School of Podcasting: Expert Tips for Launching and Growing Your Podcast

Want to get better guests, want to grow your audience? Today's guest Joel Boggess has two words for you to get you going in the right direction. New Media Expo Coupon If you thinking of going to New Media Expo then use the coupon sop2015 to save 20% For more information go to schoolofpodcasting.com/nmx CBS Launches Play.it CBS launched a website to promote all of their content that they are providing as a podcast. The more main stream media starts to embrace podcasting, the more listeners will get comfortable consuming podcasts. That increases the chances of you being found. Creative Commons Licensing I am under the thought that any kind of exposure is good exposure. With this in mind, the only restriction I have is you can sell my podcast or materials to other people. You can quote me, etc (the "normal" stuff) but I go with a common sense kind of strategy. That works fine for me, if you are worried about people using your content you may want to investigate Creative Common Licensing. For more information go to https://creativecommons.org/licenses/ This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Joel Boggess of Relaunch Show Interview I was introduced I was on the Relaunch Show a while and back and had the pleasure of meeting Joel and his wife Pei. I also saw a post that Joel ahd put in a Facebook group showing some pretty impressive numbers. I asked him to come on the show, and he shared some great insights. Approach people when they have something to promote (they will be in "promotion mode" and be looking to get the word out). It may take more than one attempt to get our guest to say yes. (Joel asked someone every day for a full year to get to a "yes"). Joel shares how he almost died at an early age, and this experience has given him the strength to overcome his obstacles How do you get good guests? Joel's advice is ASK. You do need to be diligent. How do you grow your audience? By producing consistent content on a consistent schedule. Joel makes it super easy to promote you appearance on his show. Here is the email I got from his assistant. Clarity + Confidence = Direction (Read more about this in his book). Goal's word for the year is engagement.   Check out Joel's Book Finding Your Voice. Check out his podcast at ReLaunchShow.com Check out his community of Ninja Podcasters.   Mentioned in This Show Jim Carrey Commencement Speech     Start Podcasting Today

Last 5 in 5 with John Wilkerson John Wilkerson of thewiredhomeschool.com/ was on episode 440 discussing podcasting with seven kids in the house. Today he shares with us the last five podcasts he listened to: Spirit Blade Podcast - Geek Entertainment and Faith The Sci -Fi Christian - Sci Fi Topics from a Christian perspective. Scott Sigler's Books - Sci -Fi Author School of Podcasting's Morning Annoucements _ This Podcast Homeschooling in Real Life - Telling it like it is in the world of homeschooling   Podcast Rewind: [8:32] I recently appeared on the Coachzing Show talking about how to Create a Compelling Podcast. on the Relaunch Show I talk about Overcoming Personal and Financial Bankrupcy with with Joel and Pei. The Coachzing show is dedicated to helping coaches, therapists, speakers and authors work less, earn more, and help more people through creative content marketing strategies. The ReLaunch show is a Daily Radio Show for Career Changers, Difference Makers and Those with a Dream. Features interviews of today’s most in-demand experts, thought leaders, and ReLaunch! artists. When in Doubt - Ask Your Audience [14:04] You can win a free year at the School of Podcasting by taking our Audience Survey. It would be interesting to see how many times I provide the answer, "Ask your audience." It is what appears to be an obvious choice, but I'm not sure if we don't want to bother them, but we often use an audience poll as a last resort. We might feel that we are bugging them. In the end the people who take part in your survey (1 - 5 % of your audience) are the most engaged in your audience and are doing it to support you . As your audience is made up of adults, it not a bad idea to explain why you are doing the poll, but we will get into that later. What Can I Learn From An Audience Poll Demographics (age, sex, income, location) Expectations (Tell your potential audience the topic of your podcast and see what they would expect to hear). Find a gap (What is the most common frustration when listening to podcasts). Help you choose a name or logo when you are launching your podcast. What language they use to describe your show (this is valuable in marketing material - it is the native tongue of your audience). Have them rank your segments (you may find there are segments that nobody consumes) Psychographics (lifestyle, interests, dreams, pain points). Behaviors (How do they consume your show, how often, how long). Before You Design Your Survey What is the objective of the poll? What are you looking for? Write down the objective? (future content, sponsors) What is the goal of this survey?Why are you creating this survey?What do you hope to accomplish with this survey?How will you use the data you are collecting? You will use your objectives to help create the questions Short and To the Point Survey Monkey research (along with Gallup and others) has shown that the survey should take 5 minutes or less to complete. 6 – 10 minutes is acceptable but we see significant abandonment rates occurring after 11 minutes. When Surveys are Too Long People drop out: They simply quit taking the survey.  Having a reward for completion can reduce drop-outs, but you can’t stop it completely.People stop paying attention: Remember your Jr. High School friend who just filled in random bubbles during a test? He grew up. If it takes too long to take your survey, he might do it again. Keep it Clear To ensure that you collect valid survey results, make sure you include instructions on how to answer the survey. Each question should be clearly stated so that there is no misunderstanding about what is being asked. When developing your survey questionnaire, you want to make certain that you are asking the questions in a neutral way, ie that you are not leading them toward a particular answer. This may seem simple, but when you are writing questions you will often find that the way you phrase the question may reflect your underlying opinion. Here is an example of a leading question: Instead of doing you think this microphone sounds better than the old one? Instead it might be “What do you think about the sound of this microphone?” Survey Flow There are some rules of thumb: 1) Questions about behavior (factual information) should be before those about attitude (opinions, emotions, preferences) 2) General questions should be before those that are more specific 3) Potentially sensitive questions should be asked later in the survey, once rapport has been established Question Strategies It is best to use non-structured questions when you are exploring new ideas and you don't really know what to expect from the respondents. Any easy way to get insights is to use a scale. Always use an even number of choices. If I say rank this 1 - 5, people can go right down the middle and choose 3. If they have to rank 1-4, they have to choose 2, or 3. One is a little better then the other. One key ingredient when dealing with adults is to include the "Why." As easy as it is to click a few buttons, in the end knowing "why" will help them push through to the end of the survey. If they understand that they may receive better content, a better schedule, etc. it may inspire them to answer. Keep your answers private. When In Doubt Bribe Them Even if your survey is short, you might have to provide some incentive to get more people to participate. Amazon gift cards, lottery tickets (is that legal), a free product can be used. The good news is the more you get to know your audience, the better bribes you will be able to come up with. Free Tools For Creating Surveys There are tons of plugin (see here and here). There are websites like Surveymonkey.com that allow you to do a free survey (up to 100 respondents with 10 questions).] The tool I use is Polldaddy. it is owned by the people behind Wordpress and their free service is almost unlimited (1000 responses per month). Take Our Poll and Win a Free Year at the School of Podcasting http://www.schoolofpodcasting.com/2015s Mentioned In This Episode Podcasting Good to Great: How to Grow Your Audience Through Collaboration

COMMENTS? Call 888-563-3228  I started this last year and I want this to be an annual event. I ask my audience, "If you could only listen to one podcast what would it be, where is it, and WHY do you listen to it. Thanks to everyone who sent in their answers. I want to thank Ray Ortega for alerting me to a post from Seth Godin that sates, “There’s no such thing as a niche that’s too small if the people care enough. If you think you need a bigger market, you’re actually saying that the market you already have doesn’t need you/depend on you/talk about you enough.You might not need a bigger niche. You might only need to produce more value for those you already serve.” With people choosing the following podcasts over all others, one can assume they are delivering tons of value. My Favorite Podcast Is Nick Seuberling from "Inside the Jungle" who love the 606 Podcast. Its information he can't get in the US. Ben From Modern Self Protection loves the Survival Podcast podcast because its energy, and inspiring. Bill from the Media Fiasco  I would definitely pick the Mike O’Meara Show,  it always puts a smile on his face. Cain from the Adventure Frequency podcast Adam Carolla show consistent, funny. Daniel J. Lewis from the Audacity to Podcast and My Podcast Reviews likes the Business of Marriage because the topics fits Daniel like a glove. Dr. Dave from Shrink Wrap Radio Psychology Podcast loves Mac Break Weekly to get up to date tips and news from experts. Al from Whats Up On Earth loves the Podcast because its funny, and appealing and keeps him up on pop culture. Erik from Podcast Talent Coach loves the Solopreneur Hour for their unique interviews that aren't like everybody else. Fred from Skills in Screencasts and Podcast still loves the No Agenda show for its behind the scenes look at the Media James loves the PFW in Progress is where James gets in depth information about New England Patriots football. Jennifer from the Delightful Life podcast loves Live Your List Show because the hosts are entertaining, and its inspires you to be a better person. John from  Writers Authors on Fire from Loves Entrepreneur on Fire because it keeps him positive and motivated. Johnathon loves the Moment with Brian Koppelman. He loves in the in depth interviews that make him think. Ken Casler of the Thinking Outside The Box podcast loves the Spark podcast. It entertains him and keeps him up on technology and he loves the hosts voice. Kim from On the Table podcast loves Get it Done Guy (she also loves Starve the Doubts) for the entertaining stories. Matt McWilliams from the World Changers Show loves Ray Edwards because its unique slant on business, faith, productivity, and family. Randy Cantrell of Leaning Towards Wisdom loves Serial for the excellently produced masterful story telling. (recently parodied on Saturday Night Live) Remi from the Sci-fi Movie Podcast loves the hosts from Bald Move Network who talk about numerous topics, and he follows their shows. They are fun, honest, and objective. Rick from the Evolution Talk podcast loves Mysterious Universe podcast (he pays for their premium content) it allows him to escape and relax. Scott from Karate Tournament Tips and Tricks loves The Unexplained with Howard Hughes its really interesting without being over the top. Scott from Computer Tutor Podcast loves Dave Ramsey because he knows what he is going to get, and yet you never know what you're going to get. It's entertaining. Stargate from the Legends of Shield podcast loves the Star Wars Minute for the behind the scenes, entertaining stories, Terry from Discovering America loves the Jefferson Hour  Summary As I listened to theses clips, I listened and made notes. When I put it all together, here is how it broke down. These are the qualities that people mentioned most. These numbers indicate (according to the 50ish people who replied) how important the following topics are. If you combined funny and entertaining, that would be 47% (for me if I'm laughing I'm entertained). That would mean 49% Value (things I can use, easy to understand)47% Entertaining/Funny 32% Personality (objective, chemistry, authentic, objective)32% "Deep Dive" (in depth information)15% Behind the Scenes (info you can’t get anywhere else)11% Inspiring (encouraging, kept me positive)11% Stories (people love stories) 9% Voice ("I love their voice"). I have said (since 2005) your podcast is not about you, it’s about the audience. If you are a radio station, your call letters are WIFT (what’s in it for them). Find out what they want and deliver it in an entertaining and encouraging fashion, and you will connect with your audience. A HUGE thank you to all my listeners, but a special thank you to everyone who called in with their responses

Today we talk with John Wilkerson who has SEVEN children about HOW THE HECK DO YOU PODCAST WITH SEVEN KIDS IN THE HOUSE? John has been podcasting since 2005 and has lots of tips. We talk about the following topics: When do you know its time to podfade? What kind of gear do you use? Using your web host for a media host (I was surprised). Tips for Podcasting With Children in the House Lots and lots of prep so you are ready to take advantage of every opportunity Get out of the house if possible (maybe the car?)/ Go early or late (record while they are sleeping). Give yourself a limit (be focused) Reward your kids for being quiet (get them involved). John has a full blog post at http://jesusgeek.info/5-tips-for-podcasting-when-you-have-little-kids/ John's current project is the Wired Homeschool. You can find it at http://thewiredhomeschool.com/ The Wired Homeschool provides practical advice for homeschooling parents who use technology as part of their homeschool curriculum. Topics include Internet safety, responsible computer use, smartphones, tablets, e-readers, educational apps, social media, and more. Johns podcast has lead him being asked to speak at some conventions for homeschooling. How cool is that? In the interview he explains how he has had other podcasts and as life and interests changed, John no longer had the same passion for those shows, but is very excited to be doing the Wired Homeschool podcast. Last 5 in 5 From Mark from obeep.com (a GeoCaching Podcast) Geo Gearheads - technical side of geo caching Nerd Church - Geek News Hollywood Babylon - Kevin Smith Humor The Walk -  podcast about health, fitness, weight loss and physical and spiritual well-being. Conquer Depression, Anxiety and Stress Podcast Rewind A new episode of Building a Better Dave is out called "the Other Side of Christmas". Beyond iTunes on Podcasters' Roundtable  Podsafe for Peace Hear the Behind the Scenes Recording of this if Every Day Were Christmas. Original Podsafe for Peach recording website. New version by Slau at CdBaby, and iTunes Check out his podcast Sessions With Slau Mentioned on the Show rev.com a great - super fast turn around on transcriptions. Michael Butler Rock and Roll Geek Geek News Central Ready to Start Podcasting?

Today we are talking about the most efficient and effective way to make money from the influence you build with your podcast. That method is selling your own product or service. We also talk about how to shut down a podcast. How Do I Shut Down My Show? Mark Wade has decided to shut down a1blues.com after 6 years. He had the following questions. When I cancel Libsyn will my past shows still be available for people to still listen at my website or through iTunes or does Libsyn delete your past shows (mp3’s)? No. So if you want to keep it up you can downgrade to the $5 a month plan ($7 if you want basic download stats) Is there anything I need to do to keeping the website up and running Pay your hosting bills, and every now and then login and make sure there are no plugins/themes that need updated on your website (if you're using Wordpress). Also be sure to pay the bill on the domain name. If I decided to start the show up a few years from now is there anything I should do now to make that come back easier? Like keeping the website address renewed every year. Just keep paying the web bill, and your domain. To make that cheaper buy hosting by the year instead of month to month. Some people do a "Farewell" show and let people know the show is coming to an end. Others just say you're going on hiatus (and then never come back). Some people say nothing and the audience figures it out later that no new episodes are coming. In the end of you don't keep the domains and the hosting paid for, the system will break. Opportunity Knocks When Your Audience Asks the Same Question Multiple Times My friend Erik K. Johnson who produces the Podcast Talent coach, and on his show he has spoken about doing interviews and a listener of his asked if there was a definitive book on being and interviewer. Erik states that he has looked and while there are books on Radio that have pieces about interviewing but there is no book that people can say that is THE BOOK on interviewing. For me, I think "Erik needs to write this." Erik has 25+ years in radio and has interviewed some great musicians and entertainers and has some great insights. Erik also does a show with me called the Podcast Review show. If you want some constructive feedback on your show, sign up today at www.podcastreviewshow.com Writing a book is not easy, but it is simple. All you need to do is 1. Pick a topic 2. Outline the topic into sub topics 3. Expand those topics 4. Find an editor 5. Get a cover designed. The Most Effective and Profitable Way to Make Money With Your Podcast Through you podcast your audience: 1. Adds you to their routine when you publish at the same time. They rely on you to be there. This establishes trust. 2. When you bring value, they enjoy having you around. They like you. 3. When you share a bit about yourself they get to know you. Let your personality seep into your show. This allows them to know you. When they know, like, and trust you and you come out with a product that fits a need they have, you can leverage that relationship into dollars. Dave's book is More Podcast Money. Systems You Can Use To Sell Digit Products Sellz.com charges 5% of the sale +.25 cents. Great customizable buttons. They don't allow you to take paypal without paying $5 a month (but you can take credit cards). Sellfy.com - 5% and you can take a number of payments. I'm not a huge fan of their buttons (not very customizable). Gumroad.com - 5% + .25 Allow you to do a "you name the price" product. They do not accept paypal (but you can take credit cards). Spotlight Artist Raymond Good Job Search that Works [24:49] Ray's sight looks pretty cool. If you want to know what Wordpress theme someone is using check out wpthemedetector.com Ray is using Elegant Themes on this website. Ray is someone who can help people be more effective at finding a job. His free podcast provides great insights into helping you find a job, switch jobs, etc. We listen to Ray's first episode and its very polished. I played his first and last episode. Its very subtle but Ray had some reverb on his voice on the first show and now he doesn't. I'm on show 438 and I know show 500 will have improvements over 438. Keep in mind you don't have to be great to start, but you do have to start to be great. Check out Ray's show at www.jobsearchthatworks.com   Mentioned in this Episode Wrapid Right Method Self Publishing For Virgins Ready to Start Podcasting

Because of my Podcast... I got to Meet a Mentor and Be Seen as an Expert Ben from Modern Self Defense where he was asked to teach a class, meet a mentor, and then he had 20 peopel fly in to meet HIM. This great event gets better, they have already asked him back to do another class. Ben is doing his podcast as he wants people to be safe. Fin him at modernselfprotection.com and in iTunes. How to Create a Protected / Premium RSS Podcast Feed 6:37 I've had a few people ask me this question so thanks to Nick at spnt.tv, Jason from matttalkonline.com and Randy from Leaning Towards Wisdom (itunes) I use Digital Access Pass to accomplish this through some short codes. Then anyone who is subscribed can access their special version of the RSS feed (and other can't). If they cancel their account their RSS goes dead. I ave a video on my Patreon page that shows how this works (sign up for $1 and get access to bonus videos). Here are some tips and insight into having premium content. 1. If you are creating premium content for your launch, remember you don't have an audience yet and you may be doing "double the work" for an audience that doesn't exist. 2. When you get into ecommerce, you enter the world of paypal. Some people love paypal, and others refuse to us it. 3. You will need to be able to support your members. Its not a set it up and watch the money come in. They will occasionally need some help. 4. If you can keep the free items completely separate than the premium your life will be easy. I'm in the process of moving the premium content from the School of Podcasting to a completely different website. This makes keeping things "straight" a WHOLE lot easier. If you mix the premium and free content together, it can be quite the headache keeping everything separate (the easiest way to to just keep them separate). 5. If you are trying to make it so that there is NO WAY To steal your content, then you will have a long day. If your product is digital, people can steal it. That's a fact and in the end you have to end up trusting your customers. Don't get hung up on that. People will pay for items in money or time. There are those people who have more time than money and can go to great lengths to get your content (and there are some customers who will share it with others - welcome to 2014). Post Rewind [17:45] I appeared on the Podcaster's Roundtable where we talked about platforms for podcasting. Listen/Watch it here. Izzabela and Mike Russel produce the Branding Cow podcast where you can have Izzabela go over your website from top to bottom. In one episode the podcaster was using the Website host to host their media and Izzabela mentions how it took almost 10 minutes to download the episode. You can find the Branding Cow podcast at www.brandingcow.com Mike and Izzabela run Music Radio Creative and recommend using Spreaker as your media host. Music Radio Creative are responsible for the "Podcast Rewind" voice over as well as the "Ladies" who sing "The School of Podcasting with Dave Jackson." Speaking of using your Web Hoist as a Media host I interview Ralph from thesdrshow.com on episode 419 where he talks about the horror of having to move to a "real" media host after launching his podcast (his web host even told him it would be fine - then it wasn't). You can hear that episode HERE (if you want a free month of hosting at Libsyn.com or blubrry.com use the coupon sopfree ). Spotlight Podcast: Adopting and Fostering in Faith [22:56] Today we spotlight a new podcast "Adopting and Fostering in Faith from a new member of the School of Podcasting Robert Gelinas. This podcast is all about inspiration, information and resources for Christians who desire to care for orphans in their own backyard (and beyond). I love it as Robert is an expert (he has five adopted children) and he is using the podcast to help others with questions about fostering and adopting children. Check out his website at http://fosteringandadoptinginfaith.com/ and find his podcast in itunes Last 5 in 5 from Ben Branam [29:46] Ben Branam from Modern Self Protection (No One SHould Live in Fear) shares the last five podcasts you listened to: 1. Daily Audio Bible 2. Get it Done Guy 3. The Survival Podcast 4. Handgun World 5. Black Man With a Gun HipCast Podcast Media Hosting Review [34:15] I've am getting a bit tired of reviewing media hosts as there are new ones every day (hour?) I was asked to look at Hipcast.com. My criteria includes: 1. Don't mess with my file (they do) - although you are allowed to rename your file once you upload it. They transcode your file as well. 2. Give me a way to redirect my feed (they don't). 3. Dont limit my bandwidth (they pass) 4. Give me stats (their stats get a D+ - very, very basic) 5. Give me unlimited storage (they pass) They list features on their website that aren't really features ("We back up you files" - really? I hope so). Their online recording tools didn't work with my machine (they didn't recognize my microphone). The recording from your phone produced a quality that I feel is poor at best. You can read my review of other media hosts here. I recommend Libsyn.com and Blubrry.om (who meet all my criteria) get a free month at either site using the coupon sopfree As Tim is doing a video podcast and he wants to put out an hour long video, I ask "Does it really need to be video. There are people who do videos for YouTube and then put the audio out as a podcast. Cali Lewis use to do this (and might still be doing it) for geekbeat.tv What some people will do is create a smaller version to be downloaded 640 x 360 (16:9) Or 640 x 480 (4:3) Then upload the HD version to Youtube and put the Youtube version on your website and put the smaller version into your feed and let people watch YouTube on your website. This reduces how much space you need for hosting. If your show is NOT visual (talking head) I would recommend this.   Mentioned on this Show Skywalking Through Neverland   Ready to Start a Podcast? Become a member

Today we talk about how adding a podcast to your blog can help you gain a larger audience. We talk with Kate Erickson of Kate's Take Pocast and the Entrepreneur on Fire podcast Because of My Podcast - My Audience Gave Me a Laptop [1:35] Ken Blanchard produces the Black Man with a Gun podcast among other podcasts that you can find at Blanchard Media. Recently he announced that he was having technical issues with his equipment, and that production of new episodes might come to a temporary halt. Instead of letting this happen, an audience member sent him a new Mac Book. I've said before that you can build a relationship with your audience, and that influence can be leveraged in many ways. Best VoiceMail For Podcasters [8:36] MagicJack Plus + Free 6 Months Subscription to Magic Jack Service $37 (a year of service is $35) Google Voice - It's Free. The Sound is OK. Just realize if Google ever decides to charge or cancel this service you will have a back catalog of shows with this number. (deliver mp3 file) Kall8 - This is the service I have used since 2005. An 800 number is $5 a month and approximately 7 cents a minute. My apologies to my friends across the pond. There isn't much international information on their site. I've never had a bill more than $10. The bad news is the sound quality of these calls is not great. Kall8 captures at 8 bit, while Google Voice and Magic Jack capture at 16 bit (which is why Kall8 sounds so much worse). With Google Voice being free, they seem like the obvious choice. I'm not sure I'm willing to trust Google with a voice mail that I give out for episode upon episode and then yank the tool away from me. Magic Jack for me will be the recommended (more affordable) option. The ONE downside is people have to wait 5 seconds to go to voicemail (which is a bit long). Another tool (that's not phone based) to get audio on yoru website is via Speakpipe. Reality in Podcast Advertising In a recent article in Podertainment magazine (a really great issue) Rob Walch VP of Podcasters relations a Libsyn.com  states in an article titled "A Rope in the Garage" that about 8% of all the episodes released that reach the 5,000 download threshold." What's so special about 5,000 downloads? This is the minimum number that many advertisers need to look at your show. Even if you reach that number you're still not talking about quitting your day job. Rob states, "Realistically less than 5% of podcasters even make enough from their podcast to even cover their costs. An less than 1% can call podcasting their main career or in the case above - an alternative better than the rope in the garage. " I bring this up today because we have Kate Erickson of Entrepreneur on Fire on the show. John Lee Dumas has created an empire. An empire I stand and applaud. John has proven (over and over) that you CAN make money using your podcast. Notice I didn't say from your podcast (although John does that as well). Most of John's money comes from additional products he sell. Most podcasters who make money podcating (myself included) use the free podcast to promote other non-free services. Paul Colligan in his recent episode states Podcast Monetization breaks down to: Market + Message + Money + Media = The Only Formula For Podcast Monetization   Behind the Scenes of Kate's Take - a behind the scenes look at Entrepreneur on Fire and the Fire Path. Kate Erickson is one of the guiding forces of the wildly successful Entrepreneur on Fire podcast. This has launched other spin of shows like Quotes on Fire, Webinar on Fire, and today we talk to Kate about why she launched Kate's Take along with "the Fire Path" which are the first 17 episodes of her show and are assembled into an ebook (no email required) at www.eofire.com/tfpbook You will hear how Kate has boosted her confidence by doing more and more episodes. She started by re-recording her first shows (so remember you don't HAVE to publish the episodes you record). She has put great content intermixed with stories and her audience is loving it. She has a discipline to to focus on certain tasks that help propel her podcast and website further toward her goals.  Kate states that they don't make subscribing to their podcast a primary call to action. She advises the call to action be go to the website where they can then subscribe to your podcast and/or your email list.  Kate has taken her blog posts and turned them into a audioblog/podcast. So if you are a blogger you will hear how she is getting more feedback and reaching a large audience as a podcast. Another thing to consider is if you are a blogger that for every one podcast there are roughly 1950 blogs so having a podcast makes it easier to be found. (source Rob Walch) Are Story Telling Podcasts the Next Podcasting Wave? [47:00] With the success of shows like Radio Lab, Startup, and Serial, more people are discovering podcasts. These stories pull us in, and keep us captivated. Well the people behind startup have launched another new show call Reply All. I was stoked as (so far) every "Story" podcast was a giant home run in my book. Reply All has left me in a "meh" state of mind. With this in mind, you still need to prove value to your audience. If your information is not how to, it needs to entertain them, or make them think.  I jokingly made a podcast called "Dinner" where for 5:48 you hear me try to decide what I want for dinner, and then go to Target to buy it.  The fun part is this 5:48 clip took an HOUR to produce (finding music, sound effects, etc, editing the audio). It sounds great when you have a great story (and you should start there), but it takes a lot of time to add that icing on top of the cake.   START YOUR OWN PODCAST

First things first, I'm not a lawyer and do not take this as legal advice. Always speak to a lawyer. A few weeks ago I made a video about the service Audello. At the end of the video I saw something that really upset me. I was already somewhat upset as I can see where people are going to spend $300 for a product that is unnecessary. I took to the video camera, and the blog post with smoke coming out of my ears. My title warned people to stay away from this product and I called it a scam. That is over line. These as Yosemite Sam would say, "Are fighting words" and you know what? He's right. I went looking for what words could get you sued and I found a great post from Deb McCalister. She has some great advice (deb has worked in PR for a long time). Don't Be a Warning Bell Avoid comments like WARNING: Beware of… (or the variations: Stay away from…Don’t do business with…DO not  hire…Do not buy…Do not waste money…) SCAM ALERT: (Company or individual’s name) is a con artist… (or the variations: I got  taken in by…These scammers took my money…Don’t trust…) (Company or individual’s name) lied (or the variations: misrepresented…promised but did  not deliver…ruined my property description by doing shoddy work…did shoddy work…is the  worst company description…) She also stated that you want to keep things personal: Focus on your own experience, and don’t tell other people what to do. Keep your language in the first person. “I hired…” “I found…” “I paid…” “I thought…” “I feel… You should try to avoid telling people what to do. Give them the facts that you found, and let them make a decision. Don't Threaten Tactics to avoid saying I’m going to make it my business to tell everyone I meet what a crook you are. I am going to tell everyone not to do business with you. If you don’t fix the problem you caused, I am going to ruin your reputation online. So what did I say that was so bad? I called it a scam (it's not a scam is where you give people money and get nothing in return - you do get something in return with Audello). I told people not to buy it. Like I said, don't tell people what to do. Give them the facts that you found, and let them decide. Be Ready to Prove Your Claims   What Would My Updated Review Be? I downloaded and installed Audello last week. On my computer I could never get it to launch. I didn't contact their tech support as my goal was to get an overview of the program so I could talk about it. Their web interface was really all I needed. I do my recording in other software (so I didn't need it). Here are some of their features Playlists Future Dating of Shows The Ability to see where people stop listening Split Testing Audio bars Of all the features the one I feel is unique is split testing. This is geared toward having a selling proposition on a page. So if you have a page setup to collect email addresses, you could see what audio message worked best at getting people to sign up for your email list. Playlists can be done with the free plugin powerpress. Future dating of shows can be done in Wordpress. The ability to see how long people are listening is available if you are on the Stitcher platform. All of those features are free. This is where Audello will say that the main advantage of Audello is that all these features are under one platform (and that would be true). It is also true that Audello is around $197 - $294. When I imported my feed, not all the details came across. If you have multiple shows on Libsyn, when you upload a show through Audello it will randomly pick which show to assign the file (that is not acceptable in my opinion). So the software has bugs (most new software does), but for $297 I expected more. Mentioned in this segment: EFF ONline Defamation Law and Deb Mcalisiter Article Here is the message I received Brute Protect Plugin Last Saturday the School of Podcasting and Ask the Podcast Coach had Brute Force attacks that made it hard for my website to stay online. It was a horrible feeling. Working with the tech support at Host gator they determined that I was under a brute force attack. I searched for a plugin to help and found the Brute Force attack plugin. This free plugin was recently purchased by Automatic (the people who make Wordpress). The idea is they are creating a giant database of attackers that it is blocking. It also will email you when your site is down (and when it comes back up). Over the last 19 hours it has blocked 20 attempts to login to my site. If your site is having an issues, this seems to be helping. You can learn more about it at https://bruteprotect.com/ My Podcast Reviews Now Includes Stitcher Reviews I want to thank everyone who has written a review in iTunes or Stitcher. I've been using My Podcast Reviews to track these (and all the reviews I've had over the years). It's definitely worth the money as I don't have to go in and dig through all the international stores to see my reviews (i.e.e the ones from Australia, Canada, etc). It's a great way to keep up to date with what people are saying about you. Appendipity Podcaster Pro Now Compatible with PowerPress You can use this theme and leave Powerpress enabled, but turn of the ability for PowerPress to place a player in your post (or use both and have Appendipity at the top of the post and PowerPress on the bottom).   Ready To Podcast? Become a member today

Today we talk about your favorite podcast, what does it take to feel comfortable talking to yourself, and   Last 5 in 5 With David Hooper David Hooper hosts the RED Podcast (Real Entrepreneur Development) and he phoned in the last five podcasts he listened to: Funding the Dream on Kickstarter Serial The Dr. Drew Podcast Building A Better Dave School Of Laughs Additional Mentions Dr. Drew on Marc Maron show  Kate's Take: The EntrepreneurOnFire Audio Blog The Bitterest Pill(this inspired me to do Building a Better Dave) Win the Diet War  Podcast Rewind: Podcaster's Roundtable Episode 38 on the LAW [18:00] Check out episode 38 where we had two different lawyers on and we talked to them about using music in podcasting as well as the patent lawsuits, etc. It's a great show. Check it out at http://podcastersroundtable.com/pr038-podcasting-and-the-law/ Check out Ya's other show Podcasters Studio and Daniel J. Lewis on the Audacity to podcast Simplecast.fm  Podcast Media Host Review [21:00] I have seven piece of criteria when I look at media hosts. These include: 1. Don't change my file (period). 2. Don't limit my storage 3. Don't limit the bandwidth 4. Give me Stats 5. Give me support 6. Don't control my feed. 7. Charge me for it. Simplecast.fm stats $12 a month for unlimited storage and bandwidth. The weird thing is they don't state ANY limits (that's a business plan that opens themselves up for lots of abuse). Their player is interesting as it allows you to speed things up and rewind. They have an interesting "Managers" feature where you can allow multiple people to manage your hosting. They make it easy to add advertising banners on your website. However, they changed my file name, they changed format (they changed it to mono), they also didn't copy over all my ID3 tags. When I sent them an email, 7 days later I still didn't have an answer. This leads me to saying I can't recommend them as a solution. I recommend Libsyn.com and Blubrry.com (you can get a free month using the coupon sopfree at either service). http://youtu.be/blunoEc_Oag Is Your Podcast Useful and Interesting? [31:30] I was reading an article from the Consent Marketing Institute and it said “Great content meets two criteria: It’s useful and it’s interesting.” This got me to thinking and I believe this to be true. I will listen to things that aren't useful (Like the Serial podcast) because it's really interesting. I will listen to boring stuff (like webinars) because they provide useful information. When you are trying to come up with ideas from your show ask yourself is what I'm about to share useful or interesting (preferably both). When its not interesting or useful, I call is "kah-kah, poo-poo." This is why I don't recommend an "episode 0" which is what people would put into their feed to test their iTunes feed. While this was seful in testing your feed, it was not very useful as a first impression. Now I recommend people come out with their best content in episode 1 (and don't be in such a hurry. Congrats to the Forever Fan Podcast [37:13] Troy contact me about doing a quick start, and in a few days he had his podcast launched. (see foreverfanpodcast.com ) If you don't have a website, send me an email with the phrase (quick start) in the title (if you have a podcast just join the School of Podcasting) I send you a link to order your hosting (I earn a commission), and it runs you around $8 a month. You send me the welcome email, and I install Wordpress for you (and some plugins to get you going - you need the graphics and the content) I also give you a free month at the School of Podcasting Ready To Start Podcasting? I would love to help you launch you podcast.  

Looking for some things to help grow your audience? Today we have a few ideas to make it easier for people to find and consume your content. Join in on the conversation at 888-563-3228 Check Your Volumes Levels I listened to a bunch of podcasts in the car this week, and I was surprised by the very large difference in volumes levels and equalization. In some cases people are getting out of hand with the "adding bass to sound like the radio" tools. I would advised you to listen to a few other podcasts and then listen to yours and see how they stack up. Because of my Podcast - I'm Going Global [5:00] Tony from thestillman.com explains how his podcast is going global now that it is a podcast. He started it as a way for people who were visually impaired to consume the content and now his podcast is being heard all over the place. Tony was also said some very nice words about being reviewed on the Podcast Review Show. In looking at my stats, the School of Podcasting is now heard in 175 countries with the US being first, and CHINA being second (followed by Canada and Australia and many others). Last 5 in 5 [11:45] Gary Leland from Garyleleand.com and Podertainment magazine. Scott Sigler's The Rookie No Agenda Show (media Assassinations) Podcast Talent Coach (podcasting tips) Today in iOs (all things iPhone/iPad) The Podcast Report (podcasting news) The Starter's Club Help Your Audience Consume Your Content [17:30] I wanted to share some promotion that I did to get folks into podcast consumption. We host a haunted house in our garage each Halloween, so I took advantage of a captive audience and gave the parents a card that had the details of my podcast on the front and some "how to listen" info on the back (images attached). Most folks were familiar with podcasts, but not real sure how to find them, so hopefully this will pull in a few more converts. I also created a page on my site with a video showing additional info on how to listen (ran of out time to voice it over, so need to go back and do that): http://whatsuponearth.com/listen Thanks for all the great tutoring on the shows, and best of luck with NMX. Big Fan, Al Holtz What's Up On Earth? whatsuponearth.com/listen Providing Embed Codes to Guests Can Greatly Improve Your Downloads [22:55] Jason Bryant produces On the Mat Podcast Network and interviewed some top guests. He has his Powerpress Plugin set to enable people to grab the embed link and put the player on their website (as they may not want to point their audience to YOUR website. In doing this his downloads went from three digits downloads to FIVE digit downloads. Let your guests and your audience freely promote your show and then make sure to mention your website in every episode. If you are using the PowerPress Wordpress plugin, go to the settings Making My Libsyn.com App Free [26:45] In July I sold 2 apps. I made it free and in September I had 102 download it. Is having 100% more people listen to your show worth the extra $10 a month? To get your app (free to have it created) go to Libsyn.com and get the $20 a month plan (it will be $30 a month once the app is launched). You can use the code sopfree to get a free month of hosting at the Libsyn.com July app sales ($1.99): 2 September App Sales (free): 102 Mentioned on This Episode Trapper Jack (Phillip Keller Now) www.blindfaithlive.com New Media Show  the Audacity to Podcast (Daniel J Lewis)   Ready to Podcast?