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

Today I dip my toe into the Video Podcasting pool. I was lucky enough to secure one of the new Flip Video Cameras. This camera takes great video no matter what lighting you put it in (if you have extreme back lighting it may be a little dark, but let's be realistic..). I took video at dusk and it looked much brighter than it actually was in real life. The great thing is you can take up to 60 minutes of video. It has a rewing and fast forward on the camera for reviewing the video. You can easily delete video that you don't want to keep. It also has a built in 2X zoom. It runs on a rechargable battery that gets charged when you plug the camera into your USB port. The USB interface pops out when you flip a switch. It also has the ability to be put on a tripod. The microphone pics up audio great from the front, and while it's not as clear from the back its still easily understood if you are commenting from behind the camera while shooting video. If I had used my old camera I would record to super 8, then have to transfer the video to my computer. So if I shot 60 minutes of video it would take (roughly) 60 minutes of time to transfer to my computer. With the Flip camera, I plug the camera into my computer, and I can drag and drop the files into my favorite editing program. This took about 3 minutes instead of 60 with my old camera.  If you don't have editing software, there are some basic video editing software that comes with the camera that allows you to pick where the video starts and stops as well as you can put background music to the video. It also has some features that make uploading video to you tube uber easy. So what would I change? I like that you can plug it into a video source (like a TV) to watch the video. I do wish I could plug it in and use the TV as a monitor. You can't do this. When you record, the video is only display on the display on the back of the camera. The other thing I would change is to put a retractable lens cover. The camera comes with a "nifty" puch to carry the camera, but I would rather have a lense cover. My last thing (and this is kind of outside the scope of the product) would be to have the ability to use it as a web cam. That's not really a fair criticism. It's more of a "add to the dream list." It retails for around $139. For me, if you're looking to get into video podcasting, and you want to be mobile, you're looking to do something fast and quick, it's a no brainer. I know I will be doing all sorts of "Dave around town" types of videos. If you're are going to want to mix in music, or plug a microphone directly into it, then you will need to look for another camera, and hit a bank machine, on the way to Best Buy. Check it the Flip Mino Video Camera at Amazon.comMentioned in this episode:2025 Audience SurveyCan You Do Me a Favor? Vote For Me!This only takes a minute, if you could go to www.podcastawards.com and vote for the School of Podcasting in the education category -it would mean the world to me. Podcast Awards

Paul Colligan has a great post about building a podcast audience. So many people "If I build it they will come." Not so. Get ready for relentless marketing. Today I talk about www.prweb.com and other ways to build that audience. It amounts to this: 1. Find out who your audience is (put a form on your website). 2. Find out where they go, read, eat, sleep, shop, etc 3. Go there and tell them about it. HOW ARE YOU PROMOTING YOUR PODCAST? Ready to jump in the Podcast Pool? Check out www.schoolofpodcasting.com and start podcasting today. We have step by step tutorials, live help, and great resources. Mentioned in this episode:2025 Audience SurveyCan You Do Me a Favor? Vote For Me!This only takes a minute, if you could go to www.podcastawards.com and vote for the School of Podcasting in the education category -it would mean the world to me. Podcast Awards

This show originates at www.schoolofpodcasting.com This is show 143.I read about this on Leesa Barnes' blog how Terry Fallis won 10,000. He previously couldn't get an agent (which he now has). Congrats Terry. I mentioned today that Todd Cochrane had said a typical podcast episode is "done" after 72 hours. I miss spoke, while this is true in most  cases it is not in all cases (especially if you material is not timed based). But if your podcast is (for example) news related, people may not want to listen to 6 month old news stories. You can hear Todd's presentation at Podcamp by going to  http://www.coefficientmedia.com/podcampohio/ Thanks to George from www.oneminutehowto.com for reminding me of this point. The CEO of Wizzard Media is predicting 1.5 - 1.8 billion downloads, and double to four times the ad spending of the past year for 2008. (source: podcastnews.com )How Do You Record a Skype Interview?In the past I've said "get it off your computer" and use a portable recorder. This still  is the safest way. However, I've been using voiceemotion.com and many people at the School of Podcasting are using Power Gramo which you can download for a free trial. The nice thing about Power Gramo Professional is it splits the interviewer and interviewee into separate channels (which makes editing the interview easier). I then use Skype (using Skype Out) to call people's phones. It's better if they have a skype account, but not 100% mecessary Skype is Not Always an OptionIn some areas there is no cable modem connection to the Internet. What do you do in that case is get some sort of "JK Audio" product. You can find these at BSW. These can be expensive. For microphones and such I like samedaymusic.com as they do not charge tax (unless you are in NJ). Podcasting Time Saving TipOne of the most time consuming parts of podcasting is organizing and posting your show notes. Did you know that you can put your show notes in Wordpress (or Libsyn.com) and save them without publishing them to the public. Then when the show is finished, you can take out any part of your notes that don't fit, and BOOM! instant show notes. The key to this is to NOT click the publish button, but to click the SAVE button. Then when you are rady (and your audio/video is link to the post) click the publish button. Mentioned in this episode:Can You Do Me a Favor? Vote For Me!This only takes a minute, if you could go to www.podcastawards.com and vote for the School of Podcasting in the education category -it would mean the world to me. Podcast Awards2025 Audience Survey

I went to Podcamp Ohio. It was great. WE RAN OUT OF ROOM. My hat is off to Angelo and everyone involved with organizing the event. It was so smooth, and they handled everything (what a great problem to have - not enough room!). Todd Cochrane had a great presentation about getting sponsors. HE also stated that typically a podcast episode sees traffic for 72 hours and then it dies off drastically. I was not really use to the "group talk" style of some of the presentations (and it leaves room open for assertive people to take over the conversation).I will definitely be going to more podcamps when my schedule permits. I sat in on a webinar from Paul Colligan. They have added a feature of making membership site at www.premiumcast.com and after watching his presentation I was able to set up a membership site in about 5 minutes. The great thing is some membership scripts allow you to make a "roped off" area, and others allow you to create premium RSS feeds, and premium cast allows you to do either or both. Check it out at premiumcast.com Mentioned in this episode:2025 Audience SurveyCan You Do Me a Favor? Vote For Me!This only takes a minute, if you could go to www.podcastawards.com and vote for the School of Podcasting in the education category -it would mean the world to me. Podcast Awards

Today I've got a BAD cold, and my throat is killing me. I share some stats from the latest report on Podcast consumers. Podcast Listening is up 5 % both video and Audio30% of regular Internet Users have downloaded a podcastVideo is catching audio podcasts with a 1 % lead going to Audio What is the age of the podcast listener?53% Male 47% female25 to 34 (21%) 35-44 (21%), 45 to 54 (20%) 12 to 17 (15%) 18 to 24 (13%) 55+ (10%) Last 5 in 5 from Dan at www.jimmpodcast.com School of Podcasting's Morning Announcements (this podcast)Marketing Over Coffee ( http://www.marketingovercoffee.com/ )Eds Mixed Bag (www.edsmixedbag.com )Media Bullseye (www.mediabullseye.com )Six Pixels of Separatation (http://www.twistimage.com/blog/ )Mentioned in this episode:Can You Do Me a Favor? Vote For Me!This only takes a minute, if you could go to www.podcastawards.com and vote for the School of Podcasting in the education category -it would mean the world to me. Podcast Awards2025 Audience Survey

This show originates at www.schoolofpodcasting.com PODCAST CRASHINGIf you are using a live podcast system like talkshoe.com you need to be prepared to keep your show on track. I've listened to a few live podcasts, and someone will come in and "Crash" your podcast and start talking about their podcast which is completely unrelated. YOUR LISTENER  doesn't want to hear about their podcast. I've heard podcasts that get completely derailed. Don't forget to keep yoru listener in mind, and be assertive, and point out that the "Crasher" is off topic. Testimonial from J.R. Stanley of www.llmlive.com Meet the MembersToday we meet one of the members of the School of Podcasting. It's Mark Wade of the www.a1artistspotlight.com Mark is using the Alesis Multimix 8 USB mixer (but he doesn't use the USB feature). He is also using an Audio Techniica 2020 and the free Levelator software. Using Google Analytics to Obtain Wordpress Stats Today we are talking about Google Analytics which you can find at http://www.google.com/analytics/ and a great plugin for Worpdress that makes it very easy to install Google Analytics code into your blog. http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-google-analytics/ When you sign up for Google Analytics, you end up with a piece of code that you would normally put on every page of yrou website. With the wordpress plugin, you place it into the plugin and the plugin puts it on every page of your site. I will be producing a video on how to set this up for members of the School of Podcasting www.schoolofpodcasitng.com  Mentioned in this episode:Can You Do Me a Favor? Vote For Me!This only takes a minute, if you could go to www.podcastawards.com and vote for the School of Podcasting in the education category -it would mean the world to me. Podcast Awards2025 Audience Survey

This show originates at www.schoolofpodcasting.com Today I look at my stats from the first episode of 2007 vs the first episode of 2008. To make things fair, the first show published in 2007 has had 517 days to download so I divded the 2007 by 517. The numbers for 2008 were divided by 152 (as this is June 1). School of Podcasting 2007 1400 Downloads (2.7 a day)School of Podcasting 2008 801 Downloads (5.3 a day) Musicians Cooler 2007 1689 Downloads (3.3 a day)Musicians Cooler 2008 1032 Downloads (6.8 a day) Building a Better Dave 2007 1617 Downloads (3.1 a day)Building a Better Dave 2008 915 Downloads (6.0 a day) This averages to an increase of 98% from 2007 to 2008   I also looked at my stats from the now podfaded Podcast Promo Show. It seemed that Libsyn numbers were higher by about 29% than Feedburner numbers. Here are some examplesFeedburner showed 29 downloads to Libsyn's 34Feedburner showed 27 downloads to Libsyn's 37Feedburner showed 30 downloads to Libsyn's 47 So the range of my 57 shows was from 13% - 57% My conclusion? Pick one and go with it. I use Libsyn cause in theory "Everything comes back to the host." I like their stats, and I can get stats without involving another redirect to my mp3 file.   If you are looking for more informatoin about visitors to your blog check out the Google Analytics Plugin for Wordpress .   If you're interested in participating in our weekly roundtables check out www.schoolofpodcasitng.com  Mentioned in this episode:Can You Do Me a Favor? Vote For Me!This only takes a minute, if you could go to www.podcastawards.com and vote for the School of Podcasting in the education category -it would mean the world to me. Podcast Awards2025 Audience Survey

Today I give thanks for all who have paid for my freedom, and we get some emails from folks like  Emails from ://OneMinuteHowTo.comhttp://EclecticMix.comhttp://DRiPInvesting.orghttp://GLSmyth.com - blog: http://GLSmyth.WordPress.com and Jeff Roneyhttp://www.roneyzone.comTwitter: twitter.com/roneyzone Check out our new Video and More Show,Magical Definition TV Episode 2http://mdtv2.roneyzone.com New World Army, a futuristic audio thrillerhttp://nwarmy.roneyzone.com Our Lost TV On-Location Videoshttp://lost.roneyzone.com I also talk about some widgets that are pretty cool for your blog. You can find them at www.addtoany.com Jeff is using https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1730 to post to multiple blogs at the same time. Mentioned in this episode:Can You Do Me a Favor? Vote For Me!This only takes a minute, if you could go to www.podcastawards.com and vote for the School of Podcasting in the education category -it would mean the world to me. Podcast Awards2025 Audience Survey

Are you just getting started? Are you ready to launch a successful podcast? Check out our new Quick Start Package at www.schoolofpodcasting.com/quickstart You get:6 month subscription $1201 year blog hosting at www.coolerwebsites.com  $24Wordpress Blog Set up and cusomitzation - $160Intro/Outro Recording $80 All this for $299 Sign up at www.schoolofpodcasting.com/quickstart Back Catalog - Is Anybody Listening To Old Shows?My first Show "First Podcasts Always Stink" that were recorded back in October of 2005 have been downloaded 106 times in May of 08, 159 in April of 08, 154 in March of 08, 131 in February of 08. (That episode has been dowloaded 2947 total). Meet the MembersBrian from www.dimacast.com suggested we get to know the members of the School of Podcasting, so today we meet J.R. Stanley of www.lordliftedme.com and the podcast www.lmllive.com J.R. is using a Sure KSM27 Microphone and an Edirol UA4FX USB Interface which he likes for the tube emulation. The Interview We Did Today with J.R. was actually "Time Shifted Interview" where I send a question, he records an answer. We repeat to fill in a quick "Meet The Members" section.  Mentioned in this episode:2025 Audience SurveyCan You Do Me a Favor? Vote For Me!This only takes a minute, if you could go to www.podcastawards.com and vote for the School of Podcasting in the education category -it would mean the world to me. Podcast Awards

Today’s episode comes from our weekly meetings that we have at the School of Podcasting. The question is what is the difference between a post and a page in Wordpress?  A post will be at the top of your blog until you enter another post. A page is something you enter and it can only be viewed if you link to it. (There is a way to have it show up on the front age by going to settings > reading and choosing to have the page be “static” on the front page.  Why Wordpress? It creates an RSS feed for you, and IT’S FREE. If you need an inexpensive host for Wordpress check out www.coolerwebsites.com  LISTENER FEEDBACK – NO AGE LIMIT TO PODCASTINGFred from http://www.strugglingentrepreneur.com/ aggrees that there is no age limit to podcasting. He is 59, and he encourages all “baby boomers” to get involved with podcasting. Fred uses my www.podcastfastpass.com service to set up his blogs at www.strugglingentrepreneur.com and www.gaincontrolofyourday.com  (and more projects coming). Mentioned in this episode:2025 Audience SurveyCan You Do Me a Favor? Vote For Me!This only takes a minute, if you could go to www.podcastawards.com and vote for the School of Podcasting in the education category -it would mean the world to me. Podcast Awards