On this very special episode of Zebra Smash, we don't just break the Fourth Wall, but the Fifth and Sixth Walls as well. With 10 episodes (counting the Prequel), we figured we would share a little bit about what we've learned about podcasting, particularly as the first CFP CE-eligible podcast (to our knowledge).

So it's not just a regular episode...it's a META-sode! (Insert heavy timpani drums here.)

We touch on the following key points:

• Why did we choose Squarespace and not Wordpress to host our site?
• The challenges of having a sister site (www.cesmash.com) for our CE-eligible quizzes
• The issues (monetary and otherwise) of being a CE sponsor with the CFP Board
• Successes and failures with audio recording, particularly when 3 people aren't in the same location
• How a recording becomes a podcast. (This is admittedly less interesting than how a bill becomes a law.)
• Realizing how hard it is to track listening and download metrics
• Grading ourselves against our original vision of being, "A conference in your pocket."

Links to Things We Mention

• Audacity - free audio software for recording
• Fiverr - freelance services for the lean entrepreneur
• Zencastr - cloud-based podcasting site. It didn't work as advertised for us, but maybe it will work for you...
• Ecamm - call recorder for Skype; good back-up for Audacity, hopefully better outcomes than Zencastr for episodes with 3+ people (Mac only)
• Libsyn - Podcast Hosting Services (maybe future home of Zebra Smash...?)
• Blubrry - podcast directory service; podcaster dashboard allows us to monitor the number of downloads for each episode. It's how we know 5 million people are listening! (Stats may be exaggerated.)