How to Start a Podcast in 2020, Cheap and Easy!
If you prefer to listen to this article in podcast form, you can find it at https://anchor.fm/paydaypursuit/episodes/Starting-a-Podcast-in-2020-with-Jesse-Warren-el9rkl
Podcasts, I now have one, you might want to start one! The truth is, podcasts can be one of the most profitable mediums in the world of YouTube videos and Tik Tok. Podcasts have even been in the news recently with Joe Rogan selling his podcast, the Joe Rogan Experience to Spotify for a rumored 100 million dollars! This caught my eye, as it probably did for many others, podcasts also hold one of the smallest market shares in terms of consumable media. To put this in perspective, Instagram currently has over 1 billion, that with a b, accounts in the world, meanwhile youtube is sitting at a much less impressive 31 million channels, and podcasts? As of recording, there are roughly 850 thousand podcasts! And that number is only going to skyrocket as platforms like Spotify are placing a greater focus on podcasts! So, the time to get into podcasts is now! But how does one start a podcast? Well in order to tackle this idea I decided to reach out to a fellow podcaster Mr. Jesse Warren. He has been running his own podcast since back in July and I decided to hop on a call with him and ask him about his experience with running his own podcast. So let’s take a listen and see what he had to say!
So after talking to Jesse I learned that the way to go would be Anchor if I really wanted to do this as cheaply as possible in order to maximize my profit. I made my Anchor account, set up all of my payments, and honestly, it couldn’t have been easier! Like Jesse mentioned, Anchor really does push your podcast to all platforms, including big players like Spotify and Apple Podcasts. I also brought up the idea that Spotify purchased Anchor and I can confirm this is a fact. In fact, Spotify paid a whopping 340 million dollars to acquire both anchor and another podcast network called Gimlet. Once again this just further cements the idea that podcasts are on the brink of blowing up in a huge way!
Equipment
So let's talk about some costs! So as Jesse and I discussed, you really don’t need a whole bunch of equipment. Like YouTube, your phone is more than enough. If you really want to up your sound quality then go ahead and set up shop in a closet, the clothes muffle the outside noise and it is more than fine enough starting out.
However, for those who want to up their audio game then I would recommend starting out with a simple USB mic. As Jesse mentioned, the mic he currently uses for his podcast, Cartoonish, is a Blue Yeti (linked below).
If you want to spend a little less then you can go for the slightly less expensive Blue Snowball (linked below), this is what I am personally using to record my podcasts! It lacks some useful features like an audio jack to directly monitor your audio right from the source, but if that is something you can deal with then this will be more than enough!
And finally, if you’re not trying to break the bank but you don’t want to use your phone then you can pick up the Blue Snowball iCE mic (linked below). This is essentially a further stripped down version of the Blue Snowball microphone.
So considering which option you choose for your mic you can either spend nothing by using your smartphone, or you can be looking at about $130! Like I said in my case I am using a Blue Snowball Mic which costs about $80 after sales tax. So far I’m in about $80, and other than a pair of headphones, which just about everyone has in their house, we’re all done with the expenses paid on this podcast. The last thing I used is a completely free software called Audacity. Think of this as Photoshop but for Audio. Audacity is an extremely powerful application when you consider it's free! As mentioned in the interview with Jesse, Anchor does let you do some editing within their own platform, but Audacity is what I am familiar with and it does offer many more customization options for those who are into that sort of thing!
Advertising
I have been pretty vocal on other platforms about not using my influence in order to promote and of these side hustles, at the very least for the first week or so, to give my audience a better idea about what these side hustles can earn the average person who doesn’t have thousands of followers! However, seeing as how the purpose of me making the social media accounts I have made was with the intent to start my own podcast in the first place, I will give myself a pass on this one. So my primary method of advertising as of now would be through my Tik Tok account. At the time of writing this, my account has amassed a little over 74,000 followers in just a span of 3 weeks! While Tik Tok is a wonderful platform for growth it is not a great platform for long forms of content such as a podcast. Seeing as how the maximum video length can only be a minute long, asking someone to commit to a podcast episode that is over a half an hour long is a tough one. Because of this, I am anticipating a 0.1% conversion rate from Tik Tok follower to Podcast Listener. This would mean I am expecting about 70 listeners tuning in to my podcast based on me advertising the podcast on my Tik Tok account.
My second method of advertising is through the idea of guest podcasting. This is what I believe to be the most promising form of advertisement as you are advertising your podcast to someone who is already making the time commitment to listen to a full podcast episode. I would personally recommend reaching out to people who run podcasts in your niche, another great option for this would be the subreddit r/podcastguestexchange which consists of posts from people who are looking for people to guest star on their podcast!
Profits (The Exciting Part)!
So with Payday Pursuit being a podcast, I am not currently able to report how much money this podcast has made. However, what I can discuss, thanks to Anchor’s awesome monetization program, is that Anchor has offered a very generous $15 CPM. This means that for every 1,000 listens my podcast receives I will earn a whopping $15 for every ad in my podcast. Now, this can be multiplied if you have multiple ads within your podcast. For the podcast episode based on this article, I have added two ads. So that means for every 1,000 listens I will earn a rather generous $30. When comparing this CPM to other platforms it is insane! Currently, Tik Tok offers about 2–13 cents for every 1000 views and YouTube usually offers anywhere from $1–$15 for every 1000 views! So seeing as how $15 is just starting out I am quite hopeful for the profitability of podcasts going forward! I will of course update this section as my podcast progresses and earns more money.
Now it's time for the final break down! How much has this podcast made me so far?
Expenses:
Equipment: $80
Software: FREE
Advertisement: FREE
Income:
Podcast Listens (As of 10/19/2020): 0
CPM (As of 10/19/2020): $15
