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599- Tips on how to structure a Podcast

In this episode of The Podcast Reporter Show, we review the topic of structuring your podcast and episodes. This theme was discussed in December of 2021 by Ben Krueger, a podcaster and consultant with his show, Cashflowpodcasting.com in his email content with the title “How to structure a podcast.”

Now, as you may know, the REAL objective of a podcast show and its episodes is to provide value to your listeners and audience. As Ben Krueger states in this post, “you should aim to cram as much value in the shortest possible time.”

Ben Krueger

In addition to ending the podcast episode at a shorter time (which may be the right time), one key areas of discussion by Ben deals with the preparation required for quality content (in addition to good audio). As Ben states:  “If you’re eager to record a new podcast episode, it can be tempting to just get behind the microphone and start. This is one of the easiest ways to hamper an episode’s potential. Structuring your podcast episodes can increase the value of your content and help listeners to find what they’re looking for. Before you begin recording, a little bit of preparation can make all the difference.”


Now, after this mention, Ben goes into detail into the following areas of tips for structuring your podcast:

  • “Why is it important to structure a podcast?
  • How do you write a script for a podcast?
  • What are the key components of a podcast?
  • How do you create an outline for a podcast?
  • How do you structure a podcast interview?”

As is stated, scripting your podcast and creating key components by writing an outline can be great ingredients for preparing VALUE for your listeners and customers.

We hope that you, as a podcaster, can improve the quality and value of your show by structuring your podcast better — and we hope that you can get some value from this post from Ben Krueger.

Thank you for your attention.

Copyright (c) 2022, Matrix Solutions Corporation and michaelandmike.com and Ben Krueger. All rights reserved.

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podcast

594- Ben Krueger on Podcast Procrastination

In this episode of The Podcast Reporter, we consider an article by Ben Krueger (podcaster and creator of cashflowpodcasting.com) in which he ponders the reasons why potential podcasters delay in getting started — in fact, he titles it “The One thing stopping you from starting your podcast.”

Now, you could consider this a type of procrastination from getting your feet wet in the podosphere as an aspiring podcaster.

And as we delve more deeply into this article, there is food for thought that someone who would like to podcast should really know what he may be missing out on by not starting. And we would ask ourselves the same question — what is the one big reason why anyone who wants to podcast would hesitate?

In the article, Ben describes the dilemma and the lost potential of communicating with a good audience and telling your own story and delivering your own message:

The biggest thing that gets in the way of podcasting dreams is the desire to do it right. And it’s not surprising if you think about it. Industry advocates and leaders have become successful because when they decide to do something, they make sure they do it well.

They make the effort to create high-quality work, use a strategy that gets results, and make the most of their time so they can focus on what they’re best at. This drive to do it right is key to their success in other things, and podcasting is no different.

The problem is that because they are so focused on this, their podcast becomes the project they think about for months—if not years—before they’re ready to commit. In my experience, this is usually due to three main issues that must be addressed before these would-be podcasters feel ready.”

And so Ben describes these main issues for aspiring podcasters and their procrastination:

  • Issue number 1:  the excuse or reason is “I don’t have the time.”
  • Issue number 2:  Being intimidated by the tech in podcasting;
  • Issue number 3:  The desire for success (and the resulting fear of failure to meet expectations).

Now, in my past, I have taught Personal Productivity (aka “time management”) courses to professionals. There is always some proven method to be able to be more productive (about 25 per cent for many people) with their time. In fact, when I taught the course, the objective was “to accomplish more in less time with better quality and to reduce stress.”

As Ben addresses in the article, getting help with software, or with virtual assistants, can free up time for you to be able to engage in the podosphere and get some good results. Obviously, his call to action is to hire a professional who can assist in helping you get started (like himself). And I have no problem with this, as I myself did hire Dave Jackson of The School of Podcasting to help me get my podcasts launched (even after I had taken self-study courses in starting a podcast show and creating and publishing an episode).

And, of course, if you have the money and want to get a pro to do it all for you, the hiring of help is the ideal way — even though most of the aspiring podcasters cannot afford it:  “The third and best option is to hire a full-service podcast production agency that takes care of the strategy, as well as all the time-consuming and technical stuff so that all you have to do is show up and hit record.”

I highly recommend that you, as an aspiring podcaster, should review the contents of this article so that you can really get past the excuses of “no time” or “no tech savvy” to get yourself into the podosphere — especially since most of us cannot go with the third alternative, which is to hire a full-blown studio to do it all for you. And although this is one alternative that can be provided by Ben Krueger, your budgets may have a warning for you from proceeding down the full-blown studio setup.

Yes, it may take some time and some self education, as well as a minor investment in training materials, as well as the tech devices and software. But once you get past the learning curve, you will find out how satisfying it can be to prepare, produce, publish and promote your own show and episodes.

As Ben summarizes, the HELP you need is something which you must explore, investigate, analyze and plan for stepping into the podosphere: “The moral of the story? Get help at whatever level is appropriate so that your time and effort are maximized for success…Instead of trying to figure out all the tech on your own, there’s a much simpler and more effective way: Ask for recommendations, and keep it simple…Starting a podcast can be time-efficient, simple and rewarding — if you let it.”

In fact, Ben recommends one of his resources to start with, as it is a free key piece of advice:  “(A great place to start is to download our free book, which breaks down our proven 5-step process for starting and managing a podcast…)”

In his book, Die Empty, Todd Henry (a podcaster and author) also mentions that a graveyard is the biggest container of lost ideas and valuable projects that never got started. Thus, Ben, in a similar manner, suggests that you NOT let procrastination of getting into the podosphere be one of your tragedies that were never realized in life.

Thus, we hope that you will find the time and get the training and education and put together a realistic plan to engage in the podosphere and have a successful podcast.

Thank you for your attention.

Copyright (c) 2021, Matrix Solutions Corporation and michaelandmike.com and Ben Kreuger and Todd Henry. All rights reserved.

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podcast

593- Starting a Podcast or not — some questions

In this episode of The Podcast Reporter, we discuss the theme of starting a podcast — especially in 2022. This theme came to me from a post by  Ben Krueger of cashflowpodcasting.com. Then the opposite viewpoint was proposed in a later post from another podcaster titled “Why you shouldn’t start a podcast.”

So, in this episode, we briefly discuss the main topics of both related themes to starting a podcast.


STARTING A PODCAST IN 2022 vs NOT DOING SO

Suggestions for starting a podcast in 2022

First, from Ben Krueger of cashflowpodcasting.com, we get the encouragement and details of starting a podcast show and episodes in his earlier post. Now, as I have mentioned before in earlier episodes on this show, I have great respect for Ben for the deliverables he creates and the recommendations that he gives to the new and aspiring podcasters.

Ben Krueger

And in this post, he gives to us his philosophy that determines the timing of podcast show creation:  “Timing is critical to succeeding in anything. Podcasting is no different. The timing of launching your podcast can make a BIG difference in its initial success. ** So the question is, what’s the BEST time to launch a podcast? **”

And he gives the short answer to the aspiring business podcaster who is filled with emotion, passion and energy for starting a podcast: “It comes down to where you’re at in the development of your business.”

What Ben delivers are some key bullets that outline the timing of podcast show creation:

  1. “You have an established service/offer that sells, and gets clients results

  2. You already have some audience to start with (client list, email list, social following, personal network in the industry, etc)

  3. You’re ready to start scaling.”

And then Ben gives an example of a client and stories of those who have gone through the process and have become successful. And, of course, Ben delivers his own call-to-action for his own program to help podcasters get started: “Learn more about how we help leaders launch podcasts and request a free consultation call here:
https://cashflowpodcasting.com/services/podcast-launch-program/ “

He continues to describe the program: “The Podcast Launch Program includes everything you need to develop your podcast idea, plan and outline it, design and record your first episodes, produce them and launch your show to the world.”

And Ben then goes on to describe the major components, tasks and milestones that an aspiring podcaster can go through:

  • Strategic planning;
  • Podcast coaching;
  • Branding creation;
  • Setup and submission;
  • Launch and promotion;
  • Production and marketing.

I would strongly encourage aspiring podcasters to review these types of programs, especially from Ben, to see if they can help you to achieve success in your business podcast while you may be in the planning stages. I think you will be pleased from what you can learn and what the results of your show will deliver.


DON’T START A PODCAST — IF THE SHOE DOESN’T FIT

The other side of the coin is the recommendation NOT to start a podcast, with the following topics that you also need to review before jumping into the podosphere with both feet:
  • Am I doing this for my ego or an audience?
  • How to set yourself up for podcasting success;
  • Do I really know what I am getting myself into?
  • Steps to release a podcast episode;
  • Am I doing this because I think this is a way to make money?
  • Am I doing this because I think I should?
  • Coming up with a great podcast idea.
  • When do you know if podcasting is right for you?

And each of these sections provide a few sentences on the thoughts espoused in each topic, especially in awareness of the “loneliness of the long-distance podcaster”:

“If the answer to “Why do you want to start a podcast?” is anything other than ‘Because I’ve got amazing content that will educate/inspire/entertain and I desperately want to get it into people’s ears” then think twice. Podcasting is a big commitment with absolutely no guarantee of success. The people who have been successful are those who consistently create valuable and engaging content that appeals directly to their ideal listener. If you’re passionate about every episode you’ll be happy to keep going even when no one is listening.”


As usual, I would recommend doing a cost-benefit analysis of the pros and the cons of launching your own podcast. And now you should include not only the labor and EFFORT and TIME that podcasting requires (and you can get that from other successful podcasters who can tell you the truth about the 3-to-1 or 4-to-1 ratio of time required per minute of finished audio) — but also of the FINANCIAL requirements that can only increase. Remember that many podcasters make a quick estimate of costs, which later turn out to be less than required, and the budgets may grow quickly and become sore points for the podcaster.

Whatever your decision — to start a podcast in 2022 or to avoid podcasting altogether — I hope that you will make the best decision for yourself, your business and your future success.

Thank you for your attention.

Copyright (c) 2022, Matrix Solutions Corporation and michaelandmike.com and Ben Krueger and Rachel Corbett. All rights reserved.

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podcast

590- Ideas for setting up your Podcast studio

In this episode of The Podcast Reporter, we discuss an earlier post by Ben Krueger, a podcaster at cashflowpodcasting.com,  in which he posts the text by Adam Crookes in which the latter addresses the age-old topic of podcast studios. He gives some recommendations on how to set up a podcast studio as potential ideas.

Now, as I have stated many times before in this show, I do respect and admire the value that is delivered by Ben Krueger, as I have known him and interviewed him since the time I personally shared a booth with him the exhibit hall of the very first Podcast Movement conference in Dallas in 2014. So I thought that this would be a great topic to explore once more and get his perspective. However, I got some words from a guest post from Adam Crookes. And my perspective of the post follows after a brief summary of the article.


Summary of the Post

Now, for those interested in creating your own studio, the article gives you thoughts about what is required as food for thought:

  • Estimating the costs of setting up a studio;
  • What is required for the studio?
  • How do you set up a studio in your home? And the post then gives you a list of items and tasks required for your in-home studio:
    • Here’s a list of equipment you should consider for your podcast studio:
      • “Computer
      • USB or XLR microphone
      • Audio interface
      • Mixer
      • Windscreen or pop filter
      • Microphone stand
      • Headphones
      • Acoustic treatments”
  • Then the post delves into the question about whether or not you can start your podcast shows with just your phone;
  • And finally, what is addressed is the age-old question about whether a podcast show is worth it to both you and your audience;
  • Then the article suddenly jumps into the subject of the necessity of headphones when starting a podcast;
  • And then a key question ends the post by asking if it is free to start a podcast on Spotify.

For these questions, I feel that this article, written by Adam Crookes, leaves out a lot of other key questions and statements that a new or aspiring podcaster needs to investigate before setting up a studio. One of these would be testimonials from those who have successfully set one up and are currently podcasting and reaching their success in their objectives at the time. Another would be the time it takes for a podcast studio to be written off or get a good ROI for your business, should you be creating a business podcast.


All in all, I find that this post does little in awakening a coherent target of your mind to investigate fully what is involved in setting up your podcast studio (other than the equipment and physical preparation of your home studio). I know that Ben Krueger would have addressed this topic with more research, more details, and with some personal and third-person experiences of successful podcasters who have set up their own studios and are showing great results from it — or experiences that did not see the studio succeed in the business.

One item you may want to explore is the Podcasting Business School site, where the main theme is to treat your podcast like a habit, but to grow it like a business. Within the 200 episodes so far, the podcaster did cite a few minutes on building a home studio for podcasting.


For myself, I have been a podcaster who has done remote reporting with adequate tools for the past 16 years, as well as have had a “podcast studio” (or a place where I record my podcasts with guests or by going solo) in several sites, from California to Texas in inbetween (including hotel rooms when I have been traveling and in transit). I will address the key areas that I propose for a studio in a later episode, as I will share with you my experiences for doing so.

Thank you for your attention.

Copyright (c) 2022, Matrix Solutions Corporation and michaelandmike.com and Ben Krueger and Adam Crookes . All rights reserved.

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podcast

585- Tips for increasing Podcast listeners

In this episode of The Podcast Reporter, we discuss a past post by Ben Krueger, podcaster for cashflowpodcasting.com, that deals with the 16-year-old topic of “How to increase podcast listeners.”

Now, I have known Ben Krueger personally since I had shared a booth with him in the exhibit hall of the very first Podcast Movement conference in Dallas, Texas, in 2014. And I do respect Ben in what he posts and his suggestions for improving your podcasting careers — but mainly for new and aspiring podcasters.

Ben Krueger

Now, in this post, Ben answers the question of how a podcaster can increase the listeners to his podcast show. And Ben provides for us this evergreen topic in this post.

Now, the age-old question of how to increase listeners has been addressed from a myriad of podcasters, including the “old faithful” of experienced podcasters — from Dave Jackson, Rob Walch, Paul Colligan, Daniel J Lewis, Todd Cochrane and others. In fact, I, myself had given seminars and courses and classes in person at various conferences and podcamps in the past 16 years to address this topic. So, in my opinion, there may be some new items to address recent areas of the podosphere with new tools — but, all in all, this question has been beaten up totally, although it is a question still for podcasters everywhere. And Ben gives this post the attention it deserves, lest we forget all the hints of increasing your listener base.


Now, Ben summarizes the key elements for podcast listener increases at the beginning of his post with the objectives and understanding that podcasters must have when analyzing podcast listenership:  “If you want to get more podcast listeners, you should start by focusing on creating content for a clearly niche and then building out a marketing strategy. This marketing strategy will ensure those who can extract value from your content are fully aware of its existence. To know how to increase podcast listeners, you must understand where your target audience is spending their time.”

So, in this post, Ben then addresses these topics, with details for each one of  these areas:

  • Where can I promote my podcast?
  • How can I then promote my business podcast show?
  • How can my podcast make money (including advertising)?
  • How do podcasts go viral?
  • How many listeners are good for a podcast?
  • What is good podcast growth? (Remember: “Podcast growth is the scale at which your audience continues to expand over time.”)
  • How do I make my podcast successful?
  • Why do podcasts fail?

And the summary of action items can be rolled up into the words of wisdom by Ben at the end of his post: “With the right approach, attracting new listeners to your podcast can be remarkably easy. It’s all about experimentation and testing different marketing channels to see what forms of marketing resonate with your target audience.”


So you have to be willing to test your actions in podcasting and publication — as well as the beginning steps of planning, marketing, promoting and creating episodes in your show that PROVIDE VALUE to the listeners.

So we hope that the topics and the details for these ideas can fill in some of the gaps and try to answer some questions and ideas you may have about growing and increasing your numbers of listeners to your show, and thus help your podcast show to be more successful in those areas.

Thank you for your attention.

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

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podcast

582- Recording a Podcast episode on Skype

In this episode of The Podcast Reporter, we discuss the theme that is over 15 years old — that of using Skype to record a podcast episode.

This theme brought back very old memories for myself, as I had been using Skype since 2006. And it was included in the post delivered by Ben Krueger at cashflowpodcasting.com. Now, since I have personally known Ben since 2014 and trusted him with coming up for podcasters with value deliverables and suggestions, I was interested to see about this older method of doing remote interviews and capturing audio.

My own podcasting history with Skype

Since 2005, I have been involved with the podosphere, and for over 16 years, I have been a podcaster with many of my shows including the format of remote interviews — and most of them using Skype.

My experience with the earlier versions of Skype was very dismal — it took quite a few hours to get the configuration right so that it worked. And there was an application program that provided for capturing and creating the audio for recorded interviews — PowerGramo (which is no longer available). And like other competitors at the time, one configuration of PowerGramo allowed for each of the 2 podcasters on the remote interview to be recorded on a separate track. This was wonderful and allowed slight synchronization and slight editing to get the tracks ready to save and add other content (like music and intros, etc.). Of course, this was a paid application (one-time charge) and it proved very reliable.

And the benefit was that I could also pay for an additional service from Skype called “Skype-out” — this allowed me to “dial” into analog phones or cell phones in addition to “dialing” into another Skype user via the internet. Thus, when doing an interview with someone who considered himself “low tech,” my interviewee would not have to deal with Skype (if the interviewee did not have it installed and configured for his use). This was a great benefit, as I could schedule and conduct interviews over the telephone without any problem (except using software like early versions of Izotope or Levelator  (as well as other software like Auphonic) to try and correct problems with the audio).

And finally, there was another configuration of Skype for the reverse, called Skype-In. However, for my own situation, I was the main initiator for an interview, and I did not require this at all.

But when Skype was acquired by Microsoft, my old application that worked as a Skype add-on (which was PowerGramo) no longer worked at all — and PowerGramo soon was retired after that. And then the configuring of Microsoft’s Skype became such a jumble of “electronic spaghetti” that I gave up in frustration in using my “old faithful” combination of Skype and PowerGramo. Instead, I sought out and sparingly used other applications like Evaer, etc., to do remote recordings and capturing the interviewee’s audio — but it was really not a good substitute for the PowerGramo app (RIP). And so I reverted back to my trusted double-ender method to record podcasts, even though I had to deal most of the work for both editing, finalizing mp3 files and synchronization to create the golden mp3 file.

And to this day, I have relied on the double-ender for interviews — which basically limits my current interviews to other podcasters.


Ben Krueger on recording a podcast on Skype

In the 2021 post by Ben Krueger, the theme of using Skype is discussed in detail by Ben with his declaration that he would “be breaking down everything you need to know about how to record a podcast on Skype.”

In addition to having a properly configured Skype program on your PC, you will need to have properly configured call-recording software to create an audio file from the interview or discussion (remember, I had used the older program, PowerGramo, as my call-recording software). Ben gives examples with Ecamm Call Recorder and also  GarageBandAudition, or Audacity. He also mentioned  Piezo by Rogue Amoeba. He also mentions Audio Hijack.

He continues “If you have a PC, you will want to use the professional version of Pamela for Skype.”

Also, the topic of using Zoom comes up when trying to record a podcast by using the in-built recording feature. And then he highlights a tip for creating video: “Even though you may not see an immediate use for the video content, you should record it regardless. Further down the line, you may want to leverage the video content from your recordings on platforms like YouTube and Instagram.”


So these tips may be good for you to try to prepare remote interviewing, and Skype may or may not be the best choice for you as a podcaster. If you want to try Skype for remote audio capture, then I would suggest that you consume this post with all the details that Ben gives you.

And remember that a double-ender is still a great solution when you are interviewing a remote podcaster. It may seem like more work. But the creation of your audio file, downloading your interviewee’s audio file, synchronizing both tracks of audio, adding your music, intros, outros, and other content (like bumpers, etc.) may well be worth it — for you can form a good workflow for you to have a great-sounding interview of episode with your co-host.

I will continue to rely on my double-enders and only use Evaer as remote recording software when needed to capture the remote interviewee when the double-ender is really not an option.

I hope that you, as a podcaster, can decide if Skype is for you, along with all the other options mentioned above. Whatever the case, I wish you success in creating a smooth workflow that works for YOU, and that your remote interview or co-host episodes will add to your success for your show.

Thank you for your attention.

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

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podcast

565- Podcast transcription services — view from experience

In this episode of The Podcast Reporter, we discuss the theme of podcast transcription services for your show. This theme was brought up again earlier by Ben Krueger of cashflowpodcasting.com. Thus, in this episode, we not only review Ben’s points as he reveals them, but we also add my own experiences with transcription services since 2007.

Ben Krueger

Initially, we look at Ben’s idea in his post titled “Podcast transcription service — why do you need one?”

As Ben discussed, “you should consider transcribing your podcast episodes into long-form blog content. Many fail to recognize the value of presenting content in a variety of different forms . . .”

And from a marketing strategy perspective, Ben elaborates on the following questions about podcast transcription services:

  • 1. Why should you use a podcast transcription service?  [and a key answer to this, as explained in the detail, is: “The most obvious reason why you might want to use a podcast transcription service is to deliver content that appeals to those who prefer reading over listening.”
  • 2. How much does it cost to transcribe a podcast?
  • 3. Where can I get a transcript of a podcast?
  • 4. What can a podcast transcript be used for?
  • 5. How do I transcribe a podcast myself?

Also, as Ben states in his post, the benefit of transcribed content can add to the reach of your audience:  “Podcast transcription services are a great way to reach an even wider audience, as they can deliver the audio content in text form.”

And Ben continues with detail for each of the sections he presents in his post about transcription services.


Now, for this podcaster, I have used transcription services for my shows since late 2006 and all through 2007 to 2011, up to the time when I had over 15 podcast shows in production all at the same time. And I used them initially for my flagship podcast at that time, The Struggling Entrepreneur — and then I also used them for minor shows when it made sense to promote my shows in products, offerings, offers and get some SEO benefits from them. I also printed some and offered them in writing within media kits that I had produced and delivered strategically at Podcast conferences and business shows.

The company I had used was Noble Transcription Service, which was in the California area and which I had encountered in a booth at one of the first Podcast conferences (i.e., Podcast and Portable Media Expo in Ontario, California).

This firm delivered on one of their biggest strengths:  “100% Human Transcription for Accuracy, Clarity, and to Understand Nuance.”

Now, I had tried automated transcription blogs, sites, offerings and other products — and none of them delivered prompt and accurate transcriptions of my posts or interviews. However, Noble Transcription Services excelled in speedy delivery and perfect transcripts delivered electronically in pdf format, as well as word processing formats (for my later editing). And they made sure that the human corrections and perfection were included. This was much better both from a QUALITY point of view, as well as a PRICE-PERFORMANCE viewpoint. In short, my opinion was that they delivered the best deal than any automated or other competitive offering or product around at the time.

And, as you can read from Ben’s post, the BENEFITS of having transcriptions of your episodes in your shows can deliver favorable results for your business and your podcasts across your marketing channels:

  • “Transcripts can be turned into long-form blog content.
  • Extracts of transcripts can be used as copy for social media posts.
  • Transcripts can form the basis of email newsletters.
  • Transcripts can be used in e-books other long-form mediums.”

However, as a podcaster, you need to do an analysis of the COST and PRICE of transcripts — for they do not come freely. There is a cost in time, effort, quality control, review,  nurturing, updating, checking feedback and management — and this is in addition to the financial cost in dollars that you have to include in your plans and budgets, as well.

And with some of the competitors in podcast production nowadays, you can see that transcription services of some kind (many of them near poor quality with a lot of mistakes from automated or AI-type support to produce them) may be included with your podcast production support provider. But my opinion is caveat emptor. In other words, you may lose valuable time, effort and money in choosing a service that may not suit your needs or deliver poor quality results from your expectations.

And, as usual, Ben suggests what the cost may be to you as a podcaster and he delivers a call-to-action to his firm for getting a proven transcription service for your podcast. And this is part of his offer to you as a podcaster.

Thus, regardless of your decision to use and publish transcriptions of your episodes and shows, we hope that you will find a good transcription service that will deliver the speed, quality and price-performance that will support your business and podcast, and which will help to make you successful.

Thank you for your attention.

Copyright (c) 2022, Matrix Solutions Corporation and michaelandmike.com. All rights reserved.

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podcast

554- How to turn listeners into clients as a podcast host

In this episode of the Podcast Reporter show, we discuss the topics delivered to us earlier this year by Ben Krueger, the podcaster from his program called cashflowpodcasting.com. These topics revolve around the ideas proposed by him in 5 tips of how to be “an amazing podcast host” and gain success by turning listeners into paid clients.

Ben Krueger

As Ben begins his discussion, he starts off with the question of: “Whether you’re doing solo episodes or interviews, being a great podcast host really comes down to two major things:

  • Be Human (and get the connection with your listeners); and
  • Be a Champion for your audience; or, as he states: “A great way to make sure you’re following this rule is to ask yourself one question before every episode: What do my listeners need to know, and how can I help them understand?”

and Ben explains with examples what he means by those suggestions in making your content impactful and meaningful to your listeners — especially in getting behind the scenes if your guest in an interview tends to give you “fluff” answers: “Just remember that if you are doing interviews, you have to make it your mission to uncover key insights during the conversations with your guests.” (and that means getting the guest to deliver educational and engaging content). And Ben gives examples and links to further his point.


So the five main tips for making powerful conversion content are:

  • Educate and motivate action (especially with actionable items today);
  • Provide social proof;
  • Give a clear next step;
  • Provide good calls-to-action for the listeners;
  • Follow through with good stories and examples that inspire, especially from his promotion of his Autopilot book (given in the post’s show notes by Ben).

Of course, Ben wants to be your mentor in helping you to prepare your audience for your own success within his program.

And, as someone who has personally known Ben since 2014, I would say that his suggestions are well worth looking at and examining it. I have only given you a small peek at his post with the tips — but I encourage you to review the content in light of your own podcast to see if you can pick the gems and examples that may relate to your own business and podcast shows, so that you can adapt his tips for your own success.

Remember that his 5 tips can be found (in some detail) at https://cashflowpodcasting.com/be-an-amazing-podcast-host/

And we wish you the best in becoming an “amazing podcast host” with your show and having success in your business.

Thank you for your attention.

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

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podcast

596- Tips on uploading your podcast

In this episode of The Podcast Reporter, we review some general hints delivered to you (as an aspiring or new podcaster) from Ben Krueger, podcaster and consultant who has a site called cashflowpodcasting.com.

Ben has always been a great consultant and provider of good information for the new and aspiring podcaster since I have known him (from the time that we shared a table together in the exhibit hall of the first Podcast Movement conference in Dallas). His advice and his free deliverables and pdf files contain good information most of the time, and I would highly encourage you to see his multi-step approach to planning, producing, publishing and promoting a podcast.

In an episode on 30 November 2021, Ben gives several hints and tips for uploading a podcast. But he goes a couple of steps further and recommends what some actionable steps would be to publish the podcast show and episodes, as well as some words about streaming your show episodes and areas of increased publicity for your web site of your show.


In an article for 30 November 2021 titled “How to upload a podcast,” Ben makes three strong suggestions for actionable steps in the distribution of a podcast, as well as the upload of episodes:

  • “Upload your podcast files to a podcast hosting service.
  • Submit your episode to all streaming platforms at once.
  • Publish episode players from your host to your own website.”

He then provides sections of the articles with more details about the process that a podcaster should consider about uploads, distribution and promotion:

  • How to upload a podcast episode;
  • The cost of uploading a podcast episode in your show;
  • How to submit your first podcast episode;
  • Where to post your first podcast;
  • How to post a podcast for free (some suggested ideas);
  • Would Spotify be a good choice for a free posting?
  • A discussion about the most popular podcast platform;
  • How to upload a podcast episode to your own site;
  • Some final ideas about suggested tools and templates: “Initially, it seems logical to use the website template offered by the hosting service to create a website for your show. Further down the line, you could explore creating a website using a third-party service that would potentially offer greater flexibility around the layout and design.”

For this podcaster, I have been using the templates and tools in which I learned during my initial period in podcasting many years ago. I have upgraded some of them, as I do wish to improve the speed of creation and publication of my episodes. I got a lot of them from the time when I did hire a consultant to help me with improving my initial podcasting — and that was Dave Jackson from The School of Podcasting.

There was also one aspect in Dave Jackson’s episode from November of 2021, in which he put out a request for podcasters to answer his “question of the month” for answering how much time is spent by a podcaster from the idea creation stage to the point where a podcast episode is released by pressing the PUBLISH button. It was interesting to see how podcasters have become more sophisticated in the area of creating and publishing their podcast episodes — including myself (I did contribute my discussion from my name of Sergeant Fred).

We hope that these ideas in the article, along with Dave Jackson’s episode, can help you to refine your uploading, publishing, streaming and distribution of your podcast episodes.

Thank you for your attention.

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

Categories
podcast

592- Best practices in podcasting

In this episode of The Podcast Reporter, we review some ideas and suggestions from Ben Krueger of cashflowpodcasting.com that deal with suggested BEST PRACTICES for podcasting. This theme was discussed in a post from Ben Krueger in his site titled “Podcast Best Practices for 2021.”

Ben Krueger

As you may remember, I have known Ben since 2014, when we both were at an exhibit table at the very first Podcast Movement conference in Dallas. In my opinion, Ben is a professional podcaster who has delivered lots of good suggestions, especially for the aspiring and new podcasters. And he has posted many documents for free from his site that do add value.

In this post, he reviews some suggested BEST PRACTICES for the podcaster that may add value to the podcasting effort. It is highly recommended that you, as a podcaster, should list some best practices used by other podcasters of note. Then you can look at them and see if you can integrate some of them that may work well for your own podcast shows. Perhaps some of these can help your show to stand out as “value-driven content.” Remember, as Ben mentions, there really is no magic formula for everyone.

Here is a summary of the introduction by Ben about best practices and his discussion: Podcast best practices inevitably change from one year to the next. As the streaming landscape begins to mature, it’s never been more important to follow podcast best practices and deploy a range of strategies to attract engaged audio listeners. While the consumption of audio content is increasing, listeners only have so much time in a day to engage with podcasts.”

  • Provide your audience with as much value as possible;
  • Create a memorable podcast name and optimize titles: “Establishing a clear value proposition begins with a memorable podcast name.”
  • Strike a balance between creativity and authenticity;
  • Involve your target audience in the conception of the podcast, including the podcast name(s): “Launching a podcast without consulting your target audience is a poor strategy.”
  • Utilize Welcome and send-off phrases to build audience trust to help establish a sense of familiarity;
  • Consistency in how you open and close your episodes adds structure to your content;
  • Take note of how hosts in other podcasts within your niche open and close each episode;
  • Cross-sell other podcast episodes and related content;
  • Consistently schedule and publish new podcast episodes to have your listeners include your episodes as part of their routine;
  • Communicate your publishing schedule to your listeners;
  • Engage in marketing and promotion efforts: “…you cannot rely on organic discovery on these platforms to build an audience.”
  • What is recommended is  leveraging social media marketing to create awareness around your new podcast episodes.

Ben then sums up his post with the emphasis on delivering value to your audience: “Every best practice related to producing a podcast ultimately stems back to value creation.”

Thus, we hope that you can consume this post and see if any (or all) of these suggestions may help you to increase the value of your podcast show and to engage great listeners so that your podcast show can be a success and deliver the great value to your audience.

Thank you for your attention.

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