While this is the most common method, it’s not the only option. In many cases, a more practical approach to monetizing your podcast is to leverage a subscription model. When you use a solution such as Supercast, the process of doing so is actually quite simple.

In this post, we’ll discuss the benefits of starting a subscription-based podcast and show you how to create such a setup on your WordPress website. Then we’ll introduce you to Supercast, explain how it works, and walk you through how to use it to turn your podcast listeners into paid subscribers. Let’s get started!

The Benefits of Starting a Subscription-Based Podcast

While sponsored advertisements can help you earn money from your podcast, they aren’t without fault.  Landing ad deals can be difficult, particularly when you’re first starting out. It may take time to gain an established following that has demonstrated value to brands.

Also, ads can be distracting and hamper the listener experience. Many people find a subscription fee worthwhile if it means enjoying an uninterrupted, ad-free show.

In addition to making your podcast more valuable, a subscription model can also position you to make more money than you would through advertising income. There are also a variety of ways to go about it.

Some popular ways to incentivize listeners to pay a subscription fee include:

• Ad-free shows, which won’t require you to create any additional content
• Bonus content, such as a member-only email newsletter, extra episodes, or extended versions
• SMS alerts or early release access
• Video and live broadcasts of the podcast recording

You could also add a paid archive of episodes on your podcast website. For example, you could make a handful of new episodes available for free to the public while putting your full list of previously released episodes behind a paywall:

This concept works in the reverse as well. You can provide subscribers with early access to new episodes and only make them available to the public after a certain period of time.

An Introduction to Supercast

Once you decide to implement a subscription model for your podcast, the next step is figuring out how to go about it. Enter Supercast:

Supercast is a podcast membership and subscription management platform that makes it easy for podcasters to charge subscribers. You can use Supercast to:

• Share exclusive podcast content
• Offer paying subscribers ad-free shows
• Integrate your private podcast feed with your existing membership site
• Release early episodes to paying members
• Put your backlog of episode archives behind a paywall
• Gain access to detailed insights and analytics

Supercast also streamlines the technical aspects involved in setting up a private, members-only feed. Rather than asking your listeners to sign-up for a third-party such as Patreon, you can use Supercast to seamlessly integrate your private podcast RSS feed with your membership site.

This platform provides a simple way to sell subscriptions, without requiring your listeners to download multiple apps or go through lengthy payment processes. It supports Apple Pay and Google Pay, as well as a integrations for WordPress, MemberPress, MailChimp, and more. At SecondLineThemes, we added full compatibility with the plugins Supercast works with, so you can easily connect your website to the Supercast plugin alongside membership plugins mentioned here.

How to Turn Your Podcast Listeners Into Paid Subscribers With Supercast (In 3 Steps)

Now you understand what Supercast is and how it works, it’s time to dive into how you can use it to monetize your podcast. Here are three steps to getting everything up and running.

Step 1: Sign Up for a Supercast Account

The first step is to create your Supercast account. On the Supercast website, click on the Get Started button:

You’ll be asked to enter some basic details, including your name, the name of your podcast, and monetization methods you’re currently using:

When you’re done, select Request Access. Someone from the Supercast team will then reach out with instructions and next steps.

Step 2: Create Your Channel and Upload Your Podcast Episodes

Once you have your Supercast account set up, the next step is to create your channel and upload your podcast episodes. You can also customize your landing page and configure the payment and subscription settings. For example, you can make episodes subscriber-only on an individual basis or make the entire feed premium.

From your Supercast dashboard, you’ll be able to review your revenue, subscriptions, and more. In addition to an overview section, the dashboard also provides in-depth data on business metrics and audience analytics.

You can use this information to learn about your subscribers, the performance of each episode, as well as metrics such as average revenue per subscriber. Also, if you have multiple podcasts, Supercast also offers a multi-show account upgrade you can use to view the analytics data from all of your shows from a single dashboard.

Of course, you won’t have any data to work with when you first create your channel. However, familiarizing yourself with the dashboard and the various analytics you can access will better prepare you to take full advantage of it down the road.

Step 3: Add Your Supercast Channel to Your Podcast Website

To share your Supercast landing page with your listeners, you can add the link to the show’s notes section and share it on social media. If you already have a website for your podcast, you can also integrate it with Supercast to sell your subscriptions there too.

If you’re creating a new podcast website, we recommend using a Supercast-supported theme. For example, at SecondLine, our premium podcast themes come with built-in Supercast integration. If you need help setting up your theme, you can follow our Theme Installation documentation.

Simply copy your Supercast link and add it to the landing page of your podcast website. For example, if you’re using a SecondLine theme, you would navigate to Podcast > Settings > Feed details:

At the bottom of the page, next to New podcast feed URL, paste the link to your Supercast channel:

When you’re done, select Save Settings. After users sign up for a subscription, they can use their login to access the otherwise restricted content:

As you can see, they could also use the Supercast dashboard to open the feed in the platform of their choice. At this point, you’re done!

Conclusion

For most people, monetizing a podcast is a no-brainer. It’s figuring out how to go about it that can be tricky. Fortunately, Supercast makes creating a paid subscription model for your podcast simple and straightforward.

In this post, we explained how you can use Supercast to turn your podcast listeners into paid subscribers in three steps:

1. Sign up for your Supercast account.
2. Create your channel and upload your podcasts.
3. Add your Supercast channel to your podcast website.

If you haven’t set up your WordPress site yet, or want an easy way to create a podcast membership website, check out our SecondLine premium podcast themes. In addition to Supercast, our themes also come with built-in support for MemberPress, Memberful, Restricted Content Pro, and more.

The post How to Turn Your Podcast Listeners Into Paid Subscribers With Supercast (In 3 Steps) appeared first on SecondLineThemes.

Setting up a podcast website is simple, and offers a lot of benefits. All you need to get started is the right platform to build it. Choosing the perfect software – such as WordPress – will simplify your job, and give you access to a lot of useful tools.

In this article, we’re going to briefly discuss why creating a website for your podcast is such a smart move. Then we’ll explore three reasons WordPress is the ideal platform to use. Let’s jump right in!

Why You Should Considering Creating a Podcast Website

As we mentioned earlier, hosting your podcast on a dedicated site like SoundCloud is essential:

These sites are where most people will go to find new podcasts, and they’re where you’re likely to find the bulk of your audience. This fact may make you question the need for your own website.

However, creating a site devoted to your podcast is smart for a number of reasons. For example, you can:

• Attract an even larger audience through search engine traffic.
• Provide a place for your existing fans to access new episodes.
• Give listeners an easy way to contact you.
• Share details about yourself and your podcast.
• Supplement your podcast with additional content, such as a resource page or even a blog.

Of course, putting together an entire website for your podcast can sound like a lot of work. Fortunately, it’s actually a surprisingly simple task – if you use the right tools.

3 Reasons WordPress Is the Best Platform for Your Podcasting Site

The first and most important decision you’ll make for your podcast website is what platform to build it with. This choice will determine how easy the site is to set up, what features you get access to, and much more.

While there are a number of options available, WordPress is the standout choice. This free, open-source Content Management System (CMS) is the perfect tool to create a home for your podcast. Let’s explore three of the top reasons why.

1. You Can Design Your Site Using a Dedicated Podcast Theme

WordPress is a fantastic platform for many types of websites. One of the key reasons is due to the wealth of tools you can use to design your site to meet your exact needs. These tools are called themes and plugins. We’ll explore the latter in the next section – for now let’s focus on the former.

Themes are add-ons you can download and install on your WordPress website. In a nutshell, what they do is determine (in large part) what your site looks like. They contain various options for layouts, menus, headers and footers, and so on.

There are thousands of themes available, serving a wide range of functions. Some are multipurpose in nature, but many others are designed for specific applications. This includes a number of quality themes built to help you create a podcast website.

For a perfect example, you can check out Satchmo:

This theme is designed from the ground up to serve the needs of podcasters. It includes plenty of layouts, page styles, and custom elements that will help you put the spotlight on your content. What’s more, it provides support for embedded media, as well as useful podcast-related features such as an episode slider.

Choosing a podcast theme like this makes it simple to build a site that looks amazing and is useful to your visitors. This opportunity alone makes WordPress an easy sell for podcasters.

2. You’ll Get Access to Many Useful Podcasting Features via Plugins

Now we come to the second type of WordPress add-on – plugins. While themes alter your site’s appearance, plugins are designed to add new features and functionality. There’s usually a WordPress plugin providing just about any functionality you can image, whether that’s adding a simple contact form to your site, or turning it into a fully-functional online store.

As you’ve probably guessed, there’s also plenty of choice when it comes to podcasting plugins. While the right theme may add a few useful features, as we discussed above, you may want one or more plugins to round out your site’s functionality.

For instance, Seriously Simple Podcasting is a plugin worth taking a look at:

This tool is straightforward and easy to use, but offers a lot in the way of features. It includes a highly-customizable media player, as well as functionality that lets you run multiple podcasts on your site, gather stats about your listeners, and more.

If you’re looking for something more complex, PowerPress is also a strong option:

With this plugin you get a fully-integrated media player, tools that enable you to set up subscriptions on your site, and support for multiple podcasts. It’s also optimized to make your podcasts easier for potential listeners to discover through search engines like Google.

Best of all, these and similar plugins integrate perfectly with the podcasting themes we’ve already covered, so you don’t have to worry about compatibility issues. With WordPress as your platform, you can use a combination of theme and plugins to design the perfect podcast site.

3. The Platform Is Simple to Use and Offers Lots of Community Support

While we wouldn’t want to make assumptions, if podcasting is your primary business, you’re not likely to also be an experienced web developer. In fact, you may never have built a website before now.

WordPress is one of the top go-to platforms for businesses looking to create websites. Our “Tusant” theme was selected as one of the Best WordPress Themes for Business by the guys at WPBuffs.

However, with WordPress this isn’t a problem. The platform is designed to be simple for beginners to pick up and start using right away, whether or not you have any knowledge of web design or coding. Installing and setting up your website only takes a few minutes, and your admin dashboard is well-organized and easy to navigate:

Plus, WordPress’ open-source nature means it’s supported and maintained by a huge community. This means there are lots of people ready and willing to help you learn the ropes and solve problems. Here are just a few of the resources you can benefit from:

• The WordPress Codex, which offers straightforward information and tutorials.
• Comprehensive WordPress courses, such as WordPress 101.
• Frequently-updated blogs devoted to WordPress, including WPBeginner and WPKube.
• The community support forums, where you can ask all of the questions you like.

With the help of these resources, you’ll find yourself with a fully-featured and attention-grabbing podcast site in no time!

Conclusion

When it comes to building a website for your podcast, you can’t go wrong with WordPress. This platform is easy to learn, yet offers the depth and power you’ll need to design a truly outstanding site.

WordPress is one of the fastest CMS platforms if you optimize it the right way. There are many guides available online for improving your WordPress site speed. If you need assistance with that, there’s a great WordPress speed optimization service from WP Buffs.

While there are many reasons to choose WordPress to create your podcast site, these are three of the most important:

1. You can design your site using a dedicated podcast theme.
2. You’ll get access to many useful podcasting features via plugins.
3. The platform is simple to use and offers lots of community support.

Do you have any questions about how to get started with WordPress? Let us know in the comments section below!

The post 3 Reasons WordPress Is the Best Platform for Your Podcasting Site appeared first on SecondLineThemes.