WordPress blog monetization usually revolves around the more direct, tried-and-true methods such as PPC and affiliate marketing, often incorporating products and/or services such as ebooks, courses, and webinars for added effect. A lot of bloggers also play the long game, optimizing their content for product/service-related keywords and SEO.
It’s a struggle to monetize WordPress – no argument there. Still, there’s one aspect I’m pretty sure you haven’t tried yet (more power to you if you did) that just might make it easier – adding a listening experience.
But first – why do it?
The power of having an audio option
The fact is that digital audio is slowly becoming the go-to medium for many regarding content consumption, especially when it comes to the spoken word. This shift in user behavior is driven by a number of reasons, including:
- Convenience– having text read out or narrated to you allows multitasking, an important skill in today’s fast-paced world where more and more things are done on-the-go. Plus, hands-free convenience frees room for more engaging content.
- No restrictions– you can consume it in any way you like: online, offline, passively, and in one or more takes, which is why even long(er) audio formats such as podcasts work great.
- High level of flexibility and adaptability– there are different formats and types of content that suit almost every type of audience: short bursts of information like quick news updates, audio articles, longer story-driven reports, podcasts, etc. You name it, there’s a corresponding length and topic.
- Personal nature– audio can establish a direct one-on-one connection with the listener, creating a sense of exclusivity. What follows is more involvement from the audience as they tune in for all kinds of audio content: information, entertainment, and even companionship and inspiration.
Convenience – having text read out or narrated to you allows multitasking, an important skill in today’s fast-paced world where more and more things are done on-the-go. Plus, hands-free convenience frees room for more engaging content.
No restrictions – you can consume it in any way you like: online, offline, passively, and in one or more takes, which is why even long(er) audio formats such as podcasts work great.
High level of flexibility and adaptability – there are different formats and types of content that suit almost every type of audience: short bursts of information like quick news updates, audio articles, longer story-driven reports, podcasts, etc. You name it, there’s a corresponding length and topic.
Personal nature – audio can establish a direct one-on-one connection with the listener, creating a sense of exclusivity. What follows is more involvement from the audience as they tune in for all kinds of audio content: information, entertainment, and even companionship and inspiration.
It all boils down to this: audio is where your audience is.
The money part
With audio, you get a new, yet very familiar option that can be implemented to monetize your WordPress site in different ways.
To begin, you’ll need a quality text-to-speech solution that will convert your blog’s content into an audio one. A small piece of code (typically a JavaScript tag) is placed on the WordPress blog, transforming into an embedded audio player. It looks like this:
In case you’re wondering how it all sounds, the synthesized voices are almost identical to a real voice, thanks to fast-track advances in voice technology – feel free to hear for yourself by playing this article (in case you’re not already doing so). It takes anywhere between a few minutes to an hour max (depending on your websites and CMS) to audiofy your website, and the cost of entry ranges from free to very affordable (with Trinity Audio it’s free AND you can make money off it).
But where’s the dinero?
The most straightforward way is through audio advertising where the audio content platform you opt for monetizes by using direct and programmatic audio demand. If you have a decent volume of traffic, you are eligible for revenue share. Some platforms even support cross-promotion, where you can run audio ads produced by yourself – the site’s owner.
As a matter of fact, audio ads are progressively becoming the go-to form of digital advertising. The streaming service Pandora found out that audio ads are very effective, impacting long-term memory 49% better than radio, 36% better than TV, and 29% better than mobile video ads. Another study uncovered 39% of people find audio ads to be more engaging than their counterparts on other channels.
Monetization-wise, with text-to-speech software in place, you can also experiment with your own content and delivery. This includes the production of different types of content, as well as distribution methods: full-length audio articles, short news-like updates, audio excerpts extracted directly from the content for immediate use, audio exclusives, and so on. A brand new world of possibilities opens up.
Content and monetization are evolving
Screen exhaustion is real: more than half of Gen Z and millennials say there’s too much visual stimulation. Not only that – they find audio a nice escape from the everyday bombardment. Its ability to reach people in situations where most visual media can’t (commuting, working out, driving, cleaning, cooking, etc.) will become increasingly important as audiences get more demanding and choosy.
Do you want to know the best part of this entire story? Almost every website with more than a paragraph’s worth of textual content is audio friendly, and your WordPress blog can be too.
That would conclude this crash course on WordPress blog monetization via audio. More monetization topics are coming so stick around!
Image credits:
https://giphy.com/gifs/king-ken-jeong-interested-eoN5fHRfV4sSI
https://giphy.com/gifs/reasons-good-directorial-2Pl8OTc2UydcQ
