You can be creative about how you refer to your site of course. Don't just say 'Visit mysite.com' 7 times. People will fall asleep!

Podcast tip 3. People like challenges, quizzes and other interactive things. Regularly refer to your site and the content on your site. Eg. "If you'd like to see pictures from the Buck's Night I just talked about, please visit my site at __________" or "The answers to these quiz questions will be on the site" or "And don't forget to visit the site forum to discuss today's show about the new taste sensation in Beijing - Fried Intestinal Worms" etc etc.

If you can include other interactive features on your site, it would help people to visit it more often. Chat rooms, guest books, forums, and any kind of sticky feature will help.

Podcast tip 4. After following all the tips above, your site traffic should now be starting to increase and, while there should be an increase in downloads, many of those downloads should come from people subscribing from your site, rather than from Itunes.

If traffic is slow do the following: Make sure your site is available in just about every search engine possible, and make sure that your pages contain relevant keywords that people can search for on those engines to find your site. (Those keywords should be part of a normal paragraph of writing in the body text of your site, *not* a separate list at the bottom.

It's now time to start doing things that will make your site a few dollars.

When people visit your site and read your pages they may decide to visit one of your sponsor's links. This will help your site to make a few cents or a few dollars, depending on your subject matter.

If you don't want to cover your site with text ads, maybe you'd be better off using Amazon.

Amazon has a great system whereby you add a link directly to one of their books, after signing up to their associate program, and earn a commission if someone buys it within 24 hours of clicking on your link.

And with Amazon selling literally millions of items including DVDs, videos, electronics, toys and other things, you're bound to find something that fits your site. And, unlike text advertising, you can promote it in your podcast!

But what if you don't want to sell anything? Well, if you're podcasting you're already selling your show but I know where you're coming from. I'm a passive seller. I don't like to actively sell anything. If you're like me then you may wish to just have a donation button on your website. This is similar to the PBS model (Public Broadcasting Service) where you donate to keep your favourite program running.

The best system for accepting donations is via Paypal. Sign up, add the donation button to your site and look out for your donations. You will need to promote this in your podcast of course. Something like "If you enjoyed our show, please make a donation. Even a $1 helps!")

Okay, so you've got the pages of content, you've mentioned your site on your podcast several times and you've got some advertising or associate links on your pages. What next?

Podcast Tip 5. If your traffic gets to be at a respectable level (at least 1000 unique visitors a day) you can move onto the next stage of advertising, actually selling space in your podcasts. Now there's no point in selling a 30 second spot in a 10 minute podcast. What you've got to do is find someone who'll sponsor you for a few dollars in return for you mentioning them at the beginning of your podcast. If you can sell banner advertising on your site and promise to mention the advertiser in your podcast, you can begin to make a few dollars.

Local advertisers will tell you how much they're willing to pay for advertising on your podcast. If your podcast is downloaded locally then you're more likely to get local advertisers. If your podcast is downloaded internationally then you'll need to promote to people wanting international recognition. In any case your podcast content will decide what sort of advertising you could expect. Maybe start at $5 per podcast and work up from there. You may wish to contact some local advertising agencies to see if they're interested in advertising in your podcast. It will give you an idea as to what they expect.

And that's all you need to get started making money from your podcast.

I hope this helps you to cover your costs and continue doing your audio and video podcasts.

Cheers

James

If you're a student, any reading is good English practice for you. Read an article on a topic you like then research any vocabulary used. If you didn't agree with what the article says, you can write your own, refuting it!

Have fun!