Your Podcast Consultant: Podcast Tips To Avoid Podcasting Mistakes

When you are podcasting you are talking to your audience, but you also have to realize there is a bit of "performance" mixed in. This is why you had people like Wolfman Jack and other people who were super high energy. Then you had people like Paul Harvey who had his own style, and really really long pauses.  Some people get nervous thinking about this and get a little "sing songy" and end up acce...

A libsyn slug is something you will be asked for when you sign up at Libsyn.com ( Libsyn is short for Liberated Syndication - they are the largest podcast media hosting company). You can get a free month when you sign up using the coupon code sopfree.  How is a Libsyn Slug Used? The libsyn slug is used as an ID for your Libsyn account. If you open a support ticket all you have to do is provide you...

Today I talk about Joe Rogan who just got a guesstimate $100 million dollars to make his show available  exclusively on Spotify.  Why did they buy Joe? Because he is one of the top (if not THE top podcast). So why is he so popular? Joe has a dialogue with his guest.  He allows interesting people say interesting things. He is a really good listener. Joe started back in 1988 His first comedy special...

As I record this, it is May 21, 2020, and we are still dealing with the pandemic. This resulted in a lot of zoom meetings. When I'm trying to help a new podcast, and I'll be trying to get them to tell me their target audience. "Oh, it's for everybody, " they say. I will answer, "Seriously, who is your podcast for?" They will again say, "everybody." But as I was in a zoom meeting, with about, I'm g...

People are hip to fake reviews. The general public is not that stupid when it comes to reviews.  Review swaps result in really horrible reviews that are NOT helpful to the potential listener. A good review has details as to why something was good or bad.  Reviews DO NOT help you move up the Apple Podcast Charts. Reviews are social proof - and that's it.  When your audience isn't leaving you review...

You've created an episode, you added links, you added some boldness, you added some formatting to your description. You send it out to the world and you go into Apple podcasts, and none of the links show up. Why is some of this missing? You look in Spotify and you're like, why is everything one giant paragraph that looks horrendous? That's not how I created it. Then you look at other apps and it l...

If someone asked me what was one of my Favorite books I wouldn't say "Platform Book." I would just say Platform.  If someone asked what was one of my favorite movies? I wouldn't say "Caddyshack Movie." I would just say "Caddyshack." If someone asked what was one of my favorite magazines to read, I wouldn't say "Men's Health Magazine." I would say "Men's Health." So why do I see "The Ernie and Bert...

You are shooting video, should you turn it into a podcast? There are some pros and cons of video. First off, can your content exist without the video portion? Is this a "talking head" video? If so maybe it doesn't need to be video.  Full show notes at podcastconsultant.com/66 This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: OP3 - https://op3.dev/privacy

Do you use phrases like this? Before we get to ______ Without further adu I don't want to delay any further The Thin Line Between Teasing and Annoying It's one thing to take a quick 30-60 second tangent. It's a completely different issue when your tangents go on and on and the listener starts to wonder if you're ever coming back to the topic. Whatever the title of the episode is, people have tuned...

Today I heard a promo for the Danny Elfman Masterclass. In it, you hear this HUGELY SUCCESSFUL music composer who has been nominated four times for an oscar. He has scored over a hundred movies, and yet he still fears failure.  I love that he says, "It's OK to fail. It is normal to doubt yourself. There is only one way to be creative and that is to take a chance and do it, and learn from it and mo...

You have some files on your hard drive, you have some old CD's or cassettes that helped people back in the day, and helped people or entertained them.  What do you need? If you want to add some additional information to the content, you will need a microphone like a Samson Q2U.  You also need some artwork that meets these specs: 1400x1400px (minimum) 3000x3000px (maximum) Under 500kb Use rGB color...

Today I play a portion of a conversation I had with Erik K Johnson who is the Podcast Talent Coach , as well as a co-host with me on the Podcast Review Show . I asked Erik (who is a program director for iHear) verifies my idea on Radio Personalities/DJs creating podcasts to boost their own audience and brand.  Three Reasons Radio DJs Should Have Their Own Podcast Built-in Demo Freedom To Talk Abou...

In the past, musicians would have a CD release party. They would not pick the date for the party until they had the CD in their hands. So many things could go wrong, and you need to do the same.  Don't pick your "launch" date until your podcast is available to the public. If you're worried this will ruin your "Splash" into the public. It won't.  In the same way, being in the phone book will not ma...

155 million people in the US have listened to a podcast (55%) 104 million listen monthly 68 million listen weekly The average listener subscribes to Six podcasts. Podcasting is more popular in the car than Sirius Satelite Radio Source: The Podcast Consumer 2020 Edison Research New Podcast Statistics from Edison Research and Triton Digital Some new data has come out here in March of 2020, as I reco...

There are two places you can put artwork for your podcast. One is for the show, and the other is for the episode. There are two views in Apple podcasts. One I will call the "Store view" (which is the view you are using when you search for something). The other is the "Library" view and its the view you are using after you have subscribed to a show.  Currently, in March 2020, Apple only shows the a...

To play the music you hear on the radio legally on your podcast you need permission from The Songwriter The Song Performer Whoever owns the Mechanical Rights Without permission from all of the above parties, you can't legally play the music (and there have been some podcasts that have been sued for playing music illegally) Royalty Free Music Royalty-free music means you pay once for the rights to...

If you are going to be interviewing people in the same room, or if you have a co-host in the same room - you HAVE to pretend your Oprah. YOU GET A MICROPHONE - YOU GET A MICROPHONE -EVERYBODY GETS A MICROPHONE. If you don't get that, here is the clip where Oprah gave everyone in the audience a car. See video at https://youtu.be/8CAscBCdaQg Don't Share Microphones Now I know they make microphones t...

In Monday's School of Podcasting I have Eric Nuzum who is the author of Make Noise A Creators Guide to Podcasting and Great Audio Storytelling. One of the exercises is pretty hard: Here is is: Describe your idea in no more than ten words, and do so in a way that describes nothing else in the world. The fun part is you CAN'T use any of these words. Amazing Astounding Awesome Beautiful Best Brillian...

When you are making your podcast description you need to keep two things in mind: Who is it for? Is this for guitar players? Is it for people just starting out or for professional musicians? Those are two VERY different audiences.  If its football, is it college and pro? Just the NFL or just a team? Again different audiences. The more niche you go in identifying your audience the more loyal your a...

Your podcast is a gift. The question is are you a person who buys people a gift card (which screams "not very personal, not much thinking put into the gift) vs a personalized gift that shows you  really know what the person wants.  So Why Would People Listen to You? Because you took the time to find out what they want, and then give it to them. You don't need to know everything, you just need to k...

I can handle this topic a couple of different ways. I could tell you what you want to hear and say you can grow your audience in about six weeks (and a lot of you would take out your credit card). You might go to www.podcastconsultant.com/scehdule ,  and say, "Let's do one of those sessions you're always talking about helping me start my podcast, I'm ready to go." Did I Say Six Weeks? I Meant THRE...

I'm reading the book Make Noise A Creator's Guide to Podcasting and Great Audio Storytelling and in the book author Eric Nuzum has a cool strategy of going to http://images.google.com and typing in some of the keywords that you might use about your subject. Find some pictures of people and maybe print them out, and then make up their bio. Give them a name. You could have a few people. Then when yo...

I have an extreme situation. My neighbor's mother died today. She was 96 and it wasn't a surprise. Still, as I don't  really know my audience I don't know how to react. Do I say Everything is going to be fine? Your mother is now in heaven... You've done hard things before, you've got this! I don't know what would be the best thing to comfort him in his time of need and it depends on his thoughts,...

You are thinking of changing the format or going "outside the box" of your typical topics, and you're nervous. While it can help to get feedback from other podcasters, or your friends, but the BEST place to get feedback from is your AUDIENCE.  Scott Johnson does the " What was that like " podcast, and he has a private Facebook group where he can interact with his audience to talk to his audience i...

I do a show every Saturday at 10:30 AM ET at www.askthepodcastcoach.com/live It's the same time every week so my audience knows when and where to find me. It never changes. If I don't feel good, the show must go on.  If you are just starting out and you think you will field questions and interact with your audience you may need to remember you don't have an audience (yet) and only a very small per...