Podcasting Experiments

Daniel J. Lewis is the host of the podcast "The Audacity to Podcast" and is a podcast consultant. He has also developed several great tools for podcasters. You can check out his website or connect with him on Twitter.
How did you get started with blogging and podcasting?
Blogging was always a struggle for Daniel. He started by deciding to write articles on a website, learning about how WordPress works. In 2006, he was introduced to podcasting. Having some of the skills needed for it, he decided to do a podcast. He struggled for the first two year before he decided to get serious.
What was the biggest obstacle you faced as you got started podcasting, and how did you overcome it?
The work to put out an episode. He was doing scripted episodes, and it would take him hours to write it out. Then it would take several hours to record because he was trying to get everything perfect.

He overcame the perfection tendency by listening to other podcasters that did more of a natural style. He changed to an unscripted format with a more natural flow.

To help with the consistency, Daniel decided to stream the podcast live as he recorded it. This is not something that he recommends for new podcasters.
Challenging Podcasting Assumptions: A general theme that runs throughout all of these episodes is that none of these are “necessary” to have a podcast. What is the reason you went into so much detail about each topic anyway?
There have been a lot of things that have been passed off as "rules." Daniel was striving to show how each one is a best practice, but not a "necessary" rule.

We also mentioned an episode of "The Podcasters' Round Table" where they discussed the best practices of podcasting.
What are two or three of the big takeaways that you have gotten from going through this mini-series?
How he gives links to his show notes. He used to reference the episodes by number, but is starting to use more keywords instead. There are two WordPress plug-ins to create these special links:

Pretty Link Pro
Better Links Pro

Other takeaways:

Podcast Search Engine
Social media tools
Podcast editing - he is now outsourcing some of the editing for him

[Tweet "I hate having people search for things. - @theramennoodle"]

[Tweet "The goal with editing is not to have a perfect product in the end, but a product that communicates a little bit better. - @the ramennoodle"]
What tips would you give to someone that is just getting started with creating content online?
It needs to start with a plan, but don't wait to be perfect. Even just a basic bullet-point list. Know what you want at the least the first 10 episodes to be. Keep adding to the list and refer back to it when you need help
Daniel has a lot of great things available:

Preflight checklist available on his website
Social Subscribe and Follow plug-in
Podcast Master Class
MyPodcastReviews.com
PodcastPlaces.com

If you're thinking about making any content on the internet, think of how you can make it helpful or entertaining. If you can do both, that would be awesome, but at lease do at least one. - Daniel J. Lewis
Question: How can you overcome your assumptions about creating content?

The post Daniel J. Lewis shares how to properly deal with assumptions (1-7) appeared first on Creative Studio Academy.

Daniel J. Lewis is the host of the podcast "The Audacity to Podcast" and is a podcast consultant. He has also developed several great tools for podcasters. You can check out his website or connect with him on Twitter.
How did you get started with blogging and podcasting?
Blogging was always a struggle for Daniel. He started by deciding to write articles on a website, learning about how WordPress works. In 2006, he was introduced to podcasting. Having some of the skills needed for it, he decided to do a podcast. He struggled for the first two year before he decided to get serious.
What was the biggest obstacle you faced as you got started podcasting, and how did you overcome it?
The work to put out an episode. He was doing scripted episodes, and it would take him hours to write it out. Then it would take several hours to record because he was trying to get everything perfect.

He overcame the perfection tendency by listening to other podcasters that did more of a natural style. He changed to an unscripted format with a more natural flow.

To help with the consistency, Daniel decided to stream the podcast live as he recorded it. This is not something that he recommends for new podcasters.
Challenging Podcasting Assumptions: A general theme that runs throughout all of these episodes is that none of these are “necessary” to have a podcast. What is the reason you went into so much detail about each topic anyway?
There have been a lot of things that have been passed off as "rules." Daniel was striving to show how each one is a best practice, but not a "necessary" rule.

We also mentioned an episode of "The Podcasters' Round Table" where they discussed the best practices of podcasting.
What are two or three of the big takeaways that you have gotten from going through this mini-series?
How he gives links to his show notes. He used to reference the episodes by number, but is starting to use more keywords instead. There are two WordPress plug-ins to create these special links:

Pretty Link Pro
Better Links Pro

Other takeaways:

Podcast Search Engine
Social media tools
Podcast editing - he is now outsourcing some of the editing for him

[Tweet "I hate having people search for things. - @theramennoodle"]

[Tweet "The goal with editing is not to have a perfect product in the end, but a product that communicates a little bit better. - @the ramennoodle"]
What tips would you give to someone that is just getting started with creating content online?
It needs to start with a plan, but don't wait to be perfect. Even just a basic bullet-point list. Know what you want at the least the first 10 episodes to be. Keep adding to the list and refer back to it when you need help
Daniel has a lot of great things available:

Preflight checklist available on his website
Social Subscribe and Follow plug-in
Podcast Master Class
MyPodcastReviews.com
PodcastPlaces.com

If you're thinking about making any content on the internet, think of how you can make it helpful or entertaining. If you can do both, that would be awesome, but at lease do at least one. - Daniel J. Lewis
Question: How can you overcome your assumptions about creating content?

The post Daniel J. Lewis shares how to properly deal with assumptions (1-7) appeared first on Creative Studio Academy.

Jared Easley, the host of the popular podcast "Starve the Doubts," joins us today to share his tips regarding researching and interviewing people. He shares about his show format and some of his processes. He is also one of the co-founders of the Podcast Movement. You can reach Jared on his website or on Twitter.
How did Jared starve the doubts about starting Starve the Doubts?
Talking about when he was getting ready to start his podcast, he got some feedback stating that "Starve the Doubts" (overcoming self-doubt) didn't sound like the best idea.

Don't allow doubt to hinder you from hitting record.
Listened to a bunch of podcasts, and aimed to interview the hosts.

Tips from Jared:

Start with plenty "in the can" - episodes that are ready to go in case "life happens."
Don't be afraid to ask.

[Tweet "Don't allow doubt to hinder you from hitting record. - @jaredeasley"]
What tactics did you use to reach out to people to interview?

Attend conferences (New Media Expo).
Offer to plan a meetup for the speakers at the conferences.
Find a way to help someone.
Write short e-mails.

Subject line: "I love your _________"
Body of the e-mail is really short:

Respectfully request consideration to interview you for my podcast ("Name of Podcast").
Best regards, Name
ScheduleOnce link

Don't name-drop previous guests.

How did you choose the format for your interviews?

Jared likes to make his podcasts fun and entertainment.
He likes to start with ice-breaker questions. His first question is always, "What is the best concert you have ever been to?"
He looks at the guest's social media to see what has been happening lately for them.
Only let the ice-breaker questions last a few minutes.

How do research and prepare for the interviews?
Jared uses Refresh app to search the guests social media easily.
Who is doing something that interests you?

Jared uses this to help connect deeper and find
Jared's answer: Randy Wilburn
Podcasting and Podcast Movement

Leave any questions or suggestions you may have about interviewing people below in the comment section.
If you haven't already, please consider leaving a review in iTunes!

The post Jared Easley shares his researching and interviewing tips (1-6) appeared first on Creative Studio Academy.

Jared Easley, the host of the popular podcast "Starve the Doubts," joins us today to share his tips regarding researching and interviewing people. He shares about his show format and some of his processes. He is also one of the co-founders of the Podcast Movement. You can reach Jared on his website or on Twitter.
How did Jared starve the doubts about starting Starve the Doubts?
Talking about when he was getting ready to start his podcast, he got some feedback stating that "Starve the Doubts" (overcoming self-doubt) didn't sound like the best idea.

Don't allow doubt to hinder you from hitting record.
Listened to a bunch of podcasts, and aimed to interview the hosts.

Tips from Jared:

Start with plenty "in the can" - episodes that are ready to go in case "life happens."
Don't be afraid to ask.

[Tweet "Don't allow doubt to hinder you from hitting record. - @jaredeasley"]
What tactics did you use to reach out to people to interview?

Attend conferences (New Media Expo).
Offer to plan a meetup for the speakers at the conferences.
Find a way to help someone.
Write short e-mails.

Subject line: "I love your _________"
Body of the e-mail is really short:

Respectfully request consideration to interview you for my podcast ("Name of Podcast").
Best regards, Name
ScheduleOnce link

Don't name-drop previous guests.

How did you choose the format for your interviews?

Jared likes to make his podcasts fun and entertainment.
He likes to start with ice-breaker questions. His first question is always, "What is the best concert you have ever been to?"
He looks at the guest's social media to see what has been happening lately for them.
Only let the ice-breaker questions last a few minutes.

How do research and prepare for the interviews?
Jared uses Refresh app to search the guests social media easily.
Who is doing something that interests you?

Jared uses this to help connect deeper and find
Jared's answer: Randy Wilburn
Podcasting and Podcast Movement

Leave any questions or suggestions you may have about interviewing people below in the comment section.
If you haven't already, please consider leaving a review in iTunes!

The post Jared Easley shares his researching and interviewing tips (1-6) appeared first on Creative Studio Academy.

Greg Hickman is the host of the Mobile Mixed Marketing Podcast. He is here today to talk about the importance of putting mobile first as we create content. Greg got started in mobile in 2005, and saw that there was a great opportunity. He also has the Mobile

Check out Greg's website and podcast or connect with him on Twitter.
What are some the major aspects of mobile for people to consider?
Most social networks, podcasts, email, etc are done on mobile devices.

Even for a brick-and-mortar store, you need to realize that your customers are using mobile.
How should we approach the mobile experience as we get started creating content?
Mobile-first means to think about the mobile experience first. This way you are thinking about the limitations first and creating for that. As you move from mobile to desktop, you can expand as needed for that medium.

Mobile-first forces you to focus on the most important message to give to the customer.
What are your thoughts about responsive design vs creating a mobile-specific website?

Fully responsive - a site that displays differently based on the screen size, making it much easier to view and interact with on mobile devices.
Mobile-specific site - a second site that is just for mobile devices.
Mobile-responsive - hybrid between the two. It uses a second site that is responsive, and slowly makes the mobile-responsive into the full responsive site.

What are some SMS strategies?
Greg has written the SMS Marketing Handbook that covers a lot of great things regarding SMS and MMS marketing.

Responses with text messaging is much higher. People are much quicker to check their text messages, and may be more likely to respond.

There are still many people that don't have smart phones, but they still have SMS available.

If you are wondering if SMS could work for you, ask "what is your objective?"
What are your thoughts about QR Codes?
There are a few good ways to use them, but most don't use them correctly.

One obstacle to QR codes is that many people don't know how to use them. Those that do know, may find it a hassle to properly scan it. Many people could type in the web address faster than scanning a QR code.

Another consideration is to make sure that the address it goes to is mobile-friendly. Don't make people pinch-and-zoom!
What are some thing that we can do optimize their sites to improve the speed of their site?
Image size, the number of redirects, and server calls are the three common things that you can minimize to help the site to load faster.
Question: Have you really considered how your content is consumed by clients on mobile devices?

The post Greg Hickman Discusses the Importance of a Mobile-mindset (1-5) appeared first on Creative Studio Academy.

Greg Hickman is the host of the Mobile Mixed Marketing Podcast. He is here today to talk about the importance of putting mobile first as we create content. Greg got started in mobile in 2005, and saw that there was a great opportunity. He also has the Mobile

Check out Greg's website and podcast or connect with him on Twitter.
What are some the major aspects of mobile for people to consider?
Most social networks, podcasts, email, etc are done on mobile devices.

Even for a brick-and-mortar store, you need to realize that your customers are using mobile.
How should we approach the mobile experience as we get started creating content?
Mobile-first means to think about the mobile experience first. This way you are thinking about the limitations first and creating for that. As you move from mobile to desktop, you can expand as needed for that medium.

Mobile-first forces you to focus on the most important message to give to the customer.
What are your thoughts about responsive design vs creating a mobile-specific website?

Fully responsive - a site that displays differently based on the screen size, making it much easier to view and interact with on mobile devices.
Mobile-specific site - a second site that is just for mobile devices.
Mobile-responsive - hybrid between the two. It uses a second site that is responsive, and slowly makes the mobile-responsive into the full responsive site.

What are some SMS strategies?
Greg has written the SMS Marketing Handbook that covers a lot of great things regarding SMS and MMS marketing.

Responses with text messaging is much higher. People are much quicker to check their text messages, and may be more likely to respond.

There are still many people that don't have smart phones, but they still have SMS available.

If you are wondering if SMS could work for you, ask "what is your objective?"
What are your thoughts about QR Codes?
There are a few good ways to use them, but most don't use them correctly.

One obstacle to QR codes is that many people don't know how to use them. Those that do know, may find it a hassle to properly scan it. Many people could type in the web address faster than scanning a QR code.

Another consideration is to make sure that the address it goes to is mobile-friendly. Don't make people pinch-and-zoom!
What are some thing that we can do optimize their sites to improve the speed of their site?
Image size, the number of redirects, and server calls are the three common things that you can minimize to help the site to load faster.
Question: Have you really considered how your content is consumed by clients on mobile devices?

The post Greg Hickman Discusses the Importance of a Mobile-mindset (1-5) appeared first on Creative Studio Academy.

1.         Website Hosting
You can’t have a website without hosting it on some server. You could buy and maintain your own server, but that can take a lot of skill, time, and money. When it comes to getting a hosting service, there are a couple options:

Shared hosting
Dedicated hosting
Virtual Private Server

The host that I use and recommend is BlueHost.
2.         WordPress
You can use different methods of constructing your website, but my recommendation is to use WordPress. It is power and relatively simple to learn. To understand how WordPress works, imagine your website as a car. You basically have a frame, a body, an engine, and additional features.

WordPress is the engine. It makes everything run.
A theme is the frame and body. It is how the website looks.
Plugins are the additional features. It is how the website functions.

Regarding themes, there is a wide variety. There are thousands of free themes available in the WordPress repository. There are also a lot of themes that you can purchase, and the prices vary from tens to hundreds of dollars. What is best? Well, the one that does what you need it to. While there are many advantages to paid themes, sometimes a free theme fits the job best. I’ve experienced this while working with a few clients.

Along with themes, there are frameworks. These add extra functionality to themes. One such framework is the Genesis framework. They look great and have a lot of functionality built in. I’ve used the Genesis framework and themes for over a year, and have enjoyed working with them.
3.         About Page
One of the vital pages beyond the homepage, is your About page. Here is a bullet list from Michael Hyatt's book, "Platform:"

Write in the first person
Write in a conversational style
Start with the reader's priorities
Tell them about yourself (brief summary)
Tell them about your blog/website
Set their expectations
Invite them to subscribe
Point them to your top posts
Provide a full biography
Tell them how to contact you
Include a photo or video
Add a colophon
Consider a disclaimer

4.         Contact Page
After your About page, you need a page that tells people how they can contact and interact with you.
5.         E-mail List
They say that “the money is in the list.” So you should get an e-mail list and promote it on your website.
Question: As a website visitor/user, what things do you look for to see if you will stay longer or come back later?

The post 5 Key Components for Your Website (1-4) appeared first on Creative Studio Academy.

1.         Website Hosting
You can’t have a website without hosting it on some server. You could buy and maintain your own server, but that can take a lot of skill, time, and money. When it comes to getting a hosting service, there are a couple options:

Shared hosting
Dedicated hosting
Virtual Private Server

The host that I use and recommend is BlueHost.
2.         WordPress
You can use different methods of constructing your website, but my recommendation is to use WordPress. It is power and relatively simple to learn. To understand how WordPress works, imagine your website as a car. You basically have a frame, a body, an engine, and additional features.

WordPress is the engine. It makes everything run.
A theme is the frame and body. It is how the website looks.
Plugins are the additional features. It is how the website functions.

Regarding themes, there is a wide variety. There are thousands of free themes available in the WordPress repository. There are also a lot of themes that you can purchase, and the prices vary from tens to hundreds of dollars. What is best? Well, the one that does what you need it to. While there are many advantages to paid themes, sometimes a free theme fits the job best. I’ve experienced this while working with a few clients.

Along with themes, there are frameworks. These add extra functionality to themes. One such framework is the Genesis framework. They look great and have a lot of functionality built in. I’ve used the Genesis framework and themes for over a year, and have enjoyed working with them.
3.         About Page
One of the vital pages beyond the homepage, is your About page. Here is a bullet list from Michael Hyatt's book, "Platform:"

Write in the first person
Write in a conversational style
Start with the reader's priorities
Tell them about yourself (brief summary)
Tell them about your blog/website
Set their expectations
Invite them to subscribe
Point them to your top posts
Provide a full biography
Tell them how to contact you
Include a photo or video
Add a colophon
Consider a disclaimer

4.         Contact Page
After your About page, you need a page that tells people how they can contact and interact with you.
5.         E-mail List
They say that “the money is in the list.” So you should get an e-mail list and promote it on your website.
Question: As a website visitor/user, what things do you look for to see if you will stay longer or come back later?

The post 5 Key Components for Your Website (1-4) appeared first on Creative Studio Academy.

Mark Sieverkropp has been a friend and co-host on another podcast. He started off blogging a few years ago, with topics such as soccer, leadership, and now more on networking. He has also written the e-book, "Project:Success." He has also been the co-host of the Happen to Your Career podcast, which including doing some video as well. You can connect with him on his website or on Twitter.
How does Mark keep his determination and dedication while pursuing his dream and creating content?

One thing that is nice, is that you can do it whenever you want. Mark likes to do it early in the morning before starting his regular job.
Find and work with people that help fuel your passion. There are so many people that are creating content, that it's easier to find people that are passionate about the same things you are passionate about.

Mark shares some things about his e-book, "Project: Success"

Defining things as a project helps by having a deadline. It also helps by changing your view of it, and failure doesn't seem so bad.
For example, instead of starting a podcast with no end in sight, determine to go 15 episodes and go from there.
Mark's book was an inspiration for this site and podcast, in that I started calling this a project.
Most of our problems are mental.
Realize that things have a beginning. And they have an end.
It helps you to get past the mental road blocks.

Successes and Benefits from Mark's perspective

Mark lives in a small town, but he's been able to meet and develop relationships with people all over the country and world. These would never have been possible without creating content online.
Blogging has helped Mark to focus and crystalize his thoughts. He can now write much easier and faster. Blogging has also helped him to prepare for speeches and oral communication.
He's always wanted to be involved in business training, and online content creation has helped him to open doors in that area.

What are some of the struggles and failures that Mark has had?

Creating content online has both positives and negatives. If you're not intentional, it's easy to lose your motivation or do it alone.
It's easy to focus on yourself and your own passions. You need to focus on your audience!
Thinking that it's different than "regular" life. It's all still about relationships and developing them.

How do you find out what your audience wants?

After a while, Mark and Scott (Happen to Your Career podcast) reached out to the audience and asked them for feedback.

Final words of wisdom from Mark

Just get started.
Start small, and learn from there.

Share your takeaways below!

The post Mark Sieverkropp Shares the Benefits and Struggles of Content Creation (1-3) appeared first on Creative Studio Academy.

Mark Sieverkropp has been a friend and co-host on another podcast. He started off blogging a few years ago, with topics such as soccer, leadership, and now more on networking. He has also written the e-book, "Project:Success." He has also been the co-host of the Happen to Your Career podcast, which including doing some video as well. You can connect with him on his website or on Twitter.
How does Mark keep his determination and dedication while pursuing his dream and creating content?

One thing that is nice, is that you can do it whenever you want. Mark likes to do it early in the morning before starting his regular job.
Find and work with people that help fuel your passion. There are so many people that are creating content, that it's easier to find people that are passionate about the same things you are passionate about.

Mark shares some things about his e-book, "Project: Success"

Defining things as a project helps by having a deadline. It also helps by changing your view of it, and failure doesn't seem so bad.
For example, instead of starting a podcast with no end in sight, determine to go 15 episodes and go from there.
Mark's book was an inspiration for this site and podcast, in that I started calling this a project.
Most of our problems are mental.
Realize that things have a beginning. And they have an end.
It helps you to get past the mental road blocks.

Successes and Benefits from Mark's perspective

Mark lives in a small town, but he's been able to meet and develop relationships with people all over the country and world. These would never have been possible without creating content online.
Blogging has helped Mark to focus and crystalize his thoughts. He can now write much easier and faster. Blogging has also helped him to prepare for speeches and oral communication.
He's always wanted to be involved in business training, and online content creation has helped him to open doors in that area.

What are some of the struggles and failures that Mark has had?

Creating content online has both positives and negatives. If you're not intentional, it's easy to lose your motivation or do it alone.
It's easy to focus on yourself and your own passions. You need to focus on your audience!
Thinking that it's different than "regular" life. It's all still about relationships and developing them.

How do you find out what your audience wants?

After a while, Mark and Scott (Happen to Your Career podcast) reached out to the audience and asked them for feedback.

Final words of wisdom from Mark

Just get started.
Start small, and learn from there.

Share your takeaways below!

The post Mark Sieverkropp Shares the Benefits and Struggles of Content Creation (1-3) appeared first on Creative Studio Academy.