9 – What is the Funding Tag in a Podcast RSS Feed?

Hello there and welcome to Podcaster Plus. The podcast offering tips and tricks to simplify and automate your podcast. Find all the episodes at podcasterplus.com/show. 

Today we’re diving into a technical aspect that can significantly impact your podcast monetization, the funding tag in your RSS feed.

Many podcasters overlook this detail, but understanding it, and using it correctly can open doors to new revenue streams. So let’s get started. 

As always, we’re gonna divide the podcast up into different sections, and the first section is what is an RSS speed. 

I actually did a podcast episode about this. It was episode eight, but I’ll reprise it basically here. Before we jump into the funding tag, let’s quickly get to grips with the RSS feed. Your RSS feed is an XML file that acts as a directory for your podcast. It contains all the essential information about your show, including episode titles, descriptions, publication dates, and more importantly, the location of your audio files. This feed is what allows podcast apps like Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and all the others, to discover and play your podcast to listeners. 

Okay. What about then the importance of the RSS feed? Your RSS feed is basically the backbone of your podcast online presence. It’s how listeners find you, and it’s crucial that it’s well structured and accurate.

Errors in your RSS feed can lead to problems with podcast app indexing, preventing your show from appearing in search results. Therefore maintaining a clean, accurate RSS feed is pretty important for podcasting success. 

The next section then is introducing the funding tag. Now let’s get to the heart of it all. The funding tag, specifically, we’re talking about the iTunes colon funding tag within your RSS feed. That’s gonna sound a little bit complicated, but what we are dealing with today is some, well, I’m going to call it code, but it’s pretty obvious. I am highly recommending that you go to the podcast show show notes. So that’s podcasterplus.com/show, and search for episode nine. It’s gonna be quite hard for me to describe what’s going on here, but it will be very, very easy for you to see what’s going on. Because this iTunes colon funding tag allows you to provide information about how your podcast this funded. This isn’t just about displaying sponsors, it’s about providing transparency to your listeners, and potentially opening up new avenues for support. This tag is pretty useful for podcasts that rely on listener donations or memberships. 

So how do we use the iTunes funding tag? Well, this funding tag is relatively straightforward to implement. It’s an extension of the standard RSS 2.0 specification. We’re getting a bit nerdy here aren’t we? Specifically designed for podcasting. Within the tag, you can include details about your funding sources. This might include a link to say, for example, a Patreon page or a PayPal donation link or information about a membership program you’ve got running. 

The key is to provide clear and concise information to your listeners. Remember to follow the correct XML formatting to ensure your podcast app correctly interprets this information.

And so what I’m gonna do now, dear listener, is provide an example of the iTunes funding tag. But that’s going to be really, really hard for me to explain. So again, dear listener, I’m just gonna point you to our URL podcasterplus.com/show, search for episode nine, and you will be able to see an implementation of it perfectly.

It’s about nine lines of really, really, really straightforward code, but there is no way that I am going to be able to say that in this podcast. But you could copy and paste it and it would all work out of the box. And the example that I’ve given is for a Patreon link. But basically it’s a bunch of tags.

The parent tag is channel and then comes the title, and then the iTunes funding tag, and then the name of that iTunes funding tag, and then all of the tags get closed around it. If you’ve ever used HTML before, building a webpage for example, this is gonna be fairly straightforward for you. So go and check that out on the page.

But next section then, what are the benefits of using the funding tag? Why would you bother even to do this? Well, there are several key benefits. The first one is transparency. It shows your listeners how your podcast is supported, building trust and potentially encouraging people to contribute. 

It also may increase donations, because making it easy for listeners to find your donation links, well, that’s going to increase the likelihood of receiving financial support.

And it also might improve your discoverability. Some podcast apps might use this information to categorize and recommend your podcast to listeners interested in supporting creator funded content. 

So the next section, technical considerations. Whilst the iTunes funding tag is relatively simple, it’s crucial to ensure your RSS feed is correctly formatted. Errors in your XML can prevent the tag from working correctly. Always validate your RSS feed using an online validator, and I’ll provide a link in the show notes again, and this will ensure that it meets the required specifications. Your podcast hosting provider should also offer tools and resources to help you manage your RSS feed effectively. This may also, of course, be something that you get your website developer to help you with. 

So what are the conclusions that we can draw? The iTunes funding tag is a powerful tool that you can use to help you diversify your podcast revenue stream and build stronger relationships with your listeners. 

By incorporating this tag into your RSS feed, you’re taking a proactive step towards sustainable podcasting. Remember to keep your RSS feed updated and validated to ensure everything runs smoothly. 

So there you go, that’s what I’ve got for you this time around. Just one last plea, if any of that was confusing, head to podcasterplus.com/show. Find episode number nine, and have a look there. I’m sure it’ll be more obvious when you see it. 

Thank you very much for tuning into the Podcaster Plus Podcast. You can find it at podcasterplus.com/show.

And we will see you here next time for some more tips and tricks to simplify and automate your podcast.