In this episode we'll hear from Jack Rhysider, the creator behind Darknet Diaries, an award-winning podcast with over 15 million downloads last year. With loyal listeners paying up to $15,000 a month in paid memberships, this podcast focuses on true stories from the dark side of the Internet: on hackers, breaches, shadow government activity, hacktivism, cybercrime, and all the things that dwell on the hidden parts of the network.

Main Points:

Building a high quality podcast from the first episode
How Darknet Diaries grew to $15,000 a month in paid memberships
Getting podcast mentors through cold email
What podcasters get wrong when asking for money from their listeners

Enjoy!

Join us in the FREE Supercast premium feed and you get to hear Jack talk about:

0:37 Would Jack ever join a network? Darknet Diaries' 2020 marketing plan
2:42 Why promo swaps are effective at growing podcasts
4:12 Winning awards and other marketing experiments
4:58 Leverage and getting featured in Apple podcasts
6:37 You don't need a large audience to start monetizing
8:42 If you want to start monetizing your show...
9:43 Price tiers, and why the $1 tier doesn't work well
10:59 Paid podcast marketing did not work well, here's why

Sign up here: premium.supercast.com

Timestamps

1:32 True crime meets cybercrime: What is Darknet Diaries?
2:23 Mixing podcasting and 10+ years in IT Security
4:06 From side project to going full-time
5:58 High quality standards from the very beginning
7:00 Growing Darknet Diaries from the start through blogging and Twitter
8:46 Jack Rhysider's mentors for Darknet Diaries
11:16 How Email led to Darknet Diaries' podcast growth
13:05 Pulling a Darknet Diaries story together through alerts
14:54 Describing the listener, and the Discovery Channel
17:51 Monetizing a podcast through Patreon and ads
20:20 Data-driven monetization and offering value to listeners
23:11 Go to the listeners, don't bring them to you
24:53 $15,000 a month in memberships and revenue transparency
27:23 What podcasters get wrong when asking for money
28:25 Sharing podcast stats and findings through lime.link
30:20 Megaphone.fm podcasts showing up on blocklists
34:00 The future of privacy in podcasting
35:23 What Jack Rhysider would do if he started all over again
36:17 The evolution of the Darknet Diaries team

Links

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