For podcasters who produce a podcast as a way to extend their message and reach target market, perhaps this is not a problem at all. But for people who want to start a podcast as an independent publishing venture or as a hobby, this may be confusing. It happens to all of us at certain stage. Whether to follow passion or money, how to determine if your passion is profitable, and so on.

One possible and easy way to start your research is by browsing through blogs and podcast sites or directories to see what are already there. Although you can't find out precisely how they make money from podcasting, at the very least you can see what topics are popular and if the podcasters have applied monetization models. If one monetization strategy is common among many podcasters, you should know that perhaps it is a viable model for other podcasts too.

How do you determine the topic for your podcast? Here are some questions to get you started.

1. What is your passion?

Ensuring profitability from a business you are about to build it important. After all, we don't want a business that follows our passion but won't support us financially.

On the other hand, podcasting requires a lot of direct involvements with the topic. You will find at one point in the business that it is very hard to move forward and you have to force yourself to actually do the episode. This happens to all of us, even those who are very close to success. Passion usually kicks in at this situation. While you do something you are passionate about, it is less of a chore and you are more likely to get it done.

2. Is the topic popular?

You have to balance your passion with market demand. It is the only way you can ensure profitability.

You have to measure that the topic you chose is on demand. One way to determine this is to research availability of products in the market. Find sites and magazines people in your niche market read and frequent. Also dig into keyword research tools. What they enter into search engines to find information and products related to your niche?

3. How can you access potential listeners?

Now that you have match a topic with your passion, you must determine ways of which you can access the potential listeners.

The question is, "How can you access them efficiently?"

By efficient, I mean that giving access to the listeners, no matter how expensive it is, you should be able to get positive return on investment. Just like advertising, you want to at least break even on the front-end and then profit from the repeat sales. Having a sound strategy that integrates with the podcast is very important in this case.

4. Will you have enough to say?

Content is the lifeblood of every podcast. Do you have enough to say that could produce content on a consistent basis for months or years?

Sure, you can use many content generation techniques like interviewing other experts or rant about news but one thing for certain is that you still must have some original content. But if you want to be an expert in a particular topic, do you have enough to say to establish your status?

5. What are your monetization model?

Are there enough income streams to support your podcast? With all the popularity and traffic, can you find ways to make a living directly from it or via other indirect methods?

After spending some time with those questions, now is the time to actually start podcasting. Remember, while it is nice to have passion around a topic which have huge demand and low to moderate competitions, in real life, seldom do we stumble upon such a topic.

Don't let this get you down though. Every niche will have its own weaknesses. As long as you are aware of them, you can work to overcome them. If a podcast is not suitable for your niche, find another one.

If it is your business you are promoting through a podcast, there are always other marketing channels.

The key is to at least make it very possible to profit from the niche before you jump in. So, spend as much time as needed and don't rush through the process.

Hendry Lee helps small business owners and web publishers overcome challenges in using marketing technologies to start and grow their online business. Get comprehensive tutorial on how to plan and start your own podcast here: podcast tutorial. Download white papers and subscribe to weekly dose of podcast profit tips and get concise information and strategies to get the most out of your blog.

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