In this episode of The Podcast Reporter, we deliver a repurposed episode that has evergreen content for the podcaster — especially when either the times are tough, the environment for business has been stretched to the limit, and when lockdowns have seemed to permanently bruise your self-worth and your business.
So, when you feel the negative signs growing upon yourself and you feel that “the thrill is gone” from your podcasting experience, what are some new strategies that you may investigate in order to get rid of the “podcasting blues” and re-ignite your passion for podcasting and get you back on the road to a thrilling and fulfilling adventure into the podosphere?
In this audio episode, we discuss several strategies that can help you at the time when you most need it. But even if these negative feelings are not haunting you at this moment, you may wish to keep this episode around, so that you can reach out to these strategies if and when the time comes in the near future.
We hope that these high-level strategies mentioned can help you to get through a slump of negative feelings if and when they arise soon, and that you can get yourself back on the road to passionate podcasting about your topic. And if you are monetizing your podcast within your business, we hope that these can assist you in recovering your passion and increasing your business success.
Thank you for your attention.
Copyright (c) 2021, Matrix Solutions Corporation . All rights reserved.
In this episode of The Podcast Reporter, we discuss how your departure from podcasting and downsizing of your shows from several to just one or two may be a bit premature at the time you start to suffer from health complications due to age.
I, myself, a podcaster for the last 15 years, did feel that the world of health complications was crushing in on me and that I would have to exit from the podosphere. And so, in January of 2018, I wanted to give my listeners from the last 3 remaining podcast shows a type of eulogy that will signal my farewell (as at that time, I did feel that I was going downhill and would not recover to my previous level due to my conditions — both mental and physical, especially with the reactions to my complications resulting from exposure to Agent Orange from my experience in the Vietnam War as a combat infantryman).
So, at that time, I did present a type of eulogy to my listeners as I had just finished shutting down 5 of my then current shows. And today, I had withdrawn 15 of my shows, even though since 2018, I did add 2 more shows — and that is my situation today.
Now, besides physical health complications and aging, what other situations would force an avid podcaster to podfade his shows? Well, I know now that aging conditions that start with dementia and alzheimers (the symptoms, that is) can signify slipping into non-productive situations that may force me to podfade my shows and resign myself to treatment in the VA for PTSD, dementia and alzheimers for my injuries and wounds during my time in the service.
But at this time, I have grown much stronger since the time that I recorded my eulogy in audio for my listeners in the podosphere. And because of this, I feel that I am still going strong in the world of podcasting — and this proves that podcasting is a great way to recover from declining weakness from health and other family medical situations, even though the cause of my health situations was 50 years ago.
And so, I wanted to give you in this audio player the six-minute audio episode of this podcast series (episode 95), so that you can hear what a eulogy from podcasting would be like — and you can understand that it was premature.
So I am in recovery and still feeling strong to podcast my episodes and see that my shows are growing with great numbers of listeners and followers. In fact, I have reached a new high for listeners to another podcast show (2030podcast.com) due to the value that others have received — and from their posting not only great reviews, but also republishing episodes in a worldwide stream that has grown my audience of listeners by many thousands.
Thus, I am living proof that age is just a number, but your mental attitude and strength to continue podcasting for passion is most important to overcome both ageism and some of the mental and physical “speed bumps” with declining health.
In this episode of The Podcast Reporter, we discuss the news that podcasting had reached a milestone months earlier — which is more than 2 million shows in April, 2021. This is important for each podcaster — but this can be a double-edged sword. In addition to going more mainstream, this can be a dilemma for a podcaster, because now it becomes very difficult to be known in the podosphere, as well as getting more listeners in audio for your show.
This was discussed in an April, 2021 email from Ben Krueger of cashflowpodcasting.com to his email list, in which he titled the content “This month in podcasting.”
In summary, Ben wrote:
“Hi friends, This month the podcast industry reached a new exciting milestone by officially hitting 2 million shows on Apple Podcasts, according to Podcast Industry Insights courtesy of Daniel J. Lewis. This means that after a decade of audience growth, podcasting remains an extremely appealing and ever-growing advertising platform for your business.
As the industry becomes increasingly more mainstream, this platform gives you an opportunity to connect with your audience on a more personal level, therefore allowing for more trust and commitment to your company, product, or brand. While your followers may otherwise feel overwhelmed with visual inputs or marketing tactics, this will give you the upper hand.
So how can you continue to show up for your audience in a way that provides them with enough valuable content that they want to keep coming back for more and share with their loved ones? Here are a few of our tips:
Engage with your audience. Be responsive. Let your listeners know you’re there for them. Try to make it as easy as possible for them to provide feedback, ask questions, or make topic recommendations.
Write top-notch show notes. For some of you, this might be a new venture as you start your podcast. Copywriting can be daunting and overwhelming. We suggest including a brief summary of the episode, top takeaways, links and resources mentioned, guest bios, and of course ending with a call-to-action. If this seems a little too stressful for you to attempt on your own, we also provide this as a service to our clients. You can learn more here.
Provide good quality audio. Try to minimize background noise and avoid raising or lowering your voice too much as you speak. Recording in a padded or smaller room often helps. We also recommend using a pop filter to remove plosives and making sure the level on your microphone is not too “hot.” Again, if you have questions, please let us know. We are happy to help! …
Some of you may be aware that Libsyn recently launched the 5th version of their publishing interface to their Beta community. It appears they officially launched it as a public beta on March 30th. You can take a sneak peak at what the new layout will look like HERE. This is what they stated in their recent email:
“ ‘This means that at this time new customers will initially be directed to the new interface at five.libsyn.com after account creation. All customers will be able to switch back and forth between the current interface and Libsyn 5 via available dashboard links. Remember Libsyn 5 is still in Beta, so there are features that may be in your current workflow that are not in Libsyn 5. They are coming and so many other good things. The new updated interface is available to libsyn.com customers and is not available for LibsynPRO customers at this time.’ ”
Ben Krueger
And, of course, Ben will update the status of Libsyn5 to his email list subscribers — and we will forward the news to you via this podcast show.
As we have stated several times in this podcast series, we respect Ben and his contributions to the podosphere, in not only educating aspiring podcasters or those who wish to make their shows better, but also for delivering many times free contributions in the form of pdf files and other content that are genuinely gold nuggets that aid recently published podcasters to improve their show.
But for the podcaster, the other side of the good news for the podosphere is that now, aspiring and current podcasters must create realistic strategies that will attract even more listeners and have them subscribe (or “follow” as the new term emerges from Apple) your own podcast shows, so that you may engage with your audience (as Ben suggests) with good audio and excellent show notes.
So we hope that you can put together some strategies that will help you to improve your show and generate the kind of listener growth that you will prefer and enjoy, and that your show will not only be popular — but with suggestions from podcasters like Ben, you can also then be successful in your strategies and action items to monetize your show in your business.
Thank you for your attention.
Copyright (c) 2021, Matrix Solutions Corporation and Ben Krueger of cashflowpodcasting.com and Daniel J Lewis of theaudacitytopodcast.com and michaelandmike.com. All rights reserved.
In this episode of The Podcast Reporter, we discuss a relatively different strategy for monetization via a membership, with additional feedback and additional content where the chief objective seems to be more than just money or financial success.
How is this slightly different to the usual donation by other podcasters requesting money from buymeacoffee.com?
In this case, Evo will still continue to deliver FREE content on his main show of PodcastPontifications.com. However, instead of donating a one-time delivery of $5 for a cup of coffee, he is now welcoming his listeners to become a MEMBER of his coffee-club. In this way, he has set aside a premium podcast aspect of his show for those who will purchase a yearly donation to his membership system. And then, he will offer additional content to those who sign up for this membership.
Well, for this podcaster, since I have always followed Evo (even though I may not agree with him on various topics he brings up — but I still respect his right to pontificate his thoughts on his show, and I listen to him with an open mind on all things — even though I understand his point of view but reserve my right to disagree due to my own critical thinking). Thus, I signed up for this membership and waited to see what type of additional content and additional deliverables would be coming to the “members.”
The answer started to come in almost immediately. I received an email from Evo not only with his gratitude for signing up, but also with his brainstorming ideas as what type of content would be great for the membership, based on their feedback. So I looked at what he had conceived and I quickly sent an email reply back with MY OWN VALUE-BASED ideas of additional content or follow-up actions for members that Evo could deliver.
The reply from Evo was almost immediate. And I saw that he was offering different ideas, based on feedback from myself and others who joined the membership. And I responded with an email that thanked him for his planning, and I said that his ideas seemed good enough for me. And to this day, I am waiting to see what the results will be, for I know that Evo does deliver to his audience — especially when he is able to monetize the podcast and its infrastructure for his audience to provide more VALUE.
Now, will this be a trend for other podcasters to do so?
The answer is that time will tell to see which strategy will be adopted by other podcasters (or perhaps there will be NEWER strategies that will be implemented — and how successful they will be). I will be anticipating for that. And I also plan to report on the strategy from Evo and my opinion of the deliverables that will be sent to myself and others in this new “coffee-premium” audience.
So, if you wish to join a “coffee-premium” program, then you may want to listen to the podcast show PodcastPontifications.com with Evo Terra and decide if you want to join. Or you may listen to other shows on the noagendastream that are implementing a “value-for-value” strategy to see if you may want to go that route — or you may want to plan out, contemplate about, and START YOUR OWN VALUE-BASED premium program.
We hope that you will become successful in whichever way you decide to monetize your show and deliver even more VALUE to your audience for your own show’s success.
Thank you for your attention.
Copyright (c) 2021, Matrix Solutions Corporation and Evo Terra and michaelandmike.com. All rights reserved.
In a post titled “Will podcasting work for you?” Ben delivers his suggestions to incorporate podcasting successfully in your business and have it be a profitable component for success.
He states:
“As podcasting is on an uprise, businesses are wondering if it’s the right marketing tool for growth and sales.
If you’ve been pondering whether podcasting will work for you, then you don’t want to miss this episode. I’m diving into defining your desired outcome, niche, market, and how to find your online communities. You’ll learn why a niche resonates well with podcast listeners, whether your target audience is already using tech, and why it’s okay if you don’t have a product/service to offer just yet.
Now, having known Ben since 2014 (when I shared an exhibitor table with him at the very first Podcast Movement conference, I know that he is a well-known and successful podcaster, mentor and entrepreneur. His episodes of his show have made a lot of sense, and he has given away a lot of gems for business and podcasting for free in his blog posts, his emails and his episodes.
Ben Krueger
In this selection from the link above, Ben covers the topics (more about the entrepreneur point-of-view) of whether or not podcasting can be right for you and your business:
“How to define the outcome you desire with your podcast and business.
Why a niche resonates well with podcast listeners.
Find out if your target audience is already using tech.
The perfect business types for Cashflow podcasting.
That it’s ok if you don’t have a product/service to offer just yet.”
So, this is a mini-episode (which is part 3 of a 3-part program) that covers these topics in 19 minutes delivers links to other resources that you may be interested in. For example, he describes the “podcast litmus test” with the principle from Dr. Steven Covey (“Begin with the end in mind.” from THE SEVEN HABITS OF HIGHLY EFFECTIVE PEOPLE).
We hope that this episode can help you as an entrepreneur that can plan to include podcasting as a revenue stream for your business. We hope that you can improve on your niche for creating a podcast and implementing successful strategies which are described in his episode.
Thank you for your attention.
Copyright (c) 2021, Matrix Solutions Corporation and Ben Krueger of cashflowpodcasting.com. All rights reserved.
In this episode of The Podcast Reporter, we discuss the theme posted by Evo Terra recently in his podcast show, Podcast Pontifications. It dealt with the suggestions of podfaded shows — and the benefits you can derive by re-posting content to see what automatic activity occurs when you monitor the results.
In addition to this, he also mentioned that you can revitalize your podcast or give the podfaded show new life to continue — or even to give you, the podcaster, the new energy and excitement and passion to start a new show and continue in the podosphere with the same or more enthusiasm you had when you first entered podcasting. As Evo states in his written transcript posted in his email newsletter about the episode: “maybe you could use that podfaded show as a power source to drive traffic to another podcast….”
So I immediately thought about some of my podfaded shows. And, yes, I have re-posted some episodes from my previously podfaded shows in my current podcast shows. And although they may have needed a bit of editing to “touch up” the content and make it more relevant for the present, they did provide a great platform for generating great content.
One such example concerns another podcast show that I have called 2030Podcast.com. Yes, this is a show that I tried to start in 2014 and 2015, right after my initial interview with the “Podfather” himself, Adam Curry of the No Agenda Show, in which we discussed how I was launching this new show to deal with the prognostications for the year 2030. Unfortunately, the show was delayed and was not published until later — until 2018. At that time, I continued the show, and later I added a co-host (Matt Cox, podcaster of Brunch with the Brits) to include in the ideas and discussion of the content for 2030 ideas. And so far, the show has been great to meet our own criteria for what we consider “success.”
And so I used that interview as the initial episode for the 2030 Podcast show, even though it was several years old:
Thus, I do consider myself to be a case-in-point of how podfaded episodes can be used to give new life and breathe a new set of passion to strengthen your podcast shows.
But I have also other examples of including podfaded episodes from podfaded shows to build and revitalize other podcast shows. For example, I had a podfaded show several years ago called The Struggling Entrepreneur. Well, I used some episodes from this podfaded show when I created another show called The Struggling Biz. And this has helped tremendously in gaining popularity and growing my audience to this day.
So we hope that you, too, as a podcaster, can find ways to use podfaded content to help boost your enthusiasm, passion and success in your podcasting. We wish you the best of luck, for whatever purpose you have, and we hope that your results exceed your expectations.
Thank you for your attention.
Copyright (c) 2021, Matrix Solutions Corporation and Evo Terra and michaelandmike.com . All rights reserved.
This article does not go into technical detail (as maybe some of the more professional podcasters may want — i.e., those who have been podcasting for over 15 years). Instead, it goes into topics that consist of content in the form of an OVERVIEW nature, which can be consumed in about 15 minutes or so.
Now, the topics that are covered are broken up into major sections, and then broken up again into smaller topics with a paragraph or two for discussion.
As you will hear in this audio episode, we deliver the list of the topics with some opinion and experiences about podcast ads and their education for the new or aspiring podcaster.
Thank you for your attention.
Copyright (c) 2021, Matrix Solutions Corporation and buzzsprout.com and michaelandmike.com. All rights reserved.
In this episode of The Podcast Reporter, we observe that there is an oncoming movement from various groups that want to put censorship into Podcasting. One such group is AP (Associated Press). And there have been others that have echoed the mandate to put censorship into podcasts — very much like the censorship and lack of free speech and shutting down voices and messages and passionate themes of the social media by the billionaire oligarchs from Silicon Valley.
Even though Adam Curry of the podcast No Agenda has told us in his show that it is difficult and almost impossible to censor a protocol, as opposed to censoring a userid or posts from a social media platform or sites like google, YouTube, facebook, twitter, etc., the movement is still trying to influence the advertisers and others in charge of tools and companies that provide services to podcasters.
For this podcaster, podcasting was a method to convey your message and get your content published to the world without any censorship or interference from other resources like the FCC and other censoring organizations. That is what I really liked.
And, if you did not like the content, then you don’t have to listen, consume or subscribe to any podcast show. It was always the choice of the listener to discover, to obtain (either by downloading an episode or by streaming the audio) and to be influenced by the content of the chosen episode. The content was never forced upon a listener.
However, the ability of the podcasting environment to allow me, as a listener, to choose what I want to consume still is paramount in my mind. And I refuse to accept any censorship that gives anyone else the right to block my content or tell me what I can or cannot say or record or publish. Well, this does not include the determination either by the author of the episode and show to label the content as “explicit” or “safe” (or any other label) — which has been done since the beginning of the podosphere.
So, I hope and anticipate that podcasting in 2021 will NOT be subject to the post-election PURGE of persecution, censorship and prevention of publishing your content (i.e., free speech in podcasting). It is this hope that will allow me, as a podcaster, to continue to publish my content. As most podcasters publish their episodes with passion for their content, I also look forward to receiving content from others with whom I share a passion for the subject matter — whether it be podcast shows about podcasting, or podcast shows about tech, or podcast shows about entrpreneurs or any other topic.
Thus, I openly agree with Adam Curry that you cannot ban or censor a protocol. And I hope that podcasting can be the final frontier of free speech for content, and one that will allow us as podcasters to promote and publish content of which we find passion (regardless of the topic).
Thank you for your attention.
Copyright (c) 2021, Matrix Solutions Corporation and Adam Curry . All rights reserved.
In this episode of The Podcast Reporter, we discuss the success of an entrepreneur who did not initially want to be a podcaster — instead, he found success in being a podcast guest. We speak of Tom Schwab, with his small business of InterviewValet.com
As you may recall, we have had Tom in an interview in this podcast series since 2015 and 2017. And we discussed with him then his ideas of finding business success in being a podcast GUEST, not a podcaster — success in being interviewed, not in interviewing others.
As a matter of fact, here is one of the latest episodes that was published earlier in this series, as the subject was industry exhibitor at podcast conferences:
And also, we presented Tom Schwab as the “disruption entrepreneur” for the podosphere:
And we also presented the topic of Tom Schwab’s ideas and promotion of his success in “reversing the model” for podcasting:
Well, this episode was inspired by the announcement of a video presentation from PodcastMovement University
I signed up for this interview to get a better idea of the status of Tom in the podosphere, and to see what further words of wisdom I could get in podcasting from him.
Podcast guesting is the term for what Tom has promoted. During the presentation, Tom had mentioned the presentations that stated that “podcast interviews convert 25 times better than blogs” for those who want to monetize their podcasts and create revenue streams for their business. In fact, Tom also mentioned his own book called “Podcast Guest Profits.”
Tom set his goals for his presentation as the following:
Build brand recognition to be the category king of your topic;
Educate and entertain your audience;
Increase listeners, loyal subscribers, avid fans and profitable customers;
Grow your podcast, brand and business;
Introduction to a new person or idea (for it can possibly change the world).
Tom emphasized a podcaster’s ability to pick the best podcasts for yourself to be a guest, and thus increase your visibility and factors for more success for your business. These included key success factors (like downloads, social media, email lists, brand affinity and quality factors that can tune your audience for your reach).
And one of the great results for you to grow your business may be to “increase the lifetime value of a relationship.”
Moreover, Tom did provide time to promote some tools and resources for you to use in becoming more successful in picking the best podcast guests in which you can be a guest — and vice-versa. An example of this is the slide titled “ListenNotes” (along with the audio that describes a good usage of this tool), as well as “Podchaser.”
Tom described some books (including his own) that could help you, as well. These FREE resources are at the site of InterviewValet.com/PMU
At this point, this webinar presentation is very informative as an update for the resources in the podosphere that can possibly help you (especially some for free). I would certainly recommend it for your continuing education. I hope you can learn from this and add to your gems toward your business and podcasting success.
Thank you for your attention.
Copyright (c) 2021, Matrix Solutions Corporation . All rights reserved.
The argument can go in favor of those aspiring podcasters who want to be their own podcast production house. Although the rise of podcast production companies and facilities is on the rise, sometimes the cost of giving away the responsibility of producing the podcast (including, in some cases, the moderation of the content that can lead to censorship or extreme bias by the radical left employees) may be too high for the independent podcaster — especially when the value at stake is much more than financial, as it could be the loss of control and the threat of being subjected to the woke community of employees that seem to be violating their own management just because of their ideologies. Now, for the older podcasters who have had a good track record in podcast production on their own, this may seem to be a road they will avoid — as they have total CONTROL of the content, the audience and the production processes that they have developed successfully over time.
So, in this article, Ben goes into detail of the points he makes in producing your own podcast.
Ben Krueger
We strongly recommend that you consume this article, for it does give you an idea of the current thinking of some of the newer podcasters who feel that they do not want to do all the WORK associated with content management, content production and follow-up content activities (like marketing, promotion, etc.).
The main points that are delivered by Ben are the following:
The cost of podcast production;
How much money can you make by producing your own podcast?
The profitability of podcasting — some key thoughts; and, oh, by the way, you may want to reference a recent book by 16-year podcaster and coach Davd Jackson called Profit from your podcast)
Examples of some podcast platforms and making money (in one case, he uses the Anchor example);
Can you make a podcast by yourself?
Do podcast guests get paid? (Ben advises against this at the outset of starting your own podcast — and he tells why)
And also, in this article, Ben delivers a link to his own program where he encourages people to become podcasters at Start a Podcast. He certainly can promote his program and benefit from the aspiring podcaster who wishes to be his own podcaster.
And there is nothing wrong with that. I have known Ben since 2014 and have followed his blog at cashflowpodcasting.com and have seen him deliver many gems in podcasting in the form of free pdf documents to podcasters.
As Ben summarizes in his post, he focuses on the key element of starting your own podcast, owning it, continuing it and developing it into a successful show: “Nothing is stopping you from making a podcast by yourself and publishing it across all the various streaming platforms. The question is, do you have the time?”
However, Ben assumes that you probably will be desiring to deal with the content and focus on audience and promotion elements of your show than the day-to-day tasks needed for production (both pre-production and post-production from the audio recording). So he states that “With more production services on the market than ever before, there has never been a better time to start looking for a podcast production partner. From offering basic editing services to a comprehensive end-to-end solution, you can find a partner that will meet your requirements.”
So we hope that if you are an aspiring podcaster, you create for yourself a cost-benefit analysis where you can look at the costs (and most of them not being financial) of creating, recording, editing, posting, publishing, promoting, marketing, controlling, selling and monetizing your business podcasts by yourself vs the costs and benefits of delegating those tasks (or most of them) to a third party podcast production house.
Then you can successfully move into the area of either being a true independent professional podcaster or farm it out to a third party (with whom you may later disagree with their practices, their ideologies, or potential bias that may cause you irreparable damage to your podcast and your brand and your business).
Thank you for your attention.
Copyright (c) 2021, Matrix Solutions Corporation and michaelandmike.com and Ben Krueger. All rights reserved.
