1.    What Is A Podcast?

2.   What Are The Five Levels Of Connection On Social Media?

3.   What Is The Best Way To Put Yourself Out There And Build Your Influence?

4.   What Are The Different Types Of Podcasts?

5.   What Are The Components Of A Good Podcast?

6.   What Equipment Do You Need For A Podcast?

7.   Which Are The Best Podcast Hosting Sites?

8.   How Do You Monetize A Podcast?

9.  How Do You Build Digital Assets?

10.  Conclusion

A podcast is a contemporary method of audio broadcasting on the web. It is gaining popularity because it can be listened to while commuting to the office or even while working. 

Podcasts are a fantastic way for business owners to develop an intimate connection with listeners and potential customers. As the audience hears you speak, a podcast builds a one-on-one connection that is not feasible on blogs or Instagram. It’s like long-form, in-depth content. 

It is a dynamic medium that is the perfect way of reaching out to your audience with your message. Increasingly people are tuning in to podcasts, and business owners see their potential. 

Reaching out in different ways to engage with your audience is a good strategy. It is an additional method for you to build your reputation and position yourself as an authority figure in your niche.

You don’t need a lot of money or technical knowledge to start a podcast. It’s a great way to drive traffic to your site through backlinks in podcast directories at the end of each episode. Podcasting is one of the most potent ways to connect with an audience on a deeper level. It’s far better than just recording videos or posting random tidbits of content on social media. I know when someone is listening to this podcast I have their attention until the end. I’m able to establish a deeper bond and connection with them.

I’m just activating my podcast journey. I thought it essential for me to inspire you to get on the same journey. In the last few months, I’ve had more than 18,000 downloads of my podcasts, and I’ve been able to get many customers who bought my products after listening to my podcast. 

I realized that people who listen to podcasts are a more mature audience. They are more willing to learn. They are eager to go deep into the whole learning process, and they are not just distracted, random, casual browsing type of an audience. When you’re listening to a podcast, the host knows that you want the information, and you want to get it in a very short time. 

I’ve also started to do many podcasts in the international domain, like the recent one with John Lee Dumas called Entrepreneur on Fire. That was my first entry into the global space. I’m being interviewed on multiple other podcasts, and I’m getting more access; to open doors for many of you who want to do something similar as you’re building your influence. 

As an educator in the online space, I feel there are too many distractions. Podcasting is ideal for me as it does not distract folks, but I’m going to be connecting with people who matter the most. From the feedback, I get a clear indication that I’ve got the audience’s attention, and I can share my heart out with you on how I feel about things. If you want to create a profound impact on your audience, podcasting is one of the ways to go. 

Initially, I did 45 minutes, long-form, powerful interviews, bringing on experts and getting them to share their insights. 

I later moved on to making it shorter and crisper, 20 to 30 minutes on the top. I feel this is enough for a podcast where you can crystallize your information and deliver the message home. Podcasting is the future if you want to be a knowledge giver. 

From a creative perspective, I prefer it because I just close my eyes and speak. It’s not a dual sensory activity like a YouTube video. Because it’s a single sensory function, the listener can do whatever he wants, even driving. Podcasts have the advantage because you’re able to deliver the goods in somebody else’s downtime. In contrast, when it comes to video, they’ve got to be sitting in front of the screen and engaging both senses, visual and auditory. 

This is why podcasts are a better channel for knowledge givers to establish a deeper rapport and relationship with their audience. And again, it does not matter how many millions of downloads happen in the podcast. All that matters is that a few hundred people are listening to the podcast to the end.

There’s Facebook. There’s Instagram; there’s YouTube. There’s LinkedIn, and then there’s Podcasting. There are so many different platforms. How do you differentiate between them? 

I’m going to share with you why I feel YouTube and podcasting are the best networks to focus on as a digital coach and how you can use the other platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn, to feed into these two leading platforms. 

This option is for people that want to keep snacking on content. It’s tough to understand what is going on in the minds of the Instagram audience. Yes, there are Instagram reels, people dancing and jumping around like Tik Tok gets millions of views. There is a lot of engagement, but the attention span is lower than any other platform. 

When you try to map out those metrics back to actual numbers, in terms of money, back into your bank account, you notice that Instagram is not anywhere close yet. Yes, there are Instagram videos, and you’re seeing somebody jump around and dance around, and you’re just giving a “like” on that and sharing or commenting on that. You can have the feel-good factor that happens over there. A lot of marketers are successful on Instagram, and they do things in a particular way.

Well, let’s look at Twitter is also growing, and it’s excellent for influencers. Great for movie stars, politicians, news experts, anywhere you want to know the news that’s happening right now. 

Again, some super-intelligent people, some influencers on Twitter who can connect with their audience. So Twitter is not necessarily a platform for sharing long-form content. It is more for sharing updates, staying connected, and sharing tidbits and news, opinions, and ideologies from influencers to their followers, and that’s how energy is.

So Facebook and LinkedIn will fall into the category of not teaser content, but more like trailer content. Let’s look at LinkedIn. LinkedIn is much better because a person’s mindset on LinkedIn is like someone in the office. LinkedIn is like an office. Facebook is like home. Instagram is like a party. On LinkedIn, you would typically see that people are in the mindset of networking. 

They have the mindset to grow in their careers, and they want to do business. So LinkedIn is phenomenal for one-to-one networking connections, a one-to-one messaging, again, not pitching yourself, but to creating open-ended conversations, opening up positions, and converting those conversations into Zoom and Skype calls where you can close deals. So it’s a beautiful platform for that kind of leverage that you can get on LinkedIn. 

Of course, LinkedIn has many decision-makers, and you want to strike deals in the B2B space and create that kind of influence. LinkedIn is also growing on video content. So I would say LinkedIn is better when it comes to this type of audience. 

But LinkedIn advertising is nowhere close to Facebook, so yes, there are people who are successful on the internet, but pretty much it’s much more expensive at this point as compared to Facebook. Facebook is perfect for trailers, where you’re going to be posting three to five-minute videos.

I think Facebook Live and YouTube are the best networks to focus on if your product needs long-form content. I look at this entire game as a five-stage process. For me, a webinar or doing a Facebook Live or a YouTube live is like a movie where I’m going and explaining stuff for 30, 45 minutes, one hour in duration. And that’s the point when immersion happens. 

People get immersed in your concepts and absorb your philosophy, your tactics. Once you have people in that immersion mode, they decide to buy a product. 

The audience can see the value you’re demonstrating, and they’re able to become a customer, which is stage number four. They go into level five based on how you treat them as customers and how much you support them.

This is somebody who is like a customer for life who will be there with you no matter what, for the value you add. 

You’re getting excellent quality content and know for sure that you are getting real value coming your way. And I also know for sure that the bond that we are establishing between each other, me as the content creator, and you as a content consumer, is a beautiful value exchange that is happening. 

I’m giving you the knowledge from my side, and you are giving me your time. You are giving me your attention. I have had your attention for a length of time which is unheard of in any other platforms like Instagram. 

It’s not only long format content now because of my sharing in-depth podcast content; the bond established between the creator and the consumer is much more profound. 

This is where I connect with most of my customers who have bought my products others have understood more about who I am by listening to my podcast. So if you are a digital coach or if you’re a coach-consultant, speaker, a speaker trainer, imagine you’re able to roll out one or two podcasts every single week where you go in-depth. You share 10 minutes to 20 minutes of information that will give you much better leverage than all the dancing around the content can.

When you shift from the masses snacking on the fast-food content consumption mode and change into the wholesome meal where people order value, relationship building platforms, and build more digital assets on these platforms, you will attract super-quality customers. You may not have thousands of views. You may even have just a few hundred dollars, even less than a hundred views, but you know for sure if somebody has listened and downloaded and listened to your podcast. 

So on a podcast, even if you have 90 followers on your podcast, those 90 people are more serious than the 9,000 likes that somebody else has because you can influence at a more intellectual level and not just on an entertainment level. We are definitely in a world of infotainment, your information has to have an element of entertainment, but the depth of knowledge matters the most.

The advantages of podcasting:

Effective podcasting is one of the reasons why I’m able to build communities like nobody else. You know, many people are learning my methodologies and models. 

Suppose I break it down into an 80/20 principle regarding the time you spend on content marketing. In that case, I recommend you spend 80% of your time creating content for YouTube and Podcasts and 20% of your time creating content for Instagram, Twitter, and other stuff. You can even outsource it. 

I like to spend most of my time creating long-form quality content because that is what I feel is a real digital asset.

It may be you’ve never posted a single podcast, maybe some pieces of content, but never put yourself out there. You may have all the fears people experience when you get into this part of influence building; what do other people think about you? 

Like, am I good enough? Are my communication skills good? What if I don’t say the right things? What if I mumble and fumble and stuff during podcasts? 

Mishaps occur, but you still need to do what you need to do. I remember the words of one of my mentors that helped me focus solely on serving the audience. 

Whenever you feel nervous, think about service. 

The more vulnerable you are and the more open you are, the more authentic you are. That’s what people want as compared to the YouTube channels and videos that are so professionally done but have you noticed; sometimes you cannot connect to that person. 

Do you know what I’m talking about? Everything is picture-perfect; great studio. Excellent camera gear, great lighting. Dual cameras set up. Now I have some decent lights and stuff in the background, but I just kept it simple. When I started, I was just using my laptop webcam. I think I had a Logitech webcam and an Apple headset. I didn’t have a fancy microphone or background. But I went ahead anyway and started the first course. I created the Freedom Business Model on a laptop, Logitech, Apple headset; no fancy gear. 

So the point where I want to tell all of you is whenever you feel nervous, think about service, and you need to be ready to break through those resistances of what other people think about you. 

You know, those people are thinking about what other people think about them. So just take a chill pill, and do what you have to do. Now let’s get into the actual structure and format of the best way to put yourself out there and build your influence.

Now a few key concepts. The first thing is, we are in the game of attention. The more firmly we can hold people inside our space, the better it is. Everybody’s seeking attention, and for that, there are two kinds of content. You have lean forward content and lean backward content.

Lean forward content is like this. I’m opening up Instagram, and I’m just endlessly scrolling, scrolling, scrolling, scrolling, scrolling, scrolling, endless scroll. And I’m going to snack on content.

I’m just snacking on bits and pieces of content. 30-seconds, one minute, 15-second story, swipe up. Even on LinkedIn or even on Facebook also. The reels are all getting pushed. When you’re scrolling on the Facebook app, just after you finish two, three posts, it shows all the trending reels there. No educational value, but there is entertainment value. All of those pieces of content are lean-forward content. 

But lean-backward content is the kind that demands your undivided attention for about two hours. You’re leaning back, and you are deep-diving into the stuff that we engage in. So lean- backward content formats, like YouTube videos of 10 minutes, 15 minutes. 

Podcasts are one of my favorite lean backward contents. Many of you who have tuned into my podcast for like 15 minutes-20 minutes, and if I have your attention for what, 15, 20 minutes, I’m pretty sure I’ve left a more profound impact on you as compared to you watching some reel that was having like lakhs of views but probably soon forgotten. 

As knowledge givers, we’d rather spend more time building these lean-backward content or deeper impact content. Because here, we will share something valuable with the audience and not just entertain them. 

Here, we are a different breed of people. I don’t want us to go down that route. Yes. If you have to do stuff on Instagram, please go and do it. But there is a way to link everything. 

Your priority should be to build your paid courses. Anything where people spend money, they’re getting access to that content. You should be allocating your time in such a way that 80% of your time should go towards creating long-form content. Long-form is YouTube, podcasting and, Facebook Live, YouTube Live, and anything Live that you want to do 

And 20% of your time in short-form content, which is like the Instagram reels. In the one-minute video, 30-second videos, the basic idea is you apply the 80/20 principle. 

When you’re able to allocate more time building long-form, you’ll make more meaningful and deeper connections with your audience. And 80% of your time, you should focus on creating content, which is evergreen, where you share principles and strategies that will stand the test of time. 

Again, most YouTube review channels don’t have freedom because whatever review they do, tech gadget reviews. Once you’ve seen that review, you’re not going to go and see that video again. And probably after a year, that video does not have any relevance because the next version has already come out. 

Any video/podcast at any point in time has to have relevance. I mean, it has to be making sense at that very moment, even if it’s five years from now. So 80% of the time should go towards principles and strategies. Then you will truly build digital assets. An asset, according to Robert Kiyosaki, is something that puts money into your bank. A liability is something that takes money out of your bank. 

Digital assets in terms of content will work for you even after five years. Everything revolves around input versus output. If I’m putting my time, energy, or money into any particular aspect, I need to get the maximum output out of it.

You need to look at your business as an organism. So what are you feeding the company? Where are you spending your time? It’s better to do more research and put out one podcast for the whole week, which is cracking a punch that people will listen to after years, refresh their knowledge or just get a new perspective.

There are very few podcasters in India who are on top of the game now. But while things are getting crowded, you need to understand that the audience will see the difference between the A-players and the B and C players. 

As long as you can give a good experience for your community and create that kind of value through your content, you will have a strong connection with your audience podcast’s topic 

Don’t doubt yourself because your vibe attracts your tribe. You will attract people based on who you are; there’s always a market. So you don’t have to worry about others doing it because you are unique and the way you present your knowledge is special, even though you may learn from other places. Your audience will learn things, assimilate and digest. Put it out there, giving it your unique touch, your unique flavor. That’s what matters. 

There are downloadable resources to use; think of it as putting a meal together when you have all the ingredients ready to use. You just need to mix it all with your content and present it with a flourish! 

To conclude, I’ll leave you with these numbers; India is the third-largest podcast-listening market globally and is expected to be valued at INR 17.62 Cr by 2023, growing at a CAGR of 34.5%

This podcast style is where a host interviews different guests on each episode. This is a popular format because it doesn’t always require a lot of groundwork. 

Preparation usually includes researching your interviewee and coming up with a list of questions to ask. Of course, you’ll need some soft skills to start this podcast type, like convincing guests to participate, interviewing skills, and being able to produce podcast episodes regularly. The first and the most common one, which you would generally hear worldwide, is guys like Tim Ferris and Louis Howes, who do interview podcasts. It’s like a one-to-one interview. And usually, these podcasts range anywhere from 30 minutes, all the way up to one hour. So I’m looking at 45 minutes as a good benchmark if you’re going to be doing interviews. I started my podcasting journey by interviewing other people first.

If you’ve been wondering how to start a podcast, this might be one of the best podcast formats for you. These podcasts are typically presented as a monologue, with you running the show. I’ve chosen this particular format for myself because I feel like I can do the research, and they can crank out some high value, action-oriented, crisp, and clear information to you, 

The content for solo podcasts can be opinion-based, news-related, a Q/A, or any other style delivered by one person. This is an easy podcast to produce from a technical standpoint because all you need is your voice, know how to record a podcast, and a subject to talk about. So for a solo cast, you can do between 10 to 20 minutes in duration.  

The third kind is conversational podcasts, which are slightly different from interviews. Interviews are still more structured, but conversational podcasts need not have a structure and can go all over the place anywhere from 30 minutes to 60 minutes. It can be like a Q/A podcast, just answering questions. In the Ask Gary V podcast, he pretty much takes all the questions that people are asking on social media and keeps answering all of them, and that becomes the whole theme of his podcast.

This form of podcasting has two or more hosts, which can be more dynamic than a solo show. If you’ve been researching how to start a podcast and you have a business partner, this could be a fantastic option for you. 

Multi-host podcasts offer discussions with different opinions and perspectives, bringing more entertainment value for listeners who like to hear conversations and debates instead of a single person talking. It also creates less pressure for the creators to keep the audience engaged and interested since there are more people and more ideas. Or even if it’s on the same topic, we have multiple speakers coming and sharing. You stitch it all together as an educational format. It could be like a 30-minute educational podcast where you pick a topic you go deep into it. You can cover different aspects of it. 

These are somewhat like the shows on TV that have a moderator. You have more than two to three speakers who are being interviewed, or there’s a conversation happening between three to four people. So like a panel discussion that’s happening in the podcast format. But now that’s also an excellent format that can go anywhere from 30 to 60 minutes again. 

You also have nonfictional storytelling and theater and those kinds of podcasts. 

The format that I’ve made for myself is a combination of the solo podcast and educational as it is well-researched. There’s a little bit of a Q and A also. So I do a hybrid of three different models. By combining different styles, I can mix inspiration and instruction and break down different ways to market your online business and stay ahead of the curve. 

Of course, you don’t have to limit yourself to any one of these formats. Feel free to mix and match.

It’s a good idea to check if there’s enough for you to speak about. The first thing is coming up with a list of 8-10 episodes. You can then look for similar Apple or Spotify podcast episodes. Look at their popularity, as the number of followers on social media and number of reviews – it can tell you whether or not the topic is worth discussing.

Craft a perfect headline: Spend some time coming up with the headline of the podcast because the headline is critical. If someone is looking for a podcast on that topic, the name alone will help them understand if it’s the right podcast. Including the exact issue in your podcast name dramatically increases your likelihood of being found for that specific keyword. 

Do your research: Find out the questions people have concerning this particular subject. People who listen to podcasts are a mature audience; they are more willing to learn. They are eager to go deep into the whole learning process, and they are not just an easily distracted, random, casual browsing type of audience. There’s a website called, AlsoAsked.com where you can go and find out all the different questions. And that’s what I use to research my podcasts. I typed in podcasts tips, which pulled up many questions that people are asking concerning podcasting. The more you delay the launch of your knowledge business, the lesser the advantage you have because your most significant competitive advantage in the marketplace is not your website. It is not your funnel. It is not the design work. It’s not the quality of your courses. It is not your selling ability- none of that stuff. Your biggest competitive advantage in the marketplace is your tribe. 

You can get the best ideas from your members to use those ideas to dominate your niche. And every day you delay, you’re depriving yourself of some significant inputs from your big customers. So don’t think about perfectionism. Launch your product first, start generating sales, and you can continually improve and build on your products from that. 

The main framework: You have to structure the podcast into three segments. There has to be an intro, the content, and the outro or conclusion. 

For the intro, have the music start to play. Give out the information on what is going to be covered in the podcast. That’s strictly for one minute. The content piece can go anywhere from 10 minutes to 20 minutes. Some of my podcasts have gone much longer depending on the theme and the topic, but the 10 to 20-minute mark is a great time frame to crunch in all the information in a short span. And the last piece should be an outro. The outro can go anywhere from one to three minutes, where you talk about the next step. You give people a call to action and make them move in the direction you want them to go. Perhaps you wish to invite them to your webinar, or you want to give them a free resource. 

One minute intro with music, playing in the background again to the podcast.

And then I have like an outro with music. And for that, I would recommend that you directly use the existing voice recorder that you may have on your phone. You can do the entire podcast on your phone itself. If you want to use a headset for better clarity, you can use that. Sit in a quiet place, make sure that there’s not much echo and reverberation in the room, then just record a podcast.

Distribution: To make things easier for you, as it is a paid tool, Buzzsprout has something called Magic Mastering to master the quality of the podcast. They’ll enhance the audio quality a little bit more once you upload it through the system itself. Magic Mastering is a new feature that allows you to automatically mix and master your podcast episodes to improve your audio quality without adding a ton of extra work. 

You can add your episode title. You can add your episode description, upload what specific artwork that you want. You can even connect this with Canva directly. It also gives your episode a number. And what I like about this particular tool is you can even convert your podcast into a one-minute video file, which you can use for promotion. You can see which episode got the most views.

BuzzSprout lets you distribute to Apple podcasts. You need to be on Spotify, Google podcasts; just set up a free account, and you can start to put yourself out there. Amazon Music is competing; there’s Stitcher, iHeartRadio. So your podcast is distributed all over the place. The best part is every time you post a link in the description to your website or blog or anything else that adds to the SEO because your website link is on that podcast already. 

Let's say on apple.com directly where my website link is there. And that's like a backlink coming back to my main website. Those of you who are not into SEO, don't worry about it; just hear this out; the key here is when you start rolling out podcasts, these multiple directories will be pointing to your website, which will add new search engine rankings as well. A podcast of 10 minutes is a good duration. It's a good attention span that you can keep people with you. And as you get more confident, then you can go longer. 

Before you record, there are some things you need to prepare. 

Podcast Artwork: One of the main things you need to know when learning how to start a podcast is that your artwork needs to be eye-catching. Invest a little into getting a compelling cover made. Use images and fonts that are large enough to be visible at almost any size. It should be maximum 2048×2048 and minimum 1400×1400. You can outsource this part if you don’t have the skills. 

Host Name: This can be your name or your business’s name, but you can include a few more things to help your podcast rank higher for specific keywords. For example, an e-commerce entrepreneur could write E-commerce Strategist. I have the words Freedom Business Podcast.

Podcast Description: Include as many relevant phrases and keywords as possible in the description of your podcast. This is going to help people to find your content. Spotify and iTunes are search engines, and most people that come across your podcast will likely discover it via search, at least primarily when your podcast is new. 

Now you have an idea of what it takes to create a successful podcast. Start listening to other speakers that have goals and put together your material.

I’ve had more than 18,000 downloads of my podcast in the last few months, and these are the resources that have helped me achieve that. You essentially need four pieces of equipment. You need a good microphone. You need a sound card. You need recording software that is sitting on your laptop, and you need a distribution service. 

I’m going to give you the resources of all the equipment that I’m using. There is a whole bunch of equipment out there in the marketplace, but I’m just going to tell you what I’m using. So microphone, I’m using a Lewitt LCT 440 Pure sound card. I’m using an Audient EVO 4 as my recording software, and I have a GarageBand music creation studio as I’m using a Mac. If you’re using a PC, you can use Adobe Audition, or you can use Audacity. 

For distribution services, I use Buzzsprout, and I’m using a Macbook Pro as my laptop. You need to have a laptop for doing this. I assume everybody has a laptop. 

BuzzSprout: This is one of the world’s best podcast distribution services. You can set up a free account within a few minutes, and you can upload over 2 hours of content per month (for free). I have moved all my podcasts from Anchor.fm to BuzzSprout because they have better analytics and cool audio processing features. They also have a wide range of distribution channels. When you upload a podcast on BuzzSprout, they will push them to Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Amazon Music, Pandora, iHeartRadio, Overcast, Castbox, and many more. 

Lewitt LCT 440 Pure: If you are looking for the ultimate podcast microphone, this is it! Being a sound engineer myself, I have used many pro audio condenser microphones from Rode to Sennheiser and more. I like Lewitt LCT 440 Pure because it’s a large-diaphragm condenser microphone with a crystal clear and crisp sound quality. When you listen to my podcasts, you’ll be able to notice the quality of the sound. Though there are many other cheaper alternatives, I prefer paying for quality. Clear sound is essential. This mic comes in a nice box kit with pop filters, mic holders, and a cute microphone carry case. 

Audient EVO 4: If you are looking for the most incredible looking and best sounding USB soundcard for recording your podcasts, the Audient EVO 4 is the one! I have been using the Audient EVO 4 2x2 Ultra-Low Latency USB Audio Interface for many months now. This has two inputs and two outputs and has straightforward controls. The sound quality is fantastic and it sits perfectly on my table. I’m also able to control the sound inputs and outputs with ease. Once this is set up in your home studio, you’ll never feel like removing it. 

GarageBand: Being a sound engineer myself, I’ve been an avid Apple user for more than a decade. On my MacBook Pro. I record, edit, and export all my podcasts using Garageband. Once you have connected your Lewitt LCT 440 Pure into your Audient EVO 4 soundcard, you can start seamlessly recording your podcasts into Garageband on an audio track. In case you are a Windows user, you can record on Adobe Audition or Audacity software. They pretty much have the same features, but I love the Mac. Ensure you use the correct sound editing plugins to optimize and enhance the sound quality of your podcasts. 

Podcast Mic Stand: There are a bunch of podcast mic stands out there in the market. But what I prefer are the ones which can easily clip onto my work desk. I need the flexibility to move my microphone around and also adjust its height as per my requirement. After trying various models, there is one particular model called Bulfyss which you should check out. It's very robust. Once you have set up this on your table, you will not feel like removing it. I have been using this mic stand for more than 6 months without any issues. I also record videos using this stand.

Freedom Trainer Kit : From teaching, to auditioning, to presenting - The Home Office’s Freedom Trainer kit is for just about anyone that’s working in front of a webcam.

When you start a website or blog, you need a web host. In the same way, when you start a podcast you need a media host. A podcast hosting company will store your mp3 podcast files and create a podcast feed for you. 

As your podcasts get more popular and downloads increase, the bandwidth demands will grow. Your personal website server won’t have the amount of storage needed for such large files. 

Podcast hosting sites offer you the space to store your files so that your audience can easily download them. 

There are plenty of hosting platforms, and you will need to choose the right one for you based on price, reliability, and technical support. 

Also consider your monthly upload volume, which is likely to grow. Go through all of their features and since most have a free trial, check out which one has the greatest ease of use for you. But if you’re starting, free hosting services are a great option but obviously have limited features. 

For instance, Castos has the added feature of automatic transcription, which is a great innovation. Just upload your audio files, and transcriptions are added to your dashboard within minutes. 

These are the most popular podcast hosting sites: BuzzSprout, Spreaker, Transistor, PodBean, Simplecast, Captivate, Castos, Podcastics. 

Here are my top three choices: 

BuzzSprout: Their analytics features are super helpful and better than most other tools on this list. Audio quality is also great as you can upgrade to 128k stereo optimization for better sound. They offer podcast transcription services as an extra add-on. 

Pricing: 

Free: upload 2 hours each month and episodes hosted for 90 days. 

$12/month: upload 3 hours each month, hosted indefinitely, unlimited storage. 

I recommend you start with the free plan and then upgrade based on the hours of content you plan to upload each month.

Spreaker: The podcasting platform connects listeners, podcast creators, and advertisers on the web and mobile apps and makes it easy for you as a content creator to monetize your podcasts. 

Pricing: 

Free Speech (Free): 5 hours of audio storage, up to 10 episodes. 

On-Air Talent ($5.50/month): 100 hours of storage. 

Broadcaster ($16.50/month): 500 hours of storage. 

Transistor: Their dashboards share trends and stats like average downloads per episode with you and the number of subscribers and downloads over time. 

Pricing: 

Starter Plan ($19/month): Provides unlimited podcasts and episodes, up to 2 users, and 10,000 downloads per month. 

Professional Plan ($49/month): Everything in the starter plan, but now with up to five team members and 50,000 downloads per month.

Can you make money doing a podcast? Monetization is impressive on a podcast because of the quality of the listener; the quality of the audience is so much better compared to any other medium. So I’m going to give you ten different ways that you can make money from a podcast. 

Sell your product: The first one is the easiest, sell your digital product or your courses. This is what you do. The podcast is used more as an educational medium and a medium where you pre-frame the audience before they come and buy your digital products and courses. 

Advertising: The second way you can monetize a podcast is by selling sponsorships and ads. This is primarily how the big guys like Tim Ferriss, Joe Rogan, John Lee Dumas, and Pat Flynn work. There are so many other podcasters in the space who are doing well and have thousands of downloads daily. They charge like $60,000 to $100,000 for one sponsored ad inside the podcast. Now it’s like to that level of extreme because of their influence and the reach they have. So selling sponsorships and ads, way to monetize a podcast. 

That is what we call a sponsored podcast, sponsorships, or ads. So this is more like interruption marketing. 

More ways to monetize podcasts:

We all know that an asset puts money into your pocket. A liability takes money from your pocket. That’s the definition of assets versus liabilities. I’m going to be sharing with you a concept called digital assets. I will discuss the top 10 digital assets that can give you more leverage and freedom, more impact, and more money in the knowledge business.

What is a digital asset? 

I would like you to understand the difference between an asset and liability in the digital space and what kind of digital assets you need to build over the next few months to succeed in this game. In my case, I’ve been able to build a community of 8,000 students by leveraging digital assets and from our videos, from our podcasts and education and high-information value-driven material online, which works for me 24x7. 

So if you want to put your business into God mode, 24x7 pieces of content working for you next, understand the top 10 digital assets and knowledge business. The first aspect I’m going to share with you is the concepts. The second part is to walk you through the ten different types of digital assets. Then I’m going to explain the entire flow; how do all these dots connect? Towards the end, I will give you the logical next step to get started or be a part of my community if you’re not a part of my community. 

I would say 50% of my sales are happening altogether through my digital assets. How is that even possible? What I’m going to cover and explain to you is that podcasts and videos are just parts of the digital asset pool that I have to share with you. 

First, an asset is something that puts money in your pocket. A liability is something that takes money out of your pocket, according to Robert Kiyosaki. There’s a beautiful and straightforward example of this. Many people just buy a house thinking it’s an asset, but unless that house is generating income for you or rental income, it’s just a liability if you are going to be living in that house. 

So the same can be applied even to the digital space. Anything that’s going to create more leverage in your business is going to be an asset. Anything that takes money out of your pocket is going to be a liability.

According to me, anything that binds you more into your business is a liability, and anything that gives you more freedom in your business is an asset. 

So let’s understand the ten different types of assets that you need to start consciously building in your knowledge business, 

In my case, I have siddharthrajsekar.com. I also have an internetlifestylehub.com. That is my home online, where people get to discover more about me. I keep sharing a lot of blogs and articles on siddarthrajsekar.com. People get to experience more about me, my resources, my speaking, all different articles, my successful students, success stories, podcasts, videos, and a whole bunch of valuable information and long-form blog posts.

I have my landing page, sidz.co/freedom. This is my current landing page where I’m generating many visitors and people register for my next masterclass.

I do a masterclass class every week, and this is my landing page; this is also my asset as people get to know more about all the different things that I shared in my masterclass, my weekly live masterclass that I do.

I have an email list of over 150,000 subscribers in my email list. I keep sending out emails to them. This is one of my most significant assets. When you’re building your business, you’ve got to keep building your email list consistently. Some people think that email is dead and not there, and people aren’t opening it anymore; it’s not true.

If you want to generate conversions, email is the best. It will remain because you need an email ID even if you have to set up social media accounts or set up other accounts on YouTube and other places. An email ID is the most private and personal form of communication there is. Even though Gmail does its algorithm changes, it’s the best form of communication, and messages go to the promotional folder. You hear email-open rates are declining, all of that is fine, but it will remain. And I have a 30% email-open rate for my customer database. Sometimes even it goes up to 50% open rate because of the relationship that I built.

So the money is not in the list. The money is in the relationship that you build with your list. And that is also an asset. 

This is also an asset like in my Facebook group. I’ve got a pretty big audience over there at this point, 67,000 people right now on my Facebook group. And if you want to be a part of this group, just go to Facebook and search for Digital Leadership Mastermind. This is an example of a digital asset because every time I generate a lead on my email list, I bring them into this Facebook group. I’m also able to nurture them inside that group because sometimes they may not open my email, but they watch all the communication on social media. 

The same way I have followers, not just not on my Facebook group, but also my YouTube channel, on my Instagram handle. And all the social media followers also become your digital asset.

I have my entire funnel sitting on ClickFunnels right now, and I have a custom WordPress funnel system that I’ve also built on Elementor. These funnels that I’ve created are my digital assets because they are working for me 24x7.

I’ve built a series to nurture different people on my email list. I have a separate email sequence for people who registered for my web masterclass and a particular email sequence for people who have bought my level one program, my level two program, and my level three program. I have a separate email sequence for people who have purchased my minicourse. I have further communication going out to other kinds of leads. Those are my digital assets working for me 24x7 without physically sending out different emails to different segments of my email list.

This is a tremendous digital asset with your blog posts and Facebook ads. 

Now, video is a digital asset because any video, though you put effort into creating it once, is going to work for you 24x7 for months and months together. And because of creating multiple digital assets like this in my business organically, even without doing webinars, even without doing any kind of sales pitches and stuff like that, which I usually do once weekly, I’m getting automated sales happening. 

These digital assets are courses that are available online such as my Freedom Business Model and 25 more such courses. There are at least a few hundred people learning. I have 36,000 students going through my different programs; some of them are free courses. Most of them are paid courses. And these digital products act as digital assets for me.

These are digital assets. I have an alliance with the Digital Masters and my partners who are promoting my products. You may have affiliate alliances for promoting other people’s products, all of which are digital assets.

If you’re able to build on these assets, then you can live a lifestyle of freedom. 

Connecting The Dots: Now, I will give you an effortless flow on how to connect all the dots. Now let’s reverse engineer this, so you understand this on a much deeper level. 

The purpose of you creating digital assets is to generate more income, create more impact, and create more freedom for yourself. 

So these assets will help you generate traffic to build your list and create more income. But the missing link and the central part of this entire game is you. 

The Brand: It is your brand. You should answer this question by my mentor Vick Strizheus; who are you, and why should anyone care about you? Vick says nobody cares about you until they’re able to see that you care about them. People care about what you stand for. What is your mission? How do you want to serve your audience and the problem you are solving in the marketplace? All these answers have to come through clearly. 

The Positioning: My positioning is in place for myself because I want to create the next breed of digital teachers, mentors, and coaches who can make a difference in the world. 

The Internet Lifestyle Hub is my brand, and this is what it stands for. I’m here to create a new school for the new world, a contemporary society for the new world because the current education employment system is broken, and we’re here to fix that. So that’s who I am, and that’s why you care about what I’m saying. 

The Mission: Similarly, when you go into a more profound mission and a deeper positioning for yourself, then every single asset you put out there will have a potency. Because if you do not stand for something, you can fall for anything. 

If you don’t stand for something substantial, your digital assets will not have potency, which will not help you attract the right kind of traffic, help you build the correct email list, and not help you make money. So the real driving factor of your success is you; it’s the power of your idea. 

The way ahead is to construct your unique positioning in the marketplace and not just be a copycat, copying somebody else, doing the same thing.

1. Digital Coach Blueprint 
11 Part Video Course 
sidz.co/blueprint

2. Digital Coach Masterclass 
Register For Live Session 
sidz.co/live 

3. Freedom Budget Blueprint 
One-Page Business Plan 
sidz.co/businessplan

4. Freedom Bundle
Join The Community
sidz.co/join

5. FourPercent
Join The Community 
sidz.co/fourpercent 

6. Consulting Accelerator
Top Notch Consultant Training 
sidz.co/consulting

7. NameCheap
Buy Your Domains Here 
sidz.co/namecheap 

8. WPX Hosting
Best WordPress Hosting 
sidz.co/wpxhosting 

9. Bluehost
WordPress Hosting
sidz.co/bluehost 

10. ConvertKit
Email Marketing System 
sidz.co/convertkit 

11. GetResponse
Email Marketing System 
sidz.co/getresponse 

12. Flodesk
Email Marketing System 
sidz.co/flowdesk

13. Demio
Webinar System
sidz.co/demio 

14. WebinarJam
Webinar System
sidz.co/webinarjam 

15. EverWebinar
Automated Webinar System 
sidz.co/everwebinar

16. Teachable
Learning Management System 
sidz.co/teachable 

17. Calendly
Appointment System 
sidz.co/calendly 

18. ClickFunnels
Funnel Building System 
sidz.co/clickfunnels 

19. ClickMagick
Link Tracking System 
sidz.co/clickmagick

20. Zapier
Automation System
sidz.co/zapier 

21. MightyNetworks
Private Network Platform 
sidz.co/mightynetworks 

22. Instamojo
Payment Gateway (India)
instamojo.com

23. Razorpay
Payment Gateway (India)
razorpay.com

24. Stripe
Payment Gateway (Global)
stripe.com

25. PayPal
Payment Gateway (Global)
paypal.com 

26. CollectChat
Website Chatbot System
sidz.co/collectchat 

27. ManyChat
Facebook ChatBot
manychat.com 

28. Vimeo Private
Video Hosting
vimeo.com 

29. Wistia Private
Video Hosting
wistia.com 

30. Digital Market
Freelance Marketplace

sidz.co/digitalmarket 

31. eCamm Live
Video Streaming
ecamm.com 

32. ScreenFlow
Video Editing Tool (Mac) 
sidz.co/screenflow 

33. Camtasia
Video Editing Tool (Windows) 
sidz.co/camtasia

34. Mindnode
Mind Mapping Tool (Mac)
mindnode.com 

35. Garageband
Audio Editing Tool (Mac)
garageband.com 

36. UseProof
Social Proof Tool
sidz.co/useproof

37. Telegram
Messenger Chat
telegram.com 

38. Mint Personal
Finance Tool
mint.com 

39. YNAB Personal
Finance Tool
ynab.com 

40. Attract IO eBook
Creation Tool
attract.io 

41. Zoom
Webinar & Meeting Tool
zoom.us 

42. Canva
Image Editing Tool
canva.com 

43. InShot
Video Editing App
inshot.com 

44. Typeform
Survey Forms
sidz.co/typeform

Disclaimer: Some of the links are my affiliate links. I make a commission if you decide to purchase them

The future of podcasting looks very bright. One of the reasons is that anyone can start podcasting with very little equipment from any location in the world.

Keeping values and shared interests in mind, I’ve broken down the entire journey towards reaching your goal into Learning, Assimilation, Application, and Distribution. These are suggestions based on what has worked miracles for my community and me. 

Challenges you may face: 

Productivity: There are productivity challenges for everyone. Most people say I don’t have time. I can’t meet my deadline. I don’t know how to plan my day. I’m doing this and this and this and this. So we’ll have multiple things. 

Technical: The next challenge would be technical challenges. Technology will be like, I’m not able to set up the system, or these connections are breaking.
You may find it too difficult or too complicated. Or this email system and this funnel building system and this system and that system, your head will start to get heated up. So you’ve got to be persistent and move from technology.

Conversions: Lack of conversions, lack of consistent sales. So everything, all the systems will be up, but there may be a situation where you are doing everything possible. You’re doing the webinar, but nobody’s buying from you. Then to solve the problem, you’ve got to re-engineer your offer, probably you need to work on yourself. Possibly people are not able to connect with you as a person. 

ROI: The next challenge after conversions will be ROI return on investment. That means people are buying from you, but for the amount of time and energy you’re spending into your campaigns, you’re kind of just breaking even, not hitting the numbers that you wish. So then what do you have to do? 

You re-engineer, go back to the drawing board, and see how you can revamp their products. Maybe increase your prices, change your sales pitch, change the offer, make it more attractive. 

Brand Perception: The next level of the challenge after that is brand perception. Now, as you’re growing, you’ll have people with different opinions about you. My mentor Vick told us this year, especially during our ads, to be prepared for negative reviews. That’s the time you’d have to look at how you deal with your brand perception. That’s also a challenge, but it’s a more significant challenge at that stage. 

For all these challenges, let’s ask for persistence; you have to push through this no matter what. I’ve been through all these stages. And I still get challenged even now with some of my webinars having fewer sales. So I need to go back and see what the problem is. Is it because of the time of the webinar, or is it because of the targeting in the webinar? Is it because of the messaging that I’ve done, but overall I’m profitable? There is no doubt because that’s the way that I’ve engineered my system, and I kept tweaking it.  

Recently, when my conversions on webinars were low, I hit upon a strategy. Before the sales pitch in a webinar, I presented a Google form to ask people the questions that go through their minds when deciding to buy. I got more than 300-400 responses. Then I looked into those responses, and realized that I was not addressing these challenges in the content of my webinar. I re-engineered the content a little bit more and got better conversions the next time. 

Be prepared; this is a game that you have to play; it is not one big cakewalk.

The point here is for you to know which are your gap areas. Read books and watch documentaries that may not have anything to do with your specialty, but that’s where you develop a full-stack brain. You'll start to learn about so many other things, and you can connect it back to what you are doing. You have got to understand life from different perspectives so that when you present it in your topic, it will come with so much more insight.