Podcast Insider

This episode is a bit more tech oriented than normal, feature Shawn Thorpe from the support team to cover Todd and an interview from an experienced radio expert from ARRL Audio News. Todd is out this week enjoying CES in Las Vegas for the Tech Podcasts Network. They discuss some new equipment, tech and platforms involved in podcasting (Spotify and Samson) and title best practices. We're still making slow and steady improvements to PowerPress and soon a new version will be available for beta testing.

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

This week on Podcast Insider...

News:

Spotify ad injection: Almost a year after Spotify went on a podcast purchasing spree, they've added ad insertion into their platform for podcasting.

54% of Adults in the US have used a smart speaker: A look at recent numbers concerning usage and growth of smart speakers and we discuss how it relates to podcasting.

Funny podcasting bit on Family Guy.

From CES 2020: New Q9U from Samson was announced. Great possibilities for XLR and USB.

Best Practice:

Numbering episode in podcast titles: good, bad, non issue? Who knows. We know. Thanks for Dan Smolen for the topic.

Blubrry Specific News:

We're moving! Our site that is. Podcasting Insider and PowerPress Podcast are moving to a new overall site, very, very soon.

PowerPress 8.2 beta is in testing now. If you'd like to beta test, email [email protected]

Interview:

Steve Ford, WB8IMY -   ARRL Audio News

Support:

Feed Redirects for self-hosted sites and Blubrry Publisher users

Swear words in titles: do not self-censor your titles, Apple will take care of this for you.

Passwords: we have to know who you are for sure to change them for you - security reasons. We have a lost password function on our website and in PowerPress Sites.

Contact Steve Ford here:

Facebook

Twitter

Email (editor of QST Magazine)

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Coming at you this week from Mike Dell’s World Studio in Traverse City, Michigan and Shawn's studio in San Luis Obispo, California. Produced by the Blubrry Pro-Production team.

Contact Us:[email protected]@[email protected]

Welcome to 2020! Podcast Insider is here with some great information to keep your podcast running smoothly this year. Including some privacy information you might not be aware of. Todd and Mike are here to talk about CCPA, Gimlet (and Blubrry) team members. In typical New Year fashion, we offer up some best practice tips and how to evaluate the future of your show. We might have taken some time off recently but that didn't stop us from releasing a new version of PowerPress; listen and read below to learn more. And of course, can't forget our guest interview. Thanks to Dan Moyle of the Storytellers Network for joining Todd this time around.

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

This week on Podcast Insider…

News:

CCPA will take effect early 2020. Not familiar with California Consumer Privacy Act? Learn more here.

The Gimlet team is looking for a Producer of Scripted Fiction. Maybe you're the right person.

From the New Media Show, 2020 predictions. Thanks Todd and Rob.

SEO for a podcast website.

Best Practice:

When to rebrand a show vs. starting a new show. No time like the New Year to reflect and make changes to your podcast.

Discontinuing a show. Do you need to do anything? Or just stop podcasting on that feed? Lots of routes you can take here.

Blubrry News:

PowerPress 8.1 is out now! That means no more Simple Mode and Advanced Mode. It's now “Getting Started” which we think will help loads of new podcasters. Leave us a review of PowerPress here.

PowerPress 8.2 is in beta testing, this will include a new Episode Box.

The Blubrry team is growing! We've added additional developers, a new graphic designer and a marketing director. 

We're currently looking for a few more shows to add to our Blubrry ad campaign. Reach out to Todd if you think you're a good fit.

Interview:

Dan Moyle - The Storytellers Network

Support:

File names, yes, we're bringing this up again. Letters, numbers, _ underscores and - dashes only. Do not include _ or - at the end of the file name. Filenames are not helpful for SEO. Most listeners will never see the file name, so the simpler the better.  

In WordPress, what you do to your site effects your RSS feed and your show listings everywhere. You cannot podcast in 'coming soon' mode.

The #1 requirement for getting into a podcast directory is to have one published podcast episode. Yes, having an up and running podcast public is necessary for the feed to work properly in directories.

Connect with Dan Moyle here:

LinkedIn

Twitter

Facebook

Instagram

Email Dan

YouTube

Pinterest

Spotify

Promo code INSIDER for a free month at Blubrry.com

Coming at you this week from the New Media Studio in Southern Michigan and Mike Dell’s World Studio in Traverse City, Michigan. Produced by the Blubrry Pro-Production team.

Contact Us:

We hope you all had a wonderful holiday. As a year-end episode, we decided to grab as many of the Blubrry team members as possible and ask them what their favorite podcast of the year or decade. Maybe you'll hear about a new show you'd like to check out. Thanks for listening to Podcast Insider, we'll be back Jan. 2 with a normal episode.

MacKenzie - This American Life

Aaron - Chapo Trap House

Lena - Snap Judgement

Ben - You're Wrong About

Angelo - Car Talk

Jonathan - The Lowe Post

Mahathi - Dissect

Grant - The Gus and Eddy Podcast

Ian - The Crease Drive

Todd - No Agenda

Barry - The Knowledge Project / The RV Podcast

Mike - The ARRL Audio News

Shawn - Yeast Radio

Dave - Supersonic Pod Comics

Jeff - Podcast Insider

Promo code INSIDER for a free month at Blubrry.com

Coming at you this week from the Convo by Design Studio in Columbus, Ohio and Mike Dell’s World Studio in Traverse City, Michigan. And varying studios from our remote workers. Produced by the Blubrry Pro-Production team.

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Todd and Mike discuss a few significant Apple team changes and Amazon Alexa capabilities concerning podcasts. They've also included their predictions for 2020. If you host an interview podcast they have some tips on how to excel at this format. In Blubrry news, affiliates are looking at a payday this week. Thanks to Charles McFall for joining them for a fun interview on his varying shows and involvement in the community. Look out for a special episode of Podcast Insider next week. Big thanks to our support team, it's been a big change this year for our team with support and we couldn't have done it without them.

Thanks for joining us this episode of Podcast Insider.

This week on Podcast Insider…

News:

Apple Podcasts are now available on Amazon's Alexa. Could Android be next?

Spotify podcasts are now also available on Alexa.

Come January 2020 Zach Kahn will be Head of Podcast PR at Apple. He previously was at Vox Media as Senior Manager of Podcast Marketing.

Predictions for 2020

Mike: Steady growth in listeners as in the past. Apple will still be around 50% of the listenership.

Todd: Facebook is going to get involved in podcasting.

Best Practices:

When you're the interviewed on your podcast, try to find a nugget about your guest beforehand to ask during the interview. 

LISTEN to your guest and then do followup, don’t just jump to the next question.

Ask the question and LET THEM TALK!

Blubrry News:

Affiliate payments! December period 6 payment and annual year-end bonuses. Join our affiliate program!

We interviewed Colin Gray on the blog about the affiliate program. Thanks for participating!

We reviewed our holiday hours again. We take our breaks seriously.

Interview:

Charles McFall - Rock God of Podcasting

Support:

Help us help you, by either logging in when you put in a ticket at contact.blubrry.com or at least, give us the account email so we can find your account quickly in our system. That will speed up the reply and cut down on back and forth emails.

This is the last episode of 2019, (not including the special next week Dec. 26) and Mike would like to publicly thank our support guys, Shawn and Dave! You guys are rock-stars! Every day, every night and on the weekends, you guys take care of our customers. It’s sometimes a thankless job, but Todd, I and the rest of the team, thank you!

PowerPress 8.1 is nearly ready. If you would like to beta test PowerPress 8.2 (coming next) reach out to us. Email [email protected] and we will get you on the list.

Connect with Charles McFall here:

Giant Size Team Up

Rock God of Podcasting

Facebook

Twitter @rockgodofpod

Instagram

Promo code INSIDER for a free month at Blubrry.com

Coming at you this week from the Convo by Design Studio in Columbus, Ohio and Mike Dell’s World Studio in Traverse City, Michigan. Produced by the Blubrry Pro-Production team.

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If you've ever dreamed of winning a Pulitzer, but you're not a writer, you might be able to squeeze in with your podcast. MacKenzie stumbled upon some new podcast apps that are very niche oriented. We're getting closer to the holidays and have some advice for how to handle vacation days and your podcast. Mike does a great job explaining some common Blubrry terms that can cause confusion with accounts. And of course, we're excited to share the latest Blubrry podcaster's story you. Beth O'Connor, the host of the Rural Health Voice Podcast, joined Todd to discuss why it was necessary to start their podcast.

Thanks for joining us this episode of Podcast Insider.

This week on Podcast Insider…

News:

Pulitzer Prize, audio-reporting, specifically for nonfiction. If you've never thought of the after-effects of producing your show, start thinking bigger.

Industry stats update: Thanks to Daniel J. Lewis for providing the numbers on podcasting.

Sparks app: In beta currently, this app lets people take notes and continue their learning while listening to episodes.

Listen app: A community based podcast listening app.

Best Practices:

Consistency! The show must go on! People build your show into their schedule. If you're consistent, they are more likely to set aside time to listen to you. More episodes released each week tends to grow an audience, but not if quality goes down.

Don’t stop during the holidays!  Nothing wrong with pre-recording. New audience growth happens while people are off work and traveling with their new devices. Be there with fresh content for them to listen to.

Blubrry Pro-Production can help you stay on track this holiday season and beyond!

Blubrry News:

PowerPress 8.1 is in testing now. We've removed 'Simple Mode' and and replaced it with a 'Getting Started' menu. We'll announce a webinar once 8.1 is available, demonstrating how to setup PowerPress with new features. 

MP3 vs. MP4, we took a look at the numbers and mp3 still reigns over all.

Boxing Day (Dec. 26), we'll have a different format. Should be a fun episode, don't miss it.  

Holiday schedule for Blubrry Podcasting

Dec. 24th 8am - noon EST

Dec. 25th OFF (Merry Christmas!)

Dec. 26th Back to normal hours

Dec. 31st 8am - noon EST

Jan. 1st OFF (Happy New Year!)

Jan. 2nd Back to normal hours

Interview:

Beth O'Connor, M. Ed.  - Rural Health Voice podcast, put on by the Virginia Rural Health Association.

Support:

Show listings, Media Files, and Stats are all different things at Blubrry. They are connected by what we call the “program keyword” or “web friendly title”. Unfortunately, because the keyword is tied to so many things, it can’t be changed without starting over.

An “account” at Blubrry is just the login to your Blubrry Podcaster Dashboard. You can have many show listings within one “account”. Each show listing can have a stats subscription (free, pro or advanced) and each show listing can have a hosting subscription. Overall, account - show - subscription.

The directory at blubrry.com is powered by the RSS feed (unless you publish AT blubrry without WordPress). If you don’t see your episodes on your directory listing, put your RSS feed into the Listing Settings in the Podcaster Dashboard. Hit “save and update” and Blubrry’s directory will PULL your feed into your listing. The listing will update as you publish. You can force an update by doing the above after publishing on your website.

Connect with Beth O'Connor M. Ed here:

Rural Health Voice Podcast

Contact Beth and the podcast team

Virginia Rural Health Association Twitter

Virginia Rural Health Association Facebook

After a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday, Mike and Todd are back with a full episode and interview this week. Those of you interested in the nitty gritty tech support  details will enjoy this RSS feed heavy discussion. For those of you curious about legal implications in podcasting, they review COPPA, specifically how this will affect YouTubers. Stick around to the end if you're looking to migrate to a new podcast host.

This week on Podcast Insider...

News:

Spotify Wrapped: It's here, the annual end of the year data overview of the platform. Individual users receive a playlist and their information as well.

Continuing with Spotify, they've created some original podcast shows for India users.

Todd and Rob Greenlee, hosts of the New Media Show, brought up adding additional tags to RSS feeds and now its turned into a widely lauded initiative.

COPPA: What is it and does this affect podcasting?

How does this affect the YouTube community, specifically those creating 'kid friendly' content? Learn more from YouTube here.

Best Practices:

Explicit Tags:

You must set the explicit tag in your feed.

If one episode is marked explicit, the whole show will be shown as explicit in some countries.

Does one swear word cause it to be explicit, no, we don't think you should worry about it.

Is it worth it or should you 'bleep' the swears? All depends on your target audience.

Holiday production reminders: Releases episodes, Apple, etc.

Blubrry News:

We're now edited by the Pro-Production team. What do you think? Give them a shot and learn more.

Interview:

Lois from More to Life with Faith and Lois. They recently hit 100 episodes, congrats!

Support:

RSS feed link showing as text? Or code? That's normal. RSS feeds aren't really meant for humans to read or understand, they're more so for computers. Some people do know what to do with them, but RSS generators try to format feeds so they are readable.

When moving to a new host, take it slow, be deliberate. Trying to move in a hurry is the #1 way podcasters mess up their feed, causing them to lose listeners. If everything is done in the correct order your listeners and subscribers will not know that you've moved.

Create (duplicate) the feed in a new place.

301 redirect the feed from the current host to the new feed.

Contact Spotify, they handle this differently.

Set Apple's 'iTunes new feed URL tag'.

We've explained it here.

New support phone hours are going well! Catch Mike and Dave Mon. - Thurs. 9AM - 7PM and 9AM - 5PM Fridays.

Connect with Lois Melkonian here:

More to Life with Faith and Lois podcast, co-hosted with Faith Donaldson

Contact Lois to be on the show or learn more

Twitter

Facebook

Instagram

LinkedIn

Promo code INSIDER for a free month at Blubrry.com

Coming at you this week from the Convo by Design Studio in Columbus, Ohio and Mike Dell's World Studio in Traverse City, Michgian.

Contact Us:

MacKenzie talks with Toby Goodman from the Blubrry Pro-Production team on this shorty episode. Blubrry Pro-Production is now available for all of our professional hosting customers to help you launch your podcast or simply put your show on auto-pilot – a dedicated team is standing by.

Toby Goodman, VP Production European Division, is part of that team focused exclusively on Pro-Production. He's been working in audio for 20 years and podcasting for 7+ years, so it's safe to say he's experienced. For any questions concerning the new service, reach out to Toby or MacKenzie.

For those that are in the US, Happy Thanksgiving! We will have a full episode next week.

Promo code INSIDER for a free month at Blubrry.com

Coming at you this week from the Convo by Design Studio in Columbus, Ohio and London, UK.

Contact Us:

We're inching closer to Thanksgiving here in the U.S and podcasters and companies are busy with lots of releases before the end of the year. The Blubrry team released a new product and service this month, and Todd and Mike   discuss some changes that are happening with Spotify and Forbes. Be sure to stick around to hear about support phone hours and when we'll be out for the holidays.

Thanks for joining us on this episode of Podcast Insider.

News:

More news from Spotify: adding a daily podcast playlist

Forbes: Podcasting is going mainstream. Yes, we know this.

Indie is the majority. The majority of podcast listeners, listen to indie podcasts.

Best Practice:

Create an e-book: repurpose your content in a multiple of ways.

Blubrry News:

Pro-Production services, now coming from Blubrry. We've got a whole team working on editing, producing and more for hosting customers.

PowerPress 8.1 is in internal beta (more changes to UI)

Blubrry holiday hours

Nov. 28 Thanksgiving OFF

Nov. 29 Black Friday OFF

Dec. 24 Christmas Eve 8AM - Noon

Dec. 25 Christmas OFF

Dec. 31 NYE 8AM - Noon

Jan. 1 New Years OFF

Jan. 2+ normal business hours

Consult with Todd (Blubrry hosting customers) contact him at [email protected]

Interview:

Scottye Moore - BS Network

Support:

PowerPress Destination can help you get onto apps and directories.

Episode Artwork: Only some apps use it, and there are two places to put episode images: ID3 tags (in the file) and in the feed. Some use one, some use the other and some use none (like Apple). Mike talks about it in this episode of Podcast Help Desk.

New phone support hours: 9AM - 7PM EST Monday -Thursday, 9AM - 5PM EST Friday. We'll be adding Saturday hours soon. As always, you can contact support anytime at blubrry.com/contact/

Promo code INSIDER for a free month at Blubrry.com

Coming at you this week from the Convo by Design Studio in Columbus, Ohio and Mike Dell’s World Studio in Traverse City, Michigan.

Contact Us:

Nick Howell, shares his trials and tribulations of podcasting, and being involved in multiple shows. Since Todd is attending and speaking at Digital Hollywood, Angelo Mandato guest hosted this week. He's got lots of Blubrry information to share and information on podcasting growth. If you're planning on starting a show before the New Year, we highly recommend paying attention to the Apple portion of this episode as they take time off for the holidays.

Thanks for joining us on this episode of Podcast Insider.

News:

As of November 2019 63% of the worlds smartphones are Android. According to Scientia Mobile's Mobile Overview Report for Q3 2019.

Castbox.fm is the most popular app in Brazil!

Sony and the Onion are teaming up! For a new podcast, called The Tropical

Adobe demo'd Automatic de-umming feature. Here's a video from Project SoundSeek.

Launch Control from Apple Podcasts is now available in Podcasts Connect.

Manage Show Launches

"You can now hide shows while being reviewed for approval. This way you can easily manage the launch of new shows directly from Podcasts Connect.

Simply select Hide Podcast after submitting it for review — this action will not impact or delay the feed’s review process. When approved, you can then select Unhide Podcast and allow up to 24 hours for your show to become searchable on Apple Podcasts.” - Apple Podcasts

 

Best Practice:

File name: simple is better for your media file names.

Blubrry News:

Podcast Network Plugin launches today! Read the press release.

Who is Angelo? CIO, co-founder and Lead Developer for Blubrry Podcasting / RawVoice Inc.

Blubrry PowerPress updates are moving along. Getting started is replacing Simple Mode in PowerPress (The support team approves!)

Interview:

Nick Howell - Orbital Jigsaw Network

Support:

Dreaded Apple Podcasts login loop has been solved.

Spotify stats: they're not the same as "podcast" stats.

Expanded phone support hours starting Monday, Nov 18. 9AM - 7PM Eastern Monday - Thursday. Expanded Phone hours for support starting Monday!  9a-7p eastern to Monday -Thursday and 9AM - 5PM Eastern Friday. Saturday hours will be coming soon. As always, you can contact support at blubrry.com/contact

Promo code INSIDER for a free month at Blubrry.com

Coming at you this week from the Convo by Design Studio in Columbus, Ohio and Mike Dell's World Studio in Traverse City, Michigan.

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Lots of podcasting news to discuss, specifically well-known organizations making changes to their podcasting plans. Mike and Todd talk about some failed or difficult services at the moment and how best to deal with those challenges. Such as with Google, PodPress and Pandora and iHeart.

Thanks for joining us on this episode of Podcast Insider.

News:

Those flying on JetBlue Airways can now experience Spotify exclusive podcasts.

Universal Content Productions, UCP, is launching a few shows in the near future.

Podcasts for kids, Spotify is creating a stand-alone app just for kids shows.

New host for Ted Radio Hour. Manoush Zomordi will be taking over for Guy Raz.

NPR is merging their apps: NPR One and the general NPR app will now be found together starting in 2020.

Deezer, who you can submit your podcast to from Blubrry, now has a dedicated podcast section.

Best Practice:  Lets Talk Marketing

Be where your audience is.

Attend one event a year in your subject area.

Blubrry News:

Our Next Best Tool contest is ending soon.

The Divi Theme version 4 upgrade is causing issues with PowerPress feeds (mostly missing episodes in the feed) to fix this only publish podcast posts without using the Divi builder to avoid the issue. Divi is working on a solution. You can also use the previous version of Divi theme until they get it fixed. Contact Elegant Themes support for help with this issue.

Reminder: The new TechPodcasts.com is live.

Interview:

Joshua Manley - Nerd On! The Podcast

Support:

Google Podcasts - Your link might not work, find your Google Podcasts link here: https://search.google.com/devtools/podcast/preview (do a google search for Google Podcasts Preview)

Feed Discovery Setting (this helps you get on Google Podcasts) in PowerPress.

Pandora and iHeart radio: They can be picky and it will take a while to get on them. We put the destination in PowerPress for those who are in those directories. No guarantees you will get into those directories.

If you're hosting with us, Spotify will accept you as long as your feed is technically good. (no M4A files) Pass thru coming.

Deezer, will accept you if your feed is technically good. No need to host with Blubrry but you must be listed in Blubrry and have claimed your show listing.

Anyone out there still using PodPress (a really old podcasting plugin for WordPress) needs to change to PowerPress (or something else I guess) right away. PodPress has been hacked. WordPress.org even says it’s no longer available for download.

One-on-one video screen-sharing support: Yes, we do that! but only for paying customers. Our free products (stats, PowerPress without hosting and directory listings) are not eligible for that level of support. Our Support team will help you via our contact form (currently blubrry.com/contact/ ).

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Coming to you from the New Media Studio in Southern Michigan and Mike Dell's World studio in Northern Michigan.

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