Podcasting vs YouTube… which makes me more money?
I have a podcast called Work Less, Earn More, and the whole premise of it is understanding which activities make your business the most money. We dig deep into which tasks, projects, or products will earn you the most money and how to focus on those things and let go of the other things so you can earn the most money with the least time and effort.
You would think since I'm doing Youtube and My Podcast, I would know which one makes me the most money and not keep doing both of them, but that's not the case. I spend a lot of time producing weekly Youtube videos and weekly podcast episodes. I spend about 20 hours a month producing Youtube Videos and another 10+ hours a month producing my podcast episodes.
First, let me explain how Youtube and Podcasting earn me money.
With Youtube, I make money from the Ads that run on my channel from that I make 50% of that money generated from those ads. I also make money from affiliate marketing on my youtube channel, but the bulk of the money I make from youtube comes from selling my products.
The podcast exclusively makes money by attracting customers for my products. I don't do any affiliate marketing or have any sponsors for my podcast. Those are great strategies, but they are strategies that don't earn me enough money for the amount of work I have to put in for my particular podcast show.
As far as the numbers go, the podcast earns me way less than Youtube. The podcast gets fewer listens than Youtube gets views. There is less traffic there, about a quarter of what it is on Youtube, but the conversation rates are higher for the podcast.
Don't click out yet, there's so much more you need to know!
I'm not earning any money from Ads on the podcast as I do on Youtube, so I only make money from the sales of my own products. Over on Youtube, since I have four times as much traffic as the podcast, I earn four times the amount of money. Let's say the podcast generates $4,000 in product sales in one month, then youtube probably generated me $16,000 that same month. On top of that, youtube is paying me around $5,000 – $7,000 for Ad revenue, and then I earn another $1,000 from affiliate marketing on Youtube.
Youtube is earning me $20,000 – $30,000 directly, and the podcast is earning me only about $4,000. Now I think you can see why it's a big question as to why I keep podcasting? Especially since it earns me so little compared to Youtube! To understand this, you'll need to understand a sales funnel, also known as the customer journey! (There are many nuances and variations, but this is just a simplified version.)
At the top of your sales funnel, you have your traffic sources where your leads are coming in.
After you attract the leads, you'll need to nurture them to turn them into paying customers potentially.
Next, you'll need to direct them to purchase your product so you can make the sales.
In my business, here's how the sales funnel works:
Youtube, Ads, and Google Traffic bring in the most traffic for my business.
The podcast nurtures my leads by educating them on how to solve their problems and how my products can help get them the desired results. My podcast builds trust and educates my leads. I use other things to nurture my audience, like Instagram and my Email List!
So which one do I recommend?
The Podcast and Youtube serve different purposes for me, and that's why I use both! Youtube attracts leads, and my podcast helps my leads see me more as a teacher and a leader. Then those people go on to purchase my products eventually.
If I were to cut out the podcast, it wouldn't just cut out $4,000 of revenue. It would significantly reduce the amount of revenue Youtube generates. So that's why I keep doing both of them.
If you're debating what you should do for your business's content marketing strategy and wondering what will be the best for you. The important thing you need to consider is how the different platforms you use will work together. You need to be sure your strategy considers how all the different content types interact with each other for your customer journey.
You don't want to spread yourself too thin trying to get a bunch of traffic, but you also need to be sure you're nurturing those leads towards purchasing your products.
This is exactly what I teach in my program, Startup Society. If you happen to be an online business owner and want to learn how to create these systems and get more strategic with your online business so you can grow more quickly and earn more while working, then I would love to have you join Startup Society!
startup society —
EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO GROW YOUR BUSINESS
Imagine an online course that's 100% action-oriented and focused on one key result that moves your business forward. We're talking about an online course with NO fluff, NO confusion, and NO wasted time.
Now imagine you have access to one of these courses -- let's call them ACTION PLANS -- for every stage of growing your business -- from launching your product, to building your audience, to expanding the impact you have on the world.
