Because of My Podcast: Lee Silverstein Lee Silverstein is the man behind the Colon Cancer Podcast and the Color Cancer Network was able to get press passes to a very cool event in his area. Cool Image Tools For Your Podcast I've been working on rebuilding PodcastingResources.com and in the process finding that some resources are gone, and other have been updated. Also in the process of moving items, I've had podcaster inform me of new sources. Today I want to talk about some resources you might know and a few might not when it comes to creating graphics and images. Canva.com Canva.com was my favorite tool for a simple but powerful tool. It included photographs you could include for free, or in some cases $1. It has a set of tutorials to get you up to speed and you can create some great looking images for free (or next to fo free) Pixlr.com Pixlr.com is another graphic program in the cloud. It doesn't have access to photos and such, but it can edit the photos you have, and it's a great tool if you need to resize an image, especially if your artwork for Apple Podcasts is the right dimensions, but the file size is too big as you can have pixlr.com compress it. Vectr.com Vectr.com is a new program to me, and from I've seen is the most powerful graphics program that is 100% free. It works on any platform, and it also has a cloud version. As it is super powerful there is a bit of a learning curve, but if you took the time to go through the tutorials (and they have quite a few) you could make some great looking graphics. Adobe Spark Adobe Spark is my new favorite tool. It has one drawback that I will hit on in a minute. You simply click on what you are trying to make (twitter, facebook, Instagram, etc) and pick a design, choose some colors, spin a wheel to scroll through some fonts, and share your image. So what is the one drawback? Most of these other tools allow you specify custom sizes, but from what I've seen there is no way to specify a file size. So what I do is if I need a square image, I go into adobe spark, create an Instagram image, and then resize it using Pixlr.com   New Twists on Old Tools Ecamm Call Recorder is a great tool for Recording Skype, they recently launched Ecamm Live which is meant to record Facebook Live broadcasts that costs $29.95 and has some of the same features as wirecast (but that costs $500). This cost $29.95. Here is a tutorial. A New Podcasting Microphone For Half the Price I've been a huge fan of the Audio Technica ATR2100 microphone. It sounds great. It has both USB and XLR inputs (so it can plug directly into the computer or into a mixer) and it has a lifetime warranty. As I write this, that microphone is $67 the ATR2005 is a slightly more stylish version for $79 Well SP on the Better Podcasting Show found the Knox Cardoid USB Microphone for $40. This microphone looks...

I Just Launched My Podcast, How Many Downloads Should I Have? This question has no "Set" answer. It depends on a couple of things: How much value do your episodes bring to your audience? (is it any good) How much promotion do you do? What is your niche (a podcast like this - about podcasting - will never have 5000 downloads) Right no 50% of podcasts get less than 200 downloads per episode after 30 days (and 50% get more) with the average being around 2000 (listen to The Feed Podcast for updated stats) Think of Your Podcast Like A Train A steam locomotive has an engine. The engine has to go to where the other boxcars are an connect. So do you. You need to go to where your audience is, and connect. A train announces where it is via the whistle, you need to promote your show to let people know you exist. A train starts off slow, very slow, and build momentum over TIME. So they are slow to start, but once started, hard to stop. My Dad drove a truck, and once had a wreck where the momentum of a couple of tons on his trailer went off the road (he blew a tire) and he was knocking over giant tree's like they were toothpicks, so momentum can do great things. However, it takes time. Today we have Katie Krimitsos on the show, and he is doing great with her show that she has been producing three years.  So when you start your podcast, the more you focus on your audience (not the tech, not the stats on an hourly basis) you will build up momentum in your show. Katie Krimistsos on Building a Community With a Facebook Group Katie has been running the Tampa Bay Business Owners group for five years. Together with her husband Chris Krimitsos, they help business owners grow their businesses and connect with the right people. Katie has been podcasting for three years at http://bizwomenrock.com In today's interview, we learn the following with Katie: How to avoid the common mistakes of creating a Facebook Group The Different types of groups and what each type offers. How she makes her Facebook group feel special How she maintains control of her group and keeps them engaged. Why she had a successful relationship with a sponsor, and quit using them. How she grew her coaching business with a strategy that anyone can use. How her podcast fuels her Facebook Group, the Facebook group fuels the podcast, and they both fuel her coaching. Why she almost quit, and what stopped her from walking away from podcasting. Check out Katie's tools for growing your community with a Facebook group, taking that group on a retreat, as well as her private coaching to help you grow your business by going to www.bizwomenrock.com and check out her podcast on iTunes (as well as on her site) Mentioned in this Show Banner Poll - Are you Interested in a Banner Exchange for Podcasters? Ready to Start Podcasting? Join the School of Podcasting Podcast Movement - Use the Coupon Code sop10 to save 10%

Because of My Podcast: Katie Krimitsos Katie is the host of the Biz Women Rock show, and when I asked her how she would finish the "Becuase of my podcast ____" she answered, "Everything" She feels her business, her consulting, courses, and coaching are all based on the relationships she has fostered through her podcast. Bridge Ratings Podcast Report is a Bit Hit or Miss Bridge Ratings continues its coverage of the podcasting space with this latest update which provides never before insight and best practices learned from a three-month study conducted between January 23, 2017 and April 10, 2017. A panel of 2000 persons ages 13 and older were contacted by random digit dialing phone method to both landlines (45%)  and mobile phones (55%) in the continental U.S. Phone interviews, on-line questionnaires, and daily diaries were utilized to gauge the consumption behavior of current podcast listeners and potential listeners. The margin of Error for this study is +/- 2.2%. Here are some items I wanted to address Trends in time-spent-listening shown in the following chart reflect a significant reduction in the average time spent per listening session falling by a third between August 2015 and April 2017.  "Listening Session" is defined as the portion of each podcast listened to during individual sessions. 56% of our panelists listened to podcasts in multiple sessions. When they mentioned how people find podcasts, their answer was What are the most popular methods of discovering podcasts of interest? 1. Social Media 2. Search 3. Word of Mouth 4. Other Podcasts 5. Streaming Channels 6. Radio Hosts In their conclusion they stated, "“For broadcasters seeking to increase listenership to podcasts by their talent, a significant increase in promotion - both on-air and through social media - would be the primary strategy.”"  In their Best Practices Section, they listed the following 1. Producers of podcasts should have a clear idea of the prospect or audience - the target market. Knowing who is the target will help producers stay focused on the topics covered. Audience knowledge lays the foundation for all of the other items on this list. To this I say AMEN. I'm doing a show right now as a test called "Podcast Rodeo Show" where I pick random podcasts and give my first impressions. 2. Be organized and know where the podcast is going. Be considerate of your audience's time and don't ramble. Get to the point. The average time spent with podcasts is 22 minutes with listeners who commit beyond the first five minutes. Podcast abandonment continues to plague non-focused hosts with no clear understanding of how to capture their listeners' attention. The “session” average of 22 minutes also reflects partial podcast consumption, i.e. podcasts of longer length are often listened to in 2 or more “sessions”.   This is the point that I want to make sure people don't get wrong. THIS DOES NOT MEAN YOUR PODCAST NEEDS TO BE 22 MINUTES. Libsyn.com (a podcast media hosting company) reports that 84% of the podcasts with more than 100,000 downloads per episode are longer than 51 minutes. Listening to a podcast “in its entirety” often means listening to it in multiple sessions. No Kidding. Really? In a world where both parents are working, taking kids to school, soccer practice before going to their...

Welcome to episode 563 of the School of Podcasting Have you ever had a problem with something, and then when you stated your problem out loud the answer came to you as you were saying it? You can use that exercise to help your podcast. I recently read about 80% of the book Out on the Wire: The Storytelling Secrets of the New Masters of Radio by Jessica Abel. Jessica went DEEP INSIDE NPR and the creators of This American Life and took lots of notes and shared them. One strategy they use to shape a story is to say out loud, "I'm doing a story about X, and what is interesting about it is Y. They say it's important to do this out loud to a real person. Then to shape your story you use this tool, Somebody does something because of ____(their motivation) but _____(a challenge). If you can't answer the but, then ask yourself, "What do I have?" They have another exercise where their focus setting may be something like. "This happened _______, then this ____, then this ____, and you would #$%&! believe it but ____. And the reason that is interesting to every single person walking on the face of the earth is ______. This is where I draw the line. Sure we want everyone to like our episode, but that is NOT going to happen. If you try to make a podcast that is interesting to every single person, you will go crazy. Keep in mind these people are telling stories, and stories are powerful, but in certain circumstances, they don't really fit. For example, Many podcasters want to make money with their podcast (motivation) but only 10% of podcasters get enough downloads to get big named sponsors. Then this guy start a podcast about horses, and you won't believe it but he got a sponsor when he had less than 100 downloads per episode. He added more and more shows and called it a network, and ignored the CPM model brought over by radio, and now he is making a full-time living with his podcast. The reason this is important is dynamic ad insertion is paying very low rates and uninformed podcasters may take those fees because they feel they can't get a sponsor without huge downloads. If I'm interviewing technology, it may be a piece of technology that eliminates the challenge. Some podcasters have a hard time sharing promotional material with their guests, but podhero.io makes it easy. Your intro Can Make or Break Your Podcast This is from the Book Ted Talk by Chris Anderson Zak Ebrahim did a TED Talk, and he originally was going to start his talk with this paragraph: I was born in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania in 1983 to a loving American Mother and an Egyptian Father who tried their best to create a happy childhood for me. It wasn't until I was seven years old that our family dynamic started to change. My father exposed me to a side if Islam that few people (including the majority of Muslims) get to see but in fact when people take the time to interact with one another it doesn't take long to realize that for the most part, we all want the same things out of life The folks at TED brainstormed and help him come up with this opening Paragraph: On November 5th 1990 a man named El Sayyid Nosair walked into a hotel in Manhattan and assassinated Rabbi Meir Kahanethe leader of the Jewish Defense league. Nosair was found not guilty of the murder, but while serving time on lesser charges he and other men started planning attacks on a dozen New York City landmarks including tunnels, synagogues, and the united Nations Headquarters. Thankfully those plans were foiled by an FBI informant. Sadly the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center was not. Nosair would eventually be convicted for his involvement in the plot. El Sayyid Nosair is my father. The audience was riveted See video <a href= "https://youtu.be/lyR-K2CZIHQ" target=...

Today on episode 562 Joe Saul Sehy of the Stacking Benjamins podcast explains how he changed his podcast format, and lost 30% of his audience but now is working on his fifth sponsor. Joe Saul-Sehy is the creator and co-host of the Stacking Benjamins podcast. Kiplinger magazine listed it as Best Podcast 2016 and The Art of Manliness listed it in their list of their top podcasts for 2016 (although the show isn't specifically aimed at men). Stacking Benjamins is a light, magazine-style podcast about money, where the goal isn't to teach as much as it's about entertaining people enough that they learn. Over the last four years Joe had to rebrand the podcast twice and after Podcast Movement 2015 completely blew up his format and changed everything. He has five different sponsors and the show comes out three times a week. Today on episode 562 we have a long talk with Joe with some great nuggets. Lessons From Steve Martin (so Far) You're probably going to hear more about this in the future, but I purchased the Steve Martin master class and it is CHOCK FULL of great content (and we haven't' even got to the comedy part yet). Here are some takeaways: Steve went from being on the end of an old movement to the front of a new movement. instead of talking about the same old stuff, he asked, "What hasn't  been talked about?" All movies are cult movies. Steve wanted to be funny without telling jokes. When you decide on a bit, you are defining your taste, and your audience is waiting for your taste as you are the authority. They want to know what YOU think. Apple Updates Their Brand - What it Means To You Apple has updated their branding and to change the name of the podcast directory from Podcasts to Apple Podcasts (which ties in with the Apple Watch, Apple iPad, etc) What I'm seeing as a support person from Libsyn is a more than average amount of people where there show does not update (it takes 24 hours to update anyway, and your subscribers get the episode almost instantly). So if it's been longer than 24 hours and your show is still not showing in your Apple Podcasts listing then you might want to check your artwork (I know it seems unrelated, but out of spec artwork causes all sorts of issues). Here are the specifications: 1400x1400px (minimum) 3000x3000px (maximum) Under 500kb Use rGB color space Be a JPG, JPEG, or a PNG file   If you need an online tool to help resize or compress your file check out pixlr.com Get 10% off Podcast Movement with the Discount Code SOP10 Podcast Movement is in August and it's going to be a great time. Use the coupon code sop10 to get 10% off your ticket. Staying True to Your Format Joe knows he doesn't want to be another "talking head" about finance talking 401ks. He wanted to be entertaining and also talk about finance.  When Joe gets  a review that says he's not funny, instead of changing his format, Joe takes that as a cue to work on being funny. Here are some other topics we talk about: Instead of choosing a solo show or an interview show, Joe does both. Joe knew the first version of the show was going to be a test, and purposely made 13 episodes The second version of his show made it 69 episodes before Joe changed his format again. Joe makes sure his intro lets his audience know that this is NOT The typical finance show. He starts working on a show five weeks in advance using the Promo Republic service You have the ranking that you deserve. How he decided to bleep out or leave in swearing How he handles negative reviews How he drew a "line in the sand" with his intro to let people know if this is for them or not. How he used affiliate links as a "sponsor" How he gave his first sponsor a sweet deal to have a big...

Podcasting in the Media: Teen Titans I want to thank Caine Door of the Adventure Frequency for letting me know that: "In the newly released animated film: Teen Titans the Judas contract (Warner Brothers) Kevin Smith is in the movie as himself interviewing a member of the team on his podcast and it's good. He's a known fanboy so he has great questions and brings some levity to the end of the movie after the big final battle scene. I think it says something that they make time for podcasting in the movie." This is just another example of podcasting being more and more mainstream. Thanks to Caine for the heads up. Thress Years Into Podcasting, She's Not Where She Thought's She's Be, She's in an Event Better Place Natalie Echdahl Almost Quit Podcasting - She's Glad She Didn't Natalie Eckdahl, MBA, is a business coach, professional facilitator, keynote speaker and the host of the Biz Chix Podcast which iTunes featured as a top New Business Podcast in March 2014. Three years ago she went to social media marketing world, she joined John Lee Dumas' Podcaster's Paradise and started following "the formula" that everyone at the time did. However, it didn't reap the results that she expected. At one point Natalie launched a mastermind group, and not a single listener signed up. As she unfolds her story today, you will hear how Natalie handles disappointments and turns them into learning experiences. You will learn: I love Natalie's opening. In less than a minute you understand what the show is about, where it's going, and who it's for. My guess is she used Music Radio Creative I also love her closing call to action which uses her two young sons. It makes it memorable and makes her even more human. When to do an interview show, and when to do a solo show How breaking away from "podcasting best practices" had her numbers go through the roof How to get your audience involved with your show. The importance of timing with your podcast Is your podcast in a Blue Ocean, or Red Ocean (see the book Blue Ocean Strategy, Expanded Edition: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make the Competition Irrelevant) Personal connections lead to her sponsorship with Aweber How she went from being an attendee to a speaker at Social Media Marketing World How she is promoting her show on social media Starting a business? Work with Natalie by going to www.bizchix.com/workwithme Mentioned In This Episode Bizchix.com She Podcasts Biz Women Rock Stop Chasing Influencers book by Jared Easley Music Radio Creative Aweber Need Some One on One Podcast Consulting? Book a coaching call with Dave (as short as 15 minutes) go to www.schoolofpodcasting.com/schedule Start Podcasting Today Tap into Dave's 12 Years of Podcast experience and enjoy: Step by Step Tutorials Private Facebook Group Live Group Coaching Priority Email Support 30 Money Back Guarantee Start podcasting today by going to <a title= "www.schoolofpodcasting.com/start" href= "http://www.schoolofpodcasting.com/start" target=...

Chuck Berry died last month at the age of 90. I saw him four years ago at a special event that honored him with tons of musicians (Merle Haggard, Ronnie Hawkins, Darryl "DMC" McDaniels, Joe Bonamassa and Lemmy Kilmister) coming to play his music and honor him. At the end of the night, Berry accepted the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's American Masters of Music Award, wrapping the Hall of Fame's weeklong celebration of Berry's life.  In the end, they brought Chuck out with a band consisting of a lot of his children who knew how to follow their father's (at times) unpredictable behavior (Chuck got confused in the middle of song two, and restarted it). Chuck got us smiling from the very first moment. He said, "It's great to be here. Then again, I'm 86; I'm glad to be anywhere." So here are some things, on Episode 560, that podcasters can learn from Chuck Berry. Now as a guitar player myself, you start playing the guitar hoping to play Stairway to Heaven, Iron Man, Smoke on the Water, you want to be Van Halen, but you don't start there. You start with Chuck Berry, and you start with Johnny B Goode. In the same way that every band has to learn Mustang Sally and Brown Eyed Girl, every guitar player has to learn how to play Johnny B Good. I am no exception. It's not about the tech. Keep it Simple Other musicians had pedalboard were made of technology on top of technology. They could do the river dance as they changed the tone of their guitar with each tap of their foot. Chuck came out with his trusty guitar and plugged into a single amplifier. He hit the opening riff of Roll Over Beethoven, and you could not help but smile. Chuck had one tone, it was Chuck Berry. This was not a drill, this was not a test, right there in front of my was Chuck Berry. He had a smile on his face, and by the third beat, the whole place was clapping along to the music, dancing, or both. 2. Give the People What They Want. Chuck Berry had many styles. Some of his songs had remnants of country music. He played slow blues., You probably don't know most of those songs. If you wanted airplay, you had to play something kids (teenagers) wanted, and could dance to.  One other thing, the teenagers were the ones buying the music. Rock and Roll music was new. It was a great way for being rebellious, and the fact that this was Rock and Roll from a BLACK MAN, made it even more revolutionary (this was the 1950s). You will notice that Roll Over Beethoven, Johnny B Goode, Rock and Roll Music and many other Berry titles are pretty much the same song. When he appeared on the Johnny Carson show, he said to the band leader, "It's the same as the last song" as they prepared to play another song.  However, those songs like Sweet Little Sixteen, School Days, and others were instantly relatable to his audience. He also had suggestive lyrics which probably made parents offended. Here is a verse from Roll Over Beethoven: Well, if you feel and like it Go get your lover, then reel and rock it Roll it over and move on up just A trifle further and reel and rock with one another, Roll over Beethoven dig these rhythm and blues. 3. Chuck Was Engaging Chuck made sure you were looking at him. in the early days of his career he usually wore black or white suits, but his eyes, mouth, and hands, and especially his legs demanded attention. He would strum his guitar in a way that has hand moved from the back to guitar toward to top. As a guitar player, I can tell you it makes almost no difference where you strum an electric guitar, but it looks cool (and yes, I've borrowed that move). His "Duck Walk" he said in a CBS interview was a mistake. He had slipped and fallen and the "Duck Walk" happened as he was trying to get back up. He noticed the ovation and...

When you create a recipe for food, you serve it to someone and ask them "What do you think?' They might say, "it needs more salt" or some other suggestion. It is then up to you like the chef to decide if you want to implement that recommendation or not. It's not any different in podcasting, but I feel we don't take the time to ask out audience, "What do you think?" So I decided to do this, and bring you along. I asked two simple questions (thanks to Lee Silverstein of the Colon Cancer Podcast who did this first) and saw what kind of feedback I got. You Think You're Going to Get Butchered, But You're Not If you are asking your audience, if they are your audience - they like you. If they have any negative comments, they will probably attempt to deliver them with kid gloves.  By Know What Works, You Can Do More I feel like a bit of an egomaniac today, as much of the show it telling me how much people like my show, but I was more interested in WHY they like my show, and I learned: I make things easy to understand (which is my #1 priority) I am a likable guy I make people laugh I get to the point I'm willing to speak my mind People understand my intentions to help people  I'm not judgemental I'm encouraging I share insights into my life and do a great job of relating those stories to podcasting Here are some great ideas on how I can improve my show (from listener feedback): Put episode numbers in your posts for easier searching Try not to repeat the same content on the School of Podcasting as I do on my Ask the Podcast Coach show. (some people listen to both) Mention that I have a newsletter more often Be more confident in my sales pitch. Maybe not so many appearances of my cat. Here are some suggestions from my audience that I'm not going to implement One person said that the phrase "Tackle the technology" was not entirely correct. I like the "Theater of the mind of that phrase, so it's staying. One person doesn't like the "Ladies" that sing my jingle. For now, I love my jingle in the same way I loved the theme music for Johnny Carson. I know much more people who LOVE the ladies.  You're Not Going to Please Everyone Some people like my cat and other could live without the "Bernie blooper real." Some people like my intro and other do not. With this in mind, you're not going to please everyone. Follow your heart, and remember a few things: It's your show There is a fast forward button Making An Audience Survey There are all sorts of tools for feedback. You can use speakpipe, voicemail, email, and forms.  Here is a quick tutorial to show you how you can use a free tool that allows unlimited forms, unlimited questions, and unlimited responses. https://youtu.be/BvYihe3tah4 Don't Be Afraid To Look in the Mirror Somewhere in your life, you had someone give you feedback, or maybe you made a mistake, but it leads to you becoming better at that task. Constant improvement has been a mantra of mine for many years. You just spent all that time in the kitchen slaving over your podcast. Shouldn't you take the time to ask people what they think? Are You Ready To Launch a Podcast? Join the School of Podcasting and: Get step by step tutorials A private Facebook group for networking Live group coaching (a $400 value) Priority Email support A 30-day money back guarantee  Go to www.schoolofpodcasting.com/start Episode 559 first appeared at <a href= "http://www.schoolofpodcasting.com/559" target=...

Because of My Podcast I'm on the Cover of a Comic Book Jeremy Dennis explains how he was able to commission a custom comic book cover thanks to his supporters.  New Edison Research on Podcasting Edison Research did a telephone survey of 2000 people ages 12 and older. Here are some of the results related to podcasting: 81% of the respondents own a smartphone (up from 76%). It's actually gone up 22% in two years. 50% of people have a Netflix account (more on that later) 60% of people (168 million) are familiar with podcasting (up from 55% last year) 40% have ever listened to a podcast (up from 35% last year). 10 Years ago is was 13% 24% listen to a podcast in the last month (up from 21%) 15% listen weekly (up from 13%) The people who listened weekly average five episodes per week.  Their data shows 65% is mobile (Libsyn says this is closer to 80%) 40% listen to the whole thing. 45% listen to most of it. 10% listen to less than half. 5% listen to just the beginning. 77% Click on and listen immediately (stream). 41% download and listen later. 2&% subscribe and listen later People that subscribe, are subscribed to an average of six podcasts. Each year since 2004 these numbers have gone up every single year.  Get the slides and see the presentation at http://www.edisonresearch.com/infinite-dial-2017/ One More Thing.. 50% of people have a Netflix account, and 43% of them use it on a weekly basis 60% of people are familiar with a podcast. 40% have listened to one, but 24% listen monthly, and 15% listen weekly. Why? In my opinion, you have a better chance at finding quality programming in Netflix than you do in iTunes. I'm going to do some random experiments on this going forward.  Pinecast is a new "Free" media hosting service. It is founded by Matt Basta who is an engineer for Uber.  It was founded in August of 2015 (per his LinkedIn profile).  Their free hosting has the following features: Demo accounts are limited to three podcasts per account. The podcast import tool is not available for demo accounts. An unlimited number of episodes may be added, but only the most recent ten episodes will be available to view in the podcast dashboard and the podcast RSS feed.*  Episode audio is limited to 48MB (per episode). You are free, however, to split episodes into smaller episodes. Only a small subset of the basic analytics will be available. This includes subscriber and listener counts. Episode descriptions will contain a link to Pinecast. Episodes older than the most recent ten are not deleted, but they are not available to view or edit. Upgrading your plan will make them available again. Upgrading to a plan will remove the link to Pinecast from the show's episode descriptions. All analytics data that is collected for higher-tier plans will always be collected for all podcasts (even ones owned by demo accounts), meaning analytics data will retroactively be provided if the account is upgraded. Unavailable Features The following features are not available to demo accounts: Feedback Geo analytics Import tool Ability to create networks Embeddable (HTML5) player Bittorrent downloads Podcast website or blog They have a demo (free) account, Starter ($5/month) and Pro ($50) a month.  The pro plans allow you to create a network, and allow you to receive comments on your page, as well as have multiple users on your account.  Their free (known as "Community" plans meet the following requirements: These plans may not be used exclusively for marketing,...

You can be the media. In a world where what is and is not true, you have the power and distribution to be your own media outlet. I have known Emily Prokop (of the Story Behind Podcast) as we run in the same circles, but I was unaware of her background in Journalism. So when I heard she had a degree in Journalism, I asked to come on and share some Journalism 101 insights. These include: The importance of headlines Getting to the point. How to structure your podcast using the Inverted Pyramid Give people an idea of where they are going Show notes broken into small sections using Subheadings are more informative than giant blocks of text. How she got over "going solo." How to write out your show script that won't results in tons of editing What websites are good resources. Extra steps you can take to make sure your source is trustworthy. Her thoughts on using a Libsyn Podcast Page #podernfamily hashtag The importance of not inflating your numbers Interview tips, and making sure you get the most out of your guest. Talking about sensitive subjects. How long does it take to produce a well researched 10 minute podcast? Her early days of podcasting with a microphone from the Rock band video game. Behind the Scenes of Podfading Emily's first show didn't end well, so she shares some insights into how they didn't set expectations, and in the end it didn't end well. So if you are starting a podcast with a co-host, be sure to make sure everyone knows what is and is not expected. This way you can get back to making content, and not worry about what happens if..... with your podcast as you've already set your expectations. About the Story Behind The extraordinary history of the ordinary. Do you like trivia and fun facts? Have you lost hours to Wikipedia rabbit holes? Do you ever wonder about the history of everyday things in your world? The Story Behind ... is the show for you!. Check it out on iTunes, TuneIn, Stitcher, Google Play Music or on her website at www.thestorybehindpodcast.com Final Thoughts Unlike newspapers and radio, we don't have those MUST HIT deadlines. While you want to publish on a regular basis, we can make sure that the episode is right before we publish it. You can get the best resources (see podcastingresources.com), whip up a great headline, and come out of the gate with great content. Mentioned In This Podcast The Story Behind Podcast How to Male Great Headlines Podcasting Resources Join the School of Podcasting

Today I'm back from Podfest in Orlando Florida. What a great show, there were tons of brand new podcasters looking to jump into the space. This week we share if you had one podcast episode that sticks in your brain, if so why. Joining the Podcast Family 4:28 I share how the Podcast Family came to my rescue when I had a device fail when I got to Florida. Special thanks to Marc Johanssen of the Podcast Gear Facebook Group, and Michael O'Neal of the Solopreneur Hour who let me borrow gear to make my session happen when things broke during travel. My Favorite Episode Is 09:35  Gabe from Guys and Food said his favorite episode(s) were from The Sporkful http://www.sporkful.com/calls-a-root-beer-float-to-cure-the-cancer-blues/ and http://www.sporkful.com/margaret-chos-eating-disorder-advice-to-a-teenage-girl/ Both were poignant and heartfelt depictions of people who are going through pain and the ways that they try to handle it. Their stories are told in an authentic and human way. These episodes stand on their own because of that. However, they especially stand out when juxtaposed to the other, more lighthearted episodes. It reminds me of the TV show MASH in this way. 11:42 Lee From This is Rammy loved and episode of the Social Media Examiner and one of the things he does't is recommend it to his friends. 14:12 Zack Demopoulos of the Rasing Rants Podcast loved the Story of Monty Roberts on the Relaunch Show with Joel Boggess  18:12 Kuldryn from Kuldrin's Krypt loved the emotion behind episode three of the Messengers Podcast 21:30 Emily from the Story Behind Podcast loved the story of Charles Manson's Hollywood. The Dave Jackson Two Question Challenge 25:36 The first question is what do you like about my show, the second question is what you wish I would change. Write and email with the title of "559" and send in a voicemail, or audio by 3/24 Behind the Scenes of My Podfest Presentation My presentation got off to a rocky start, this lead to many voice in my head filled with panic. Things weren't turning out the way I wanted. When I was done, as things had not gone the way I wanted, I assumed it was awful. Yet I was approached by people who told me it was a great presentation. I've said this before, if you aim at perfect and miss, you'll land on really, really good. Quit Obsessing Over Things That Don't Matter People are failing to launch their podcast because they are obsessed over things that don't really matter (color of website, the player your are using). I don't recommend a podcast based on the player or color of the website.   Mentioned in the Show <a href=...

Today I share some insights after talking with  Jason Norris of Podcast Logical Chris Holifield of I Am Salt Lake Lee of This is Rammy Ken Blannchard from Upper Marlboro (and black man with a gun) We hear what it is like to start a local podcast including: The struggles to interview local "Mom an Pop" businesses Is it easier/harder to get a local sponsor? How they developed their format How they are promoting the show. Ready To Start Podcasting? The School of Podcasting features: Step by Step tutorials Live group coaching Private Facebook Group Join the School of Podcasting  

Comments? Call them in 888-563-3228 Today we talk with Glenn Rubenstein who is the author of the book Podcast Advertising Works. Glenn worked at the TWIT podcast network in both ad sales and as the company’s Director of Marketing. He is also the founder of Adopter Media (https://adopter.media/) World Radio Day Get Hindenburgh Journalist For $1.90 You can purchase Hindenburg Journalist for $1.90 (Not a typo, typically $95) and help fight hunger. You can upgrade to their pro version for $215 (usually over $300). Need help learning the software? Check out the School of Podcasting's  Hindenburgh Journalist for Podcasting Course Because of My Podcast - I'm Going to Spring Training for Free Corey Fineran hosts the Ivy Envy Podcast, and shares how his audience is paying for him, his co-host (and their families) to go to the Chicago Cubs spring training in Arizona (in addition to making some great keepsakes for their studio). Podcast Advertising Works - Glenn Rubenstein Interview Glenn has been working in Ad Sales in podcasting for many years and today he shares some insights into: What mistakes podcasters are making What a future of dynamic advertising could look like How to overcome common objections when trying to sell advertising The book Podcast Advertising Works is great for someone who is trying to sell advertisements on their show. If you want more about advertising and monetizing your show. Check out the Episodes with Jessica Kupferman, and Glenn The Geek Hebert What Do You Mean When You Say Edit Your Podcast? Today I'm going to play some clips of a podcast (friend of mine, who has come and said he should've edited) to help demonstrate things you should consider editing out of your show. Michael Butler knows his episode was going down a dark path (he has spoken about this on his show). Luckily for those who know Michael and the Rock and Roll Geek show, we found it funny. Mentioned In This Episode Podcast Advertising Works  Rock and Roll Geek show The Bitterest Pill  Check out Dan Klass' book Podcasting Solutions Adopter Media Hindenburg Journalist Radio Day Promotion Join the School of Podcasting Risk Free www.schoolofpodcasitng.com/start

Today we have a serious subject that isn't so much about getting more downloads, and new cool gear, but the fact that your podcast can make a difference. I've helped people save money on fear, and help them launch podcasts. I've helped them find ways to grow their audience, and give them insights into creating better content on the Podcast Review Show. I've helped a listener of my Logical Weight Loss podcast lose 100 lbs. None of those compare to the email I received from the producer of Kuldryn's Krypt podcast. Honestly, in September of last year, 2016, I had resolved get my affairs in order and to end my life on Halloween night, the greatest day of the year. I was introduced by complete chance to you. I was on Spreaker, did a search for podcasting and you came up. I chose to listen to you because my birth name is Ryan Jackson and I have a brother name David. Keep in mind I had never heard a podcast prior to this and I have no idea how I or why I was even on Spreaker's website...but I was and there was you were. I am a Patron because you gave me the tools to start my own podcast but more importantly you, YES! YOU! "The Dave Jackson, provided me with something to live for. My podcast isn't great, it isn't even good, BUT IT IS MINE and it provides me with the outlet I need to help other's and once again have a purpose in this world. It is just a very simple fact-if I had not found YOUR podcast when I did, on October 31st, 2017 11:55p.m. a bullet from a Taurus .38 Special would be ending my life. Thank you for never giving up and fighting through...I'm sure through your divorce and the issues with your family it hasn't been easy but Dave, I am will continue to be literal living proof that it's been worth it. Thank you! So today we are going to talk about setting expectations, and crushing it, etc. Suicide Among Entrepreneurs is a Problem We Should Talk About 30% of all entrepreneurs experience depression, according to a study by Dr. Michael Freeman, a clinical professor at the University of California, San Francisco. Depression among entrepreneurs is way higher than depression among Americans in general, which is estimated at about 7% — although that number could be even higher because of the stigma associated with talking about it. Of the 242 entrepreneurs surveyed, 49% reported having a mental-health condition. Depression was the No. 1 reported condition among them and was present in 30% of all entrepreneurs, followed by ADHD (29%) and anxiety problems (27%). That's a much higher percentage than the US population at large, where only about 7% identify as depressed.   Here are just some examples In May 2015, 31 year old Austen Heinz, CEO of Cambrian Genomics took his own life. In July, 29 year old Faigy Mayer, CEO of Appton jumped off a New York rooftop. 26 year old Aaron Schwartz, a partner at Reddit, hung himself in 2013. 47 year old Jody Sherman, founder of Ecomom shot himself that year. One of his colleagues, 24 year old Ovik Banerjee, followed a year later. 22 year old Ilya Zhitomirskiy, CEO of Diaspora, took his life in 2011. In Las Vegas one project had three suicides. In an article The Downtown Project Suicides: Can the Pursuit of Happiness Kill You?  they mention Jody Sherman (4/13), Ovik Banerjee (1/14), and Matt Berman (4/14) – all people involved in the Vegas Tech phenomenon. Some people are...

Once a month this year, I'm going ask you a question and use those answers for an episode. I want to get to under you more, and in general get a better understand of what you like and dislike. This month I asked, "What are those things that make your go "Uggh" when listening to a podcast. They might make your even unsubscribe. SPONSOR: Emerald City Productions Get your first four episodes edited for $15 each (and only $40 after that – for shows up to 30 minutes). Just go to www.emeraldcitypro.com/sop(other companies are charging $99 an episode) What Makes You Unsubscribe From a Podcast? Failure to Get to the Point 4:10 Haley Redke (Adopteeson.com) is not a fan of not getting to the point, and people that interrupt their guests. 5:33 Tracie Bonnick also hates when the podcast hosts hates it when the host of the podcast doesn't let the guest talk 6:05 Glenn the Geek Hebert of Horse Radio Network was on Podcast Junkies and said he hates it when the podcast hosts just runs down a list of questions 6:39 Brian Weber (bartenderjourney.net) hates it when people don't get to the point 7:15 Ishamael Colderon - Hates long intro 7:43 John Wilkerson (www.strugglingforpurpose.com ) hates a super long intro 10:00 Daryl hates a ton of ads at the beginning (Joe Rogan?) as in three minutes of nothing but ads. 11:00 James Aaron of https://2middleageddudes.wordpress.com/ hates people talking to hear themselves talk. 11:53 From new Father Daniel J Lewis (YEAH NOODLE BABY) from the Audacity to Podcast said, "I go "ugh" when a conversation with a guest starts with "getting to know you" stuff. I don't care about the guest's background until after I care about their message." 12:40 Riding the Volume Knob 13:10 Kathe Kline from Rock Your Retirement goes nuts when she has to keep adjusting the volume 14:30 John Hilman hates it when the hosts and guest have WAY different volume levels. 15:50 Emily from The Story Behind Podcast - Four People Around One Microphone makes her turn off the show immediately. 17:20 Kuldrin Fire (kuldrinskrypt.com ) hates the word, "Right" and having to ride the volume knob, and he hates when hosts put down other hosts. 19:50 Inside Jokes 20:15 Emily from The Story Behind Podcast when they forget they have new listeners and talk about things from past episodes 20:53 Mark Des Cotes from the Resourceful Designer  (and http://solotalkmedia.com/)hates it when TV Show podcasts refer to the actress name only (and not the character) 22:23 Emily from The Story Behind Podcast hates people who are note authentic and giant commercials. Experts Who Don't Know What They're Talking About 24:00 Connie From the Small Business 101 Podcast couldn't believe the advice she heard about starting a business 27:00 Hall of Fame Podcaster Danny Peña from Gamer Tag Radio hates it when Podcasts about Podcasting promote the importance of New and Noteworthy (see <a...

Today we go deep into running the business that is The Horse Radio Network. We talk with America's Horse Husband Glenn "the Geek" Hebert SPONSOR: Emerald City Productions Get your first four episodes edited for $15 each (and only $40 after that - for shows up to 30 minutes). Just go to www.emeraldcitypro.com/sop (other companies are charging $99 an episode) Because of my Podcast: Ravi Jayagopal Ravi is the man behind Digital Access Pass which is a great membership script if you're looking to turn your Wordpress Website into a Membership site. Ravi shares how starting his Subscribe Me and Cut to the Chase Podcasts has boosted sales, introduced him to new friends and resources, got consulting clients, and created doors where none existed. Check out Ravi's "Subscribe Me" Book, His Subscribe Me podcast, and his Wordpress Player "Cool Cast" Player Glenn The Geek Takes Us Behind The Operations of The Horse Radio Podcast Network. What a typical day looks like The rules of setting up additional shows What media group is RIPE to start their own podcast What Glenn does with his advertisers to keep them engaged Check out Glenn at www.horseradionetwork.com Glenn was on the SOP talking about Sponsorships Mentioned In This Show Dealing With My Grief Podcast Podfest.us February in Florida Podcast Engineering School (Chris was on a previous show) Digital Access Pass My Podcast Reviews Confessions of a Wannabe PodcaSTAR: The Biggest Podcasting Myths Busted Honestly: My Life and Stryper Revealed Divi Wordpress Theme Not Sure Where To Start With Podcasting? Free video course "Podcast baby steps" will show you in bite size chunks what to do.  

Because of My Podcast Dana Gould I was reading an article where West Word was interviewing Dana Gould (Who I find hilarious) and they asked him he still does his podcast (the Dana Gould Hour) while now running/writing the show Stan Against Evil. Here is what Dana said, “I cite the podcast as the things that literally made everything else possible. It keeps my name out there and connects my audience. I think the reason that I’m still allowed to work in clubs is because my podcast has nurtured and cultivated my fan base to the point that people show up. Because if people don’t show up, you don’t get hired. And I think the podcast is very much responsible for that. – Full article Dana Gould Hour on iTunes Dana Gould Hour on Stitcher Spreaker Unveils Beta Ad Revenue Share Program Spreaker.com is a podcast media hosting company that has the added bonus of being ale to stream your podcast live. The recently rolled out an ad revenue program. The program right now is beta, and only for US users. It allows you to have a 30 second preroll ad (meaning it is the first thing that starts your show, it goes before the show - pre-roll). There is some new terminology Requests - The number of times your episode is called (most of us would refer to this as a download, but in this case Spreaker is streaming the file) Impressions - This is how many times an ad was in your request Currently impressions will only appear if you're using the spreaker player on your website (again, this is beta, more features coming) You won't have ads through your RSS feed Some advertisers have a geographic specification so that they only run ads in certain area. I had an ad for a college in Cleveland Ohio (I live on Akron) Podcast Glossary "L" Levelator Levelator is a free program (mac and PC) and allows you to drag a file into the software and it will adjust the volume level to be consistent. For example if you have an interview and you are louder than the guest, the Levelator software will adjust the audio of your guest to match your volume. You can find it at http://www.conversationsnetwork.org/levelator Libsyn Liberated Syndication (libsyn) pioneered the system to host and publish podcasts in 2004. And since then has grown to the largest leading podcast network with over 2.6 billion downloads in 2014. Libsyn hosts over 25,000 shows with 44 million monthly audience member. Find it at www.libsyn.com (use the coupon code sopfree to get a free month) My Podcast Launch Kit I had someone said to me, I don't want to think about it, I trust you. Tell me what to do. Well, there is no one size fits all, but here are some things that I recommend: I say use a self hosted Wordpress Website. I do not like Blue host, or dreamhost, I am moving my things to Coolerwebsites.com which is my reseller account for Godaddy. I've also used Hostgator. I use Libsyn for my media hosting and distribution. I used them 10 years before I started working for them in 2016. For my Wordpress theme I use Appendipty themes which run on the

Because of My Podcast: My Family Was Fed A Giant Meal Cale Nelson of Ham Radio 360 sent in a great story where a listener told him NOTt to make dinner the Thursday before Christmas. Then sent Cale a giant box of Barbecue. When you've got a houseful of kids, and your wife is happy because the food is excellent, and she didn't have to cook it - it's a big win. Check out Cale's show at HamRadio360.com Starting a Podcast Your Customer Wants To Hear Should your business have a podcast? Probably. It's a great way to get in front of your target audience no matter where they are. I was asked to be on a new podcast coming out today (my episode is in the future) and its from Tim Sinclair. You may or may not know that name, but I'll reveal who his is in a second. I just checked out his site and then it hit me. This is a great example of using a podcast for your business. Tim Sinclair is the CEO of Ringr . This is an app and service that allows you to record both sides of an interview. If you're worried about doing a "mix minus" then you may want to check out this service. Plans start at $7.99 a month for the basic, and $18.99 for the premium. For more information go to http://ringr.com/podcastcoach The people that use Tim's technology interview people and want a good recording. There are two ways to learn things. You can be shown how to do it right, or your can bring in those two famous trainers that seem to help everyone. You may know them as Trial and Error. They are not very efficient, but their lessons cut deep. You want your podcast to do one of these things Laugh Cry Think Groan Educate Entertain If you have your show do more than one of the above, you're headed in the right direction. So what Tim did is launch a podcast filled with fun, entertaining stories that can be educational as well. The podcast is called My Worst Interview Ever.  He has interviewed people like Cliff Ravenscraft, The Mobile Pro Shawn Smith, The App Guy Paul Kemp, XM Radio’s Doug Hannah, Blubrry’s Todd Cochrane, Libsyn’s Rob Walch, syndicated radio host Brant Hansen, Dave Jackson, Dan Franks, Jeff Brown, Daniel J. Lewis. The stories I understand are hilarious. The first episode is John Lee Dumas talking about his worst interview ( a rock icon famous for selling coffins). So when creating a podcast, one strategy is to create a podcast that your target audience wants to hear. Tim identified his audience and has come up with a fun and entertaining way to produce good content without making his show a giant infomercial. Remember, nobody tunes into an infomercial on purpose. The next thing I like is Tim is already in iTunes and Stitcher. He doesn't seem too worried about the magical happy place of New and Noteworthy and his first eight weeks. With content like this, I bet he'll get listed because he didn't name his show wtf this week in cold cases on fire. He also made sure  NOT to make it giant Ringr commercial. He does a quick mention in the middle. He understands the idea is to build an audience first. Check out his show at worstinterviews.com and check out his service at ringr.com A Not Great Example The Penzu podcast is meant to help promote their company (penzu.com which I love and use) Nobody is looking for "Penzu" that doesn't know then) so how is this supposed to bring in new people? They are using Soundcloud

Here it is 2017. Congratulations you made it through another year. Some of you were going to start podcasting last year, some of you go back to 2015. Some of you, are going back even further. Today I want to give you some ideas and strategies to launching your first podcast. What Do You Need To Start Your Podcast An idea A microphone A media host A website (optional, but STRONGLY encouraged) Some artwork for iTunes A description To get into itunes you need one live episode. Take A Mulligan So here is a strategy that some people on accident, and you can do on purpose. I call it "The Mulligan." This comes from golf. When you hit a bad shot, you call that shot your mulligan, and you throw down your new ball and swing again. It is basically a do over. Some very popular podcasters like Hall of Fame Podcaster Mignon Fogherty, Lauria Petruci, even Adam Curry (who helped invent podcasting) didn't hit pay dirt till he was on his THIRD podcast. So start a podcast about anything, it doesn't. You could do a podcast about the weather in your city, just to go through the motions and learn the tech. Once you've got it down, cancel everything, delete all the files, and go back and do one for real. Take a mulligan on purpose. When I played in bands, often the best recordings were the one where the engineer told us he wasn't recording. There was no pressure we were just doing a sound check. With no pressure we often would come up with a great "take" and end the song and say "I wish we would've recorded that" (and luckily in some cases they did). If you start out with a show you don't care about you can get a show up and see it really doesn't take that much to record and publish a show. (Getting people to listen is really the hard part). What About The Expense? I graduated from the University of Akron with a Bachelor's Degree in Education specializing in Technical Education. Just the books for a semester are an estimated $450. The actual classes are $5473 semester (typically three months) if you're going full time (Source). When you sink $100-$300 into a podcast (FOR A LIFETIME), that is a small investment. Moving forward your will be spending $30 a month (typically). Cut out a few sodas and snicker's bars and you've got your money. Keep in mind, The money you are spending is an investment in you. But What If You Want To Actually Take a Real Swing? You've probably heard about S.M.A.R.T. Goals. This stands for Specific Measurable Actionable Realistic Time Bound So instead of "I want to start a podcast." You need to get more specific. I want to start a podcast about Raising Llamas . This is more specific, but I'd like a little more specifics and some time. I will Google other Llama podcasts to see what names might be available by January 15th. Michael Hyatt (one of my favorite Authors - I read Platform every January) has a "Best Year Ever" course and he throws in two more items. Exciting - You wouldn't set a goal that bores you. Relevant - I'm going to do a daily show, even though I have two jobs, a wife, and a set of twins. By adding these two, you are creating smarter goals. Why Should I Podcast? You have something to say: You're yelling at the dashboard in the car, or swearing outloud in the super market as you think, "ugh I could do this better.." Here are some more. You want to be seen as an expert You want to reach a global audience You want to build a community You want to sharpen your presentation skills You want to build your brand You want to promote your products You want to boost your speaking career...

This Year SOP Listeners said the following list was "Their Favorite Podcast" This means if they could only listen to ONE, this would be the show. Here they are in alphabetical order 4:00 Adam Carolla Show - http://adamcarolla.com/ 4:42 Bloodround - http://www.bloodround.com 6:58  Freakonomincs - http://www.freakonomics.com 9:18 Hollywood Bable On - http://www.smodcast.com/channel/hollywoodbabbleon 11:35 Kate’s Take - http://www.eofire.com/audio-blog/ 12:34 Medication Oasis - http://www.meditationoasis.com/podcast/ 13:25 Mighty Blue on the Appalachian Trail - http://mightyblueontheat.com/ 14:23 Mike Row’s The Way I Heard It - http://mikerowe.com/podcast/ 15:54 Mixergy - https://mixergy.com 17:00   Mysterious Universe - mysteriousuniverse.org 17:54 Mystery Show - https://gimletmedia.com/mystery-show/ 20:11 Old Pre-Meds - http://www.oldpremeds.org/ 22:10 Radio Labyrinth - https://audioboom.com/channel/radio-labyrinth 23:12 RED Podcast - http://www.redpodcast.com 24:25 Retired Exited - http://www.retiredexcited.com 25:30 Rock Your Retirement - http://www.rockyourretirement.com 27:25 She Podcasts - http://www.shepdocasts.com 29:20 Spawn On Me - http://spawnon.me/ 30:47 Stacking Benjamins - http://www.stackingbenjamins.com 35:42 Stuff You Missed in History - http://www.missedinhistory.com/ 39:05 Ted Radio Hour - http://www.npr.org/programs/ted-radio-hour/ 40:17 The Audacity to Podcast - http://www.theaudacitytopodcast.com 41:25 The School of Podcasting - http://www.schoolofpodcasting.com 42:50 Trecks in Sci -Fi - http://treksinscifi.com/podcast_notes/ 46:55 Tumble - http://www.sciencepodcastforkids.com/   Contribtuors Amanda from the Great Beer Adventure greatbeeradventure.com Brian Entzminger, host of the Engaging Missions Shows at http://www.engagingmissions.com Bryan Goodwin with http://www.goodwinsocialmedia.com Cale Nelson from www.hamradio360.com Chris Hache of the Noshing Nova Scotians podcast http://www.chrishache.com Glenn “The Geek” Hebert of the Horse Radio Network http:/www.horseradionetwork.com Hall of Fame Podcaster Danny Pena, founder and co-host of Gamertag Radio (http://www.gamertagradio.com Henry Shapiro of the Retired Excited podcast <a href=...

Because of My Podcast I Got Media Passes - Cheri Field Cheri Fields has at least 7 children, and produces the Creation Science for Kids Podcast http://creationscience4kids.com/ What Podcaster's Can Learn From Amazon.com Amazon is an amazing company. Recently I purchased an Amazon Echo, and Later and Amazon Dot. These devices allow me to do things through voice activation system known as Alexa. You can control Alexa with an Amazon Echo, an Amazon Dot, and Amazon Tap, and now you can control your Amazon Fire TV.  If you're interested, check out my Buyer's Guide. The item that made me purchase the Echo? The ability to say “Alexa, add eggs to the grocery list.” The more I examine the Amazon company, the more I believe there are tips we podcasters can learn from them. Amazon Makes It Easy To Find Stuff Their search is at the top of their page. You don’t have to search for the search. Amazon understands their customer may want a number of things, so they make it easy to find. Podcasters you need a search button that is easy to find, if you provide topics that are more of a reference. Podcasters you could use categories to create filter to only show those episodes that are categorized a certain way. Customer First Mentality Any research into amazon and you will read how they make all decisions based on serving the customer. They are spending money on items that will better serve the customer. So when you are thinking about purchasing some equipment for your podcast you need to ask yourself who the purchase is serving, you or your audience? Amazon project lead Ian McAllister has described a sort of reverse engineering that happens frequently at company HQ. “We try to work backwards from the customer, rather than starting with an idea for a product and trying to bolt customers onto it,” he wrote on Quora.com. When someone approaches you to to be a guest on your show, you need think, “Will my audience want to hear this content?” Personalized Recommendations There are plugins that can add related links to other episodes on your site. So when someone listens to an episode about Topic A there could be links to more Topic A shows at the bottom of the post. There are plugins such as Yet Another Related Wordpress Post Plugin (which has lots of features, but can be a bit of a resource hog), and Related Wordpress Posts is a lighter weight plugin with an easy setup. If you’re using Appendipity themes, this is a built in feature They Don’t Always Win, but They Try I completely forgot that Amazon launched a “Fire Phone.” That tells you how much of an impact it had on the phone space. They’ve done quite a few things that didn’t land well. It wants to infiltrate people’s lives to such an extent that they can’t imagine living without it — that they don’t even try to imagine living without it. We always joke that "No one will punch you in the face," here at the School of Podcasting. Your podcast is a recipe, not a statue. One of the cool things about being cloud based, is they are constantly adding new features to the Alexa system Keep Your Pages Loading Fast After analyzing the ratio of sales to website performance, Amazon discovered that for every 100ms of page load time there was a 1% decrease in sales. So how fast does your website need to be? Many usability

Call the Show 888-563-3228 Because of my Podcast Cale Nelson Last week, a listener contacted me via email. He is one of my Pateron Supporters. He said he noticed on my Pateron page the goal for buying a new Mixer. He went on to inquire about which mixer I was interested in. I sent him a note back telling him about the 12 ch Behringer mixer I had been saving for (which was the lowest cost mixer with Faders I could find on Amazon-I'm a FM Radio Throw-back and prefer faders). In his subsequent email, he stated he wanted to purchase a Mixer for me-and he'd buy the Behringer if that is what I had to have, otherwise he preferred to buy me a Yamaha MG12. After picking myself up from the floor, and maybe or maybe not drying one or both of my eyes; I said the Yamaha would be a fine choice. The board arrived today, I'm still flabbergasted, and completely humbled. I have the best listener(s) on the planet! Cale Nelson www.hamradio360.com Be the Best Podcast Guest Be the Best Podcast Host Maybe it's Friday and I am just tired after so many hours of programming this week but if you send me an interview request that includes the following I will not even respond to you. 1: you must have a hour for the interview 2: you must have headphones 3: you must have a quiet space 4: We request all guest to share our podcast on social media I must? I must? You are asking me for an interview and you say I must? Plus, if in your initial email request you say I should share it to my social media, I will never respond to you. I will share it to my social media if I think it is valuable to my friends, family and audience. Show some respect when you are asking for interviews. Wow. Whew, ok now I am going take a break this weekend! Have a good one everybody! Stop Chasing Influencers Jared Easley is one of my My Favorite People on the Planet. I do't interact with him much, but when I do, I'm always glad I did. His Book Stop Chasing Influencers: The True Path to Building Your Business and Living Your Dream had a TON of useful advice that came from the real world. Here is a quick excerpt. A majority of the influencers and A-listers on his guest wish-list did not have time or interest in being on his new show, which had zero listeners. The guests who were gracious enough to give him the time for an interview were not inclined to share it with their audiences. Finally, the guests who did give him their time, and who also shared the show with their networks on social media, did not translate into a large Starve the Doubts audience that listened to the guest interviews and subscribed or stuck around as well. So if you're looking for GIANT numbers by having GIANT names, that is not going to happen.   Host Tips If you of alot of interviews, you're going to lose your mind without a scheduling tool I love Acuity Scheduling. If you're looking for a free (scaled down) tool I've heard good things about Calendly.com Let the guest know WHY they are there. WHO they are talking to, WHAT they will be talking about and HOW long the interview will be. Go to their website and get the bio, headshot, etc. Then ask for what is missing. Do some research (if you want, listen to other interviews, check out their Facebook page, twitter), and come up with some questions. This list of questions (for me) will be used as "game plan" but not as an interrogation Email the day off

Branding and Marketing Your Podcast: Lauren Nelson Interview Today on episode 543 we talk with fellow podcast Lauren Nelson who is the Marketing Manager for Crowdspring.com She produce the audio drama podcast "The Box" and share her insights on how podcasts ban boost their marketing efforts to stand out. Realize there are no rules to podcast. For Lauren she takes as much as she needs to tell her story, and that's it. Your iTunes artwork is your first impression, have someone who is a graphic person create yours. Consistency can boost your brand by never missing an episode, or by announcing (if you take a break) your planned absence. People may want t-shirts, mugs and other "Swag" items, so keep this in mind when making your artwork. The Apple company broke the rules in their advertisements (so have companies like All Spice) Don't be afraid to think outside the box. Thin about how "a show about nothing" is one of the top televisions shows of all time. Lauren's Favorite Marketing Podcasts Startup Smart Passive Income Marketing Over Coffee Duct Tape Marketing Special Podcast Marketing Guide Go to  www.crowdspring.com/sop free guide promoting your show, and your design needs. Blue Yeti - A Hands On Review The Blue Yeti is quoted WAY TOO MUCH as a great podcast microphone. It is a condensor microphone, and if not used properly can make really bad sounding recordings. It can pick up what is right in front of it, what is behind it, or everything around it. You want to "Cardoid" setting for your best  recording of a solo podcaster. To avoid sounding like you’re in a tunnel you need to turn the gain down, and get close the the microphone. When you do this, you will have what most people call “popping p’s” when you say worse that start with P’s, B’s, H’s, etc as the from your mouth goes into the microphone. The solution is to purchase a pop filter. Due to it’s unique size you need a specialized pop filter. You can purchase the Blue Pop Filter for $59, or you can grab a perfectly good one for $22 from Auphonix . The other thing you need is a shock mount. The reason for this is ANY touching of the desk that the Yeti is sitting on will pick up the vibrations. So you can purchase the shock mount from Blue for $56, or this one from for Auphonix for $30. So the price of a Yeti goes from $89 to somewhere between to $$141 to 204. The shock mount is going to need a stand so I recommend either the Rode PSA1 ($99) or the Heil PL-2T ($130) This is why the Audio Technica ATR2100 is the Best Podcasting Microphone NOT the Blue yeti. The Audio Technica us a dynamic microphone (which means it will pick up less noise than the yet) While the stand that comes with the ATR2100 is very simple, it will pick up less thumping (but I would still recommend a shock mount. This unit is a shock mount and pop filter in one for $9. Because its more of a “traditional” microphone you are a little more open to pop

Today we talk with Michael Oneal. Michael has over 500 episodes of his Solopreneur Hour, and also a co-host/producer of the Hines Ward show. Michael talks about how standing out leads to better relationships which lead to better opportunities. He also talks about his new "Art of the Interview" course. Sponsor: Emerald City Productions Your first four episodes edited for $15 each, and after that, it's only $40. Think of the time your will save, and think about how good you will sound. All the ums, and yaknows will be gone. All of your volumes will be even, and the equalization will be just right (not too much bass, not too thin) Check them out at www.emeraldcitypro.com/sop Because of my Podcast: Jim Collison Caught the Attention of the Department of Labor 3:06 Jim Collison does a podcast for his job. Also at his job he works with high school students in an intern program. The country needs more programmers. Gallup is making it happen. He got interviewed on the program (see the video at http://gallupgethip.com/info, but what caught the ears of the State of Nebraska Department of Labor? The Audio podcast. So because of Jim’s Podcast, he got a meeting with the Department of Labor for the State of Nebraska. See Jim’s podcast for Gallup at http://coaching.gallup.com Jim also does his podcast which you can find at www.theavaergeguy.tv Michael Oneal Stand Outs Above the Rest 9:51 Michael Oneal comes up with stuff that is awesome, and the beauty of his information is that it is stuff you can put into action immediately. Here is an example. If you are doing an interview with someone and you don't want them to use the "same old stories" in this interview. What do you do? Use those stories in your introduction, and they can't use them in their answers. They are forced to come up with NEW answers. BRILLIANT. He has a new course called the Art of the Interview which you can find at www.artoftheinterview.co Michael started out as a web designer who has lived all over the country and has had some great experiences. He is a professional drummer and has acquired skills in all sorts of areas. He filled in on the David Wood Show, started his own show and within a year was making a six figure income. Today we want to know how he did it.  Michael stood out by giving Pat Flynn an iTunes gift card, and late taking him to lunch (after slowly building the relationship) then DIDN'T grill him about business (he zagged when everyone else zigged). This "non-grilling" talk then stood out from every conversation that Pat usually has at lunch. So Michael turned that into the Solopreneur Hour Show and how he has over 8 million downloads. Michael produces/hosts a show with Hines Ward Show from the Pittsburgh Steelers. Today you hear how relationships got Michael in the door that had been closed. Michael spent 90% of his bank account to buy flowers for John Lee Dumas, and it resulted in a great friendship that has lead to Michael partnering with John with different projects. Michael turned down coaching because he didn't feel he was a coach. His audience showed him he was missing an opportunity. He didn't launch with giant platforms. He got to know his audience by talking directly with his community and launched with a private Facebook group. This private Facebook Group has now

Today I want to share what I do to put together an episode.  My example will be the the latest episode of the Logical Weight Loss Podcast. I also do a podcast microphone shootout with microphones in the $300 range (last week we did a shootout with microphones that are under $100) This Week's Sponsor: Emerald City Productions This week's show is sponsored by Emerald City Productions. Get your podcast edited and sounding great with this awesome special. Your first four episodes will be $15 each (after that they go to the regular price of $40). Check them out at www.emeraldcitypro.com/sop Because of My Podcast I Got A New Job: Super Joe Pardo Joe Pardo is the man behind the Dreamers Podcast, and also the organizer of Podcast MidAtlantic. Today Joe shares how his podcast got him invited to an event. At that event he got to meet some influencial people. Those people got to know Joe, and through his podcast they knew what his credentials were, and offered him a job. Find Joe at SuperJoePardo.com Being the Scenes Of Making a Podcast Episode So I had someone who was surprised at the amount of work that might go into a podcast. So this week as I prepared to publish an episode of the Logical Weight Loss Podcast, I took notes. There is one key point here. Length of time spent on and episode does NOT equal more downloads. You can spend all day working on content that doesn't connect with you audience. So here is what I did. First based on the ideas in 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] I came up with my main idea. Which is, "Based on mainstream media, it is easy to feel out of place if you are alone for the holidays. This along with the numerous activities of the holidays can lead to stress, and stress can lead to emotional eating."  That is where I started. Here is a little confession. Last year I was "Alone" for the holidays. It turned out it wasn't that bad. Different? Sure. Bad? Nope. I wanted to help anyone who might be feeling down for the holidays. So I set out for strategies and insights for those who are alone on the holidays. I started with Google. I looked through about 10 articles, and ended up reading five. I pulled from my own experiences. I looked into resources for people who really were in a bad place and then made sure they were legit. I then went down a rabbit hole, when I found iPrevail. A pretty cool website that offers live chat for those who need to talk, and for those who want to go deeper, the offer some online courses. Intrigued, I signed up and took one. Note: This wasn't needed to complete the episode, but I always go with the thought "If it interests me, it probably interests my audience." I then looked at the holidays, and tried to find things that might be entertaining. I injected some humor to stop the episode from being so dark. I found examples I thought people could relate to (overly gushy Jewelry commercials), decorating a Christmas Tree, and weird family members. All of these to point out that the holidays are not a world of splendor filled with Rainbows and Lollipops. I took some time to figure out what topics I wanted to hit first. In other words,  I tried to take the smattering of ideas and organize them into a stream of ideas that flowed nicely. I also through in a quick segment on an egg cooker I recently purchased. Finally I recorded it. My show notes were pretty done as I now make my show notes first

Today we are going to get our gear on. All you gear heads are going to love this. We are going to talk about some of the best places to purchase gear, we are going to talk about mixers, and we are going to compare three microphones that are under $100 Because of My Podcast - I Had to Quit My Podcast John Dennis is the co-organizer of the Thrive Make Money Matter conference, and the moderator of the Podcasters hangout Facebook group. He is also a podcaster with with smart time online, or he was until his podcast brought him so much business he had to stop podcasting to take care of his customers. AMAZING! Best Places To Shop For Podcast Gear Isn't the quick answer, "Amazon, DUH"? Not always. Here are some places to check out. Amazon When it comes to shopping for selection and price, it is hard to beat Amazon.com Now for the record, I am an affiliate for Amazon. However, you will hear where this may not always be the best place to purchase your gear. If you want to shop via Amazon, please use our affiliate shop at www.schoolofpodcasting.com/shop The other advantage Amazon has is if you are an Amazon Prime member, you can get free two day shipping Same Day Music If you were going to purchase an Electrovoice RE320 Microphone you might be tempted to go to Amazon where the price is $279. Did you know that Same Day Musichas the Electrovoice RE320 microphone for $299 and they have non-new versions for $269 AND you don’t have to pay tax on your purchased unless you live in New Jersey. BSW BSW (www.bswusa.com ) is all about audio and broadcasting so they have some niche items that you may not find in some places. They also run specials and have bundles that you won’t find at some places. For example if you wanted to go totally pro and buy an Elecrovoice RE20 Mic, 309A Shockmount, BSW Broadcast Microphone cable & REPop Filter Package it would be $479. If you bought the equivalent at Amazon. B & H Photo Their prices are typically about the same as others (occasionally more expensive), but if you can’t find it in another place, chances are you find it at BNH. For example they have a package for the RE2o that has a cloud lifter.. The other thing you will find at BNH (and you will have this at BSW) is a knowledgeable staff. For example one package with the RE20 comes with a cloud lifter which boosts your signal (which is a pretty good idea). They have another package that has the RE20 and the DBX 286 preamp (a totally pro setup) Podcast Stock Test If you were using a microphone like the Heil Pro40, or a Sure SM7B, these need a lot of gain to work properly. One Solution is a piece of equipment called a "Fethead" so I went to the above mentioned place. BNH – Yes <a href=...

Lee Silverstein got a call on New years Eve to let him know he had cancer and needed Chemotherapy. Lee is the man that gave "The Messengers: A Podcast Documentary" film it's name. He is a messenger for his audience. He delivers stories that provide hope, information, and inspiration. Check him at out www.thecolorcancerpoddcast.com Today's Show it brought to you buy Emerald City Productions SPECIAL DEAL: Four episodes edited for $15/each. Then after that, it's only $40. They will edit out ums, etc. remove noise, adjust volumes, and make you sound fantastic. For more information go to http://www.emeraldcitypro.com/sop Lee Silverstein Delivers Hope With His Podcast Lee Silverstein started a podcast that he wish he had when he was told he had stage four colon cancer. Lee has been battling cancer since he was five years old, and he considers himself more than "A podcaster," but a messenger. He delivers hope, information, and inspiration. Today we hear: Feedback from his audience that brought Lee to tears How Lee has secured three sponsors by finding products that fits his niche perfectly How Lee had strict criteria for his sponsors What pitch Lee uses to get sponsors. A "Because of my podcast" story that you HAVE to hear. Mentioned in this interview Lee's Colon Cancer Podcast Glenn the Geek from Horse Radio Network Hear Glenn be interviewed on the Sop Pofest in Orlando go to www.podfest.us Podcast Glossary "E" Episode zero Episode zero is a podcast episode that is often a simple introduction episode used as a placeholder as you need one live podcast in iTunes.  In my opinion, I would do more than introduce yourself. We always want to deliver value in our podcast episodes, and right now your audience doesn't know you, and probably (to be honest) doesn't care who are what you are. They are asking, "What is in it for me?" Be sure to give them something that makes them wish there were more episodes. Why My Eleven Years of Podcasting Sets Me Apart I recently discovered another "Podcast About Podcasting," and was checking it out. I'm sure the host is a fine person that loves their family and wants to help their audience. Some people come into the space, and only repeat the favorite memes at the time and never go about checking if they are true. So I threw up in my mouth a bit when I heard them perpetuating the same old podcasting tips that are just wrong. This included The Blue Yetis is a great microphone (it is if you are in a very, very, very, quiet room - which 99.9% of podcasters are not - so it's NOT a great microphone) You only get 8 weeks to be in new and noteworthy (TV show podcasts go in and out of New and Noteworthy all the time) You should launch with at least three episodes so when people subscribe you get three downloads (this is false. It does not happen automatically. Your listen would have to choose to download the back catalog) My friend Ravi from Digital Access Pass as well as two podcasts (subscribeme.fm about membership websites, and Cut to the Chase )has a new book out called Confessions of a Wanna Be Podcast Star that goes over many of the myths...

Hindenburg Journalist Noise Reduction The latest version of Hindenburg Journalist Software (slowly becoming one of my favorites for people who "Aren't too technical"). They have a new noise reduction feature that is super easy to use, and actually not bad.  Here is a video of it in action Grow Your Audience Using the  KFC Approach If you live in the US, and maybe outside you are familiar with a certain Colonel Sanders who started Kentucky Fried Chicken. You also notice that over the years they have introduced grilled chicken and changed their name to KFC. This name change provides less emphasis on the word FRIED which in the world that is becoming somewhat more educated on better food choices might serve their sales better. Today I'm going to share what KFC stands for based on a book I'm listening to How to Make People Like You in 90 Seconds or Less by Nicholas Boothman. You can get the audiobook for free by going to www.schoolofpodcasting.com/audibletrial (If you want to be an affiliate for audible, go to www.schoolofpodcasting.com/audible ) The part is Know what you want out of podcasting. I've said before that you need to know WHY you're getting into podcasting. If you don't, you'll never make it through the how. Are you looking to be seen as an expert? Then maybe you should do some Q & A. Are you looking to get people to know and like you, then maybe it's time to ditch the interview format and talk directly to your audience. If you're trying to get a message out, then come up with a hashtag so you can track your progress. The other thing this does is it helps you know if you're being successful or not, or if you're even on track. The F in this instance stands for find what you are getting. When I get feedback from people, they seem to like my style. They say I seem laid back, and I break things down into easy bite size chunks. They appreciate the fact that I occasionally try to get your to laugh. In the past, I've told you about surveymonkey.com and polldaddy.com and how I've used those services for surveys. My favorite tool for this now is Google Sheets (sheets.google.com). You can easily take this spreadsheet tool, and with a few mouse clicks turn it into a survey for your audience. Unlike the previous tools I mentioned, it is free, and there are unlimited questions and unlimited responses. But what if the feedback you're getting isn't what you were expecting. What if things are going in the wrong direction. You've heard me quote Ryan K Parker of Foodcrafstmen.com for years. I quote it because it's true. No one will punch you in the face if you change your podcast. In fact, look at any long running series on TV, and you will see how things evolved. Many times that was because what they found out was that their ratings were going the wrong way. Not it takes courage to be able to have people leave your feedback. If you go back to the beginning, when you KNOW what you want out of podcasting, you will be willing to tweak it to get what you want, as you give your audience what they want. Many Streams Make Up  A River Launching my New Godaddy Reseller Account Recently we've been talking a fair amount of about sponsorship, so I want to restate something. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO MAKE MONEY WITH YOUR PODCAST. If you are looking to have some income one of the things you might consider is instead of  trying to get a big giant paycheck, get a lot of small checks. Earlier...

Today I share my story on how I secured a sponsor for my show. I'm doing this as an experiment as I prepare to update my book More Podcast Money Next year. I also share the behind the scenes of what it was like to take on a sponsor. There are some things that I have to tackle mentally. Emerald City Productions - Our Sponsor 1:15 Emerald City is running a special go to www.emeraldcitypro.com/sop and tell them you are from the School of Podcasting and have your first four podcasts done for $15 an episode. My Favorite Podcast Is 2:50 I'm working on the last episode of the year where we all share what our favorite podcast is (you can only pick one, and no, it can't be yours). Then be sure to tells us a little about it, and WHY you like it. Also, be sure to tell us a little bit about your show and where we can find it. So its free promotion for your show, and later I get these transcribed and turn them into a book. The deadline is October 31. Go to www.schoolofpodcasting.com/favorite16 Getting A Sponsor For Your Show 4:30 Today I share my story on how I secured a sponsor for my show. I'm doing this as an experiment as I prepare to update my book More Podcast Money Next year. I also share the behind the scenes of what it was like to take on a sponsor. There are some things that I have to tackle mentally. Getting A Sponsor For Your Show Today I talk with Jessica Kupferman who has been selling advertising for a very long time (back in the day on banner advertising) and has been podcasting since 2013. I know her best for her Shepodcasts.com show which she does with Elsie Escobar (it's a fascinating take on podcasting from a Women's point of view). Jessica just launched jkmagency.com an add agency that helps sponsors find podcasters, and podcasters find sponsors. Here are some of the insights from today's discussion You need to know how many downloads you get per month If you don't have a ton of downloads, but you have an active community, that may enable you to secure a sponsor You don't need a media kit if you don't have one. Jessica can create one for you. If you're pricing per episode, you might as well flush your money down the toilet. The smallest contract/campaign she sells is three months. She will go two months if there are no other options. Podcasters should be open to having the sponsor on the show to help create content. In regards to platforms, sponsors are looking at Twitter and Instagram followers. You just need to create a report once a month Never lie about your stats. Not only does it make you look bad, but it also makes podcasting, in general, look bad. How do you figure out what to charge for your podcast? The current standards for CPM is $15-$100 which is why it doesn't work for most podcasters and is the worst way to sell your show Can unique genres get a sponsor? (i.e. Science Fiction movie reviews) To be considered for adds go to jkmagency.com/considerme She also is a co-host for She Podcasts The Mental Side of Podcast Advertising 34:00 When you take on an advertiser, you have a couple of things to consider. You need to make sure your sponsor fits your audience and is something you can talk about honestly. When you promote something that you don't believe in, that is (in my opinion) the definition of selling out. Make sure you are aware what you will be delivering, and then deliver it. Remember who your TRUE audience is. Having multiple audiences can be a struggle. My audience is you. You've been with me for almost 12...

Comments" Call 888-563-3228 I've spoken about Corey Fineran before and how his Chicago Cubs podcast Ivy Envy helped get a rule changed in Major League Baseball. Corey's boss saw the impact podcasting creates and talked Corey into starting a podcast for his job. Corey's podcast helps high school students with special needs transition into the workplace. It went over well. It lead to him starting Next Up (His own business) Here are some key points: They tried it to see if it would work. They got feedback from their audience, and listened to it, and acted on it. They updated their equipment after they proved the concept. Corey's goal is to help as many students as possible. His niche (students with special needs) is often overlooked, or has no budget. So he created the content that was needed. One night it was speaking with his brother in law (who is well versed in running a business) and they realized that he could reach more students and have a larger impact if he did this on his own, and start his own company. So Corey: Used his brother as a resource to launch the business Converted his current employer into his first customer Used his mother (an accountant) to help with taxes Growing His Business Corey found that educators are not used to being "pitched." The tried and true strategies of mass emails, cold calling, etc were not going to work. So he did what any good podcaster would do: He went to where his audience was. He started attending events where he could talk face to face about his products and services. Common Podcast Lessons and Truths Translate to Business Listen to your audience and be open to suggestions When you have a great podcast people will spread the word about your show When you can, the best way to get feedback from your audience is face to face. It is also the best way to start building those relationships. While your audience can become your brand advocates, so can your family (so make sure they know what you are up to). Save at Podfest Us the coupon code earlybird at www.podfest.us Mentioned In This Show www.dcpodfest.com Submit Your My Favorite Podcast Is Go to www.schoolofpodcasting.com/favorite16   MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE Membership Guys Podcast  Marketing School Podcast  Audio Technica 2100 (Dave's Preferred Microphone)   Launch Your Own Podcast 30 day Money Back Gaurentee go to http://www.theschoolofpodcasting.com

Today we have some lessons from fast food that apply to podcasting, and I talk about zagging when everyone is zigging, Bernie's Greatest Hits 1:58 My cat is pretty popular on this show as he chimes in all the time. When I went to Pittsburgh last week apparently he got a record deal. He's releasing "Bernie sings the hits" Someone Is Doing a Show Like Mine - So I Didn't Start my Show 3:07 One of the most frustrating parts of being a consultant is seeing someone who has the right stuff to create a podcast, but they are more skilled at finding reasons not to press record than actually pressing record. Today I have two points I want to make Someone will come to me and say, “I want to do a podcast about ______” but someone is already doing a show like that. The first thing I say is to go to iTunes and see when their last episode was published. Many times the person has already hung up their microphone. But what if they haven’t? Let’s look at McDonald’s. Here are some interesting facts (well facts according to Wikipedia). McDonald’s was not the first hamburger chain. A&W was first in 1919 followed by White Castle in 1921. McDonald’s didn’t come about until 1940. Fun facts: McDonald’s started as a barbecue joint. They found that hamburgers were more profitable. So they started in one direction, and then followed what their audience wanted. I always say your podcast is a recipe not a statue. You can change it any time you want. White Castle developed the supply chain and automation to have a nationwide food chain way before McDonald’s did. But when McDonald’s did, they didn’t recreate the wheel. They looked at what others were doing, and borrowed the best, and tweaked the rest. Now when burger king came along in 1953 did they say, “I would open a restaurant but someone else is doing “Assembly line” hamburgers? No. They didn’t recreate the wheel, and they tweaked it (adding flame broiling and “have it your way” at Burger King). What is the one thing that is common here? Well in the US apparently we can’t get enough of hamburgers. If you throw some meat on a bun and squirt some ketchup on it, we will eat it. In America I think if you put enough ketchup on anything we will eat it. They saw their competition and looked at ways to innovate. Breakfast was introduced. Bigger hamburgers like the Big Mac were introduced in 1967. Later the innovation of the drive through window. So if someone is doing a show like yours, WHO CARES! If you think it will be fun, if you think people will enjoy it, DO IT. The WORST thing you can do for yourself in podcasting is COMPARE YOURSELF TO OTHERS. Podcasting is like golf, while there is competition, you are really only competing against yourself. Now to my second point, and this builds on innovation. Todd Cochrane recently launched a new Podcast Legends show and it is interviewing podcast pioneers (people from 2004 - sorry Chris Hardwick is not a Pioneer) and one of the things I forgot about (I started in 2005) was the WHACKY shows that just made you go WHOA!?! Yeast Radio was by Madge Weinstein and was one of the most subscribed to podcast in 2005. Madge would say outrageous things about the government, about her hygiene (she was often bloated), and in general said things often people only think. She was an angry, jewish, fat, Lesbian. There was one other small twist. Madge was a dude (Richard Bluestein ). One other thing, if you could handle the language, Madge was pretty darn funny. Madge was the queen of tuning in because you didn’t know what to expect. The really cool thing was there was NO WAY that this would EVER be on radio or TV. It’s kind of what made podcasting special, unique, and intimate. Madge is still going strong at...

Today we in this episode: We have a great because of my podcast story that has someone getting paid to do something they would do for free We tackle some of the podcast jargon starting with the A's We revisit the File For Download debate in a podcast smack down! A tale of sleazy guests And we remind you that you never know who is listening. Because of My Podcast Lucas Apps Podcast leads to relationships, and those relationships lead to opportunities. Those opportunities can lead to more relationships (you get the idea). Lucas ended up getting paid to do something that he loves - because of his podcast. Check out Lucas’s show at triangletactical.com Can I Podcast With a Built-in Microphone? 8: 53 If someone invites you to go golfing. The host shows up with their golf club, and another friend shows up with a pool stick, and you show up with a hockey stick. Sure you can attempt to golf with a hockey stick and a pool stick, but compared to the other people who are using the proper equipment it is going to be obvious that you are not using the right equipment. This doesn't mean you need to spend $1600 on equipment. You can start with an Audio Technica 2100 with a pop filter and mic stand for $93 (full disclosure bestpodcastinggear.com is my amazon affiliate site). The Wrong Podcast Gear Can Mess With Your Head I did an hour session for International Podcast Day and to make a long story short, I brought along a microphone (as I was on the road) and then locked it in an office. I HAD to use my built in microphone. I was embarrassed. While I think most of my presentation was OK, I would be the first to admit that this was not my best presentation. I had notes in front of my, but in my head, I just kept hearing a voice in my head shouting that I sounded like a hack using a built-in microphone. Had I had access to the Audio Technica 2100 with a pop filter, I would've been relaxed and more focused. I Can't Believe ____ Is Listening to my Podcast! 14:20 Try not to use the word "only" when talking about your audience. I "only have" 20 downloads. Check out Podcast Legends by Todd Cochrane Here is the Episode where he talks about his phone call with Steve Jobs. I share a story about talking with Michael Hyatt at the New Media Expo and finding out Michael Hyatt listens to my show. Check out Michael's Book Platform Sting explained on the Tonight Show how he had three people in the audience of a "the Police" show. He interacted with them and made it very intimate. It turns out two of them were DJs who started playing their music. Cal Nelson of Ham Radio 360 had Adam Curry (one of the people who helped invent podcasting) listens to his show. The Libsyn File For Download "Discussion" 24: 15 A few episodes ago Mike Dell (a friend of mine who I've known for years) stated my advice about when and when not to use "File for Download" on the Libysn platform was "bad advice." Mike is a great guy, and we are going to have to agree to disagree on this. The fact that I work for Libsyn as a support person and he works in support for blubrry.com is probably not a coincidence. Two years ago...

Becuase of My Podcast - Rick Seizemore of VRStudio Workforce  Rick Seizemore from VRStudio Workforce shares how your podcast will help you land guests, and those guests can then point people to your website. Your site then becomes an audio business card that can capture people’s attention. This is what the VR Workforce Studio Podcast Does   Is Podcasting A Ponzi Scheme? I got an email from a friend of mine who has kind of "had it" with podcasting. He said, " I have recently done some calculations and have come to the conclusion that the hours spent podcasting would be better spent doing other things, like narrating audio books and maybe even some work around the house. I am doing a weekly video show via Skype, being streamed live on YouTube. I use Wirecast to make it look professional, and I have been releasing the audio as a podcast. I stopped the podcast side this week. I said when I started podcasting a couple of years ago, I would do a serious review at the two-year mark, and have concluded that while I have learned much I will be using for audiobooks, and am glad I did it, to continue would be a waste of time. Here's the part you probably won't agree with:   In the 80's Amway came through this area, and a lot of people joined and got hyped up (me included). After a while, it became clear that a lot of people at the top were making money, but it depended on a constant supply of fresh "believers" to fuel their incomes. People who started early were making money, but the thousands below were being Nickle and dimed and were doing nothing but financing those above. It worked as long as everyone believed they could make it.   Podcasting today is a similar type of pyramid structure, where everyone who started before 2007 or 2008 are making an income off of the believers below. (I find your motives pure, and I appreciate that.) It is VERY important for those below the median numbers (Around 120 according to Rob), to believe there is no discovery problem. That way they keep paying their $20 a month to Libsyn, buying books, Wordpress plugins, and tools for podcasting and going to conferences.   No matter how good your content is, the average basement independent has about 0% chance of ever being heard the first time by hardly anyone who doesn't know them already or is only 1 or 2 degrees separated. This is simply due to saturation.   The main people who make it now either are famous already, are starting a full-time business that happens to involve podcasting and has 6 figures to invest, like JLD, or are part of the corporate invasion. There may be an isolated incident here and there where it happens, but it so rare it doesn't bear mentioning. It is simply too late for the average independent show by a person working a full-time job to make an impact beyond a few niche listeners.   I was also dismayed to find the same "entrepreneurs," using many of the same books, and the same hype milking the same types of people. There is a sucker born every minute. They find them, use them, discard them, and move one since there are always more suckers on the internet. An example: a well-known personality in podcasting who was putting out yet another book solicited all of us to submit articles for it. We of course, had to buy the book to see if were in it. We weren't. Not one of us. The book had already been written and included older interviews that happened long before he solicited for articles. He simply lied to get us to buy the book. It worked, and we were the suckers. Well, fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me.   I calculated how many listeners I would have if gained one new one each month, and how many hours I would spend editing and putting out the content I already have from the video show. My conclusion: I hope to retire in 3 years or so.  36 new

Rachel Smets is the author of Awaken Your Confidence and stops by to share some insights into building your confidence. You can find her at Racehsmets.com as well as @rachelsmets and Facebook. and YouTube We talk about overcoming imposter syndrome, and how telling someone "just start" doesn't work. Here are three things you can do to help boost your confidence: Don't compare yourself to others. Start Small Failure is Feedback On this Week's taping of the Ask the Podcast Coach show Carlos asked, "how do i become a popular podcaster when i was the most unpopular kid in high school?" to this point to the following people who were not popular in school: Steven Spielberg says, " “I was a nerd in those days. Outsider, like the kid that played the clarinet in the band and in orchestra, which I did.”" Taylor Switft says, " I remember when I was in school, the whole reason I started writing songs was because I was alone a lot of the time. I’d sit there in school and I’d be hearing people like, ‘Oh my god, this party that we’re going to is gonna be so awesome on Friday. Everyone’s invited except for Taylor Charlize Theron - “I didn’t have any boyfriends in high school. I had a massive, massive crush on this one guy. He was a couple of years older than me and I did not exist in his world. Selena Gomez " “I was bullied every second of every day in elementary and middle school.” Lady Gaga " “Being teased for being ugly, having a big nose, being annoying. ‘Your laugh is funny, you’re weird, why do you always sing, why are you so into theater, why do you do your make-up like that?’" Jessica Alba " “I’d eat my lunch in the nurses’ office so I didn’t have to sit with the other girls. Apart from my being mixed race, my parents didn’t have money so I never had the cute clothes or the cool back pack.”" Cameron Diaz " “I’m a dork! When I was high school, I was a total goon! All the kids used to make fun of me. I was like all skinny and gangly and guys were like no thank you.” Jennifer Garner - I was a real nerd. I wasn’t the popular one, I was one of those girls on the edge of the group. I never wore the right clothes and I had a kind of natural geekiness. I was in the school band and I think that has a bit of a stigma at the age of 13. If you’d asked me what I wanted to be, I would have said something like a librarian. Kate Winslet - Winslet was bullied and teased for being chubby. Her nickname at school was Blubber, and she was once even locked in the art cupboard Miley Cyrus - At school, there was an “Anti-Miley Club” full of “big, tough girls” who were “fully capable of doing [her] bodily harm” and went above and beyond in their bullying pursuit. Cyrus was once locked in a bathroom during class: “They shoved me in. I was trapped. I banged on the door until my fists hurt. Nobody came.” Other incidents included challenging Cyrus to a fight, which only ended when the principal stepped in. And when Cyrus wasn’t being physically abused, she was being teased, with classmates telling her, “Your dad’s a one-hit wonder. You’ll never amount to anything — just like him President Bill Clinton - As a junior high schooler, he was picked on relentlessly for being a “fat band boy” with bad taste in clothes. He was also known as a band geek. Michael Phelps - He was taunted for his “sticky-out ears” and lisp, as well as his long arms, which ultimately took him to greatness. Tom Cruise - His Dad had the family moving a lot to find work. Tom says, " I was always the new kid with the wrong shoes, the wrong accent. I didn’t have the friend to share things with and confide in.” And at each school, he faced the fresh experience over and over again. He was small for his age and easily pushed...

Today I'm fresh back from a trip to Podcast Midatlantic where I spoke on a panel about podcasting. On Sunday I had some time before I flew home so Rob Greenlee and I Went to see the Liberty Bell in Independence Hall in Philadelphia. There are some things that learned in this visit that I thought we could apply to podcast. - When there is no great entertainment, people will flock to ANYTHING. Case in point the Liberty Bell, an old large bell with a giant crack use to go on tour and people would FLOCK to see it. In today's society, the bar is set pretty low in regards to content so you can stand out pretty easy - The Liberty Bell was flawed. Yet, people came out in droves to see it Did it sound impressive? No, I watched a video, and no it didn't but what it did do was stand for something. People came to the event, but more importantly, wanted to pay tribute to it's ideals. The ideals of the liberty bell is what is strong and stirs emotions. It's not the technology. The creators of the Liberty Bell has never made a bell so large. It shows, x-rays show how there are cracks throughout the bell (and that's why you won't here it ring) when you ring the bell you only make it worse. The lack of knowledge didn't stop the creators from doing their best. In the end, I'm sure they felt they failed, but by creating something, they gave their audience a gift. - After a tour of independence hall (where a large amount of the early forming of America occurred), I learned how they all collaborated together to put together the declaration of independence. Article Five of the United States Constitution detailed the two-step process for amending the nation's frame of government. The constitution was put into place on March 4, 1789. If they had waited until it was perfect, the Constitution wouldn't have been adopted t until May 7 1992 (the date of the last amendments). As of 12/2014 approximately 11,539 proposals to amend the Constitution have been introduced in Congress since 1789. The point being you can "Amend" your podcastwhenever you want. - The bell first cracked when rung after its arrival in Philadelphia, and was twice recast by local workmen John Pass and John Stow, whose last names appear on the bell.  When I was there on 9/11/16 reflecting on 9/11 there were people there all over the world. There are probably millions of bells across the world. Some of them are bigger, sound better, and yet here people flock to see an old broken bell because of what itstood for Liberty. More Great Take Aways From Podcast Mid Atlantic I was greeted by Heather from Craflit who presented me with a custom t-shirt that has *psbs and my logo. What does PSBS stand for? Podcasting since before serial. Heather was just as cool in person as she is online. The fact that someone would go out of their way to make me a custom t-shirt was amazing. It these tings that leave me speechless. Heather is a truly amazing person. A mind like hers you don't find often in this world. Mich O'Neil from the solopreneur hour had a great top for interviewing people. How do you avoid having a seasoned guest come on your show and NOT spew the same lame answers? You put their answers in your introduction. You disarm them. Now they can't reference those "traditional answers" and they have to dig deeper into their bag of answers for something new. Mark Asquith from podcastwebsites.com took what I've been saying, "Ask your audience what that want" and sharpened it. Ask them what they NEED. Awesome. Jessica Kupfeman of She Podcasts who help people get sponsors through her www.jkmagency.com showed that people love an underdog. Poor Jess had lost her voice, but we were all pulling for her as she tried to present with her lack of pipes. Her content made up for the lack of tone and quality of voice. This works in person,...

Today I am excited to have Jen Briney of the Congressional Dish podcast on my show. Jen reads legislation that is going through the house of representatives. She then reports back to you with no slant on democratic or republican slant but more of a intelligence vs moron slant. Her passion to help people understand what is happening right under our noses oozes out of her. Any conversation about politics will make it obvious. Congressional Dish is so good that at times I have to turn it off. It makes me upset and I need to punch something. Yes, it's that good. Jen also makes it entertaining. While she tries to restrain herself she does have any cursing replaced with the sound of a golf club. This stops her show from being explicit, and adds just a pinch of comedy to the show to keep it light. Her goal is to have the people use the control we have as American voters and vote these losers out of office. Here are some of the reasons why I wanted Jen on the show. Her success didn't happen over night. She's been doing this for four years. She hasn't been afraid to try new things and new formats She realized that she could do a great show, or go crazy. This meant no reading EVERYTHING. She realizes that if there is no Jen, there is no show. Consequently, the show is better, Jen is better, and we all win. She started with horrible equipment, and later upgraded. She didn't let equipment stop her from launching her podcast She is a great example of taking control of her show, and doing it the way she wants to do it. She shares today that dealing with haters takes long term vision. It's also easier said than done. She wants to have a paywall where she can do more experimental episodes for her die hard fans without potentially costing her new listeners. Her content has lead to getting almost 10,000 downloads per episode - and she's just now starting to promote the show. We talk a little politics and play a clip that Dave found very funny. As Jen explained it, we all have buttons that can be pushed. A listener wrote to the show and began telling Jen how she could grow the show to a much bigger audience if she would work on "her tone." Well this is something she heard growing up and set her off. She grabbed a microphone and off she went. She liked the raw emotion of the clip and got a lot of support from her audience (When Dave did this he almost got sued). Check out Congressional Dish at www.congressionaldish.com as we as in iTunes, or download the Congressional Dish iOs App as well as Android App Because of Her Podcast Jen has been on the Jessie Ventura show on TV, and she has been asked to speak at Podcast Movement.  Mentioned In This Show Please support The Messengers Podcast Documentary. They are sooo close to reaching their crowdfunding goal. Goal chip in a few bucks, and then tell a friend to go to www.supportthemessengers.com Podcast Consulting Need some podcast consulting? Book a session at www.schoolofpodcasting.com/schedule sessions start at 15 minutes....

I can handle some people explaining their strategies of launching a podcast, but there are some things that are just blatantly WRONG. Here are a couple that get my goat. Episodes Get Downloaded When People Subscribe If you simply launch with only one episode on your first day, and someone subscribes to your podcast, then you only get one download. BUT, if you launch with five episodes and they subscribe, then you get five downloads, which will help to raise your rankings within iTunes. This is not true, and easy to test. Go to www.schoolofpodcasting.com/itunes and subscribe and see if my back catalog automatically downloads. You Only Get 8 Weeks to be in New and Noteworthy Podcasts based on TV shows go in and out of New and Noteworthy all the time 50+ Honest Reviews Will Get You Into New and Noteworthy Nope. It's subscribers that really count. Not that reviews don't mean anything, but subscribers appear to carry more weight. Also boosting people to the top of the charts before they have found their own voice doesn't work. Case in point Philip Phillips. Who? Exactly (season 11 winner of American Idol). They talk about generating buzz, and getting people to talk about your show. You want to do this every week you are podcasting. You want to bring value on a consistent basis. Here is a video that explains why I know these are not true https://youtu.be/gp1T4aj3ucw Rob Walch at Podcast Movement said the following things about New and Noteworthy His KC Startup podcast was featured (front page) of iTunes and saw a bump of about 300 His son's podcast Porter's podcast saw a bump of about 1000 He said a front page listing will get a bump of anywhere from 200-a couple thousand. Podcasters who game the system to be #2 in the Education category and rarely got over 200 downloads per episode (most were around 100ish). The sad thing is people are never launching because they can't get the recommended number of podcasts (3,5,8, 30) ready to launch. Just launch. Losing Your Audience in Jargon and Inside Jokes We are all too close to the trees to see the forest and depending on who you audience is, we need to remember that we get new listeners all the time. When we start using jargon (words that only people with experience in you field, or potentially an inside joke ) you can leave them confused. This makes them feel like an outsider, and potentially tune out. Recently on an episode of the Podcast Review show both myself and my co-host Erik K. Johnson were lost in the hosts use of big words and inside jargon. Now, maybe we aren't their target audience but it really took away from the experience.  Being a person who grew up in the church Christian people who are trying to reach the world when they start spouting things like "Lion of Judah, Bathed in Blood, Alpha and Omega, evangelical, Holy Ghost, born again, unspoken prayer requests (which just means someone in my family messed up again). Be a "Proverbs 31 woman". The list goes on.  I asked my buddy Cale Nelson from HamRadio360 to come in and share some jargon.  Tascam US-32  Tascam MiNiSTUDIO Personal US-32 Audio Interface for Online Broadcasts is a brand new interface for podcasters who are looking to broadcast live and have the ability to mix in (up to) three sounds. There is also the ability to add effects. Most of the effects are pointless (make your voice deeper, higher, reverb, echo, distortion).  This is kind of exciting as this particular  ...

How Do I Grow My Audience? Know Who Your Audience Is Know What They Want Go Where They Are Make Friends With Them and Bring Value to Your Conversations Tell them About Your Show Make it Is To Find, Share, and Remember How Long Should My Podcast Be? Don't do the "Dave Jackson Power Hour" if you only have 18 minutes of content. There is no such thing as too long , only too boring (Valeria Geller - Beyond Powerful Radio) How Do You Handle Headlines When You Have Multiple Topics in a Show? For me, I've just been taking the topic that I think reached my audience the best and use that as the "Main" Headline Do I Have Any Tips For Doing a Live Show? If you're worried about looking stupid don't go live I use firetalk.com to stream live. Realize you will have people who want to ruin you show. You MIGHT get 5% of your audience live. Live is addicting because it's instant feedback If you are looking for your audience to provide the content, remember when you start you don't have an audience. Should I put My Face Out There? If you are the brand it might be a good idea I might think twice if I was a woman as guys are creepy What Do You Think About Regional Podcast? I would love to start a local podcast I think getting local advertisers would be easy What is the Biggest Mistake When it Comes to Making Content? Guessing What Your Audience Wants Including personal family details You need to know WHY you are doing your podcast. You can talk about what your audience, but if that topic doesn't line up with your goal it could cause issues. What Are the Beginning Stages of Podcasting Like - What Can I expect? You can answer every email, every comment, every tweet You are "the host" and that carries weight when you reach out to your audience 50% of people get more than 150ish downloads and 50% get more. The average is around 2000. Mentioned The 27 Steps to start a Podcast What I Started a Podcast About Topic A, and Your Audience Wants to Hear About Topic B? If you want to talk about that subject, and that topic aligns with your goal then follow your audience If the topic is something you DON'T Want to talk about then don't. It will come through to your audience, and if you're not excited about the subject it will come through. When you try to do something that is not yourself it is hard, and you will start dreading creating your podcast. I'm an Accountant, and sometimes People Don't Want To Hear What They Need to Hear... Not everyone can handle the truth. Those people who like you will like you, and those that don't won't. When delivering not so great information back it up with your research,  and facts that you are using to shape your opinion. How Do I Come Back After a Long Hiatus? The same way you started. Know what your audience wants, and press record. Don't start off your show with an apology. Troubleshooting Your Podcast Sound - Separate Your Gear Into Pieces I have not been happy with my sound for the last few months. I seemed to pick up some hiss along the way. I went direct into my Zoom H5 recorder and the his was reduced. I then knew it was something in the mixer. From there tried using a different channel (it didn't fix it). I then switched the cabled from going to the 1/4" out of my <a...

Today shares his thought on Podcamp Pittsburgh, the death of blab.im, and what geese, Ringo Star, and Michael Phelps can teach podcasters. Comments 888-563-3228 The Messengers Are Coming! If you live within driving distance of Akron, Ohio you might want to make a trip this Saturday the 20th of August as the Film Crew of The Messengers (a documentary about podcasting) will be joining our Northeast Ohio Podcasters Meetup group from 3-4:30. They are going to share their story, some cool footage, and film out meeting as well. For more information go to www.neohiopodcasters.com If you haven't heard the behind the scenes podcast about the making of the movie, check out www.themessengersdoc.com/podcast Here is a recent write up about the podcast and movie (and it's not done yet). Attention Podcasters' Hangout Family... I'd like to take a moment and recognize Dave Jackson from The School of Podcasting for spending what has to be an ENORMOUS amount of time editing and producing a podcast that highlights "behind the scenes" for an upcoming film called The Messengers: A Podcast Documentary. The film is the brainchild of Executive Producer Chris Krimitsos and I also serve as Executive Producer myself. This film has taken us and the crew - Director , D.P. Willie L. Harper, and Lead Film Editor Saulo Zayas - literally into other countries to highlight the stories of how podcasters have used this medium to make a MAJOR impact in their communities and/or through their audience. This episode chronicles the back-story of our experience flying down to Guatemala to support and film mobile podcaster Shawn Smith's Now Is The Time Mission, where the organization serves villages living in extreme poverty through building and installing high efficiency stoves, laying down concrete floors inside homes, donating *tremendous* amounts of clothing, school supplies and other goods as well as lead a daily VBS program for all the kids of the villages they serve in... Shawn has been doing this every single year for over TEN years. At the end of each day, Shawn sits down to interview the volunteers about their experience and as you can imagine, these conversations get raw and emotional. These podcast episodes are then uploaded and shared with loved ones back home. This episode of our podcast for The Messengers: A Podcast Documentary highlights this trip and some our own experiences -- and emotions. I hope you take the time to listen to it and enjoy it, and also enjoy the level of production podcasting PRO Dave Jackson has poured into this. Thanks Dave, you are freaking amazingly talented. Join the email list and get access to behind the scenes footage by going to www.themessengersdoc.com Podcamp Pittsburgh In a slide show of the previous 11 years of Podcamp Pittsburgh, you could see where this event was well attended in the past. This year they had approximately 50 people. NOW HOLD ON, before you judging things just by numbers. For me, my goal is to find individuals who want to launch a podcast. I started off my opening keynote speech asking the intimate crowd how many of them already had podcasts. Very few hands went up. When I asked how many people didn't have a podcast yet, TONS of hands went up. So while this was an intimate group, it was a perfect group for me. So judging things by numbers only goes back to people looking at producers who love to share their huge numbers. They might think, "I wish I had those numbers" but what you don't know is how engaged that audience is. While there is no spam in podcasting, some people may not be that engaged with the host. For example, I get very little interaction from my...

Today I'm going to share three things your podcast needs to be successful, I'm also going to share some podcasting news, and a product review on a blab.im replacement.   Call the Show at 888-563-3228 Blubrry Launches Adverting Partner Plan If you are looking for an advertiser for your show, Blubrry was one of the first companies to try to pool a bunch of smaller shows together to attract sponsors. They recently launched a partner plan. Here are a couple of things about the plan It's for someone who is serious about getting a sponsor It's for someone who check's their email and values communication In the past Todd and crew would setup an advertising campaign only to have podcasters pull out at the last minute, or they forgot to let Todd known they had already sold their own spots. For more information go to https://create.blubrry.com/resources/blubrry-podcast-advertising/blubrry-advertising-priority-list/ Ask the Podcast Coach Moves to a New Platform After blab.im waved it's middle finger at podcasters, this week we waved back (after last week it just stopped working). The platform I am using is firetalk.com which has the same functionality (give or take) as blab, and its free. You don't get the audio file (just the video). You can always "rip" the audio out of the video file. So far I like it, and will continue to use it going forward. Because of His Podcast Michael O'Connell Got a Book Deal. I was interviewed for a future episode of It's All Journalism by Michael O'Connell and he shared that due to his podcast he now has a book deal about podcasting. The Messengers Documentary Team will be in Akron Ohio on August 2oth The Messengers Documentary team (doing a film on podcasting) will be in Akron Ohio (Cuyahoga Falls to be exact) on August 20th to film me, and to share some video and film the Northeast Ohio Podcasters Meetup (normally the third Monday of the month, but moved to Saturday this month). The exact location and time will be announced later (more than likely 2-5ish in Cuyahoga Falls - location to be determined very soon). For more information go to www.themessengersdoc.com to check out Dave's podcast about the project go to www.themessengerspodcast.com/podcast Podcast Rewind The Biz Chix Podcast episode 26 had a super frank talk about sex after children. Gentlemen if you want to know what women think and feel about sex, now is you chance it starts at the 27 minute mark. http://bizchix.com/226/ Another new show I've been listening to is the Rhoades to Success Podcast with Jessica Rhoades who has great tips on getting and being interviewed. The Three Things Your Podcast Needs That Have Nothing to Do With Microphones, Downloads, or Hosting Today I want to talk about podcast success and the things you need to achieve. Here is the fun part I’m not talking about microphones, downloads, or hosting. While those are ingredients that you need to podcast, without these you are doomed. They are attitude, health, and support. The first thing is your expectations and/or attitude. I have people contact me weekly with dreams of getting into Apple’s New and Noteworthy and “making it big” (whatever that means). Per Rob Walch of Libsyn, fifty percent of podcasters get less than 160 downloads, and fifty percent get above. I feel this is...

Driveway moments are podcasts that have you so captivated that when you get to home instead of going in to be with your family, you sit in the driveway to finish the episode. This week I had such a moment with episode 206 of the RED podcast hosted by David Hooper. I wanted to get Dave on the line to see what went on behind the scenes of this episode. Follow Upon on Troy Heinritz - The Story Isn't Over Troy called me this week (you'll hear the call) to let me know that he has been asked to fly to LA to host a show where he gets to interview the two creators of the television show The Blacklist (Troy does the blacklist exposed). They wanted a "super fan" to interview "the Two Johns" (the creators) about season four. So Troy gets to fly to LA, stay in a hotel, and feel the promotion power Sony Pictures as they promote him on a global level. If you missed Troy's story, you could click here to listen (or subscribe and never miss another show). Great Content Has These Ingredients I tell people that you want your podcast to make people laugh, cry, think, or groan. You want it to educate or entertain (or both). Today we are looking at some of the ingredients that you can use to inspire those results in your audience. Great content: Is content you can't get in other places Is unpredictable - not sure what you’re going to get (as long as its relevant). Is a dialogue, an open discussion. Is educational Is entertaining It’s often well thought out Has relevant personal stories Has a tease to get you engaged to stay or come back. Always Brings Value Beware of Inside Jokes The hurdle I have to get over with this episode is Dave has heard this episode (obviously) and I have heard it, but you haven't (maybe). So I need to give you enough information, so you don't feel left out, but not too much information to be a spoiler. Dave had an automated phone call that pretends to be from the IRS and threatens to throw him in jail. Dave knew this was a scam and turned on his skype recorder and called them back to investigate the situation (you can hear this at www.redpodcast.com/scam) his first attempt kept the person on the line for more than an hour (and he was not happy when he figured out that Dave was playing with him). Eventually, Dave was able to get someone to "put their guard down" and explain their operation (at the risk of getting in trouble). This intimacy was fascinating. Dave wasn't yelling at the worker but just wanted information. It made for a very intriguing episode. Then in true David Hooper fashion, he used the experience as a lesson to learn about growing your business. Episode 206 of the RED Podcast David Hooper has a very wide skill set. He spent many years doing marketing for musicians (at one point managed his own event for musicians). Dave is the author of NUMEROUS books on Amazon. He has been doing his Music Business Radio program on Lightning 100 WRLT in Nashville (and subsequent podcast) where he has interviewed some pretty big names. He recently started shifting his focus to include other types of marketing outside of music. His RED Podcast is NOT another podcast that interviews entrepreneurs about escaping their dreadful lives into the world of six-figure incomes etc., etc. It's not named RED Podcast On Fire. Instead, Dave has a solo show where he uses his life's travels and ties them to lessons you can use to grow your business. Just to make it easy, here is the...

Comments about the show? Call 888-563-3228 At Podcast Movement Kevin Smith said to forget hanging around people who would answer, "Why?" when you said you wanted to try something, and instead hang around people who said, "Why not!" Troy Heinritz is a why not kind of guy. He had spent some time in radio, and start a podcast. In today's episode you will hear how his story has grown and grown, but it started with a single tweet. It started by reaching out to someone on twitter because the guy had a bible verse That lead to ABC PR calling to see how they could help the new podcast Get an IMDB pro account and get all the contact info for people you want to talk down. Through building a relationship with his audience. someone in his audience knew one of the writers. Relationships with PR people lead to interviews with more writers Troy is now seen as the "voice of the audience" He has received free "Shwag" from companies to promote He is having a blast. How he balances Marriage, Children, Work, and Podcasting He co-hosts the Packer's Fan Podcast and just got a sponsor for the show. Check out Troy's Podcasts at: www.theblacklistexposed.com www.packersfanpodcast.com 112263 Golden Spiral Media Mentioned in this Episode www.clammr.com The Blacklist, Season 1 - The Blacklist Wordswag App Spreaker.com (use the coupon sopfree) Noodle.mx Network Podcast Player Survey (two questions - take the survey)   Ready to Start a Podcast?  Check out www.theschoolofpodcasting.com

What I've Learned From One Episode of a Storytelling NPR styled Podcast I recently started a podcast in a narrative fashion about a documentary called the Messengers, as I've never done this style of podcasting before. Here is what I've learned. You have to know what story you are going to tell so you can add some intrigue, inspiration, comedy, etc. You need to catalog everything. The Sooner the better. So if I make a phone call, get audio from a video, I catalog everything. Identify your plot. For my first episode I wanted to tell the story of how and why everyone got involved, with a subplot of some behind the scenes. Then I wanted to build interest in future episodes. Looking back, it might've been better to keep it short and precise. It takes A LOT of time. This is why shows like Reply All have a team of 15 working on their show. Right now, I'm a team of one. The first 20 minute episode took around 4 hours. That is roughly a 12:1 ratio. My tool of choice here is the software Hindenburg Journalist. It's $99, and works on both Mac or PC, and you can drag in a bunch of files, cut them into pieces and then drag and drop them into the order you want them. It also auto levels the audio, and in this case I have all sorts of audio. Get the best audio you can. This is true for every podcast. In my case I had some phone conversations that sounded horrendous next to a skype call. I always judge if a clip is helping the story. Beware of the creep. What I mean by this is as I'm creating an episode about things that have already happened, there are things happening NOW. You have to think through the ears of your audience. They only know what you have given them. I'm reading Out on the Wire: The Storytelling Secrets of the New masters of Radio which I realize is a bit backwards. I should've read it before I started, but sometimes you just got to jump into the pool. When is a Remake Better Than the Original 15:15 I saw Ghostbuster this week, and found it very "Meh." It didn't scare me, or make me laugh. It was a shame as there are some really talented people in it. When we try to recreate someone else's magic, it typically doesn't work. I'm sure if we said some old show from the 1920's compared to a show in 1983, I'm not sure of movies that were better than the original. Typically a copy/remake of something isn't as good. With this in mind, don't try to copy someone else's show. Be yourself. Your audience will thank you for it The Only Thing Stopping You - is You 18:03 Is this you? You know you're a nice person. You're a good person. You're not perfect, but you always do your best. You have things you are proud of, and things you might wish to forget. Does this sound familiar? I'm going to share something I did this week. I talked at the beginning of the year how 2016 was going to be me getting out of my comfort zone. So I'm going to share a bit about my life, what goes in my head, and how I pushed through, and how you can too. In the end I'm glad I did, and you will be too. Here is some back story. I was in training to be a Pastor of a small church. I was brought in to bring in a younger crowd. The church was about 15 years old and over the last 10 years had completely lost touch with their youth at the church. After filling in for the Pastor I was approached to be an assistant pastor with the end goal of becoming the pastor when he retired. I thought about it. Prayed about it, and came on board. To keep this brief, they wanted me to attract younger people doing the exact same thing they had been doing that drove them away. Every idea I had was shot down. They were stuck in the "that's not how we do it" mode, and eventually I got frustrated and I could see how this wasn't going to work. I love those people and rather than lose...

Podcast Movement was a great success as all of the previous events. WOW. The one thing different this year was I was working for Libsyn. I spent pretty much three days talking from about 7 in the morning to somewhere between midnight and 2 AM talking loudly. Consequently, my voice is still kind of raspy today. I had originally planned on playing the talk I did, but to be honest the audio has so much room noise it's unusable. Instead I want to share some quick insights from Podcast Movement.  Bring a back pack. - I was using a laptop case and my shoulders still hurting.  If you want to meet someone, you need to set this up in advance.  Don't be afraid to try things. I did a Q&A. This was new at PM16, and it was in response to customer feedback. I thought my session went well, and I enjoyed not having to working on a bunch of slides.  Be Careful Extending Your Launch I love Giordono's Pizza. Every time I go to Chicago I have to get some. It's super-duper thick, and it's quite yummy. They look small, but one piece will fill you up.  We went one night, as did apparently the entire event. There was a 90 minute wait. We found out that we could order out pizza and they could start making it, and then (hopefully) by the time we got to our table, the pizza could be ready.  That sounded like a great plan. The problem is what we were told and what was reality were very different. We got to our table and instead of having the pizza soon, we waited another 90 minutes. So all in all we waited three hours for food. Was the pizza good? Absolutely, but did it make me roll my eyes back into my head and make me go "oooooh this is soooooo good..." like the other times I've enjoy ed their pizza? No. Why? I had been telling people how good it was. That is half the fun of going there is to take someone who has never had their pizza, and watch their face. But after three hours of waiting, unless they threw in a Heil PR40, I don't think the pizza would've lived up to the hype.  So if you are a person who is getting ready and setting up your auto responder, your squeeze page, your sales funnel, etc. meanwhile you had already told your audience that you would be launching a podcast "soon," by the time it arrives the wait may take away from the over-all experience. With this in mind, be careful when you announce your podcast is coming. You might want to wait until you have a finished episode ready to go. You might want to wait until your show is approved in iTunes, Google Play Music, Stitcher, etc.  New and Noteworthy Update I ran into Nicole of the BBRshow.com (Business Building Rock Stars). If you count from the top she is currently #81 in "New and Noteworthy" and said she doesn't seem to be getting any major push from this position. She said she is seeing slow steady growth. This segment was recorded using nothing but my phone.  What it Would've Sounded Like if I had Won an Award I was honored to be nominated in the Technology category and then the PEOPLE'S CHOICE! (but didn't win either). I had a speech in case I won. It went a little something like this: Look, I don’t win very often, so I’m going all out on this. OK? I would like to thank: GOD My listeners. Without you I am nothing. To the members of the School of Podcasting. Thanks for picking me as your coach. It has been a pleasure serving you. A special shout out to the Ask the Podcast Coach chat room. You folks truly are neat. Thanks to the academy, and to my fellow nominees. It was great to be nominated with you (I’ve been nominated for 8 different awards, and I gotta say it is nice to win). To my co-hosts I’ve have over the years. Rob Walch, Paul Colligan, Gary Lealand, Erik K Johnson, Jim Collison, and of course my tripod...

Comments? Call 888-563-3228 Join the School of Podcasting today Podcast Movement is Next Week I will be working Libsyn booth all week except for my Q & A Season on Friday at 10:15-11:00 on the Solutions Stage.  Please find me and say hello. I would love to meet you. Have fresh batteries in your portable recorder Have your business cards Clean of the SD card Comfy shoes and breathe mints are a must. If you have a conflict between a session and a discussion, stay in the hallway and continue the discussion and listen to the recording.   Glenn Hebert likes to Hang Out With Journalists 8:13 Today is this third appearance of "Glenn the Geek" from the horse radio network. Glenn is making a living through his podcast, and a lot of hard work. Today we find out. What mistake Glenn feels he has done, and wishes he could go back and change it What equipment he is using the create his live show including callers. He gives some insights into selling ads on your show. His insights from Magazines, and how Glenn is now helping magazines in his niche get into podcasting. Not only does the magazine bring over their audience, but they also bring over their sponsors. His biggest hurdle is booking guests Why you should look at every problem as an opportunity. Glenn is using Mixlr, Call in Studio, Google Sites, Audio Hijack Pro, Auphonic, and he uses three separate computers. You can see when you add "live" to your podcast, your technical skills need to go up. Glenn embraces the pressure that live brings, and he likes the feel. Check out Glenn's Network at www.horseradionetwork.com Couch Cushion Experiment 43:50 An easy way to cut down on "room noise" grab the cushion from your couch. You could purchase Milk Crate, Egg Carton Foam or you can just order one already built and save the time and effort. New and Noteworthy Experiment 51:42 If you go to www.becauseofmypodcast.com/itunes Please rate, review, and most improbably subscribe to the Because of my podcast show. I now have 65 ratings. I have a total of 559 downloads over six episodes with the highest episode being 171 and the lowest being 58 I'm on row 91 of the Technology > Podcasting category. I am still not listed in the "main" new and noteworthy. But I'm noticing a trend on who is. Jim Norton - comedian Kathy Smith - "famous" health expert Chris Hardwick The Dallas Morning News Gimlet Media - Ebay podcast that's not about eBay Michael Kosta- Comedian E! Network. Mentioned in this Episode The Messengers Documentary

I was born in Akron, Ohio. I lived in Cleveland, Ohio for 8 years and now moved back to Akron. So when LeBron James join the Cleveland Cavaliers we were all excited. Last year we came close, but we lost (there is a long history of Cleveland Sports teams coming "this close" to winning only to lose). This year our team was down three games to one. No team had ever come back from that deficit. We were up against the team that had the most winningest season. Again, we all started think about coming "this close," and we started thinking about what we could improve and try again next year. There was one person who didn't that way. His name is LeBron James and that's what I want to talk about today. Because there is a part of podcasting that is mental. When asked what he did when he was down 3-1 and how he maintained, LeBron couldn't answer specifically, but he talked about previous championship he had been in as a High School Player, and it all came back to preparation, and looking for ways to improve. So he watch film from the gems where his team lost. He looked for things he could do better. One of my montra's is "Constant Improvement." Maybe it is the teacher in me, but I always feel there is room for improvement. He listened to the right people. While his Instagram would show he didn't 100% tune out social media, during the playoffs he turned off sports radio, TV, newspapers, and anyone else that had an opinion. The opinion he was interested in was his coaches. So if you get a negative comment, or someone shoots you a negative email, put it aside. Get a group of people to be your focus group. Ask them how you're doing. Get a Facebook group going. He gets his team involved, in some cases telling them what to do. So if you want people to contact you, give them options (email, voicemail, speakpipe) and then tell them. In some cases, show them. He didn't quit. There was a time in the game when it was tied. The other team got the ball and was running down the court. It was two player against one, this was going to be some easy points. Except for one thing. LeBron James didn't quit. He had been  running down the court with one of the players as hard he he could. He had one goal, and that was to block the shot. If you see the replay you will see where the other player started to take it easy as he went to lay the ball into the hoop. This again, was going to be two easy points. Instead as one player left off the gas Lebron leaped into the air and blocked it. Many feel this was a turning point. He didn't quit. Have you ever had something you thought was hard, but you pushed through? If you want to watch your audience get smaller, quit. That is guaranteed. My favorite quote of Lebron's from his press conference was "The games always gives back to those who are true to the game." To me, I'd like to tweak that to say, "You audience always gives back to those who are giving value to the audience." Notice I got specific. It's not just giving; it is giving value. What Happens When You Don't Know Your Audience Sometimes we think we are giving value but we are missing the mark. When I was married I used to do things for my wife. I thought these were wonderful, romantic, and would be sure to score me points. I found out later in therapy, that they accomplished none of my goal. Instead I found a other items that WOULD. How? By talking with my wife. You need to find out what your audience needs (Facebook groups, email lists, surveys) and give them what they want. What would you do if your boss said you had to do a presentation in 14 different countries? If you didn't learn the language, it wouldn't make sense If you didn't' learn about their culture you could offend someone without even knowing it. What if instead of rushing in you took the time to know the language and customs? In this instance your podcast is your boss, and the 14 countries are different...

Answering Audience Questions Is a podcast a good way to promote a multi-level marketing (MLM) business? If your sole goal of a podcast is to generate income, you need to realize a few things: Nobody tunes into an infomercial on purpose (usually it's that there is nothing else on) You make money from your podcast by delivering value. This helps people like you because you're helpful. When people trust you, they may purchase something you recommend or provide. It takes time to develop the relationship between you and your audience. So whatever your product is, your industry, if you have tips on running that business, using that product, news about that industry, then it might be helpful. Figure out who your target audience is and make the information that they want to consume. Starting a Podcast With My Child Dave, On the second leg of a trip home from VT to TN, I spent 8 hours in the car listening to your voice yesterday. And enjoyed it thoroughly. Thanks for the great content! I've been listening to podcasts for years and am thinking of starting one with my 11 year old son. We have a concept and I'm going to put him through the paces of evaluating and starting a business (I've had an online business for 20 years) with the intention that he'd be doing this for the next 8 years at least until he leaves home. So, it's a long term strategy for us (we're doing the project whether we broadcast it or not, so we may as well). And I'm sort of tagging on the biz training for him and see if we can develop it into a part time job for him (I'm launching on another biz that this coincides with as well). My question for you is this...there's plenty of info out there on the tech side of the equation and plenty of courses like SOP on getting started (which we may do in a few months) and marketing info, etc., but either I'm not seeing or just not looking in the right places for resources on the broadcasting skills side. Obviously, just doing it is a huge bit of it. But, I'd like to be able to talk him through the skills needed and how to get them in a general way. We're interviewing a radio friend about interviewing next week, but I thought I would ask you...Do you have any resources that you could point us to on developing the broadcast skills needed to make a great show (assuming the content is great and the tech is listenable)? Thanks for any direction you could give, I appreciate your time! Michelle - cornerstonepromos.com Marketing Minutes - Brandi Young Brandi Young is a software developer who has been working with podcasters on some software. Though interviews she has found that many podcasters are relying too much on iTunes when there is a whole other world of tools to Market your Podcast. Check out her website at www.bigactiveaudience.com slideshare.net meetup.com Pinterest.com New Features Coming to Podcasting Blubrry will be launching Podcast Sites. This is a free website based on Wordpress. Libsyn has destination stats, audio files to YouTube, Episode Defaults, Entranced ID3 tags Spreaker is coming out with a new CMS Use the coupon sopfree at any of these companies to get a free month (full discloser I work for Libsyn). Podcast Rewind I appeared on round 73 of the Podcasters Rountable talking about branding your podcast I appeared on Episode two of the Membership Coach show with Marcus Couch talking about the Burden and the Benefit of Membership sites. Check out Paul Colligan's...

Because of My Podcast - I Got to Go To The Largest Event in My Niche 2:05 Cale Nelson from hamradio360.com wanted to go to world's largest Ham Radio event. He wanted to go, but had these pesky things called kids that need silly things like food, clothes, and shelter. So this didn't leave Cale with money to spend on his hobby of podcasting. Well a few listeners said he should try putting together a funding campaign, and so he did. Did he get the money he needed? Well he didn't get the 100% needed. He got 220% he needed! He did this providing VALUE for shirts, hats, shipping, etc. The cool thing is Cale had the courage to try a crowd funding. It could've blown up in his face. Instead his audience came through and he got to attend with all of his expenses paid.  Why You Should Attend Events I went to Podcast Movement last year. I went to a session to support my friend Steve Stewart. After his session some guy named Glenn Hebert got up to speak. You may heave heard me mention Glenn the Geek from the Horse Radio Network (Glenn has 20+ advertisers on his network). I saw Glenn do an impromptu speach. That lead to me asking him to come on the show. That lead to a relationship where Glenn asked me to speak at Podfest last year. That lead to me being interviewed for a documentary about podcasting. Which has now lead me to being asked to help with the film. The film is going to be AWESOME. I will be setting creating relationships with people who you will hear on this show. I have found co-hosts. Here are come cool places to go Podcast Movement - July 5-6 Chicago, (use the coupon sop40) Podcast MidAtlantic  September 9-10 NJ New Media Europe - June 18, 19 Podcast Success Summit - Online 89 Speakers Podfest February 23-25 Orlando Podcast Bingeing 22:54 The Moose Falulence Podcast (joke)  I found a new podcast that I'm really loving. It does the two things that I really like. As a teacher, I love to learn. As a human, I love to laugh. When you can have me doing both, I'm a fan for life. I discovered a show called the Pub from "the Current" (itunes). The host is Adam Ragusea and he takes current news, and dissects it uses it as a learning tool. The latest episode had him picking apart an interview of Donald Trump. This wasn't for the content, but to look at the strategy of how the interviewer approached the subject. He is not afraid to bite the hands that feed him (the media) and backs up his opinion with great insights. He's a Journalist in Residence and Visiting Assistant Professor of Journalism at the Center for Collaborative Journalism at Mercer University in Macon, Ga. He’s also reported for public radio shows including Morning Edition, All Things Considered, Here & Now, Marketplace and The Takeaway. Before becoming a journalist, Adam studied music composition, and he creates all the music for The Pub. If you want to keep up with the media, or if you're tired of all the "Podcasts about podcasting" (but still want to improve your show), you might give this a listen. Finding Your Audience - Tools 27:10 Don't just Google, go and advanced Google search where you can exclude things you don't want at <a href= "https://www.google.com/advanced_search" target=...