School of Podcasting: Expert Tips for Launching and Growing Your Podcast

Your Podcast is A Steam Train

I often say that when you start out, your show is rolling slow. As it keeps moving, it gets faster and faster. It just takes time, consistency (of schedule, and value). Kim Krajci of Toastmasters 101 pointed me toward this YouTube video from Box Angeles. This video shows Mellisa Hunter who has a hilarious series of Adult Wednesday Adams and how one video in that series went viral and her back episodes starting taking off with the original video. 

More Cool Podcast Gear For Podcasters

One of the great things about podcasting getting more and more popular, is more and more products are coming to the marketing Specifically for podcasters. Zoom Recently came out with the Podtrak P4 (for me this is THE go-to piece of equipment). Now they've come out with the Podtrak P8 which is a direct competitor of the Rodecaster Pro from Rode.

Neither one of these units is a bad purchase. They both make it easier to create great sounding podcasts.

Who Is This For?

The Zoom Podtrak P8 (and the Rodecaster Pro) allow you to:

Record up to six people in the same room.

Report a remote interview via SB

Connect and record a smartphone

Play live sounds via touch buttons.

Comparing Different Features of the Units.

For me, I am always connected to my computer via a USB cable. This is for zoom calls, or recording directing into software. Keep this in mind when I talk about different tests. I do one live show on Saturday morning where I record to the internal card, or if I'm doing an interview (I use it as a back up). 

Power

Both the Zoom and Rode can be operated via batteries (The Rodecaster has an optional DC-USB-1 cable that enables you to plug in a USB battery). The Zoom P8 uses double-A batteries or can be powered via a USB cable. So with the Rode, you will have a USB and a power cable. With the Zoom P8, you can power it with just your USB cable. Advantage Zoom P8

Price

The Rodecaster Pro currently lists for $599. USB Power Cable for RODECaster Pro $20 Total: $619

The Zoom P8 is listing for $499. Zoom BTA-2 Bluetooth Adapter $49 Total: $548

Advantage Zoom P8

Input Channels

ZOOM P8

This is an interesting one, as the Zoom P8 has six XLR inputs. It has a dedicated channel to the phone input.

This means you have a total of seven inputs. The USB interface on the zoom is used in place of one of the XLR inputs. You could have five XLR inputs, one USB, and One phone.

Rodcaster Pro

The rodecaster pro has four XLR inputs. Then it has a dedicated channel for a phone. It has a dedicated channel for the USB interface. It has another channel for Bluetooth.

This means you have a total of seven inputs. You could have four XLR, one USB, One Phone and one bluetooth.

Comments: The blue tooth is built into the Rodecaster, and the P8 has the ability to have one more XLR input. Advantage? Tie.

Number of Outputs

The Zoom has six headphone outputs, and a stereo output. The Rodecaster has four headphone outputs and a stereo output. The plugs are on the back of the Rodecaster where the inputs on the Zoom are on the face. Advantage: Zoom.

Marker Feature

Both units have the ability to add markers. Advantage? Tie

Normalization

While there is no normalization in the hardware of the Rodecaster, using the additional software on your computer you can have the files normalized with multiple settings with presets for Apple, Audible. The P8 has a normalizing feature built into the unit. There are no details on if this is peak normalization or loudness normalization. It appeared to be peak. Advantage Rodecaster

Recording Mode

Both units provide each individual tracks along with a stereo mixdown of the whole recording. The Rodecaster provides the ability to turn off the individual track recording and just provide the stereo mixdown. This enables you to not have a ton of extra tracks when you don't want them, which doesn't take up as much storage on your storage card. Advantage: Rodecaster

Effects

Both units provide effects for each track.

Zoom P8: The Zoom provides bass and treble controls. It was one combination compressor/De-esser. There is also a limiter and low cut.

Rodecaster: Each track has Aphex effects built-in. This includes a de-esser, compressor, big bottom (bass), and aurel exciter (treble), high pass filter (low cut), reverb, and what my favorite feature - a noise gate.

Neither unit provides the full slate of effects to the USB channel (which is frustrating).

Advantage: Rodecaster (by far much more control).

File Management

Zoom: The zoom uses an SD Card and allows you to delete and rename files on the unit. Both units have a card slot on the back of the unit. The Rodecaster uses a microSD card. In my case, I have to put the microSD card into an adapter to insert it into my computer.

Advantage (due to ease of use): Zoom P8

Sample Rate

The Rodecaster Pro has a sample rate of 48 khz

The Zoom P8 has a sample rate of 44.1kHz

For me, this is no big deal, but if you're doing video it probably is (video people love a sample rate of 48 khz)

Advantage: Rodecaster

Transfer Speed

I took a wave file and put it on both cards. It was 557M and then copied and pasted it to my computer. The Rodecaster tool one minute 14 seconds, the Zoom P8 took one minute two seconds so it appears to be slightly faster.

One thing I do like more on the Zoom is when you put it into transfer mode, it doesn't make you confirm. I do not understand this on the Rodecaster as you have to somewhat hunt to get to it, so why do I have to confirm it (both on and off).

Advantage: Zoom P8

PreAmps

The specs show that:

Rodecaster: 0dB – 55dB

Zoom P8: 0 – +70 dB

I recorded on both units and found the difference in noise was almost nonexistent. If you have to listen that hard to see if there is noise, you're fine.

Advantage:

Footprint (Dimensions)

Rodecaster Pro: 350 x 275 x 82 mm (13.8 X 10.8 X 3.2 inches)

Zoom P8: 295 × 248  × 61 mm  MM ( 11.6 X 9.7 X 2.4 inches)

The big difference here is the XLR inputs are on the face of the Zoom P8 and on the back of the Roadcaster. This extends the height to by 2.5" (64 mm). Likewise all the headphone/output jacks also on the back s0 the Rodecaster does take up more space on my desk.

Sound Pads

With the Rodecaster you have to use the free additional software to bring your files on to the Rodecaster. With the Zoom P8 you can drag them on to the card and bring them into the unit. It even converts the files if needed. The Zoom had 9 pads where the Rodecaster has 8. Both allow you to scroll through the screen to switch between multiple pages.

Advantage: Zoom P8

Quality of Outputs/Headphones

In going back and forth between the two units, I did notice more noise in the headphones when using the Zoom P8. This noise wasn't on the recording, but a bit of a bummer when what you're hearing is not what you're recording.

Advantage Rodcaster

Noise Gate Vs Noise Reduction

One of the KEY features of the Rodecaster is the ability to add a noise gate to channels (sadly not the USB). The Zoom has a feature called, "Noise Reduction" When multiple mics are being used to record sound, the noise reduction function of the P8 suppresses background noise to a constant level by automatically reducing the levels of the mic inputs not being used by people. Sadly, I tried to test this, but living alone, I couldn't really put the Noise Reduction into practice and Zoom doesn't talk about it much in their videos.

Advantage: Rodecaster (as a gate is better than reduction)

Mic Modeling

This is a feature only available on the Rodcaster. For example, you can use presets for the Rode Podmic, EV RE20, and with a push of a button, your channel is set to your microphone (video).

Combining Files / Editing

You can combine files into one, you can trim files, add fade-ins and out. (Basic editing without a computer). This is only available on the Zoom P8

Summary:

When you look at the features I covered:

Power: Zoom P8 Price: Zoom P8 Input Channels: Tie Number of Outputs: Zoom P8 Quality of Outputs: Rodecaster Marker: Tie Normalization: Rodecaster Recording Mode: Rodecaster Effects: Rodecaster File Management: Zoom P8 Sample Rate: Rodecaster Transfer Speed: Zoom P8 PreAmps: Zoom P8 Sound Pads: Zoom P8 Noise Gate/Reduction: Rodecaster Mic Modeling: Rodecaster Combining/Editing: Zoom P8

There are 17 items and the Zoom Podtrak P8 had eight of these, with two ties and the Rodecaster having an advantage in seven of them. You can see that its very close, but for some, they may argue as the areas where the Rodecaster comes out on top is on boosting the sound (the Aphex Processing) and in that area, the Rodecaster is much better. HOWEVER, keep in mind that you can use something like the Schepps Omni Channel plugin on sale for $69 (and sometimes even less) and you can all this processing in post-production.

So Again, It Depends

So if you're doing a ton of live streaming, you may want the extra processing (and noise gate) to keep things sounding great as you go live. However, if you have large fingers and hate having to take out that tiny MicroSD card and having to deal with adapters and confirmation prompts, the ease of use of the Zoom Podtrack P8 may provide you a better experience than the Rodecaster.

Conclusion:

As I said at the beginning if you are having (Let's pretend there is no COVID) multiple people in the studio with you, both of these machines make it easy. The P8 gives you two more mic inputs (which, for me is a lot of guests for one podcast). If you like ease of use, and are not going to obsess about your sound then the Zoom P8 is a good fit for you.

If you don't mind having to do a bit more searching through menus to find what you are looking for (to enable you to sound better) then the Rodecaster might be the way to go.

Mentioned In This Episode

Join the School of Podcasting

Rodcaster Pro from Rode

Zoom Podtrak P8

Zoom Podtrak P4

Electrovoice RE20

Last week, I interview Matthew Dicks who is the author of the book Storyworthy. I am a HUGE fan of Matthew and was very excited when he agreed to come on the show. After the episode was published I get email after email. I saw comments on Facebook all stating, "WOW, That was a great interview." There will be times when you get feedback, and no matter if it's positive or negative you want to investigate why (so you can do more about it).

I've received more than average feedback on episodes like The Ultimate Guide to Hosting and Guesting Podcast Interviews, Overcoming Impostor Syndrome,  How to Start a Podcast Network: The Good, the Bad, the Ugly, but the feedback I got about How to Tell Better Stories with Matthew Dicks was "way more than usual."

One of the things I help people do is figure out what they are doing correctly with their podcast so they can do more of that type of content. With this in mind, I went back and looked at "Why did this connect with my audience?"

Step 1: Start with someone interesting

Getting entertaining stories out of Matthew Dicks is like shooting fish in a barrel.

Step 2: Ignore the Back Story

Matthew has an AMAZING back story. He took enormous steps to avoid telling his first story. While that's a nice story, I was looking for something my audience could take away. Ask yourself what is more helpful their backstory, or what they can do for your audience NOW?

Step 3: Have a Goal

Why was I bringing in Matthew Dicks? Because his book storyworthy is filled with strategies. I wanted to focus on strategies. I wanted to boost the skills of my listeners, and I wanted to sell books more Matthew.

Step 4: Know your Guest

I really wanted to get this interview going in the right direction. The minute I knew he was coming on the show, I was focused on coming up with the best questions. I especially wanted that first question to lead to a story, and to help people understand that words matter. Every night I would walk around my neighborhood listening to Storyworthy on Audible. I've already listened to this book, but I was now looking at topics that I would want to expand on. This would allow me to mention the book, and to get the content I was looking for my audience.

Step 5: Don't Test Their Powers of Improv

I had decided that the opening question would be, "When did you realize the power of words?" I really liked that question. It would lead to a story, and let my audience knowing we were going to be talking about words, and story crafting. However, I also realized that this question might need some thought on Matthew's part. Consequently, I let him know the topics we would be covering.

That would be:

When did realize words had power? (the actual question)

Editing (such as where to start a story).

Homework for life (this is Matthew's Freebird).

Normally I don't give my guests the exact questions. I typically let them know why I'm bringing them on, and the subjects we will be covering.

Step 6: Get the Best Audio You Can

When we connected via Squadcast,  I was hearing Matthew through his camera's microphone. I tested this by having him tap his microphone. When he tapped it, and I didn't hear the tapping, I knew Squadcast was using the wrong microphone. When he switched away from his camera's microphone, it was like night and day.

Step 7: Prove You've Done Your Homework

When we first connected and got the microphones configured, I wanted to show Matthew I was a fanboy without being a fanboy. I know he is a HUGE fan of the New England Patriots football team. They recently made a quarterback change, so I asked him how they thought they would do.  My questions also showed I had actually read the book.

Step 8: Ask and Shut Up

When I do an interview I had my list of questions on a pad to my left and a blank pad in front of me with a pen that doesn't click. When I was would ask a question I would then shut up and listen. I didn't "um, hmm" and I listened for potential opportunities to ask a follow-up question.

Step 9: Follow Up Questions

When he was talking about things that had happened because of his podcast he mentioned how at one event that he was asked to tell a story, his daughter got up and told I story. While I realize that asking an athlete, "How does it feel to win the game?"I still asked what it felt like to watch your child follow in your footsteps. This question isn't in alignment with my goal (story crafting and book sales), but I know my audience has children, and I believe we call can identify with how cool it would be to see your child follow in your foto steps;

Step 10: Remove Things That Aren't Needed

I asked Matthew what was the first podcast that he listened to. Matthew couldn't exactly remember it and was a little blurry on the year. Does this help us craft stories? Does it sell books? No. Does it give us a glimpse inside Matthew that you can't get anyplace else? Nope. This is why you didn't hear it.

Step 11: I Ran It Through a Transcription Service to find the Nuggets of Gold

If you do interviews, one way to reposition yourself as the expert (and not your guest) is to do what I call the "Jerry Springer" a summarize the main points that YOU found interesting. This enables you to share a bit of yourself as well as remind the audience of the value they just received.

For this step, I ran the edited interview through Otter.ai. This enabled me to find those great points in record time. Instead of having to listen to the episode again, I could read it much faster. Using transcripts as an editing tool is not something I hear people talk about it is typically about to create a full transcript of the show.

I did edit the transcript into something readable and added it to the website. This is not something I normally do, but maybe I should.

Need to Plan, Launch, and Grow Your Podcast?

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I have had the voice of Matthew Dicks in my head more than any other person this year. I heard him on a podcast, bought his audiobook Storyworthy: Engage, Teach, Persuade, and Change Your Life through the Power of Storytelling, and listened to it. When I was done with the book I wanted more and found his Speak Up Story Telling podcast. Unlike other books on Storytelling that have brilliant messages like "Stories are good," and "You should learn how to tell stories," I was THRILLED that I had finally found a book that explained HOW to tell better stories. It is an AMAZING book, and I feel it will benefit anyone who reads or listens to it.

Today I am honored to have the author on my show.

Here are some key points:

Start with a thesis. I use to think something, and then something (the story) happened, and now I think something else.

I would prefer to be entertaining than lengthy and boring. Always serve the story (not yourself).

I think about what I want my audience to feel in certain parts of the story. I make those decisions before I begin crafting my story.

"How about making the first thing you say something that's actually engaging and interesting? Because those first 30 seconds to 60 seconds of a story that is such fertile ground, that is your opportunity to either convince the audience that what is to come is worth listening to, or I don't know what the hell I'm doing. Because I've just bored you for 30 to 60 seconds, and essentially told you nothing."

Our questions that we asked people like in a podcast, the more specific they are, the more helpful they are to our guests.

Ready To Start Your Podcast?

Are you worried about spending too much money on equipment? Sounding unprofessional? Not sure what software to use? How to shape your content? 

Join the school of podcasting and enjoy the step by step tutorials along with a private Facebook group filled with other brilliant podcasting minds. 

You can join worry-free with a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Go to www.schoolofpodcasting.com/start

TIME TABLE

01:22 Matthew Dicks Introduction 03:50 When Did You realize Stories Had Power? 08:38 Do Stories HAVE to show vulnerability? 10:14 Is vulnerability Magic? 12:38 How do you know what to keep and what to delete? 15:27 The Importance of Location 19:30 Homework For Life 23:44 Can you Tell a Story "By Numbers" 26:40 The Power of But and Therefore VS And 30:16 Story Telling Peeves 33:52 3-2-1 Game 36:23 When Did Mathew Know He Wanted to Podcast? 37:58 Because of My Podcast ______ 40:58 Watching Your Daughter Tell a Story 42:13 Where to Find Matthew's Workshops 44:33 Storytelling is More Than Just Stories 45:40 How Storytelling Helps 47:36 Matthew Has Other Books

Profit From Your Podcast is Available

Pick up any book on podcast monetization, and you will find 90 percent of it only covers how to launch a podcast. If you already have a podcast, you have that information; you’re ready for the next step. Profit from Your Podcast provides top strategies and real-life examples of podcast monetization. This book is more than what to do. It also tells you how to do it. Chapters cover such topics as: 

• How to Grow Your Audience
• How to Set Your Pricing
• Understanding Advertising Jargon
• How to Find Sponsors
• Best Strategies for Making Money as an Affiliate
• Master Strategies for Crowdfunding
• Harnessing the Power of Webinars and Events
• The Top Tools to Make Your Job Easy

Built on the author’s fifteen years of experience in podcasting, this action-packed guide will benefit new and veteran podcasters. Get clear on who your audience is and what they want, deliver value, and build an engaged audience that wants to give you money. Leverage your relationships and the integrity you have built through your podcast to create multiple streams of income. Profit from Your Podcast gives you the tools to do it all.

Mentioned In This Episode

Matthew Dicks Website

Storyworthy: Engage, Teach, Persuade, and Change Your Life through the Power of Storytelling

Get the Audiobook for free if you're new to Audible

Speak Up Story Telling podcast

Homework for life video

Profit from Your Podcast

School of Podcasting

Podcast Consulting

This week rock guitar God Eddie Van Halen died after a long battle with throat cancer. As a guitar who was 13 when Van Halen's first album was released, and whose band provided the soundtrack to my adolescent years this hit me hard. With this in mind, I wanted to talk about things podcasters can learn from Eddie Van Halen.

Sponsor -Profit from Your Podcast: Proven Strategies to Turn Listeners into a Livelihood

Methods and Advice for Making the Most of Your Podcast—Pricing, Sponsors, Crowdfunding, and More

Pick up any book on podcast monetization, and you will find 90 percent of it only covers how to launch a podcast. If you already have a podcast, you have that information; you’re ready for the next step. Profit from Your Podcast provides top strategies and real-life examples of podcast monetization. This book is more than what to do. It also tells you how to do it. Chapters cover such topics as: How to Grow Your Audience How to Set Your Pricing Understanding Advertising Jargon How to Find Sponsors Best Strategies for Making Money as an Affiliate Master Strategies for Crowdfunding Harnessing the Power of Webinars and Events The Top Tools to Make Your Job Easy Built on the author’s fifteen years of experience in podcasting, this action-packed guide will benefit new and veteran podcasters. Get clear on who your audience is and what they want, deliver value, and build an engaged audience that wants to give you money. Leverage your relationships and the integrity you have built through your podcast to create multiple streams of income. Profit from Your Podcast gives you the tools to do it all.

Order on Amazon.com

Van Halen Took Years to Build Their Audience

The band was formed in 1972. Some of the top songs in 1972 were Saturday in the park in Chicago, Brandy (You're a fine girl), I'll take you there (the staple singers). Not exactly a thriving time of high energy, guitar-oriented hard rock. They played clubs for years.

In 1976 (four years later) Gene Simmons of Kiss financed a demo tape, and arranged a performance in front of Kiss's management and was told that "they had no chance of making it" and that they wouldn't take them. Gene then removed himself from further involvement.

A year later when they were playing the famed "Starwood: club Ted Templeman of Warner Brother saw the band and they were offered a contract.

Good Planning Leads to Less Editing

As they had been playing clubs for years, the band was well-rehearsed and ready to go. Their first album was recorded in three weeks with almost no overdubs.

You Don't Need to Spend a Ton of Cash

There are two popular guitars in rock music. A Stratocaster has a thin sound and used by blues players and it had a whammy bar. A Les Paul has a thicker, chunkier sound. Eddie took the guts of a Less Paul and put them into the Stratocaster (called the Frankencaster). He made the guitar himself using a guitar body that cost fifty dollars and a guitar neck that cost eighty. He ended up with a thicker, chunkier guitar tone that had a whammy bar. The guitar that cost $130 to make has a replica that now goes for thousands of dollars.

He stated that because he was poor he had to find ways to make the noises on the guitar.

He Learned Through Trial And Error

In the process of creating his own guitar, Eddie states, "I ruined a bunch of stuff." The bottom line he never stopped experimenting. In the song intruder, you hear Eddie creating bizarre sounds on his guitar. It turns out that some of those sounds were Eddie Swiping a Schlitz beer can up and down the neck. In the song poundcake, Eddie uses an electric drill. The bizarre noise on Automic Punk is Eddie running the side of his hands up and down the strings. He was always looking for ways to make different noises (like an elephant) with his guitar. The strange wooshing noise in the middle of the song Panama is Eddie's Lamborgini.

He had an endless curiosity and was constantly experimenting.

He Never Learned How To Read Music

He would watch his teacher's fingers and then play whatever he just saw. His parents forced him to play the piano and won contests when he was ages 9-11. After using the Beatles and the Dave Clark Five he picked up the guitar. Because he never learned guitars lessons "by the book" he believes he wouldn't play the way he does if he had done "Traditional" guitar studies.

Inventions Around Van Halen

I mentioned how he created his own guitar. He holds a patent for a device that allows you to stand and hold the guitar flat. He perfected a style of playing called "tapping" where he play notes with both hands. This lead to the invention of guitar tablature as people couldn't figure out how to put down on paper what he was doing on the fretboard.

Enjoy Your Soup

How did Van Halen get their sound? Drummer Alex Van Halen prefers straight forward rock. Eddie liked progressive rock, and David Lee Roth like disco at the time. Eddie referred to this as ingredients in your soup.

I like singer Gary Cherone from the band Extreme. He joined Van Halen and recorded Van Halen III. On that album bassist Michael Anthony has stated that Eddie told him what and how to play, Gary stated that Eddie was playing bass and drums, making it more or less an Eddie Van Halen Solo album. One point here is this album came out in 1998, and was not sober until 2008. This was the first album to not go platinum (it did achieve Gold status). I was also the longest studio album. 

Embrace Who You Are

When they were in the clubs, they were playing covers. As Eddie put it, no matter how hard I tried I couldn't play what was on the record. I could only be me. Consequently, when you hear a Van Halen record, it sounds like a Van Halen record.

Go To Where Your Audience is and Promote Nonstop

When they couldn't get a record deal they started throwing their own parties and concerts. They toured for 11 months straight to promote their first album including 23 shows in 25 days in the UK. When he got home Warner Brothers alerted the band that they owed the record label three million dollars and a new album. They wouldn't take no for an answer. They stuffed flyers in lockers of high schools. If you liked them or not, you were at least going to know about the band. Slowly they built an audience of 3-5000 people which attracted the attention of Warner Brothers.

He Was Always Nervous Going On Stage

In the early days, he asked his Dad how he dealy with stage fright. His father gave him alcohol and cigarettes (and would later die from Alcohol-related issues). After Eddie got sober, his son was in the band and Eddie said, "If my sixteen-year-old son can be out there kicking butt, then I guess I better get out there."

You Don't Have To Release Everything

Eddie built himself a studio and was always recording, experimenting, but it is assumed that there is quite a bit of music that was not released.

Have Fun

One of the things you can hear in a Van Halen record is fun. Watch Eddie play guitar and you will see one thing that never changes. He smiles. Why? Because he came to this country from Holland with his parents who brought a piano and what amounted to $50. He didn't speak the language and got bullied as he was considered a minority.

Money Changes Everything

In the book Runnin' wit the Devil" he states that the Van Halen brothers (along with David Lee Roth) gave Michael Anthony an ultimatum right around the time the “1984” album came out. In a nutshell, they did not believe Michael’s contributions to the band’s music entitled him to an equal 1/4 split of the profits, so they drew-up a contract that stipulated that he would no longer share in any royalties from Van Halen recordings from the “1984” album on, and I believe it also limited what he would receive from the previous records, touring, and merchandise sales as well. In effect, while Michael would technically still be in the band, he would essentially become a paid employee from that point on.

Most die-hard fans found this offensive. We want to believe you all get along and are best buddies.

Put Your Family First

In 2006 Eddie Van Halen replaced Michael Anthony with his son Wolfgang. He knew this was not going to be a popular choice, but he put his family first. What father wouldn't want to play with his son?

Communication is the Lubrication

Eddie Van Halen wasn't on social media. The website as I write this now does not even have a notice that Eddie has died. For years his audience had no idea what he was up to. Michael Anthony found out he had been replaced via the Internet. He could have kept that connection stronger by keeping people in the loop. 

Why? Eddie was a nice guy, but an introvert. He just wanted to make music. Upon his cancer diagnosis, he retreated even further. 

Profit From Your Podcast Is Available

Thanks to Letitia Evans who was the first to write a review of my new book Profit from your podcast: Proven Strategies to Turn Listeners into a Livelihood. She said, "Dave is one of the best in the podcasting space! This book does a great job of sharing the pieces that need to come together for podcasters to serve their listeners well without shortchanging their livelihoods. Any podcaster that wants to start right and continue well will benefit from this book.

Mentioned in This Episode

Audio Technica ATR2100x microphone

Samson Q2u

Start Your Podcast Worry-Free at the School of Podcasting

You're worried you'll sound stupid. You won't as I show you how to know exactly what your audience wants. You're worried about the technology? Don't be as I have step by step tutorials to walk you through the whole podcasting process. Need some help along the way? I do live group coaching multiple times per month, you have priority email support, and a private Facebook group filled with brilliant podcasting minds. You also have a 30-day money-back guarantee so if you're not happy you can get your money back.

Go to www.schoolofpodcasting.com/start

 

School of Podcasting Win Best Technology Podcast People's Choice Podcast Award

I am thrilled and humbled to be named the winner of People's Choice Podcast Award for best Technology podcasts (beating out seven other podcasts). Thanks to Todd Cochrane and everyone at podcastawards.com for all you do and thank YOU for voting for me.

I had one this award back in 2017, and now I will have an awesome set of bookend for my bookcase. 

THANK YOU!. 

Profit From Your Podcast Is Now Available

I spent months researching podcasters who are making money with their podcasts and assembled all the insights and strategies for you to follow. I announced that I was available for speaking on different podcasts, and I was lucky enough to have listeners who felt I would be a good fit for their show (I'm still available if you think I'm a good fit). By appearing on these different shows, the book was rated the #1 New Release in the blogging category. I was honored to be on the following shows, and look forward to appearing on yours. 

06:02 I appeared with Ross Brand of Live Stream Universe on his Streamyard Connect Podcast which will be replaced in the future.

08:21 I appeared on Episode 360 the Jeff Sander 5 AM Miracle show.  I mention Jeff in the book on how Jeff won't take sponsors that he wouldn't use, and how you really need to guard your integrity as a podcaster. Jeff has appeared on this show back in show 603 in Getting Focused

12:11 I appeared on the "I Could Never Do That" podcast with Carrie Barret who is a podcast producer and talks about overcoming fears. We talk about how to find sponsors.

18:45 I appeared on Dealcster with Jeff and Chris. This was on Amazon Live so in addition to affiliate marketing we talked about Amazon getting into the podcasting space. 

23:34  I will be appearing the For the Love of Podcasting show with Billy Samoa Saleebey talking about you need to look at negative feedback as an opportunity to improve. 

What To Do With the "Wrong Audience"

In the book Profit From Your Podcast I talk about Daniel J. Lewis who designed websites for people. His show "The Audacity to Podcast" attracted people looking for information about the free software titled "Audacity." This was not who Daniel wanted to attract. What did he do? Instead of trying to talk them into a product they didn't want (a website) he listened to what they wanted, and then gave it to them. 

He creates products like an SEO for Podcasters Course, My Podcast Reviews (to track reviews in Apple, Stitcher, and others) as well as the Subscribe and Follow Plugin. He recently added a "Love this Podcast" feature to My Podcast Reviews that provides one link to provide to your audience and helps them get to the right directories/apps for their device. 

You can test this by going to www.lovethispodcast.com/sop Sign up for My Podcast Reviews at www.schoolofpodcasting.com/mpr

Table of Contents

06:02 Dave with Ross Brand 08:21 Dave with Jeff Sanders 12:11 Dave with Carie Barrett 17:15 Join the School of Podcasting 18:45 Dave on Dealcasters 23:34 Dave on For the Love of Podcasting 26:11 What To Do With the "Wrong" Audience 31:41 Because of My Podcast: Ross Brand

Mentioned In This Episode

The 5 AM Miracle Book by Jeff Sanders also available on Audible

Profit From Your Podcast: Turn Your Listeners Into Livelihood

My Podcast Reviews

Subscribe and Follow Plugin

SEO for Podcasters Course,

Zita Christian from Ritual Recipes

David Hooper of Big Podcast

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This is episode 743 of the School of Podcasting which is part of the Power of Podcasting Network.

If you want to hold someone's attention you first need to know who they are and what they need. Then we hear that people's attention span keeps getting smaller. Is it? Today I look into attention spans, and what makes things interesting.

I asked my audience what thought made things interesting. Thanks to everyone who contributed including:

Craig From http://www.inglespodcast.com/

Thomas from www.novelmarketing.com

Harris from Wild Talk (XFL Podcast)

Orlando from www.hablandodetecnologia.com/

Carey from Podcastification

Andres from Colmillo Roquero

Brandon from Florida Focus Podcast

Bill from the Stroke Cast

Kim from the Pharmacist's Voice

Sean Whaley from Tourpreneur, Spybrary and Radio GDR

Full show notes at www.schoolofpodcasting.com/742

Conclusion

It's not that attention spans are getting smaller (they are not) but more our ability to know what we want and identify when we are NOT going to get it has grown. Know your audience, and give them what you want. Be your honest, transparent, vulnerable self to hold their attention. Use tools like your voice, your pacing, to grab their attention. Never stop your passion from coming out. Let people hear your passion.

Keep in mind you are somewhat doomed. If you stay 100% consistent, your audience may get bored. If you branch out and try new things, you may upset those who want the show to never change. I know... so be ready to embrace that no matter what you do - some people will leave.

Include any of these six to be more interesting:

• Tone of voice
• Pacing
• Passion
• Stories
• Autonomy
• Vulnerability

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Mentioned In This Podcast

Tyler Perry Episode on the School of Podcasting

Podcast Talent Coach

Podcast Review Show

Podcast Rodeo Show

Dave's Patreon Page

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Discounted "Teacher's Pet" Podcast Consulting

Elizabeth Benton is known as a health and nutrition guru, but to me, she is more of a "mindset guru." She is someone who has dug herself out of being $130,000 in debt, and has lost (and kept off )150 lbs. My audience from the Logical Weight Loss podcast told me I HAD to read her book, Chasing Cupcakes (get it for free on Audible), and once I finished her book, I checked out her Primal Potential podcast and downloaded all of her episodes. I was thrilled when she agreed to come on the show and explain how podcasting has boosted her business.

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Topics With Elizabeth Benton

7:16 How Long Did You Run Your Business Without a Podcast? 8:31 Did you hesitate to start your podcast? 9:11 People have STONG Feelings about Eating Healthy 11:24 How has your podcast impacted your business? 12:53 Because of her podcast ______. 14:01 Have you interviewed your clients on your podcast? 14:32 How do you keep going? 16:29 Favorite Piece of Feedback 17:36 Elizabeth shares about expectations in relationships 20:43 Advice for a new podcaster 22:20 You attract people who are like you.

My Favorite Takeaways

• I want to be challenged because in that I learn.
• If you don't want to roll an ankle don't play basketball if you don't want people to disagree with you Don't ever say anything out in public.
• The advantage over email is people can listen to episode four. They can't read your fourth email. 
• If you're having fun, stay in the game. Stay consistent.
• Don't just do podcasting because podcasting is hot. It's only hot if you're really good at it.

Podcast Rewind

I appeared on The Brave Files  podcast with Heather Vickery talking about some of my biggest fears and how I overcome them. The show features people living courageously.

I also appeared on the Business of Podcasting show with Charley Valher. We talked about taking steps to make sure your podcast connects with your audience. Without a connection, you won't be able to monetize your show.

Profit From Your Podcast Pre-Order

30:29  Dave's book "Profit from your podcast" is being released 9/28. You can pre-order today. The book contains oroven strategies to turn listeners into a livelihood.

I Need Your Thoughts in Interesting

31:48 Right now, I'm obsessed with the word, Interesting. When you hear the word interesting, what comes to your mind? If someone who spoke another language and asked you to explain what Interesting mean, how would you describe it. Feel free to “riff” on your thoughts of interesting, and explain any examples of content you feel is interesting. I need your answer by September 25th, 2020. Go to www.schoolofpodcasting.com/queston

 

Mentioned In This Podcast

Elizabeth Benton on the Logical Weight Loss Podcast

Elizabeth Benton's Book "Chasing Cupcakes" on Amazon and Audible

Elizabeth Benton's website Primal Potential and Podcast

Primal Potential Episode on Expectations

Question of the Month

Start Your Podcast at the School of Podcasting

Amazon Music adds Podcasting on YouTube

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Just want to support the show? Consider becoming a Patron.

Charley Valher started a podcast and was "swinging for the fences" and after hiring a team, and putting 50,000 into a marketing budget he realized after a year that the show just wasn't producing the results he needed. Today he shares the mistakes he made, and how he came back to podcasting with new strategies and insights that resulted in his podcast (the business of podcasting) being the number one way her is driving customers to his business at Valher Media. 

Topics Include:

02:41 Charlie's Services

05:14 Charlies Hired a Team for His First Podcast

07:59 What Was Missing?

10:44 How did you come up with the new formula?

12:19 Position Yourself as the Expert

14:45 Can You Niche Down Too Far?

15:54 Three Ingredients of a Niche

16:40 Charlie's Original Call to Action

18:07 Having the Right Topics

22:11 Was it Hard To Try Again?

25:13 How Long Until You Saw Results?

26:57 How do you pick topics?

29:32 Interviewing Potential Clients

33:22 Did You Make Any Technology Mistakes

34:59 Most Memorable Feedback

39:55 What's Working Now?

40:41 How Do You Grow Your Podcast?

43:04 Insights Into Charlie's Prices

Great Takeaways

Position yourself as an expert 

I want to talk to my audience so they feel like I've been watching them.

When creating a niche, consider the demographic, the service/industry, and if this is for Beginners/Intermediates/Experts

His audience is now quoting the podcast in his approval form. They say things like, "This podcast was made for me." 

The 5o,00 budget did not result in success. You can't buy an audience if your content doesn't connect.

Question of the Month DeadLine 9/25

Right now, I'm obsessed with the word, Interesting. When you hear the word interesting, what comes to your mind? If someone who spoke another language and asked you to explain what Interesting mean, how would you describe it. Feel free to “riff” on your thoughts of interesting, and explain any examples of content you feel is interesting. I need your answer by September 25th, 2020. Submit your answer at schoolofpodcasting.com/question

Mentioned In This Podcast

The Business of Podcasting Show 

Valher Media

Rodecaster Pro and Zoom Podtrack P4

Audio Technica ATR2100 USB Microphone.

Join the School of Podcasting

 

As I continue (as a middle-aged white dude) to attempt to learn more about Black History, Culture, and issues, a friend of mine suggested I watch the TV show Black AF on Netflix as there is always a hidden history lesson.   (a writer and producer)  plays a television writer and producer (named Kenya Berris). In one episode the main character (who is a movie and television creator) is worried about giving feedback to a fellow black creator, and also is worried about what others might think about his films and content.

In sone scene, Kenya meets Tyler Perry who might know from his movies feature Madea. This is a character played by Perry. She is a tough, elderly African-American woman. She 6'2" and 365 lbs.

Diary of a Mad Black Woman—2005 Madea's Family Reunion—2006 Meet the Browns (cameo)—2008 Madea Goes to Jail—2009 I Can Do Bad All by Myself—2009 Madea's Big Happy Family—2011 Madea's Witness Protection—2012 A Madea Christmas—2013 Boo! A Madea Halloween—2016 Boo 2! A Madea Halloween—2017 A Madea Family Funeral—2019

Transcript from Black AF Featuring Tyler Perry

In the episode, Kenya asks about the website Rotten Tomatoes.

----

Kenya Barris: Go to Rotten Tomatoes.

Tyler Perry: But let me just tell you about the tomatoes. I don't fuck with 'em.

Kenya Barris: No tomatoes?

Tyler Perry: I don't give a damn about a rotten or a fresh none of that means shit to me.

Kenya Barris: That's amazing. What about critics?

Tyler Perry: I don't give a fuck

Kenya Barris: I guess that's amazing.

Tyler Perry: Can I just tell you why?

Listen, man, I know that I'm telling stories that my folks want to see. I'm talking from our point of view. We're speaking a language. We're speaking a shorthand that we get, and that white people don't necessarily get. Nina Simone said this and I never forgot that she said, "You will use up everything you got trying to give everybody what they want."

You got to focus man you know what I do? I super serve my niche. We speak like we're talking we know each other - we get it. There's a lot of times I see shit that wins Oscars and I be like, what is this shit? I walked out halfway through it. I don't get it.  I feel like they feel the same way about my work. They don't get it, which is all cool.

My mother born in Jim Crow South In Louisiana, right down the street from Mississippi where Emmett Till was murdered. She told me the value of being who I am of my blackness. She said, "Don't you ever let anybody tell you who you are, you know who you are, you know where you come from." I watched her stories, I watched her struggles and that's what I'm telling.

I'm telling the stories that I come from, and that's why they're winning. Because people are recognizing themselves in these stories, no matter how crass that people think they are, no matter what the critics are saying, Oh, I don't get this shit. I don't understand what is. I don't give a fuck because I'm talking to us. That's why millions of people are watching my shows every week. That's why people keep showing up and sending the movies to number one. I'm talking to us connecting with us. You know, I'm saying?

Let me tell you what you're doing, you're trying to get them to approve you. That's when I don't get why niggas run around trying to get white folks, "Please tell me I'm special. Oh, give me your Oscar. Oh, let me know I'm all of these things that you want me.."

Fuck that. Tell your story. Live in your own life in your own culture. Tell your own experience. Ain't nobody gonna tell you how to be you. You hear what I'm saying?

Kenya Barris: I do man. I really fucking do.

Tyler Perry: Good.

----

Now keep in mind that this is Kenya Berris playing himself and the same for Tyler Perry, but the more I got into researching Tyler Perry the move I loved his message.

It's Not How You Start - It's How you Finish

Tyler grew up in Louisiana with his mother and an alcoholic father who would beat both he and his mother.

His Success Didn't Come Overnight

Tyler started with plays. His first play cost $12,000 to put on. He expected to get 1200 people, and instead he got 30.

It Starts With Knowing Your Audience

Tyler Perry knows white critics are not going to get his movies. He doesn't care because he got feedback from someone who saw the movie "Diary of a Mad Black Woman" and she said, "In two hours, you got my sister to do what we've been trying to do for twelve years - leave an abusive relationship." (source)

His Attitude on Feedback

In his book Higher is Waiting, he states, "What's more, you need some naysayers in your life. You need people to challenge your point of view. Your job is to look for the truth in their negativity. For instance, sometimes I'll get a bad review. And my first defensive reaction is to think it's completely off the mark. Once I give myself a moment and allow my initial reaction to be released, I'll read it again to see if there's anything I can learn from the review. If it's pure vitriol, well, I let it go. But if there's some truth, even a kernel, I'll use what's written to be better at what I do. I can take constructive criticism."

It Took Seven Years to Start to Catch On

Tyler mentions how each year he would work different jobs, saving his money so he could put his play I Know I've Been Changed on in a theater. Upon the seventh year, he started to get feedback from attendees saying how much they enjoyed the play. It would go on tour from 1998-2000.

He Went To Where His Audience Was

Perry continued to create new stage productions, touring with them on the so-called "Chitlin' Circuit" (now also known as the "urban theater circuit") and developing a large, devoted following among African-American audiences. In 2005, Forbes reported that he had sold "more than $100 million in tickets, $30 million in videos of his shows and an estimated $20 million in merchandise", and "the 300 live shows he produces each year are attended by an average of 35,000 people a week."

He is Brave and Shares His Faith

If you interview Tyler Perry he will say his success is due to one thing. The grace of God. He knows saying "Jesus" is not a popular thing to do in mainstream media. But it's not to his audience. In a survey in 2007 by the Pew Research Center's Forum on Religion & Public Life, the African-American population was found to be more religious than the U.S. population as a whole, with 87% of its members being affiliated with a religion, and 79% of them saying that "religion is very important in their life", in contrast to 83% and 56% of the whole US. population, most of which is Christian, with 83% of black Americans identifying as Christian, including 45% who identify as baptist.

He Owns All of His Material

While many podcasters are looking to be on a big network, Tyler Perry went direct. He rented theaters for his plays. He wrote, acted, and directed his content. Why? His father was a carpenter and he would see his father build a house and get paid $8,000 while to owner/seller of the house got $80,000. Perry's films are co-produced and distributed by Lions Gate Entertainment; he retains full copyright ownership under the corporate name Tyler Perry Films, and places his name in front of all titles. Perry's movies have seen very limited release outside North America, but in May 2010, Lionsgate announced plans to begin releasing his films in the United Kingdom.

He Gives Back to His Community

His dream was to own his own studio. He bought land in Atlanta Georgia that was previously a confederate fort that made plans to keep 3.9 million negros enslaved, and he put built it there so other black children could see "that the land is now owned by one negro." (source)

Mentioned in This Episode

www.reviewsandrandomness.com

Question of the Month

Indie Pod Con

Tyler Perry Spring Tuskegee Commencement Speech

Tyler Perry Gives Powerful Speech Of Motivation As He Accepts Ultimate Icon Award | BET Awards 2019

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It's to know what is working for your audience. Sure you can look at your downloads but there are other ways to look at engagement. Today in episode 738 I dig deeper.

Website Traffic

How many website visitors are you getting? You may be surprised that your top ten pages on your website are the same as the top ten episodes of your podcast? Why, you might have more keywords in your notes that attract google. People may be linking to your episode which can boost "Google Juice" (your rankings).

WHAT ABOUT TRANSCRIPTS?

I was listening to The Business of Podcasting a great podcast with Charlie Valher from Valher media (Charlie will be on this show in the future), and he was interview Stephan Spencer who is one THE SEO people on the planet. While we often say, "This person wrote the book on..." Stephen actually wrote the book on SEO (Search Engine Optimization) The Art of SEO. It's 994 pages.

Here is what he had to say about transcripts:

But the key thing here is you're creating something in an audio format and although Google is getting better at taking that audio and doing something amazing with it, like turning that into searchable content on its own, you can't just rely on that. A lot of people don't have time to listen to podcasts and they like to just scan through articles, but nobody wants to read a transcript. Who's gonna get excited about reading a transcript with a bunch of the back and forth banter and not cutting to the chase? Having an article made out of the transcript, however, is a very powerful strategy and if you have an hour-long show or a half-hour-long show, that's a lot of textual content. -Stephen Spencer the Business of Podcasting show.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

Google Analytics

Google Analytics is a great free tool that enables you to pull insights about your website visitors. The best part is its free. It is very robust. There are ways you can flatten the learning curve with Google Analytics. One is to take the free course(s) offered by Google. One of my favorite tools that takes that data and creates easy to understand reports is Monster Insights.

Check out the video on Monster Insights

Tracking Clicks

In WordPress, many people use a plugin that is free/premium called Pretty Links. There is a free version and the premium version starts at $49/year. It's been downloaded over 2.5 million times. Thirsty affiliates is a very similar plugin for about the same price ($49/year).

If you want something even more powerful (especially for affiliate links) check out Lasso which can even check the stock at Amazon for your links, and much more. It starts at $19/month.

URL Shortener Pro is only $19.

The advantage of these plugins is they enable you to reinforce your brand's website while making an easy to remember. For example, www.schoolofpodcasting.com/subscribe will take you to my subscription page. If someone asks me where to subscribe, I have one link with all the apps. If someone asks about the Podpage service, they can go to www.schoolofpodcasting.com/podpage. For my Patreon account that I promote on the Ask the Podcast Coach show I use www.askthepodcastcoach.com/awesome

What if you don't use WordPress? How Do You Track Clicks?

bit.ly

Many people use bit.ly which I did, but I found something that really changed my opinion of bit.ly. While you can setup a bit.ly link to point at a long URL that makes it easier to remember if later you want to change that link - you can't. This is why I started researching this topic. Then on August 13th, they added the feature to update a link see announcement. However, you have to pay for this feature ($35/month).

Rebrandly

One company called Rebrandly was started based on the pain point of "I can't change my destination URL in Bitly." With Rebrandly you can have up to 500 links and have up to 5000 clicks per month for free. You can have up to 5 custom domains. If you're looking for a free tool to track clicks this seems to be the tool. They have 550,000 happy customers.

If You Want to Do More Track Clicks (Marketing?)

Click.org

Click.org allows you to do A/B Split testing, and you can have one link for people in one part of the world, and another link used for others in a different part. For marketing people it adds the tracking pixel. So now when you send someone to a website that is not yours, you can add a pixel to retarget them. This is much more of a marketing tool and may be overkill for those who want to just have a link to give to their audience.

Pixle.me

Pixle.me is all about retargeting. It is the primary feature you see when you go to their website. For example, you could send people to a post on Medium and then they would see your Facebook ads when they go about the Internet. They have a tool where you can send someone to an Amazon site (for example) and make YOUR email pop up box appear. While they have some fun marketing tools if you want to change the destination URL (the feature that launched this investigation) it will cost you $24 a month. I did like some of their tools, and when it comes to marketing and tracking (which somewhat keeps your brand in front of your audience) it seemed to be a clear winner.

What You Can Learn?

Here is a list of things you might want to track:

A link in your email signature

Links in your emails

Links in your show notes.

Your Instagram URL (instead of using some third-party service)

Links to your subscribe buttons

A general idea of how engaged your audience is with your content.

Check How Far People Are Listening To Your Episode

What do Apple, Google, Spotify, and Stitcher all have in common? They all provide extra stats that show you how far your audience is listening. Also, if you are using Anchor and allowed them to submit your show to directories "for you" you have given away this option (they don't tell you that when they offer to do you a "favor"). Here is a video from Apple

Advertiser Practice Run

Last week I talked about the Zoom Podtrack P4, and 84 people clicked on it (11% of my audience at the time), but nobody purchased it. As many people feel that 3-5% click rate is "great" this seems to be a very interesting product for my audience. My feeling is due to it not being available yet (and only available for pre-order) this may mess up my affiliate stats.

By using an affiliate link, it has built-in click tracking and you can see how many units were sold. Amazon Associates is the largest affiliate program. The best thing is to find a product you like, and then see if the word "affiliates" or "partners" is at the bottom of their website. Sign up and promote it. As its a favorite product of yours, your sales pitch will be more heartfelt.

Mentioned In This Episode

Start your podcast at the School of Podcasting

Zoom Podtrack P4 Episode

Zoom Podtrack P4

Pretty Links WordPress Plugin

Thirsty affiliates WordPress Plugin

Lasso  WordPress Plugin (great for Affiliate marketing)

Easy AZON Plugin

Click.org

Pixle.me

rebrandly.com

bitly.com

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