Starting a podcast may look tough on paper but taking an existing podcast to the next level can be even more difficult.In the first part of this series, I talked about simple ways you can build a business around your podcast. Podcasting for fun is one thing, but you want to monetize your work at some point (preparing podcast episodes is not going to be exactly something you can do in 10 minutes or an hour). If you have taken the first few steps with your podcast and are ready to take it to the next level, these 5 steps should give you some ideas:

Get your community involved

Many small podcasting businesses leverage their community’s true power to get the word out about their product and grow their business. There are plenty of ways to get your community involved in efforts to push your business. You can throw cool contests for your fans. You can also ask them to display your brand on their shirts or other belongings. Some top podcasters that I know actually use the graphics and music created by their members to offer a unique experience to all their listeners. There is no reason not to take advantage if you have an audience that is willing to help you out.

Leverage social media

Websites such as Facebook and Twitter can help you get the word out about your podcast. If you have a large following on Twitter or Facebook, you always have a channel to push your latest episodes through. Besides, you can use these services to get feedback and suggestions from your listeners.

Sell your own merchandise

Those of you who have somewhat established podcasts can probably get away with this. As long as a decent number of people listen to your product, you can use this approach to raise funds for your business. Just make sure you order merchandise that is of high quality and something people want to buy and use.

Offer tools & additional goodies

In the previous article in this series, I mentioned the need for all podcasters to start a membership website. If you have done that, you want to invest in some tools that can be useful to your members. By offering free tools and other items to your members, you can get more people to want to sign up for your membership website.

Push your podcast with your free newsletter

Having a free newsletter can not only get more people to sign up for your podcast, it will keep your product in people’s mind for longer. These days, there are so many distractions that hold people from keeping up with all the podcasts they like. Your newsletter could help bring those listeners back for more.

The above steps may not be too advanced, but they do help you boost your existing podcast business. In the next part of this series, I’ll discuss some of those more advanced tactics you can take advantage of to build a significant following for your audio product.

Naked Conversations: a classic blogging book written by one of the top bloggers around. In this book, Robert walks you through the steps it takes to make your blog a success and something to be proud off.

ProBlogger – Secrets for Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income: Darren Rowse doesn’t need any introduction. He provides useful blogging information on ProBlogger on a daily basis. In this book, he teaches you the basics of what it takes to make it as a pro blogger.

Clear Blogging: yet another blog that teaches you the fundamentals of blogging. It’s a great book to get a understanding of how you can connect with your readers in a deeper fashion.

Blogging Heroes: a set of interviews with top bloggers and marketers around the world. It’s always nice to hear what top bloggers have to say about their strategies to increase readership and drive traffic to their blogs.

The Social Media Bible: a wonderful book to understand what it takes to succeed in the world of social media. It’s to the point and gives you a solid understanding of the fundamentals.

Podcast Academy: an informative book that shows you what you need to do to build a killer podcast service for your readers. Whether you want to start your own talk show host or take your blog to the next level with your own podcast, this book comes in handy.

Producing Video Podcasts: want to create your own web show? Maybe you are just interested in adding video to your blog. Whatever the case, this book teaches you how you can produce killer videos.

Feel free to add your favorite blogging books below.