Today I share with you a guide to how to set up your own online radio and earn money with it.
Of course, the setting up a radio station on the Internet it requires handling some level of technical knowledge so you will need some good hours of learning to do it (just like it is required in any other business) and also some financial resources.
I will try, however, not to focus too much on the technical part because for this there are very complete guides like the one that appears here. But to give you some practical advice so that you can make your radio online a means to generate income with little investment.
What is an Online Radio?
Basically we are talking about a radio transmission system through the web also called streaming, which unlike a conventional radio is not transmitted by VHF frequency waves (see example of online radio here) but through the thousands of servers of the Internet.
Of course this has several implications:
- You do not need an infrastructure of hundreds of thousands of dollars such as high power transmitters, repeaters, antennas, etc., since your entire infrastructure is the internet and the costs are minimal in comparison.
- Your listeners will not need a radio or receiving device to listen to you, since they can do so on any computer with Internet access.
- Due to their high costs, conventional radio transmitters rent their spaces at very high costs.
- On the Internet you can build your own radio, stream unlimitedly and choose the kind of content you want to stream.
- Conventional radios are usually regulated by local governments, while conventional radios are radios on the internet due to their global nature, they do not have regulations.
What does the assembly of an Online Radio consist of?
To put it in some simple way (without technical entanglements), you will need 4 elements for mounting your radio:
- A server that is the team that will be in charge of transmitting on the Internet everything you want to reproduce such as: music, debates, interviews, various topics, podcasts, etc.
- A player software that is the program that allows playback.
- A plugin software that makes the interconnection between the server and the player.
- The streaming service that is a server that is paid monthly according to the number of users (listeners) you want to reach. This allows you to grow gradually.
There are different programs for this purpose, some free and others commercial that are very easy to get on the web for very good prices.
The technical part of mounting the radio requires some technical steps that you can take according to this guide.
Who can set up a radio on the Internet?
Because of its global spirit, the Internet allows any person, group or organization to set up your own online radio and make broadcasts according to their particular purposes: religious, commercial, cultural, and even political, etc.
Assembly Costs
The investment for the assembly of your radio mainly contemplates the following costs:
- Server that must be a standard PC with accessories such as microphones and players (approx. US $ 1000)
- Playback software and specialized plugin (approx. US $ 500)
- Streaming server service (approx. US $ 50 for 100 simultaneous users)
- Other costs related to assembly such as operation, premises, etc.
You can see a quote for streaming services here.
Of course, one of the great advantages of this business is that you do not need a commercial premises because you can do it from the comfort of your home.
How to Make Money with your Online Radio?
Well, we finally get to the point that interests us the most. Well, unless you want to build one online radio for simple entertainment (which would not be a bad thing), you must know how to get the best out of it and monetize it to generate profits.
As all online business, there is something important that you should know and that I describe in this article: the secret of Internet business.
So for your radio to take off you need to generate traffic and that’s when you can take advantage of your online radio to generate income by these means:
- Advertising on your radio page. Since your listeners enter your page and select your music content, you can sell advertising banners per month of different sizes. Depending on the traffic your radio handles, a 125×125 banner can sell for about $ 10 to $ 25 per month, while a 250×250 banner can sell for $ 30 to $ 100 per month.
- Advertising mentions. The traditional way to generate income with a radio is by making mentions about products or services of your sponsors. Once you have a good number of listeners, you can start selling these mentions different businesses interested in promoting their brands. Of course you should start with comfortable and accessible prices according to the number of listeners you handle.
- Affiliate Programs. You can also enter affiliate advertising or subscribe to clicback to search for potential sellers. The mechanism consists of placing their advertising and you receive in exchange a commission for each product sold that regularly rounds $ 30 to $ 50 dollars or a percentage of the price of the product.
- Adsense Advertising. My favorite ad system that gets advertisers and publishes on your page without having to deal with charges. All you need to do is determine which spaces you want Adsense to manage on your page, you subscribe and they pay you for each click that customers make on advertising. If you want to know more about Adsense and how it works click here.
- Earn income as Announcer. If you don’t want to get into so much trouble with build your own radio But you like voice overs, you can also earn money by providing your services as described by my friend Alberto Villanueva in this article on how to earn money by having your own radio show.
- Sponsored interviews. Another way to earn money is by conducting interviews with characters who want to make themselves known as musicians, professionals, announcers, etc. who for a small fee can have an exclusive interview for 30 minutes on your radio.
So, remember that the most important thing in this as in any business is sell your services. Start generating traffic, conquering your audience, being charismatic and when you see that your audio-listeners grow in number, then begin to monetize your radio and generate income, without leaving your home. And don’t forget to use Paypal to receive your payments.
More Internet businesses:
