Just One Tip from Your Podcast Performance Coach

Come up with another topic. Line up a guest. Make sure they know what they're talking about. Schedule a time to record. Do some more research. Reschedule the recording session. Record an episode. Troubleshoot technical issues. Edit an episode. Write show notes. Publish. Promote. Promote some more. Repeat. Podcasting is a lot of work. And, when you started, you didn't mind so much because your pass...

Confession time. Are you a podcast cowboy who just wings it with every guest? Is every interview you do the podcast equivalent of a blind date. Not cool. I don't care if you can pull it off nine times out of ten. By taking that chance you're potentially wasting your time, your guests time and, most likely not getting the most out of your guest on behalf of you listener. Ahem, remember your audienc...

Are you still there? Oh, uh you cut out there for a second. Can you say that again? If you interview guests over the internet for your podcast, I'll bet you six bucks you've had this conversation.  And, that's if you catch it! How many times have you finished up a recording session and patted yourself on the back for a job well done only to listen back and find out that your guest sounds like a ch...

Have you ever let your podcast get hijacked? You know - when a guest comes on and completely takes over and you slink away to the quiet shadows of your podcast? Have you heard this happen to other podcasters? I have. It hurts me deep in my podcasting heart. And, I can hear it as it's happening. Things start out great. Host is in control. They ask a question and whoop, there goes the guest running...

Do you like having an audience? Do you want them to keep coming back, episode after episode? Then why are you constantly telling them you don't have time for them? Rant warning! Time reference is one of my biggest pet peeves. I hate it when radio hosts and DJs reference time (or the lack of it) and I especially hate it when podcasters references it (it's not like you have to get out before the new...

Why do you podcast? Seriously, why? I'm not being smug (for a change). I want you to seriously think about this question. There's a good chance that you knew the answer to this question when you started your podcast. Hopefully, you took the time when you started to figure out why in the world you wanted to become a podcaster! Maybe it was because you wanted to promote your business, try out a new...

Have you ever had a dud of an interview? You know, your guest is dry as dust and half way through the interview you're wonder why you ever thought they'd be good for your show? Do you watch late night talk shows and wonder why every guest (even the not so famous ones) are so good at being interviewed? You could chalk it up to the qualified host but the better bet is that the folks behind the scene...

Whether you're tired, out of ideas, or suddenly super busy - there are plenty of reasons to take a break from your podcast. But, if you do it wrong - you could kill your podcast stats and alienate your listeners. The first question most podcasters ask is whether they should take a break or not. This really depends on your podcast and your audience. In this podcast, I address which types of podcast...

Have you ever listened to your recorded voice and thought, 'I don't really sound like that'? Or, worse, considered quitting podcasting because you can't stand the sound of your own voice (and you can't imagine anyone wanting it beamed directly into their earballs)? You are not alone! A lot of broadcasters, professional speakers and podcasters hate the sound of their own voice. But, they've learned...

Are you using the energy mirror technique to make sure your podcasts are consistent, engaging and on-brand? No? Then you better take a good look at yourself and your podcast. The energy mirror technique is not a random word jumble as you may have guessed if you heard my last episode. (There really was a brilliant idea scribbled on that dried up sticky note!) This technique is used by some of the b...

Have you ever had an amazing podcast episode idea, promptly written it down on a sticky note for safe keeping only to find the incomprehensible scribble months later? Put an end to forgotten and mislayed ideas!  In this episode, I'm going to share a trick that every podcaster should be using so that brilliant ideas become brilliant podcasts (instead of dried up, illegible sticky notes).   Look, pu...

Is your show starting to get a bit predictable (and boring)? Maybe it's time to break a few rules and shake things up a bit. Breaking the rules (self-imposed or industry wide) can be risky business but it can also add some needed spark to your show. But - be warned - you can do it wrong. There are a lot of good reasons to break the rules from time to time. Not all the time - but once in a while. A...

How does your podcast make your listener feel? If you just shrugged your shoulders, we have a problem. Here's a newsflash - your audience wants to have an emotional reaction to your show. They want to feel something.  If they get to the end of your podcast and nothing… well, don't count on them coming back (or bothering to contact you for whatever service you're promoting). In this episode of Just...

Time for a reality check - have you become a lazy podcaster? Are you phoning it in? Are you making bad decisions and blaming it on your busy-ness or (even worse) justifying it under the guise of 'efficiency'. It happens to the best of us. We get busy, our ambitious podcasting schedule suddenly feels overwhelming and, sometimes, we feel like nobody is actually listening or cares. And then it happen...

Hey you. Yeah, you. I'm talking to you. If you've listened to my podcast before then you know that I'm always talking to you. Just you. Wanna know why? If you want to build a better relationship with your listener, you need to be talking to them individually. I've talked about this before (give episode 29 a listen) but I'm bringing it back up today for two very good reasons. One, I was inspired by...

Are you guilty of checking your download stats on the daily just to see how popular you are? Are you obsessed with where iTunes ranks your podcast in your niche category? Confess, have you ever checked more than once a day? I've got news for you… you might be looking at the wrong numbers! In this episode, I dive into what those stats should mean to you and how to figure out the right numbers to fo...

Don't be a sell out! No, I'm not talking about never accepting money from a sponsor or selling ads on your podcast. I'm talking about treating your audience like a commodity. I get it. You worked hard to build your audience and you're a starving podcaster making pennies (if you're lucky). But, now that you've earned all of these listeners, don't risk losing them by selling out.   In this episode,...

Is podcasting a giant time-suck? It certainly feels like that for a lot of podcasters. So, are they doing it wrong? Are you doing it wrong? Probably not.  In this episode, I breakdown where all that podcasting time goes and what kind of time you should be budgeting for each episode. Warning to new podcasters - this might be hard to hear. But, you need to hear it because the time commitment is no s...

Hands up if your podcast is perfect. If your hand is up then you are either being a smart ass, totally delusional or both. Nobody's podcast is perfect - me included. And, that's okay. In this episode of the Just the Tip, I talk about how perfectionism can get in your way and that sometimes, good enough is, well, good enough. This was a hard lesson for me to learn. I was raised to strive for perfec...

Whoop, whoop, re-er, re-er, re-er… sound effects in your podcast can be annoying or effective. It all depends on whether you're doing it right. SFX can be fun but they can also derail a podcast, piss off your listener or just sound cheesy (which might be fine, if it's intentional or ironic). There is a right way and wrong way to use sound effects in your podcast. Do it right and you'll enhance you...

Have you seen your itunes podcast analytics yet? It's exciting to get to know your listener's habits but be careful. In case you haven't checked it out yet, it's an amazing new tool to help podcasters learn their listeners behavior. You can use it to find out how long your fans are listening, on what devices, and from which country. You can even tell if your listeners are subscribers or not (psst....

What has your podcast done for you lately? Measuring success can be difficult without realistic goals. Like driving without a map, having a podcast without goals can have you podcasting in circles. Fun for a while but then a bit pointless. So let me ask you - do you remember why you started your podcast in the first place? Did you have a goal? Does your podcast have a goal? Maybe your goal is shee...

Do you have any 'best of' albums? They're great, right? So, why not give your listeners nothing but the hits by creating a 'Best Of' episode? A 'best of' episode is pretty self explanatory - you take the most impactful or magical moments of your podcast and slap them together for a show chock full of the good stuff. There are a few really good reasons to do this and you can get surprising results...

Imagine a car with two steering wheels and two sets of pedals. Wouldn't that be fun? The answer is no. You'd be dead. If you host a podcast with more than one person or you have guests on your show then your podcast is in danger of being out of control. You need a Captain Kirk. In this episode I explain why it's important to have a designated show driver, what they should be doing and how to decid...

So, you didn't spend $500 on a microphone when you started your podcast. That's okay. Neither did I. There are a million things I'd rather spend my money on. Let me name a few. Beer, whisky, tequila, ribs, Saskatchewan Roughrider memorabilia and traveling around the world. But, that doesn't mean you don't have to worry about how your mic sounds because, ahem, YOUR PODCAST AUDIO QUALITY MATTERS! I...