If you publish a podcast there is a good chance you've thought about monetizing it even if you are a beginner.

Sponsorships are often the first thing that comes to mind regarding podcast revenue.

The problem is that sponsorships are challenging to get when you're starting out.

Fortunately, sponsorships aren't the only way to monetize your podcast.

Here are 5 other podcast revenue streams you could put in place as early as episode 1.

1. Donations

Donations are the simplest way to monetize your podcast. Using services like Buy Me a Coffee, PayPal, CashApp, etc. allows you to generate links your listeners can use to make donations directly to you or your show.

2. Merchandise

Your biggest fans love Merch. They want T-shirts, hoodies, hats, mugs, stickers, and pretty much whatever they can get their hands on with your branding.

Services like Spreadshirt, TeeSpring, and Printify make selling merchandise easy.

3. Memberships

With services like Patreon and SuperCasts your listeners can subscribe to your podcast. With membership comes benefits such as ad-free RSS feeds, bonus content, exclusive access, and more.

4. Affiliate Sales

Affiliate sales are an often overlooked podcast revenue stream that has the potential to be quite lucrative. If you talk about products or services you love and use provide an affiliate link that's easy for your audience to remember.

5. Your Own Products and Services

If you are a consultant or a coach, a creator or an entrepreneur, or, quite frankly, anyone who has products or services of interest to your audience... Make sure you tell them about it!

Quality Counts

Just remember. All these podcast income streams are reliant on you creating quality, actionable content.

Make sure your content is worth your audience's time and attention. Implement a few of these income streams. And you will see revenue start to trickle into your podcast.