Author: fcastaneda

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525- Scheduling your episodes in your Podcast show

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In this episode of The Podcast Reporter, we discuss an earlier post in medium.com (to which I was alerted in podnews.net) where the topic is: “Scheduling podcasts Helps you level-up without burning out.”

In this article, the topic of scheduling the date when your podcast episode will go live to your listeners and audience is addressed with the tools in RSS. In another tool, WordPress, I have used the time stamp and date feature to do my scheduling for my episodes — all of them for three podcast shows. I have done this for 15 years, and the workflow and operation that I have from editing the episode to publishing and posting and making it live all seem to flow smoothly.

But in this article that originally appeared in RSS.com podcasting, the author goes into a bit of detail (along with screen shots taken when scheduling and using RSS.com podcasting) for each topic:

  • Schedule everything to maximize efficiency;
  • Schedule when your podcast will go live;
  • Scheduling your podcast will make promotions more manageable;
  • When is the best time to schedule an episode to be released?
  • How to schedule your podcast episode (with screen shots and flow)

 

Now, for this podcaster, I have always used WordPress, and I have found it to be sufficiently adequate. Yes, there are a few flaws, as well as features that I wish that it had. But especially for the new and aspiring podcaster, this may be the proper tool at the right time. In fact, there was a tutorial on WordPress located in Udemy, the electronic catalog and learning site, which taught WordPress.

In fact, I am planning, writing the show notes and script, as well as doing the recording, editing and scheduling of this podcast episode in late February of 2021 — which is six months before this episode is scheduled to go live. How is that for scheduling an episode with some evergreen topics?

We hope that you can either learn from this episode and use the tools that are suggested, or that you can adapt WordPress to your own workflow and become a successful podcaster — and that scheduling your episodes will be something that will help you to become a better podcaster.

Thank you for your attention.

Copyright (c) 2021, Matrix Solutions Corporation and medium.com and michaelandmike.com . All rights reserved.

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podcast

524- Podcasting show revives car-cast episode

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In this episode of The Podcast Reporter, we honor the trail blazed by pundit Paul Colligan of ThePodcastReport show, as we deliver a car-cast podcast episode here.

I have delivered car-casts before, the last one in 2007, when my mother had surgery — and I had recorded my car cast while I was in the automobile in the parking lot waiting for the several hours to pass as her cancer operation finished. Unfortunately, she had passed away in 2018.

But for this episode, I used my old and trusty Zoom H2 portable recorder with a very inexpensive microphone and headset that I had used in 2006 and 2007 when I did a “roving reporter” review at the first Podcast and Portable Media Expo in Ontario, California. So, although the tech is inexpensive and old, it served its purpose well and delivered me some excellent recordings. And, yes, I did need to do some post-production on the resulting audio files.

And although this recording was a renewable experiment to go back to some of the beginnings of my podcasting career, I enjoyed the fact that a battery-operated Zoom H2 recorder stood up to the job once again. And this is in spite of not recording while driving, but just recording while I was waiting in the post office parking lot while I waited to mail my business taxes to the IRS.

As you will hear in this audio episode, several short topics were discussed — including the upcoming possible Podcast Movement conference in Nashville, Tennessee. I also included a bit about the Podfest Global Summit that started today online.

As an experienced podcaster, I do encourage you to use your portable recorder to plan for — and to record and publish — a car-cast.

As I mentioned at the start of this episode, I listened faithfully to one of my early mentors, Paul Colligan, as he made use of his time while in the car and recorded to his hands-free recorder the episode in which he delivered some great content on his thoughts. Not only did he record on ThePodcastReport.com, but he also recorded car-casts to his secondary show, Thinking Out Loud. And I always enjoyed them — as he described the tech that he was using at the beginning of each car-cast episode. And, as you can hear, I am emulating him, as well, by describing the tech at the beginning of this episode.

Thus, I hope you do get a chance to provide some variety to your listeners by delivering a car-cast and show your audience that you can be flexible and in the words of Ricky Nelson from his song, you, too, can be a “travelin’ man.”

Thank you for your attention.

Copyright (c) 2021, Matrix Solutions Corporation and Paul Colligan and michaelandmike.com. All rights reserved.

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podcast

572- Take-aways from podcast conferences — then and now

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In this episode of the Podcast Reporter, we discuss some “After-Action-Reports” (as they were called if you were in the military) and a promotion to describe benefits of the conference from some podcasters who did attend in person the Podcast Movement conference — in particular, the latest conference in 2021 and the very first initial conference in 2014.

The first Podcast Movement conference in 2014:

In this same podcast show, we presented an older episode of this podcast show that stated the benefits that you would miss if you would not attend Podcast Movement (initial conference in 2014):

And the slides that promoted this theme are in this PowerPoint slide presentation:

https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/fgcastgain/PDF_of_NineThings-PodcastMovement-presentation-slides_1.pdf

The recent Podcast Movement conference after-action report:

In a recent edition of the Podcast Business Journal, Matty Staudt delivered his perspectives by publishing his “Five Things I Learned at Podcast Movement.”

The summary of these benefits received by Matty are stated in the following, as Matt states: “…it was still a an amazing time with some excellent speakers. Here are my top five takeaways.”

  1. Our industry continues to be one where everyone supports each other.
  2. Podcasting for brands is becoming big business.
  3. Monetization is all the talk…. We are still a young industry and a lot needs to shake out, but I’ve never seen so many tools available to monetize shows without relying on CPM. It’s still a tough road to hoe for most, but it’s getting better.
  4. Everyone wants to be Clubhouse.
  5. Radio is getting serious and being taken more seriously.

And you may ask “who is Matty Staudt?” For your benefit, we answer that question with the information in this article:

Matty Staudt is the EVP of Podcasting for Amaze Media Labs producers of podcasts for brands and events, Founder of Jam Street Media, and former VP of Podcast Programming at iHeart. You can find him on all socials @mattystaudt or email at matty@amazemedialabs.com 

It was interesting to compare the notable benefits of attending this same conference as it has morphed into an inbound event within the podosphere. We hope that you, too, can find benefits in attending.

For this podcaster, I did attend the initial Podcast Movement conference in 2014 (in which I did share a booth and meet another podcaster, Mr. Ben Krueger of cashflowpodcasting.com); I also did attend the Podcast Movement 2020-Evolutions in February —  but I did not attend the most recent conference in Nashville in 2021.

However, I do plan to attend the 2022 Podcast Movement conference in the first quarter of the year. I have received benefits both in education and training and knowledge and in-person connections and improvement of relationships with other podcasters — as well as getting interviews from the attendees and the exhibitors at the conference.

Thus, we shall see how the situation for attending live events will evolve and what the nature of the podosphere will be at that time.

We hope that you, too, can attend a conference in person (or online in the virtual conference) and get the benefits to help your podcast show for your podcasts to grow and be successful. For this, we recommend that you do create a cost-benefit analysis to justify participating in an upcoming conference.

Thank you for your attention.

Copyright (c) 2021, Matrix Solutions Corporation and Podcast Business Journal and Paul Colligan and Matty Staudt and michaelandmike.com. All rights reserved.

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560- Podcast subscription services — seeing the value

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In this episode of The Podcast Reporter, we go into the theme of podcast subscription services. And for this, we refer to an article posted by podcaster Ben Krueger of cashflowpodcasting.com.

Ben Krueger

As we have stated here before, I personally have known Ben since 2014, when we met side-by-side at the exhibit hall of the first Podcast Movement conference in Dallas.

Since then, Ben has delivered lots of great content, especially aimed for the new and aspiring podcaster. And, of course, his calls-to-action are for a subscription to his services or for using his deliverables to help you increase your productivity and head to podcasting success.

In this case, the article that he delivers to us is about the Podcast Subscription Services and their worth to you. He describes what they are in simple terms:  “Podcast subscriptions give you (the podcaster) an opportunity to sell your content to listeners. You can choose to keep some of your content free and create exclusive content for paying listeners or opt for all your episodes to be paid moving forward.”

After explaining what they are, the main topics he covers are the following:

  • How can these services benefit my podcast?
  • What types of podcast subscription services are there?
  • Podcaster options for creating a podcast subscription — and he gives examples with both Apple and Spotify;
  • A wrap-up for monetization that you may select — it is up to you, and there is no one single model.

For monetization options, Ben has always been creative and descriptive of the means for podcasters to generate revenue — especially if the podcaster wants to start a business podcast show.

Please remember that Ben has several free pdfs that outline not only his solutions for you, but also refers to others who have certain expertise that can always assist you: “Ben Krueger is the founder of Cashflow Podcasting and he specializes in helping thought leaders entrepreneurs amplify their impact through podcasting.”

I hope that you can reflect on the subscription services that will help your podcast show generate the revenue with the best model for your business, and that they will be worth it for you to invest some time in creating and executing those that will be beneficial for you.

Thank you for your attention.

Copyright (c) 2021, Matrix Solutions Corporation and Ben Krueger of cashflowpodcasting.com and michaelandmike.com. All rights reserved.

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podcast

523- Being a guest on Podcasting interviews can have good results for your show

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In this episode of The Podcast Reporter, we once again touch upon the theme of being a guest on podcasting interviews in order to improve the quality of your show or grow your audience, and even get new clients for your business.

First, let’s take the last area — getting clients for your business. In an audio interview, Ben Krueger of cashflowpodcasting.com interviewed Mojca Mars in 2017 about this theme. For the 28 minutes of this episode, we hear Ben targeting the area of getting great clients with GREAT INTERVIEWS.

Note: As I have stated many times, Ben Krueger is an authority on monetizing your podcasts and building authority as an influencer by podcasting.

Now, this is not the first time we dealt with success in your business as a result of podcasting interviews — but from the OTHER side of the equation of conventional wisdom. In the past, as early as 2015, we dealt with Tom Schwab and his Interview Valet site (from an audio sound byte at the Podcast Movement Conference in 2015) and his ideas of how to grow your business and get great clients with monetization of yourself being interviewed by other podcasters.

In fact, we would like to include the podcast episode we did earlier at that time with Tom Schwab from this own podcast series:

And, as you can see, Tom has had success in being the interviewee and building up his business in many ways. What helped in his business was his past experiences in the US Navy as a veteran and his acumen for enriching the interview experience for the podcaster.

And also, we would like to point out that Max Flight has also given us some evergreen material in his episode of BEING INTERVIEWED. This is a look at the interview process from the side of the interviewee, and not the interviewer. We now present a past audio episode from this series that is delivered by Max Flight on the issues and the preparation of being interviewed:

However, its my recollection from 2015 that Tom Schwab led the way of other podcasters who jumped on the “guest interview” bandwagon to develop plans and shows and programs to have podcasters become guests on different interview shows in order to promote their own podcast shows — where monetization was the key success factor.

We hope that you can get value from these 3 interviews that will help you determine how you can grow your business, have great interviews, and thus get great clients and great results in podcasting.

Thank you for your attention.

Copyright (c) 2021, Matrix Solutions Corporation and Ben Krueger of cashflowpodcasting.com and Tom Schwab of Interview Valet and Max Flight and michaelandmike.com. All rights reserved.

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podcast

559- Podcasters need to examine adapter requirements new gear

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In this episode of The Podcast Reporter, we deliver a lesson learned by yours truly in the area of planning for new recording equipment. This is a tale of my experience in getting a new handy recorder, but not knowing enough ahead of time of all the requirements for all the attachments (especially critical cables) that are supported and required by podcasters.

This is the case study of my experiences with the Zoom H1n handy personal recorder and how I should have done more research. I have not yet tested thoroughly this piece of hardware for recording and publishing podcast episodes and interviews — but I will do so in the future and relate these results and perspectives to you.

So, in this unrehearsed episode, I go through my documents received with the H1n and I relate to you how you need to know which options and attachments you may need when you order hardware — especially recorders.

Now, how did I get so confident when I ordered the H1n?

Well, in the past 16 years, I have had a Zoom H4, a Zoom H4n, a Zoom H2, a Zoom H1 and a Samson go-mic — and these recorders and hardware devices all used the same micro-USB adapter. However, the H1n has a different micro-USB cable with a different sized input adapter — and the latter needed to be ordered.

As you will hear in the audio episode, there was an accessory pack available with the correct cable. So I am awaiting its arrival after I ordered it — and I go into the cost, as well.

Note: I AM NOT COMPLAINING — this episode is a gentle reminder to fellow podcasters that assuming you know the requirements of the resources you order may surprise you when you may learn that you have to order more gear to make the new system work for you in podcasting.

I thank you for listening to this episode and for your attention about my lesson learned in the world of podcast gear.

Copyright 2021, Matrix Solutions Corporation and Zoom North America and michaelandmike.com. All rights reserved.

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521- Benefit for Podcasters in screencasting and video creation

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In this episode of The Podcast Reporter, we deliver a repurposed episode for podcasters to learn screencasting and create video courses by using a tool for video creation, video editing and video publishing called Camtasia Studio.

This episode came from a webinar that Lon Naylor delivered to an audience of podcasters who were interested in learning more about screencasting and producing videos (with the possibility of monetizing this for their shows). Lon is the principal of a training program called Screencapturevideo.com, [note: this program was originally called LearnCamtasia.com, where Lon co-hosted training webinars — but it has morphed to today’s Screencapturevideo.com] where Lon hosts webinar training sessions every fortnight (i.e., every other week) with “how-to” advice for screen-capture video creation for both PowerPoint and Camtasia. Although Lon started with his show of ScreencastStudios.com, he now devotes much of his attention to educating podcasters and other New Media professionals to screencasting, video creation and video editing with PowerPoint and Camtasia.

As you will hear in this audio episode, Lon discusses the benefits of being a video editor to enhance your skills which you probably already have with audio editing. Since the audio was captured from a webinar, Lon uses the words of “pointing and viewing” — but these are readily visualized as you listen to the audio; and the video portion of the webinar is really not needed to get the value of what he is delivering in the content of this episode.

This episode and capture of the content was given freely to the podcasting audience by Lon Naylor and we have received permission to syndicate and repurpose it for podcast audiences.

What we would suggest to the podcasters that have a curiosity or desire to investigate video capture, screen capture, video creation and video editing in the pursuit of creating video files in courses such as tutorials or training (and even go further into the possibility of monetizing video training deliverables as a revenue stream for your business) is to take up Lon’s suggestion of downloading the Camtasia Studio program and then trying it out FREE for 30 days — and, by the way, this is a full-function version of the program with no limitations and no  functions crippled (except for the program to stop at the expiration of 30-days). And I would suggest that the price for licensing the program and using it in your business is very reasonable — including the maintenance agreements that let you get a free upgrade for the future versions.

Then, if you wish to pursue learning how to be a video editor or course creator, and create your own training videos or tutorials, then we would recommend investigating and possibly signing up for Lon’s training program at screencapturevideo.com. I, myself, went through his program and learned how to be a professional screen capture and video editor. And I have then monetized this for my business and created training courses for businesses and received profitable results from this by using the Camtasia Software.

Podcasters have an advantage over others in New Media

Because you are a podcaster, you have an advantage already — in that the processes and procedures and functions of video editing are very similar to those of audio editing. In fact, your audio files can be imported and included in any video screencasts that you wish to create — they could be merely “assets” that can be imported into your final deliverable as a video file. And they can be part of the overall list of assets that you can import — or create — to create a video course.

So, we hope that you can investigate the possibility of expanding your reach as a screencaster (in addition to podcasting) and become a successful video editor or video course creator by using Camtasia — and that this could become a revenue producer for you eventually to help your business grow into another environment and succeed.

Thank you for your attention.

Copyright (c) 2021, Matrix Solutions Corporation and Lon Naylor of screencapturevideo.com and michaelandmike.com. All rights reserved.

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podcast

Bonus Episode — Podcast promotion with Social Media

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In this episode of The Podcast Reporter, we deliver some information that is given by buzzsprout.com in a podcast episode that is titled “How to promote your podcast on social media.”

Not only is there a written discussion and detail about this topic in the link given, above, but there is also a 6-minute video and podcast episode in the podcast show called “Podcasting Q & A” in the podosphere. This episode describes in a 6-minute time frame a summary of how to use social media for your podcast show to engage your audience and grow your show.

Some highlights from both the video and blog post content are:

  • Some suggestions for the most important social media channels — as well as the lesser prominent ones — to post your content in an interesting way;
  • Avoid becoming just a “billboard” that screams out that you have published a new episode;
  • Use the business’ social channels to share the episodes (what business is the podcast associated with?)
  • Create social channels specifically for the podcast
  • How audiograms and other content types may be best for you;
  • Some suggested methods to create content for your podcast;
  • and other topics that are related to promoting a podcast on social media more effectively, as suggested by buzzsprout.com (of course, with a call-to-action for using buzzsprout’s product offerings).

So, we hope that you, as an aspiring or new podcaster, can get value by getting an overview and suggestions for including social media as a strategy for your podcast promotion plans — and that this may help to make you a better podcaster.

Thank you for your attention.

Copyright (c) 2021, Matrix Solutions Corporation and Buzzsprout.com and michaelandmike.com. All rights reserved.

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520- Podcast workflow optimization can benefit your episodes

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In this episode of The Podcast Reporter, we discuss the topic of podcast workflow — in particular, what it is and perhaps some advice on how to manage it from an article in medium.com.

First, the article tries to level-set the podcaster of a typical workflow for podcasting and give the sequence of tasks for a workflow:

“…let’s take a quick look at an example of what a podcasting workflow might look like:

  •  Podcast episode ideation phase;
  • Decide on episode subject and search for guest possibilities;
  • Schedule interviews;
  • Write questions and/or outline of the episode;
  • Record the episode;
  • Edit the show;
  • Load episode to your podcast host to share with iTunes/Stitcher/Google Play etc.;
  • Create show notes for your website;
  • Begin promoting the show via social media, your email list, on your website, etc.;
  • Follow up with guest(s) about the show.”

And the article also suggests that you should have a software management tool: “We recommend using a tool such as Trello, Asana, Monday.com or some other similar software to keep track of your tasks.” In fact, there is a screen shot that is included to help you imagine the management tool in action during your tasks of podcasting. Also, there is a case in point of a podcast using Trello, with additional screen shots to help you along.

And finally, the idea of delegation of tasks could offload the amount of time and effort and work in your workflow, so that you can spend more time on your podcast content — especially with examples of scheduling, social media software and email software, along with other tool recommendations (like editing software).

The article then suggests going to a community of podcasters and picking the brains of others in order to get best practices and advice on what works in good workflow. In addition, going to colleges to get assistance is advised, along with using Fiverr and other sites to take responsibility for getting some of the tasks outsourced. The reason for all this advice is to keep your sacred message and content free from the obstruction of time-consuming and inefficient workflows.

Now, just as you will hear in the automobile and gasoline adds, “your mileage may vary” — the same applies here. For this podcaster, my workflow has developed since 2006 to the present. I have tried using software tools and also found the ones that work best for my model, my content and my own perspective — and I have saved time, effort, money and frustration. Pretty soon, you can get a good idea of how long the tasks will take in your average workflow from the ideation phase to the final post-publication and syndication phase that will include feedback, archiving, marketing, promotion, accounting and any other possible documentation you may need to do.

As I mentioned earlier, each person will have a different workflow, and in podcasting not one size fits all. In fact, a key time that I mentioned workflow in an exchange of ideas was in a post-interview conversation I had with Daniel J Lewis of The Audacity to Podcast in 2010. In fact, besides sharing our tasks and some other spots in workflow, we both received the benefit of best practices. And then, as a result of our discussion, Daniel then produced and posted a very good podcast episode on workflow for podcasting in his podcast show. I realized that perhaps it would be a good idea to write out and document the workflow, so that I can always go back to it and modify it when another BFO (i.e., “blind flash of the obvious”) appears and will be a good step to include, even through serendipity. If you go to Daniel’s  back catalog, you can find the episode in his archives that deals with workflow creation and execution for the best podcasting efforts.

I sincerely hope that you consider your own workflow, and I hope that this episode can help you to reflect, document, and improve your own workflow to improve your show and make you a more successful podcaster.

Thank you for your attention.

Copyright (c) 2021, Matrix Solutions Corporation and medium.com. All rights reserved.

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podcast

558- Suggestions when you have a bad Podcast interview

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In this episode of The Podcast Reporter, we discuss the podcast episode content from Dave Jackson, the podcast host of the School of Podcasting show and also the one called Your Podcast Consultant: Nine Minute Lessons on How to Podcast — Small Lessons with Big Value. The theme of an episode that was published earlier is: what are some suggestions and ways to recover and cope with a “bad” podcast episode where the guest or the interview was not good? 

You can find this show episode from the publication date of June 15, 2021.

Dave titles this episode as “What do I do with a bad podcast?”

And since this topic is definitely evergreen, I listened to the 8 minute episode, and I was impressed with the flexibility that Dave discussed about how you can react from bad content or a bad guest (in your opinion, of course) that you had recorded — especially before you post or publish the episode to everyone in the podosphere.

One big reason for having bad content or a bad guest on your podcast on your show is perhaps that you did not do enough research and  preparation — mainly because you did not ensure that your guest is a good fit for your show to provide value to your listeners.

And Dave had very logical and straight-forward answers and suggestions for this — ranging from the re-arranging of content and questions/answers to focusing on the “gems” of the replies from your guest. After all, as Dave reminds us:  this is YOUR show and you control the flow and result of your own content.

One such reply is that you could perhaps turn your interview show into a “narrative” show, where you could be telling a STORY and weave the content from your guest in a narrative style or reporting, etc.

However, Dave did emphasize that the editing in the episode SHOULD NOT change the content or reply to the point where you are putting words in the mouth of the guest or having the guest’s audio “say” things that were not what the guest had really said (you know, such as what the lame-stream media has been doing for the past couple of years in their disinformation and suppression of truth and content in the social media and news streams).

I feel that what Dave had to describe to us is critical, and that this should be consumed by ALL podcasters on a yearly basis, so that our own bias and other lame content will not creep into the value that we intend to provide to our listeners. I would strongly recommend that this episode is an 8-minute gem that should be on every podcaster’s list for mandatory consumption — mainly for keeping an open and professional mind when generating content in the form of guest interviews for the podcast show.

To many, I know that I would be “preaching to the choir” — but this is so abused by the newer podcasters today that it needs to be said and it needs to be repeated. Otherwise, we would invite the lame podcasters and the lame episodes of the lame shows to keep performing their lame actions and delivering lame content, instead of providing good content that will provide VALUE to the listeners.

Thank you for your attention in this short article.

Copyright (c) 2022, Matrix Solutions Corporation and michaelandmike.com and Dave Jackson of “Your Podcast Consultant” podcast show. All rights reserved.