Episode Summary: A behind-the-scenes look at the website — the exact domain, hosting, theme, and plugin tools used to run Mike Murphy Co., plus whether a podcast really needs its own dedicated site.

What You'll Learn

• Why one website (not two) is usually the right call for a podcast plus personal brand
• The exact domain, hosting, and platform tools used to run Mike Murphy Co.
• A handy tool for checking username availability across every social platform
• The 5 favorite WordPress plugins in active use

Bluehost

Ask Mike Anything: One Website or Two?

Question (from Blab.im listeners): Is a dedicated website needed for a podcast, separate from a personal/business page?

Answer: For most cases, keep it simple and use one website for everything. The only exception is when a podcast is so unrelated to the main website that combining them would confuse visitors — otherwise, keeping everything under one roof is easier for both host and audience.

Web Tools Used for Mike Murphy Co.

1. Domain Names

GoDaddy is the registrar of choice.

Bonus tips: the Honey Chrome extension saves money automatically. For checking social media handle availability, NameCheckr is extremely handy — it checks nearly every social platform at once for a given username. For finding the perfect domain name, LeanDomainSearch is a great resource — type in a desired name, and it shows availability plus tons of available alternatives.

2. Web Server

Bluehost, or HostGator.

3. Websites

WordPress.org or Squarespace.

4. Themes

The Divi theme by Elegant Themes. Child theme: the Child Theme Configurator WordPress plugin.

5. Tools & Plugins

WordPress plugin favorites: Monarch (social media plugin), Bloom (email plugin), Click to Tweet, Blubrry PowerPress, and Pretty Link Lite.

Music: "Life of Riley" & "Wallpaper" (incompetech.com).

Show Notes & Links

• Bluehost
• GoDaddy
• Honey
• NameCheckr
• LeanDomainSearch
• HostGator
• WordPress.org
• Squarespace
• Elegant Themes (Divi)

Read the complete show notes and resources on mikemurphy.ai.

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Episode Summary: What email marketing actually is, why it remains one of the most important parts of running an online business, and the tools used to build a real newsletter list.

What You'll Learn

• What email marketing is and why the newsletter is the go-to format for small brands
• 3 real benefits of email marketing: relationships, authority, and sales
• Why list quality matters more than list size
• The tools used to run an email newsletter and grow a list

Ask Mike Anything: Is Email Dead?

Today's question comes from a special listener — the retired head of the NFL Management Council, right in the middle of the 1982 and 1987 NFL strikes: Jack Donlan. Resource mentioned: Slack.

1. What Is Email Marketing?

Simply brands communicating with clients or an audience via email — the most common form for small brands and one-man bands being the email newsletter.

A little history lesson: the CAN-SPAM Act was signed into law in 2003 after widespread complaints about spam. If someone wants to unsubscribe from a list, make it easy for them — period. Resource to unsubscribe in bulk: Unroll.Me.

2. Benefits of Email Marketing

1. Building relationships
2. Establishing authority
3. Promotion & sales

Books mentioned: Tribes by Seth Godin, and Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook by Gary Vaynerchuk.

3. Building an Email List

Building an email list and communicating through it is one of the most important parts of running an online business. The goal isn't accumulating as many people as possible — it's building relationships with people who like, trust, and want to keep learning from you. List size doesn't matter as much as quality, long-term connections. Every subscriber should be valued, and the list treated with genuine respect, delivering as much value as possible.

Resources mentioned: Bloom by Elegant Themes and LeadPages.

4. Tools Used

Email newsletter: Mailchimp. WordPress/website plugin: Bloom by Elegant Themes — free with Divi. Alternatives mentioned: AWeber (popular, but not the favorite) and ConvertKit by Nathan Berry, which Pat Flynn has reviewed positively.

Music: "Life of Riley" & "Wallpaper" (incompetech.com).

Show Notes & Links

Slack CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 (Wikipedia) Unroll.Me Tribes by Seth Godin Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook by Gary Vaynerchuk Bloom by Elegant Themes LeadPages Mailchimp AWeber ConvertKit

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Episode Summary: The full 5-step, start-to-finish workflow used to produce one episode of this podcast — planning, scripting, production, show notes, and newsletter — with real time estimates for each.

What You'll Learn

• The full 5-step production workflow for producing one episode, start to finish
• A real pre-record checklist for cleaner audio
• Roughly how long each production step actually takes
• The tools used at each stage, from scripting to newsletter

The 5-Step Workflow

1. Planning & pre-production
2. Scripting (writing)
3. Production (recording, editing, tagging, exporting as MP3, uploading to the media server)
4. Web & social media (show notes, blog post, artwork, Buffer scheduling)
5. Newsletter & corresponding with listeners

Step 1: Planning & Pre-Production (2 hours)

Internet research, "serving hours" (answering and asking questions on social media), listening and learning, and figuring out what people actually need help with. Resources: Pocket for web clippings, Evernote, and Transpose.

Step 2: Scripting (4 hours)

Benefits of scripting: keeps delivery on point with fewer "umms," speeds up recording, self-educates and sharpens teaching ability, speeds up show notes writing, and grows a content library that pays off later. Resource: Scrivener, the writing app used and recommended for every script.

Step 3: Production (1.5 hours)

Steps: recording & editing, exporting the final mix as MP3, ID3 tagging, uploading to Libsyn (the media server used at the time).

Pre-record checklist:

1. Record at the quietest times possible — no outside noise
2. Turn off the A/C and other appliances
3. Add blankets or pillows to dampen an echo-heavy room
4. Clean the desk — get in a clutter-free mindset
5. Have water on the desk
6. Green apples help the voice
7. Set up a GoPro or camera if behind-the-scenes footage is wanted
8. Put on headphones, turn down external speakers
9. Open the script in Scrivener and Adobe Audition

Recording & editing (1.5 hours): Adobe Audition CC is the tool of choice, though GarageBand or Audacity work well too. Tagging (5 minutes): ID3 Editor. Upload (10 minutes): export as MP3 and upload to Libsyn.

Step 4: Show Notes & Blog (1.5 hours)

Covers show notes, the blog post, artwork, and Buffer social media scheduling.

Show notes. A summary of the episode, including links and referen…

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Episode Summary: Live broadcasting tools for podcasters — Periscope and Blab.im compared, plus the tripod, mounting, and audio gear that actually makes a difference for live streaming.

What You'll Learn

• Live broadcasting tools for podcasters: Periscope and Blab.im compared
• A recommended iPhone tripod and mounting setup for video
• Audio gear that makes a real difference for live streaming
• What Blab.im requires technically, including browser limitations

Ask Mike Anything: An iPhone Tripod for Video

Guest: Dr. Vivian Carrasco. Podcast: Turning Inward. Website: VivianCarrasco.com.

Question: What tripod is recommended for making videos with an iPhone?

Answer: the JOBY GorillaPod and the JOBY GripTight iPhone holder.

To see a true master of the GorillaPod at work, check out Casey Neistat and other daily vloggers — nobody uses one better. Warning: watching Casey Neistat videos can be highly addictive.

Periscope

• Owned by Twitter
• Launched in 2015
• Main competitor: Meerkat
• Broadcasts are called "Scopes"
• Replays expire after 24 hours
• Follow people and get notified when they go live
• Private Scopes are supported

What's needed to start a Scope? Just an iOS or Android device — iPhone or iPad.

Audio tip: the Rode SmartLav+ Lavalier Microphone paired with the Rode SC6 TRRS Input & Headphone Output splitter.

Blab.im

• Similar to Google Hangouts on Air (GHOA)
• One host plus up to 3 guests
• Live chat stream built in
• Live Twitter integration
• Open to the public
• Audio and camera preferences get changed in browser settings
• Doesn't work in Safari — Chrome, Firefox, and Windows only
• Good audio and lighting genuinely matter
• Tip: delegate someone to help manage the live chat

Music: "Life of Riley" & "Wallpaper" (incompetech.com).

Show Notes & Links

Turning Inward (Dr. Vivian Carrasco) VivianCarrasco.com JOBY GorillaPod JOBY GripTight Casey Neistat: GorillaPod in Action (YouTube) Casey Neistat Videos (YouTube) Rode SmartLav+ Lavalier Microphone Rode SC6 TRRS Input & Headphone Output

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Episode Summary: 10 social media strategies in active use — why "go where your audience is" beats trying to be everywhere, and the exact platforms, pages, and handles used to build an audience.

What You'll Learn

• 10 social media platforms in active rotation, and why each one matters
• Why "go where your audience is" beats trying to be everywhere at once
• The exact handles and pages used across every platform
• A featured podcaster's show and website worth checking out

Ask Mike Anything: Featured Guest

Cara Lumen's podcast: Reflections of a Deeper Song. Cara Lumen's website: Passionately on Purpose.

10 Social Media Strategies

1. Go where your audience is. The foundation of every other strategy on this list.
2. Facebook. Facebook Ads, Facebook Business Pages, Facebook Groups.
3. Instagram.
4. YouTube & Google+.
5. Twitter.
6. Pinterest.
7. Periscope.
8. Blab.im.
9. Medium.
10. Buffer — for scheduling across all of the above.

Music: "Life of Riley" & "Wallpaper" (incompetech.com).

Show Notes & Links

• Reflections of a Deeper Song (Cara Lumen)
• Passionately on Purpose (Cara Lumen)
• Facebook Group: Mike Unplugged
• Instagram: @mikeunplugged
• YouTube
• Twitter: @mikeunplugged
• Pinterest
• Periscope
• Medium: @mikemurphyco
• Buffer

Read the complete show notes and resources on mikemurphy.ai.

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Episode Summary: All about microphones for podcasters and online creators — dynamic vs. condenser, USB vs. XLR, and a full popular-microphone shopping list organized by category.

What You'll Learn

• Dynamic vs. condenser microphones, and when each makes sense
• USB vs. XLR connections, and what XLR requires to work
• A full popular-microphone shopping list by category and connection type
• Where to find the complete, current gear recommendations

Types of Microphones

Dynamic microphones are the standard in broadcasting and radio, and tend to be gain-hungry. Condenser microphones tend to be very sensitive to room noise and other unwanted sounds like breaths and lip smacking, and typically require phantom power.

Connection Types

USB microphones attach directly to a computer — simple, easy, and usually recommended for beginners since they work right out of the box. XLR microphones are the pro connector, found on most higher-end mics. XLR requires either an audio interface (a Focusrite Scarlett 6i6-class interface, for example) or a mixing board.

Popular Podcast Microphones

Dynamic mics:

• Shure SM7B
• Heil PR-40
• Electro-Voice RE-20
• Rode Procaster

Condenser mics:

• Rode NT1-A
• Audio-Technica AT2050
• Audio-Technica AT2020
• MXL-990

USB mics:

• Rode Podcaster
• Blue Yeti
• Blue Snowball
• Audio-Technica ATR2100
• Samson C01U

iOS mics:

• Rode SmartLav+

Resources

To purchase gear directly, visit the Mike Murphy Amazon Shop.

Music: "Life of Riley" & "Wallpaper" (incompetech.com).

Show Notes & Links

• Mike Murphy Co Resources Page
• Mike Murphy Co Amazon Store

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Episode Summary: 11 real ways a one-man band or podcaster can make money online — from teaching and sponsorships to affiliate marketing, e-commerce, and freelancing.

What You'll Learn

• 11 real ways a one-man band or podcaster can generate online income
• The real pros and cons of teaching on a platform vs. self-hosting courses
• How podcast sponsorships actually work, with real numbers from John Lee Dumas
• Why affiliate marketing costs the buyer nothing extra

10 Ways to Make Money Online

1. Tutorial Sites

Make classes and tutorials, then sell them through online education platforms. Pros: these sites handle technology, hosting, some promotion, and financial transactions — payment comes as a percentage of sales. Cons: Skillshare means splitting profits, and Udemy often discounts a class heavily.

Popular sites: Skillshare, Udemy, Teachable (formerly Fedora).

Classes taught on Skillshare/Udemy (the first internet dollar ever earned!): Photoshop: The Art of the Headswap and WordPress Cheatsheet for Entrepreneurs.

2. Self-Hosted Courses

Classes and courses sold directly through your own platform or website.

Pros: 100% of the profit. Cons: 100% of the responsibility — launch, creation, technology, promotion, all on you.

Platforms for self-hosted courses: LearnDash, Teachery, Thinkific, Zippy Courses, WP Courseware.

3. Podcast Sponsorships

Advertisers have recognized podcasting's popularity and want in. Sponsorships take time to land — like everything else, more downloads means more sponsor interest, and having a clear niche helps attract them. John Lee Dumas of EOFire has reportedly made around $100K/month in sponsorships by guaranteeing over 1 million listens per month, publishing 7 days a week — not too shabby. See his Ultimate Guide to Podcast Sponsorships for the full breakdown.

4. Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing for products and gear is a great revenue generator, and the plan for covering monthly costs of running this site and podcast. It's simply advertising products with a small kickback on any resulting sale — the buyer pays nothing extra compared to purchasing directly from Amazon or elsewhere.

Affiliate links in action can be seen on the resources page, and there's also a dedicated Amazon st…

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Episode Summary: The top 10 podcasts in regular rotation right now, plus a bonus round of 5 more — a mix of business, creativity, tech, and photography shows worth subscribing to.

What You'll Learn

• The top 10 podcasts in regular rotation, ranked
• A bonus round of 5 more shows worth subscribing to
• A mix of business, creativity, and photography-focused recommendations
• Why variety across niches keeps a listening queue interesting

Top 10 Podcasts

1. Entrepreneurs on Fire by John Lee Dumas
2. The $100 MBA by Omar Zenhom
3. The Gary Vee Audio Experience by Gary Vaynerchuk
4. SeanWes Podcast by Sean McCabe (d)
5. The Unmistakable Creative by Srini Rao
6. The School of Greatness by Lewis Howes
7. Mixergy by Andrew Warner
8. The Fizzle Show by Corbett Barr, Chase Reeves & Barrett Brooks
9. The Side Hustle Show by Nick Loper
10. Creator Scale (formerly, DIY Video Guy) by Caleb Wojcik

Bonus Round

1. TWiT (This Week in Tech) by Leo Laporte
2. MacMost Now by Gary Rosenzweig
3. Photoshop User TV by Kelby Media (archived)
4. The Grid by Scott Kelby
5. Photofocus by Rich Harrington

Show Notes & Links

Entrepreneurs on Fire The $100 MBA The Gary Vee Audio Experience SeanWes Podcast (archived) The Unmistakable Creative The School of Greatness Mixergy The Fizzle Show The Side Hustle Show Creator Scale (DIY Video Guy) TWiT (This Week in Tech) MacMost Now Photoshop User TV (archived) The Grid Photofocus

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Episode Summary: The full start-to-finish process for launching a podcast — planning, assets, production, hosting, RSS feed setup, directory submission, and promotion — the exact steps used to launch this show.

What You'll Learn

• The full 7-step process to launch a podcast, start to finish
• Why media hosting and RSS feed setup are the trickiest steps to get right
• How to actually submit a podcast to iTunes and other directories
• Why promotion doesn't stop once the first episode goes live

The Podcast Launch: Start to Finish

Steps to launching a podcast:

1. Planning
2. Graphics & assets
3. Production & tagging
4. Media hosting
5. RSS feed creation
6. Submitting to podcast directories
7. Marketing

1. Planning

Start date: pick one to give yourself a real goal. At least 4-6 weeks is recommended, more if an interview format is planned. Mike Murphy Unplugged launched in one month — a couple more weeks would have helped. Everyone knows their own pace best, but picking a start date is what actually gets things moving.

Show planning (very important): What is the show about? What value gets delivered to listeners — knowledge, humor, insight? What's the format — solo, interview, co-host? What's the frequency — daily, weekly, monthly? Be consistent. What's the approximate length — 10 minutes, 30 minutes, an hour? Be consistent. Who is the audience? This one's big, and it's genuinely okay not to know exactly at first.

Tip: when recording, imagine speaking to one person, not an entire audience — it changes the tone for the better.

2. Graphics & Assets

Website: every podcast needs a home. Divi by Elegant Themes is the best WordPress theme used to date, and highly recommended.

Podcast cover art: genuinely important, and worth outsourcing if needed — Fiverr is one option among many designers who specialize in podcast cover art.

Music: Incompetech, AudioJungle, AudioBlocks.

Sound effects and voiceover intros: Fiverr again.

Tip: don't get stuck gathering assets — done is better than perfect.

3. Production

Write a script — developing a repeatable template, like a story, helps a lot. Scrivener is the writing tool of choice.

Record the podcast. Adobe Audition is the tool used here; other popular editors include GarageBand, Reaper, Pro Tools, and Audacity.

Edit, add music and sound effects, export as an MP3 file.

Tag it. ID3 Editor handles this — the metadata embedded in an MP3 file. To see it in action, open iTunes, right-click any song, and selec…

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Episode Summary: Every web and business tool used to run Mike Murphy Co. — hosting, email, organization, accounting, freelancing platforms, stock resources, and where the ongoing education happens.

What You'll Learn

• The full web and business toolkit used to run Mike Murphy Co.
• Organization and productivity tools that actually get used, not just downloaded
• Where to find affordable freelancers, stock assets, and design resources
• The go-to platforms for ongoing online education

Hosting & Website

Bluehost — the best hosting company, with equally good customer service. Divi by Elegant Themes — words can't do justice to how great this theme framework is. X-Theme by Theme.co — the favorite WordPress theme before discovering Divi, and still great.

Email & Communication

Mailchimp — the preferred email service for newsletters. Slack — eliminates internal email entirely.

Organization & Productivity

Dropbox — no explanation needed, an absolute must-have. Google Apps for Business — if you do one thing for your business, install this. Buffer — genuinely one of the favorite tools in the stack. Baron Fig — notebooks that make working feel more creative and organized. Evernote — still working on making this a habit. Trello — the favorite organizer, keeps track of everything. Asana — another great project management tool. Calendly — a cool scheduling tool that integrates with Google Calendar. List.ly — make and share lists with the world. Workflowy — awesome for long lists, even if underused.

Writing

Scrivener — working toward making this the default writer. Byword — a great markup writing tool. Medium — for writing and publishing articles.

Security

1Password — a genuine game-changer; being locked out of everything without it is unimaginable now.

Accounting

FreshBooks — beautiful invoicing and much more. Xero — makes accounting genuinely enjoyable.

Freelancing & Outsourcing

Fiverr — great for small jobs. PeoplePerHour and Freelancer are also worth knowing.

Read the complete show notes and resources on mikemurphy.ai.

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