School of Podcasting - Podcast Tips to Plan, Launch, Grow Your Podcast

I asked the question: Are you podcasting? If so where and why? If you quit podcasting, why? If you haven't started yet, why? Matt from the Author Inside You Sleep Whispers Podcast Simple Money Solutions Steve Stewart Podcast Editor  Jeff had a blog that didn't get traction (for every 2000 blogs there is ONE podcast), he wants his show to be perfect (if you miss perfect you land on really good), is it viable to spend more money (we spend money on bowling, golfing), and what about Web Hosting? I like Site Ground and Cooler Websites. For media hosting use Libsyn and use the coupon sopfree to get a free month Jenny from Studio Chaotic Derek From Life after Sight Loss Darwyn from Dealing with My Grief David from the Magic and Steele (he's the guy taking all the missing E's) Chris from Dad Spotlight Gabe from Guys and Food Brad from Cinema Guys Sean Slept in Government Class Hilda From Wise Traditions  Cheri From Creation Science for Kids Jonathan from Trivial Warfare Bill from the Chameleon Breeder Ready to Start a Podcast? What do you get at the School of Podcasting? Step by step tutorials to guide yo through ever aspect of planning, launching and growing your podcast Priority email support Access to the School of Podcasting Private Facebook Group a 30-Day Money-Back Guarantee Just go to Schoolofpodcasting.com/start and sign up today Mentioned in this episode:2025 Audience SurveyI Want Your OpinionI am doing an audience survey and I want your input to help me make this show exactly what you want. If you have a few minutes, I have a quick survey at www.schoolofpodcasting.com/survey252025 Audience Survey

Comments? 888-56-33228 Podcasting Microphone Shootout Microphone 1 - Audio Technica ATR2100 $59 (Here is Bundle with Boom arm) Microphone 2 - Audio Technica ATR2005 $79 Microphone 3 - Samson Q2U $54 (with headphones) Microphone 4 - Knox Dynamic USB Microphone $39 (here is a bundle with boom arm) Microphone 5 - Audi Technica 3035 $179 Microphone 6 - Heil Pr40 $327 Engage, Listen, and Grow Your Audience with Jonathan Oakes Jonathan Oakes has been producing the Trivial Warfare for two years he has had some great adventures with his audience including participating in some really big trivia contests. Jonathan has always had a love for trivia. He participated in those TV shows where high school teams go against each other. He has taken on entries bars of people (AND WON). Jonathan's audience loves to learn, and love the ability to show their memory skills. You can find his show at www.trivialwarfare.com Today in episode 567 we hear: How Jonathan worked with his co-hosts to set expectations when it comes to dividing any money. He brought on co-hosts that brought in different viewpoints He listened to what his audience wanted (to be on the show) and found a way so that both the show and the listener benefit. He has incorporated giveaways into his Patreon to increase patron in the higher support tiers He uses a Facebook Group to gather feedback on ideas to Check out Jonathan's Show at www.trivialwarfare.com and check out his Patreon Account at https://www.patreon.com/TWA Ready To Start Podcasting? Join the School of Podcasting at www.schoolofpodcasting.com/start  30-Day Money-back Guarantee Access to all of our courses Live group coaching sessions Priority Email Support Find out more at www.schoolofpodcasting.com/start Next Week is the Audience Poll Episode Are you podcasting? If so why?  Did you post and quit? If so why? Have you never launched a podcast but want to? What's stopping you?  Call 888-563-3228 or use any of the contact options at www.schoolofpodcasting.com/contact answer the question by 5/26/17 (be sure to mention your show if you have one)   Mentioned in This Show Jonathan's Appearance on "Harry's Show" Podcast Junkies Jessica Kupferman's JKM Agency helps podcasters get sponsors Podcasting 101Mentioned in this episode:I Want Your OpinionI am doing an audience survey and I want your input to help me make this show exactly what you want. If you have a few minutes, I have a quick survey at www.schoolofpodcasting.com/survey252025 Audience Survey2025 Audience Survey

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 and sounds very much like the 2100/2005 (it looks like a 2005 with the 2100 switch). There is even a bundle where you get the microphone and a boom arm for $69. When You Step on A Listener's Toes In my twelve years of podcasting, I may have had someone send a nastygram once or twice. This is why I was so surprised to get a nasty email calling me a piece of garbage, and another podcaster resorting to name calling and saying how I had no listeners and other false statements. So what do you do? Well, you could load up your anger and hurt and go out attitude a blazin'. From my experience, this typically does not end well.  or Reach out to them and attempt to get an understanding of how your words offended them. Realize this is NOT saying they were wrong for feeling hurt or offended. Everyone is allowed to feel what they feel. Many times when two people are involved in a conversation and someone gets offended chances are the person who did the offended didn't know what they said was so lethal. My Offensive Words On my Logical Weight Loss podcast, I was reading a story about how Americans are giving up on trying to lose weight and accepting being fat. In the article, it mentioned how American Doctors feel they can tell their patients about the dangers of being overweight as they might be accused of "Fat Shaming." This to me makes no sense and stated that if your doctor can't talk about your weight than who can say anything negative. I asked, "What is there no Slut Shaming, no Thief Shaming? What if you have relations with a goat? Is that OK?  To this, I got an email. The subject of the email was F*CK YOU. Here was the message: In your latest podcast, your comment about "slut shaming" and comparing it to "thief shaming" was absolutely disgusting. FUCK YOU, go to hell you piece of garbage. To this I replied: Thank you so much for your feedback. My point was if we don't allow anyone to say a negative thing about anything, isn't that the doorway to anarchy? I would love to have a dialogue about this with you. Can we get on skype? The response I received was simply: GO TO HELL To that, I replied, "Too bad. As a former teacher, I always feel there is room for improvement, and obviously, there is room for me to improve. Good luck with your weight loss journey." If You Stay Open - You Leave the Door Open to Knowledge I appeared on the Podcast Survival Guide podcast with Josh Liston (who is from Austalia) and he explained that while "Slut" is not a great word in America, it is a really, really bad word in Australia ( on the same level as C*NT in the US). In both cases, my remarks on the Logical Weight Loss podcast were somewhat based on my frustration with political correctness (fat people are now horizontally challenged) and what I said was off the cuff, in a slightly over the top manner to make a point. One might guess that Alex's comments were in the same manner. Conclusion In the end with different countries, cultures, languages, etc we are going to inadvertently step on each other's toes. All you can do is apologize that someone feels a certain way, and pursue a dialogue to learn from the experience. Podcast Rewind I appeared on the Podcaster's Survival Guide Podcasters Roundtable Talking Podcast Consumptiontalking a bit more in depth about upsetting your listeners, and I also appeared on the in 2017 Ready to Start Podcasting? Join the School of Podcasting get access to all of your 16 courses on podcasting Live group coaching Private facebook group Priority Email Support Go to www.schoolofpodcasting.com/startMentioned in this episode:I Want Your OpinionI am doing an audience survey and I want your input to help me make this show exactly what you want. If you have a few minutes, I have a quick survey at www.schoolofpodcasting.com/survey252025 Audience Survey2025 Audience Survey

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%Mentioned in this episode:2025 Audience SurveyI Want Your OpinionI am doing an audience survey and I want your input to help me make this show exactly what you want. If you have a few minutes, I have a quick survey at www.schoolofpodcasting.com/survey252025 Audience Survey

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 second job, you mean they don't have multiple unlimited hours to sit and listen to a show uninterrupted? I've quoted her before Valerie Geller in her book Beyond Powerful Radio has said, "There is no such thing as too long, only too boring." I recently listened to episode 301 from Daniel J Lewis. It was 3.5 hours long. In spans of 10-20 minutes, I listened to that show over two days. Why? Because I find it interesting. 3. Edit. Edit. Edit. It is easy to start a podcast recording only to find the host and/or guests have rambled for 45 minutes or an hour. Before posting podcasts on-line, producers would be best served to listen to the entire recording with a critical ear and edit out content that doesn't serve the "vision" of informative, engaging and entertaining content that listeners can't get from other media. Again, I totally agree here. Mount Rushmore was just a mountain, and then Doane Robinson decided to have some editing done to it. 4. Establish a publishing schedule. Bridge Ratings' analysis found that weekly podcasts are most popular followed by twice per week and daily. Tuesday was the best day to post podcasts followed by Friday. based on our panel's responses. I don't think it matters what day as long as your consistent. A podcast about entertaining might make more sense to put out on Thursday or Friday as people prepare for the weekend. When it comes to picking a schedule, keep the following in mind: Podcasts app for iOS pauses downloads of episodes from podcasts which the user hasn't listened to. Episode auto-downloading stops 15 days after a user last views that podcast or plays an episode on any device the user is signed into and after 5 new episodes are unplayed on a single device. After 45 days of a user not viewing or playing episodes from a podcast on any device and after 5 new episodes are unplayed on any device, Podcasts app for iOS and tvOS stops updating the podcast metadata altogether. iTunes desktop also has protections against unwanted downloads. After 15 days and 5 unplayed new episodes, new podcast episodes stop auto-downloading. After 45 days, the podcast metadata stops updating. (source) so before you go launching a daily show.... 5. Tagging metadata. Search is the second most-popular way consumers find podcasts of interest. Producers should be cognizant of search engine requirements including software that consumers use and directories. Metadata is that additional information embedded in an object which provides information to software platforms about that object. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a function of these tags and allows a podcast to be found. The more refined and focused the tagging data, the higher the chance of the podcast appearing on the first page of search results. While it makes sense to have keywords in your websites, the best advice I can give is to use the title of your podcast and the title of your episodes to the maximum. Use words that peak people's curiosity or inspires them to click. If you're going to put any kind of episode numbers in your titles, put them at the end (as the information at the beginning of a title cut off in some apps. Here again, don't go crazy and remember that people create word of mouth, and when you ignore the people, you lose a key source when you right strictly for robots. 6. For broadcasters seeking to increase listenership to podcasts hosted by their talent, a significant increase in promotion - both on air and through social media - would be the primary strategy. Yes, you need to tell people about our podcast. My formulas for podcast downloads is TOTAL VALUE IN EPISODE multiple by INTELLIGENT PROMOTION equals TOTAL NUMBER OF PODCAST DOWNLOADS. Even in their own study, they state, "Awareness through word-of-mouth from friends and family, increasing publicity of podcasting in general and high-interest topics are motivating more people to try podcasting." The article quotes an article from Mumbrella, saying,"The understanding of podcasting in media agencies trails that of streaming, the research revealed. On a scale of 1-to-10, media agencies ranked their understanding of podcast advertising at 5.1 on average and 7.2 for streaming digital audio, with just 6% classifying themselves as having little understanding." It's this kind of information that leads people to say "We need to get podcasters abandon downloads and start streaming." This would be liked saying, "We need to get people to quit emailing people and go back to letter writing because people are confused by email." We need to educate people on podcasting.  Grab your neighbors phone as ask them what their hobbies are. Go the Apple Podcasts app (on an iPhone) and type that in and click search. Then click play. It doesn't take long. With the exception of Spreaker (which streams via Shoutcast on their live technology), a podcast that is played on a website or app or tablet that has not been previously downloaded is a progressive download. It looks and smells like a stream, but it's a file that is being downloaded in chunks and is going to show up as one download in your stats. In their final thoughts, they state: Podcasting continues to have great potential to drive a broader trend toward on-demand audio that is reshaping the $75B+ global audio market Podcasting still has an issue with discovery and needs to become more social in order to drive audience growth in addition to simplified search mechanisms. I don't think the problem is finding a podcast on a topic, the problem is finding a GOOD podcast on your favorite subject. 75% of podcasters are concerned with generating new listeners and app presence, monetization (70% dissatisfied) and social media presence (58% dissatisfied. Wait, are you saying podcasters want more listeners? This is truly the most insightful report I HAVE EVER READ. Really? Social media, search and word of mouth are the most popular channels for audience growth. So make a podcast that inspires other people to talk about it. Barriers to faster growth: 1) "Finding Podcasts I'm interested in", 2) "Programs are too long or have uninteresting hosts". Again, finding GOOD podcasts is a struggle, and the length of the podcast is not a problem. This is put forth by people who want to stick to a "Closer to radio" model and convince everyone to stream their show. Who are Bridge Ratings? They are located in Irvine, CA. They were founded in 2001 and is a media analysis corporation providing behavioral analysis of media consumers in the US, Canada, Mexico and Europe. Company clients include Emmis, Microsoft, Yahoo!, Amazon.com, CBS Radio, Cumulus Broadcasting and Clear Channel Communications as well as finance and media investment firms around the world. Founded by broadcast executive Dave Van Dyke, Bridge Ratings had its roots as a radio ratings company positioned as an alternative to other services in medium and small markets. Bridge Ratings surveys were utilized as a bridge between the one or two annual surveys offered by other research companies. The company transitioned to a media consumer analysis firm in 2003 when its study focusing on the impact of commercial interruptions on radio listeners revealed that stations lost as much as 25% of their listeners with every commercial beyond two in a row. This study became a template for future analyses of listener behavior. Who is David Van Dyke? Bridge Ratings Founder and President Dave Van Dyke’s extensive and varied experience in media has captured every facet of radio and Internet audience engagement.  In radio, he has worked in a diverse array of positions including programming, management, sales, on-air, marketing and research for CBS, Infinity, ABC, Nokia and Westinghouse.  Through his work with Bridge Ratings Dave is widely recognized for his ability to forecast and gauge media consumption across multiple platforms and to utilize field data to advise his clients. He is also known for his management of radio station rebuilding successes, taking underperforming radio properties and turning them into high cash-flowing corporate contributors. Nobody Can Do A Show Like You My Buddy Steve Stewart sent in a very cool piece of audio feedback that got me thinking. He shares why he listens to this show, and he explains how everyone who does a show stamps their own style on it. Your show will be your show.  I point out how we ALL face imposter syndrome. We feel we're "not worthy" or we are worried about being "big headed."  Podcasting puts you into a place of leadership simply by creating a podcast. A leader should appear confident and accept their role. For me, I would downplay my role, and my jokes about "little old me" and didn't realize that this type of humor could be damaging my brand. People don't want to follow "little old whoever.." Steve shares that he is now making a full time living doing podcast editing. Mentioned In This Episode 564 Randy Cantrell and the Grow Great Show Bridge Ratings Report Podcast Review Show (Get Your Podcast Reviewed) Podcast Rodeo Show  Libsyn.com (use the coupon code sopfree to get a free month) Ready to Start a Podcast? Go to www.schoolofpodcasting.com/start    Mentioned in this episode:2025 Audience SurveyI Want Your OpinionI am doing an audience survey and I want your input to help me make this show exactly what you want. If you have a few minutes, I have a quick survey at www.schoolofpodcasting.com/survey252025 Audience Survey

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 https://youtu.be/lyR-K2CZIHQ Leave Out Stuff That You Don't Need Here is an example from the TED Talks book byChris Anderson(also available on Audible) Once, when I was eight years old, my father took me fishing. We were in a tiny boat, five miles from shore, when a massive storm blew in. Dad put a life jacket on me and whispered in my ear, "Do you trust me, son?" I nodded. He threw me overboard. [pause] I kid you not. Just tossed me over! I hit the water and bobbed up to the surface, gasping for breath. It was shockingly cold. The waves were terrifying. Monstrous. Then . . . Dad dived in after me. We watched in horror as our little boat flipped and sank. But he was holding me the whole time, telling me it was going to be OK. Fifteen minutes later, the Coast Guard helicopter arrived. It turned out that Dad knew the boat was damaged and was going to sink, and he had called them with our exact location. He guessed it was better to chuck me in the open sea than risk getting trapped when the boat flipped. And that is how I learned the true meaning of the word trust. EXAMPLE 2: SAME STORY WITH TOO MUCH DETAIL AND NO EMOTION I learned trust from my father when I was eight years old and we got caught in a storm while out fishing for mackerel. We failed to catch a single one before the storm hit. Dad knew the boat was going to sink, because it was one of those Saturn brand inflatable boats, which are usually pretty strong, but this one had been punctured once and Dad thought it might happen again. In any case, the storm was too big for an inflatable boat and it was already leaking. So he called the Coast Guard rescue service, who, back then, were available 24/7, unlike today. He told them our location, and then, to avoid the risk of getting trapped underwater, he put a life jacket on me and threw me overboard before jumping in himself. We then waited for the Coast Guard to come and, sure enough, 15 minutes later the helicopter showed up—I think it was a Sikorsky MH-60 Jayhawk— and we were fine. The first version is a story of trust and emotion. The second version has tangents left and right and is filled with information that doesn't back up the main story. If we "X Y" this,  My Dad and I went fishing, but he threw me overboard. And this is interesting as we all need to learn how to trust people. The second version doesn't even bring up the key sentence for me, "Do you trust me son?" In the book Secrets of Dynamic Communications: Prepare with Focus, Deliver with Clarity, Speak with Power author Ken Davis states, "To make it as clear and powerful as possible, it is necessary to know exactly what you want to accomplish and then keep only material that will contribute to the objective." He also states, If you aim at nothing, you will hit it every time. Another strategy is that if you just throw enough things at your audience, one of them is bound to have an impact. Niel J. Guilarte Editor of The Messengers: a Podcast Documentary Niel who is the editor the The Messengers: a Podcast Documentary as well as the host of All Things Post, and the owner of Wildstyle Media, and star of his YouTube Channel shares some of the non-traditional items he has shot video to get experience and talk about the steps of assembling your story. Know who your audience is Take inventory of what you have Come up with the story, the message you want to share Follow your gut Don't be afraid to start over, or get a different set of ear/eyes In the same way that you don't take your car to the dentist to get it fixed, Niel thinks business people should stop editing their show and pass that off to editors to help them tell their story. Niel uses Dropbox to swap files back and forth with his clients as well as Frame.io One of the common mistakes that podcasters make that Niel has to edit out is letting their guest go on weird tangents in the interview that end up on the chopping floor. Check out Niels awesome videos (his wedding videos are awesome) at www.wildstylemedia.net and his podcast All Things Post (about Post Production) at www.allthingspost.net What is the Smallest Amount You Would Take From a Sponsor for One Episode? If I could do this again I would. I was looking for a number like "16" not a range of an EPISODE (not a month) after 30 days. So look at an episode from 30 days ago and tell me how many downloads it has. Then when I asked what was the least amount, I'm not sure I was clear enough to say PER EPISODE. So I would call this survey a wash. I thank all 37 people who replied. Are you interested in making money from your podcast? 89.2% Said Yes. 10.8% said no. How Many Downloads Do You Get Per Episode After 30 days, and what is the smallest amount of money you would take from an Advertiser. 7 Respondents had 100 downloads or less, and they said they would take anywhere from $5-$500. The people close to 100 downloads per episode were looking for $25-35. 3 Respondents got between 101-200 downloads. Two were not interested in making money, and the third wants at least $10. 3 Respondents had between 201-300 downloads and said they would take $5, $10. 1 Respondent had between 300-400 downloads said they were highly relevant and would take $500. 1 Respondent had between 401 -500 downloads said they would take $200 1 Respondent said they had 600 downloads per episode and would take a minimum of $10 1 Respondent said they had 800 downloads per episode and would take a minimum of $150 1 Respondent said they had 900 downloads per episode and would take a minimum of $50 for advertisers but on Patreon I will mention a fans business for $25 1 Respondent said they had 1000 downloads per episode and are getting (currently) $50 1 Respondent said they had 1000 downloads per episode and would take $225 1 Respondent said they had 1250 downloads per episode and would take $50 1 Respondent said they had 2000 downloads per episode and would take $50 1 Respondent said they had 2400 downloads per episode and would take $20 2 Respondents said they had 2500 downloads per episode and would take $25. The other is getting $100 1 Respondent said they had 3000 downloads per episode and would take $50 2 Respondent said they had 4000 downloads per episode and one is  getting $250, the other wants $300 1 Respondent said they had 4673 downloads per episode and will take $1 per second (30-second ad, $30) People Who Said They Have Sponsor 1 Person had 50 downloads an episode and is getting $250 ( I would think this has to be a month or a typo) 1 Person had 1000 downloads an episode and is getting $50 ($50/cpm) 1 Person had 2500 downloads an episode and is getting $1o0 ($40/cpm) 1 Person had 4000 downloads an episode and is getting $250 ($62.5/cpm) 1 Person had 4763 downloads an episode and is getting $1/sec (one spot $30) ($6.29/cpm) 1 Person had 10000 downloads an episode and is getting $55  ($5.5/cpm) 1 Person had 50000 downloads an episode and is getting $125  ($2.5/cpm) Next Month's Poll: Have you ever started a podcast? (Yes or No) If no, what is holding you back? Are you still producing that show? (Yes or No) If Yes: What are the name of the show and the web address? Why do you podcast? If No: What was the name of your show? Why did you walk away from podcasting? Go to www.schoolofpodcasting.com/contact. If you use email, please put 468 in the subject line. Join the Podcasting Community at The School of Podcasting Educate - Collaborate - Meet Your Fate Tutorials, Live Coaching, Private FaceBook Group, Priority Email Support 30-Day Money-back Guarantee www.schoolofpodcasting.com/start Mentioned in This Episode Out on the Wire: The Storytelling Secrets of the New Masters of Radio TED Talks: The Official TED Guide to Public Speaking (available on Audible) Secrets of Dynamic Communications: Prepare with Focus, Deliver with Clarity, Speak with Power The Messengers Documentary DVD www.wildstylemedia.net www.allthingspost.net Dropbox Frame.io Glenn the Geek Episode 1 of (Horse Radio Network) Son of a Terrorist  TED Talk Start Your Podcast at the School of Podcasting  Mentioned in this episode:2025 Audience SurveyI Want Your OpinionI am doing an audience survey and I want your input to help me make this show exactly what you want. If you have a few minutes, I have a quick survey at www.schoolofpodcasting.com/survey252025 Audience Survey

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 company sponsor his show (which made him look bigger than he was at the time) How he chooses sponsors and the criteria he uses. How he keeps people tuned in during midroll advertisements. Book Mentioned: Steel Like an Artist and the Steel Like an Artist Journal How he gets big guests using tools like netgalley.com Why he takes one week off every 8 weeks and what he does to fill in the gap. How one woman sent hate mail, only the be one of the first people to sign up for his Facebook What drives him nuts as a podcast listener. Next Week's Poll: What is the Least Amount You Would Take from a Sponsor? Every month I do a show based on listener feedback, and the deadline is 4/21/ it is a super easy survey at https://schoolofpodcasting.com/poll564 Mentioned In This Episode Stacking Benjamins Podcast Book: Steel Like an Artist and the Steel Like an Artist Journal netgalley.com Promo Republic Be a Podcaster Join the School of Podcasting todayMentioned in this episode:I Want Your OpinionI am doing an audience survey and I want your input to help me make this show exactly what you want. If you have a few minutes, I have a quick survey at www.schoolofpodcasting.com/survey252025 Audience Survey2025 Audience Survey

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 www.schoolofpodcasting.com/startMentioned in this episode:I Want Your OpinionI am doing an audience survey and I want your input to help me make this show exactly what you want. If you have a few minutes, I have a quick survey at www.schoolofpodcasting.com/survey252025 Audience Survey2025 Audience Survey

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 worked it into his act. Chuck paid attention to what made the audience go wild. 4. Charge What Your Worth There is only one Chuck Berry. Sure everyone from the Beatles, Stones, Elvis, Duan Alman, The Kinks, John Lennon, Simon and Garfunkle, Bruce Springsteen, and David Bowie, they all have covered his music. There is only ONE Chuck Berry. Consequently, Chuck knew this and after being ripped off in the early part of his career, he started demanding that he get paid up front, in cash. 5. Chuck Got the Audience Involved Most of his big hits made it super easy to make them "sing-alongs." All Chuck had to say was "Go!" and put his hand up to his ear and the audience would sing "Go Johny Go, Go.." 6. A Little Planning Up Front Saves Some Editing Time Later Post-1970 Chuck didn't tour with a band. He brought his guitar and whoever was promoting his concert was in charge of putting together a band. On a tonight show appearance, he said, "well everybody knows my music." This was true, but they all sounded the same. While they are not obvious, when you see Chuck perform with these acts, the intros are a little sloppy, and the endings were often train wrecks as the band didn't know that when Chuck kicks his leg up that meant stop. 7. Don't Break The Law Chuck had issues with the law about every 15-20 years. One involved him putting cameras in the women's bathroom. While he was never convicted of wrongdoing, he did settle out of court, and it cost him 1.2 million dollars. 8. Take Care of Your Team / Get Things in Writing One of the reasons Chuck insisted on being paid in cash is he had been swindled out of money by promoters and clubs in the past. One key player in Berry's band was Johnnie Johnson (his piano player). In November 2000, Johnson sued Berry, alleging he deserved co-composer credits (and royalties) for dozens of songs, including "No Particular Place to Go," "Sweet Little Sixteen," and "Roll Over Beethoven," which credit Berry alone. The case was dismissed in less than a year because too many years had passed since the songs in dispute were written. 9. Don't Spend all Your Money on Gear A recent report estimated Chuck's estate is worth 50 million. While some of this is from record royalties, Chuck invested in Real Estate. When you start making money with your podcast (if that is something you choose to do) spend some on your family, put some in the bank (and avoid the stress of worrying about money). 10. While You Can Give Them Something Similar, it Still Has to Be Good Did you know there was a sequel to Johnny B Good? Me neither. According to Wikipedia it never charted in any country. So in the same what that creating a song about Johnny B Good isn't going to equal chart success, creating a podcast with the phrase "On Fire" (or whatever is hot at the moment ) does not mean you will get chart success. Why People Remember Chuck Berry There is a famous quote by Maya Angelou, “I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” Chuck Berry's music made people smile, it made them want to dance, and they lead to them having fun, and in some cases there was realin' and rockin'. Podhero Review What is Podheri.io? Podhero is described as a swiss army knife for podcasters with a goal of making podcast creation and promotion easier. Audio Processing The site describes it as "Automate the technical hurdles to make your vocals sound amazing." So I compared it to Auphonic.com as they both level out the volume, and remove noise (hiss and hum). If I were to judge the output, I would say it's very close (if not a tie). In looking at the wav forms, it appears auphonic might have an ever so slight edge, but keep in mind, my ears didn't' notice anything. The only true advantage (depending on your attitude) is Auphonic has more configuration options (so you can set loudness levels if you want to just level volume and not remove noise).  But I was impressed with the audio processing. This opinion is based upon testing one file. Podcast To Video If can take your audio podcast and send it to YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram. It also gives you a basic tool to create a custom artwork. You can do this if you are using Libsyn and Spreaker. Blubrry does some distribution (but they only do the first few minutes of your show).  The tool for creating an image is really basic and is better than nothing. When there are tools such as canva.com as a free option, I could see using Canva to create the image, and then use the "upload your own" option here to make your video. Is video worth it? My last episode from the School of Podcasting had 26 views, and I was surprised that the analytics show people were watching a majority. My advice would be to open this tool in a new window as the processing of audio to video is going to take some time.  Currently, you can have the tool automatically post to YouTube (with plan of Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Medium) Website Widget Review This tool will put a small pop-up on your website. You just copy and paste some code. For me, I find this tool "meh" because ratings in iTunes are great social proof, they don't help you advance up the charts (I thnk people put too much emphasis on them as a "must do"). My Podcast Reviews This tool brings you all of your reviews from all of the stores. This is a free tool. This does have a feature that I found interesting. It shows you your reviews across a period. I found that interesting. They attempt to show you (on a map) where the reviews come from, but besides getting the country correct, I wouldn't count it accurate from a geographic standpoint. iTunes Keyword Tracking This allows you to put in your (or your "Competition's") iTunes link and enter a keyword. So I can see where The Audacity to Podcast Ranks higher than my show, but I rank higher than the Podcast Report. That's interesting. There is no way to say "who is #1?" I'm just not sure what I'm supposed to with this information. Many moons ago I had a program called Webmaster Gold, and it would track your website and let you know where you ranked. This lead to people writing articles more for the Google Web crawler instead of the humans who were reading it. Also, when I was a teacher in the corporate world, I would do my best every day. Every day I got scored by my students. While I always feel there is room for improvement, I'm not sure there was anything I would change (in most cases) if someone gave me an average score. So for me, I see this as a set of interesting statistics, that people can obsess over, but in the end, may not lead to any value being delivered to your audience. Episode Media Kits If you do a lot of interviews, this could be your favorite feature. Here you upload promotional images, create messages to go to Twitter, Facebook Google+, and LinkedIn. You upload pictures, create your tweets, and copy and link and send that to your guest. They can send a message with a single click. For me, this is the most useful tool (again, if you're doing interviews, but don't limit your thinking, why not put the link in your post and give your audience access to promote your episode. Do You Need This? Much of this you can get for free for example: Canva.com - free image creation tool Podcast Rankings - have them emailed to you see Regan Star If you're using Libsyn, you can automatically have your show syndicated to Twitter, Facebook, YouTube (with video, and you can add a custom image), iHeart Radio, LinkedIn, Tumblr, Blogger, and more. Podcast Reviews - You can get this feature free in Podhero, as well as My Podcast Reviews Audio Processing - You can get 2 hours free each month at auphonic. Things Unique To Podhero If you're not using Libsyn or Spreaker, it will create a video for you It shows you your podcast reviews over time. The podcast review widget. The podcast media kit. How Much Does it Cost? There is a free version that includes: Worldwide iTunes Review Tracking (2 podcasts) iTunes Keyword Tracker (1 keyword) Measures how visible your podcast is on iTunes for any search term over time. iTunes Review Website Widget (1 website) The paid version is $20/month Audio Enhancer Tool Social Video Creator Episode Media Kits Podcast to Youtube iTunes Keyword Researcher iTunes Keyword Tracker (15 keywords) Measures how visible your podcast is on iTunes for any search term over time. Worldwide iTunes Review Tracking (5 podcasts) When you get a new review on iTunes, from any country, you will be notified. New & NoteworthyAlerts iTunes Review Website Widget (unlimited) Mentioned In This Podcast What is the smallest amount you would take for advertising? (POLL) Chuck Berry on the Johnny Carson Show (YouTube Video) Podhero.io Libsyn.com (Liberated Syndication) Use the coupon code sopfree to get a free month Canva.com - free image creation tool Podcast Rankings - have them emailed to you see Regan Star Dave's Patreon Accounts  see http://supportthisshow.com/ Start your podcast by joining the School of Podcasting go to www.schoolofpodcasting.com/startMentioned in this episode:I Want Your OpinionI am doing an audience survey and I want your input to help me make this show exactly what you want. If you have a few minutes, I have a quick survey at www.schoolofpodcasting.com/survey252025 Audience Survey2025 Audience Survey

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 www.schoolofpodcasting.com/559   Contributors to this Episode J Cleveland Payne - Theinternettoolbox.net Darwin -dealingwithmygrief.com Amanda greatbeetadventure.com Anna - authenticparenting.com Cale- hamradio360.com Randy growgreat.com Carolyn carbonbasedpodcast.com Chris podcastengineeringschool.com themysticshow.net Connie positivelylifeafterfifty.com Craig from ingleaspodcast.com Daniel- theaudacitytopodcast.com Jessica -interviewconnections.com Jeff -http://genealogypodcast.com/ Geoff - dealtalkpodcast.com Jessica -shepodcasts.com - jkmagency.com Juan thegentlemensbrotherhood.com Kim toastmasters101.net Less thecancerradionetwork.com Matt- theauthorinsideyou.com  Scott -computertutorflorida.com   Nick Cincinnatisoccertalk.com  Terry - itprovidernetwork.com Tina - thestartsomethingshow.com Tyler - CashFlowGuys.comMentioned in this episode:2025 Audience SurveyI Want Your OpinionI am doing an audience survey and I want your input to help me make this show exactly what you want. If you have a few minutes, I have a quick survey at www.schoolofpodcasting.com/survey252025 Audience Survey