The Internet continues to advance and evolve with each passing day. What might be the hottest new fad on the block one day could be easily forgotten the next. And I don’t need to tell you how much of a challenge it can be trying to keep up with all those Google algorithm updates. If you want to make money online, you need to learn to adapt.
At the same time, some technologies that may feel a little dated or just as important today as they’ve ever been. RSS still matters and you should work to improve your feed. And as much as people are moving toward social media, email marketing is definitely alive and well. And the same can be said about the good old podcast.
The Business of Brand Building
Podcasts may have once been audio-only in nature, but there are a number of popular video-based podcasts today too. Both formats work for different reasons and can approach different kinds of audiences. The same kind of people who like to subscribe to their favorite blogs are also the kind of people who want to subscribe to the accompany podcasts.
A great example of this comes from our friend Zac Johnson, who has been running his Rise of the Entrepreneur podcast for several months now. Much like his blog, the podcast also centers around the world of entrepreneurship, particularly online. Having a blog is great, but going the extra mile with a consistently good podcast can elevate your brand to the next level.
Zac says that his podcast setup cost around $1,000 to get started. It’s important to invest in the right equipment, so your podcast sounds professional right off the bat. And that’s critical, because you want to have the public image of being professional. You want people to take you seriously, because you take yourself seriously.
You’ll notice that Rise of the Entrepreneur is free via iTunes. Zac says that his intention is not to make any money from the podcast itself. So, why do it? It’s a powerful branding exercise and it further solidifies his place as a respectable expert in the field of affiliate marketing, online business and entrepreneurship.
Beyond the Podcast
It can take a lot of dedication and hard work to produce a great podcast episode every week, but what it means is that you’ll definitely be reaching your target audience every week. Your name remains front and center, so whenever you do have something to promote, they’ll know about it.
Of course, you don’t have to have a podcast in order to achieve that goal or to help build up your brand. Podcasts are an excellent way to do that, but they’re not the only way. That’s part of the reason why I wrote my book, for example, and John achieves a similar objective through his YouTube channel. This is particularly true with the Driving with John Chow series, since for all intents and purposes, it acts just like a video podcast.
That’s really at the heart of achieving any sort of real success making money online. You need to be consistent, you need to have dedication, and you have to have a product — free or not — that people actually want. And a podcast really does epitomize that kind of mindset.
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