Tag: Podcastreporter.com

530- Interviewing a podcast guess who is too nervous

Post author By fcastaneda
Post date April 10, 2021

In this episode of The Podcast Reporter, we discuss a recent youtube.com video with the topic from buzzsprout.com site that deals with interviewing scared guests who aren’t used to being interviewed or even podcasting.

The video can be viewed with this 6 minute video:

So we have a young podcaster who tries to define what the process will be in a few steps in dealing with your podcast guest before the recording of the interview will be:

Send the guest an outline of the content prepared for the interview;
Call your guest before the interview ;
Send your guest an episode and propose it to your guest and ask for the interviewee’s input;
and a bonus tip is given by another podcaster — suggest having just a “conversation” to make the interviewee more comfortable.

Now, for this podcaster, I have done interviews as podcast episodes for the past 15 years. And luckily, I never encountered a guest who froze solidly because the guest could not stand the idea of being recorded (mainly because the thought of making mistakes was too great).

In fact, you should be aware of some advice given in an evergreen podcast by Max Flight that deals with another side of a podcast guest — that of “Being Interviewed.” It describes the other aspects of being an interviewee that you should also consider:

As a side note, you yourself may be called upon to be the GUEST and BE INTERVIEWED. And we have a past audio episode from this series that is delivered by Max Flight on the issues and the preparation of being interviewed:

I also had a workflow where I did speak to the guest ahead of time, reviewed the outline and questions that I proposed to deal with him during the interview, as well as run through a few ideas to make the guest feel comfortable. And it has not failed me yet.

Thus, we hope that you can create a good workflow for your podcast interviews that will make your guest comfortable and the result can be to have a good interview, well-paced and informative, that will deliver the most important thing to your audience –VALUE of the subject matter with a good cadence and a comfortable audio that will make your audience appreciate your show.

Thank you for your attention.

Tags Buzzsprout.com, interview guest, interviewee, Max Flight, Podcastreporter.com

podcast

499- From passion to podfade – a Podcasting journey

Post author By fcastaneda
Post date April 7, 2021

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In this episode of The Podcast Reporter, we deliver a repurposed episode about my journey as a podcaster — from passion to downsizing to podfading some of my podcast shows.

As you will hear in this audio episode, there are some “speed bumps” in the journey of a podcaster from beginning to success and growth. And some of them may be:

personal declining health and major health crises;
family health situations that necessitate taking a break from podcasting to attend to elder family members in need;
reaching the limit of content that would be of value to the audience, as it may be time to podfade the show; and
the need to downsize your podcast shows and your participation for other reasons that will not allow you to continue podcasting and publishing episodes with the same fervor, audacity, timing and tempo that you once had;
and others

We hope that this can be of value to the older podcasters who started with me in this journey since 2005, and are now approaching some of these “speed bumps” that may interfere with the podcasting passion — and force the podcaster to downsize and eventually to podfade one or more (or all) of the podcast shows.

Thank you for your attention.

Tags downsize, Podcastreporter.com, podfade

podcast

498- For Podcasting — shedding bad mental habits for 2021

Post author By fcastaneda
Post date April 2, 2021

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

In this episode of The Podcast Reporter, we discuss a recent episode from the podcast show called The Accidental Creative called “A Mental Habit to Shed in 2021.” The podcast is from Todd Henry.

For small business owners and podcasters, the topic of creativity is paramount when entrepreneurs do their planning and the execution of tasks for the upcoming post-pandemic year — as we feel that the virus crisis and fear-mongering will die down, now that vaccines will be available for those threatened by fear.

For myself, I can relate to this theme and prognostications both as an entrepreneur and podcaster.

I would strongly recommend that you consume this episode from Todd Henry’s podcast show, so that you can get an idea of what he considers as negative mental habits that will only drain you of your creativity, your strength and your positive traits needed for survival and success in the business world — especially post-pandemic (or, as we say, “post-scam-demic”).

As you will hear in Todd’s episode, there are three main habits that you need to steer away from, especially if your mental traffic becomes obsessed by methods of “keeping score”:

Avoid unhealthy ways of “keeping score” of results due to serendipity of others or the benefits of others — this is one area where you can accept your place today and move forward in your environment toward your success as you will create value for your customers and stakeholders and listeners and audience;
Avoid tracking too much or paying too much attention to things which you cannot control — and we should then focus on our larger sphere of influence, and not our specific sphere of concern ;
Avoid killing your drive and creativity by having an excess viewpoint of your own expectations — as we are too critical for the perfection of results that we expect of ourselves.

The question from Todd Henry to his listeners is: “how will you define greatness of yourself and success for yourself in 2021?” — especially in a post-pandemic (i.e., “scam-demic”) world.

For the entrepreneur and podcaster, these 3 tips can deliver great results in improving your mentality and avoid using your “mental cycles” needlessly — instead, you can use them for your creativity and have the ability to nurture positive cycles that will have you focus more on the road to success.

For podcasters, this means planning your show and its themes, ideas, futures, etc. It can also mean being more focused and upbeat during the recording and post-production stages of creating your episodes. And most importantly, it means having the strong will to CONTINUE with your show and not podfading just as the negativity of the world situation tries to engulf us.

For the entrepreneur, it can mean sharpening up your business plan — or revising it for a post-pandemic world — and adjust to the situations now at hand, instead of worrying about negative situations which you cannot control. It may mean considering a move to adjust your business and its plans by pivoting within your overall strategy in a thoughtful manner.

As both a podcaster and a creative entrepreneur, I have found these three tips of great value when adjusting my focus and moving past the frustration brought about by the lame-stream media and the hype of the scam-demic. I hope that you can also find more positivity and peace-of-mind by not “keeping score” via someone else’s agenda or fear-mongering, and by focusing on the future success of your business.

Thank you for your attention.

Tags Podcastreporter.com, the accidental creative, Todd Henry

podcast

495- Podcasting for necessity-preneurs and vetrepreneurs

Post author By fcastaneda
Post date March 23, 2021

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In this episode of The Podcast Reporter, we deliver a REPURPOSED podcast episode( from a prior episode # 149) that deals with ideas of becoming an entrepreneur, but in several different ways:

a “necessity-preneur”
a “want-a-preneur” or
a “vetrepreneur.”

As you will hear in this audio episode, these three types of small business owners have a different starting point and different set of goals to success. Some will do so out of necessity, due to the nature of their being laid off from corporate employment, etc. Others will be veterans returning from their duty in the Middle East and want to become small business owners. And others will just have “wanted” always to be an entrepreneur.

But they all have podcasting within their businesses. And you can imagine the goals and the struggles of each one. We hope that you can enjoy this story of these 3 roles for podcasting and becoming entrepreneurs.

NOTE: in this repurposed episode, we mentioned a course from Stanford University for starting a startup:

Also, other links have been deactivated, and so we do not list them here at this time.

Thank you for your attention.

Tags costos.com, Podcastreporter.com, website traffic

podcast

494- Suggestions from real pros for the first 2 minutes of your episodes

Post author By fcastaneda
Post date March 15, 2021

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

In this episode of The Podcast Reporter, we discuss the 10 tips suggested by the blubrry network for the first 2 minutes of your episodes in your show.

In this post called “10 tips for the first 2 minutes of your podcast,” we get some pointers and best practices from real podcast professionals from the blubrry network, headed by Todd Cochrane.

Now, I have known Todd since 2006, and I am a big fan of his work, his business and his contributions to podcasting. He was one of the very first podcasters and the author of the first book on podcasting. His business includes the rawvoice, the blubrry network (from which this post came) and Geek News Central.

Here, he delivers WHY the intro to a podcast episode in your show is so important for success: “The first two minutes of your podcast are the most important of your show. And even if you don’t agree with that statement, you surely agree that your podcast must quickly achieve the following goals based on these suggestions:” (and then he gives a short list of three suggestions from experience of the VALUE that your intro can have:

Confirm your branding and the ‘feel’ of your show.
Let your audience know what to expect with your episode.
Make your audience want to listen more.

and then he delivers the ten tips, which you will also get with some detailed explanations. These tips can be a good cornerstone or checklist for your own episodes, because many podcasters can tell you that they are very much like BEST PRACTICES:

Limit your intro music.
Use a brief prerecorded intro to convey the ‘feel’ of your show.
Let your audience hear your voice as soon as possible.
If you use a ‘highlight’ clip from your episode as part of your intro, make it brief.
Share key takeaways that your audience can expect from listening to the episode.
Greet the listener.
Segue into the main part of your show.
Seek the best audio quality.
Validate that your first 120 seconds is connecting with your audience through podcast analytics and statistics.
Do not alter the first 120 seconds frequently. Your listeners like consistency: Do not drastically change the format of the beginning of your show once you have created something both you and your audience like.

I know that I have used many of these practices for improving the quality of my shows and their episodes. And it has paid off big-time for me with more audience growth and downloads. In fact, other shows have taken it upon them to repurpose my episodes, and thus it provided a win-win result.

I hope that your shows can be improved by including some of these best-practices into your podcasts.

Thank you for your attention.

Tags blubrry network, blubrry.com, geek news central, Podcastreporter.com, raw voice, Todd Cochrane

podcast

493- Approaching the twilight years of podcasting — perhaps

Post author By fcastaneda
Post date March 10, 2021

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

In this episode of The Podcast Reporter, we ask ourselves the perpetual question of: “When do we approach the ‘twilight years’ of podcasting?” or “Have we reached our twilight years of podcasting?”

This theme was approached once before in 2018, but it is certainly an important issue for those of us who have been podcasting for the last 15 years, as I have. In fact, I started my first podcast when I was in my mid-50s, and I am still continuing to produce podcast episodes for my two main podcast shows, PodcastReporter.com and 2030Podcast.com — as well as adding a newer podcast series called The Struggling Biz.

As you will hear in this audio episode, although there is a lot of personal perspectives and my own history in this episode, it is important for us to reflect that we owe the benefits of podcasting to those who did pioneer the path for us today from the beginning of the podosphere in 2004. Their names are mentioned in this audio episode.

But, as for the senior podcasters involved, the question that has to be answered is: “Are you in your own twilight years for any type of reason?” and “Are you approaching your own twilight years for podcasting?” I hope this provides some food for thought.

Thank you for your attention.

Tags 2030podcast.com, Podcastreporter.com, podosphere, thestrugglingbiz.com

podcast

492- Podcasting is on the rise — 8 reasons why

Post author By fcastaneda
Post date March 5, 2021

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In this episode of The Podcast Reporter, we summarize an article’s content about the gaining popularity and consumption of podcasting today. The article is from whatsnewinpublishing.com and it is titled “Why podcasting is on the rise: 8 trends publishers cannot ignore.”

As you will hear in this audio episode, there is a short summary for each of the 8 reasons, and we explain the graphs, charts and images that accompany this article.

“As the podcasting market continues to expand across the globe, here are eight ideas and implications shaping podcasting continued ascendancy: “

1. Podcasts can offer advertisers flexibility in an uncertain world

2. Seamless integration with content can help

3. Ad Spend is becoming more strategic

4. We’re seeing growth in programmatic audio ad buys

5. Investment in original content is growing

6. Major audio platforms are expanding overseas

7. Podcasts offer opportunities to drive membership and subscriptions

8. Podcasting and Audio remain growing markets

We recommend that you peruse this article and see if you can either create a strategy for your own podcast show, or try to see if your show does fit into one of these reasons, so that you can exploit the cause and have an effect that will provide a path for success of your show.

Perhaps one of the ways you can put to use a tactic for implementing one of these reasons would be to attend or participate in some of the podcast conferences (like Podcast Movement, either in person or virtually online). You can get to know the players that can be most influential in these areas of interest and see if you can result with either a joint venture or a marketing/sales plan for your show — or even just a growth plan for your audience strategies. If so, then you may have come upon a small golden nugget for your podcast show, podcast business and podcast episodes.

Thank you for your attention.

Tags podcastmovement.com, Podcastreporter.com, whatsnewinpublishing.com

podcast

BONUS — Podcasting community is now free at PMU

Post author By fcastaneda
Post date February 26, 2021

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

In this episode of The Podcast Reporter, we deliver a BONUS episode with news that the community that was announced a while back — Podcast Movement University — is now free. This came from the Podcast Business Journal. The podcastmovement.com team saw that they were not getting much of a response with their unfair pricing, and so they have decided to make it no charge (i.e., free) to join and participate.

And so I have joined and participated in some of the discussions. I also plan to participate in some of the webinars and discussions on line and live audio and video.

You can also sign up for free for this community (I highly recommend this as a free resource — but advise you to cancel if they start to charge for their site):

Podcast Movement Team: We Were Wrong!

Thus, as I do suggest for new and aspiring podcasters, this seems to be a good idea to join a community of podcasters that can be of benefit to you and your plans for improving your show and becoming a better podcaster.

Thank you for your attention.

Tags Podcast Movement University, podcastbusinessjournal.com, Podcastreporter.com

podcast

491- Podcast conferences and virtual tickets — a decision for podcasters

Post author By fcastaneda
Post date February 24, 2021

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In this episode of the Podcast Reporter, we REPURPOSE a prior podcast episode about the differences for the podcaster of:

Live inbound in-person conferences in a venue with others;
Live virtual podcast conferences;
Live telesummit podcast conferences;
Live “unconferences” that implement the barcamp-style meeting; and
Virtual tickets for podcast events.

As you will hear in this 20-minute audio episode, each one of these types of podcast conferences/events is discussed, along with some examples of each from my own past experience.

Please note: since this is a REPURPOSED episode from an earlier podcast show, we deal with some of the events that may have shut down or may have been put on “hold” due to the travel restrictions of the 2020 virus crisis.

We hope that for new and aspiring podcasters, this episode may be helpful — so that the podcaster can decide which event will be worth the effort and time and money in which to participate, so that the event can help the podcaster’s show become a success.

Thank you for your attention.

Tags live in-bound event, live telesummit, Podcastreporter.com, virtual live event, virtual ticket

podcast

490- A request to end the myths of podcasting

Post author By fcastaneda
Post date February 20, 2021

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

In this episode of The Podcast Reporter, we discuss and list for you some of the most common myths about podcasting. This was an article that was written recently, and it should help the new and aspiring podcasters understand what is magic-vs-myth-vs-reality.

In this article by M.R. Brown at medium.com, we see that the author reminds us of the Villanova study that presents the theory that if you consume by audio or video a meme or theme multiple times, then you may start to believe it to be real.

“Repetition of podcast myths is not helpful. And it sure won’t make you a better podcaster. You’ll fumble along, finding out what’s true and what’s not throughout your years. Well, let me save you some time.”

And the author then will go on to list the most common myths from his point of view. But he also warns that there is a cause-and-effect environment: “All these myths affect you. Of course. But they also have a direct line to your listeners, too. You don’t want to turn them off to your show. Because without an audience, there’s not much of a reason for your podcast.”

And so the list of myths to be “busted” are:

Buy a Blue Yeti or a Snowball microphone (instead, the author suggests “What to do instead? Buy a Shure SM58 microphone, an xlr cable, and a simple recorder. If you’re looking to splurge a bit more, tac on a Focusrite Scarlett Solo and record directly into your software. Cut out the recorder middleman.”
Podcasts are expensive — and so, a budget should be made;
Podcasts have a low barrier to entry;
“If you make it, they will come…”
We can be like “the Daily” or “How I built this…”
One producer is enough;
Minimal editing on interview recording;
Blog posts can be podcast episodes;

Now, for this podcaster, a large part of these “myths” do reside in the hopeful mind of the aspiring or new podcaster. Perhaps you should read the article in detail, as the author does at least try to provide you with an alternative of what you should do instead of acting on the myth.

Hopefully, this content may be a good “lessons learned” from the personal experience of the author and help you to avoid what others have tried to reach for in the world of possible podcast myths.

Thank you for your attention.

Tags medium.com, MR Brown, podcast myths, Podcastreporter.com