Monetizing “WordPress content” like a blog, a podcast, or a YouTube channel is tricky business.
Results are rarely immediate for most creators, with the Google SERP odds being stacked against you. If you want to fast track it: You will find more opportunity producing largely searched for content like how-to tutorials or topics on design and development. It’s just a numbers game, really.
Reporting on the plumbing of WordPress the software, the crossover of Automattic/.org, and the community might be a longer burn. Few brands do it successfully like Post Status (privately owned) and WP Tavern (owned by Audrey Capital).
I earn roughly $15-20k a year through my side-hustle of WordPress content creation. It only took about 8 years to get here.
If you want to learn more about it how I approach my content efforts, why I give 20% to Big Orange Heart, and what big opportunities you can tackle — better than me! — give today’s episode a listen.
Read the transcript
Welcome back to the Matt report podcast, mattreport.com – mattreport.com/subscribe. Join that mailing list. Leave us a five star review on iTunes. Everyone says it. Everyone says it. I say it every other podcast or says it’s a, it’s a form of validation. That people are listening to the show. People are happy with the show.
I have a stretch goal of 200 reviews on iTunes. I’d love to get there. I’m at 130 right now. If you have a moment, jump on over to iTunes you have in your iPhone. Did you get the brand new iPhone? Is it your you’re already listening to this on your iPhone 12 who an Android user. I’ve never even logged in to my Google dashboard to see how many reviews I got over there.
Probably zero. Well, wherever reviews are found. Go ahead and leave us a review there really appreciate it. That makes me feel good. I feel like I’m getting something done that they have some value here. We’re going to talk about that today. We’re gonna talk about why monetize content, how much money I make as a content creator, hopefully.
Yeah. To set the stage for you. Maybe you’re making way more money than I am creating content. Maybe you’re not making a nickel yet, but you want to get into it. So I give you my perspective on this crazy WordPress space, making money specifically in the WordPress space, and then sort of how I’m trying to broaden the horizons.
Hey, you want to listen to our sponsors today? Cause we’re going to talk all about sponsors today. There are no official sponsors, like there’s nobody paying me today except for my own plugin, easy support videos. Easy support videos. If you just Google that. My God, I hope that the first result will be easy support videos in the WordPress plugin directory.
We have a new version coming out. early November. Maybe if you’re looking for ways to embed video support for your customers or for people you’ve built WordPress websites for your organization, your internal company. Easy support videos allows you to embed a video in the admin. We give you a little own admin action.
You can embed a whole library of videos for helpful support tutorials. A little note that goes along with each video, don’t forget how to register users. Don’t forget how to write this awesome blog post. Don’t forget how to use this Beaver builder template. You take your video from any OEM bed source, you drop it right into the admin of WordPress, and it’s just for your users.
You can do things like member roll access and things like that. To see who can modify videos, who can’t, who can see the videos who can’t. We have a new version coming. Like I said, it’s going to do some fun things. It’s going to get a little bit faster. It’s going to get a little bit more efficient. You’re able to serve up some videos in other areas of WordPress.
When you’re logged into WordPress, check it out. Easy support videos, easy support videos. All right. Okay. So how much money do I make creating content in the WordPress space? And again, I’m putting this out there. One, because I’ve gotten into sponsorships recently. I just generally want to talk about my approach to it, to want, to help educate others who are thinking about creating content in the space, or maybe you’re making a ton of money in this space, creating content.
And you want to say, Hey Matt, you’re doing it all wrong. Here’s how you can make more. Hey, I’m all ears. So I make anywhere between 15 to $20,000 a year through monetizing content through being a content creator. And that’s both on the podcast side and YouTube side. So 15 to 20 K a year. This is a, this is a side hustle for me, right?
This is a side gig. This is a complimentary to of course my, my full time job over at Castillo’s.
And, you know, one of the other reasons why I’m bringing this up is, you know, I read a blog post recently. I don’t want to get into the minutia of the, of the premise of that blog post, but they, you know, they use the word, uh, sort of set their sights on, on podcasters at large, in the WordPress space, uh, being somewhat problematic and, um, That they shouldn’t be funded or they shouldn’t, you know, we should turn our sites away from the typical WordPress podcast or, uh, because we shouldn’t be helping them fund these things.
And look, that’s a discussion for another time, but the idea is this is not at least from my perspective, not this media giant.
right. I did not get rich quick quote, unquote, being a WordPress podcaster.
I mean, I got to this point because I started a podcast eight years ago. I thought I wanted to grow my WordPress agency through a podcast. It worked,
you know, when we talk about making money in the word press or in podcasting, there is an opportunity to sell your services, to build up your profile, to connect with people. There’s hundreds of thousands of dollars tied to that, which I’m not accounting for here. Cause, you know, it’s very hard to measure that metric, but yes, people who have listened to this podcast have hired me to do jobs back in the day or referred my agency back in the day, I use my podcast as a sales tool back in the day, to, to filter into services clients.
It’s a, it’s a strategy that you know, that you might take, but if you’re looking to specifically monetize podcasts and content, that’s what this discussion is about. And I brought that up because it just made me think like, wow, I don’t know how many podcasts are quote, unquote funded. Like they’re this big media empire with a, with a, with a thing that they’re trying to accomplish.
Right. I mean, uh, we have, uh, doc pops show, uh, which I was on. He’s paid, he’s a WP engine employee. He runs torque mag. Right? They do media. So I think they do a podcast. They definitely do a Google live stream. I was on there a couple of weeks ago, WP Tavern, which is owned by, uh, Audrey capital, AKA Matt Mullenweg, uh, before Jeff left, which feels like just yesterday, but maybe it’s a couple of years now.
I don’t remember at least a year. I can’t, I don’t really know the timeframe he did a podcast. I guess you could consider those two funded. When you talk about, you know, companies that are behind them with millions and millions of dollars in the bank. Uh, WPM U dev, I think still has a podcast. I should have done my notes here first, but let me just WPM you dev podcast.
Hello WP yet. It doesn’t look like it was, or the last episode was put out in 2019. Tell you, I was jealous of...
