Because of his Podcast: He Discovered a Niche Who Needed A Product Got a note from Corey Fineran I just handed my boss my resignation letter! This podcasting journey started 7 1/2 years ago and it's now allowed me to leave my job and start my own business! You've probably heard me talk about Ivy Envy (my podcast on the Chicago Cubs) more than the one I did for my employer. Since 2012, I've been able to call myself a "professional podcast producer" as my employer created a new position for me to do video podcasts for teachers to play in their classrooms to help high school students with disabilities in their transition from high school to life after high school (primarily through work/employment). Well, there is a huge need for this type of curriculum and schools all over the state of Illinois have started using that podcast. I saw a need and last summer, I started working on starting my own business, creating innovative and interactive online transition curriculum and marketing it to schools all over the country. After receiving contracts from school districts and cooperatives, I'm able to leave my job at the end of this school year. Many of the people in this group have influenced me (whether they know it or not) to take this scary jump. +Bob Zerull +Ray Ortega +Daniel Hayes +Nick Seuberling  +David Jackson  and of course, +Tawny Fineran who has been insanely supportive over the last year as I've worked on building this. If you're curious to check out what I've been working on, you can find it here: http://transitioncurriculum.com Another Problem with Your Show's Title Headline As I now work for Libsyn (where you can get a free month using the coupon code sopfree), and I get to see some mistakes that people are making. Now I'm doing a bit of a repeat, and that is people make horrible headlines. In the past I've talked about starting off a headline with the date. What I am seeing now is people putting the name of their show at the beginning of the headline. Why this makes no sens, is any place you can see the headline (your website, a listing in iTunes) you already see the name of the show. Also here is another thing to keep in mind, on the podcasts app from Apple, you can only see 45 characters of the headline if you're not subscribed to it. Once you subscribe you see the entire headline. However, would you subscribe if every headline was:  School of Podcasting - How to Podcast Today w  School of Podcasting - How to Podcast Today w  School of Podcasting - How to Podcast Today w  You're wasting really, really valuable space.  Why do we care? I had a client who had a respected media outlet that wanted to put their RSS feed on their site. They tested it and the headlines were horrible, and they wanted the producer to change all of their headlines.  Want to make great Headlines, check out my Free Headlines Resources Multiple Websites Question Revisited Paul said, " Heard your comments about updating multiple websites. I have 7 x WordPress sites, have used ManageWP for a couple of...

Today on the School of Podcasting we talk content marketing, why podcasting is a perfect tool for this strategy, and how to overcome one of the biggest hurdles for those needing interaction on their website. Podcast Rewind 2:15 I appeared on the Maximize Excellence show with Joe Hicks. Joe walks you through an Ideology of the four pillars of excellence. I really liked the show, and Joe (a graduate of the School of Podcasting) is doing a great job. Check it out at www.maximizeexcellence.com  or subscribe in iTunes. Because of Podcasting 5:20 I have read the book, Epic Content Marketing: How to Tell a Different Story, Break through the Clutter, and Win More Customers by Marketing Less: How to Tell a Different Story, ... and Win More Customers by Marketing Less and it had some great stories of content marketing. There was a blacksmith that worked with farmers. He would listen to them complain about how mud would get stuck on their plow. He later invented a plow made of steel that the mud didn't stick to. He listened to his audience and gave them what they needed. In 1885, he started a magazine called The Furrow. The purpose of the magazine was to  educate farmers on new technology and how they could be more successful business owners and farmers (thus, content marketing). The Furrow was not filled with promotional messages and self-serving content. It was developed by thoughtful journalists, storytellers, and designers, and covered topics that farmers cared about deeply. The goal of the content was to help farmers become more prosperous and, of course, profitable. Now, 120 years later, The Furrow is still going strong. It is the largest circulated farming magazine in the world, delivered monthly to over 1.5 million farmers, in 12 languages to 40 different countries. Who was this blacksmith? John Deere, he was quite an inventor. You may have heard of his tractors. 1900: Michelin develops The Michelin Guide. This 400-page guide, now with its iconic red cover, helps drivers maintain their cars and find decent lodging. In its first edition, 35,000 copies were distributed for free. 1904: Jell-O recipe book pays off. Jell-O distributes free copies of a recipe book that contributes to sales of over $ 1 million by 1906. 1913: Burns & McDonnell Engineering launch BenchMark. This Kansas City engineering and consulting firm still produces its award-winning BenchMark magazine to this day. 1930's Proctor and Gamble started making radio dramas. This was an extremely successful strategy. It often would feature ads for Duz and Oxydol detergents. Later these would move to Television. Many people refer to them as Soap Operas. Your podcast could be the next Furrow. You use your podcast to build your brand. You use it to gain the trust of your audience. You build a relationship with your audience. Then later you can capitalize on that relationship. So content marketing is not new, but it can be tricky   Podcasting Boosts Grades 12: 52 Craig from Ingleaspodcast.com shared a story on the Ask the Podcast Coach on how he had students do extra homework by listening to podcasts. The other in the class did not. Those who reinforced their learning with podcasting had better grades.  He did have one student who originally did not listen to the podcasts (but his grades had improved). Later, he confessed he had been listening to the podcasts. Using Content Upgrades In Your Podcast 19:08 A content upgrade offers extra value on the initial article or content. It typically is a downloadable, email-gated piece that strikes...

In this episode we are joined by Lawyer Gordon Firemark who produces multiple podcasts that include, Entertainment Industry Insights, Entertainment Law Update, and  The Law Podcasting as well as his own course that teachers lawyers how to podcast at Lawpodcasting.com. He is the author of the book The Podcast, Blog & New Media Producer's Legal Survival Guide: An essential resource for content creators (amazon) or if you want the pdf of the book go to http://www.podcastlawbook.com/ Today we talk about: How Gordon got into entertainment law How to register a trademark. How a trademark is your brand. Here is the US Patent and Trademark Office Website  www.uspto.gov Understanding Copyright When is it OK to play music in your podcast? How do you avoid being sued for slander? Fair Use (Gordan has a great video about this on YouTube) Tips on Negotiating contacts Dave explains how he got fined for using an image from images.google.com (so yes, you can get busted) How to avoid "Defaming" someone. Release forms. podcastrelease.com is a free example (email address required). How he found his co-host. How lawyers are using podcasting to get more clients. Affiliate links. copyright.gov dmca agent Gordon (like Dave) recommends the Audio Technica 2100  microphone   Because of My Podcast Dave Hooper of Red Podcast- I am Much Smoother on the Microphone when I'm doing promos for my radio show Ryan K park of Foodcraftsmen.com was much more confident when he appeared on the local news   Question For the Audience I've heard about Manage WP and CMS Commander, InfiniteWP,  WPRemote, iContrlWP,  iThemes Sync, but I've never used any. If you have any insights I would love to hear them. If you have any insights that would allow you to update multiple sites from one location (and I'm not looking to get into WordPress Multi-site ). Free Podcasting Puzzle Webinars The  Ultimate Podcasting 101 Live Webinar I will be holding three webinars as we prepare for registration to open at the School of Podcasting June 1. It's call "Understanding the Podcasting Puzzle" and you can sign up to get the links to the LIVE not pre-recorded) webinars. Here are the dates to attend: Saturday May 21 1 - 2 PM EST Wednesday May 25th 8-9 PM EST Saturday May 28th 1 -2 PM EST Go to podcastingpuzzle.com for more information on attending.    

Because of My Podcast: A Veteran Got a Home Robert Kerns produces the Living the Vet life. He had a mortgage specialist on his show. He was contacted by someone in another state (again, podcasting is global) and the mortgage specialist was able to get the listener in contact with another specialist and the veteran was able to get his loan with a special VA Home Loan rate. None of this would have happened, but it did because of hist podcast. Check out Rob at livingthevetlife.com If Podcasting Was A Sport. I live in Cleveland. A fairly famous sports town. Famous, for not quite being good enough. We were 1 pitch away from winning the world series. Two yards away from going to the Super Bowl. Over the years the Cleveland Browns Football team has taken over leading the pack of bad sports teams in Cleveland. Every few years we fire our coaches and their staffs. Our players get suspended. Our coaches stink when they are here, we fire them, and they win mutliple super bowls. What does this have to do with podcasting? Stick with me. In 2014 after having a miserable year the owners of the Cleveland Browns decided to work on the stadium. They installed: Massive, uniquely shaped video boards, Escalators that helped eliminate congestion and a cranked-up audio system The quote was they hoped these items "Improved the fan experience." The next year they added more concessions and better lighting. The cost over two years? $125 million Again they stated they wanted an "improved fan experience." The best way to improve the fan experience is to put a WINNING FOOTBALL TEAM TOGETHER. The last two years our combined record is 11-21. HOW DOES THIS APPLY TO PODCASTING? At the core of the stadium is the team. A team we come to root for, and a team we expect to win. When they win, the fans brave insane temperatures to pack the stadium in the winter. Everyone is talking about the game on Monday morning. When the team stinks, they don't. I don't care if I can take an escalator to my seat. If the team has no shot at winning, I'm not going. I'm not watching from home, and nobody is talking about it at work, because it is horrible. Well, we see people investing in a better microphone (when their original microphone was fine). They invest in a new theme for their website (that most of their audience never visits). They switch email list providers. They switch media hosting companies. They get a new player for their website. In a sense they are sprucing up the stadium of a losing team. They need to put a winning team on the field. They need to create content that will impact their audience. We need to focus on our audience, that leads to great content, and the finally we need to promote that content (and hopefully get our audience to promote it as well). How Do Sports Teams Get Better? They prepare. They watch film of both their opponent as well as watch tapes of their own games and look for mistakes they made to help avoid them. They Listen Good players are open to feedback. They listen to their coaches. They listen to their fellow players. They have a mindset of constant improvement. They might take a week off when the season is over, but then it is back to the gym to prepare for next season They Trade Players That Didn't Work When a player doesn't meet expectations (Johnny Manzel in my case) and you gave him a chance, you cut your losses. They Bring in A New Set of Eyes Tiger Woods has had numerous coaches over the years. The Browns hired a guy from BASEBALL who has a completely new perspective and strategy on choosing players. How Do Podcasters Get Better? They Prepare They Prepare. They think about what they want to say before they hit record. I am writing these notes way...

Because of My Podcast: I'm Getting Married Today Matthew Cox from Brunch with the Brits explains how he went to a podcast event who eventually became his wife. Why I Turned Down My First Podcast Sponsor I had been contacted by a sponsor at advertisecast.com. I decided to low ball my pricing ($10 an episode) just to see if anyone would jump. An advertiser did. They wanted 10 episodes of my Weekly Web Tools podcast. That would be almost three months and the advertising would pay for my hosting (minus the 20% that advertisecast take). I would take home $96. My hosting will cost me $45 for three months. I might have some gas money. Here are some of the bullet points: To get started and receive a $50 signup bonus You’ll earn $1 for every new email lead and up to $200 for every new member you refer from your computer Has already generated millions of dollars for over 200,000 happy entrepreneurs My audience is predominant male, and I know I have some entrepreneurs in my audience. So far this sounds like a great fit. Then I went to see what I was promoting. It turns out the product was a video chat and dating service. Hmmm, that doesn't really fit, but maybe I would do this as an experiment. Then I dug a little deeper. You see this wasn't some ordinary video chat/dating service. It was porn, oh I wait I mean adult chat. Can we just call it what it is? Porn. Beside my religious beliefs there are lots of non-religious reasons that porn is a cancer that most people feel is "not a problem." Well I disagree. It's an opinion, and we're not here to talk about that. Let's get back to podcasting. I will not have a sponsor on my show that I can't go to bed at night feeling I served my audience by sending them toward a product I fully endorse. So I turned them down. I also contacted advertisecasts.com and suggested they put in a way for podcasters to save people time so I can say, "No porn, cigarette, alcohol, etc) Every podcasters starts with two things in common. Zero listeners, and they have integrity. When you lose your integrity, you may not ever get it back. Don't Be Afraid To Start Your Podcast and Find Your Voice When I started college I thought I wanted to "Fix stuff" so I went to an electronics school and got a degree in electronic engineering. The other thing I got was a clear understanding that I wasn't very good at fixing stuff. I fixed copiers, but luckily got an opportunity (based on relationships I had formed in the company) to go out and set up the equipment and train the users. I was a customer service rep. Had I not gone to college to be a technician, I never would've ended up in training. I later would go back to School to get a Bachelor's Degree in Education. My dream job was to get back to training people on Microsoft Products. I had the most fun doing that in the past, and I was good at it. I could be funny and educational. Because of my knowledge of computers I start to dabble in building websites, and the Internet. That lead to me a guy who had come back from a conference who told me about podcasting. I started podcasting, and got to know people in the industry. Using my strongest skills of serving and teaching, I created value. I developed relationships with all of the podcasting companies. I remember one day about a year and a half ago when a student asked me a question about combining two features in Microsoft Excel. I explained I had never tried those two features together, to which he pulled out his iPhone and asked Siri. Right in front of my eyes, the phone solved my customers problem. I thought, I'm going to be replaced by a phone. A year and a half later what was once a staff of five trainers, what cut down to one (and it wasn't me). However, because I had been playing with computers, and playing with the Internet, that lead me to podcasting. Those relationships I...

The Podcast Award Are Open If you've ever benefitted from this podcast, do please take the time and nominate the show (school of podcasting) in the EDUCATION category. The Two Most Important Parts of Your Podcast I was watching an episode of Live From Daryl's House (Daryl Hall of Hall and Oats Fame). He has all sorts of musicians of different styles and genres. There is always a small segment where you hear them getting ready. They have had time to prepare. They know the music, but there are two things you always need to figure out and this is no different in podcasting. How to start a segment. How to end a segment.  Why because the first part is your first impression. A bad first impression can really lose your audience for the rest of the song (podcast in our case). A bad last impression and we've just blown all the positive mojo we just created.  We talked a couple of weeks ago about the Podcast Interview Wizard software and how it helps you get to the point quicker. It gets you focused on the meat of the interview.  One strategy is to pick your main point, the one that really inspires people to laugh, cry, think, or groan and come back to that with a tone that signals to the audience that we're moving on, we are done, this is the final thought. Unless you're Jerry Springer, you don't need to announce "here are my final thoughts," you can just say them.  Likewise if you are transitioning to another segment, just transition. Get yourself some royalty free music, fade it, etc, (or just leave a pause of silence). There was only one person who could get away with announcing a transition and his name was James Brown. Why did he do this? Because his band would launch into a groove, and just repeat it over James's singing. So James would be in the middle of the song and ask "Can we take it to the bridge?" and eventually they would take it to the bridge. In other cases James would "hit it and quit it."  Announcing a transition is about as stupid as someone asking, "Can I ask you a question?" (cause they just did). At least that is my opinion.  Because of My Podcast Troy Henritz & Nick Seuberling Troy does the blacklist exposed (theblacklistexposed.com), and recently he's been getting flooded with swag. He got an album (as in an LP) and a Blacklist encyclopedia. Go to schoolofpodcasting.com/510 to see swag Nick Seuberling - First Advertiser Check for Minor League Soccer Podcast I was able to seal my first podcast/website sponsor. I've been podcasting for 11 years now and this is my very first sponsor. On a podcast that only has 8 episodes produced. I recently launched a new podcast that covers FC Cincinnati (http://cincinnatisoccertalk.com ), the newest soccer team in Cincy and I approached them about marketing their team store and ticket sales on my podcast. They immediately jumped at it. Today I received my first check in the mail, and I don't even have a signed agreement yet with the team. I'd say they're eager. Just goes to show, if you're in the right niche, you can sell it to anyone no matter how many episodes you've produced - Nick Seuberling   New and Noteworthy Update - Corey Finneran Corey did a push for iTunes reviews for Ivy Envy. He gained 56 reviews this week. He now has 226 ratings and 191 reviews. He did not budge from #3 when you search "Chicago Cubs" in iTunes. The two that rank ahead of us?#1 - 150 ratings, 128 reviews and the last published episode was 11/11/2010.#2 - 7 ratings, 4 reviews. Promote your...

Feedback from Last Week's Show About Video Podcasting Hey there! I checked out your podcast today where you spoke about video podcasting. I think the way you explained it makes perfect sense. I  was actually looking for a way to upload videos faster to YouTube and found a specific way to do it where you compress the file.   There is free software called Handbrake that people suggest. (I think it has been used in the past to rip DVDs illegally, but that is not what I am using it for.) Basically, once you create the HD file (which is usually about 1GB for videos I have made that are about 5-7 minutes at 1080p) and then use Handbrake to compress the file. I can usually get it down to around around 100-150mb (yes...MB) and less if the file is smaller.   I was wondering if you thought this was a good option so you can have HD on all platforms. It doesn't seem to lose in quality especially with simple "blog" type videos.   Anyway, just thought I would check in on that. Thanks for all the hard work!   -Derek Daniel   Free Websites For Those Podcasting on a Budget I had someone contact me this week. They were on SoundCloud, they didn't have a website, and yet, they wanted to end up making a living from their podcast. Their topic was "talking about movies and video games with my friends." Not to say that you it is impossible to do this, but without hearing your show it I would say it is highly unlikely.  Why do you need a website to do a podcast? 1. Easy Clicks If you are going to force people to search for the item that will bring your revenue, you're making it too hard. It has to be easy - peasy. 2. Email List Growth IF you want to build an email list (and as they say the money is in the list, why? Easy Clicks) you have to have a sign up form. No website- no form. 3. Reputation It's $10 a month if you go to www.schoolofpodcasting.com/hosting and go with the cheapest plans it's around $9. If you drink 5 20 oz bottle of Mountain Dew a month, you have spend close to $10 on soda. Switch to water, and you have the money. Would you buy a car from someone selling it out of a tent (and it looked like they were going to bolt the minute they got your money). You don't date someone who is going to leave it two weeks. You get the point. In a nutshell If you don't have $10 a month (.03 a day) then don't start a podcast expecting it to pay your mortgage. Seriously. In the immortal words of Mick Jagger, "You can't always get what you want." 4. Ease of Listener Subscriptions When you have a website, you can put a link to your iTunes listing, and make it easier for people to subscribe in iTunes, Stitcher, etc. Without a website, you're saying things like "Find my show in iTunes." Have you tried the iTunes search? I've typed in the exact name of someone's show and still had zero results. 5. Easy Contact The one page you need on a website is a contact page and and about page. We all want interaction with our audience. While you can say your phone number and email address in your podcast, when it is a clickable link on your websites, it's super easy and requires no memorization. I Am Always Open To Other Points of View So when a client told me they were using Tumblr as their website I thought, "Really?" Then I looked at the website notold-better.com and yeah, that's a free tumblr website.  Now to be honest, he had his graphics made by a graphic designer, and that graphic matches the artwork of his podcast. So if you have 2-3 hours to learn how to adjust a tumblr site, check out their themes, and go from there. Keep in mind, you won't have all the flexibility of a Wordpress site, but you will be saving $9 a month. You can even...

Because of My Podcast: My Audience Fixed My Website Cale from Fotimepodcast.com was having a problem with his website (using Wordpress) when an audience member offered to help out. It turns out the audience member works for the creators of Wordpress. The DBS 286X vs Aphex 230 Master Channel Before I even start, you do NOT need either one of these to start podcast. It's a nice piece of icing on the cake. It makes you sound better, but you will not gain a single subscriber by using these. If you have poor content, great sounding garbage is still garbage. I've got the older version of the DBX 286 (I have a 286A which has now been replaced by the 286S). Likewise I recently picked up a used Aphex 230 Master Voice Channel (which is now replaced by the Aphex Channel Master What's the difference? Cost: The Aphex is 999, the DBX is 199. So you are looking at $800 in difference. The Aphex's gives you more options in regards to inverting polarity, changing the phase polarity. It also offers a low cut filter. The Aphex noise gate is super easy to set and sounds great. You simply talk and turn the dial until a red light illuminates, and then turn the other knob to scale back any background noise. I love the sound of the gate more than the DBX. Anytime I set the DBX to be aggressive, the cutting in and out was a bit more noticeable. Yes you can hear the Aphex's gate, but to me it's less noticeable. With the DBX you have low and high enhancers. You have the same thing on the Aphex, but you can choose what frequency to boost. You also have a parametrix equalizer so you can find a frequency that you either want to boost or cut from your voice and the determine how much you want to cut/boost. This is the same for the Aural Exciter on the Aphex. It does what the DBX does with more control. You can "tune" what frequencies you want to boost on the high end. I never will get de-essers. I know what they are supposed to do, I don't hear any difference on either unit. I swear this is a feature that manufacturers build into units so they can charge more. While appreciate what the unit does, for the money, I would recommend the 286 for most people unless you really, really want total control.  Video Podcasting? How Would I Go About Doing This? I currently don't do any video podcasts, but that doesn't mean I don't think they are worth doing. I just know they take more time. So how would I do it if I did? Video Podcasting Software If you're on a mac, try Screenflow or even iMovie. If you're on a PC check out Sony Vegas or Camtasia. What Format? I would create my video for my podcast (downloads)  you are exporting a "LD" version for phones, so you could go 640X480. You can do this in QuickTime if you want to as there are tons of presets. I would try to stick with mp4 if possible as it seems to have less conflicts. You take this format and put it in your RSS feed, so it goes to subscribers. You might put at the begining of the video that to see ah HD version go to your website (and provide a pretty link so they don't have to search for it) The Format For Your Website Now you create an HD version (1280X720) that you can upload it to YouTube (it's free, let them eat the bandwidth) and put that video on your website. Now your subscribers don't hate you for...

Today I look at tools available for podcasters to help them produce a better show. Podcast Interview Wizard and Who is Jim Edwards Jim Edwards is a guy I've known online for years. I loved his "I Gotta Tell you" email list. We are talking back in the day when I was teaching people how to make websites with Microsoft Front page, and making videos with camcorder. I bought one of Jim's products he made with Mike Stewart and I thought they delivered value. I had bought some stuff from other "Internet Marketers" at the time, and thought this was better than some. I've always liked Jim's style as he takes his topic seriously, but always dishes it with a good helping of sarcasm. In a nutshell, Jim has been writing ebooks and making products for over 20+ years.  According to his bio: Jim Edwards, founder of Guaranteed Response Marketing, LLC, is an Internet expert, marketing entrepreneur, newspaper columnist, author, motivational speaker and elite mentor and coach.Having gained personal and financial freedom, he shares his proven strategies with self-motivated, hard-working people to help them attain personal and financial independence. He has written and published dozens of ebooks, several print books and hundreds of articles. Through his company, Jim has produced some 40 informational products on DVD and many more available in the latest electronic formats downloadable from the Internet. Jim produces and hosts webinars on a weekly basis and has been a frequent guest speaker at numerous international Internet marketing seminars. What is the podcast interview wizard? It's a software that works on mac or PC that walks you through planning your interview. It does this by having you figure out what you want to talk about before the interview. It walks you through 16 questions .These questions are then used in  a series of tools used by the software. These include: Email templates to help get the interview Email messages to setup and remind the guest for the interview. Later you can use it to create an email that you can send to the guest post interview as well. Email templates for Referrals Email Templates to say Thank You Quick or Full Show Templates (complete with intro / outro ext and questions) Audience Handouts - A worksheet for people to fill out as they listen to your episode. Show Bullets - Custom Sales Copy for Each Interview There are 12 different types of interview types It will generate show notes for your episode It will generate multiple Titles for your show and let you pick the best one. Build Ads to help promote the show on Facebook, Twitter, etc. Putting it Through It's Paces So I took the interview from last week and added the information about my guest Danny Peña to see if I had used the software last week would the interview had been different. The closest interview style would be the "How the Expert Got Started" style.  Now last week's show was different. I already knew the answers to the questions. I knew Danny's story and I wanted to walk him through the parts that focused on building his audience. Using the PIW I did some interesting questions that I could've asked but didn't: What roadblocks did you face early on and how did you overcome them? Did you have any early mentors or did you have to figure it all out on your own? If you had to start all over again with audience growth in today's world, with today's tools, time constraints and other factors, what would you do:a. Differently?b. More of?c. Less of?d. Faster?e. Not at all? Under the "Myths and Misconceptions" style of interview I saw "Where are the big opportunities in audience growth that many podcasters might be missing?" or "What are the best audience growth tools...

Danny Peña got his first video game console from his Grandmother and his life was forever changed. Little did Danny know (who goes by the name of Godfree on his show) that he would someday be getting paid to fly around the world and play video games on his podcast Gamertag Radio. Did he think he would end up working for CBS and be featured next to podcasts like 60 minutes on play.it? Probably not. Today you will learn how Danny started building his audience before there was podcasting. Danny continued building his audience before there was iTunes. Through everything he does, Danny cares about one thing: the audience. There are sooooooo many lessons to be learned today. Interview starts at 3:38 Free Doesn't Last: Danny got his first check from mp3.com a site that was "Too big to fail" just like MySpace (and who knows some day Facebook?). The party of the year took a year of planning: You don't get these kind of results by "winging it." Check out this video of the party and you can read how the Miami New Times  called it the Best Super Bowl party in South FL. Know more about your audience than their age and sex: Danny brought in musicians who his audience liked. The musicians brought in their audience who probably liked to play games. Be straight with your audience: Any perks Danny and his crew have received has always been communicated to their audience. TRUST is everything: It takes a long time to earn it. It's very powerful, and can be lost with one bad decision. Let your audience be part of your journey: Anywhere Danny goes he invites his audience to come along. Ten years to get on CBS Radio: Patience ins a virtue, and it took Danny 10 years to get to where he is. He took advantage of every opportunity he saw. Time Management Tips: Set a schedule and stick to it. Danny has a full time job, a girlfriend, and his podcast. Having the right people on your team is essential and keep everything transparent so you are all on the same page.  Danny is real. When Danny says, that's a good question, that's because its a good question. Some people on my show do it just to stroke my ego. Danny's Community Created Events That Drew the Attention of Main Stream Media Check out Danny's Commercial on the Discovery Channel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5oKqp-sZA0 Watch his acceptance speech as he is inducted into the Podcaster's Hall of Fame ttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K64TXMuYNlY Here, Danny made the news by accidentally spilling the beans on the Microsoft release. In this article, Gamertag radio is mentioned in Forbes magazine.   Save $40 Off Podcast Movement If you plan on attending Podcast Movement, you can save $40 off your ticket when you use the coupon code sop40. This is THE podcast event. I will be holding a Q& A session and I am really looking forward to it. Coming Next Week I have a on of people ask me about Podcast Interview Wizard from Jim Edwards. Well I'm going to buy it and play with and let you know what I think. If you want to check it out, go to <a...

I went to Podfest.us a couple of weeks ago and I saw a person do a presentation that offered to help people launch their podcast for $8999. Just for that weekend there was a sale and they would only charge you $3990. This is America and if you can get people to pay for $4,000 for your advice, then GO CAPITALISM. I feel bad for your customers, because without an intimate knowledge of your product, my gut instinct says they over-paid. A couple of episode ago I said the snake-oil sales people are coming, and now I'm here to tell you they are here. So get your boots on cause the poop is getting deep. Podcast Review Swap - Trying to Cut in Line in the Apple Charts is Bad For Podcasting I was in a private Facebook group when the owner of the group (the same guy selling a $9,000 podcast course) places this post: RATE AND REVIEW SWAP - POST YOUR SHOW BELOW (LET'S GET A LONG THREAD GOING)Is it ok to post your show via iTunes link? and ask for rate and review swaps?I HIGHLY ENCOURAGE TO DO THISsomething like hey everyone, wanna do rate and review swap? Here's my show --show link removed by Dave--Let me know when you've done it and I'll go do the same. Extra points for screenshots or copy paste of review smile emoticonWHAT I DON'T ENCOURAGE'Hey guys check out the most bomb, amazing spectacular show on the planet - insert link. and subscribe please...NOPE!example #2Hey guys this week we talk about how we are the real deal, and we discuss it in such an amazing way. ARen't we awesome! - link to youtube. **Please don't F'ing do this! I am considering kicking you out if you do this more than 1x. and I won't tell you, so don't do it at all.BEST PRACTICE FOR ASKING FOR RATE AND REVIEWS"Anyone opne for rate and review swap: here's my show""Just left review for TAG PERSON - great show, here's what I wrote - insert message - THEN say - here's my show can you hit me back too" The people lined up DROVES. The post was growing like a weed. This was like a unicorn. I had heard of them, but had never seen one, and it was depressing. After no less than 20 people I had put in their link I chimed in as asked why we were asking people who had never heard your show to give us a give star review. As always, I'm open to other sides of the story so I asked, "Why are you doing this? If you can't get your audience (who has heard your show) to review it, that is a red flag that your content is not resonating with your audience. Please shed some light on this. He repled: The idea here is that people can listen, rate, and review and not be stranger. As artists we need a place to be ale to get feedback to share on our show, and this is a thread for people to be able to do that.  We are not encouraging people to be strangers here and in a podcasting group it only makes sense to have a place where people can openly asks for reviews and feedback.  There is a place for podcasters to get feedback and share it on your show. It's called your audience. It's called comments on your website, facebook, email, voicemail from people who can help shape your content for the better. They are called YOUR AUDIENCE. The answer is a lie. They are trying to game the system, jump up the charts, and boost their downloads. I get that. Who doesn't want a bigger audience? Do you remember William Hung from American Idol. This poor kid couldn't sing or dance, but he was so bad we shot him on the charts. William produced an album, and that's the last I heard of him. He doesn't have the talent to remain on that stage. More and more professional content creators are getting into podcasting (radio people). They have paid their dues, and they have had lots of practice. They have found their voice,...

You will notice that I am in pursuit of people who have been able to make a living with their podcast. Today we interview Jim Harold who does the Paranormal Podcastt and the Campfire Podcast. Podcasting News In a nutshell, use podcastsconnect.apple.com to submit your podcast to iTunes, but don't mess with anything else in that platform for now (you can really shoot yourself in the foot). Understanding iTunes and Podcasting iTunes is somewhat confusing. You submit an iTunes RSS feed to iTunes and in return, they give you a link to your listing in iTunes. iTunes is like a giant phone book of podcasts. The interesting thing is when someone goes to iTunes and subscribes to your show, iTunes sets the original feed you submitted in their software. This can create confusing. When you publish a new show it will not show up in the iTunes Store immediately because they have to refreshed your listing. However, anyone who is subscribed to your show gets that show because they are looking at your original feed. My advice here is to subscribe to your own show. This way when you think there is a problem because your show is not "showing up" in iTunes, check your show using whatever app you use. If the show appears, then it just means the iTunes store has not refreshed your listing yet. Wait at least 24 hours. Jim Harold's Paranormal Podcast is Paying the Bills (interview starts at 9:51 - recorded with a Zoom H5 recorder and two Audio Technica ATR2005usb microphones ) Here are some bullet points from our conversation with Jim Harold from the Paranormal Podcast Jim wanted to be on the radio, but ended up in radio sales. Jim loved reading about the Paranormal growing up. He sputtered at the beginning of his show, but his fans wanted more. Why? Because nobody was talking about this like Jim was, and he delivered value. After 6 months , Jim was offered a sponsorship from Audible, and that helped him get more serious about his show. Jim has multiple streams of income. He has a plus club (membership site), he has multiple books, and he has advertisers. Jim uses Wishlist member to manage his membership site Jim's first book was "traditionally" published. It was cool to see it in Barns and Noble, but Jim later purchased the rights to that book and sold it on his own. Check out Jim's books at Amazon.com Podcasting has opened door for Jim His podcast grows about 10% every year. His podcast is named well. It's called the "paranormal podcast." He went with the obvious name for his show. When people Google "Paranormal Podcast' his show comes up. There is a difference between radio ads and podcast ads. Jim explains how he feels like he knows me because he listens to my show. Podcasting advertising has great impact because we care about your audience. Jim has rejected ads that didn't fit his audience, or that he couldn't endorse. Jim is currently using a Heil Pr40, a Mackie Mixer, and a Behringer Processor. Check out Jim's shows at Jimharold.com as well as his <a...

Podfest hapned this weekend in tamp Florida. Wow was it fun. I got to hang out with Hall of Fame podcasters like Danny Pena, and meet some people who are trying to get their podcast off the ground. I love, love, love, the podcast community. It's filled with helpful, loving ,caring people. I got to catch up with Dan and Jared from Podcast Movement, Glenn the Geek, some members of the School of Podcasting. I'd write more names, but I'm still in a coma from the Dramamine. Cool Things About Podfest Being a new event (this was year two) they had one track. This meant that all the attendees sat in the same room and the speakers would rotate in and out. We were strongly encouraged to network on breaks and sit in new locations. It was cool. I ran out of business cards, an luckily had a box of "stand by" business cards. One of the coolest things were did was like Speed Networking. You had a time keeper at the table, and each person had 90 seconds to share their name, their podcast, and their target audience. Then each round you would go to a new table and meet more people. By the end of the session, you had pretty much met everyone in the room. This was one of the coolest things I've ever seen. They had a schedule flowed nicely together. This lead to speakers often referring to something mentioned previously in the conference. Great speakers. Simple. All brought value. Relative sponsors: Audio editing services, marketing, interviewing, trademark, conferences, hosting, all were relevant to the audience. I saw, felt, and participated in Content Marketing. I met Katie Krimitsos the night before. I saw her presentation on Facebook Goups, and she showed me how much more I could be doing. I will be a customer.  When Will The School of Podcasting Open? As God as my witness, ready or not, it will open next weekend 3/5 What am I doing? I'm reshot many of the videos. I've added quite a few videos, and I'm restructuring how I will do business. At this point (subject to change) I want to let a certain amount of people in at one point, and the close the doors so we can all kind of be "on the same page." Then I can help, encourage, and guide you through your process, while still providing value to current members through additional videos and live office hour webinars. Creating Compelling Podcasts Adjective: having a powerful and irresistible effect; requiring acute admiration, attention, or respect How Podcasts are like Potatoes You have instant potatoes out of a box. These are quick, easy, and cheap. The end result? Bland. You can make mashed potatoes from scratch. They take longer, it takes more effort, and they are more expensive to create. The result? They are delicious and your recipients want more. It's Not About the Audio Quality If you record with your laptop microphone, that's bad. I think we all can recognize audio that is distracting (if you make me adjust the volume during your podcast, we have a problem). You can purchase an Audio Technica 2100 for around $60 and have great audio. Be sure to get a pop filter (check out this package with a swing arm). Once you have that, MOVE ON. I would listen to an 8-track tape of the Beatles because the content is good. My friend Paul Colligan from the Podcast Report records in all sorts of fun locations. Some are better than others. One time it sounded like Paul was recording fro ma submarine. I listened to every minute. Why? Because Paul makes me think. On the other hand, Metallica put out and album with Lou Reed. Van Halen Put out an album with Gary Cherone. One of more of the following need to happen: Laugh Cry Think Grown Entertain Educate If none of the above is happening then don't press record. Identify Your Audience If you have a "Secret Santa" at your job...

Because of my Podcast: I'm Working For Libsyn - Dave Jackson A couple of weeks ago I let you know that my "Day job" had gone away. A little update on the story, I reached out to the head of HR only to find she no longer works there, and I got an email stating that payroll would be postponed two days.  So there I was, thinking about getting into training and support. So I asked myself. What do I want to do for a living? I love podcasting. So in a nutshell. I want to help people in the podcasting space. Who is the biggest player in the podcast space? Libsyn.com I reached out to a person I knew (remember how it's all about relationships) and just let them know I was available if they needed someone. A little over two weeks later I was given a proposal to join their team. I gladly accepted. I can still do consulting, but you will now hear me give out a disclaimer that I am an employee of Libsyn. You will hear me give out my promo code of sopfree for Libsyn on this show, but not at a trade show where I'm acting as a Libsyn employee. For those who are new to my show, I've been a big fan of Libsyn as well as Blubrry, and Spreaker for years. I think the insights I get from working in support will help me created better content for you on this show, as well as additional documentation for Libsyn. I've always wanted to make a living around podcasting, and now I can. I can do podcasting as my full-time gig, and my night time hobby. Wait, that's Ray's line. Because of My Podcast I Quit My Day Job - Jim Harold Every Saturday at 10:30 AM I do a live call-in show called "Ask the Podcast Coach" at www.askthepdocastcoach.com/live and this week Jim asked a question about the controversy over measuring podcasts (see this episode of the Podcasters Roundtable ) and once he came on I got to talk to him and found out. Jim previously a sales guy for radio Jim now does a podcasting full time at jimharold.com I've already reached out to Jim and we will be doing a deep dive on next week's show. Anchor.fm Vs Voxer Vs Clammr Vs Speakpipe Vs Voicemail Today we are joined by Chris Nesi  (www.chrisnesi.com) from the House of Ed Tech podcast. Chris is well versed in Voxer. As a member of the School of Podcasting Chris has shown me he really enjoys voxer. So when this new tool (Anchor) came on the scene and everyone was going nuts over it, I wanted to get Chris's opinion. In the end, they are different tools for different audiences who are looking for different results. The world is all a flutter over the Anchor app for iOs. This is an app that allows you to sign in via your twitter account and create audio. People can follow you, and you can follow them. You can record a "wave" and people can reply. This is all public. You can them embed your wav on your website, like this. See www.schoolofpodcasting.com/502 Speakpipe.com Originally I wasn't going to include Speakpipe in this discussion, but if we are talking about getting feedback from your audience, I would look like a fool not to include it. Speakpipe is a way for you to put a button on your website for...

With so many people focusing on New and Noteworthy, I wanted to see how many people use New and Noteworthy. So I asked people how they found new podcasts and here is what they said. The number one way was hearing the podcaster being interviewed on another podcast. This data is from 100 respondents from my email list, and from social media. So it order with the number one answer first it was I heard them interviewed on another podcast I searched the app for my topic I heard about it from a friend (word of mouth) Other The Internet (Google, Bing) Search The "other" responses were (and I'm summarizing) more or less "Word of mouth." Meaning the podcast host they were listening to mentioned them, or they heard about it on Twitter, Pinterest, etc. So if one of the top ways to grow your audience is to appear on other podcasts, how do you get booked on other shows? Well, we are going to dig into a smart way of setting yourself up to be booked on other podcasts. How To Get Booked as A Guest On a Podcast? OK, there must be some new course, or guru telling people how to contact people to be potential guests. Here is the format Tell people how much you love the show Tell them your story Tell them what topic you can talk about and how much my audience is going to benefit. Kiss the butt of the host and tell them what an honor it would be on the show. Drop a hint about the book or course you have, and how my audience would benefit. Promise to promote. They are missing one key ingredient GO AND LISTEN TO THE SHOW When you start off the email with “I have heard some fantastic things about your radio show, congratulations on your success!” Again, do some homework, or better yet, go by the book Stop Chasing Influencers: The True Path To Building Your Business and Living Your Dream Strategies For Securing a Guest Spot on Other Podcasts Search for your topic in iTunes, Google, etc. the idea is to see who is in the space. Who is the leader in your space? Search for their name in iTunes and see what podcasts they have appeared.  You could search for New and Noteworthy as these people are probably more New than Noteworthy (and hungry for guests) Realize your interview will be evergreen. So if someone goes back to get the back catalog, you will be included. Find influencers in your niche: Look for books on your topic in Amazon, and in Amazon there is a "Customers also bought these items" area. You should probably see other authors names who are also involved with your topic. Make a list and check it twice When you find a podcast, look and see the date of their last episode. If they have podfaded, you might consider contacting them to see if you could take over the show. In general, people who haven't put out a show in months, are more than likely not coming back. Start a spreadsheet with the following information Website Address Twitter Handle e-mail address The average Twitter followers per user is 208. According to an article on Sumome you can look at Twitter...

If you're new to the School of Podcasting, when Dave hits a milestone like 100, 200, 300, 400, he breaks format and tries to do something that is educational, entertaining, and slightly weird. Today being that it is both my 500th episode of the School of Podcasting, and my 51st birthday, (and the fact that last week was Groundhog's Day), I am taking my creativity and love of the movie Groundhog's Day (the story is a guy has to relive the same day over and over, rent it here) and joining it with the story of Jack Davidson and his friend Scooter as they try to launch a podcast. We also here snippets of past shows at the start of the show. Special thanks to Adam Curry of the No Agenda Show for loaning me their birthday jingle. Check out their awesome podcast at www.noagendashow.com Also thanks to Steve Stewart of the No Debt, No Credit, No Problems podcast for kicking off the show, and to Kim Kracji of the onthetablepodcasts.com for being my female voice in the "podcasting commercial". I knew I could count on you both. Look Back Memory Lane 00:38 Episode 500 Begins 2:00 We cover a story about a man named Jack Davidson. It’s his birthday, he’s gone through some life changes, and he’s thinking of starting a business. He is realizing that you only have so much time on the planet, and he wants to make a difference. His biggest fear in life is being insignificant, or leaving no legacy behind. His mind is whirling today about his future. This has been spurred on by the fact that he is turning 51 today Morning Burger hit :4:00 Hey It's Your Birthday Version 1 5:01 Podcasting Commercial 5:34 First Jack tries using a free media host that limits your bandwidth - Bad idea Binky and the Whiz take over the No Agenda Show 8:44 Jack purchases blue snowball microphones only to find out these don't work good in a non-silent environment and its hard to have two usb microphone plugged into one computer. Whet Bread the Big Lie 11:55 Hey It's Your Birthday Version 2 15:15 Jack and Scooter learn that you should setup an agreement to identify who does what, and if there is any money who gets paid, etc Hey It's Your Birthday Version 3 18:50 Jack and Scooter lose their friendship after arguing over the money with their podcast. Jack goes solo, and tries multiple hosts, platforms, and equipment. Jack and Scooter come to an agreement Final Thoughts on Episode 500 23:20 What did we learn today? Blue snowball microphones are not a great choice even though 1000 websites say so. They are not a great fit for podcasters. There are better options Copying a company that you may be talking about on twitter is a strategy you might want to try Be sure to have expectation regarding money and responsibilities in place if you have a co-host. We learned that the only thing more annoying than Binky and the Whiz is hearing the same clip of Binky and the Whiz over and over is quite annoying. We learned that the more tied Dave gets, the less he stays in character And lastly if your your episode last longer than four hours, you should always call your doctor. The Not Ready For FM Players Podcast Sally 34:10 Mentioned in this Episode Sign up for the newsletter Steve Stewart  On the Table Podcast (for...

Last week we talk about being a "hobby podcast" and that you can be a hero to someone. We mentioned that you do NOT have to make money with your podcast. Today we are going the other way and looking at making money with your podcast. So let's start right there. YOU DON'T MAKE MONEY WITH YOUR PODCAST. YOU MAKE MONEY WITH THE RELATIONSHIP YOU BUILD WITH YOUR PODCAST This is why it takes time. In the same way that it takes time to develop a relationship, it takes time to build an audience that will like and trust you. Things that can speed up this process: Create content that is valuable. Come across in a way that build confidence. Deliver it on a regular basis (so people depend on you). Let them know you. Strategies for Making Money with Your Podcast 1. Sell your own product This is by far the most lucrative because people know, like and trust you. This can be a book, a course, consulting, etc. 2. Refer to other products through affiliate links Pick a product that matches the audience. Preferably one that you actually like so you can talk open and honestly about the product. Many people use Amazon. or Audible as well. 3. Donations You can put a paypal button on your site, or websites like Patreon make it easy to build a community by rewarding them for different levels of support. Be careful with the reward and make sure you don't spread yourself too thin. 4. Sponsorship When you get over 5,000 download per episode, you can start thinking about getting a "big" sponsor (squarespace). As 92% of podcasters are nowhere near that number you are not out of luck. You can find smaller businesses that may be looking for more of a branding play. Check out my interview with Glenn The Geek who is making a living with sponsors by making sure his sponsors fit his audience and he gets them involved. Selling Digital Downloads Check out this super powerful shopping cart plugin that allows you to safely sell digital downloads Gumroad is a handy website that make's it easy to sell digital downloads if you're not using Wordpress. Selz.com is another great looking shopping cart. Monetizing With Membership Sites The School of Podcasting was founded in 2005 and I used Digital Access Pass to to make sure the general public could not access my material. I also used it to manage my affiliate program, and e-mail m members. It created coupons for discounts, and generated reports. Is is the cheapest platform? No. But the money you save using different plugins is wasted in the time you spend trying to get them all to work together. Today I interview Ravi Jayagopal from Digital Access Pass and the author of the book Subscribe Me: Making, Marketing & Monetizing Online Digital Content with Membership Sites, Online Courses and Recurring Subscriptions The biggest advantage of a membership site is you can build it once, and then sell it many times. Digital Access...

Because of my Podcast Darren Dake Darren Dake from the Coroner talk podcast has told us (about a year ago) where he was asked to do some state wide training in Missouri). Well Darren is back because now - because of his podcast - which is now over 100,000 downloads (think about how niche his topic is). Darren is using his podcast as a calling card, and now Darren has been asked to do some teaching on a NATIONAL level as the LEAD INSTRUCTOR for a course. He has made great contacts all over the world and has been asked to speak at numerous conventions. His next goal is to be asked to speak outside of the US. Check out his show at www.coronertalk.com  One more point: Coroner talk was Darren's second podcast. So you don't always hit it out of the park the first time. Darren started, tweaked, learned along the way and now is seeing success. Podcast Rewind: Podcaster's Roundtable In the recent episode of the Podcaster's Roundtbale we ask, "Is your podcast paying for itself?" Check it out at podcastersroundtable.com/64  We talk about networks, patreon, and wondering if people making money with their podcast is ruining podcasting for the hobby podcast. Unleash Your Inner Hero: Defining Podcast Success A post in a Facebook Group Asked: "What is your idea or definition of a successful podcast, the one that has specific number of downloads, or subscriptions or sponsorship or something else that I might not know??" Does it make you happy? Do you love doing it every day/week? Do you have a positive impact on the lives of others? is it something you'd love to do every day as your career? You're successful. It's not about dollars and cents or downloads - it's about levels of happiness - Lou Mongello wdwradio.com All I can say is Amen. Look, I love what money can do for me. I'm up to my eyeballs in student loans, but if you OBSESS over downloads numbers, and OBSESS over New and Noteworthy you are focusing on the wrong thing. You need to focus on your audience and impacting them in a positive fashion. Example of Podcast Success 12:59 Mark Dowding from the Oh Beep Geocaching Show Not writing this to boast, or brag, just as a heads up to anyone who is getting a little jaded with their podcast. We've struggled the last few shows and have only recorded one episode in January. We've been questioning our value in our niche and what we bring to the table. Then a listener sent this e mail, which told us we've been achieving what we set out to do every episode.: "I just wanted to tell you how much I enjoy the show. I listen on my way to work and on my way home from work. My drive is around 1 1/2 hours. I have never laughed so much listening to a podcast. I sometimes have tears in my eyes from laughing so hard. An awesome father and son podcast. So thank you" Thats all we want to do, entertain people. There are plenty of deep dive podcasts in our niche and plenty of interview podcasts. We wanted to do something different and it seems we hit the spot - no one before that listener has told us we've done that. Its worth keeping in mind that someone listening is getting value from your show, so don't give up. People Are Listening Glenn The Geek of Horse Radio Network has appeared twice on this show (cause he's that good) and check this out. He posted something in the School of Podcasting's Private Facebook Club. "I need to brag a bit, with the help of <a class="profileLink" href="https://www.facebook.com/schoolofpodcasting"...

There are a number of things you need to be successful in podcasting. Great Content Great Sound Great Promotion Great Attitude No matter how great your show sound, and how much you promote it, without great content, it won't succeed. No matter how great your content is, if it is painful to listen to, or you have to constantly adjust the volume, nobody is going to listen. No matter how great you sound, and how great your content is, if you don't promote it, your growth will be slow. Without a great attitude, you won't be able to handle it when things don't go according to plan. You have to be able to roll with the punches, dodge the trolls, embrace constructive feedback, celebrate other's success, and remember to always serve your audience. It is easier said than done. Jump Starting Your Year There are a number of people who can help you launch a great year. Michael Hyatt has your best year ever. John Lee Dumas can get you where you want to go in 100 days with his Freedom Journal (and yet I bought a copy).  Today we have Tarun Stevenson of  leadcommunicategrow.com is hear to help us keep our attitude in check, and to make sure we set realistic goals. Avoiding Burnout When you lose hope its a very dark place to be and want to quit. Business without purpose can lead to you throwing in the towel. We look at where we want to be, and then look at where we are, and instead of feeling gratitude for what you have, you get discouraged. You have to value your current situation so your attitude can stay positive and allow you to make it to the next step. An App that Dave has been using is Gratitude Journal . Take A Look At Yourself Look at last year and figure out what worked, and what could be done better. What experiences help you grow more? When we develop small habits they can lead to giant success. Goals Be sure to have specific goals, and make sure the goals push you out of your comfort zone. Make sure they are realistic. Instead of focusing on the goal, focus on the actions that will lead to achieving the successful goal. Instead of focusing on our stats, focus on the actions that will lead to more downloads. Anything of value takes time and effort. A garden of weeds takes no time or effort. Your successful podcast will require time and effort, but it will be worth it. Becoming a Person of Influence Operate with integrity Help other people, and deliver value. Listen to people, and be interested in other people. Follow Tarun on twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn Details Goal Setting & Free Audio Teaching on the 15 Laws of Growth www.leadcommunicategrow.com/growme   Mentioned in this Episode How to Influence People: Make a Difference in Your World (John Maxwell) John Maxwell Books at Amazon You can also get a free John Maxwell Audio Book when you sign up at Audible.

Today's episode is a special "Dual Episode" as Dave and "The Real Brian" from Profitcast take on the subject of what is needed to make money with your podcast. We got together to talk about three bullet points: Abundant vs Poverty Mindset 8:10 Identifying the type of client or listener you want 23:50 Invest in yourself and value yourself. 29:31 In the process of going into these bullet points, I expanded the talk to include a discussion of looking at our podcast. There are two sides of podcasting Podcast is the wild, wild West - and you can do WHATEVER you want. You need to focus on delivering value to your audience. So this leads us into uncomfortable places as we love to be encouraging, but we need to be honest and let people know that podcasting does require work (especially if you're trying to deliver value for your audience).  If your show fails to deliver value, then nobody will buy your service either. How to Overcome Negative Podcast Mindsets If you take the time so that you KNOW you are delivering value, then you are confident in your content. If you are "guessing" that your audience will enjoy/grow your content, then your confidence is not as solid. How to Identify Your Listener There is no easy way around this, and it will probably get tweaked over time. You need to go out and meet your audience. This can be online, or in person, but you need to go meet your audience and make sure they exist. When you talk to people and you hear what they need, then you can deliver the best content. How To Invest in Yourself My first piece of advice would be to turn off the television. Television delivers very little value when it comes to helping your podcast earn money (unless you're watching Shark Tank, or The Profit). There are many ways to do this that require no money: Taking time to read blogs Going to Meetup Getting books from the library Watching relevant video on YouTube All those things can benefit you in your understanding of your content, your market, and help keep you focused. There are tons of different courses. If you find one that you feel fits your needs, then take the course, and throw yourself 100% into it. Don't purchase another course, book, CDs, DVDs, until you finish that course and put those strategies into action. Ready to Start a Podcast? Check out www.theschoolofpodcasting.com

I recently was very concerned when I saw a video from a company call Glycast.com It stated, "“It’s a new approach to podcast advertising. This is how it works. You give us your podcast feed, and we give you a new one to distribute to your audience. ”" I could tell by the video that the person was more of a podcast listener and not an actual podcaster. I didn't think he was out to hurt podcasters. But I could see where there was a chance for people to get their RSS feed hijacked with now way to get it back if Glycast went out of business. This video explains it all. So my first reaction was to tell everyone the house was on fire, and to be careful. My second reaction was to contact the company and get their side of the story. I was BLOWN AWAY when I got this response. My name is José Pablo Fernández, I live in London, I started coding when I was 7 years old, I also started my first business around that time. I worked for Google some years ago. For the past 4 years I been running a startup I co-founded, first as CTO and then as CEO: Carousel Apps. This company is launching Glycast. I co-founded Hear a Blog, a podcasting-related product, some years ago, and we got selected and Seedcamp Paris finalists. In my video for investors I talk more about my background: https://carouselapps.wistia.com/medias/pv06qw6ap5 We have the core tech for Glycast but not everything, so, we'll build whatever is required for both parties to be happy. We want both parties to be happy, so, if you are not and you want to leave us, we won't stop you. If you require us setting up a redirect of your feed to another system, we'll implement that feature and everybody will have it. I'm thinking of actually recommending people of using Feedburner, so as to have a setup such as this: main rss -&gt; glycast -&gt; feedburner -&gt; audience You give the feedburner RSS to your audience and while Glycast is there, then you have ads, if one day you want to move away, then you just switch your Feedburner account to read directly from your main rss like this: main rss -&gt; feedburner -&gt; audience and voila. You don't even need the redirect. Nobody will notice any difference at all. Depending on what systems people are using we may also develop plug ins. For example, we can have a WordPress plug in that makes your feed look like if it was serve from Glycast, with the ads, but on your feed on your own server. That shouldn't be that hard to implement. About who is on your show? Do you mean about which ads are played and which ones aren't? I'd love to implement something like that. It'll probably be something like this: if you don't approve any ads, then all ads are approved, if you approve enough ads to take care of your inventory, then only those ads will appear. If there are not enough ads, we'll send an email with an alert. Those ads pay for our hosting and bandwidth so we can't run without ads for long periods of time, but I don't want any podcaster ever to be unhappy about the ads they are getting. About how much money, I don't know yet. The market will define this over time. I could look at the current expenditure in podcasts but since our model is quite different, it doesn't really apply. When you buy ads in a podcast today you are most likely buying that spot forever, while with Glycast, the spot keeps passing around from advertiser to advertiser over time. Eventually, I think we'll have a bidding system, similar to Google's Adsense, so that the pricing adjusts over time automatically. About the video. I'm not here to harm anyone. I'm here to make a product to help podcasters and advertisers connect, be more efficient. I'm building whatever podcasters will need to be...

in no particular order) 01:25 Exponent - the nuances of tech strategy - Submitted by Max Flight of AirplaneGeeks.com, TheUAVDigest.com, and PaxExPodcast.com 2:48 Up In Your Business - brings in inspiration to help you to create a business - Submitted by Chris Lewis of www.dadspotlight.com 4:33 School of Podcasting - All Things Podcasting - Submitted by Craig from inglespodcast.com and 08:06 Kenn from blackmanwithagun.com 09:53 Ask the Podcast Coach - Your Podcast Questions Answered - Submitted by Dan Lovallo from http://headlinehistory.libsyn.com/podcast 11:18 We Choose Respect - Teaches kids to be respectful - Submitted by Erik K Johnson from www.podcasttalencoach.com 13:35 You Must Remember This - Golden Age of Hollywood - Submitted by Emily and James of www.classylittlepodcast.com 16:40 Canada Land - A deep dive into the media world in Canada - Submitted by Francis McGrogan from www.standcurious.com 19:10 The Mentee - surround yourself with heavy hitting mentors - Submitted by Gretchen from www.alwaysalesson.com 20:10 Learning Leader - focuses on leadership in every field - Submitted by Gretchen (Schultek) Bridgers from www.alwaysalesson.com 20:40 Duncan Trussell Family Hour - have a good laugh every once in a while - Submitted by Harry Duran of www.podcastjunkies.com 21:56 Mat Men - I love wrestling and this network - Jeff Bradburry from www.teachercast.net 22:30 The Morning Stream - a great mix of humor, news, music, pop culture - Submitted by Jeremy Denise of transmissionspodcast.com 23:33 Bowery Boys - New York City history - Submitted by Jessica Bailey of www.funkyfitnessnow.com 24:34 Art of Manliness - Great advice for Men - Submitted by John Overall of Wordpress Plugins A to Z 26:18 Finding Christ in Cinema - tease out the bits of movies that relate to Christ - John Wilkerson of www.thewiredhomeschool.com 28:10 Grit and Hustle...

Because of My Podcast the Creator From the Blacklist Gets Interviewed on Podcast Troy produces numerous podcast, but today he is talking about the Blacklist Exposed podcast he had the creator of the hit NBC show contact Troy on twitter and ask to come on the show. While he was on the show he made announcements that were then used in Press Releases that had all the press releases pointing at Ttoy's site theblacklistexposed.com Tory point out that: The Creator of the Show Called THEM. It took three seasons (it didn't happen over night). Make great headlines. Evaluating Your Podcast Year My stats are basically flat from the start of the year to the end of the year. I had a bit of an upswing in the middle of the year, and I'm up a bit from last year (kind of following the trends of podcasting up about 3%). Here are some things you can look at: See what episodes were downloaded the most See what episodes had the most comments See what pages had the most visit (check your Google Analytics) See what got shared the most ( I use Social Warfare for this) Then look at what didn't do well. You want to do more of what seemed to resonate with your audience and less of what didn't. Seems obvious, but without a time to evaluate what is working you could be going deeper into the wrong direction.   Top Ten Episodes of 2015 The Journey of Podcasting Starts with a Single Episode- Profitcast's The Real Brian Taking Phone Calls On Your Podcast What to Do If You Can't Pick a Podcast Topic What Podcasters Can Learn From David Letterman Podcasting's Most Frequently Asked Questions Making a Living Talking about Horses - Glen the Geek is Never Boring Audio Technica BP40 - Electrovoice RE320 - Audio Technica ATR2100 USB Microphone Shootout Jeff Brown Shares 26 Years Of Experience Behind the Microphone 8 Ways a Stranger Can Help You Grow Your Audience   Honorable Mentions The Most Addicting Social Platform Ever What Every Podcaster Should Know About Stalkers Is Soundcloud A Legitimate Option for Podcasting?   New...

Creative Ways to Get Your Advertisers to Promote Your Podcast Glenn made quite a splash when he was on the show earlier this year (it's the most shared episode on the site). 7:02 "Glenn the Geek" is America's Horse Husband and founder of the Horse Radio Network recently had a special holiday program where they streamed live for 12 hours. Here are some stats: 12 Hours Live20+ Hosts30 Scheduled Guests including Charlie Daniels, Robin from Disney World, Monty Roberts and American Pharoah Trainer Bob BaffertCrashed live feed during Bob Baffert, everything else worked all dayOver 100 listener voicemails with songs, poems and holiday greetings.200 calls during the day (Not all got on air)Gave away $3,000 in prizes including $1000 Grand Prize17 Sponsors Strategies For Doing a Radiothon He started planning months in advance when he was face to face with the sponsors. Sponsors who won't sponsor on a weekly basis, may be interested in doing a "one off." (who later turn into a weekly sponsor). Glenn uses Callinstudio.com to take phone calls and streams via mixlr.com He put it in the contract that the sponsors had to publish the radiothon on their Facebook page. He utilized relationships to get great guests. Glen says "It's not who you know, it's who knows YOU." He got his audience involved who sent in songs, poems, shout outs and more (it took 20 hours to edit together). They got Charlie Daniels by using the contact form on their website. They had a title sponsor who was mentioned every hour. Another advertiser sponsored the email section. Other advertisers were tied into give aways. Results of Horse Radio Holiday Radiothon He mad 50% of what he makes in a month in ONE day. It was a lot of work. He picked up new sponsor who decided to sponsor this one day, are now sponsor weekly. Proof You don't have to have huge numbers to sell advertising. You have to have huge numbers to sell to Ford and Chevy. For more information about the Horse Radio Network check out www.horseradionetwork.com Podfest Event 29:55 Podfest is in February at Tampa Florida at podfest.us For the 2nd year in a row, Podfest is the gathering place for long time podcasters, new podcasters and those who are thinking about starting podcasts.  It's a special forum that brings you actionable and strategic education, unique opportunities to connect and collaborate with your fellow podcasters and speakers and access to the best podcasting resources out there! Use the coupon code earlybird before the end of the year and get $100 off. Because of my Podcast: Glenn The Geek 2:10 Glen mentioned a kickstarter program for a product that fit his audience. Glenn mentioned them on his show, and they were able to meet their funding target (with one audience member giving them $1000) and now that product is sponsoring Glenn's show. Brian From Profitcast Brian was asked to moderate a panel and interviewing the actors of his favorite TV show. I'm a Verb! 38:27 On Profitcast Brian has now made my name a Verb. As in "I'm going to Dave Jackson this..." (meaning I'm going to interrupt a voicemail to talk to the person). Streaming Radio Stations Live365 has a new tool for Podcasters to Create a streaming radio station. They are charging $89 but you get unlimited listeners. Their system is easy to use...

The Podcast That Has More Audience Participation Than Any Podcast I've Heard Rob Walch is the VP of Podcast relations, but he started off 11 years ago as the host of Podcast411. In 2007 he started the then Today in iPhone (later changed to Today in iOs to include the iPad) and Rob has more audience interaction than any podcast I've ever heard. Here are some things I noticed about his show. Rob mentions and ASKS for feedback and provides his email address and phone number many times through the episode. He states it, and moves on. He gets his community involved by asking them to contribute original music and artwork He offers them free apps from developers looking to promote their app to their target audience. He offers objective viewpoints (he's a fan boy, but realizes integrity easy to lose, and hard to come by) about Apple products. He uses his sponsors so he can talk about them first hand. When someone sends in feedback he religiously refers to this person by name. He reminds his audience that he is "going back to the mail bag" to remind them to e-mail in their comments/questions He doesn't pretend to know it all. If he doesn't know it, he throws it out to the audience to answer (and they do). He uses a Google community (with 2500+ members) to community outside the podcast He uses the same segments for each show, and yet every show is different due to news, apps, and upgrades. So you know what to expect, and still have no idea what to expect. Every episode is served with a side of snarkiness. Rob is sarcastic and that is the part that I love about the show. His segment "How wrong were they" is always good for a chuckle. I play a small "behind the scenes" conversation I had with Rob back in January of this year when we were talking "Twitter bombing" 1:10 Because of My Podcast I'm on FM Radio - Mike Dell from Podcast Help Desk Mike Dell from Podcast Help Desk explains how his podcast lead to him getting a job as a regular on a local Radio show. Find Mike at podcasthelpdesk.com

Increasing Your Podcast's Audience Engagement With Better Calls To Action We love our audience, and we want to connect. We want them to take steps to deepen their level of engagement. We want them to take actions. These often include: Subscribe, Rate & Review in iTunes Follow us on Social Media Join our Email List Buy products Shop At Amazon and that's just a few. Determining Your ONE Call To Action Your call to action will be unique to you. We all have different needs, and different motives. There is no one size fits all, but in the end you need to STOP and THINK, WHAT IS THE GOAL OF THIS PODCAST. Them figure out the roadmap to get your audience from point A to point B. If you are in podcasting "Just for fun" you probably still want people to tell their friends. That is a call to action. Now if I was to honest here, I would say I want everyone to join the School of Podcasting. I need to look at this realistically. This may be the first time you've been on my website, or heard my show. That seems a bit forward don't you think? You don't ask someone to marry you on the first date, so you might not want to close the deal on the first contact with you audience. The cool thing is it is YOUR call. You want to ask someone to marry you on the first date, you can do that.  But you might be less intimidating to have them sign up for your email list. From there you have another opportunity to provide value. Notice what I said here, you have an opportunity to serve your audience. Figure out where you want to go, and the figure out how you're going to get there. It sounds easy, but you might find it difficult. The bottom line is you need a plan. Tips For Creating a Call To Action As I said before, you need to figure out what you want your audience to do Be clear and concise Be repetitive if necessary Tell them HOW (sure you know how, but they may not) Make it E A S Y (don't make them hunt for buttons, or type insane website addresses) Eliminate competitive calls to action Explain how they will benefit (not how you will benefit) Explain exactly what will happen Explain why they need to do this now Remove the Fear. Try to avoid words that might seem much of a commitment. BUY NOW vs Add to Cart. Maybe we should be asking people "Get the back catalog" instead of "Subscribe." Explain how they can cancel at any time, and it is free. Place it in two places on your post. One near the top of the page ("above the fold" and once near the bottom). In the end, a call to action should convey value, and provide a sense of urgency. Because of my Podcast - Jeff Steinman Jeff explains that how launching a podcast boosted his book sales, brought him more traffic, and boosted his interview skills. You can find Jeff at howtoquitworking.com How To Quit Working: A Simple Plan to Leave Your Job for a Life of Freedom Podbean's CrowdFunding Platform For the sake of this argument, let's say that the bar is set at Patreon.com They are the first at an ongoing crowdfunding platform. Others have come and gone, and they are still here. Podbean (a media host) recently launched the ability to have crowdfunding. I went over to check it out. Here is what I found. It's easy to setup, but in some cases impossible to edit. With Patreon it's super easy to create a post (think of it like a Facebook Wall) and choose who can and can't see that post. I don't see that option. With Podbean you have a comments section that doesn't seem as robust. When I...

I've been talking about your podcast from TOP to Bottom over the last couple of weeks. Sometimes its good to go back to the basics and reexamine our shows. The first week we talked about Headlines (the title of your show notes), and I provided a free guide with tools to help you write better Blog Post Titles. Last week we talk about the importance of your introduction and how it is your first impression. This week we are talking about the meat and potatoes of the meal. Your content. Because of my Podcast Jason Marshall Jason from the We Don't have Cookies podcast  tells a story that has lead him to get a job on radio, as well as appearances on television all because of his podcast. Be Part of Our Last episode of the Year Answer the question, "My favorite podcast is.." and explain WHY leave your answers HERE (deadline 11/31) I've mentioned the book [easyazon_link identifier="0849921902" locale="US" tag="sop2-20"]Secrets of Dynamic Communications: Prepare with Focus, Deliver with Clarity, Speak with Power[/easyazon_link] available at Amazon which is a great book for shaping your content. I've always said that before you press record you should ask yourself, "What about this topic is going impact my listener enough to want them to tell a friend?" If you can't answer that, then maybe you shouldn't press record. Here are some questions to ask yourself: Do I have a crystal clear objective about this topic. How do you get crystal clear about a subject? By knowing your audience and what they need or want to hear. What points do I need to make to obtain my objective? Don't worry about what they think about YOU, instead think about THEM. Get To the Point With Thanksgiving right around the corner when I to my Grandmother's house it was great seeing all my cousins, it was great smelling all the food, it was great eating crackers or whatever little munchies they had out out, but for the most part I wanted the TURKEY and HOME MADE MASHED POTATOES. It was the same at Christmas. My Grandfather would read the Christmas story before we opened presents (a tradition my brother continues). Then we had to sing some Carols. THEN, FINALLY we would open presents. Your audience is here for the presents. What do you have a hard time waiting for?

Last week we talked about the importance of headlines, and I gave you a free resource to help you make better headlines. Now in Podcasting you headline is your "Show Notes" title. You can get the free resources at www.schoolofpodcasting.com/headlines Your Podcast Introduction People are busy. We hear activity like a badge of honor. How are you ding Bob? BUSY! I'm backed up. I don't get to take lunch. I'M SWAMPED! So with this in mind it is my opinion that your intro should get to the point quickly and answer the following questions: Who am I listening to? What is this? Why do I need to listen to this now? Get to the Punch Line? Put Yourself in the Shoes Of Your Listener When they do a search in Google, or iTunes, etc they see your information and they are asking: Should I listen to this podcast. Should I keep listening to this podcast? Will I come back to listen to this podcast Today I play intros from the following Shows The Podcast Report Podcast Producer 5 Minutes in Church History 317 Podcast Your Intro is Important Mark Ramsey said at the new Media Expo that unlike radio, every podcast listener starts at the beginning. Make yours count, hit them hard, hit them quick, and let them know what they are going to get. [clickToTweet tweet="Does your podcast intro move people to push STOP" quote="Does your podcast intro move people to push STOP"] Get Exposure For Your Show 26:45 November is almost over. Each year I ask you to answer one question. What is your favorite podcast and WHY. Be sure to tell us where we can find your podcast (and what it's about). I'm really interested to see WHY. You can record/upload your answer at www.schoolofpodcasting.com/favorite. There may be a prize involved...... Andrew Hellmich Refused to Podcast For Free - And it's Paying Off 27:48 Andrew Hellmich is from the Photo Bizz Exposed podcast (http://photobizx.com/) and does a podcast about boosting your wedding Photography business. Andrew launched a premium version of his show - when he launched. He knew the podcast would take time away from his business, and with a family to feed he couldn't podcast for free. The other thing Andrew does well, is provide value. He knows people will not pay for horrible content. In this interview you will hear: Andrew has hundreds of people paying for his membership He didn't start in the direction where he landed. He didn't wait to get it perfect. He launched and tweaked. His current strategy is to have 5 episodes available for free, and if you want access to the back catalog you need to pay Andrew $20 a month. Passive income is not always passive. Andrew has been podcasting for three years (this didn't happen overnight) You will hear how Andrew is not afraid to try new things. Andrew loves using Hindenburg Software to edit his podcast. Do You Need a Good Podcast Introduction? If you ever wonder where I got the female singers, or who did the intro to Andrew's show check out Music Radio Creative you get the top voices from all over the world, and years of experience. They can help you shape your message (for those who are marketing...

This is an abbreviated list of headline samples from the book "Writing Riches" by one of my favorite authors and podcaster's Ray Edwards. If you buy his book, buy some paper and pencil along with it. This topic starts at 6:35 The How To Headline (how to write headlines that will bring you more downloads) The Testimonial headline (I wish I had found Dave Jackson sooner - I could've save a lot of money) The Give Me headline (Give me 10 days, and I'll get your podcast into iTunes) The Reason Why Headline (The to 3 reasons people fail at launching a podcast - and how to over come them) The Probing Question Headline (Do you know the five things that cause people to unsubscribe podcasts?) The Dominant Emotion (Are you tired of putting out an episode and getting ZERO feedback?) The Command headline (Be the influencer that leads change in the world) The If-Then Headline (If you can upload a picture on Faceboook, then you can upload a media file your hosting). The Warning Headline (Is Soundcloud Going Out of Business?) A headline grabs attention, draws listeners to press play, communicates the big idea, establishes credibility and joins the conversion that is already happening in your audience's head. Common Mistakes That Podcaster's Make With Episode Titles They put the phrase "Episode 123" at the BEGINNING of the headline.  Nobody cares if you're on episode 6, 60, 600, or 6000. What they care about is how you are going to make them laugh, cry, think, groan, educate, or entertain them. If you MUST do this (I understand it makes it easy to search on your website) put it at the end. You can see in the image to the left that you don't get to see what the title is because half of it is EPISODE XXX. The worst offender of this is (unfortunately) the web based version of iTunes. It gives you very little room for your headline. They Put Very Little Thought Into the Podcast Episode Title This is the SECOND/THIRD thing people see when they find your listing (the first being your show artwork/Title of the Show). I know I am super guilty of waiting till I'd done recording the episode, editing, tagging it, listening to it "one more time," and writing the blog post. You're tired, you're excited (maybe), but you are "this close" to being done and you just "throw anything in there" just so you can press publish. If you think about it, from the 1890 to the 1940's they had paperboys who would shout out the headlines to entice people to purchase a paper and get the rest of the story. They weren't scream edition #417! If the podcast title is bad, the podcast will not be heard. Unheard audio impacts no one. (a twist on a John Caples quote). How To Write Good Podcast Episode Titles Typically Headlines do one of the following: Making a promise. Drawing a picture. Stating a fact. Asking a question. Try these steps Start with your audience. Cosmopolitan magazine knows their audience. Write your show notes first. Then write the title. Prime the pump that is your brain. Write several headlines. If you want to read them out loud. Pick the most important benefit and include that benefit in the headlines. Include the product or problem, or guest in the headlines Often email program like Mail Chimp have A/B testing tools so use two headlines and see which one gets more clicks. Automate the Process There are tools such as Headlinr and Freshtitle ($37) are two tools where you...

Any time my podcast can get in front of more people I'm happy. From what I've heard on the Feed Podcast where a Google Rep was interviewed here is what is what we think is going to happen.  Google will pull an episode and host it on their servers (but they won't be a media host) The reason for this is they have control and reliability (come some people do stupid things like put their files on a website host instead of a media host). They reserve the right to put ads after your show, and you will get nothing an like it. There will be a directory, you will be able to direct people to a location There is no set date besides "as soon as possible" It is just in the USA for starting. There are specific Google tags (just like iTunes Tags), but you can submit a feed and it will use the iTunes tags. There will be stats. They are not splitting your file into bits. They hope to feature your show when people search for it. They want to give you what you want - when you want it. This is probably why they paid $35 million for Songza (a company that generated custom playlists) back in 2014. Their artwork spec is from small to HUGE, so for now use your 1400X 1400 artwork that you use for iTunes. You can add your podcast at http://g.co/podcastprotal Here are the Terms of Service for Google Play Check out No Agenda Show for more in depth Media Analysis So How Do I Feel About Google Coming Into Podcasting? Anytime my podcast can get in front of more people, I'm very happy. As I've been online for a while, I've seen Google products come and go (Remember Google Buzz?). So while I'm excited, there is nothing for me to hold, touch, smell, and critique. Am I upset that they are going to host my files? No. Do I wish they would just pass through my files from Libsyn? Yes, but I understand why they are not. We all have our fingers crossed that they use better encoding that Stitcher (which makes you sound barely listenable). Am I upset that an advertising company is going to play ads after my show and I get none of that? No. (and I'm not surprised). As long as I can say what I want in my show and use it to direct people back to www.schoolofpodcasting.com I'm fine. Even Google has to pay the bills. So at this point, I'm "Hooray! - um, I think..." Terms of Service For Other Hosting Platforms Blubrry (use the coupon sopfree to get a free month )Content Producers agree that the content in you shows are free from speech that advocates violence or speech that promotes hate. The Company reserves the right to immediately remove any media content from its Websites that in its sole discretion is deemed to violate the restrictions of this paragraph. Libsyn.com (use the coupon sopfree to get a free month) MonetizationAny attempt to directly monetize Your Content via third-party ad networks or other outside business agreements at the expense of Libsyn without written approval from Libsyn is prohibited. If you choose to monetize, Your Content, you agree to utilize Libsyn Service to enable monetization including but not limited to in-content advertising, iPhone applications or sale of Your Content which may include additional requirements for revenue sharing or fees for use depending on the Service.. To request permission to monetize Your Content via third-party ad networks or other outside business agreements at the...

I'm going to be going over podcasting in the next few episodes. So many people think it starts with a microphone (which is a logical start), but it doesn't. It starts with an idea. It might be an idea that is fueled by a need. That need may be to help people. It may be to make them laugh, cry, think, grown, or inspire them. You want to connect with impact. This is where your podcast starts. It starts with an idea. Taking Your Podcast Inventory This topics starts at 14:21 What do you like? What are you good at? What do other people say you're good at? What do you not like? According to the Book Secrets of Dynamic Communication you are either intending to persuade or enable people. Persuading People Everyone _______ should _____  (i.e. Every coach should podcast). Enabling People Every ____ can ______. (i.e. very coach can podcast). Even sports shows are insinuating that everyone can/should cheer for their team. A comedy show might be getting you to think about something in a different (funny) way. Why Would People Listen to Me? This is a common response. After all it's easy to focus on ourselves. We are our favorite subject after all (right?). So instead of focusing on what people will think about you, think about what you are giving them? It's usually not scary to give someone a gift they know they will love, so why should delivering content that will positively impact them be scary. Communication is about the person (singular) who you will be helping, persuading, instructing, entertaining them. So How Do You Know If Your Podcast Will Impact Your Audience? You need to live in your niche. You need to hangout where your audience hangs out. This could be Facebook groups, Google Groups, Linkedin Groups, Meetup.com, etc. You need to go to where they are, and see what they are talking about. You can read books about our subject, and read blogs as well. You can watch movies about your subject. This is one of those "simple but not always easy" kind of things. There are no shortcuts. Once you know who your podcast is for, you know WHAT to talk about. Why Are You Getting Into Podcasting? There are many reasons: Be Seen as an Expert Reach a Global Audience Find Like Minded People Boost Sales of Your Own Products Boost speaking confidence Engage Your Community Make additional income Fun with friends and family. The WHY is the rudder of your podcast boat. It helps direct the content in the direction that will help you achieve your goal. It your message and your goal are out of sync then you will find it harder to achieve success. The Main Hurdles of Podcasting There are many things that stop people from podcasting. Here are what are feel are the top 10 excuses. Nobody will listen to me I hate my voice I just need "one more thing" People might say negative things I'm not a geek I don't have time We all know that speaking in public is the #1 fear among humans. This means at a funeral, you'd rather be the person in the casket then the person delivering the eulogy. A Podcast Is A Recipe My wife makes a kick butt spaghetti sauce. To watch her make it, one might think she has no idea what she is doing. She doesn't measure anything. She has some core ingredients, but at some point she starts adding a little of this, and a little of that. She samples the sauce, and tweaks some more. In the end, it's awesome. It took her years to perfect it. Every now and then, we will be eating at the table and she will announce that it still needs _____. To her it's missing something. Meanwhile the rest of us are on our second...

Today we have a few tools to peak at. One allows you to record your podcast or go live, the other allows you to add your Blab.im sessions to your Wordpress website, Ray Edwards will teach you how to write better pages, and the last one allows you to book guests. Spreaker Studio For Windows and Mac Spreaker has been around a while, and if you are looking to do live streaming this is a great platform. They also are great if you don't want to go live. Their new Spreaker Studio software enables them to move away from the Web Based version they had before that relied on flash technology (which was not compatible with iPads, iPhones, etc). They have had Spreaker Studio apps for a while (also impressive) and now there are desktop versions to go along. Connect More Than One USB Microphone With EASE. This has been a problem that wasn't easy to solve in the past. Now if you have multiple hosts with two USB microphones you can easily connect up to three USB microphones into ONE computer. It's pretty amazing and easy to setup. It also integrates with Skype. This takes adding some additional software, but it takes just a few minutes and it worked like a charm. The best part is there is plenty of documentation so you don't have to guess what to do. You can create playlists (great for people doing podcasts of music), you can fade from one song to the next, there are buttons that you can assign sound effects to (again with plenty of documentation and tutorials). If you are person who does their show live, you also have a chat system right in the software. The only thing you need is a Spreaker account to get it to fly.You can get a free month of spreaker media hosting using the coupon code sopfree. Simple Live Press Blab Automation Tool Right now Blab.im is HOT. This is a FREE platform that makes it super easy to create a live show and have guests pop in and out. It's new and in beta, but it has promise. Hani from Simple Podcast Press (a great plugin for podcasters looking to build their e-mail list) has come up with an easy way to have your videos from Blab.im import into your Wordpress site. You can set it so you have to approve them before they are put on your website or have them automatically posted. You can add buttons again to grow your email list, your followers on blab, and more. The best thing is Hani. He is open to suggestions as the plugin has been out less than a week. My request would be to allow me to replace the blab.im video with a YouTube version later (to build my views on YouTube).For more information go to www.simplelivepress.com Here is a quick video I created showing off how easy it is. Bookly Appointlet Plugin There are tons of services like Appointlet, and Schedule Once for managing bookings. Most of these have a monthly fee (around $10). I discovered the Bookly plugin and it is super powerful. It ties in with you Google Calendar, and you can control every. This includes the color, your services, your staff, you payment options, your hours of availability, holidays and more. Here is a quick video Ray Edward Copyrighting Course I'm a HUGE Ray Edwards fan, and he is giving away a ton of free content on how to write better text on your blog. This could be to grow your...

Why I Switched from the Podcasts App to Overcast The last update from Apple broke their own software, and it left it there for at least a week. Never give your customers a chance to find an (alternative because they will). The creator of Overcast recently made it availabel for free (you can donate to help cover the cost $1 a month). Here are the features I love about it. If I share something I can not only share the episode, but send people to the location I am currently at. I can listen at surprisingly fast speeds and still understand the content A 60 second skip button that when I click on it repeatedly takes giant jumps to skip through bad content. It syncs via the internet so you can listen on your iPhone, switch over to your iPad and pick right up where you left off. You can even listen on their website (overcast.fm). I can see how much storage each podcast is taking up. In the end I love it, and according to the app I've saved 2 hours using the Smart Speed feature. VoiceStak is SpeakPipe on Steroids Let's You Capture Video Testimonials and Feedback 8:20 I love Speakpipe and I've been using it for years. This is a great tool to allow you to capture audio from your audience. You can then use it to build your email list, and you get notified via email when a new message arrives. there is a free plan for Speakpipe, and then plans start at $7/month. VoiceStak is a similar product that does everything Speakpipe does AND it allows people to send VIDEO messages (up to 5 minutes). You can integrate it to send videos straight to YouTube. It also has no limits on the number of messages you can receive a month, or how many you can store. The pricing starts at $17/month, but there is a very interesting option to purchase a lifetime option for $197 (so after 11 months you are basically using it for free). This might be handy if you have a business and you're looking to create a testimonials page. You could easily send people over to your site and using their computer, phone or tablet, they can leave a video message. You can use this on any number of sites, and you can place the widget anywhere you want. For more information check out www.schooolofpodcasting.com/voicestak Jason Bryant Turns His Passion and Expertise Into a Career with Podcasting Jason Bryant has had a goal of working as a sport commentator his whole life. Starting as a teenager in his high school he has slowly been given opportunities and taken advantage of each one. His hard work, dedication, and passion created impactful results. What results? He was asked to participate in other events. As the old saying goes, "Lather, rinse, repeat." After getting caught in the crossfire of media politics again, Jason decided he would strike out on his own. He was listening to Satelite radio and heard one coaches show, and another, and another. He thought to himself, "I could do a show like this for wrestling." Jason contacted me, and hearing of Jason's experience and history, I asked, "What's the worst that could happen?" So Jason went to his school and got his first client. Fast forward and you see Jason doing 12 shows and running at Wrestling network at www.mattalkonline.com Here are some things we learned today. Jason knows his audience, so he had an idea of what to charge. However, it took him a year of tweaking to get it to where he is today. He didn't wait until everything was perfect. By getting his first client (going to those people you have a relationship with) it became easier to get...

Got Feedback? Call 888-563-3228 and get your voice on the show. The top two things I heard from clients consists of: How do I increase interaction How do I grow my audience Increasing Interaction With Your Podcast Audience Show up. Do you best to create a consistent schedule. If you show up, then they will make you part of their routine. This isn't mandatory (Dan Carlin is awesome and put out an episode every few months), but I would consider it best practice. Have someone who has never been to your website try and contact you. I AM AMAZED and people who do not have a page with a CONTACT link. Don't get cute and make it "buy me a cup of coffee" or "Interact" make the button/menu item say CONTACT. Why? Because it is what people are looking for. Let them choose the method of interaction. You can see if you go to my contact page that you can email me, call me (using podcastvoicemail.com ), or use the speakpipe button. You're choice. I've eliminated any reasons that you might have to contact me. One way to increase interaction is to ask for some. That's right, ask. If you want to know what they think, make it the last line of your show notes and ask them to leave a comment on your website or you can do what Michael Hyatt does and point them to his Facebook page. He who doesn't ask, doesn't get. How Do I Grow My Podcast Audience? I've spoken about this in numerous episodes: see here, here, here , and here . You need to Make contact that impacts your audience, GO to where they are, make friends, tell them about your podcast). Today I want to throw in something I am again not seeing on websites. A play button. If you want people to listen to your show give them a play button. This is one of the reasons I like Appendipity themes. If you want it, you can have a GIANT play button at the top of your page (see www.logicalloss.com for an example). People are not going to get hooked on your content if they can't find it. When you create content that impacts your audience, they are going to want to tell their friends. Make sure you have buttons that make it easy to do it RIGHT NOW. There are tons of plugins that can add share buttons (they are built in to the Appendipity themes). One of the best plugins is Social Warfare. This plugin is super functional and SMART. You can specify exactly how things get shared on the Internet. Another feature rich sharing plugin is Monarch from Elegant Themes if you are looking for a free tool, check out sharaholic in the Wordpress directory. International Podcast Day Recap Today we talk with Steve Lee of Modern Life Media and the co-founder of International Podcast day (Dave Lee, Steve's son is the other co-founder). Today we hear from Steve how: We had a much more global audience with people from around the world joining in on a live 30 hour live streaming podcast. Apple was involved and was tweeting out items this year Many communities were "doing their own thing" to promote International Podcast Day. Thanks to Steve...

Are you trying to start a podcast but you can't seem to come up with something that is entirely new? Today we talk about how there are very few items that are entirely new. The iPod was just an upgrade of the Discman. The Discman was just an upgrade of the Walkman. The Walkman was just an upgrade of the 8-track tape. Typical something original is really  a few items that are old that have been combined with something of yourself to make it appear original.  Because of My Podcast I Was Asked to Appear on TV: Wayne Henderson Wayne Henderson deos a podcast about the Green Bay Packers, and he and his co-host were recently asked to appear on a TV show to talk some smack with some fans of the Seattle Seahawks. International Podcast Day September 30th: Get Planning Your Podcast For Free I have a fwe things going on to celebrate International Podcast Day: My "Planning Your Podcast" course at Udemy is free from now until 10/31/15. Use the coupon code ipd15 I will be hosting an hour of live podcasting sharing "because of my podcast" stories and taking your questions Castermind Group Podcast Coaching Now Accepting Applications If you are looking for an accountability partner/mastermind, my "Castermind" is now accepting more podcasters. Here is who this is for and what to expect This is for the person who already has a podcast launched (if you need to launch your podcast, Join the School of Podcasting) This is a group coaching, so some of it will be answering questions, but it will also have a short lesson to help you build your audience. Each Castermind will consist of three people and myself. If you are interested in applying, go to Castermind.com The Courage to Be Creative Keynote Session from Podcast Midatlantic I also appeared on the Podcaster's Rountable where we asked the question, "Why haven't you started podcasting?" This is similar to the talk I gave at Podcast Movement with a bit more emphasis on being creative. There are so many options when it comes to making a podcast. I look at them as ingredients. These are things you can mix together to come up with a unique show. Live/Recorded Short Term / Evergreen Solo / Co-host Mobile / Studio Short / Long Schedule Scripted / Imrov Interviews or monologue Your Delivery Stereo / Mono Fact / Fiction Gender Comedy / Serious Expert / Journey Local / Global With all these ingredients I find it frustrating when people decide to name their show Librarian's On Fire? It seems an easy way out. What's next, the On Fire Answerman? Look, that's just my onion but I think we can do better. "It is better to fail in originality, than to succeed in imitation. He who has never failed somewhere, that man can not be great. Failure is the true test of greatness. - Herman Melville Originality does not mean thinking something that was never thought before; it means putting old ideas together in new ways. The Only Way to Know How to Do a Podcast - Is To Do a Podcast! There are some truths: It's harder than you think You will hate your own voice You will get more positive feedback than negative You will attract like minded people You will inspire, educate, and entertain people But you can't do it without...

I was lucky enough to get to hang out with Jeff Bradburry of the Teachercast network at Podcast MidAtlantic. Jeff is helping teachers utilize technology (like Podcasting) in the classroom. I first met Jeff on a Podcaster's Roundtable and was amazed as he is doing everything LIVE. The one thing that impresses me with Jeff is he truly understands his audience. These (in some cases) are people who have struggled with technology, and are now looking to embrace it and improve the lives of students. Jeff understands that a teacher may call "audio on a podcast (no RSS feed" a "podcast" (when by definition it's not) but instead of splitting hairs, he stays focused on the goal (inspiring learning in the classroom with technology).  Go Have a Baby or Three Jeff was at an event when his wife went into labor. She was three months early, and Jeff had his hold booth setup. As you can see to the right. Jeff's booth is first class (GO BIG OR GO HOME). So you might be just a little nervous about running out the door and leaving all your equipment behind. His audience knew Jeff's situation (pregnant with triplets) and told him over and over "Go, we've got you covered" (and they did). His audience trusts Jeff, and in this case he trusted his equipment to his audience.  Go Inspire a Conference: Your Show Started THIS... Jeff had gone to a conference and spoke about it, and it turns out his audience was listening. They were so inspired by the idea they started an edcamp in their city. So there was no event, Jeff starts a podcast and BOOM now there is an event where there was none. Not only was their an event but a group of people enjoying it, and improving their lives. Why? Because Jeff started a podcast.  Being Seen as an Expert Jeff has worked with some major brands (Microsoft, Pearson) and Jeff always bring his "A game" and takes advantage of every opportunity that comes his way and that has lead to him getting a new job and allowing him to move to a better location for his new (larger) family.  I love it when the good guys win.  Go check out Jeff at www.teachercast.net Voxer App Turn Your Phone Into a Walkie Talkie Jeff did a quick demo for me at Podcast Midatlantic and I was surprised how addicting Voxer is a free app that allows you to create a group "chat" where you can share audio, video, and text. It's pretty cool and I could see people making private chats for their listeners. For more information go to www.voxer.com Here is a quick video overview:     <p class="wpview-selection-after" style="-webkit-user-select: text;...

Quick Takeaways from Podcast MidAtlantic Patience is a gentle version of courage - Kathy Kelly Special Mouse Podcast Podcasting Changes Live - Jeff Bradburry and Scott Swanson Watch other Media Types - Jeff Bradburry and Anythony Minaya Tell great stories - everyone Being Creative is fun. Podcasting Changes Lives I'm definitely having Jeff on my show in the future. The great thing that happened this weekend is person after person would share a "because of my podcast" story and I need to have them on the show. Jeff does the teachercast, and he helps educators (as a teacher himself) utilize technology in the classroom. He was great to hang out with, and he mentioned that if you help a student that's great (1 person), if you help a teacher that might impact 20 students, if you help a superintendent, that could impact thousands. Scott from Muppetcast shared a story (I need to have him on the show) where a Jr High boy was getting beat up at school because he loved the Muppets. Scott's show showed him that he's not a freak, and it's OK to like the Muppets. What Podcaster's Can Learn from Johnny Manzel I live in Cleveland, Ohio. Out sports teams are not good. We have tremendously talented people like LeBron James and Johnny Manzel, but still we can't win. Last year out football team the Cleveland Browns draft Johnny Manzel with their first round pick. Johnny rubbed his fingers together in a way to say, "I'm going to get paid." It became his signature. It appeared in Johnny's mind that he had achieved his goal. He had maid it to the NFL. The bad news is that is not THE goal of a football player. THE GOAL is to win the Super Bowl. Johnny had a reputation as being a person who was more interested in parties than play books. He always seemed a bit unprepared. This was his first year, but Johnny was now a professional football player. In this league you either carry your weight, or you are traded. As more and more stories of Johnny (more or less) goofing off came to the surface (welcome to being famous), it really appeared that this kid had his priorities out of whack. Paul Colligan has an episode where he said, "Starting A Podcast To Hit iTunes “New And Notable” Is Like Launching A Business To Get Into The Phone Book." This is a classic, and it ties into this

What Podcaster's Can Learn from Johnny Manzel I live in Cleveland, Ohio. Out sports teams are not good. We have tremendously talented people like LeBron James and Johnny Manzel, but still we can't win. Last year out football team the Cleveland Browns draft Johnny Manzel with their first round pick. Johnny rubbed his fingers together in a way to say, "I'm going to get paid." It became his signature. It appeared in Johnny's mind that he had achieved his goal. He had maid it to the NFL. The bad news is that is not THE goal of a football player. THE GOAL is to win the Super Bowl. Johnny had a reputation as being a person who was more interested in parties than play books. He always seemed a bit unprepared. This was his first year, but Johnny was now a professional football player. In this league you either carry your weight, or you are traded. As more and more stories of Johnny (more or less) goofing off came to the surface (welcome to being famous), it really appeared that this kid had his priorities out of whack. Paul Colligan has an episode where he said, "Starting A Podcast To Hit iTunes “New And Notable” Is Like Launching A Business To Get Into The Phone Book." This is a classic, and it ties into this analogy. The goal of a podcaster is not to be in New Noteworthy, the goal is to impact your audience. Your goal is to bring value. For some, the goal is to create revenue streams that help supplement their income. When I wrote my book "More Podcast Money" getting it into Amazon was not the goal, the goal was to help people set realistic financial goals with their podcast. Amazon is a tool to help me do that. The 8 Week Myth About iTunes New and Noteworthy In the book Podcast Launch (by John Lee Dumas) a very unfortunate paragraph states that you "Have a mere 8 weeks to be featured within the best podcast advertising real estate on the planet." This needs tweaked. It should read, "You can only be considered NEW for 8 weeks, you can be considered Noteworthy any time." Because of this unfortunate paragraph people are spending all their and effort focusing on getting into New and Noteworthy. This is very much like Johnny Manzel focusing on getting into the NFL. It's not the goal, it's a milestone. In the same way that being drafted into the NFL equals success (as many people get cut, and many first round draft picks never measure up to their potential). You can get into iTunes (I outline the 27 steps here), and to get into New and Noteworthy you pretty much need a pulse. Podcasting and Stalkers When I was growing up my sister gave too much information to a guy she met on the bus. The next thing I know, is she is getting really creepy phone calls. We eventually had to work with the phone company and the local police (and his mother) to get him to stop calling. It was creepy Talking in Generalizations Today Let's not get to tied

Periscope and Podcasting Periscope is a live streaming service from Twitter. It's pretty cool. My step-son is at Perdue and last week we got to see his first performance with the band via periscope. I had 36 people watching my cat in a baby's sleeping shirt. During the week I would open it up and just talk about whatever hit me. It's an interesting way to connect with your audience. In general, the video is recorded and can be viewed for 24 hours. You can download the file and upload it to YouTube or whatever service you would like to use. How Do I Get My Mixer Into Periscope? I used an iRig device originally meant for guitar players to plug their guitar into their iOs device but it works for me. You will need a 1/4" to 1/4" patch cable to go from the mixer to the iRig, and then the iRig into the phone. There is an iRig2, but it is overkill. Also when it comes to patch cables, as you will be doing this near your mixer, this is probably a case where a shorter cable is better. Like most podcast equipment questions, there are about a billion different tools you can use to do this. The bottom line is, have something to say. If you don't bring value, you won't have people coming back to hear what you have to say.  It's one thing to just hop on and test it out, be sure to mention that. For me, I like firing it up and having one topic, saying it, and get out. In the immortal word of James Brown, "hit it and quit it." Blab.im - The Crack Cocaine of Social Media Blab.im is completely addicting. It also is a streaming service like Periscope except you can (if you choose) to let up to four people join you. There is a chat room where people can chime in and ask questions. They can also request to be part of the stream. I tried this last Saturday on Ask the Podcast Coach. Typically this is a call in show where my co-host and I talk and occasionally take a phone call. It's awesome as you are never sure what you are going to get .  I think in the year that I've done that show we've had one caller, and one waiting twice. Last Saturday I had four people in the cue wanting to come on.  You still have control over who is and is not on the stream. You can mute people, or band them from the blab. You can start a blab on your computer (so it's easy to connect your mixer or microphone)or on your mobile device. It's best to use Chrome when you are on the computer. You can choose to record it (or not). If you record it, when your blab is over, you get a link to the audio file  (mp3 file - 320 kbps stereo) or the video. When I compared the audio from Blab the to the WAV file I recorded on my portable recorder, the WAV file didn't win by much.  Blab.im vs Blog...

As a podcast consultant I should be telling everyone to start a podcast. I do. I believe there is a lot to be learned from starting a podcast. You learn to: Organize your thoughts Prioritize your goals Speak with confidence Work with people from different cultures As much as podcasting is about talking, I think the top podcasters are at the top because they learned how to listen. We Predicated Disgruntled Podcasters in December 2013 There was a time when it seemed every podcast had the term "on fire" tacked on at the end. In December of 2012 myself, Daniel J Lewis, Ray Ortega, Steve Stewart, and John Lee Dumas had a roundtable to discuss what Steve coined "The John Lee Dumas effect." People were starting a podcast, following a formula, and expecting the same six figure result as John. Part of that roundtbale was to point out the hard work, dedication, and insane work ethics that John has (and they being John Lee Dumas comes very naturally to him).  John has always been super transparent about his life, his business, and his workflow, and how long his runway was when he jump into the unknown waters of podcasting (that's why I like the guy). John is an original. Here is the income from the eofire.com website   Here Comes the Next Wave of "Podcasting is Dead." Comedian Brock Wilbur made a post and said, "“Podcasts are pointless. Anyone who tells you otherwise is the literal devil. No one is going to get rich or famous or gain any level of following from this medium ever again, because it is hilariously dead. Your idea to share caustic observations about an ongoing TV show? Pointless. Your idea to interview interesting people? Laughably misguided. Your idea to discuss each individual episode of a decade-old CW show? Well… shockingly successful.” I went and listened to his podcast. Brock has around 125 downloads per episode (13,767 downloads divided by 110 episodes). If you were a teacher, that would be 5 classrooms of 20. I’m three minutes into it, and I am now finally getting into the content. You played a song with no teaser. You are hoping that people sit through some song hoping that they make it to the content. As a first time listener, I have no idea who you...

Today I share a story about getting outside of your comfort zone, and we talk with the Real Brian about how his podcast has lead to him getting paid to host two more. Donnie Pushed Publish On His Podcast. I got this email in my inbox: Hello Sir, I am writing this to simply introduce myself and say a big Thank You! Not long ago I was inspired to begin a daunting task of creating a podcast. I have listened to numerous ones over a varied topic span ever since the beginnings of the podcast. So I decided to bite the bullet and give this a go. With thoughts of what fun this could be and eager to learn some new skills I ventured forth into the "glamorous" world of podcasting. Your show has been a go-to for every topic I can imagine. I glean over past episodes for the struggles I am currently facing and words of encouragement along the way. Simply put, it has been indispensable in this process. With that said, I do need to mention that I already belong to JLD's Podcaster's Paradise and the information there has been helpful also, albeit a little pie in the sky- esque. I am a loyal listener now of your show along with the Podcasters Studio and Roundtable. This week I listened to the Glen the Geek almost everyday on the long drives between day job customers. All I can say is WOW. That episode really hit home. The show I have created focuses on the Craft Beer community. I am based out of Knoxville, TN so my main goal was to break into the local scene. I am around 5 episodes deep in the editing process and have just released my first show to my website and submitted to ITunes this week. I have broken the procrastination mold of not releasing due to trying to 'make it perfect'. I realize we all have to start somewhere and I have finally made that big step. Now to grow and promote, along with get much better every time I am behind the mic. -Donnie InebriatedWisdom.com My Reply Donnie, Awesome. You have done what so many people have failed to do, you hit publish. No matter what people say from this point forward, you put it out there, for better or for worse, you hit publish. I'm so glad I inspired you because this email may have just inspired me for my next episode. Do you mind if I read you e-mail on the show? Some steps you can take are to go find your beer peeps. See if there are local brewers (guessing here, not my niche), etc. Be sure to make friends before you start pimping your show (or they won't care). Congrats, and do everyone a favor and put a link to your in your signature. Dave Keeping My Integrity at Podcamp Pittsburgh. So I attended a session on basic audio editing. I could see that the audience at this event were brand new to Podcasting. At the end of day one, I asked if there were any open slots (as they just filled one) and they stated they didn't At dinner that night with Krystal, Nick, and Kim, they said I should do a session. It turns out at Podcamps, anyone can speak anywhere. I resisted. As the former director of podcasting for the new media expo, I know what goes into planning and running a show. I just pictured some guy coming up and saying I'm speaking tomorrow at 11 and my brain exploding. Chris Brogan (one the creators of PodCamps) and I asked him if adding sessions was allowed, and sure enough it was. In fact, it was encouraged. But still I resisted. There I was standing on the edge of my comfort zone. I mean that seems like such an ego move. "Hey, I'm here and I'm going to speak!." This is the wrong attitude. It's valid, based on my experience, but I needed to be open for new information. I had just seen with my own eyes how this group desperately needed a podcasting 101 type of talk. Nick continued to nudge, and I thought of my email to Donnie. This meant believing in myself (I've been doing this 10 years, and as a computer instructor I have to be light on my feet and go with the flow on a regular basis),...

Glenn the geek has been podcasting since 2008. He does it full time. He grew his audience by reaching out to leaders in his field and partnering with them. He has a background in sales, and found the right sponsors for his shows. He embraces his audience, and knows that if you want people to listen you have to be entertaining. You might be thinking that if he is making a living from his podcast he must've had some huge podcast launching and rocked the top of the iTunes charts, and lived in New and Noteworthy. While that may be true, Glenn wouldn't know. You see, Glenn focuses on his audience. He focuses on making great content that entertains and educates. It wasn't until recently that he even knew to ask for reviews. He did it the old fashioned way. He earned their trust, and never lets his audience down. Consequently, they don't let him down. As a salesmen, he has made more money in the past. However, he is now making a living and having more fun talking about a topic he is addicted to (horses) and loving every minute of it. Today get a pencil ready as we interview America's Favorite Horse Husband Glenn the Geek from Horse Radio Network. Podcast Rewind (2:43) Paul Colligan lays it on the line in the Episode title The Weird Thing About Podcasting For Money Rob Walch was interviewed on Podcast Junkies on the Truth about Podcast Numbers (the stats start at the 52 minute mark). Glenn the Geek America's Horse Husband (5:47) Here are some of the top takeaways Glenn started with ONE podcast. Glenn put all his efforts into this show. He started with ONE. He got a sponsor early even though he didn't have thousands of listeners. How? By finding an advertiser who was more interested in promoting their brand than delivering a coupon. Glenn gets his sponsors involved in his show. He uses them to answer questions from his listeners. This is a great way to promote the brand, make the brand look like an expert, without having a giant commercial. Glenn KNOWS HIS AUDIENCE. They are addicted to horses and aren't the most technical bunch. You will see on horseradionetwork.com that Glenn has step by step tutorials to help his audience learn how to listen (on every single type of device). If you know you're going to...

I attended Podcast Movement last week, and I am busting at the seems to tell you about it. To keep this short, here are my top memories and take always from Podcast movement. 1. The Door Key Was Branded Yeah, you know the magnetic door key. It had their logo on it. I often lose hotel keys and have to ask for another one. I didn't this week. What a HUGE first impression. I told Dan and Jared that there was so much icing on the Podcast Movement cake that you could not get a bad piece of cake. 2. The Michelangelo Line from Lou Mongello Lou Mongello is one of my favorite people. Lou is so authentic (you will see a theme here). In his keynote he just kept saying things that made me want to stand up and go "Preach On Lou!" (his talks was on Sunday). He said a line like,  "When people came in to look at a new painting from Michelangelo they didn't go, "Great Painting - What brush did you use?" 3. Ejecting Bad Guests - Jordan Harbinger Jordan is like a Lioness guarding her cubs when it comes to his show. It's HIS show, and if you try to mess with HIS show he will kick you to the curb. Try to keep pimping your stuff on his show when he explained up front that the pimping (if any) would be done at the show and he will shut down the recorder and send you home. It's HIS show. 4. Aisha Tyler - It's MINE. This one really hit home with me. How many things are truly 100% YOURS. Aisha has like 37 roles on TV, movies, etc. Yet, she records, edits, tags, uploads, and writes notes for her podcast. Why? She admitted she is an workaholic (transparent), and she said with all of her roles, her podcast is the only thing that is 100% hers. When a listener said she talked too much when interviewing a guest she advised him to get his own show (where he could be a mime for an hour). 5. Great Content - Different Angles The combination of Lou Mongello (The Dean of Disney) and Aisea Tyler (a fanatic of the F word) was a bit of a whiplash, but it was AWESOME. Why? Because they both were hitting the same topics. Why? Because they are best practices. Don't get in it for the money. Be unique. Follow your heart. Make and learn from your mistakes. 6. Nice Flip Flops - Marc Maron <p style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter',...

Podcasting News: Midroll Purchased by Scripps - Another shot of legitimacy for podcasting? Ask the Double Rainbow Guy The article mentions CPM (the amount you make per 1000 downloads) of $100. This seems unrealistic to what I typically hear ($15 - $30 CPM). Honda's 2016 Accord will have the ability to have Apple Car Play, and Android Auto. Full Story Podcast Rewind: I recently was asked back on the Coachzing Show  talking why podcasting is here to stay. I did a webinar with Steve Stewart on Podcast Workflow for his Audacity Workshop its only available for a limited time I started listening to the Tim Ferriss show, and the one thing that he us just AWESOME at is follow up questions. When he interviewed Rick Rubin he asked how Rick got into the 99 Problems video by Jay Z. At the end of the answer Rick says, "He is one of my favorite people." To this Tim instantly asks, "Why do you say that?". Later when he interviews Glenn Beck he asks about Glenn's dilema of having to hire a large amount of people to build his Blaze network. Glen explains who he hired first. He said he knew within the first three minutes of their initial meeting that this woman was going to be hired. To this Tim instantly asked, "What did she say to make such an impression on you." It's an interesting show, and he has interviewed so many big names, that you can "cherry pick" episodes of just those people you like. Podcast Microphone Shoot Out Audio Technica 2020 (condensor XLR/USB $99) Audio Technica 2100 (Dynamic XLR/USB $59) Audio Technica BP40 (Dynamic XLR $349) <a...

Today I will answer the questions that I receive on a regualr basis.    Podcasting News: Popular Science has launched a Podcast caled Futuropolis Salary.com listed "On Air DJ" as one of the the top 12th jobs on the brink. Speaking of that, CBS Radio eliminated more than 200 positions in companywide layoffs this week, including an unconfirmed number in Chicago Ira Glass now owns This American Life. The interesting thing is this artcile mentions that he has 22 employees.  In March 2014, This American Life ended its relationship with PRI, who had served as the show’s distributor since 1997, flexing its muscles in a way that suggested long-running intent towards independence. Speaking of employees on the latest "But wait theres more" episode of Startup, Alex Blumberg states that he has a staff of 19 people to produce three pdocasts and they are making 2 milloin dollars this year (and spending 2 million).   FREQUNETLY ASKED QUESTIONS How much does it cost to start one? $91 Mic, Stand, Pop filter $60 Mixer $20 Libsyn (use the coupon sopfree) $8 Hostgator $60 Artwork $24 Intro MRC $263 Xbox One, 500GB Hard Drive $342 What Microphone The Audio technica 2100, 2005, or a Electrovoice RE320. I hear good things about the Heil PR40 as well. I like the EV RE320 as no matter where my mouth is, the tone doesn’t change (with other microphones the close you get the bassier it gets). How Long Should it Be? As long as it should be, and not a minute more. Vallery Geller in the book Beyond Powerful Radio says, “There is no such thing as too long, only too boring.” This is proven by Dan Carlin’s Hardcore history which can run around 3 or 4 hours and published irregularly. <p dir="ltr"...

In today's episode, (not safe for work) I share clips from a podcast I set out (as an experiment) to be the Worst Podcast Ever. It would: 1. Have F-bombs. 2. Insult the audience. 3. Deliver no value 4. Use Potty humor and be overtly immature The reason? I had two: 1. I wanted to test podbean.com (who during the test had a technical issue, and my files quit downloading). 2. I wanted to see what kind of downloads a horrible podcast would get. I've heard from Libsyn that many podcasters get around 200 downloads per episode. (get a free month at Libsyn using the coupon code sopfree ) The worst podcast ever gets about 10. Rules for Experiment: 1. I could not use my real voice. I didn't want anyone to know it was me.  2. I could not promote it at all. Not a single tweet. Doing a Podcast as a Character: This is not new. "Madge Weinstein" has been doing yeast Radio since 2004. There are people who do not use their names such as School of Podcasting student Stargate Pioneer who does the Legends of Shield podcast. Cali Lewis has always been Luria Petrucci behind the scenese of Geekslife.com You may feel more confident behind the microphone as your character then in your own skin. I say "Fake it till you make it" (you will get comfortable as yourself) but being a character is an option. People like Seth McFarland get away with tons of things on their TV show The Family Guy as the characters are cartoons. The Simpsons is another example of characters getting away with things a real person would not.  But in the end Seth still takes flack for his characters.  The down side of being a character is connecting with your audience. I met Paul David Peterson of Entrepreneur...

Podcast Rewind: Spreaker Live show with Rob Greenlee - My Appearance  Darren Rowse from ProBlogger (now a podcast) on the New Rainmaker - Dareen started getting new listeners to his content less than 24 hours of launching his podcast. Startup Podcast stated that 50% of customers at Dating Ring (the company they spotlighted this season) came from the Podcast Serial Brought 341,000 New Listeners to Podcasting 6:00  Serial posted a report on their effect on podcasting Serial had a 4.6 % of their audience respond to a survey 23% of their subscribers said this was their first podcast. 90% changed their viewpoint of podcasting. 137,000 Newsletter Subscribers According to CNN (and these numbers are probably bigger by now) 3.4 million is the average number of downloads per episode (as of 12/2214) If we take the percentages from the survey results and apply it to the download numbers you get this 23% (782,00) Serial was their first podcast 90% (703,800) said it changed the way they viewed podcasting. 89% (695980) of the first time listeners tried out more podcasts. 49% (341,030) of those who tried out more podcasts are listening on a weekly basis. <p style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height:...

Group Coaching: Castermind Group Coaching I'm starting something new and I have room for three people. I may expand this in the future, but for now as I test this out there will be three people (four including me). We will meet once a month on a Tuesday night. We will talk about where we we are, and where we want to be. We will talk strategies, measuring our progress, and sharing what works and what does not. I am running this promotion via Joyride, so you can sign up here. Seating is limited. Podcast Advertising Works In a recent article about the popular podcast Serial, "81 percent of “Serial” listeners between October and December correctly recalled a season one sponsor. And almost all of them knew it was Mailchimp and what the email-marketing service does." Podcast Advertising Pays - If You have the Numbers An article on theawl.com stated this about podcast advertising (using Midroll). The company’s ads—“integrated, native, often host-read spots”—are hugely effective compared to most internet advertising, so businesses pay good money for them. Podcasts, which tend to run one or two ads before the show and two or three ads during the show, can earn around three hundred dollars per ad if they average at least ten thousand listeners. For the elite circle of shows with over four hundred thousand listeners—generally the iTunes Top 50—a single ad spot can net over ten thousand dollars. Podcast Idol? WNYC Launches Podcast Accelerator WYNC has launched what they are calling a Podcast Accelerator. What is it? The WNYC Podcast Accelerator will give both established talent and up-and-coming storytellers the opportunity to pitch their big podcast idea and potentially win the chance to produce a pilot. The application period will run from June 25 until July 15. Five finalists will be paired with producers from top WNYC podcasts who will mentor and train the candidates, helping them hone their pitches. The winner gets the chance to produce a pilot episode with a WNYC producer. The Podcast Accelerator is open to anyone able to attend ONA and who is NOT a current employee of NYPR. The conference is $769. Finalists get one complimentary ONA badge apiece, and benefit from a six-week virtual mentoring and training period, in which leading audio producers will help you hone your pitch, including story lines, character development, sound, texture, voice. In addition, you’ll have two virtual meetups with fellow