Krystals Test Show

Luke is a young man who has loves competitive shooting and his podcast features news for gun enthusiasts with a splash of politics.

First Impression: Website

Their WordPress theme is from Cyber Chimps and it was simple and easy to read with just a few touches of advertising. You have to click on a post to get to a player. For me I would use blubrry.com or podtrac.com to get a player for people to click on toe listen to one (or more) episodes without clicking on a post. I prefer them to open in a new window for those people who listen at work.

First Impression: Podcast

We listened to episode 48, and the show starts off with some high energy music. The host Luke brought some energy to the microphone. For me, I hate music for the sake of music. So you could go to a site like fiverr.com and get some affordable voice over (or check out Music Radio Creative ). They had a bit of "chit chat" at the beginning that was barely gun related (but it was short). Both hosts have good voices, their audio sounds good.

The bad news is they have the dreaded blue music note of death. This means you are not adding your ID3 tags before you upload your file to libsyn.

Do You Like Guns?

I am not a huge guns person. I can take them or leave them. Consequently, I am not their target audience (a point I repeat too often in the episode). They use a lot of jargon that I have no idea if they know what they are talking about. They seem to have an active Facebook page (620+ likes) and 17 five start reviews in iTunes. Their audience seems to think they provide a no jargon, straightforward approach. If you are pro gun, and are interested in competitive shooting, this is the podcast for you.

Don't Assume Too Much

While I may not be there target audience, don't always assume people have read your blog, or heard the latest news. You can always give a quick two sentence paraphrase of the top story before giving you opinion.

Say No To Feedburner

I didn't mention this on the podcast, but I see their feed is being run through Feedburner. This was a good idea in 2005, but not in 2013. You're using Blubrry, use that plugin for your feed as well.

Check Out the Podcast

You can find them at http://www.triangletactical.net. You can subscribe to the Triangle Tactical – Guns | Gear | Concealed Carry | Competitive Shooting

Today IÂ went searching for a podcast that didn't have "celebrity" something that was truly independent. I found "Why you suck at weight loss." The podcast had good album artwork, a title that sucked me in, a good description in itunes. So far so good.

Their website was a little "spammy," and by that I mean there are a LOT of advertisements and I really had to search to find the podcast to listen to. I could see they are using Libsyn.com for their media hosting, so it looked like this person was on the right path.

And then I hit play.

This is a classic example of good content, but poor audio quality. I would've stopped after the 30 second mark if I wasn't reviewing the podcast. It sound like he is using a cheap headset microphone that produced a lot of hiss and a loud humming sound. When the microphone is turned off, it made it that much more noticeable when it came back on. This was not a great first impression. This lead to him playing a clip of him reading his book.

It was very, very, obvious that he was reading his book. The audio again was poor, and he had the intro music still going. It was quiet in the background, but slightly distracting. That same looping music was going 16 minutes later and had me wanting to jump out of a window.

He was using stories in his book, and the content seemed good. It was the delivery. Here is how I would fix this podcast.

1. Shorten the intro, and get a voice over person to announce the show and what people should expect.

2. Announce yourself, welcome your audience and explain what you would be doing today. "Today I'm going to talk about chapter one of my book."

3. Instead of reading the book, make some bullet points about the topics covered and then tell the reader about them using the same stories that are in the book. Lines could read, "Going to get yogurt.' Treat it like a time shifted conversation. Invite people to contact you, and get to know your audience. Develop a relationship with them.

4. Record at 44.1 not 22. This will double the quality of your current audio. I would export at 64 kbps mono. Currently you are using 96kbps stereo. This would not be a bad choice if you had recorded at 44.1. As you recorded at 22, the quality isn't there. Think of the 44 vs 22 as the number of times a picture is taken of your voice. The more pictures, the more accurate the sound.

5. Remove some of the advertisements on the site (put them all in the sidebar) and go to blubrry.com and use their player (or player.podtrac.com) .

6. Determine what you want people to do and ask for it. I am guilty of this one as well. Pick ONE call to action. When you provide multiple options for action, your audience might get paralysis from analysis.

One More Key Point

Roberty has only recorded two episodes. The good news is he could easily go back and rerecord those first two episodes and repost them and future listeners would never know the other files exist. You have all the steps covered to land in new and notable, but you audio quality will hinder your growth of repeat listeners.

Click the button below and listen for more information go to www.whyyousuckatweightloss.com

Today we review Machine court where machine's judge humans. This is the second time we've reviewed a podcast that is just chock full of creativity, and "thinking outside the box." I love the fact that its not another comedian interviewing comedians. It's not a tech show about Macs. It's not podcast reviewing movies. It's original. That's the good news. Their artwork is awesome. Their id3 tags are in place. Their website is easy to navigate, and the opportunity to subscribe to their podcast is abundant. I so wanted to love this podcast.

But in the end the one thing missing was engaging content. It didn't make me laugh. It did make me think, and groan.

This may be partly due to a lack of categories in iTunes. I see why they put this under comedy as they are attempting humor, but this is almost a drama as they put so much into the production with lavish sound effects and they really put a lot of gas into the theater of the mind. I was impressed. It just didn't make me laugh. It's labeled as a comedy, so I expected to laugh.

This may be one of those podcasts where you need to give it a couple of spins. Go for more than one episode so you can get to know the characters. I know for me, the one robot's voice was like nails in a 400 foot chalkboard by the end of the episode. I give them credit for never breaking character, but it was annoying to me. They also did a bit where a robot sounding like Jimmy Stewart was partaking of "Glory Hole" in a men's bathroom. I get this joke. I was the one who wondered what it would be like to listen to George and Mary Bailey sounded like during sex back in 2005. Its funny to put squeaky clean Jimmy in a Glory Hole environment. The episode was called "Sexlandia" so I expected some sex stuff. In the end, it made me smile at the effort, but not a giggle. Sorry.

Things They Might Want to Do:

If these episodes need some setup, maybe add a "on last week's episode such and such happened." For me, the content didn't move me. I'm not sure if any kind of setup that would explain the characters would help. I loved robots on Mystery Science theater, but not so much here.

Things They Are Doing Great:

So much effort goes into these episodes. The artwork is great. The website is clean. Their audio is good. They have a community on facebook. It truly bothered me that I couldn't give this a thumbs up.

Listen to Monster Court with the Player Below

Today we welcome "the hammer" back to the show after taking some time away for a medical leave. In honor of her return we have review the nursing times podcast out the of the UK. This is a great example of a "niche" podcast that is all about being a nurse in the UK.

Things they Do Right

They a seem to have the pulse of the UK nurse, they are putting some effort into their podcast. There are insights from the "front lines" of nursing in the UK that will have a smaller audience, but those that find it will LOVE IT. My wife is a nurse, and she loved it as it took her back to the days of nursing school.

Things They Can Improve

You have no album artwork in iTunes. This is a HUGE "no no" as you are blowing your first impression in the place that owns about 60% of the marketing.

There are no show notes on your website or anything mentioning your podcast. How are you going to get more listeners if nobody can find it?

Don't hold your contact information hostage "we'll tell you how at the end of the show." Make it EASY to contact you.

Proving You Can Do Anything You Want – It's YOUR Podcast

In the middle of the podcast they bust out a song.

I would normally put a player here so you could hear their podcast, but there isn't one listed on their website.

My first impression of this podcast was confusion. Secretly Timid? What does this mean? What will this be about? When I went to their website, they add lots of pictures and videos to each video posts. I searched for an "About" page, and couldn't find one. The only thing I could find was a page that talked about the background of all the hosts. When I went to their iTunes listing there was almost no description except that it was an irreverent weekly podcast based out of Texas.

If you are looking for more insights, you might check out some of their reviews in iTunes. The reviewer stated the four hosts have a great dynamics and are hilarious. It sets they all bring something to the table and they have strong beliefs and they stand behind them.

The episode I listened to had the hosts discussing the Mad Men television show. They also talk about getting stuck in traffic. They share a story about ordering broccoli and having the people who served the broccoli. The "teaser" for the show is a reference to people licking another person's anus. They also discuss what they got their Mother's for Mother's day.

Things They Are Doing Correctly

Their ID3 tags are correct and their recording levels are good.

They seem to have planned out their episode and they know what they are going to talk about.

I liked some of the dialog. Unlike a "Rush Limbaugh" who is a one trick pony, you seemed to want to weigh both sides of a discussion and be willing to look at all the sides of a story.

They mark their episodes as explicit and they are.

Things I Would Work On

As a new listener, I have no idea who you are. Consequently, I don't care that you were stuck in traffic. What you might want to try is hitting your "Hot Topics" first and draw your audience in. Then (Now that we kind of have been introduced to you a little and have a slight understanding of you) do the "here's what happened to me this week."

Quit using Podpress. Podpress is a very outdated plugin for WordPress that left thousands of people with broken websites in the past. Read/hear about why podcast is bad.

The audio of your voicemail was really bad, and you need to have a way to boost the volume of the call so its as loud as you.

You might look into putting links to the music you spotlight at amazon.com and iTunes using affiliate links. This might help put some gas in your tank.

You mention your podcast on facebook, but there is no link to your facebook page.

You can remove the link to the zune directory on your website as it doesn't exist anymore.

I would change the titles of yoru episodes and move the "episode ___"Â to the end (or remove it – nobody cares what episode it is). Put that information in your ID3 tag (which you already are).

The link to your itunes uses itpc format. That's HORRIBLE as anyone who subscribes does not get credit for being subscribed (so you don't get credit). See this video.

It May Not Be There Fault

Classifying this podcast as comedy thinks it going to get me to laugh. It didn't. The problem is, I'm not sure what I would classify this as. For whatever reason, this just didn't move me.

You can subscribe to their RSS FEED, or find them in iTunes

You can listen to their podcast by clicking on the player below

The YWAM Podcast is a place for you to find out more about what is happening around Youth With A Mission in these three areas. We talk about upcoming training opportunities, evangelism opportunities and ways that you can be involved in showing God’s love in practical ways.

Website

The website is very white. They say the easiest site to read is black text on a white background. Its very easy to navigate, and you can easily contact them if needed. The only thing I would recommend would be putting buttons to subscribe in iTunes and a standard RSS button. Check out this video to see how.

As the website is so incredibly white, I might play with adding a background color to the website. Keep the posts white, but change the background color to something that's not white (maybe off white, gray, etc if you want to stick with the black/white theme).

Audio Quality

The audio quality was fine as much of it he had no control over (as he played clips or videos that he did not create). Bill did do a good job of making sure the volumes were even so when he started a video clip it didn't blast my head off, or make me reach for the volume knob to turn up. His ID3 tags were included, and everything was fine.

Personal and Informative

Bill talk about his personal experience in this organization. It tied in and added a nice personal touch. It became more of a conversation than a news show. Many podcasters throw in personal stories that have nothing to do with what they are talking about, but Bill used his personal story because it DID tie in with his podcast.

A Great Example of How Organizations to Keep their Chapters Up to Date

If you have an organization and you want to keep them up to date, as well as use as a promotional tool – this is a great example. In addition to keeping people up to date, the podcast also included a music spotlight (which goes with knowing the audience and what they would enjoy).

Things Done Well:

1. Great job taking multiple clips and making sure the volumes are even.

2. Making finding the content on the website easy (with things like www.ywampodcast.com/62 )

3. Extensive show notes that leave no questions for visitors.

Things I was Confused On

It took me a few glances to figure out where the links to subscribe in iTunes were located. Also you mentioned dts (some sort of training that people do right after high school). I don't know what DTS stands for (even though you did say it a few times). While this is "jargon" to people outside of your target audience, this probably was a second hand comment to anyone who is involved with YAWM.

Subscribe via iTunes or RSS

I had the most creative request to get a podcast review. I was told they really valued my opinion. I decided to review the show. I write this with a pain in my stomach as I hate to provide constructive feedback to people who look up to my opinion. These seem to be very creative people who have not quite "found their voice." They are obviously creative, but their efforts didn't bring us to any release of emotions. Yes you have found the ability to add some sound effects to your voice, but much like the movies without a decent plot special effects can't carry a movie. As you know these dogs, this might be funnier to you. As new listeners we don't have that "inside view" into the dogs personality. Keep going, you might be on to something.

What We Liked

The artwork on the website showed lots of promise.

Not a huge time commitment per episode (short).

You sound like Hoops and Yoyo.

What Needs Tweaked

Change your headlines. 80% of what people read is based on the headlines.

There is a chance that some of the jokes here are a bit of an inside joke. In some cases we really had to think about the punch line to really understand if this was funny (if you have to explain the joke it's not funny).

Make it easier listen to the podcast.

Don't send people away from your website.

Remove the html from the beginning of the blog post (show notes)

Use the powerpress plugin.

I would get your podcast on your own self hosted website (not wordpress.com).

To Listen to the Night Terriors Click the Player below

Marc asked to have Monkey Radio reviewed. He has had lots of press, and according to Blog talk Radio he is getting LOTS of downloads. Here is what we came up with:

1. Blog Talk Radio is wrong on so many levels, that I may do a whole episode on it for the School of Podcasting podcast. BTR is listed as the talent not you. That is unacceptable.

2. Your intro's volume is all over the place.

3. You took three minutes to let me know what was on the show.

4. You lead story was a weird date.

5. Your co-host seems to be too far off the mic, and needs to reposition his pop filter.

6. You're using Wix as your platform. It works, but WordPress is my recommendation.

7. You spent a HUGE amount of time on your sponsor.

8. The food segment at the end was too long, and featured information that needed to be seen. I understand its the sponsor, but we got the point.

9. Your ID3 tags are messed up due to BTR (see point 1).

What we liked

1. I enjoyed the storied about the homeless. It was personal, and made me think.

Listen to Money Radio Now

I met Tony at the New Media Expo and he seemed like such an awesome guy. I was telling my wife about their story and podcast (it's amazing). You can find them at oneextraordinarymarriage.com where you can find their podcast, and their books 7 Days of Sex Challenge: How to Rock Your Sex Life and Your Marriage and Stripped Down: 13 Keys to Unlocking Intimacy in Your Marriage or Happy, Healthy & Hot!: A 30-Day Blueprint to Take Back Your Health and Enjoy a Sexy Body No Matter How Busy You Are .

Their website is clean and simple to navigate. At first I couldn't find their iTunes button (they have a smaller one listed at the bottom of each episode). Their podcast is BRUTALLY HONEST (they discuss BJs in this episode). They do talk about sex in an open and honest – very honest – fashion. For Diane and I it got us talking, and thinking. The episode we listen to was about showering with your spouse.

We both liked this episode, but we weren't really sure that once they got the main topic out there that we needed the last 15 minutes of the podcast. The bottom line is the answer to "Would you listen to another episode of this podcast?" the answer is YES. This show started off with them sharing what was going on in their life. They had just the right amount of this. Some podcasters share too much here, and take forever to get to their main topic.

If you are married, this podcast is definitely worth listening to. When I spoke with Tony at the New Media Expo, he wants to eventually be syndicated on the radio.

One thing they need to do is add an RSS button to their website. They have links to iTunes and stitcher, but nothing for those who want to add their podcast to their phones (or other devices) manually.

You can find their podcast at oneextraordinarymarriage.com or click the play button to listen to them now or subscribe to them in iTunes

Today "the hammer" is back to comment on Mommy's Cocktail Hour. I had heard about this podcast as it was up for a podcast award. It features four Mom's who share a cocktail recipe and talk about the challenges of being a mom of young children. For us the highlight of the podcast was the kids, as they are adorable. They seemed to have an outline of topics to cover, but in the end there wasn't much content that really enticed us (Saving money whne buying a purse is good content, it just didn't strike a chord with me). This is another case that we are probably not their demographic (being that "the Hammer's" oldest child just got married).

Sound quality was OK. It is hard to get four people on a call without introducing a fair amount of his. When you are recording children it gets even worse. Their album art was fine, but they need a description in iTunes (there isn't any).

The content had us hitting the speed up button to get us through it. Tips on purse shopping and fountain drinks didn't hold our attention. We did like the fact that they kept everything positive and it wasn't a giant gripe session. One can easily see that if you were a young Mom with small children the tips on buying toys would've been very valuable (maybe when we get Grand kids it will ring more true).

An hour is a long time to fill for me, and this podcast didn't move fast enough for us. On the other hand they have a large Facebook following, so what do we know…

You can find them at Mommyscocktailhour.com

Listen to Mommy's Cocktail Hour Now or find them in iTunes