The Podcaster’s Guide To YouTube: Tips, Advice, and Tools To Make Money
Just in time for Podcast Movement 2022, YouTube dropped their latest big news: They’re adding podcasting to their offerings. This was a surprise to no one who had been following the podcasting scene for a while.
As a podcaster, I don’t want you to panic. I don’t want you to roll your eyes either, thinking you’ll just skip podcasting on YouTube. There’s money to be made podcasting on everyone’s favorite video platform, and I’ll give you the tips you need to get started.
On an episode of Make Money Podcasting, I cover what we know so far about podcasting on YouTube. Here are some of the key takeaways from the show:
- Set up a YouTube podcast channel with playlists for your episodes and clips.
- Make your episode titles catchy for YouTube. Steer clear of the “Episode Number, Guest Name” format. Draw people in with a snappy headline that entices them to click and learn more.
- From now on, ask your podcast guests to record video as well as audio. This goes for your solo shows, too!
- Making money podcasting from YouTube is simple with YouTube’s built-in monetization framework. I also give you three other strategies to make money through your YouTube podcast.
Setting up your YouTube podcast channel
The setup of a YouTube podcast channel is relatively simple. Creating playlists breaks up your content into categories for your audience and works well with YouTube’s algorithms.
For your full episodes, create a playlist with the same name as your podcast. Load them in chronological or reverse chronological order, whichever makes sense for your content. For example, if you have a series that builds on itself, chronological order is the way to go. But if your content is best consumed starting with the most recent updates, place it in reverse chronological order.
In addition to your full episodes, shorter clips are a nice way to give newer viewers a taste of what you offer. Make a playlist of clips, using the most engaging snippets from your shows.
Another thing that people like to see is behind-the-scenes videos, whether they’re in the clips playlist or a separate list. These tours can shed light on your podcasting setup, your routine, or anything else you think your audience would like to see about how the magic happens.
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Make money podcasting — on YouTube!
If you do any other business on YouTube outside of podcasting, you already know that YouTube has built-in tools to help you make money. There are a few options for what YouTube offers organically.
First, as always on YouTube, ads can be built in. You don’t have to sell your ad space. It’s already there for you if you want it! Keep in mind, there are some requirements here. As of today, it’s 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 total watch hours. Not there yet? By following the other tips in this article, you’ll be able to reach those metrics.
YouTube could potentially start offering audio-only ads to pair with podcasting, instead of their usual dynamic ads.
Another way to make money is to create sponsored content videos, where a sponsor pays for you to discuss something about their product as it relates to your content.
Memberships are also available on YouTube. In this case, people sign up for a subscription and pay for bonus content with a pay button. Through the subscription, you can offer livestreams and other videos for members only. Superchats or superstickers are another option to gain revenue from your YouTube views. These features offer a way for viewers to tip you or say “thanks” for your content.
Finally, if you’ve got content that supports selling merch, by all means, sell your merch! Your podcast t-shirts, bags, and stickers are another way for your podcast to make money, and YouTube is another way for you to reach your audience. Connect your merch store to YouTube, and you’re on your way!
Advice to start off on the right foot
To achieve YouTube podcasting success, you need video viewers and channel subscribers. Here’s how to bring viewers to your channel and how to keep them coming back for more.
Draw the people in
Your podcast’s YouTube channel is the place to flex your marketing capabilities. Pay attention to this important tip: Do not simply use “Episode Number, Guest Name” as the format for naming your podcast video.
Think about it: As someone searching on YouTube, would you ever know a podcast’s episode number? You might know the name of the guest you’re looking for, perhaps. But more likely than not, you’d be searching, instead, for something like “how to catch bass without a lure,” rather than “Bass Fishing Boys Episode 36 featuring Charlie Wilson.”
Put simply, pose the question that your episode answers — and that’s your title.
Bring in the art
If you have a custom thumbnail for your episode to use as your image, go ahead and use it! If not, no big deal. Use your show’s artwork as the image.
Keep in mind, YouTube is not checking an RSS feed to bring in your episodes. You have to be proactive in moving your episodes over, and I’ll show you what tools can help you do that below.
Making the not-visual medium, visual
It’s constantly said that podcasting isn’t a visual medium, but with YouTube entering the chat, that could be changing. You might not have video footage for your back catalog of episodes, and that’s fine.
But going forward, I want you to video-record all of your podcasts. If you have a guest, get their permission to record as well. A word to the wise: Don’t use Zoom to record your podcast. Riverside is a great solution for audio/video recording, and there are other similar options on the market.
The right tools for the job
Maybe everything I’ve said so far convinces you that you need to put your podcast on YouTube (if so, great!), but the effort required to get the show posted is a little daunting. That’s okay!
Let’s say your podcast isn’t new. You have an extensive back catalog of episodes built up. Instead of throwing all those away and only posting new podcast episodes to YouTube, I’ve pulled together some tools to make it easy to get your old content working for you, fast.
Back it up the old-fashioned way
For your back catalog, you can create videos of your audio-only episodes by using the show’s thumbnail as the visual. Two tools that can do that for you are FusionCast for Mac users and Descript for all other operating systems. These have cool features like letting you use the Ken Burns documentary-style zoom and fade to make the visual more engaging.
Don’t exasperate — automate!
If doing things manually isn’t your speed, I recommend a couple of programs for getting your podcast episodes straight to YouTube without you having to devote massive amounts of time or money. In fact, you may already be using one of these programs to produce your podcast.
Currently, CastHost will automatically send your episodes to YouTube on their mid-tier subscription plan. As an added bonus, when I used CastHost for my podcast, the tool loaded my episodes into a playlist for me. That takes care of my first recommendation to get your episodes in a playlist without you having to do anything extra!
Another app that connects your podcast hosting to YouTube is Repurpose.io. I’ve also heard from other creators that Adobe’s Premiere Pro has similar functionality. I’m giving multiple options here in the event that you’re already using one of these programs. If you are, it’ll be a near-seamless transition to getting your podcast to YouTube.
So what are you waiting for? Get out there and push your excellent content to YouTube to start making more money podcasting today. And while you’re making new episodes, go ahead and get that camera rolling for even more engaging content.
🎙 Top tip: Still not sure how YouTube can help you as a podcaster? Check out my YouTube video on this very topic. While you’re there, like and subscribe for all the latest updates!
