I read an interesting article today. And by interesting, I mean terrifying, especially if you use Google Adsense in an attempt to monetize your podcast/blog. They article can be found at Duck Works Magazine. It’s the story of a cameraman/boat enthusiast that produced content and put it on YouTube. He was making a good bit of money from the videos by using Adsense to display ads with the videos. Apparently he was making too much money, because Google decided to close his account. Closed his account, took away any money they owed him and canceled a check! I’ll let you read the article and get all the details for yourself, but there is one huge thing that you should take away from this article.
Putting the monetization of your blog or podcast in someone elses hands is folly. It’s the easy way to go, especially if you have decent traffic on your site, but in then end someone else is in control. Google didn’t get to be one of the biggest companies around because they’re giving away money. They keep the lion’s share of the ad revenue and you get a tiny sliver of it. Get any more and you’ll get banned. And if you think that you are the exception, here’s another thing to think about. The chips are stacked against you. One of the customers/readers/viewers of the film maker in the article is a lawyer. They examined the Adsense contract and had this to say.
The contract is designed so that it is almost impossible not to break the Google rules.
So there it is. It’s “almost impossible” to play by the rules that Google sets forth. My advice: don’t play.
If you’re looking for ways to monetize your podcast or other online venture, be sure to read my article on monetization or better yet, pick up my ebook, The Virtual Podcast Seminar, to learn about all things podcasting.
First off, let’s get this ugly fact out of the way; unless your podcast is a standout in the thousands of podcasts in iTunes, there’s a good chance you’re not going to make a dime on your podcast. If you’re getting into podcasting to make money, you’re going to be sadly disappointed. At least for right now. There are opportunities to make a few bucks, but basically the monetization model for podcasting is far from fleshed out. Even though that’s the case, let’s take a look at the models listed above.
Premium Subscription – When you subscribe to a podcast, it’s not like subscribing to cable. No money changes hands. You simply add the podcaster’s RSS feed to your aggregator of choice. In the premium subscription model, you still subscribe to the podcaster’s feed, however this time you have a username and password and you pay the podcster to subscribe to the feed. This model is much like the premium channels like HBO. You pay an agreed upon amount each month. There are a few services that can provide this type of service, but the one that’s getting a lot of use is 