Podcast Insider

Off to a somewhat bumpy start, Apple and Spotify are going to offer premium aka paid for podcast subscriptions. Apple promised an update in their latest iOS that would feature new functionality for premium shows, however they're still having major directory issues at the moment. Spotify has announced their premium option for creators to make paid for content, but we haven't heard much more about when this will become widely available. And last but not least, Facebook is working on a podcast player. That's certainly not the last of all we talk about on today's episode.

Live Facebook recording.

Thanks for joining us on this episode of Podcast Insider. Looking to be a guest on the show? Let us know.

Recorded live from two well-separated and socially distanced podcast studios in northern and southern Michigan; here’s Podcast Insider.

News:

Spotify is also adding premium podcasting.

Facebook is adding a podcast player to it's app

99% Invisible bought by Sirius XM. Congrats!

Podcasts Connect and more at Apple still not working for some users. Read more about their premium podcasting woes and the latest botched update.

Macmillan is looking for a script editor for podcasts.

Best Practice:

Show notes: Appearance in directories and apps

Each app or directory shows what they want from what you put in your show notes (blog post). There really isn’t a way to control it to look exactly the same everywhere.

Not all apps show links or photos you put in the blog post

Write your show notes for Google

Blubrry News:

PowerPress 8.6 beta is available now. Get it here if you want to test. 

Podcast Monetization, from our site.

If you want to write for Podcast Insider blog, contact [email protected]

Question(s) of the Week 

Question: Is PowerPress compatible with Divi (theme and page builder)?

Answer: Yes, the Divi theme works with PowerPress, which is also true on 99.999% of WordPress themes. The Divi builder doesn’t work well with RSS and therefore, doesn’t work well with PowerPress or podcasting in general. One problem is show notes. 

Divi builder does not put the text in the right places for the podcasting apps to pick up correctly. There is also a bug in the builder that removes the enclosure from the feed for all but the last episode.

If you are going to use Divi, do not use Divi builder (or any other page builder) for your podcast posts. Revert to the stock WordPress editor, and use the builder for the rest of the pages and posts on the site.

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If you have a question you would like us to answer on the show, drop an email to [email protected]  (Audio or text or even video if you want) and we may use it on the show.

The best place for support with any Blubrry products/services is our ticket system (https://blubrry.com/support/)  Sending a ticket gives the whole team access to the question rather than direct emails or direct phone calls.

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Be sure to subscribe to the unofficial companion show to this one, Podcast Help Desk where Mike goes a little deeper into the geeky and techy side of podcasting.

https://www.podcasthelpdesk.com

______________

Promo code INSIDER for a free month at Blubrry.com

Coming at you this week from Blubrry Studios in northern and southern Michigan. Produced by the Blubrry Pro-Production team.

Schedule a one-on-one with Todd (hosting customers only). Email [email protected]

Schedule a tech checkup with Mike (hosting customers only). Email [email protected]

Send us your podcast sticker and a self-address stamped envelope (SASE) and we will send you a Blubrry care...

Every year the tech industry awaits Apple events, one of which was this week. And let's just say that Apple is making significant podcast changes for its app and more, and has already gotten started. This week loads of podcasts in their directory are facing issues, whether it's missing episodes or the show is gone entirely. On top of that, Apple will be releasing podcast subscriptions in their next app update.

Thanks for joining us on this episode of Podcast Insider. Looking to be a guest on the show? Let us know.

Recorded live from two well-separated and socially distanced podcast studios in northern and southern Michigan; here’s Podcast Insider.

Facebook live recording.

News:

Apple Podcast Changes

Apple hosted one of their annual events recently and released a big update to their Podcasts app. Learn more here. And, again here.

Some shows are missing from Apple Podcasts. From what we can tell, they will come back once Apple gets everything in Podcasts Connect sorted out for everyone. “We are working towards recovering most missing shows by end of day or sooner.” This is a widespread problem, don't feel singled out.

Facebook is getting its feet wet in podcasting.

Overcast now using PodcastIndex API for some of it’s catalog, due to Apple’s API missing a lot of feed URLS (over 500k).

Outlier Podcast Festival takes place May 27th and 28th. 

Best Practice:

When hiring a web designer, BE CAREFUL!

If you are on WordPress using PowerPress, don’t let someone move you to another web platform (Squarespace, Wix or others) without talking to us for help BEFORE the move.

Page builder apps (Divi and others) are great for web pages, but not great for podcast posts in WordPress. They tend to mess up the RSS feed for show notes and in one case, does not allow the mp3 files to get into the RSS feed. Use the stock WordPress editor (Classic or Block editor).

Google search is the #1 way people discover episode posts. For SEO it’s better to use WordPress posts (and PowerPress) to publish episodes.

Blubrry News:

PowerPress 8.6 beta is available now. Get it here if you want to test.

Questions to ask before outsourcing your production, from our blog.

Question(s) of the Week 

Question: What are your recommendations for storing episodes on your own, for example archiving your podcast? External hard drives, cloud storage?

Answer, from Mike: The old adage, 'If it doesn’t exist in 3 places digitally, it doesn’t exist', applies here. In my case I keep a copy of all my files on a server drive at my house, another copy on a removable hard drive stored off site (I switch out the backup drives once a month) and of course, Blubrry has a copy of each episode on my hosting plan. I didn’t always do this and have completely lost the first 30 episodes of one of my shows.

There are cloud based services that can back things up for you. Like Amazon Glacier, Backblaze or Carbonite. Those can be a good choice as well. 

You should back up your final mp3 files somehow, because you never know when something might happen where you need to re-upload a file. It’s good to have the original files where you can get at them quickly.

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If you have a question you would like us to answer on the show, drop an email to [email protected]  (Audio or text or even video if you want) and we may use it on the show.

The best place for support with any Blubrry products/services is our ticket system (https://blubrry.com/support/)  Sending a ticket gives the whole team access to the question rather than direct emails or direct phone calls.

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Be sure to subscribe to the unofficial companion show to this one,

After you've been producing your show for a while you might yourself wondering, how can you simplify your podcast. Over the years we've had varying levels of production style and steps in our podcast routine, but in the end we tend to think, the simpler the better. Learn how to simplify your podcast routine in our Best Practice portion of the episode.

Thanks for joining us on this episode of Podcast Insider. Looking to be a guest on the show? Let us know.

Recorded live from two well-separated and socially distanced podcast studios in northern and southern Michigan; here’s Podcast Insider.

Facebook live recording.

News:

Apple will display a show’s schedule in new update.

Feedburner is not dead yet. Read their update here.

Rodecaster Pro Beta software is now available.

WTF with Marc Maron will be given the first ever, Governer’s award at the Ambies in May.

Congratulations are in order; Google Podcasts hits 100 million installations on Android.

Amazon Podcasts has just launched to (potentially) 1.5 billion listeners in France, Italy, Spain and India.

New York Times announces their 4th annual Student Podcast Contest.

Best Practice: Simplify your podcast

The easier you make your podcasting routine, the more likely you are to stick with it.

Make posts on your website easy to manage. No need for fancy-looking things that only slow your website and slow posting or publishing.

Keep your recording setup as simple as you can; at the least, easy to operate.

Removing extra steps can save time and make you more focused on your content instead of your tech.

Blubrry News:

One more hot fix before PowerPress 8.6. Version 8.5.6 was released today, with minor bug fixes for accessibility.

Business Level Private Podcasting, learn about our private internal podcasting service.

Earn Money from Other People’s Podcasts! Learn about the Blubrry Affiliate Program.

Affiliate payments go out next week!

Question(s) of the Week 

Question: My podcast is broken. Can you fix it for me?

Answer: Maybe, but I am going to need a LOT more information.

I get variations of this question several times daily. The contact does not include the name of their podcast, what is “broken” specifically, their account email (they of course can’t use their account email to make contact) or any other information about their podcast or their problem. Help us help you!

Tell us what the problem is

Give us specific questions

Include the RSS feed address you’re using

Provide the account email address for Blubrry

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If you have a question you would like us to answer on the show, drop an email to [email protected]  (Audio or text or even video if you want) and we may use it on the show.

The best place for support with any Blubrry products/services is our ticket system (https://blubrry.com/support/)  Sending a ticket gives the whole team access to the question rather than direct emails or direct phone calls.

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Be sure to subscribe to the unofficial companion show to this one, Podcast Help Desk where Mike goes a little deeper into the geeky and techy side of podcasting. 

This week, I plan to air my top 11 (was 10) podcasting grievances. Last week the episode was delayed for a reason that is now number 11 on my list.

https://www.podcasthelpdesk.com

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Promo code INSIDER for a free month at Blubrry.com

Coming at you this week from Blubrry Studios in northern and southern Michigan. Produced by the Blubrry Pro-Production team.

As a podcaster, it's good to have an overview of the industry as a whole. Such as, how many podcasts are there? That's an easy answer, over 2 million as of spring 2021. However, once you start to look at the shows individually, can all of them really be counted?

Thanks for joining us on this episode of Podcast Insider. Looking to be a guest on the show? Let us know.

Recorded live from two well-separated and socially distanced podcast studios in northern and southern Michigan; here’s Podcast Insider.

Live Facebook recording.

News:

Religion is no longer the largest category of podcasts (at Apple Podcasts)

Numbers that make you think: 26% of all shows in Apple Podcasts have just one episode

Are there really over 2 million podcasts? Yes, but maybe not.

Wondery, recently purchased by Amazon, is looking to double its staff with nearly 75 job openings.

Canadian Podcast award nominations are open until April 30th.

Apple launched a new exclusive podcast, in a promotion strategy with the release of a new TV show.

Spotify quietly removing more Joe Rogan episodes.

Best Practice: 

Send your listeners to your website. Do not focus on sending listeners to one platform. You can list (and link) all of their options such as Google, Spotify, etc on your website.

Blubrry News:

PowerPress 8.5.5  is out!

PowerPress 8.6 is currently in internal beta. New stats widget and some UI tweaks.  If you would like to beta test PowerPress 8.6, email [email protected].

RIAA takedowns for copyrighted music are on the upswing.  Be careful!

Question(s) of the Week 

Question: Craig on the Blubrry Facebook Group “If I post my podcast via WordPress and make the visibility "private" will it still post to my public RSS feed?”

Answer: No. The post is published and the public is required for the episode to get into the RSS feed. Using PowerPress, it creates a podcast feed from your blog posts. That being what it does, all posts that are public and have a podcast episode file attached as an enclosure, will be in the RSS feed. Blogging and podcasting are the same things. If you make a blog post private, it does not show up in syndication feeds. If it’s public and published, it will go into the RSS feed.

Question 2: “I recently switched website hosts and now my RSS feed is coming up with an error 404 Not Found. Any suggestions on how to fix this?”

Answer 2: The problem is on the new host, your permalinks are set to default (plain) in WordPress settings. That causes your feed address to change to https://domain.com/?feed=podcast instead of https://domain.com/feed/podcast/. Set your permalinks to “post name” or anything other than “plain” and it will correct the feed address.

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If you have a question you would like us to answer on the show, drop an email to [email protected]  (Audio or text or even video if you want) and we may use it on the show.

The best place for support with any Blubrry products/services is our ticket system (https://blubrry.com/support/)  Sending a ticket gives the whole team access to the question rather than direct emails or direct phone calls.

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Be sure to subscribe to the unofficial companion show to this one, Podcast Help Desk where Mike goes a little deeper into the geeky and techy side of podcasting. 

This week, I plan to air my top 10 podcasting grievances

https://www.podcasthelpdesk.com

______________

Promo code INSIDER for a free month at Blubrry.com

Coming at you this week from Blubrry Studios in northern and southern Michigan. Produced by the Blubrry Pro-Production team.

Schedule a one-on-one with Todd (hosting customers only...

Happy April Fools Day! We promise, we do enjoy helping our customers. One thing we don't joke about at Blubrry Podcasting is copyrighted music or material. It'll get podcasters into hot water fast (seriously, don't be a fool) and we highly recommend getting your intros, outros and any music played in your episodes, from a reputable source where you are most likely going to pay for it. It doesn't have to be expensive, it just has to be legal.

Thanks for joining us on this episode of Podcast Insider. Looking to be a guest on the show? Let us know.

Recorded live from two well-separated and socially distanced podcast studios in northern and southern Michigan; here’s Podcast Insider.

Live Facebook recording.

News:

Entercom, Owners of CBS Radio, Cadence13, Pineapple Street Studios and Podcorn changed its name to Audacy.

Podcast Index now has over 2 million podcasts!

The Ramsey Show has reached one billion downloads.

Apple Podcasts Connect has a 'known issue’ with validating new RSS feeds. They are aware of it and are working on it.

Serial Productions new 5 episode podcast launching soon.  The Improvement Association is about election fraud in small town South Carolina.

James Cridland pulled off a great April Fools episode/issue of PodNews.net today. We highly recommend it.

Podcaster Radio expands in the UK to Birmingham, England.

Best Practice:

Podcast Intros, Outros and Music 

Do you need a music opener?

Safe places to get that music. For instance... our partner Source Audio.

Blubrry News:

PowerPress 8.5.5 should be out soon fixing a LONG-STANDING bug  in Migrate Media.  Along with some other minor UI tweaks. 

Collaborations Benefit Podcasters, from our blog.

PowerPress 8.6 in internal beta.  New stats widget and some UI Tweaks.  If you would like to beta test PowerPress 8.6, email [email protected]

Tip of the Week:

Do you sometimes wonder where a podcast is hosted or what RSS feed a podcast is using? Do you don’t know what yours is (you should know your own RSS feed). You can find an RSS feed of any show using CastFeedValidator.com. Just click on “Find Your Feed” in the upper right. Enter the title of the show as  listed in Apple Podcasts and the tool will find the RSS feed.  Just click on “View RSS” and it will take you to the RSS address of the show and you can see what the address is.

If you have a question you would like us to answer on the show, drop an email to [email protected]  (Audio or text or even video if you want) and we may use it on the show.

The best place for support with any Blubrry products/services is our ticket system (https://blubrry.com/support/)  Sending a ticket gives the whole team access to the question rather than direct emails or direct phone calls. 

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Be sure to subscribe to the companion show to this one, Podcast Help Desk where Mike goes a little deeper into the geeky and techy side of podcasting. 

This week Mike talks with Andy Lehman (maker of the Podcast Namespace WordPress Plugin) about the Podcasting 2.0 and the “podcast” namespace.  

https://www.podcasthelpdesk.com

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Promo code INSIDER for a free month at Blubrry.com

Coming at you this week from Blubrry Studios in northern and southern Michigan. Produced by the Blubrry Pro-Production team.

Schedule a one-on-one with Todd (hosting customers only). Email [email protected]

Schedule a tech checkup with Mike (hosting customers only). Email [email protected]

Send us your podcast sticker and a self-address stamped envelope (SASE) and we will send you a Blubrry care package.

Our mailing address is:

Special Announcement: Samsung Podcasts — Blubrry is a launch partner.

Organizing your podcast production helps to make sure your audience is getting consistent episodes and makes it easier for you, the podcaster. Earlier this week in a blog post we shared some ways to make pre and post production simple, and Todd and Mike review some of those tactics in today's episode.

Thanks for joining us on this episode of Podcast Insider. Looking to be a guest on the show? Let us know.

Recorded live from two well-separated and socially distanced podcast studios in northern and southern Michigan; here’s Podcast Insider.

Live Facebook recording.

News:

Google adds automatic subtitles in Chrome for web audio (and video) players.

Over 2 million podcasts in Apple Podcasts, wow.

Most listeners say they will not pay for a podcast. We're not surprised.

Kangaroofern Inaugurates Australiasia’s First Podcast Summit – Podfiesta April 10th-12th.

Podcasting is always the next big thing

Podcast Prefix Analytics explained

Best Practice:

Organizing your production: How Podcast Insider does show-prep, records and publishes.

Perfect your process: Prep, record, post-production, publish your episode

Checklists are good (see blog article below)

Double check your equipment and settings

Don’t forget to hit RECORD :)

Blubrry News:

PowerPress 8.6 is in the works, will include new stats reporting in the WordPress dashboard

Optimize Your Podcast Pre-Production with a Checklist, from our blog.

Growing Your Audience Organically, with Todd Cochrane from Podcast Movement University!

Today, PowerPress 8.5 and Podcast Index Tags webinar

Question(s) of the Week: 

Question: I bought a Blue Yeti microphone and I can’t get it to sound good at all. What can I do to make it sound better?

Answer: The Blue Yeti is a condenser mic. Condenser mics require a quiet environment. So, if possible, record in a quiet place with lots of “soft” things around. A carpeted room with curtains over the windows, a closet perhaps. Also, you have to tweak the settings to help prevent extra sounds from getting into the mic.

First thing, Yeti is a side-address microphone, which means you should speak into the side of the microphone with the Blue logo facing you. Get up close and personsal, (2-6 inches) from the microphone.

Use a pop-filter in-between you and the mic.

Turn the gain (volume) of the microphone down lower than you think it should be.

Test the recording and turn the input to your source down until your levels are about ¾ of the way up (depending on what sort of meter you have in the software). Lower is better.

Once you have finished recording, run the file though a leveling program like Auphonic. This will boost the volume back up to standard if you record low (like you should with a Yeti).

Do some test recordings to get proper levels without too much background noise and remember where those settings are (or take a picture).

The Yeti would not be my first choice for a podcasting mic. A dynamic USB mic like the ATR2100X, Samson Q2U or the Shure MV7 would be a better choice if you can swing it.

Yeti’s are not necessarily bad, but do take a bit more care and planning to get them to sound good at first.

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Be sure to subscribe to the companion show to this one, Podcast Help Desk where Mike goes a little deeper into the geeky and tech side of podcasting. 

This weekend, I will be explaining the podcast namespace tags and why you might want to start using them.

Many podcasters have this question: what day should you release your podcast episode. There isn't a straight answer on this, but a few solid recommendations that we go over in our experience and the overall industry. We also chat about some podcast event changes and what's going on with Blubrry (PowerPress).

Thanks to Diana from DWS Ministries for joining Todd this time around.

Thanks for joining us on this episode of Podcast Insider. Looking to be a guest on the show? Let us know.

Recorded live from two well-separated and socially distanced podcast studios in northern and southern Michigan; here’s Podcast Insider.

Live Facebook recording.

News:

Overcast tracking... at odds with Chartable and Podsights. Read about it here and here.

SquadCast: Audio and Video is now out of beta.

Podfest has delayed their June in-person event.

Podcast Movement 2021, in-person Nashville Aug. 3-6, 2021. We'll be there!

Dallas August 2022, Podcast Movement. And PM Evolutions 2022 with be in Los Angeles March 2022.

Best Practice:

Is there a best day of the week to release your episodes?

Short answer: No.

Longer answer: Not really, unless your show is news related and the news you cover happens at a particular time each week. For example, an NFL or NASCAR podcast might be best released on Monday’s after the game/race or on the Friday before. There are days that, across the podcasting space, that more podcasts are downloaded than other days. But that doesn’t mean those are the best days to release a show. It just means that more people get their podcasts on that day than other days.

Just like most things, do what works for you. It won’t matter too much if you release on Thursdays or Mondays, just that you release episodes. Try to be consistent in whatever schedule you choose and people will build you into their schedule of listening.

Blubrry News:

Use your Podcasting Skills on Clubhouse, from our blog.

PowerPress training webinar on March 25th at 3pm EDT. We will go over the new tags in PowerPress.

Next PowerPress update will be for the stats dashboard widget

Podcaster of the Month - Jenny Wheeler, look for her interview on the show soon.

Interview:

Diana Winkler: DSW-Ministries: A Musical Safe Haven, Empowerment Over Abuse

Connect with Diane...

Website

Facebook

Twitter

YouTube

Pinterest

Question(s) of the Week:

Question:  How do I get my podcast on podcast listening app?  (Apple, Google, Stitcher, Spotify and all the rest).

Answer: There isn’t a simple one sentence answer, but luckily it's not difficult. Follow the steps below.

Establish your RSS feed aka publish an episode.

Submit that RSS feed to your desired directory/app. All directories and apps are different but we have guides on how to submit to the most popular places.

Continue publishing. It's as simple as that; when you publish those directories and apps will update accordingly.

  Learn more about it here, or head to PowerPress Settings and then Destinations.

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Be sure to subscribe to the companion show to this one, Podcast Help Desk where Mike goes a little deeper into the geeky and tech side of podcasting. 

This weekend, I will be explaining the podcast namespace tags and why you might want to start using them. 

https://www.podcasthelpdesk.com

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Promo code INSIDER for a free month at Blubrry.com

Coming at you this week from Blubrry Studios in northern and southern Michigan. Produced by the Blubrry Pro-Production team.

Podcasting is always changing, and that's certainly been the case this week. Starting out with a change in Apple Podcasts, changing the option from Subscribe to Follow. Multiple acquisitions are in the works and the yearly Infinite Dial results were presented earlier this week. Podcasts are growing in popularity, again.

Thanks for joining us on this episode of Podcast Insider. Looking to be a guest on the show? Let us know.

Recorded live from two well-separated and socially distanced podcast studios in northern and southern Michigan; here’s Podcast Insider.

Live Facebook recording.

News:

Apple Podcasts changing the word Subscribe to Follow inside their app.

Entercom acquires Podcorn.

Podchaser acquires Podrover and Podcharts.

Last week the Podcast Academy unveiled nominees for The Ambies, check out is a link to the list.

More people listening to podcasts than ever before, based on the Edison Research Infinite Dial 2021.

Google Podcasts adding Like and Dislike to tweak your episode recommendations.

Best Practice: What do you want your podcast to accomplish?

Set a goal for your podcast. What do you want out podcasting?

Are you podcasting for fun?

Are you podcasting to make money?

Are you podcasting to promote a business?

Are you podcasting to learn or be an expert in a subject? (both can be true at the same time).

Do you want to be famous?

There is no wrong answer. Just be clear on what you want to do.

Blubrry News:

PowerPress 8.5.3, featuring Podcast Index tags, out now!

PowerPress training webinar on March 25th at 3pm EDT. We will go over the new tags in PowerPress.

Women’s History Month on Podcast Insider. Women’s voices ring across the history of podcasting.

Interview: Next week we’ll have an interview with Jenny Wheeler and her show The Joys of Binge Reading

Question(s) of the Week:

Question: I want to rebrand my podcast. What are the steps needed to do that?

Answer: Here is a little checklist that will help you make sure you get it rebranded correctly.

Change the feed title.

Change the podcast artwork.

Change the feed description and the Apple descriptions to match the new name.

Change the website’s domain name.

If you change the domain name on the site or move to a new site, do a 301 redirect of the RSS feed. (Leave the old domain/site up for at least 30 days with the redirect in place).

Give Apple and the other syndication points time to update the name/image; normally three days or so.

Spotify is different, you may have to change the feed address in Spotify if you moved the feed or contact your hosting provider to make the change.

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Be sure to subscribe to the companion show to this one, Podcast Help Desk where Mike goes a little deeper into the geeky and tech side of podcasting.

https://www.podcasthelpdesk.com

______________

Promo code INSIDER for a free month at Blubrry.com

Coming at you this week from Blubrry Studios in northern and southern Michigan. Produced by the Blubrry Pro-Production team.

Schedule a one-on-one with Todd (hosting customers only). Email [email protected]

Schedule a tech checkup with Mike (hosting customers only). Email [email protected]

Send us your podcast sticker and a self-address stamped envelope (SASE) and we will send you a Blubrry care package.

Our mailing address is:

Blubrry – MacKenzie

150 E. Campus View Blvd. #180

You're not done once you publish your podcast. Next comes marketing the episode, typically on social media. But before you do that, you might want to do one more thing right after you publish. Make sure that the episode indeed plays. That and more on today's episode of Podcast Insider with Todd Cochrane and Mike Dell.

Thanks for Dave Graveline for becoming part of the Blubrry community recently as well as being our guest interview this week.

Thanks for joining us on this episode of Podcast Insider. Looking to be a guest on the show? Let us know.

News:

The nominees for The Ambies, the Awards for Excellence in Audio, from the Podcast Academy, were announced today.

Google announced a new audio format for voice, Lira. This new format is supposed to be only 3kbps, with plans to make it open source.

Omny says smart speakers will overtake desktop browser downloads soon.

New podcast In Plain Sight with Lady Bird Johnson from ABC.

The Wynn Las Vegas has invested in sports podcaster Blue Wire. A studio in the hotel lobby is in the works.

Best Practice:

Don’t be surprised, check your episodes after you publish them.

After publishing, hit play on the player on your site. Does it play? Does it sound good?

Make sure it’s the correct episode audio. It can happen where you upload the wrong audio when posting a podcast, always good to double check.

Subscribe to your own show. Either in Apple Podcasts or Google Podcasts (if you are on Android). You will get the new episode quite quickly after publishing.

After 24 hours, check all the syndication points (Apple, Google Podcasts, Stitcher and so on).  If only one is missing your new episode, that means it is not YOUR issue, it’s an issue with that platform. Rare, but it happens.  All services have issues from time to time.

Relax and get working on your next episode! It’s all working perfectly.

Blubrry News:

Read here to learn about Blubrry stats name changes: Free, Standard, Advanced

PowerPress 8.5 will include Podcast Index tags!

Clubhouse for Podcasters, the pros and cons.

Interview:

Dave Graveline's show Into Tomorrow with Dave Graveline

Connect with Dave here...

Facebook

Instagram

Twitter

YouTube

Question(s) of the Week

Question: Chris on Facebook: “Does anyone use Zencastr instead of Zoom for video interviews for podcasts? And why?”

Answer:  We use Skype and a very well-equipped studio setup with a video switcher, etc. for this show when we are doing live video. Today, we are trying out Riverside.fm.

Zoom works well because just about everyone has it, but there are a lot of good products out there for video and audio remote interviews and such; use what works for you.

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Be sure to subscribe to the companion show to this one, Podcast Help Desk where Mike goes a little deeper into the geeky and tech side of podcasting.

https://www.podcasthelpdesk.com

______________

Promo code INSIDER for a free month at Blubrry.com

Coming at you this week from Blubrry Studios in northern and southern Michigan. Produced by the Blubrry Pro-Production team.

Schedule a one-on-one with Todd (hosting customers only). Email [email protected]

Schedule a tech checkup with Mike (hosting customers only). Email [email protected]

Let us know you’d like to be Podcaster of the Month or a guest on the show. Email [email protected]

Send us your podcast sticker and a self-address stamped envelope (SASE) and we will send you a Blubrry care package.

If you're not a web novice, it can be hard to know when to update your podcast website. So, so many podcasters are doing their show because they are passionate and knowledgeable on their topic, but that doesn't mean they are familiar with all the behind the scenes tasks that are required to make the podcast run well. If you're not sure on how to manage your podcast website, you're not alone. Mike Dell and Dave Clements, from Blubrry support, go over some of the basics to keep your website running smoothly.

Of course, they also dive into some new celebrity podcasts, hackers in podcasting and money spent on podcast advertising.

Just a note, Mike does say this is episode 231 at the beginning, but it is in fact, episode 232.

Thanks for joining us on this episode of Podcast Insider. Looking to be a guest on the show? Let us know.

Recorded live from two well-separated and socially distanced podcast studios in central Indiana and northern Michigan; here’s Podcast Insider.

News:

Several podcast companies were on the receiving end of a DDOS attack earlier this week. James Cridland from Podnews.net talked to the ‘hackers’.

Acast has purchased Radio Public.

President Obama and Bruce Springsteen will be hosting a show together on Spotify.

Gimlet’s Reply All host PJ Vogt steps away and more.

Talk radio host Rush Limbaugh passes away at 70.

The top advertisers in podcasting for January 2021.

Best Practice: Keeping your website up-to-date

Update the following when it calls for it.

Plugins

Themes

WordPress itself

Remove any unused themes and plugins

Blubrry News:

Exciting things coming in PowerPress soon!

Recent blog post: Always Ask Your Audience

March is International Women's Month, look out for posts on our social media and directory for shows.

Question(s) of the Week:

Question: What have you found the best way of starting an introduction in a podcast episode?

Answer: Just start. I know that is too easy; what I like to do is say hi and quick welcome to the episode.  Sometimes I go over what is going to be in the episode if it’s many things, and I use a saying at the beginning of my personal shows. Some people edit a quote out of something in the middle of the show as a “cold open”. Some play music (legal music like we do), and some just get right into it. It shouldn’t take more than 30 seconds to get into the content. Again, this is totally dependent on what your show is about, the format that YOU choose.

Playing Games with Strangers

with Dave Clements

On the next Podcast Help Desk episode: Free podcast hosting. Is it really a viable option?

https://www.podcasthelpdesk.com

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Promo code INSIDER for a free month at Blubrry.com

Coming at you this week from Blubrry Studios in northern and southern Michigan. Produced by the Blubrry Pro-Production team.

Schedule a one-on-one with Todd (hosting customers only). Email [email protected]

Schedule a tech checkup with Mike (hosting customers only). Email [email protected]

Let us know you’d like to be Podcaster of the Month or a guest on the show. Email [email protected]

Send us your podcast sticker and a self-address stamped envelope (SASE) and we will send you a Blubrry care package.

Our mailing address is:

Blubrry – MacKenzie

150 E. Campus View Blvd. #180

Columbus, Ohio 43235