In this episode of The Podcast Reporter Show, we discuss and applaud Daniel J Lewis, as well as his show, The Audacity to Podcast, as a valuable asset for podcasters. He is, by my book, a podcaster extraordinare
Even though he went a couple of times on a hiatus and took time off from his podcast business and shows, he is now back and has returned to the podosphere with full force and able to give us valuable content in many areas.
In addition to his role as a podcaster, he is also present in the Saturday morning show called Ask the Podcast Coach, which is hosted by Dave Jackson and Jim Collison and greatly contributes both to the chatroom and to others while live in the area of discourse.
Since his recent return to the podosphere as a full-time podcaster, his flagship show, The Audacity to Podcast, has covered in detail with valuable information, key topics that are critical for new and aspiring podcasters. Among some of his subjects are:
A discussion of the top audio editing apps;
Some key suggestions for creating a title for your show;
A discussion of whether your photo image should be in the cover art of your show;
The best link to share your podcast show;
Should your guest names be in the title of the episode?
What is the best time of day to release episodes?
The best day of the week for publication of episodes;
How to make episode artwork greater for your show;
What you need to know about seasons for your podcasts;
What about episode numbers in your podcast shows?
Promoting older podcast episodes;
Ways in which you can thank your podcast audience;
Video episodes where he conducts interviews live with expo hall demonstrators at conferences, like Podcast Movement;
The good, bad and ugly of Podcast Networks — with personal history as to why he shut his down;
and more
In addition to his content within his podcast show(s), Daniel also has his business where he is promoting and selling products that he, himself, created and marketed — such as My Podcast Reviews.
Another business is his Podcasters Society community. This is a program that I joined at its inception, and which can provide great value for all its members. On the site of this COMMUNITY (which is somewhat like Mastermind Group), Daniel describes it in this way:
“Improve the quality and success of your podcast through an encouraging community, inspirational training, and expert support!
Refine your content
Enhance your presentation
Streamline your production
Boost your promotion
Increase your PROFIT”
Now, I have known Daniel since 2010, when I first interviewed him at the time on my podcast show called The Struggling Entrepreneur. And I have been in conferences (like New Media Expo) when he was recognized with the award for his podcast show. And, yes, I have participated in several offers and offerings he has had.
My respect for Daniel J Lewis nothing less than exceptional. As a podcaster and developer and marketer, I highly promote him and his content and podcast shows to all podcasters, especially the newer and aspiring podcasters.
So I would continue to recommend and suggest that you check out and consume his podcast show, The Audacity to Podcast, as well as his conference demo interviews from the expo hall of the conferences.
This is detail explained in plain English terms and will be of value to podcasters worldwide.
Thank you for reading and listening to this episode, and we shall see you next time.
Copyright (c) 2023, Matrix Solutions Corporation and michaelandmike.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.
This is a repurposed episode of The Podcast Reporter, where the original podcast episode was published on 4May2020. The reason we submit this for repurposing is that the subject is very heated now in conversation and action in the podosphere, with the Chinese virus-crisis now simmering down in the US — and with people now interested in both podcast networks and membership sites.
If your passion for podcasting has grown such that you want to join or even create your own podcast network, perhaps you should listen to the questions asked by Evo Terra, as well as listen to the experiences (the good, the bad and the ugly) from Daniel J Lewis (who did shut down his own podcast network that he started years ago).
My own experiences with podcast networks
Now, I have had experiences with the thought of joining a podcast network. In 2006 and 2007, I dipped my toes into the waters of joining what looked like a growing podcast network at Podango (this was the podcast company that had acquired Gigavox, the firm that created the Levelator in 2006). I wanted to be a part of what was called a “podcast station” (which was the category or genres of podcasts) called the Business Station. I wanted to include my flagship podcast at the time, Struggling Entrepreneur. And the sharing, the community and the financial benefits all seemed like a great beginning. However, I did have second thoughts about letting someone else run my show and own my RSS feed and content. So I decided NOT to join and just kept being on my own. And, by the way, I do not regret that decision, as Podango later went out of business in another year or two.
Then, in 2007, the podcast network bug bit me again. This time, I wanted to start a podcast network which I had temporarily called the “Content Creator and podcaster network.” This was going to be basically a membership site with 4 founders — one for the technical side of podcasting; another for the financial side of startups and podcasting; another for the marketing side of podcasting and its promotion; and my contribution, the personal productivity side of creating content and podcasts.
For this membership site, we even had a meeting which I had called. And I used the prior method of getting buy-in and commitment and dialog used by Tim Bourquin when he had founded the Podcast and Portable Media Expoin 2005. That is, I invited everyone to join me personally (at my expense for travel, lodging and meals) for a couple of days in Austin, Texas, so that we could discuss all day the creation of this membership site which would then create the network shortly after launch. In fact, we even had an attorney, who was himself a podcaster, join us via Skype to get the details of the contract which he would create for all of us to agree and sign as a commitment. Well, that meeting gave me an indication of how much CONTROL and OWNERSHIP and FINANCIAL EXPECTATION that podcasters desired. As a result, I saw that this arrangement would not suit all the parties involved — what seemed like an exciting discussion and proposal went down in flames when “the devil is in the details.” So we never gave the green light to create the contract (with legal fees of $1300 in those days), and we disbanded the idea. And the survivors were only two of us who started another podcast based on Finance for Startups (which has since podfaded).
What was obvious to me at that time, after some pre-investment expenses and time, was that podcasters were too much desirous of control and ownership of the direction. And this is only natural, since podcasting at that time was individually run, owned and managed by the solo podcaster. And these people were not used to SHARING any intellectual property or revenue with others, especially under contract.
So the notion of a podcast network or membership site was erased from my mind as a creator — and maybe one day I might join one already in session.
In this audio episode, Evo asks the most important questions: (1) What is it that you want to get out of the network?; and (2) what is it that you will be willing to sacrifice to belong in it?
He not only goes over what his own backstory was in creating his own network back “in the day” of 2004 and following, but also how a loose confederation of podcasters can be just a social club rather than a really serious podcast network (and he describes what should be in a podcast network from his point of view).
So the benefits vs. the contributions is a matrix that you should put together to evaluate an existing podcast network that you may feel compelled to join. Also, if you wish to start one, you should examine deep in yourself what you really want to get out of managing this type of organization and see if you have the talent and skills to do so effectively, without having the passion of podcasting be lost due to frustrations because of your potential lack of skills.
And Evo relates what, in his opinion, is really needed for a good podcast network today.
Now, the other example with some lessons learned comes from Daniel J Lewis of The Audacity to Podcast show. He describes how he put together his network shortly after he joined podcasting in full force — and also the end of his network, along with the reasons why he ended it.
In his recent episode called “Why we retired our podcast network,” Daniel mentions that he had clear-cut goals when he created his podcast network: “My goal was to bring together like-minded podcasters with high-quality shows to grow together through synergy, community, support, cross-promotion, and sponsorship.”
However, what seemed to me to be more or less a society of like-minded individuals with different podcast shows from different genres and possibly some unrelated themes soon grew into a long list of participating shows in the network, like the following:
The Ramen Noodle
Are You Just Watching
The Audacity to Podcast
Beyond the To-Do List
The Productive Woman
Christian Meets World
The Sci-Phi Show
ONCE
Welcome to Level Seven
WONDERLAND
Under the Dome Radio
Resurrection Revealed
Podcasting Videos by The Audacity to Podcast
Inside the Podcasting Business
As you can see, this could appear to be a community of disjointed themes and topics, with possibly the intent to generate sponsorship, financial rewards from downloads and advertising, as well as cross-promotion. And Daniel then explains what things he did well in the network and what things that were done poorly:
Audience-relevant common theme
Cross-promotion
Cross-integration
Full and consistent community
and you can listen to his audio podcast episode to get the details. Then he states why he retired the network, including the ability for him to focus on fewer things, as well as giving each podcaster more room to expand.
So Daniel’s experiences deliver some lessons learned about starting a podcast network, and I would suggest that you take these into account if you get the passion to go beyond your own podcast shows and want to start your own network.
Considerations for the podcaster about Podcast Network
As a podcaster, what passion can be driving you toward wanting to start a great podcast network? Will you have the time? Will the additional workload and timetables and schedules and management of the network be something you will embrace, as well as have time for? Will you have the necessary skills to manage your network? Will you have the right temperment for being in the network? And will the podcasts in the network be the right ones, or will they be a hodge-podge collection of your favorite podcasters and additional genres and other topics that might not relate well to some audiences? Will the network be governed by contract or by word-of-mouth agreements?
So, whatever your decision may be concerning podcast networks may be (i.e., either joining one or starting one of your own), we hope that these two audio episodes can give you enough food for thought to know what to expect both from the contribution side and the giving side to the network.
So we hope that your podcast show will be successful, whether it be a part of a podcast network or not.
Thank you for your attention
Copyright (c) 2021, Matrix Solutions Corporation and Daniel J Lewis of Theaudacitytopodcast.com and Evo Terra of Podcastpontifications.com and michaelandmike.com. All rights reserved.
In this episode of The Podcast Reporter, we repurpose a previous episode that deals with a review of many considerations for podfading. If you are experiencing some of the symptoms described in this audio episode, we deliver some strategies to deal with the beginnings of podfading and perhaps avoid it altogether.
As you will hear in this audio episode, the 35 minutes are spent with descriptions that lead us to consider podfading and then think about some strategies to either podfade in the right way or to deal with the thoughts of podfading and not do so because of a resurrection of the passion and the good environment that may exist for you.
We hope that this evergreen content can assist you in any way so that any possible thoughts of podfading (for whatever reason cited) can be dealt with in a positive manner that will help you overcome the environment that leads to this thinking, and then help you to steer your shows and your business in the right direction for you to become successful.
Thank you for your attention.
Copyright (c) 2021, Matrix Solutions Corporation and Daniel J Lewis and PodcastersSociety.com and noagendashow.com and michaelandmike.com. All rights reserved.
In this episode of The Podcast Reporter, we revisit the topic of helping the podcaster get over any negative feelings that may creep up for podcasting when the passion and thrill is gone for you.
In this repurposed episode, we hope to give you tips and ideas to create strategies and help you to avoid the negative feelings that can result from the following:
Boredom,
burnout,
overwork,
lack of socialization with other podcasters,
lack of content (because you may have exhausted your content and cannot spawn new episodes from newer ideas), etc.
competition that has overtaken your show;
too much repetition in your workflow;
inability to participate in podcast meetups or podcamps or podcast conferences;
you feel attracted more to social media instead of podcasting;
you may feel that you have “grown out” of podcasting;
health problems that make you lose energy or ability to engage in podcasting in the way you did when you first started;
and other reasons that are mentioned in this episode.
I, myself, have felt down in certain times. And I give you a number of strategies that can help you get out of your slump of negativity. These did work for me.
In fact, there are GROWTH strategies that may work for you — for example, starting a podcast membership site (such as the one Daniel J Lewis of The Audacity to Podcast show created called Podcasters Society), or even starting or participating in a podcast network.
I hope that some of these strategies that have worked for me as a podcaster can also help you during the times when you may begin to feel that “the thrill is gone” from podcasting.
Thank you for your attention.
Copyright (c) 2020, Matrix Solutions Corporation. All rights reserved.
In this episode of The Podcast Reporter, we reflect on the issue of what a podcaster might do (with a few suggestions) after this individual has launched a podcast show. We include some recommendations from an email and blog from Ben Krueger of CashFlowPodcasting.com.
Ben Krueger
As we have referenced Ben before in this podcast show, he offers usually some materials that can be of assistance and help in not only explaining the concept, but also giving you some steps that are actionable. And this information is included in a pdf document that he provides for free at cashflowpodcasting.com. And the title of this free 10-page pdf document is “WHAT TO DO NOW THAT YOUR PODCAST IS LAUNCHED!”And it is dated July 14, 2020.
A very high level summary of Ben’s recommendations are the following:
Establish your process;
Integrate your podcast;
Check your mindset; and
Move forward.
Ben also suggests that you obtain a book which he wrote called “Podcast Principles” — and with the subtitle, he claims that this is “the book that helps you start the perfect business podcast.”
We also have a few of our own suggestions from our experience to help the new podcaster become more successful in a shorter time frame and have the podcast show gain audience growth or create community, as well as increase listeners.
In my opinion, you should also include the following to your list of to-do’s after you launch:
Determine what type of mentoring you may need or want;
Determine if a mastermind group or a membership site for podcasting is suitable for you;
So with these suggestions and resources that you have available from Ben Krueger to help you along, we hope that you can find these of value. And we sincerely hope that you can help your podcast show, now launched, into growing your audience and becoming successful to meet and exceed your objectives as a great business podcast show.
Thank you for your attention.
Copyright (c) 2020, Matrix Solutions Corporation and Ben Krueger of cashflowpodcasting.com. All rights reserved.
First, I deliver a history of my experience when the membership site first launched several years ago. Then I mention that I subscribed once again this year as a member to see the changes and compare the new changes from the older experience.
Then I go through each of the major features, seminars, webinars, tutorials, courses, chats with others via Slack, tools and resources, etc. It is more of a walk-through.
My final result and recommendation: I would suggest that you consider joining this if you want to take your podcast show from “ordinary” to “amazing” levels. The cost is not prohibitive, and the value that is delivered to the member can be great.
So, if you are considering a membership site or mastermind group in podcasting, perhaps you may want to consider Podcasters Society. As I mentioned during this audio episode, I do consider this site to be more of a “collaborative mentorship.”
We hope that you find the appropriate membership site or group that will help you to succeed in the podosphere with your show.
Thank you for your attention.
Copyright (c) 2020, Matrix Solutions Corporation and Daniel J Lewis and PodcastersSociety.com. All rights reserved.
The topic was podcast communities. However, I myself was disappointed to see that the community of Podcasters Society from Daniel J Lewis of The Audacity to Podcast was not included. Sad to leave out this valuable resource (as I, myself, was a member several times over the past 5 years).
As you will hear in this brief audio episode, the article lists the other communities from the opinion of Travis Albritton. But for myself, I am still suggesting the community of Podcasters Society for the best value of those podcasters that have already published several episodes of their show, but wish to take their podcast show “from ordinary to amazing.”
If you do your own research, you may find which communities in which you would like to join and participate in the area of podcasting and new media. If so, we hope that whether the community may be a mastermind, a membership site, etc., will be the right one for you to get VALUE from the community resources and communication and add to your success of your podcast show.
Thank you for your attention.
Copyright (c) 2020, Matrix Solutions Corporation and Buzzsprout.com and Daniel J Lewis. All rights reserved.
In this episode, the topic proposed by Evo Terra of Podcast Pontifications was that of SEO (search engine optimization) being hard — and whether it is worth it for a podcaster (from the April, 2020 publication in the audio episode and show notes).
From my own perspective, I have mixed feelings about the amount of effort needed for good SEO — including the education, training and implementation that includes follow-up and tracking. With the goal of being ranked in the top ten listings of search engines, this is a heavy-duty objective, knowing that there are over a million podcast shows today.
As Evo mentions in his episode, he describes the various stages of the SEO stages (and since he is an expert about SEO since 2005) in some of the following steps:
Planning;
Pre-production
Recording and production;
Post-production
Publication
Syndication
Monitoring
End-result
We highly recommend that you consume this episode and/or show notes text. I feel that many can learn the truth about good SEO.
For your own efforts of SEO with your podcast show, we hope that you can learn good habits from whatever training or education resource you may have, and then apply good steps and have excellent results from your SEO efforts.
Thank you for your attention.
Copyright (c) 2020, Matrix Solutions Corporation and Evo Terra of Podcastpontifications.com. All rights reserved.
In this episode of The Podcast Reporter, we deliver information about the benefits of membership sites for podcasters, especially during the isolation, lockdown and cabin-fever during the recent “plandemic.” We give an example of Daniel J Lewis membership site called Podcasters Society. A key objective that can also be one of the biggest benefit is to take your podcast show from average to “amazing” levels.
My own experience is discussed when I did join (and later re-joined) his membership site, as well as the benefits that I reaped from that program, as I did receive VALUE from it.
From the video tour of the total program online, I then migrated to take courses listed for members (yes, I had intended to purchase two of them in the near future, but they were free for members) — and I received more value.
As you will hear in this audio episode, the Podcasters Society membership site is much more than just a mere Mastermind group — it is really (in my opinion) a “collaborative mentorship” program for me.
We hope that you can explore membership sites, such as Podcasters Society, so you can connect and communicate with other like-minded podcasters and learn from the wealth of educational materials provided.
Thank you for your attention.
Copyright (c) 2020, Matrix Solutions Corporation and PodcastersSociety.com. All rights reserved.
