The Podcast Fast Track

https://podcastfasttrack.com/ You know - it really seems that for the average podcaster, interviews are the format of choice. It IS relatively simple to get somebody to agree to come on your show and just ask them questions. But that's not really how interviews work, is it? At least not the really GOOD ones. They're actually very difficult to pull off, especially in a way that makes them engaging...

https://podcastfasttrack.com/ Grab a pen and paper and take notes on this one. If you use ZOOM or have considered it, you’re going to learn the BEST ways to optimize it for podcast use. And check below for the video of Derek and I poking around in my ZOOM settings. It should help you find the things we talk about on this episode. WATCH DEREK AND I GO THROUGH THE SETTINGS ON VIDEO AT https://youtu....

https://podcastfasttrack.com/ Okay, so I recorded this episode driving in my pickup truck on the way to Denver. And the issue I’m going to cover was so much on my mind, I decided it was worth recording with substandard audio… on the go… which is kind of ironic considering what I'm going to talk about. GOOD QUALITY AUDIO! In this episode I cover why audio levels are SO important, how you can fix th...

https://podcastfasttrack.com/ In case you haven't noticed - all of the directories, whether it be iTunes or Stitcher or the new Google podcasts app - all of them are getting inundated with podcasts . You go in there trying to find something to listen to and it’s pretty crazy finding the good stuff. It’s kind of hard to know… Should I try this show? Or that show? Or what is it that I should be doin...

https://podcastfasttrack.com/ All right. Alright. In the world of podcasting, as most of you know, Apple has been the big player for a long, long, long time. One of the things that points that out to us is that worldwide, more people by a long shot own and use Android phones than Apple phones however, it's almost exactly opposite when it comes to podcast consumption through smartphones. The vast m...

https://podcastfasttrack.com/ Podcast Success is not accidental. It happens through deliberate strategy and dedicated hard work. Danny “Sunshine” Bauer is a former educator and administrator turned life and leadership coach. His podcast is downloaded more than 95% of all podcasts and he enjoys helping individuals launch and grow podcasts in a “sweat” environment. He is the founder of Better Leader...

https://podcastfasttrack.com/ GDPR (the global data protection regulation) is now in effect. What does it mean for your podcast? That’s a very interesting question - and as with many things in podcasting, the answer is going to be “it depends.” On this episode I break down the GDPR as it relates to podcasting from MY perspective - and keep in mind, I’m not an attorney, European Union official, or...

https://podcastfasttrack.com/ I’ve been to a handful of podcast conferences in my day - but there’s nothing quite like Podcast Movement. As my guest, Dan Franks says, “It’s the single largest gathering of podcasters in the world,” and that makes it pretty special in its own right. But there’s so much more than just that it’s big. PM is filled with great content, attended by tons of great people, a...

https://podcastfasttrack.com/ Welcome back to Podcastification - on this episode I’m walking you through the step by step details of what I do to carry out MY successful podcast production workflow every single week. It doesn’t matter if you publish episodes every week, every other week, or once a month - organizationally you’ve GOT to have an effective podcast workflow to ensure two things: Quali...

https://podcastfasttrack.com/ For as long as I’ve been playing around and working on the internet, I’ve heard people touting the benefits of paying for virtual services - you know, VAs and that kind of stuff. From the first time I heard it said, I got the logic of it. Sure, it makes sense to hire someone to do the things I either don’t want to do, am not good at doing, or shouldn’t be doing from a...

https://podcastfasttrack.com/ “What’s the BEST structure for a podcast? I mean… one that really engages listeners and keeps their attention throughout the episode?” I am asked that question - and questions like it - all - the - TIME. And while there are no dumb questions , there are questions that haven’t been thought through very well, and that’s ONE of them. Why? Well, it has to do with the fact...

https://podcastfasttrack.com/ Contact Carey There are lots of high-dollar audio engineering programs out there these days. Lots more than when I was starting college, that’s for sure. I wanted to go into audio engineering but “back in the day” the only way it seemed possible was to learn on the road, touring with some drug-saturated band. No thanks. But I digress. Chris Curran is a guy who’s been...

https://podcastfasttrack.com/ Contact Carey Podcast sponsorships are a hot topic - because almost everyone and their dog wants to make money from their podcast. It makes sense, if you’re going to invest so much time in something it would be great if there was some kind of financial reward , right? But sponsorships are not all they are cracked up to be - especially if you don’t know what you’re get...

https://podcastfasttrack.com/ Contact Carey I’ve learned the hard way that the typical gimme, gimme, gimme approach to promotion never works - you’ve got to learn how to put your audience first. It’s not an easy concept to grasp even though it DOES sound fairly simple. So in this episode I’m walking through a handful of ways I think every podcaster needs to evaluate their podcasting efforts for th...

https://podcastfasttrack.com/ There’s a lot of hoopla about iTunes podcast rankings: “We are the number 10 business podcast in iTunes!” It sounds impressive. And for those of us who have never shown up on the iTunes “Top 10” chart in our category (me included), it can make us feel a bit insecure. Are we really accomplishing much with our podcast after all? This episode is an expose of what I’ve di...

https://podcastfasttrack.com/ Wanna hear my predictions about where the podcasting industry is headed? You can - on this episode of Podcastification. You know every year Edison Research comes out with what's called The Infinite Dial - isn't that a cool name? The infinite dial looks at survey data that they have gathered from thousands of people. The good folks at Edison are trying to gauge how peo...

https://podcastfasttrack.com/ As a podcaster, you no doubt have thought about the benefits of podcasts. You wouldn’t be podcasting if you didn’t know at least SOME of them. This episode I’m highlighting 10 of the benefits I see in podcasting and the reasons people these days are listening and learning from podcasts so much. To be really, really, REALLY honest with you here - I have a busy life jus...

https://podcastfasttrack.com/ Jim Kukral is quick to say that his new service, Book2Pod is not a service that creates audio books. So I’ll say it for him . ;) Because that’s EXACTLY what it is … except for a few differences… It doesn’t have all the bells and whistles of traditional audio books It’s distributed via an automatic feed - RSS - like a…. PODCAST! Jim and his behind-the-scenes business p...

https://podcastfasttrack.com/ Alexa podcast is a thing. Really, it is. We podcasters need to start thinking about where the industry is headed. Now that podcasts can be listened to on Smart speakers like Alexa, there are a handful of things that I can think of that we need to consider in order to make our efforts more widely usable, which will include those kinds of devices. On this episode of Pod...

https://podcastfasttrack.com/ Whenever we think about audio production software we typically think about programs that allows to record and edit. Those would be things like Adobe Audition, Hindenburg, and Audacity. But there are other programs out there that enable the new or inexperienced podcaster to get the same quality audio that many who play around with those software programs I mentioned ge...

https://podcastfasttrack.com/ I figure, if I want to learn podcasting tips that can help my show stand apart in the crowded podcastosphere, I might as well go to the people who have made a living from doing audio well. And I also got a little help from a new friend - a guy named Cal Newport. Well, Cal's not actually my friend, but he's like a long-distance mentor via his books and interviews. Cal'...

https://podcastfasttrack.com/ 3 Ways to NOT Kill Your Podcast Growth Curve Warning - warning - warning. There's a rant ahead! I have seen this same mistake on podcaster’s websites over and over and over now, so I plead with you… listen to this episode, learn from this episode, and NEVER do this stinkin stupid thing again. Main Points : 3 Ways NOT to Kill Your Podcast Growth Curve [1:26] What I’ve...

https://podcastfasttrack.com/ There are all kinds of crazy names people give to their podcasts in the Apple Podcasts directory, but I don't believe most of them are good podcast names. This episode of the show is all about how to properly name your podcast. When I say properly, I don't mean there is some kind of etiquette around podcast naming, what I mean is there are best practices that make you...

https://podcastfasttrack.com/ Questions about the proper use of podcast intro music and outro music are some of the most common things people ask me about. Can I use this popular song? What if I only use 20 seconds of it? Doesn't that fall under fair use Doctrine? What if I get somebody to compose music for me, can that work? These are only a few examples of the legal side of what it takes to do a...

https://podcastfasttrack.com/ Pinterest itself has been a mystery to me for a very long long time, so to talk about having a Pinterest strategy for my podcast is like asking me to be a girl. I don’t know anything about it. :) Pinterest is fun to look at - I’ve gone there on occasion to get great ideas for DIY projects or workshop and garage renovation tips, but I kind of view it is this food, clot...