I've heard Leo Laporte say he uses Podtracker. Do they do the legwork of finding sponsors, or is it just a brokering website? Do they provide the affiliate codes you give out on the podcast?

Anybody know how this works, or what other tools are available for getting sponsorships?

Never heard of podtracker, in fact, couldn't even find it on Google!

The sponsors we have/had came as a result of asking for sponsors on our shows. So far, this is how we got 100% of them. But they must be listening, or at least someone who mentions the opportunity to them.

Sorry, Bo

Looks like I misheard Leo. I did a few quick creative searches and found it:

http://www.podtrac.com/Advertiser/advertiser-main.aspx

It looks like a combination of brokering database with some human analytical tools.

Podtrac has free registration for podcasters and for advertisers.

I guess it doesn't hurt to register and see what happens. However, you do have to provide a significant amount of detailed information about your podcast - which I will have to collect and decide how to enter it. It's almost like submitting a resume to a headhunter online - could be a lot of work. So, I'm going to think about it some more.

If anyone has experience or suggestions, please let me know.

I still haven't decided whether putting ads into my podcast would have a detrimental effect on listeners subscribing. High profile podcasters like Cliff Ravenscraft are adamant that ads cheapen the end product, and that premium content is always better - like having a monetized website community as the target of any appeals by the host for listener action or engagement. Keep it all focused.

I agree with Cliff, but I personally don't find it too intrusive to have one ad in a podcast, like Audible or Gotomeeting.

- Scott

Ahh! I actually did this about a year ago! In fact, I still have the survey link on EVcast: http://www.podtrac.com/audience/start-survey.aspx?pubid=RJC3Q4QrziU$&ver=standard

You can see that for me registering this providing TONS of data did nothing. :(

Maybe it's our topic (poker - i.e. gambling) but we've received a couple of unsolicitated adverstisers.

And, actually, it's the blog that has generated the revenue - so there's another reason for having a web site or blog in addition to your "on air" show. These ads have been enough to cover our annual hosting fees - which is nice.