Viral Podcasting

Jason Hartman has been podcasting since 2005. During that time he's attracted thousands of clients and 10's of millions in revenues. Being first or among the first always helps, but so does being an investment visionary. Jason has shown over and over again that income property, particularly single family homes for rental, have the best long term returns of any asset class. Even during the 2008-09 financial crisis, most of Jason's clients who listened to him came out better than when they started. As far as podcasting is concerned, Jason concentrates far more on content than on the technicals. At any given time he's got his stalwart Creating Wealth show as well as 7-8 others in production. He interviews world leading authorities on a variety of financial and non-financial topics and his show is often found at the top of iTunes charts and others. While it's definitely more difficult to start a successful podcast in 2018, Jason believes that it can still be done, if you know what you're doing and what your audience wants. Jason plans to keep on podcasting for as long as he possibly can, and that probably means decades. We can only imagine what his numbers will look like in 30 years. 

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Naresh Vissa wrote a best selling book about podcasting Podcastnomics several years ago. It's become must reading in the Podcast Industry. He shows how people in many fields have created podcasts that have greatly increased their businesses, sometimes making them millions. Naresh helps podcasters create and produce successful podcasts. He handles all the grunt work, from guest acquisition to production, and from promotion to PR. It's all about connecting with an audience and becoming a vital part of their lives. The formula is very simple but the execution is where the winners are seperated from the losers. But the best part is that even if you're not succeeding now, Naresh can help you change all that.  Go over to ViralPodcasting.com and find out more.

Bill Powers started his Mining Stock Education Podcast 2 years ago. He read Viral Podcasting and has implemented many of the strategies. He's now profitable and is still building the company. He's been getting great guests and widespread distribution and the clients are starting to jump on board. He's joined a growing group of people that actually earn a respectable income from their work. He shares with us his journey and his vision for the future. It's all up from here.

According to Rob Walch of leading podcast server site Libsyn, 62% of the traffic on their site emanates from iTunes. That's still a very commanding share, but if 100 million people listen to podcasts regularly, that means that 38 million get their podcasts from non-iTunes aggregators. That's a lot of listeners and it opens up tremendous opportunities for aggressive, clever podcasters. Mike Gazzola gets more than 2000 downloads per day from Tunein Radio. He gets similar results from other podcasts. Isn't it better to be a large fish in a small pond, than a small fish in the Pacific Ocean? These smaller sites all have their featured and top picks. If you make it there, your traffic could escalate way beyond your most modest expectations. Try examing these other aggregators and see what happens to the popularity of your show. You might be very surprised.

Colin Gray was a college professor in the UK when he got bitten by the Podcast bug. It wasn't long before he was giving up his day job and pursuing podcasting as a full time profession. Now he runs multiple podcasts and teaches everyday folks how to start and maintain successful shows. Much like your humble host, Colin has learned all the ins and outs as well as advanced interviewing techniques. He agrees that it is among the hardest things a newbie host must learn.

Now he's trying to give aspiring hosts an even easier solution with his new site www.Alito.com. It's a website that takes your raw audio file and turns it into a high quality ready to distribute episode. What could be easier than that? 

Colin is very optimistic about the future of podcasting and believes that we've only just scratched the surface.

The biggest problem I've had doing my podcasting career is the quality of my Skype connection. For such a well established service, it has a number of deficiences. Dropped calls, fadeouts, clicks, latency issues, etc. And yet it appears to be the cleanest shirt in the laundry. Other services promise the moon and the stars, but can't deliver. Worst part is that they rely upon you sending a connection link to get your interviewee on the call. This is often problematical. As a host, you want to be in control of the call. You don't want to be sitting around waiting for your guest to remeber to connect. With Skype, unlike all the other services, either party to a call can initiate contact. 

For seven years I've looked for a solution. Finally, my good friend Joe Messina has found one. Used properly, it will reduce your Skype issues by a large percentage. It's called QOS - Quality of Service. Found on your router settings, it enables you to allocate bandwith to different apps, programs and devices, either dynamically or in a fixed priority listing. It works amazingly well. If you're using a cable company combo modem/router you probably don't have access to DOS. However, you can simply configure your modem to shut down the built-in router and then connect an after market router. I'm using a Netgear AC1900 Nighthawk. It's way faster than my cable co's router and has QOS. Thus far I'm using the dynamic QOS setting and it's working like a charm. You might also want to consider it, especially  if you're having too many Skype issues. 

Jay Soderberg has been a podcaster since 2005. He was a producer at ESPN and his boss ordered him to become the resident podcasting maven. Not having a choice in the matter, Jay took to the challenge with the passion and intensity he's know for. Now he works for Voxnest, a company which recently acquired Blogtalkradio and Spreaker. He's now working with 10's of thousands of podcasters around the world. The company will be releasing an ad insertion tool that will work with other podcast server sites and allow individuals to monetize their shows. Jay has followed the careers of many well know podcasters and believes that passion is the driver. Knowing your audience and how to communicate with them will go a long ways towards success, but you've got to learn the craft and live it. Podcasting keeps getting more popular and as smartphone automobile integration continues to advance, so will growth. There's a lot more growth coming down the pike.

When it comes to podcasting, everyone knows John Lee Dumas. He's a modern day legend. From starting a podcast with modest goals, he's built an empire. After serving as an officer on the battlefields of Iraq, he went through a number of profitable careers, but always lacked a sense of fulfillment. But he kept at it and eventually gravitated to podcasting. We first connected during a Cliff Ravenscraft mastermind group, when he was just getting started. Fast forward 6 years later, John is living the dream and has taught thousands of others how to master the art of podcasting. As John puts it, "You start out with very few people actually listening to your show. You keep at it and then all of a sudden 2 years, you're an overnight sensation." But remember, just because you know how to talk doesn't mean you can be a podcaster. There's a lot more to success than being able to string a catchy sentence together. You need that something extra and John has obviously found it.

I've said it many times before, podcasting can be a solitary profession. Much of the day, you're at your desk working on future episodes, writing articles and trying to figure out ways to be successful. It's not unusual to have self doubts and question whether your decision to become a podcaster was a wise one. Especially when you're trying to monetize and nothing seems to be happening. On a recent episode of my Financial Survival Network Podcast I shared with my audience that my sister was in the last phase of a chronic illness  and that her impending death had led to a number of family reconciliations. I urged them not to put it off, if you're estranged from a loved one or a friend, take action and get back together. After all, in the end the only people you can really count on is your family. Several days later I received an email that moved me to tears. 

John, a long term FSN member, told me that he was so moved by my words that he immediately texted his son, with whom he had had no contact with in past 10 years. His son texted back along with pictures of a grandchild John didn't even know he had. They're talking again, taking the necessary steps to restore and improve their relationship.

The next time you're wondering whether what you do matters, think again. You have more impact upon people than you would ever believe possible. You make a big difference, so start acting like it.

Once you've perfected your interview skills and you've developed a list of companies who you'd love get on board as sponsors, your work has just begun. But use this technique properly and it's virtually guaranteed to work. First, research out everything you can find on the company and it's CEO. All those small details. How did the company start? Where was it founded? What are their sales? Make a list of facts. Then on to the CEO. Where did she grow up? What college did she attend? How did she wind up with the company? Study this info and become a virtual expert on the company and the CEO. Now listen on to learn how to turn that information into gold. It's guaranteed to work. And it will make your podcast a financial success. It's so simple and yet so powerful.