Saturday, December 24, 2016

Changing the Name of Your Show


2:25 Free Resources for Podcasters? www.podcastingresources.com

3:35 Advertising Networks are coming out of the woodwork.

6:05 Feedback - You have to check the email that you give out.

8:15 Live "radio streaming station" Dave uses Abovecast.com

9:25 You need to send more than one email

11:30 Recovering from When Things Go Wrong

15:00 Behind the Scenes of the Solopreneur Hour

16:00 How to stop saying crutch words

21:10 No Show Next Week

23:45 Presentation Tips

28:05 the Mixed Message of Podcasting

29:00 Best Free Wordpress Theme Themifyflow.com


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Sunday, December 18, 2016

What Can Podcasters Learn From Amazon.com


Because of My Podcast I Got Media Passes - Cheri Field

Cheri Fields has at least 7 children, and produces the Creation Science for Kids Podcast http://creationscience4kids.com/

What Podcaster's Can Learn From Amazon.com

Amazon is an amazing company. Recently I purchased an Amazon Echo, and Later and Amazon Dot. These devices allow me to do things through voice activation system known as Alexa. You can control Alexa with an Amazon Echo, an Amazon Dot, and Amazon Tap, and now you can control your Amazon Fire TV.  If you're interested, check out my Buyer's Guide.

The item that made me purchase the Echo? The ability to say “Alexa, add eggs to the grocery list.” The more I examine the Amazon company, the more I believe there are tips we podcasters can learn from them.

Amazon Makes It Easy To Find Stuff

Their search is at the top of their page. You don’t have to search for the search. Amazon understands their customer may want a number of things, so they make it easy to find.

Podcasters you need a search button that is easy to find, if you provide topics that are more of a reference. Podcasters you could use categories to create filter to only show those episodes that are categorized a certain way.

Customer First Mentality

Any research into amazon and you will read how they make all decisions based on serving the customer. They are spending money on items that will better serve the customer. So when you are thinking about purchasing some equipment for your podcast you need to ask yourself who the purchase is serving, you or your audience?

Amazon project lead Ian McAllister has described a sort of reverse engineering that happens frequently at company HQ. “We try to work backwards from the customer, rather than starting with an idea for a product and trying to bolt customers onto it,” he wrote on Quora.com.

When someone approaches you to to be a guest on your show, you need think, “Will my audience want to hear this content?”

Personalized Recommendations

There are plugins that can add related links to other episodes on your site. So when someone listens to an episode about Topic A there could be links to more Topic A shows at the bottom of the post. There are plugins such as Yet Another Related Wordpress Post Plugin (which has lots of features, but can be a bit of a resource hog), and Related Wordpress Posts is a lighter weight plugin with an easy setup. If you’re using Appendipity themes, this is a built in feature

They Don’t Always Win, but They Try

I completely forgot that Amazon launched a “Fire Phone.” That tells you how much of an impact it had on the phone space. They’ve done quite a few things that didn’t land well.

It wants to infiltrate people’s lives to such an extent that they can’t imagine living without it — that they don’t even try to imagine living without it.

We always joke that "No one will punch you in the face," here at the School of Podcasting. Your podcast is a recipe, not a statue.

One of the cool things about being cloud based, is they are constantly adding new features to the Alexa system

Keep Your Pages Loading Fast

After analyzing the ratio of sales to website performance, Amazon discovered that for every 100ms of page load time there was a 1% decrease in sales. So how fast does your website need to be? Many usability experts propose that the ideal page load time is 2 seconds or less. You can easily test the page load time of your own website by using free tools such as WebPageTest.org

So podcasters be careful loading tons of plugins if you're using WordPress. Some of those may slow down your site.

Make it Fun

Google the phrase "Alexa Easter Eggs" and you will find a giant list of goof things you can get Alexa to say. There are

Make it Easy

The one thing the Amazon Echo and Dot do is they make it super easy to ORDER STUFF. With a few phrases, "Alexa order Angel Soft Toilet paper" it is pretty much on the way. She will state what size the package is and the price and ask me if I want to order it. There are safeguard can put in so your kids do order every thing under the sun.

Podcasters who are saying thins like, "Find me in iTunes" are missing a golden opportunity to lead their customers by the hand and show them exactly how to subscribe to their show. One of the things I did as a young grocery clerk was if someone asked where something was, I would take them to it, and make sure they could reach it. I wanted to see that product go into their cart. I would also ask if there was anything else they were looking for before I returned to whatever I was doing before. Make it easy.

You can do this by finding your show in iTunes, and right clicking on your art work and copying the link then add a button to your site and attach that link to the button (there is a tutorial for this at the School of Podcasting

Amazon's Ultimate Goal - Routine

Amazon wants to be your right arm. They want to be integrated into your life. When I recently traveled without my Amazon Dot, it was weird not to wake up, check my to do list, get the weather, and hear my custom news.

If you can podcast on a regular schedule, you become part of your audience's routine.

Podcast Glossary "K"

I couldn't think of any "I's, or J's" so we are moving o the the K's.

kbps - This is stands for kilo bits per second. This is a measurement that you use when you are exporting your files. Typical settings are

128 kbps - Stereo (if your primarily music)
96 kbps - mono (for those doing speech, and want a slightly better sound than 64 )
64 - kbps mono (same as 128 stereo, but mono)

When exporting you do not want to use VBR (variable bit rate) as you mp3 file may not play on all players.

Podcast Rewind - I Was On the SoloPreneur Hour with Michael O'Neal

I appeared on episode 509 of the Solopreneur Hour with Michael O'Neil. We talked a little music, we talk about my early days of training people on office equipment, getting fired after busting your butt, and how I ended up in Podcasting. Check it out HERE

You can hear Michael on this show sharing how he stands out from other podcast when I interviewed him on episode 542

Podcast Launch the Mark Nelson Show

Mark is going to help you with your negotiating skills. Check out his show at http://www.marknelsonshow.com/ or Subscribe in iTunes

Mentioned in This Show

Glenn-Hebert- Dave-JacksonComputer Tutor Podcast

Solopreneur Hour

Podfest.Us (use the code Dave to save)

Alexa Cast

Amazon Alexa Buyers Guide

Building a Better Dave

Quora.com (questions website)

Horse Radio Network

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Priority Email Support

Group Coaching

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Sunday, December 11, 2016

Podcast Guest and Hosting Duties


Call the Show 888-563-3228

Because of my Podcast Cale Nelson

Last week, a listener contacted me via email. He is one of my Pateron Supporters. He said he noticed on my Pateron page the goal for buying a new Mixer.

He went on to inquire about which mixer I was interested in. I sent him a note back telling him about the 12 ch Behringer mixer I had been saving for (which was the lowest cost mixer with Faders I could find on Amazon-I'm a FM Radio Throw-back and prefer faders).

In his subsequent email, he stated he wanted to purchase a Mixer for me-and he'd buy the Behringer if that is what I had to have, otherwise he preferred to buy me a Yamaha MG12.

After picking myself up from the floor, and maybe or maybe not drying one or both of my eyes; I said the Yamaha would be a fine choice.

The board arrived today, I'm still flabbergasted, and completely humbled. I have the best listener(s) on the planet!

Cale Nelson
www.hamradio360.com

Be the Best Podcast Guest Be the Best Podcast Host

Maybe it's Friday and I am just tired after so many hours of programming this week but if you send me an interview request that includes the following I will not even respond to you.

1: you must have a hour for the interview

2: you must have headphones

3: you must have a quiet space

4: We request all guest to share our podcast on social media

I must? I must? You are asking me for an interview and you say I must? Plus, if in your initial email request you say I should share it to my social media, I will never respond to you. I will share it to my social media if I think it is valuable to my friends, family and audience. Show some respect when you are asking for interviews. Wow. Whew, ok now I am going take a break this weekend! Have a good one everybody!

Stop Chasing Influencers

Jared Easley is one of my My Favorite People on the Planet. I do't interact with him much, but when I do, I'm always glad I did. His Book Stop Chasing Influencers: The True Path to Building Your Business and Living Your Dream had a TON of useful advice that came from the real world. Here is a quick excerpt.

A majority of the influencers and A-listers on his guest wish-list did not have time or interest in being on his new show, which had zero listeners. The guests who were gracious enough to give him the time for an interview were not inclined to share it with their audiences. Finally, the guests who did give him their time, and who also shared the show with their networks on social media, did not translate into a large Starve the Doubts audience that listened to the guest interviews and subscribed or stuck around as well.

So if you're looking for GIANT numbers by having GIANT names, that is not going to happen.

 

Host Tips

If you of alot of interviews, you're going to lose your mind without a scheduling tool I love Acuity Scheduling. If you're looking for a free (scaled down) tool I've heard good things about Calendly.com

Let the guest know WHY they are there. WHO they are talking to, WHAT they will be talking about and HOW long the interview will be.

Go to their website and get the bio, headshot, etc. Then ask for what is missing.

Do some research (if you want, listen to other interviews, check out their Facebook page, twitter), and come up with some questions. This list of questions (for me) will be used as "game plan" but not as an interrogation

Email the day off (if not before, or better BOTH) the interview to remind them of your appointment.

Make sure they know to get the best microphone available, and to have headphones on.

Find out what website your want to promote. Where are we sending people?

If they don't sound good (meaning their sound is distracting from the content), stop and ask them to get a different microphone, different position, etc. TRUST ME, you will not want to release this to you audience. Who do you want to upset, your legions of followers or ONE guest. You will spend a lot of time trying to clean up bad audio, and some times you just can't.

When the guest arrives let them know its not live (unless it is) and that if they mess up you can do it over. Let them know that if you pause, you may be looking for the next question (and you're not looking for a longer answer).

Erik K Johnson has a great tip and says to come up with a great first question to get the interview pointed in the right direction.

Make sure you know how to say their name (sometimes you find them on YouTube and learn how to pronounce their name)

Michael O'Neal has a great tip in his Art of the Interview Course. If you know a guest loves to tell the same story over and over, use it in the intro, and now they can't repeat it.

Don't make them sit through the whole show if it's done live. If it's a live call, then bring them on 5 minutes before they go on the air.

Michael O'Neal said (when he was on this show) to promote the guests stuff first, then they are happier to be on the show, promote the episode, and they aren't looking for opportunities to promote because you already did.

After the interview is over -before you it stop - ask them if there is anything they'd like to change.

When the interview goes live, make it INSANELY Easy to share your stuff. Give them links to the mp3 file, to your episode on your website, and a graphic. Realize they may not share it at all, and that's OK. They did their job, they provided content. You can use tools like Click to Tweet so you give them one link and it sends the tweet.

Podcast Guest Tips

Don't give one word answers.

Listen to an episode to understand a bit about the show, the vibe, the audience.

Get the best microphone available in your house (I suggest the Audio Technica atr2100) and wear headphones (even if it's earbuds)

Email the host the day of the show

Show up on time.

Have one sheet that explains you, your bio, websites, social media, and attache a headshot.

If you're promoting something, see if you can give people access to your product before the interview.

Try to customize your answers to their audience.

Don't go crazy with the hosts name, and compliments on "That's a good question" (unless it was an actual good question).

Nobody tunes into an infomercial on purpose. Bring Value.

If the episode would bring value to your audience, promote it on twitter, and any other venues you feel comfortable.

Podcast Glossary "H"

htaccess file

A file on your website that dictates how your website functions, and what files are accessible

Hindenburg Journalist

This is one of my favorite tools to edit audio with. It doesn’t have all the bells and whistle of Adobe Audition, but it also has much less confusion.

Mentioned In This Episode

Erik K Johnson

Jessica Rhodes

Michael O'Neal

Start Podcasting Today

Go to www.theschoolofpodcasting.com and use the coupon code listener


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Friday, December 9, 2016

Is It Rude To Ask Someone About Their Podcast Stats?


2:10 Jimmy Fallon does a podcast skit. The cool part is he didn't have to explain what a podcast is.

6:20 Dave shares that he's testing getting his podcast on the Amazon platform (he hasn't been approved.)

7:50 Is it Rude to ask how many downloads you get?

17:40 Podcast Engagement - Sponsors That Fit

20:45 How much to charge for sponsorship (Jessica Kupferman Interview)

29:25 Do stats go down around the holidays?

32:40 Podcasting Myths 

35:10 Dan Carlin Breaks all the Podcast Rules and Tops the Charts 

40:45 How do you record a bunch of people playing a game

in a room and get a good recording?

 


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Sunday, December 4, 2016

Creating and Growing Your Podcast Brand with Marketing Manager Lauren Nelson


Branding and Marketing Your Podcast: Lauren Nelson Interview

Today on episode 543 we talk with fellow podcast Lauren Nelson who is the Marketing Manager for Crowdspring.com She produce the audio drama podcast "The Box" and share her insights on how podcasts ban boost their marketing efforts to stand out.

Realize there are no rules to podcast. For Lauren she takes as much as she needs to tell her story, and that's it.

Your iTunes artwork is your first impression, have someone who is a graphic person create yours.

Consistency can boost your brand by never missing an episode, or by announcing (if you take a break) your planned absence.

People may want t-shirts, mugs and other "Swag" items, so keep this in mind when making your artwork.

The Apple company broke the rules in their advertisements (so have companies like All Spice)

Don't be afraid to think outside the box. Thin about how "a show about nothing" is one of the top televisions shows of all time.

Lauren's Favorite Marketing Podcasts
Startup
Smart Passive Income
Marketing Over Coffee
Duct Tape Marketing

Special Podcast Marketing Guide

Go to  www.crowdspring.com/sop free guide promoting your show, and your design needs.

Blue Yeti - A Hands On Review

The Blue Yeti is quoted WAY TOO MUCH as a great podcast microphone. It is a condensor microphone, and if not used properly can make really bad sounding recordings. It can pick up what is right in front of it, what is behind it, or everything around it. You want to "Cardoid" setting for your best  recording of a solo podcaster.

To avoid sounding like you’re in a tunnel you need to turn the gain down, and get close the the microphone. When you do this, you will have what most people call “popping p’s” when you say worse that start with P’s, B’s, H’s, etc as the from your mouth goes into the microphone. The solution is to purchase a pop filter. Due to it’s unique size you need a specialized pop filter. You can purchase the Blue Pop Filter for $59, or you can grab a perfectly good one for $22 from Auphonix . The other thing you need is a shock mount. The reason for this is ANY touching of the desk that the Yeti is sitting on will pick up the vibrations. So you can purchase the shock mount from Blue for $56, or this one from for Auphonix for $30. So the price of a Yeti goes from $89 to somewhere between to $$141 to 204. The shock mount is going to need a stand so I recommend either the Rode PSA1 ($99) or the Heil PL-2T ($130)

This is why the Audio Technica ATR2100 is the Best Podcasting Microphone NOT the Blue yeti.

The Audio Technica us a dynamic microphone (which means it will pick up less noise than the yet)

While the stand that comes with the ATR2100 is very simple, it will pick up less thumping (but I would still recommend a shock mount. This unit is a shock mount and pop filter in one for $9.

Because its more of a “traditional” microphone you are a little more open to pop filters and shock mounts.

The ATR2100 works via USB and XLR ( can work with a mixer) so if you’re flying solo, or need to plug into a mixer you’re good to go.

So to get the same features you would need a Blue Yeti ($199), Pop Filter ($22), Shock Mount ($30), so would be out $251. Where is the ATR2100 is $77, the pop filter shock mount is $9, so you would be out around $86.

Podcast Glossary "G"

Garageband
Grageband is a free software on the Macintosh platform that can be used to create a podcast. While great looking and equipped with some powerful tools, I feel its great for assembling podcasts, but not the best for editing out “Ums, and ya knows.”

"Glenn the Geek'd it"
Glenn "the Geek" Hebert runs horseradionetwork.com and is doing a great job getting advertisers on his show. He gets sponsors to help promote his show and other actions. An example Jim Collison got a sponsor to pay for a custom app and said, "I Glenn the Geek'd it." To hear Glenn talk about his techniques check out http://www.schoolofpodcasting.com/glenn1

Podcast Rewind

Podcast Roundtable "Getting Your Show Out To Your Audience"

The Pub "Investigative reporting costs thousands of dollars"

Because of My Podcast - My Network Has Grown

Nick Snapp of the  The “Make it Snappy” Productivity Show has had his network of resources and friends grown since starting his podcast. He even got to Puerto Rico with a film documentary and film John Lee Dumas of eofire.com Check out Nick's Show at www.makeitsnappyshow.com

Mentioned in This Show

Alexacast - Get the most out of your Amazon Echo

Best Podcasting Gear - Find out the best podcasting gear

 

Start Podcasting Today

Go to www.schoolofpodcasting.com/start


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Friday, December 2, 2016

Post Black Friday Reflections


1:30 Reverse Engineering Things We Watch on TV

6:20 Free Podcast Hosting From pippa.io

9:00 Advertisecast.com "partners" with podomatic. We don't need more podcasts, for these to flourish, they need advertiser

Chris Nesi from houseofedtech.com share some insights on pippa.io (this idea has been tried multiple times in the past (free hosting powered by sponsorship) and it hasn't worked - podango.com anyone?)

15:30 Common Podcast Questions

18:15 Dave has a sleepless night that inspires his new Alexacast.com all about using an Amazon Echo / Dot

24:35 Black Friday Deals? and the

27:30 Fear of Missing out FOMO

podcastingdeals.com is a website from Daniel J Lewis who lets you know of any deals that are going on.

30:20 Be Ready with Your Elevator Pitch - Google Home Salesperson Provides the Worst Demo Ever

32:50 Kit.com pretty cool website for affiliate marketers

Mentioned  Easy AZON

38:35 Releasing Episodes over the holidays?

42:05 Do you need a network to be successful?

45:50 Thanks To our AWESOME Supporters. Become A Supporter Today

48:30 Recording Templates

50:00 Getting Your Podcast on Spotify

53:20 Apps, and Making Your Own. Mobimatic lets you make your own App

56:05 Libsyn VS Spreaker Stats. Spreaker has a new CMS

Find Jim at www.theaverageguy.tv

Find Dave at www.schoolofpodcasting.com

Ready To Start Podcasting?

www.schoolofpodcasting.com/start


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Sunday, November 27, 2016

Standing Out Leads To Better Opportunities and A Six Figure Podcast Income: Michael O’Neal Interview


Today we talk with Michael Oneal. Michael has over 500 episodes in his Solopreneur Hour, and also a co-host/producer of the Hines Ward show. Michaels talks about how standing out leads to better relationships which lead to better opportunities. He also talks about his new "Art of the Interview" course.

Sponsor: Emerald City Productions

Your first four episodes edited for $15 each, and after that, it's only $40. Think of the time your will save, and think about how good you will sound. All the ums, and yaknows will be gone. All of your volumes will be even, and the equalization will be just right (not too much bass, not too thin) Check them out at www.emeraldcitypro.com/sop

Because of my Podcast: Jim Collison Caught the Attention of the Department of Labor

3:06 Jim Collison does a podcast for his job. Also at his job he works with high school students in an intern program. The country needs more programmers. Gallup is making it happen. He got interviewed on the program (see the video at http://gallupgethip.com/info, but what caught the ears of the State of Nebraska Department of Labor? The Audio podcast.

So because of Jim’s Podcast, he got a meeting with the Department of Labor for the State of Nebraska.

See Jim’s podcast for Gallup at http://coaching.gallup.com

Jim also does his podcast which you can find at www.theavaergeguy.tv

Michael Oneal Stand Outs Above the Rest

9:51 Michael Oneal comes up with stuff that is awesome, and the beauty of his information is that it is stuff you can put into action immediately. Here is an example. If you are doing an interview with someone and you don't want them to use the "same old stories" in this interview. What do you do? Use those stories in your introduction, and they can't use them in their answers. They are forced to come up with NEW answers. BRILLIANT.

He has a new course call the Art of the Interview which you can find at www.artoftheinterview.co

Michael started out as a web designer who has lived all over the country and has had some great experience. He is a professional drummer and has acquired skills in all sorts of areas.

He filled in on the David Wood Show, started his own show and within a year was making a six figure income. Today we want to know how he did it. 

Michael stood out by giving Pat Flynn an iTunes gift card, and late taking him to lunch (after slowly building the relationship) then DIDN'T grill him about business (he zagged when everyone else zigged). This "non-grilling" talk then stood out from every conversation that Pat usually has at lunch. So Michael turned that into the Solopreneur Hour Show and how he has over 8 million downloads.

Michael produces/hosts a show with Hines Ward Show from the Pittsburgh Steelers. Today you hear how relationships got Michael in the door that had been closed.

Michael spent 90% of his bank account to buy flowers for John Lee Dumas, and it resulted in a great friendship that has lead to Michael partnering with John with different projects.

Michael turned down coaching because he didn't feel he was a coach. His audience showed him he was missing an opportunity.

He didn't launch with giant platforms. He got to know his audience by talking directly with his community and launched with a private Facebook group. This private Facebook Group has now evolved to Michael's Solo Lab. 

28:02 Michael is launching a new show about Hi End Stereo Equipment because he likes talking about it. He's not thinking about sponsors. He's not thinking about downloads. He's thinking he enjoys super high-end audio equipment and wants to talk about it. Now think about that. THIS AUDIENCE (hi-end stereo equipment) HAS MONEY, AND they don't have a problem spending it. He didn't over think it. He didn't do months of research. He wants to talk about it, so he did. As he said on his Solorpreneur show, "I'll figure the rest out later."

Most shows are awful because they are started not on passion, but on the idea of monetization and making big bucks. So when life happens, and you run out of steam, your episodes suffer.

The Art of the Interview

30:00 Michael trains people that "Patterns Become Products" and that is what inspired the Art of the Interview Course that Michael recently launched. People kept asking him for it (a pattern) so he turned it into a product;

Here again, Michael took steps to stand out. He made three separate courses in one.

He recorded the course in a video format

For the audio version, he didn't just strip the audio from the video. He recorded different audio to maximize the audio format.

He had some take transcripts of the audio, and then tweak it into a Kindle book.

He does a "directors cut" version of one of his toughest interviews. You get to hear Michael "Armchair Quarterback" the interview.

More Ways To Stand Out

38:01 Michael shared the stories of gift cards and flowers, but Michael shares GREAT tips on making sure your guest will promote your show

People don't take the word "host" serious enough.

As many podcast listeners don't listen to the end of the show, don't wait to plug the guest at the end of the show (please note that is why I plugged Michael's courses at the beginning of the interview).

Michaels Resources

Solo Media Ninja Course

Michael's Coaching Program

Michael's Free Course on Attending Contentions

Michaels Solo Lab

Art of the interview course

Solopreneur Hour Podcast

Dynamic Ad Insertion Is Awful

45:20 Dynamic ads allow you to populate our back catalog with advertisements. I play a clip from a show, and the transition from content to ad back to content is mind boggling.

Advertisecast.com has announced that they partnered with Podomatic. While this is interesting, what we need is not more podcasts. For those that want to monetize, we need MORE SPONSORS.

Mentioned In This Show

New Media Show

JKM Agency (Podcast Advertising)

Ryan K Parker from the Food Craftsmen

Alexa Cast (New Test Podcast From Dave Jackson about the Amazon Echo)

Podcast Consulting Sale (ENDS SOON)

Use the coupon code backfriday now through the end of the month on one on one consulting

Purchase 60 minutes of consulting and get a free month at the School of Podcasting


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