National Podcast Post Month 2023

Congratulations! You’ve done it! You’ve successfully completed the 2023 National Podcast Post Month challenge. 

If you look at the time between the two dates from 2005 to 2023 you’ll see an 18 year gap. 2005 being when I first heard about and began podcasting. 2023 being 18 years since and that podcasting is now my career. 

You never know where podcasting will take you. I encourage you to lean into the part of you podcast that spark wonder and dare you to dream. 

BIG THANK YOU to Alessandra White and Creative Work Hour for the daily NaPodPoMo support sessions. Alessandra has something quite special with Creative Work Hour. I highly recommend connecting with the Creative Work Hour community. Creative Work Hour is an official NaPodPoMo Community (the first one ever) and I am thrilled, honored, and excited to have them on board to expand the vision and possibilities of National Podcast Post Month.

I would also like to give my deep appreciation to Todd Cochrane, Mike Dell, and the wonderful team at Blubrry. Their support of NaPodPoMo and this podcast made so many things possible. My goal is to share what I have learned about the robust features within PowerPress far and wide. You know me I’m all about that Learn Share Grow. 

So, my experiment with Live was a resounding success…eventually. It took me a long time to first get over my own insecurities, then to have the confidence to do the thing and go live. Figuring out the tech, app, and tool side of things was an entirely different animal. Again, I am super grateful to Todd, Mike, and the team at Blubrry for being my guide. I can’t image even beginning to attempt something this complex without a guide. Of course now that I know how everything works, it doesn’t feel complex at all. That whole “knowledge is power” saying is oh so true.

Now that you are at the tale end of National Podcast Post Month did you accomplish your goals? Did your goals change? Did they expand?

What makes a deep dive into a challenge like NaPodPoMo transformative is how quickly you learn and how the vision you have for yourself and your podcast changes. If that sounds grandiose, it isn’t. I’ve shared in the past that people have written books which came about because of NaPodPoMo. I think it’s the forced creativity where ideas take form.

So, did you accomplish you goals? Did the goal posts for your goals change? What kind of adventure have you been on this month and what does your podcast map look like now? 

I will say the one thing I wish I had more time to do was to build the live audience during NaPodPoMo. That is probably my one regret. I would have liked to have been able to bring NaPodPoMo podcasters onto the show live. Sort of a see one, do one, teach one type of experience. Granted that was my pie in the sky wish when I got started. And one that is still burning brightly inside. Which means I’ll need to figure out how to fan the flames a bit to see what happens. 

Will you continue your podcast after NaPodPoMo? Or is it a one and done? 

Does your podcast merit a sequel or an ongoing series or does you finish it with off with a bow on top?

These are the questions you’ve probably asked yourself now that we are at the end of the challenge. Here are some things to consider. Did you enjoy the topic or show flow? Was it a grind and were you gritting your teeth just to get it done? Podcasting is a whole lot of work. If this is painful without joy or reward then perhaps this isn’t for you and that is totally okay. This possibility is why I always recommend a client start with a standalone series. This gives them permission to walk away without feeling the undue pressure to continue. NaPodPoMo is your standalone series. You can walk away proud of your body of work. No harm no foul.

Of course, I do hope you found some joy in your NaPodPoMo experience and that I’ll see you again for the 17th annual global podcast challenge.

Now that I have successfully figured out how to go live, now what? Well a whole new world has opened up for me. I know for a fact that 2024 will include a whole lot of live podcasting. I’m going to take some time in December to push the buttons and pull the levers. I want to put it through its paces. November was about me figuring out how to do it. December and beyond will be about me figuring out the best way for me to do it well. 

One thing I know about crisis is that it brings about clarity. Now I’m not comparing NaPodPomo to a crisis, but I can say NaPodPoMo always brings about clarity. I think it has to do with the focus, frequency, and time pressure. I know I learn a whole lot about myself each time I do NaPodPoMo. 

So, if your NaPodPoMo experience left you feeling the highest of the high or unsure or pondering a thing or two, you’re not alone. Percolate and sit with some of that in early December. Maybe write some thing things out in a journal. Take what make sense and worked and leave anything that didn’t behind. 

This challenge (as I’ve said many times) is challenging. Not every aspect of it is meant to be golden. Think of NaPodPoMo in the same way a silversmith refines silver. You’ve got to go through the fire to get rid of the impurities. 

NaPodPoMo can be that fire that focuses and gets rid of what isn’t necessary to your podcasting journey. 

Remember when I talked about Audio Hijack and LadioCast? Well LadioCast is a free app you can download to your computer and it makes it easy to stream from your computer. What I realized after my first attempt was that it did not record what I was broadcasting. Doh!

Which is where Audio Hijack came into play. Audio Hijack allows me to both broadcast and record. So, I’m not telling you to go buy Audio Hijack. However, you will need to find some way to record your show. 

I haven’t tried it, but I wonder if Zoom screenshare with audio capture would do it. That’s worth a test. I also use Ecamm Live and know recording sound on my computer is something I can do easily, but then again that’s a paid app. So, if you know of free recording software. Maybe Audacity? Hmmm… need to test that, too. 

When it comes the fast tracking our podcast knowledge there is nothing like a challenge to show us the stumbling points, road blocks, and lack of knowledge. Holy smokes this month has been the most challenge NaPodPoMo I’ve had in years. It’s really stretched my tech skills or should I say shown me where my tech skills were lacking. But, I am thrilled at how fast I was able to overcome each stumbling block. How quickly I was forced to not put off something hard. The days were slipping by and the clock was ticking. Sort of like it is right now as I do this 10 episode naPodPoMo podcast marathon. This is episode 26 and I can see the finish line. 

So as you reflect back on you NaPodPoMo experience give yourself a pat on the back for all that you have learned and done. 

Once you are done with your live show. Go back to Powerpress and change the status to “Ended” and click “SaveChanges” and now you are done. 

Easy, right? 

Well not so much. It’s a whole lot to think about. In the next episode I will talk about the production flow of making this podcast something that is both live AND recorded. 

You’ve been part of this challenge and have been running on adrenaline, community support, and more than likely some form of caffeine. You see the finished line and are breathing a sigh of relief. But before you take a long recovery nap, let’s think about what happens AFTER NaPodPoMo. 

You could continue podcasting, although probably not daily. You could wrap up your show on day 30 and call it a day. Some folks continue with a more sustainable weekly show. Others pat their podcast on the head and pack it away until next year’s NaPodPoMo. Whatever you decide is up to you.

It is now the day and time of your live show. You’re ready to roll. First change the status from pending to live and click Save changes.

Through the Streamerr.co service you are now broadcasting live out to the world.

To double check whether you are or are not live, open up the Fountain app on your phone and click on your live episode and hit play. If you can her yourself then you are good to go. Carry on. If you cannot hear yourself, then it’s time to trouble shoot. Which is where I found myself earlier this month. Not to worry you’ll figure it out and if you need support, you can reach out to the fab team at Blubrry.  

So you have a body of work, 30 episodes. The fact is this body of work that you have put together, whatever that happens to be Is your body of work. It shines a spotlight on your mission and your message. 

You have 30 episodes, so what now? Are you going to ride off into the sunset and call it a day? While, yes, you can do that, what I recommend is that you consider repurposing your content. In what way? Well, whatever way makes sense for you. Would you like to turn some Nuggets out of your episode into audiograms? 

Would you like to turn your entire episode into an audiogram for YouTube?

Would you like to create quote graphics? Would you like to do any number of things? It’s entirely up to you. Would you like to have your episodes transcribed and then for it to have you turn that into a blog post?

I would say yes to all of those things, but if it makes sense for you, if this is me telling you this is sounding really overwhelming, pick one thing, just one, and do that and maybe you can add some of these other things later. Now what you’re going to do is that you are going to point back to your podcast proper, even if you’re going to YouTube. And by the way, don’t sleep on YouTube. I can tell you that with the clients who are doing both audio and video versions of their podcasts, the audio versions get more listens, but the data coming out of the video versions of their podcasts is really quite fascinating. The audio and video audiences are two totally different audiences with interests that do not often align. Although occasionally there is an episode that ranks highly for both types of listeners.

Now that you’ve got your streaming service setup and their credentials added to your Live Item Tag settings within PowerPress, it’s time to setup your first or at least a test live show. 

This is where having the Fountain app downloaded on your phone will be helpful. If you haven’t done that already, here is my referral link or you can go directly to Fountain.fm.

Before you go live you should schedule your live show to inform the Podcasting 2.0 apps who support Live Item Tag that you will be going live on a certain day at a certain time. 

And now you have notified the apps (and your potential listeners) that your show will be live soon. 

What is your podcast elevator pitch?  why do you need this? Well, you’ve been working on this body of work and when you try and tell folks about it, it’s easy to get lost in the jargon. It’s easy to get lost in the details, and if someone isn’t into podcasting in the way that you are, they may just look at you and they’re eyes may start to glaze over or they may want to look past you.

 So here’s a thought. Come up with your podcast elevator pitch.

 a really short summary that allows the person you are telling this to, to understand what it is that you offer that you do. Where potentially, maybe it’s something for them. 

. So here is what I say my podcast, elevator pitch is for this podcast that I have done all month long.

The NaPodPoMo Podcast was created to guide and support the 16th Annual National Podcast Post Month 2023 podcasters as they navigate the tech tools and jargon in the course of developing, recording and promoting their show.

Does that resonate? Does that sound like what I’ve been doing all month long?

I think it does. But you are the folks on the other side are the recipients of this elevator pitch. Does it ring true? Does it miss the mark? Was it clear? Was it muddled? And if so, where was it clear and where was it muddled? And I think this is how you fine tune your elevator pitch, is that you craft it and then you share it with others  So craft something simple, short, sweet, to the point about your podcast and share it. 

In episode 21 I mentioned the first step to doing what I’m doing right now which is live podcasting was to have the PowerPress plugin installed on your WordPress website. 

Now let’s dig into the live features. Where do you find them and once you find them what do you do? I’ll have screenshots in the show notes to give you a visual of what I am describing so be sure to go to NaPodPoMo.org and click on the link at the top which says, “The Official NaPodPoMo Podcast”

Once you click on Live Item you’ll see a screen that shows the Live Item Tag (LIT) settings. You will need information from your streaming service of choice. Thanks to Mike Dell from Blubrry, I am using Streamerr.co to facilitate my live podcasting using an Icecast server. If this feels overwhelming you’re not alone. I struggled with this most of the month. It wasn’t Mike walked me through the process that everything clicked into place. It really much easier than I thought. 

The the next step for you is to visit streamerr.co and create a 7-day trial account or paid. It’s really quite affordable. But for this test case a 7-day trial is more than enough for you to see whether live podcasting via Podcasting 2.0 is for you. I can already tell you it is totally for me. 

Once you create your Streamerr.co account you’ll add those streaming credentials to the Live Item Tag section inside PowerPress and now your ready to roll. 

Let’s talk about your podcast call to action

Where are you directing people to during or at the end of your show? 

Are you ending the show and letting folks go? 

Or are you telling them what the next steps are that they can take? 

  If they’ve listened all the way to the end of your episode, they must have liked what they heard. And if that’s the case, they may want to go deeper.

And a call to action is the invitation to invite them to go deeper.. I mean, it could be anything. You get to decide. 

Try a few on for size and see what works for you. This is a month of experimentation. And before I leave you, be sure to connect with me @epodcaster on X/Twitter. Why there? well because that is the place I am the most present on a daily basis. So you can connect with me directly there and then visit my link to find all the other places I am. I’m inviting you to connect and go deeper if you should so choose. 

PowerPress Plugin – Step One

For these last 10 episode of NaPodPoMo I am going to verbally walk you through the process I use to go live. First off I have a WordPress website and have Blubrry’s PowerPress plugin on my site. That’s your first step. 

Get all your settings taken care of for your podcast within PowerPress. Once you have that done, then you’ll be ready to dig into some of the Podcasting 2.0 features within PowerPress. Which we’ll dig into in episode 23 episode. 

This episode combines both segments into one. You’ll hear why as I dig into today’s topic of “Wait for Breakthrough”

I’ve had several breakthrough’s throughout this month. My first breakthrough was finally getting the courage up to go live. Well as I shared in episode 6 it was actually frustration that gave the courage to go live. 

The second breakthrough was when I did the Winging It episode 10 where I had zero scripting and just rattled off what was on my mind. If you recall I had talked about how I did not like how mechanical I sounded with scripting. But I did have a reason for scripting. Navigating the Live Item Tag processes and procedures left me feeling just a bit overwhelmed. Those new grooves in my brain were not quite as developed as they are today. So having something structured like a script was meant give me one less thing to think about. The Winging It episode was definitely a turning point.

My third breakthrough happened today. I wasn’t quite sure if my audio was being transmitted during my live shows. I could see that my podcast was live and I knew I had done all the steps properly, but when I clicked to listen nothing happened. So, I reached out to Mike Dell who jumped on a Zoom to trouble shoot this with me. Boy that Blubrry tech support is something else. Turns out I was definitely streaming…but not to any particular destination and definitely not to my podcast. I was missing some vital info. Needless to say Mike pointed me in the right direction and I am happy to say I did a live test earlier today and was able to hear myself! Woohoo!

I was live and recording so I’ll be sure to share that Eureka moment with you in the published podcast. 

So why do I share this with you? Because, breakthrough will happen, but only if you keep going. Imagine if I had given up at any stage. Even though I didn’t have everything figured out, the beauty of NaPodPoMo is the expectation that we are all figuring things out. We are in a safe community space to experiment, stumble, fall, and get back up. And the NaPodPoMo community is there offer support and cheer you on.