Consistently Creating a Great Show: James Cridland from Podnews.net

Have you ever thought, "Oh someone is already doing a podcast about my subject." If so you need to listen to today's show with James Cridland of podnews.net who saw there were other sites and newsletters featuring podcast news, but he thought they were missing something. He had been doing newsletters and working in the radio industry for years, so he decided to start a newsletter (that became a podcast, and an Amazon Flash Briefing) and has really come out ahead of the pack. Today James peels back the curtain on what planning went into the show, and what tools he's using to pull off a daily show.

Because of My Podcast: I'm Going to be Inducted into the Academy of Podcasters Hall of Fame

1:34

I got a call last week from Gary Leland was surprised to hear that my peers have selected me to be inducted into the Academy of Podcasters Hall of Fame. I am humbled, honored, and a whole lot of other emotions that I can't quite digest yet.

Become a School of Podcasting Affiliate and Earn Money Referring People

3:57 

You can earn money referring people to the School of podcasting and earn commissions each month they stay subscribed Go to www.schoolofpodcasting.com/affiliates

James Cridland Shares What it Takes to Make A Daily Show That Knocks it Out of the Park

5:41

I brought James on as he is just crushing it with his newsletter on Podcasting. He seemed to just appear and is just crushing it. So in this interview, we hear:

• His planning and how he practiced first before launching
• He realized his environment changes as he travels and he needed to be able to produce it from any computer
• How he emersed himself in his niche as step one, and he uses https://www.inoreader.com/ as his freed reader (tutorial on inoreader)
• How does he choose which stories to spotlight
• How he uses newsletter analytics to understand his audience
• What stories are the most popular
• He codes his own website and uses Sendy to manage the email list
• What advice does he have for someone wanting to be an expert in their field
• As a person with a radio background, what do you think radio feels about podcasting?
• His thoughts on people buying their way up the Apple Rankings
• Marketing your podcast, and explaining it to future listeners
• What percentage of his downloads come from his Amazon Daily Briefing
• His thoughts on editing and the optimum length of a podcast
• He loves to listen to Death in Ice Valley, Hamish, and Andy, Reasons to be Cheerful

Check out James Daily Podcast News Show at www.podnews.net

[click_to_tweet tweet="I knew consistency would win in the end" quote="I knew consistency would win in the end"]

Isn't Email Dead?

42:40

But wait, isn't email dead? According to some studies, email is four times more effective at reaching your audience than Facebook. (source) If you are looking for outreach, that may be social, if you're looking to boost sales, or get your audience to click on Something than email is still the king. An article that just came out a few days ago explains how 58% of people "check their email first in the morning vs 11% Facebook and 2% Twitter. 2.6 billion people have email vs 1.7 billion for Facebook. The article states that "It turns out that 77% of consumers prefer email over social media for permission-based promotional messages." (source). The only problem I have with the article is that it's from option monster who helps you get email sign-ups.

What Makes a Good Lead Magnet?

44:16

The best lead magnet ideas typically come from your audience. It's a question someone asks, and it's a really good question. What problems can you help them solve? What would lessen their stress, save them time, or help them reach a goal?

Here are some Lead Magnet ideas

• Poll results (you can use a free tool like Google Forms to create a poll)
• Reviews of Services see www.schoolofpodcasting.com/headlines
• Question and Answers
• Ebooks
• Webinars
• Mini-Courses www.schoolofpodcasting.com/babysteps
• Checklists
• Spreadsheets
• Toolkits
• Planners
• Guides

You could make many of these with free tools such a Google Docs and then Save it as a PDF.

What Email Service to Use?

47:05

Many people start out with Mailchimp as it's free. As James said in this episode, if things start taking off it can get expensive quickly. Keep an eye on your subscribers. I'm currently using Convertkit, but to be honest I never used any of the cool marketing tools they have. I should have stuck with Aweber. With that said, as I look into using marketing tools, I've heard a lot of good things about Active Campaign which seems powerful.

Ready To Get Your Podcast Going?

51:25

I would love to work with you to get your podcast going. If it's already going, I'd love to help you grow your audience. I have many ways I can help you

go to www.schoolofpodcasting.com/workwithme and let's start moving your forward today