. But really, because I have monetized my podcast, I am able to continue to provide free and accessible content while still growing my practice and income. Now I want to share some of the ways you can do it as well.

If you’re thinking to yourself, well, Kayla, I haven’t even started a podcast yet, I got you covered because if you check out Episode 57: 10 Steps to Launch your Private Practice Podcast by heading to kayladas.com/episode57, I give you the steps to launch your podcast. And this episode is going to help you monetize it from day one. However, if you already have a podcast, but you haven’t yet monetized it, this episode can help you too because it’s really never too late to start monetizing our podcasts.

So, without further ado, let’s dive into the five ways that you can monetize your podcast.

1. Sell your own Products and Services

The first way is to sell your own products and services. Whether you’re starting on episode 1 or you’re dropping episode 101, the simplest and easiest way to monetize your podcast is to pitch and sell your own products and services.

As a therapist or coach, you at least provide one-to-one services to your clients, which you can either share at the end of your podcast episodes, or even create an in-episode ad, or what I call an ad midtro, which is simply an ad that you put in the middle of your episode. If you have other products and services, you can also include them into your podcast episodes as well.

By a rule of thumb, I usually only have one call-to-action or pitch at the end of every episode that I try to align with the content matter at hand. However, whether you’ve been listening to the podcast for a while, or this is your first episode and welcome by the way, if it is. You would have heard that I have in-episode ads. I personally love in episode ads because they can give another way to monetize the episode without taking away from the subject matter and it doesn’t tend to overwhelm listeners as it would if I added more than one call-to-action or pitch at the end of the episode. Just like when we watch television or listening to the radio, we just assume there’s going to be commercials or ads, so it doesn’t feel out of place, and it’s a nice way to make an additional pitch without really making an additional pitch, if that makes sense. So that is one way.

2. Have Sponsorships

The second way you can monetize your podcast is by getting sponsorships from companies. A sponsorship is when a company or a sponsor pays you a certain amount of dollars per episode to sponsor that particular episode. When a company sponsors an episode, you, the host, usually highlight the company in some format and identify them as the sponsor of that particular episode. Some companies might want to be a sponsor of a single episode, maybe episodes on a certain topic, a certain number of episodes, a month or a quarter, or they may even ask to sponsor all of your episodes.

One of the challenges with obtaining sponsorships, however, is that many companies want proof that they will receive a return on investment before they agree to sponsor your podcast. And what I mean by that is they may ask for evidence or proof that you have a specific number of followers or podcast episode downloads before they agree to sponsor you. So, if you’re starting out, this will likely be a little difficult for you to provide because you wouldn’t likely have this proof yet. But if you’re an established podcast, you may have these statistics and as a result have an easier time getting sponsors.

Another thing to consider when preparing to accept a contract from a potential sponsor is whether they are requesting you to sign an exclusivity clause or not. Meaning, do they want you to work with them and only them and nobody else? I’ve seen and heard of some podcasting sponsors who will only enter an agreement if they are the one and only sponsor for all episodes. And although this might be tempting to accept because you’ll have guaranteed income. But depending on how strict the clause is, the duration, and the pay they are willing to pay per episode, it could actually prevent you from maximizing monetization because you may be limited from what you can pitch in your episodes.

Does it mean you can’t accept an exclusivity clause? Of course not. You have the right and the ability to accept whatever you want for your podcast and your practice. But it’s definitely something to consider long and hard before you do enter such an agreement. Just to ensure it truly benefits you and your practice growth long-term. And if you are considering entering such an agreement, gaining clarity on what exclusivity means for that company. Does exclusivity mean they are the only company for a certain product, service, or industry? Or does exclusivity mean they are the one and only sponsor for everything? Are you still able to pitch your own services? Are you able to monetize your podcast in other ways? These are some of the questions you might consider asking before entering such a binding agreement.

But overall, having sponsors can be a great way to monetize your podcast because when you have a sponsor, you have guaranteed income for episodes they are sponsoring. So, you don’t have to worry too much about the uncertainty of some of the other monetization efforts that I’m going to share with you.

3. Use Affiliate Links

The third way to monetize your podcast is to sign up and become an affiliate for products and services that you endorse and create in-episode ads for those products. The difference between a sponsorship and an affiliate is that a sponsorship is guaranteed money for that particular episode. Whereas affiliates, you receive a commission if and only if a listener clicks on that link and then makes a purchase for the product using that link. One of the limitations with affiliate sales is that if nobody buys, you really don’t receive any commission from it. So it’s not guaranteed income. Also affiliate sales may be minimal per sale. Typically affiliate commissions range from 20 to 40 percent of whatever the product or service is that you’re selling. So, if you’re endorsing a hundred-dollar product and you receive 20 percent for that sale, you receive $20.

Another thing is some affiliate programs require you to make a minimum number of sales before they will pay you out. Which means if you do make a sale, but it doesn’t bring you to that minimum payout limit, you might have to continue to wait for additional sales before you can actually be paid out.

One thing, though, that I really like about affiliate products is you usually have autonomy. So unlike sponsors, where a sponsor might say, I sponsored this episode, Really, your affiliates, for the most part, don’t necessarily care how you advertise them. Sometimes they say, you can do it on social media, you can do it on podcasts, you can do it on blogs, you can do it on whatever. It’s not necessarily targeted towards your podcast. So, you can actually use affiliate links for other things as well.

There is one thing to know about affiliate links though, is that most have what’s called cookies attached to it. And will monitor if the person who has clicked on the link buys that product within a certain time frame and if they do, you may still be credited for that purchase. For example, if your affiliate link has a 30-day cookie attached to it, that means that if a listener clicks on or checks out that link and doesn’t buy right away, but later decides to buy that product, say maybe even 14 days later, as long as the cookie is still in place, you’ll be credited for that sale and receive a commission. However, if a listener clicks on that link and then clears their website browser and cookies, or they click on another person’s affiliate links after yours, you might not get credited. In addition, once that cookie expires, it no longer credits you as well. As an affiliate, there’s nothing you can do to determine the cookie length. It’s usually based on the software that the company that your affiliate uses and how long that software has the cookies in place for. Also, not all affiliate links will have cookies either. So, you might want to ask the company that you’re an affiliate for if they have cookies and what the duration of that cookie is when it’s active. As an affiliate, having a cookie is a positive thing, or at least I think so, because you get credited if the person leaves the page and comes back later. Whereas if there’s no cookie, a person might still come back later on and purchase the product, but then you don’t get credited for it because there is no cookie to remind the server that you had been the referred person.

One of the services that I promote as an affiliate It doesn’t have a cookie attached, and when someone leaves that page, even if they do come back later, I don’t get credited for that sale, which can be a bummer, but I still promote them because I believe in their services. But it’s really important to acknowledge that, again, some have cookies, some don’t. There’s pros and cons to both. But ultimately, it’s up to you to determine which products or services are ones that you want to endorse. And the more you know about the affiliate setup, the more informed you’ll be about what fits your podcast values and vision.

Also, going back to one of the benefits of having affiliates is that you can share them where and when you want. If you do have some products that don’t necessarily have cookies or may only give you a smaller commission than another product you have the right, on your podcast, to share whatever products you want, how often you want to share them. So, if you know you have a product that has maybe a hundred- and twenty-day cookie and also you get a 50 percent commission, you might want to share that more frequently than someone that might not have a cookie and may only pay you maybe 20 percent.

So again, this is what I like about using affiliates for in-episode ads, is that you really have ultimate control over what you do with that. But again, going back to one of the cons is that it isn’t guaranteed income. Someone does have to land on and purchase something for you to be credited for that.

So now you might be thinking, “Well, how do I find sponsors or affiliates?” The simple answer is to reach out to companies that you believe your ideal client would be interested in hearing about, and that aligns with your overall podcast, but also products that you stand behind.

One of the things that I do when I become an affiliate or accept a sponsorship is to really do my homework about the company and the product. And 80 percent of the products I advertise, I’ve actually used or tried myself, so I do have first-hand experience. And the other 20%, I make sure that even if I didn’t try it out, I have a really good understanding of the product and how it can benefit my ideal client in some way. So I don’t just accept anyone and that’s because for me being of value and promoting through integrity are super important for me. So it’s not about having hundreds of hundreds of affiliates, but what’s really going to benefit your ideal client? What are you likely going to get the most income from? And also, can you stand behind it? And that is really important in my mind.

So you can reach out to companies personally, or there are some companies that actually already have an affiliate program created, and you just have to sign up. And although there’s usually an approval period, you don’t usually have to speak to anyone. You can easily just sign up, fill out a form, and then you become an affiliate. A really good example of this is Amazon. Amazon has an affiliate program that you can fill out online, and especially if you’re promoting books or paid resources you can use an affiliate link for that book or paid resource if it’s on Amazon, and you can promote it. Of course, you want to be transparent that you’re actually using an affiliate link. That transparency is important. We don’t want to just give out links and not say that we’re an affiliate for them in some way, shape, or form. But that’s one way you could reach out because you don’t necessarily have to talk to someone.

However, over time, as you start building your podcast and become more established, you might even have people reach out to you to become an affiliate or sponsor. I’m at a place now where I receive emails probably a few times a month from people wanting me to partner with them in some way. So of course, I do not become an affiliate or a sponsor for everyone, but because more people reach out to me, I can now spend less time reaching out to potential sponsors and affiliates unless there’s a product or service that I really would love to partner with.

However, if you’re worried about reaching out to people, whether it’s a sponsorship or an affiliate, let me tell you a secret. I’ve never been turned down by someone who I’ve reached out to and asked to sell their products for them. The only thing that has happened is not all products and services have sponsorships or affiliate programs, and I have had companies share with me that they don’t currently have such a program, but definitely valued my time for talking to them about it.

The other thing, which hasn’t happened to me, but could happen to some people, is, again going back to the sponsorship route, is if you don’t necessarily have a certain amount of listeners, a company may decide that at this point it’s not the right time. But typically, affiliates are a little different, and again that’s why I love affiliates. And I think the reason I haven’t had a negative reception from people when I reach out to them to become an affiliate is because I’m not really asking for anything. Actually, if anything, I’m offering free marketing and also reaching out to a community or a network that they may never have an opportunity to reach otherwise, and they still make income. And of course, so do I, which is win-win.

So just know that if you are fearful of reaching out to people that a lot of people tend to be really excited or happy that, to be on your podcast, especially if it’s an affiliate program where there’s no loss for them, right? There’s only the potential for gain because you are advertising their product and they are making a commission, if a commission comes in, and if it a commission doesn’t come in, they really haven’t lost out on anything. So that’s a really great way to monetize your podcast.

4. Have a Subscription-based Podcast

The fourth way to monetize a podcast is not something I’ve personally done in the past Although it is something I’m considering down the road is having a subscription-based podcast where you charge people for the content within that subscription.

Many of the major podcasting platforms have subscription-based options in addition to free podcasting platforms where you can charge people directly from the platform. But the truth is, you don’t necessarily need to have listeners sign up from a major podcasting platform, you could also create a gated podcast on your website or through a course selling software like Kajabi. Really, you just need somewhere to house your podcast episodes and then have a software that allows listeners to sign up for a monthly membership that renews every month. And where they can also cancel that membership if need be.

Having a membership or subscription-based podcast is a great way to have consistent income come into your practice because really, they’re paying monthly. It’s much more predictable than some of the other ways you can monetize a podcast because obviously you know that even though people can cancel, you are growing your membership base.

However, some of the limitations is that first you’ll need people to sell the subscription to. Like all products and services, there is a marketing side of things. Even if you choose to use a major podcasting platform to host your subscription, people aren’t just going to land on it and immediately start paying for your content as they likely haven’t built trust with you yet. So, it’s more of a paid product than it is a resource.

But even though I haven’t implemented this monetization strategy yet, it’s something that I’ve thought a lot about. And if or when I decide to use a strategy, my intention is to always continue my free podcast so I can build that trust with people, which will continue to focus on a little bit of everything when it comes to designing a practice that you love. But any gated content that I decide to create through a membership or a subscription-based podcast will be more problem based, meaning it will focus on a specific problem or issue that listeners are facing with their practice growth journey and then provide regular content around that particular problem. Almost like an ongoing audio digital course, we’ll say. But of course, you don’t necessarily have to do it this way. This is just how I would set it up if it were me.

Another limitation is the added pressure to continue to contribute to content for your listeners. Now, of course, this might depend on the person, but for me, even though I continue to do the Designer Practice Podcast every week, it doesn’t feel like a lot of pressure because it’s essentially free content. And I know if I did miss a week, which, knock on wood, I haven’t since I started 14 months ago. The listeners would understand and maybe not even notice because they are not paying for the subscription. Whereas when you have paying customers, you can bet they expect regular and consistent content for their membership, and that could be added pressure for some people. I’d recommend if you’re deciding to go to this route of podcast monetization, to have a concrete plan and even some episodes pre-recorded before going live with your subscription so you feel prepared when people start signing up.

Going off of this though, an advantage of having paid subscribers to your podcast is they will likely be more engaged with you and your content than those who are listening to your free content. And that’s because it’s easy to miss an episode or even ten of free podcasts because there’s no financial investment there. There’s no loss, financially. However, when people put money on the table, they tend to be more invested and engaged, which helps build that trust, and then potentially even become a paying client later because of it.

5. Use Google Adsense

Finally, the fifth way to monetize your podcast is by signing up for and adding Google AdSense to your website show notes or your YouTube channel.

Most therapists and coaches are familiar with Google Ads, which are ads companies pay for to be ranked or sponsored on the first page of Google. However, less therapists and coaches are aware that you can actually be paid to allow these ads to show on your website by signing up for Google AdSense account.

When I first started blogging over three years ago, I started with Google AdSense for my blogs specifically. And now since I’ve started uploading my podcast episode transcriptions to my website as well, I monetize those as well through Google AdSense. Basically, how it works is that you allow Google to post ads on certain pages of your website. I only allow it on blogs or podcast episodes. And when someone lands on those pages, they’ll see the content as well as the Google ads. You’ve probably noticed similar ads yourself if you’ve ever read a blog or landed on a website specific podcast show notes page. Typically, the content creator, which in this case is you, will receive a very small commission for each person who sees the ads, and you’ll receive a little bit more commission if someone clicks on and goes to an ad. The same as if you choose to have a YouTube channel to host your podcast, you can set it up so that YouTube shows commercials, and once set up and monetized, you can start receiving additional income through your Google AdSense account from YouTube as well as your website.

Now, I want to be transparent. When you’re first starting out, you won’t see a lot of income coming in through Google Ads and they even have a $100 payout minimum. Meaning you need to make $100 before you can actually cash out. Although I can’t remember exactly how long it took me to make a hundred dollars using Google AdSense when I first started blogging, I think it was at least a year if not more before I made that minimum payout. However, now that my content, both blogs and podcast show notes, receive much more traction, I tend to receive a payout every couple of months, and if it’s a really, really good month, I might get paid out at the end of the month. Even though it may not pay my bills, or at least as of right now, it’s probably the most passive way I do make money in my business. So, whether I get a payout this month, next month, or even six months from now, it’s income that I didn’t have to put much work in to receive, because Google is doing all the tracking and I just sit back and receive the check whenever I get to that $100 payout.

So that is the five ways to monetize your podcast.

Combining Monetization Strategies

However, before we end today, there’s one more thing I want to mention. You can combine some and even all of these strategies into your podcasting monetization efforts, because they are not mutually exclusive. For example, four out of five of these strategies I currently use to monetize my own podcast. Like I said, I haven’t yet implemented a subscription-based podcasting, but it’s definitely on my bucket list. But the other four I use regularly.

So just keep in mind that you don’t necessarily have to rely on just one strategy, because you can implement more than one to maximize your podcasting monetization efforts, as long as they work for you and are aligned with your podcast vision.

Thank you for tuning in to today’s episode, and if you liked this episode or the Designer Practice Podcast as a whole, and you’re listening to this episode from a major podcasting platform, I would be internally grateful if you would leave an honest review of the podcast.

One of my podcasting goals in 2024 is to make it to the top 10 percent of podcasts in this genre, and podcast reviews definitely helped me with that. So thank you again.

And until next time, bye for now!

Credits & Disclaimers

Music by ItsWatR from Pixabay

The Designer Practice Podcast and Evaspare Inc. has an affiliate and/or sponsorship relationship for advertisements in our podcast episodes. We receive commission or monetary compensation, at no extra cost to you, when you use our promotional codes and/or check out advertisement links.