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

Today I answer a few questions about intro/outro music. Charles Maxwood had asked about intro and outro music. First of all I think its important to have into and outro music. It sets the tone of the podcast. It gives it a professional feel. The music I use for this podcast’s intro and outro music [...]

Today we get a phone call from Rich Palmer of Audio Gumshoe who chimes in our discussion from last week about how far podcasting has come since it began. Its much easier to consume podcasts, there are more and more devices that are building directories for podcasts. Greg Fitzsimmons Finding Loyal Audience with Podcasting Greg [...]

I was reading the Libsyn blog, and I thought about all the things that have changed in the past six years. iTunes exists iPhones Exists Wi-Fi hots spots everywhere Blackberry phones are now more entertainment oriented Adnroid Phones can subscribe to Podcasts - no computer needed More people moving away from television and consuming content [...]

Today i talk about making great content. To me this is content that is intriguing. This typically is information you can't get any place else. It is one of a kind (or hard to find) information. An example of this is Mar Maron and his WTF podcast. He is interviewing comedians about their life along [...]

Creating a live podcast using free software can seem like a great idea. As a podcast consultant, I see there are times when it makes sense. Today we talk about the pros and cons of creating a podcast live, when it is a good idea, and when it should be avoided.

The number 1 afternoon radio show in Cleveland is the Mike Trivisonno show. He is entertaining. Much like most podcasters, Mike is not really a “broadcaster.” He is more “one of us” behind a microphone. However, there are times when I leave my job and I won’t actually here Mike for 10 minutes. I sit [...]

I read a Podcast Academy: The Business Podcasting Book: Launching, Marketing, and Measuring Your Podcast and there was a cool publicity tip about using feedburner's headline animator. I had seen that a while ago, but was unaware they had an option to allow visitors to "grab this code" and put the widget on their site. [...]

Edgy Podcast Reviews (a show that reviewed other podcasts) has (more than likely) "Podfaded" (gone of the air). The reason? According to one of the hosts, "It's just not fun anymore." The great thing about podcasting is: 1. You choose to start a podcast. 2. You choose how long the podcast is, how often you [...]

Turning Your Email Newsletter into a Podcast If you are producing an email newsletter, you already have the content for a podcast. When I mention this to some people they state, "I just want to use e-mail" or "I'm not geeky enough to create a podcast. Well if you can email a family member a [...]

A brief summary of this episode

// If you are hearing advice on podcasting, and someone tells you to save your file as Mono instead of stereo to make your file smaller, you need to find a new source of advice. I'm working on a youtube video for this, but you can do this at home. Take any file and mix [...]

There are many podcast consultants like myself we give advice for want-to-be podcasters. Most of the time there are answers that are fairly universal, but I feel there are times when the answers differ greatly. One such answer is recording a skype call. The answer I often hear is to set up a "mix minus" [...]

Today I answer some questions about Podcast equipment on a budget, and we get some feedback on last week's show about over editing your audio. There is a program called Feed For All that allows you to create an RSS feed. When I started back in 2005, I had created my website in dreamweaver, and [...]

Podcasting News I was interviewed on the Podcast Advisor show with Andy White. I answer some questions about what I get out of Podcasting, what gear I use, what hurdles I've come across and more. Andy is great guy. Adam Curry is slowly exiting Mevio. One of the things he will be focusing on "The [...]

Who Who am I? I'm Dave Jackson and I've been podcasting since 2005. I have a bachelor's degree in Education specializing in techncial education, and I feel I can explain anything in terms that make it easy to digest. Who should Podcast? Anybody with passion for a subject and wants to reach the world What? [...]

Today we hear from former school of podcasting student Dave Gardner of the Rat Cast who has gone from using a small portable recorder to report on minor league hockey to being asked into the booth of ESPN. He first did a podcast about a single team, then expanded to be a podcast about the [...]

Today we talk about Forums. These may be called "message boards" and are a great tool for your audience to interact with each. For some websites, people use them to support a product or service. They can be lovely additions to your online promotional arsenal. There are some great advantages to having a forum. Podcasts [...]

This episode originates from the School of Podcasting Freemium Resources When you provide a free podcast to promote a service that people pay for, this is called "freemium" approach. You provide free information hoping they will pay for your premium services. Christopher sent an email about wanting to start a website where people pay for [...]

Today we are talking about Podcasting in a round about way. We are talking about my recommended software for podcasting which is WordPress. Recently WordPress had a major upgrade, and in some cases your upgrade may not have gone so smooth (my site was down for a short bit, but up with some help from [...]

WordPress 3.0 was rolled out this week. It is a merger of WordPress multi-user and the previous version of WordPress. It has a new default theme called 2010 that allows you to customize the menu system, the background, and easier editing of the footer. The band news is most of the themes available do not [...]

Today I talk about a "new" feature I found at podcastvoicemail.com when I logged into get my messages (typically they forward the voice mail to me in a wav format, but I accidentally deleted the message, but it still resided on their website. When I logged in, I saw where I could create call now [...]

Today I got a new computer from Dell. I paid about 800 bucks for it, and it is running Windows 7. It turns out my Sony Sound Forge 8 doesn't run on Windows 7, my Pain Shop Pro runs in a strange mode. I ended up loading a free version of Sony Acid xpress. I [...]

Today I talk about the fact that when you voice your opinion in a public manner, not everyone will appreciate it. Likewise, there will be people who love every word that comes out of your mouth. In the same way that you are not as good as the person who loves every syllable, you are [...]

You can't polish a turd

Today I talk about an example of how content is king. When you have content that people want to forward to their friends, you have great content. The book is Stuff white people like by Christian Lander. Here is his story in a nutshel. His original concept was sent via text to a friend on [...]

Today we have a guest reviewer a Fred Castaneda of the Stuggling Entrepreneur Podcast gives us some hands on insight into the Samson Go Mic. This tiny little microphone is a easy to use USB device that can even clip on your laptop (for those who want a better sound than their built in microphone. [...]

I have said that one of the easiest ways to grow your audience is to do interviews. Why? Because the person being interviewed (in theory) has people who follow them. So if you interview someone who writes a book about getting more traffic to your website through Search Engine Optimization (SEO), and your website is [...]

I had a listener write in and ask, "What mistakes have you made in the past, that if you had to do it all again - you would avoid. 1. I would use wordpress. When I started I built my website in Dreamweaver, and I did my RSS feed in a different program. When I [...]

When you create a wordpress post for your podcast, are you using the "Tags"feature in WordPress? You should be. The image to the left show how many hits (visitors) I received based on tags that I have put into this podcast. Now this is just a SMALL amount of the tags that have generated traffic [...]

You can research similar podcasts when starting your own podcast. You can go to www.itunes.com and download the software (click on podcast, then podcast directory in the bottom right hand corner, then search in the upper right hand corner). You can also check out sites like www.podcastalley.com and www.podcastpickle.com I started a new podcast at www.datesfromhellshow.com and subscribed to other podcasts on online dating. I was surprised as time went on that most of my “competition” wasn't putting out new episodes. So if I had seen a large number of similar podcasts and decided “there is no room for me” I would've been wrong. While there may be numerous podcasts similar to yours, they may not be putting out any new content.

How are you getting your audience back to your website

Free Podcast Theme Music Today I thought I would look into the Podsfafe Music Network. I’ve always known that you could find great music there, however in looking over the paperwork I was surprised that its not required to mention the musician (only the podsafe music network). As a musician I urge everyone using the resource to mention the musician. You can find it at www.podsafemusicnetwork.com New Wizzard Media Player We also get a report from Fred Castenda of www.strugglingentrepreneur.com and www.gaincontrolofyourday.com who interviews Dave from Wizzard media about the new wizard media. It’s very simple. Enter in your RSS feed, answer a confirmation email (stating that you are the owner of the feed). Wizzard will populate your player, and you are off to go. The player is completely customizable via skins. It also checks to see if you have a high-speed connection, and then either feeds you the mv4 file or the flash file. They also have a partnership with TubeMogul where your video will get blasted into all sorts of different video portals. Check it out at http://www.wizzard.tv/blog/producers/producers_wizzard_player/ or to sign up go to http://tools.wizzard.tv Back to School Special Get 20% off in the month of September by using the coupon code " bts " Other Sites Mentioned Tim Sullivan's Selling Geek at www.sellinggeek.com I also mention www.jimmiebratcher.com and his song "lord make us Funky."

Today we compare the USB 2020 Vs Zune H2

Today you hear me get interviewed By Doug Dangler who is the Associate Director of the Center for the Study and Teaching of Writing and Ohio University. This interviewed was done via Skype and Doug's class. Topics include: Will Podcasting replace any other media forms? What Podcast do I listen to? Do you get paid on each download? How many listeners make a successful audience? Are Bloggers the same as Media? Doug's Podcast is at http://cstw.osu.edu/podcasts/ Other Podcasts Mentioned: www.thescenezine.com www.strugllingentrepreneur.com www.sleddogpodcast.com www.llmlive.com

NOTE: This technology was sold to Podango after this episode. Go to http://cms.podango.net however for the most part its been broken ever since. The great thing about podcasting is its getting big enough for companies to start building tools for podcasters. Today we look at the Audio Lite system from Gigavox (the makers of the Levelator). www.gigavox.com You can record your podcast in segements. Then (if needed) you can update certain segments (like an advertiser spot) in the current AND PAST podcasts. I'm using this not for advertisers, but for a non-profit (my church). Instead of having advertising spots rotate in and out, we use it for our calendar, and prayer concerns (items that chance from week to week). This way people are up to date with the latest news (no matter what episode they listen to). In reality your podcast can be evergreen. The information can be updated in past shows. The good news is its free to use. Take some time to think about it and how you want your podcast to go from section to section. I love it. Oh yeah. IT's FREE. The “bad” news is it doesn't work with Libsyn (it does with the more expensive Libsyn Pro). So I looked at some different web hosts that had unlimited bandwidth (like Midphase.com ) and ended up with Dreamhost.com (as they increase your storage and bandwidth the longer you stay on their system). I will keep you in the loop as we move forward. LAST 5 IN 5 From Tim Dewey of the Sled Dog Podcastwww.sleddogpodcast.com For Immediate Release http://www.forimmediaterelease.biz/ School of Podcasting Students Only Sales Roundup Podcast http://www.salesroundup.com/ Cold Calling Podcast http://coldcallingpodcast.com/ The Hunt Cast http://huntcast.blogspot.com Other Sites Mentioned Paul Colligan www.paulcolligan.com www.121Podcasting.com (sell your podcast, do audio books and more). Weekly Web Tools www.weeklywebtools.com Community Baptist Church www.cbcot.com School of Podcasting. Learn how to podcast RISK FREE at www.schoolofpodcasting.com

Free iPhone App For Your Podcast Today I have a few ways you can try to monetize your podcast. One (which costs you nothing) is to have Wizzard Media create an iphone app for your podcast. They sell it for $1.99 and you get a portion of the price. They take the rest (as they [...]

Today I go through some numbers to give you an informed idea if you want to use "donations" as your primary form of having the podcast pay for itself. Last month I urged listeners to help me celbrate my 45th birthday and chip in on a Kindle from Amazon.com I used a service at chipin.com [...]

Interviewing a Very Loyal Listener Today we talk with "Carie P" who is a mega fan of the Geologic Podcast (www.geologicpodcast.com ) hosted by creative genius George Hrab. How funny is George? He's an atheist and I (a lifelong Christian) am a regular listener. Carie got together a bunch of fans of the show to create a podcast for the host (both on his 50th episode and 100th episode). In addition to being a fan, Carie has also purchased every one of George's products. Podcast Secrets 2009 Podcast secrets has a TON of information this year, and it has a "Faculty" of podcast consultants (including ME) that will be contributing. Paul Colligan and Alex Mandossian always bring quality information that it would take months to find (let alone figure out how to use). To find out about the Preview call on April 9th click here. To sign up for the seminar go to www.secretswithdave.com Listener Feedback Daniel Johnson Jr of www.journeyinsidemymind.com answers the question, "Why did you unsubscribe to that podcast?" He says: 1. Lost his closeness with the host. 2. If the shows are too long he can't keep up. 3. Finding alternative methods (like pandora.com) New BONUS For Members of the School of Podcasting Now when you sign up at the School of Podcasting you get copy of the Ultimate Footer Ad FOR FREE as a bonus gift for signing up. Boost your podcast subscriptions with this great tool. ($47 value).

There is more than one way to record a phone call without expensive equipment or a skype out account. Today I explain that if your cell phone has a headphone (ear buds) jack. You can purchase a cord that goes from 1/8″ jack to 1/4″ jack and plug it into your mixer. This also gives [...]

This is show 209 originating from www.schoolofpodcasting.com The good news about Wordpress is it is free, and it is being developed on a constant basis. You get new features like the ability to search for plugins, upgrade automatically, etc. The bad news is sometimes they add new features that don't agree with old plugins. A plugin is [...]

As I have mentioned in the past, the easiest way to get a podcast up and running is to use Wordpress. This way when you update your website, you update your RSS feed, which updates your iTunes, etc. I'm not sure if this has always been the case, but as I've set up a few new [...]

I was chatting on Catherine Kames www.myspace.com/goosenotchicken and she had given up on trying to create a podcast. Where did she get hung up? Creating the RSS feed. Catherine is getting hung up on the same part that most people get hung up on (so don't feel bad). The good news is there is an [...]

Every time I hear "Talkshoe" or "Blog Talk Radio" I know the following show is going to have awful quality in terms of audio production. The last show I listened to was "book your self solid" and I couldn't take the scratch static in the line, the constant buzzing, etc. So I decided to see [...]

Today we talk about two shows who had their fans say "Stick to the topic." The good news is many people don't give that kind of feedback (they just unsubscribe). So when you are planning your podcast be sure to think about how wide a topic you want to go. Charley Hays has started www.wphelpcentral.com where [...]

Today we have a quick show with some podcasting news. First we hear that Radio Industry blog Radio Survivor has named podcasting one of the most important radio trends of the last ten years. They state that RSS podcasts feeds made it much easier to index podcasts and create easily searchable online directories organized by genre [...]

Where is Podcasting Going in 2010? Well I’m going to state the obvious. Yes iPods and portable media players are wildly popular, but after purchasing a Droid phone, I now see clearly how everything is going to end up on your phone. I’ve known this for years, but didn’t really “get it.” I used a program [...]

Is podcasting for free a good idea?

People always ask me “What is the best plugin for Podcasting.” Originally I said Podpress, but the develop got too busy (and probably tired of working for pennies) and abandoned the plugin. I love the 1pixle player as you can change the color of the player to match the theme of your wordpress blog. I've been a fan of Powerpress when it first came out, as they added more functionality (to tie it in with the blubrry.com network) I kind winced a bit (I loved it simplicity). However, recently updates to the powerpress plugin have made it my official plugin of choice. They added the 1 pixel player (and four others) to the mix, so customization is at your fingertips (and without a huge learning curve to figure out how). To me, this makes Powerpress, THE podcasting plugin. I still use Feedburner for my iTunes stuff, but I love the ability to have different players, and the ability to offer a download link, a streaming link, and a “Play in new window” link. I don't use Blubrry.com for hosting (nothing against it), but they do have some great tools to make things simpler. Todd Cochrane, Angelo Mandato and the crew at blubrry deserve a round of applause for listening to their audience and over delivering on what we wanted. Check it out at http://www.blubrry.com/powerpress/ Other Plugins I Use WordPress Automatic Upgrade is a great plugin. I know this is part of WordPress out of the box, but I like the plugin as it reminds me to back up my blog. WordPress Autmatic Backup is a great plugin that e-mails me a backup of my blog on a weekly basis. All in One Seo Pack is a tool that allows you to add additional meta tags, and customized titles to your blog. I like this plugin, it is easy to use, but it seems lately it needs upgraded about once a week. This is annoying. The upgrade simply takes you to the page in the plugin that asks for donations. Tweet Meme is an interesting plugin that allows people to “retweet” your blog post. They click the button, enter their twitter information and boom, they've retweetted and put a link back to your blog (through bit.ly if you want so you can keep track).

On today's brief show, I explain how I took the name “Podcast Fast Pass” (say that out loud) from the “Fast Pass” idea at Disney Land (where you can legally cut in line). Well after a year or so, I finally changed the name as I had to over-pronounce the name every time I used it. My consulting service is not under Podcast Mechanic at www.podcastmechanic.com Which makes more sense to people. Everyone understands what a mechanic can do for cars, etc. and that's what I do for podcasts. I also revisit the “podcasting is dead” discussion. I do not have a feud with Leo Laporte. I just hate it when anyone says podcasting is dead as potential podcasters may change their mind about starting a podcast. Here are some new Podcasting Statistics On 9/24/04 a search for the word “podcasts” resulted in 24 hits. Now it returns 60,700,000 results. To bad Leo Laporte thinks podcasting is dead. I’m sure he’ll say it again at the blog world expo in a few weeks. Well a new report from Wizzard Media shows that podcast listeners are up from 15 million to 18 million. Here are some samples of that report: Wizzard Media (NYSE Amex: WZE), the world’s largest podcasting network, today announced that for the third quarter of 2009 the Wizzard Media Network saw total podcast download requests of 332 million vs. 287 million in the third quarter of 2008, an increase of 45 million. The number of podcast shows on the Wizzard Media Network grew from 11,600 at the end of the second quarter of 2009 to 12,281 shows at the end of the third quarter of 2009. Podcasters pay Wizzard Media to use its publishing platform and work with Wizzard to monetize their show through brand advertising and more recently, content sales (Apps). Adam Corolla got fired from radio (After replacing Howard Stern) started a podcast and never skipped a beat. To bad podcasting is dead. Oh wait, the same company that fired him is now co-producing his podcast and will help sell sponsorships. Carolla is averaging 130,000 listeners. In the third quarter of 2009 Wizzard delivered over 12.7 million podcast advertisements, its second-highest quarterly total on record and an increase of 130% from 5.5 million ads in the third quarter of 2008.

How do you generate lots of traffic, and get people talking about you? You state in a conference from a podium that “Podcasting is Dead,” or you make a blog post that “Podcasting is Over” etc. Then all the podcasters get bent out of shape (and I count myself in that category) and we all stand up and say “NO IT's NOT.” So here I am saying “No it's not.” The interesting thing is Leo Laporte stated he was getting $70 CPM on this week in tech. Hello? Can you show a better example of how valuable podcasting is in selling to a niche? Radio is getting $15 – $40 cpm. -