Streamlined Podcaster: Tips to Help Solopreneurs Improve Their Podcast Systems

Let’s talk about memberships….specifically the platforms. In the last few years, setting up a membership has gone from “hire a developer to build a custom site” to “I barely need a dedicated website anymore.” So let’s look at a few options that are good for podcast memberships.  Memberful. They are really trying to corner the market on podcast memberships, and they’re doing a good job. Rich features, lots of integrations, and is free to start. The only drawback in my eyes is the price: $0 + 10% transaction fee or $25/mo + 4.9% transaction fee. Both transaction fees are higher than you should pay.  Patreon, on the other hand, pretty much only charges you if you make money. They are also the first major membership platform for creators and have added lots of great features, including private podcast feeds.  LemonSqueezy  +  Transistor.fm : This one takes a little bit of duct tape to work perfectly, but since you can sell subscriptions (and a members-only newsletter) with LemonSqueezy, you can use a tool like Zapier or Make to connect those purchases to a podcast host that supports private podcasts, like Transistor. When someone purchases via LemonSqueezy, you can have Zapier create a private subscriber.  ConvertKit has ConvertKit Commerce, but if you're considering this route, be aware: it's only really good for a premium newsletter. One of the many WordPress membership plugins. I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention WordPress…but to be honest, I wouldn’t recommend starting with it. If you’d like to see an in-depth comparison,  my friend Chris did one.  ★ Support this podcast ★

Membership…that is, charging a listener monthly for bonus content…is a great way to make money with your podcast. But you need to be cautious. It’s tempting to offer a TON of bonuses to make the membership seem more valuable.But what if no one…or even worse…ONE person…signed up. If one person signs up, you’re on the hook for all of those extras.Instead, take this approach:First, test the waters. Ask your mailing list or listeners what they want to see more of. Don’t ask them if they would pay (most people will say yes to theoretical spending). Just ask what they want to see more of. Guage response. If no one responds, focus on building your audience first. But if a good number of people respond, it’s time to start thinking about your perks.Start with low-hanging fruit. I like to call those things low effort, high reward. In my membership, it’s an extra 10-minute conversation with my guests that’s for members only. It’s removing ads. It’s an extra video or episode. These are raw, but they are behind-the-scenes looks that only they get. Come up with 2-3 of these perks that won’t take you a TON of time. Then email the people who responded with a special price. If you want to price it at $6/mo, offer it to them at $5/mo for a limited time. Tell them you’ll even extend it to friends and coworkers. See how many people buy in. Then announce it to the world — your mailing list, on your podcast, on social media. And make sure you deliver. Low effort and high reward perks make it easier for you to do that.  ★ Support this podcast ★

“You either die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain.” Aaron Eckhart’s version of Harvey Dent said that in Christopher Nolan’s penultimate Batman film, The Dark Knight.Since its release in 2008, that quote has been referenced and misappropriated to fit situations because, let’s be honest, it’s a cool quote.Well, you can add another reference to the pile because it’s the first quote that came to mind when I thought about prolific podcaster Matt Medeiros: “You either podfade or you podcast long enough to try every format.”Matt has certainly been around the block. He had perhaps the first popular WordPress business podcast, The Matt Report. He has a short-form news podcast called The WP Minute. Finally, he has a locally focused podcast, We Are Here, celebrating businesses from South Coast, MA.And now he hosts Breakdown, a podcast by the popular forms plugin, Gravity Forms, for Gravity Forms users and web builders.Even though podcasting has been around for a while, most brands are just now coming around to their importance as part of a greater content strategy.I wanted to capture Breakdown’s story as it’s starting. It’s easy to say after it’s worked that it was the right decision. We’re still at the point where Matt and the Gravity Forms team are experimenting. And that’s a great thing for brands and podcasters alike to see.IN THIS EPISODENo matter how many downloads your podcast gets, it can be an integral part of your overall content strategy.Create case studies from interviews you publish on your podcast — whether you’re a brand or a solopreneur.Be open to experiments. You never know what will resonate with your audience.Read the full article here: https://podcastworkflows.com/branded-podcast-case-study/ ★ Support this podcast ★

I’ve decided –  with a push from my new video editor, Zach – to create short-form videos for episodes. This required me to do a couple of things.The first is actually recording video. I’ve toyed with this in the past, and with other podcasts, but I’ve never done it consistently for How I Built It.Part of it was that I never thought straight interviews were compelling videos. But the other part was I didn’t think the effort for short form was worth it.It still might not be. But now I’m willing to try. More on that in a minute.The other thing I needed to do was update my guest notes. I made it pretty clear in the notes that it was an audio-only podcast – so I updated that to say “Video will be recorded, but only for social media.”This wasn’t crucial, but courteous, as some folks want to make sure they’re camera-ready.So what’s my strategy?Right now, I’m mostly testing. I’ll post 3-4 videos per week on TikTok, X (neé Twitter), Instagram, and YouTube Shorts and see what happens.I also made a discovery about TikTok as it relates to podcasting. I’ve added a new video for members of the Foundry and will be more open about my experiments there.For now, I’d love to know if you have a short-form video strategy. If so, respond to this email and let me know! ★ Support this podcast ★

Earlier this year, I had 2 conversations that really shaped how I view making content moving forwardThe first was Tim Stoddart of Copyblogger. He’s a prolific writer, a fantastic business owner, and super down-to-earth.He told me he doesn’t like the term “build in public.” He prefers to say, “Share your journey.”I love this because you’re not giving people a blueprint to follow (despite what the Thread Bois says).You’re telling people what you’re doing, and what’s working for YOU.Then I did a deep dive on Justin Jackson and John Buda’s Build in Public podcast.They shared their own journey of building a SaaS in a crowded market in 2018. And the podcast took off.I’m definitely focusing on long-form content more. But when I’m stuck, especially when I want to deliver for my members, I’m going to share my journey.Do something. Tell people you did it. Tell people how you did it.Rinse.Repeat.Unless you’re literally doing nothing, you’ll always have something to share. ★ Support this podcast ★

Here are 5 things you can do to grow your podcast:1. Get a Decent Mic. You don’t need to spend $400, but you should use a decent USB mic. I recommend the ATR-2100x2. Don’t just record and release. Too many people just record a Zoom call and release it as a podcast. Listeners expect more than that these days.3. Do a little research. Don’t go in cold. If you’re interviewing someone, do some background work on them and don’t have them introduce themselves — get right to the heart of the interview. If it’s a solo show, fact-check yourself and have an outline.4. Make it easy to share episodes. Have an easy-to-remember URL, and have the share buttons on the episodes page! Help people help you!5. Make helpful social media posts. Don’t just point a link to the episode. Create useful content on the platform, then link to the episode for more context.Each of these shows your listeners that you've decided to go the extra mile and put a little more effort into your show for them. ★ Support this podcast ★

Today I want to talk to you about DAI, or Dynamic Ad Insertion. DAI is a way for you to automatically insert ads (or any audio clip) into your already produced podcast episodes. There are lots of services that allow this, like Transistor and Buzzsprout, which makes it super easy. The way it works is this:You upload your episodesYou upload the audio clip you want dynamically insertedYou mark whether it’s a pre-roll, post-roll, or mid-roll ad You can also (based on the service) set an expiration date, or manually turn it on or off. This allows you to do a few things, but the two I’m using it for are:Selling a limited run ad-campaign (so a 30 day mid-roll on specific episodes)Dynamically changing my call to action depending on the time of year. I got the latter idea from my guest Sam Munoz . Most of the year, I’m promoting my newsletter (this very newsletter, in-fact). But when there's some time-based event or special, I’ll be promoting that instead, without have to re-edit every episode. What do you think of DAI? Can you see it being useful for your podcast? ★ Support this podcast ★

This podcast explores the myth of forming a habit in 21 days and emphasizes the importance of choosing the right format and topic for a daily podcast. It provides tips on batching content, selecting topics, and generating ideas. The podcast also discusses the workflow for recording and editing episodes, as well as monetization approaches for daily podcasts.

In an episode of the now-retired show Podcast Pontifications, Evo Terra drops a truth bomb for all the “record to tape” or “record and release” podcasters:But if you look at the larger universe of podcasting, which is now millions of podcasts strong, you’ll see that podcast listeners are voting for the kinds of shows that take more time and care than can be put into a linear record and release style of podcast.He was talking about people who record a show and then release it as is (known as record and release, or record to tape). But from that ailment comes another symptom: people using Zoom to record.You need to stop using Zoom.Similar to Evo’s point above, listeners today more than ever expect quality. They want you to sound like you’re in the room with your guest.And that’s easier than ever with great tools like  Riverside.fm, which records everyone’s audio locally, and separately. No weird robot video from bad internet connections here.This is important because bad audio can erode trust, which could stifle your podcast’s growth, and your ability to establish expertise.One of the reasons I feel my show grew quickly is because I’ve added a commitment to the best possible audio quality from the very beginning.If you’re not sure where to start, I strongly recommend  Riverside.fm. It’s affordable, well-made, and the most reliable of the tools I’ve used. ★ Support this podcast ★

Does anyone know you so well, they can describe you in a single sentence?When I was at Craft + Commerce, Mike Pacchione gave some great advice for when you tell stories:When describing someone, use a single sentence that instantly tells the listener who they are. Here’s an example:My dad always told people, “Joe would argue with Jesus Christ if he came off the cross.”You probably think I’m…opinionated, to put it nicely.You should do the same thing with your podcast, and episodes.What would that look like?If I’m describing my show  How I Built It , I might say, “You get free coaching sessions from the best creators.”I can then extend that out to specific episodes. “You get one coaching session from Mike on Public Speaking,” for example.For this show, I can say, "Bite-sized tips to help you improve your podcast process."As you figure out the best one-liner for your podcast, keep your show’s mission in mind.The one-liner can be based on the mission, or even define it. ★ Support this podcast ★