This is a tribute to Daniel J Lewis from one of his biggest supporters, as he plans to return in September to the podosphere as a publisher of podcast episodes for his show, The Audacity to Podcast.
Now, Daniel has been active as a member of the chat room during the live broadcast of Ask the Podcast Coach show from Dave Jackson. He has delivered suggestions and value by answering questions or addressing topics and delivering details when asked about technical specs on products or services. But he has not posted a recent episode on his flagship podcast show recently. And remember that a podcaster should have reliability by giving the expectation of information from his feed to his audiences — it is part of the reliability.
Most of everything is available on his website page, from his products and services to contacting him for leaving feedback.
So this is just a brief episode giving him a vote of confidence. And we are waiting to receive and consume his podcast episodes when they come down the podcast channel.
Thank you to DJL, and we look forward to receiving more episodes from TAP.
Thank you for your attention.
Copyright (c) 2022, Matrix Solutions Corporation and michaelandmike.com. All rights reserved.
In this episode of The Podcast Reporter, we discuss an age-old manner of supporting your podcast business, as well as promoting your podcast show. And this is by incorporating a resource known as THE COMPANION PODCAST. And we have two cases-in-point of success stories about companion podcasts that highlight and promote books written by podcasters who are also authors:
and I will also briefly mention my own experiences with companion podcast shows for my programs of Finance for Startups and Gain Control of Your Day in the earlier years of the podosphere.
In this book, Dave has had an update to his earlier book titled More Podcast Money. This is really just the latest information that Dave has delivered on how to monetize your podcast, should you wish to get money from your podcast. This is a current example of a companion podcast to help promote and sell the book. And it has resulted in a success story, but not one of titanic proportions of revenue success.
In this original book published in 2005-2006, a companion audio podcast show started by Tee Morris actually had resounding success for the promotion and sale of the book. Now in its third printing, and with a sequel that followed the original book titled Expert Podcasting Practices for Dummies, this was the original case-in-point about how a companion podcast can grow your show and provide success for monetization of your podcast show. I myself first learned of this book in 2007, and I did promote it at the first Podcamp in Phoenix, Arizona, when Evo Terra sat in my session when I presented monetization strategies for serialized podcast shows. Of course, that is when I first met and spoke with Evo Terra.
My own experience with COMPANION PODCASTS
In my experience as a professional podcaster, I have had several shows in which I implemented the concept and practice of creating and publishing a companion podcast:
One show was Gain Control of Your Day — this now podfaded show was a training course delivered by audio podcast episodes that used a technology developed by Paul Colligan, (who was a thought leader, a pundit in New Media and podcasting and an author of podcasting books) that mainly dealt with monetization of podcasts. His Technology of “dripping” episodes in his resource called Premiumcast, along with a one-to-one podcast feed for every paying member was key in the initial years of the podosphere. And this method of supporting the course and delivering training by having a smaller companion podcast that introduced the show and delivered content during the marketing and promotion of the show did have some limited success — although the problems that put the nail in the coffin of my success in this endeavor were both a delay in announcing and delivering the show, as well as the introduction of the competition by Apple (which was the 2010 promotional marketing and introduction of the original iPhone 1).
The other case-in-point was my show that was originally called Finance for Startups. Also now podfaded, this show had more success in launching and promoting as marketing tools the course by the same name. Originally delivered as a companion podcast, a late entry also hampered its success, but the audio book that served as a nine-episode companion podcast did see some limited success — as I had a partner that created content and helped me to prepare the podcast episodes. But again, the novelty of the day in 2010 was the latest toy in the podosphere, the iPhone 1. Thus, although you may have the right tactics, the right marketing and sales promotion and the right delivery, the competition in the podosphere may be an obstacle to success in your original plans. So this course was removed from the podosphere in the USA, but my partner had seen limited success in the Australian and other foreign markets for podcasting and online courses.
So, my view of these experiences are that planning and executing a companion podcast is a great competitive tool that can bring success in monetization — but you have to be early enough in the announcement and delivery of the course or the companion podcast that describes your book or course before the competition arrives. And you should be certain that new announcements will not hinder the success of your show.
As Dave Jackson stated, with over a million new podcasts being announced and published in just the one year of 2021, you will have to promote your offering and deliver a companion podcast (mainly for no charge, until you have a purchase-base or subscription-based success for your book or course, thanks to your companion podcast.
Thus, we do wish you well if you wish to create, publish and deliver a companion podcast that will promote your education courses or books or other assets or podcasts that you wish to monetize. You just have to be aware of the vast amount of time that will be used to create your companion podcast and figure in the return on investment (ROI) factors that will be needed to judge its success.
Thank you for your attention.
Copyright (c) 2022, Matrix Solutions Corporation and michaelandmike.com and Dave Jackson of profitfromyourpodcasting.com and Evo Terra of Podcastingfordummies.com. All rights reserved.
In this episode of The Podcast Reporter, we deliver a REPURPOSED PODCAST of episode 271 of this same podcast series, so that we can review the theme of hobbyist podcasting and the benefits it gives to the hobbyist podcaster — even some health benefits. This episode was originally published in June of 2020.
The audio of this podcast episode gives you that episode in its entirety, all 4 minutes and 51 seconds. The attributions go to PodMov Daily, a newsletter that delivered the idea of healthy benefits for pursuing personal passions outside of work if you are employed — or for us, being a hobby podcaster, as we start with podcasting as a side hustle or a hobby. In fact, many podcasters stated that when they upgraded to professional podcasters, the stress that went with it was too much like work, and the fun was starting to disappear.
But we feel that this content should be reviewed, and from some feedback from listeners, they emphasize that others should be offered the opportunity to consume this evergreen content, especially when it was announced on recent podcast shows that over 1 million new podcasts were created and launched in 2021, alone, and the numbers will keep growing. Thus, for the newer and aspiring podcasters, we deliver this content as the main content for this episode.
And we shall return with another podcast episode as we look into themes of the podosphere for newer and aspiring podcasters.
Thank you for your attention.
Copyright (c) 2022, Matrix Solutions Corporation and michaelandmike.com and PodMov Daily. All rights reserved.
In this episode of The Podcast Reporter, we discuss some experiences that I have had when trying to sell my own products from my podcast shows — and the good, bad and the ugly about their results.
The inspiration for this show came from a podcast show of various episodes from Dave Jackson, podcaster and author of the book, Profit from Your Podcast. Yes, I had ordered the book and have read it — in fact, Dave will even send you a personally autographed copy if you order it from him.
Latest book from Dave Jackson about monetizing your Podcasts.
In addition, Dave has also produced a podcast show called Profit from Your Podcast, with the same content.
In these episodes of this podcast show, Dave talks about how both feedback in the form of survey results — as well as perhaps focus groups — can be critical for getting audience buy-in for your own products that you may want to sell to monetize your show. And, yes, there are many other strategies in which he goes into within his book, but these are the 2 in which I personally can deliver some experiences when I started off in podcasting and had courses to sell about my podcasts since 2006 (which, in those days, was the very beginning of the podosphere with very few rules — in fact, they called it the “wild, wild west” of New Media).
ABOUT FOCUS GROUPS
Focus groups can give you immediate reaction of your audience from selected members (besides your family and friends) who may be part of your intended and targeted audience. They can help you see if you do, indeed, have a solution or product which they not only want, but also need — and if they would be willing to spend money for it. And in the book and podcast from Dave, he spends time talking about what a focus group is, how to conduct one and what to do with the results for you to analyze the landscape into making a decision to proceed with the strategy and solution you wish to sell.
For this podcaster, I did NOT perform any focus groups. I had only brainstormed this idea with a current podcaster in 2006 when I had the podcast premium course that I had been creating almost done. And it seemed like a good idea at the time, for there were hardly any solutions like mine. And I had been teaching this course in a stand-up inbound class in person for many years — and so the content was second nature to me, and I saw the reviews of my classes and felt very confident that this would sell in the market of that day.
So I went on to finish the course using some technology that came about to make distribution, security and monetization easier for this podcast premium product that I wanted to market. However, I did NOT consider the market landscape of ALL of New Media. And this is the snake that bit me in the back.
Why?
Because Apple had announced, launched and marketed their iPhone product to the world — and that included the majority of my target market. And so the Apple announcement and the audience’s desire for “apps” destroyed my marketing efforts and killed off 99 per cent of my sales, regardless of my strategies and investment in my solution.
And because I had not done any focus groups to wet the appetite of my audience and get good feedback and positive reinforcement that I was on the right track, I was faced with an albatross for several years until I had written off my project and finally withdrew it.
SURVEY RESULTS
I had also committed another grievous sin — I did not have solid pre-launch survey results from my target audience about the utility of my product and their desire to obtain it to solve their problems. The desire for “apps” overcame their senses, and they dropped my product and podcast like a hot potato, as they circled around a solution in an app for their problem.
And, truthfully, up to this day, there has NOT been a solution in app format on the smartphone that has delivered the same solutions as my premium podcast course. But the lure for an all-encompassing app led my target market astray, and I suffered the results.
Why did I not have pre-launch surveys?
At the time, I, as a podcaster and trainer of a successful in-person course, felt overconfident that my solution was the best and that it would sell to my audience.
How wrong I was. In fact, the only surveys came AFTER the product was launched and after seeing the results that lacked success.
For if I had done surveys, I know that the responses would show that the only format that would have been suitable to my target audience would have been an iPhone app — and, again, that day not only did NOT arrive then in 2010, but it has still not arrived even today. And, yes, one or two scattered customers recently saw the value of my course and have purchased it now — but the marketing and sales plans that I had so carefully prepared did not show up, because I was flattened by the competition in the marketplace by mere illusory dreams of a solution that has never been delivered.
Now, the lessons I have learned have been to create a marketing plan for any monetization that I wish to follow with pre-launch activities that include:
surveys; and
focus groups
and to rely on their feedback to create milestones in which to make a hard decision that is fact-based on whether to continue or change course — or even to scrap the project solution due to audience feedback.
And since that time, I did create another podcast course with another podcaster — and we achieved more of a success, but it was still not enough to get us over the hurdle into great profitability.
Thus, my lessons learned included the inclusion of feedback from many sources (here we only touch upon 2) in pre-launch activities that can provide great information before sinking any more time and money into continuing on something that may not provide a good ROI as we desired.
These are lessons that I could have used if Dave’s book had been available to me at that time. For in his book, Dave speaks about both, but he also gives some scenarios and recommendations on how to conduct both surveys and focus groups — and these may be well worth consuming if you are a newer or aspiring podcaster that wants to monetize your show with online courses you wish to sell or with other products of your own
So, I hope that you can get more information from Dave’s book and free podcast, as mentioned. And I wish that you can avoid the mistakes that I had made and then get your show to have successful launches of your products that will make your podcasts more successful and profitable.
Thank you for your attention.
Copyright (c) 2022, Matrix Solutions Corporation and michaelandmike.com and Dave Jackson and profitfromyourpodcast.com. All rights reserved.
In this episode of The Podcast Reporter Show, we discuss an email-episode from Daniel J Lewis, the award-winning podcaster from his show called The Audacity to Podcast (currently on hiatus with sparse episodes being released on demand within important announcements). He has specialized in helping podcasters be aware of podcast reviews. In this current email sent out in 1st quarter of 2022, he goes one step further — he helps to solve some complex issues with getting podcast reviews.
What is the problem? And how does Daniel go about trying to help the podcasters who want reviews from any location worldwide? Well, Daniel states in his email content:
Here’s the problem. There are so many podcast platforms out there and so many of them don’t allow ratings or reviews, it’s hard to give the right call to action for your audience to rate and review your podcast.
It gets worse. Android devices can’t access Apple Podcasts, non-Android devices can’t access Podcast Addict, and Apple Podcasts is actually still “iTunes” on Windows and older macOS versions.
So how can you ensure your listeners are going to the right place to leaving ratings and reviews for your show and without overloading your audience with incompatible options or complex instructions?
Here are two solutions:
Learn all the coding necessary or find and buy the right tools or plugins to build your own solution.
Use the LovethePodcast.com feature included with all accounts on My Podcast Reviews!
LovethePodcast.com provides the smartest way to get more ratings & reviews! It automatically displays only the rating and review platforms compatible with your listener’s device. For example:
Only Android users will see Podcast Addict.
Windows and older macOS versions will see iTunes.
New macOS, iOS, and iPadOS will see Apple Podcasts.
All platforms will see Podchaser since it works on everything.
And so on.
Plus, this gives you a memorable and easily speakable URL you can customize to your needs! For example, I can say in my own podcast, “If you love the podcast, please give it a rating and review at LovethePodcast.com/audacity and I might read your review on the show!”
But whether you use My Podcast Reviews or make your own page, make the process as easy as possible for all your listeners, and your non-Apple audience will probably feel more valued and more likely to give you those positive reviews!
Thus, Daniel has made this easy for the podcaster. I would highly recommend that you subscribe to Daniel’s email episodes being delivered now and for the foreseeable future. And then you can get the emails directly sent to your inbox.
Now, I have known Daniel since 2010 when I interviewed him on my flagship podcast (at that time), The Struggling Entrepreneur (now podfaded); and Daniel later interviewed me on his show, The Audacity to Podcast (in 2 episodes). I have always admired his contributions to the podosphere and the great value he delivers in his podcast episodes, as well as his products and membership site (Podcasterssociety.com) and his training and exhibitions at Podcast conferences in the past.
So with the products that Daniel has released, you, as a podcaster can benefit from his content if you are interested in maximizing the rewards from podcast reviews worldwide. And his several products have all been very thorough and technically competent (in fact, many podcasters have used him and his content as the authority).
Thus, I hope that your decision in dealing with podcast reviews worldwide will benefit from the content, training and products from Daniel J Lewis. In this way, you can get closer to your audience and benefit in the community of your own podcast show.
Thank you for your attention.
Copyright (c) 2022, Matrix Solutions Corporation and michaelandmike.com and Daniel J Lewis. All rights reserved.
In this episode of The Podcast Reporter Podcast Show, we answer some questions that have been brought up by our listeners about the different types of podcast shows that can be created in order to promote their passion or their message — or just plain do it for fun or as a hobby or to master podcasting skills. And many want to make money or create revenue streams for business, and that’s okay, too.
So here are some of the types of podcasting (and it is not a complete list) which you can enter and manage — especially from the types that I have created, managed, posted and published as a podcaster:
hobby –
fun –
monetized –
professional –
instructional –
current events or political importance-
mastering podcasting skills-
co-host podcasts with one or more co-hosts-
interviews with guests-
the drama podcasts, especially new crime wave-
and others
We would like to wish you well in choosing which type of podcast you prefer and niche-down to your targeted audience, so that your show will be popular among your listeners and grow, so that your objectives (whichever they may be, either financial or passion-based) can be achieved with your successful podcast.
Thanks for your attention.
Copyright (c) 2022, Matrix Solutions Corporation and michaelandmike.com . All rights reserved.
In Todd’s podcast episode, he describes three main problems that the professional creative and podcaster must deal with to deal with the problem of lacking creative confidence —
imposter syndrome
narrative fixation
risk delusion.
And after presenting and defining these three situations for ourselves, Todd then presents several solutions (at least one for each problem that creates a lack of creative confidence.
I strongly suggest that you consume this episode, so that you can understand how the lack of creative confidence can impact your podcasting efforts and could be an obstacle to your success.
In the meantime, if you wish to get more in-depth into the obstacle of imposter syndrome, I would like to refer you to a prior episode of this same podcast show where we dealt with this topic of overcoming imposter syndrome in detail:
So we hope that you can recognize the three main problems and situations that Todd describes which can be an obstacle to your own creative confidence, and that you can overcome them to have a better show for your success. As you know, Podcasting is one of the creatives that exist where that type of confidence is essential — from the planning, to the creation of the content, to the final preparation and execution of the publication, and then the follow-on marketing and sales for your show.
Thank you for your attention.
Copyright (c) 2022, Matrix Solutions Corporation and michaelandmike.com and Todd Henry of The Accidental Creative. All rights reserved.
In this episode of The Podcast Reporter show, we discuss the topic of imposter syndrome — not only what it is (according to Chris Land), but also how to detect it in your own self and publications, and how to avoid it. This is explained in a post published earlier this year at this URL:
For many podcasters, this is a common fear. And although we did have a prior episode that started to scratch the surface of this theme, we now deliver a bit more from this newer post in 2022 to help you decide about imposter syndrome and perhaps your feelings about it as either a newer or aspiring podcaster.
The topics in this post cover the following areas:
The article ends with a summary and point of view from the author as he tries to give you a positive, uplifting and generous result for your own self-doubt.
For this podcaster, I have sometimes felt the imposter syndrome about the technical aspects. But I had enough experience as a systems engineer for over 30 years in the high tech industry to overcome this. I did get the skills I needed right away, and I kept my continuing education ON MY OWN in the tech area, as well as the interviewing environment and I did keep up with information and events in podcasting — from subscribing and consuming the podcast shows about podcasting, as well as attending and participating in the events that were held where podcasters got together and shared training, experiences and new announcements.
And I did feel comfortable in overcoming this syndrome very quickly, as I did have 16 different podcast shows running at the same time in 2011 — just five years after entering the podosphere. Since that time, I have podfaded most, but I have started four new shows since then.
So I would strongly suggest that you consume this article. Then I would recommend that you create a matrix of the syndrome and its symptoms, and then see how you have either addressed it now with your shows, or how you have overcome this in the past. This will give you a better perspective of dealing with the “tiger” in a factual way and then I suggest that this will give you more STRENGTH, more CONFIDENCE, and it will make you less vulnerable to the imposter syndrome in podcasting.
Thank you for your attention.
Copyright (c) 2022, Matrix Solutions Corporation and michaelandmike.com and improvepodcast.com and Chris Land. All rights reserved.
And we focus on one key element that Dave discusses — and that is, on the concept of giving poor information in various communication methods (like social media, etc.) to aspiring or new podcasters. And this is compounded by the fact that many of the givers or such information dub themselves as “masters” when they do not even have a podcast themselves. And as Dave observes in his article, much of the info can be downright wrong or erroneous, especially for the type that charges money for the novice what wants to learn and jumps into the podosphere without really planning for it or without doing due diligence in researching the elements that will deliver the best information for that type of individual.
As Dave states in the article:
So many people just jump into podcasting. If you’re doing a hobby podcast and could care less then “Just jumping in” works for you. If you are just putting this “out there” to have it “out there” then go right ahead. If you are taking this serious (even as a “hobby”) you need to know:
Why you are starting the podcast
Who is your target audience
Is this a hobby or a business?
What do you want your listener to do with your content? How should they feel and what should they do at the end of the episode?
How will you gauge your success? This doesn’t have to be a download.”
But, as we know, many people do not plan in any way — they want to have a podcast show that is “genuine” (to them, this would be improvisational and mostly with a guest. And when you consider the audience intended by these who venture into podcasting quickly with just a microphone and do a “genuine” episode that they publish, then you may find that they do not even realize what “success” would mean to them when they publish their episodes and find that their “genuine” audience does not react. This is disappointing to the intended podcaster, especially if there is a desire to monetize the podcast show.
And Dave continues with the results of such a disappointing desire for those who fail to plan by even considering a target audience:
“So when your podcast that has “everybody” as a target audience isn’t growing even though you are consistently putting out interviews with unvetted guests who deliver no value – you might want to consider who is giving you this advice?
Then ask them how this strategy is working for them?
Start asking WHY you should do this strategy.
Start questioning WHO is giving the advice and what credentials they have.
After all, would you hire a mechanic that doesn’t drive a car?”
And in my experience, the non-podcaster who wants to sell a course or intellectual property or something that promises to deliver success in podcasting is actually doing a disservice to the novice, new or aspiring podcaster — they are providing what Dave had described as “misinformation”.
Now, although the term of “misinformation” has been thrown around by the lame-stream media in the area of the virus crisis, here the term would mean that inexperienced promoters are selling you “the sleeves out of your vest.” And many aspiring podcasters may be listening or consuming the advice from those who possibly are misinforming them on what really is the formula for podcast success.
Thus, I would suggest that you, as a podcaster, consume the article from Dave Jackson and see if you can detect the erroneous journey described by those who practice such promotion. If you can, then a good planning session with yourself can answer all the questions that should be asked in the article before jumping into the podospher feet-first and with a budget that may later have to be written off as “bad advice” taken from those who misinform the innocent newbies.
In order to see where advice may be lurking for the aspiring podcaster, I would highly recommend that you consume Dave’s article and then set a plan for action for your own podcast show that targets the right audience and fulfills the desire to have TRUE VALUE in your content for your right audience.
If you do, then you have gone more than half way in the road to success — the other half is creating great content with value and delivering a quality show with great episodes to your audience. And then you can develop a promotion plan and marketing plan and sales plan, if you with to enlarge your audience or monetize your show.
Thank you for your attention.
Copyright (c) 2022, Matrix Solutions Corporation and michaelandmike.com and Dave Jackson of schoolofpodcasting.com. All rights reserved.
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.
