Building A Better Podcast – Part One – It All Starts With A Name

by Tim Arthur on April 24, 2012

Many people that start a podcast struggle with the name of their show. In my experience, the name my co-hosts and I chose for our podcast didn’t do a good job of describing that the show was about.

We chose TechMonks Podcast as the name of our show. Sounds pretty cool we thought. That was seven months ago, and to this day, my co-hosts and I cannot describe to anyone what the heck a “TechMonk” is.

Audience

Let’s face it, we all would love tons of subscribers and listeners. We’ve been happy with the small level of engagement that we have had for our TechMonks Podcast. However, after putting a lot of thought into how to grow our audience, our attention came back to a very basic element: the name of the show.

To get the most exposure, you need to do ample promotion on social networks, produce content that is valuable to listeners in some way, and have a name that speaks directly to what your show is about. If you create good content, you should be able to get some good word of mouth.

We decided to rebrand the TechMonks Podcast as Talking Tech Show. It’s a very basic title that tells potential listeners what they can expect. We talk about topics based in technology. Simple, effective, and easily searchable.

Many Steps Are Involved

It’s an arduous process to rebrand the show, and it takes several steps:

  • There’s a new website to build (our new site TalkingTechShow.com is live but we are still building it.)
  • New rss feeds need to be created, and the old feed needs to be redirected
  • If you are migrating your old content into your rebranded show, you need to move all of your old posts from your old site to the new site.
  • You’ll need to take some time to create presences and profiles on social networks such as Twitter, Facebook, and Google+
I’ll be covering some of these steps in further posts in this series. I cover naming your show in detail in the previous post Picking The Right Podcast Name. If you pick a name that describes your show well from the outset, you can save yourself a lot of time in the future.

Results

The response to our rebranding has been very positive. Still, there’s a lot involved in rebranding, so avoid the need to do so if you can.
To check out our first episode after the rebranding, head on over to http://talkingtechshow.com/33 – It’s a great show featuring an interview with Cliff Ravenscraft, The Podcast Answer Man and discussions about turning your passions into profit and BlogWorld NYC 2012. Please check it out today!

Feedback

I’d love to hear from you if you have rebranded your show, listened to a show that has been rebranded, or have an opinion on our rebranding of the TechMonks Podcast to Talking Tech Show. Please share your comments and thoughts below!

Please be sure to sign up for our free updates via email by entering your information at the top, bottom, or right hand side of this page!

BlogWorld & New Media Expo 2012

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by Tim Arthur on March 13, 2012

This June, bloggers, podcasters, and new media content creators will flock to New York City to participate in BlogWorld & New Media Expo 2012, a multi-day event that has become the largest annual industry conference for the technology segment.

Originally started in 2007, BlogWorld & New Media Expo is noted for having incredible keynote speakers and sessions, the event has grown in size and impact over the last few years.

Industry leaders such as Chris Brogan, Leo Laporte, Justine Ezarik, Cali Lewis, and Gary Vaynerchuck have attended the event in the past and have spoken or led sessions.

Recently, my friend and mentor Cliff Ravenscraft announced that he had been asked to put together the podcasting track for the event. He’ll also be speaking there as well. If you have followed his content, you will certainly agree that he is passionate about podcasting, and has helped hundreds, if not thousands take their content to the next level. Cliff’s finely tuned attention to detail and quality will make this incredible event even better!

Why Should Podcasters Attend?

BlogWorld & New Media Expo is THE place for everyone in new media, from beginners to seasoned veterans, to network, share ideas and take their online content to new heights.

You can learn from those that are very successful and make incredibly valuable connections. It’s terrific to rub elbows with the leaders of the industry you are passionate about!

Every time I attend a conference, no matter what the size, I always look back and learn that there was a take away of value. Many of my friends were met at conferences. You’ll find gems of knowledge in sessions and keynotes.

Since our world is increasingly influenced by our interactions online, it’s incredibly valuable to get face-to-face time with peers and those that inspire you!

Details

Dates: June 5-7

Location: Jacob Javits Convention Center –  655 West 34th Street, New York City

Pricing: 

thru 3/22 thru 5/15 after 5/15
3 Day Blogger/Podcaster Pass $197 $297 $397
Social Media Business Summit $697 $897 $1,097
Exhibits Only $47 $57 $77
Virtual Ticket $197 $247 $297
Virtual Ticket Add-on
(add to 3 Day or Social Media Business Summit passes only)		 $47 $47 $97

 

If you register before 3/22/2012, you can get the great price of $197 for the 3-Day Blogger/Podcaster Pass! Plus, if you register before 3/22/2012 via the link below, and use the discount code: gspn10 you can receive an additional 10% off!  - Act now!

 

 

Hotels: Reduced Rates at Official BlogWorld & New Media Expo 2012 Hotels

I look forward to meeting you there in June!

The Importance of Listener Feedback

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by Tim Arthur on March 13, 2012

As podcasters, listener feedback can provide us with tremendous value. When a listener takes the time to respond to you, take the time to take in what they have said, and use it to improve your show!

Value

What value does listener feedback offer to podcasters? I believe there are three key values:

  • Positive criticism can lead to the improvement of show elements and overall production
  • Potential material for use on future shows
  • One-on-one engagement with a member of your audience

Positive Criticism

Not all criticism / feedback is created equal. Trolls exist. There will be those that will offer feedback that is hurtful and insulting. However, you will find that you will get feedback that is genuinely aimed at helping you perfect your show.

Every listener has different preferences and opinions. You’ll never be able to please everyone. Still, you will find positive criticisms that when taken in stride will give you insight into what your show may be lacking, or about what you are doing that isn’t clicking with your listeners. Encourage listeners to tell you how they feel about the show. Ask them for the good and bad.

Most importantly, don’t take the feedback too personally. Feedback is based on opinions. Sift the feedback for things that can help you improve. Don’t dwell on the negative.

New Material

We’re always looking for new content to cover in our shows. Whether it is a new topic, or taking a listener question as an opportunity to answer it on the show, feedback can be a great vehicle to keep your show fresh!

Many successful podcasters devote regular segments of their episodes to highlighting listener feedback and answering questions. The great thing about using feedback in your show production is that many listeners can benefit from your coverage of the topic or question!

Engagement

Feedback presents podcast producers with a great opportunity to engage listeners on a one-on-one basis! Use this opportunity to form relationships and build the community around your show or brand.

By focusing on engaging with your community, you have the chance to build an incredibly loyal following, as well as the potential to have those offering feedback engage even more, and spread the work about your show!

As mentioned above, you can take listener feedback and questions and incorporate them as elements in your show. If you don’t know the answer to a question, put a call out to your listeners in an episode so they can call your listener feedback line or email you with possible answers. This increases engagement! The community will continue to grow, and listeners will be helping each other. You are then seen as a facilitator which leads to your increased leadership in your niche.

How Do You Use Listener Feedback?

I’m interested in hearing about how you are using the feedback you get for your podcasts. Do you have any other tips on feedback you can share?

Be sure to sign up for our free updates via email by entering your information at the top, bottom, or right hand side of this page!

5 Ways To Get High Profile Interviews For Your Podcast

by Tim Arthur on February 18, 2012

Many podcasters strive to get key thought leaders in their niche on their shows for an interview. You may be wondering, what are some steps you can take to score a great high profile guest?

1) Know Your Niche

If you are looking to get a well-known public figure on your show for an interview, be sure you have either a topic or a niche that truly fits their area of influence. I’ve found that if you are formulating an episode or have a show dedicated to the particular field of expertise that a potential interviewer is perfect for, your chances of having them agree to join you for an interview are much higher.

2) Provide Them With Examples of your content

Often, before a guest agrees to join you on your podcast, they will want to review examples of your podcast. Provide them with links to some of your best content. Be sure that the website that showcases that content is presentable and easy to navigate. Put your best foot forward and show them that you are serious about your commitment to providing quality content.

It does a high profile guest absolutely no good to appear on a program that doesn’t make an effort to represent itself in a professional manner.

3) Be Accomodating

Offer to send your potential guest a brief list of questions and some information about the specific topic that you plan on discussing. This can be a huge help to them. Offer to provide call in information and clear instructions on how to converse with you for recording.

Be respectful of their busy schedules. We’re all busy, and hate it when others don’t allow us to honor our prior commitments. Politeness and a willingness to work around others schedules goes a long way!

4) Give them an opportunity to promote themselves

Having a high profile guest on your show can be a huge boost in terms of growing your listening audience. When a great guest interviewer agrees to be on your show, often their audience will follow them.

Be sure to communicate to potential guests that you would love to give them the opportunity to describe to your listeners how they can find their content, websites, and other relevant information.

5) Ask

This sounds almost too simple. You mean all I have to do is ask? YES! As long as you are sure that you will be discussing a topic that is relevant to your desired guest, ask away! Send them an email. Connect with them via Twitter.

Be polite in your request and clearly state why you would like for them to join you in a discussion.

You may be rejected the first time, but don’t hesitate to ask again at some time in the future. If your request is at first rejected, it may be due to a scheduling conflict. It may also be rejected based on the fact that your desired guest knows nothing about you or your program. Since you’ve provided them with links to some of your best content, they may take the time to review it at their leisure.

Your polite request at a later time may lead to them offering you the interview. Don’t ask them every day. My recommendation is give it a week or two. No one likes to be pestered. Make it a win-win situation for them. Make it hard for them to resist.

My experiences with interviews

I’ve been very successful in having authors, high-profile bloggers, and highly-regarded open source programmers on my podcast. I’ve simply asked. As long as you make it easy for them to join you, and ensure that your content is relevant to their areas, you’ll be surprised how easy it is to score a great interview!

I’m interested in hearing your experiences in having high-profile guests on your podcasts. Do you have any other tips you can share?

Be sure to sign up for our free updates via email by entering your information at the top, bottom, or right hand side of this page!

Camtasia Giveaway for Mac or PC – We Have Our Winners!

by Tim Arthur on February 18, 2012

For the past month, we ran a Camtasia Giveaway for Mac or PC. Since day one of the contest, we saw very dedicated engagement and commitment to promoting the contest from those that entered. Each contestant was also required to subscribe to our YouTube channel, comment on the original contest post and follow us via @PodcastingTutor on Twitter.

To select the winners and manage the giveaway, we used a tool called Rafflecopter. It’s a terrific tool that you can use to ensure your contest is manageable and fair.

To learn more about how to learn Rafflecopter, you can view an excellent video from Justin (Dragonblogger) at the bottom of this post.

A huge thanks to TechSmith for generously donating two Camtasia licenses and sponsoring this contest!

We’re pleased to announce:

The winners of the Camtasia Giveaway for Mac or PC are:


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Here’s Dragonblogger’s video on Creating Contensts with Rafflecopter

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If you’d like to receive our free updates of content, podcasting tips, exciting podcasting news, and contest news, please subscribe to free updates via email at the top, bottom, or right hand sides of our website.

Thanks again to all of those that entered, and congratulations to our winners!

Why Podcasters Need To Be On YouTube

by Tim Arthur on February 4, 2012

Youtube is the place to go to see the hottest goofy and trendy viral videos, right? Yes, but it is so much more!

Here are some impressive facts about YouTube:

  • 48 hours of video are uploaded every minute, resulting in nearly 8 years of content uploaded every day
  • Over 3 billion videos are viewed a day
  • Users upload the equivalent of 240,000 full-length films every week
  • More video is uploaded to YouTube in one month than the 3 major US networks created in 60 years
  • 70% of YouTube traffic comes from outside the US
  • YouTube is localized in 25 countries across 43 languages
  • YouTube’s demographic is broad: 18-54 years old
  • YouTube reached over 700 billion playbacks in 2010
  • 800M unique users visit YouTube each month

Grow Your Audience

If you are trying to grow your audience, YouTube is a platform that you should be utilizing!

If you have a video podcast, you can upload the video of your show, and utilize YouTube’s embeddable player on your website. Many folks have been custom coding video players for their sites and hosting the video in their own infrastructure. By doing this, you are not leveraging the incredible exposure that is possible on YouTube. Why re-invent the wheel when YouTube is providing an incredibly versatile tool that is ready for you to use!

Descriptions

By properly utilizing the description fields available when you upload videos to YouTube, you can drive traffic back to your website and increase engagement with your audience. Don’t forget, this is an audience that you may be currently not embracing at all! The potential gains in audience numbers are huge!

You have the ability to add “tags” to your videos as well, which are basically search keywords that when searched on YouTube can lead to your content being returned as a result. By using relevant keywords, much like SEO for your website, you can positively impact your content appearing insearch results.

Annotations

Annotations are another benefit of YouTube. You can annotate your video with textual messages or “commentary” that:

  • Adds background information about your content
  • Links to related YouTube videos, channels, or search results from within a video

Subscribing

Visitors on YouTube can “subscribe” to your YouTube channel and will be notified when you post new content. There are also some really good metrics that are accesible that can help you market more effectively.

As you can see, there are many benefits to having your podcast on YouTube!

But My Podcast is Audio, Not Video!

You may be wondering… I have an audio podcast, and YouTube only has videos. How does YouTube help me in any way?

That’s a terrific question!

You can use the Apple iMovie on the Mac or the free Windows Movie Maker on the PC to re-encode your audio as a “movie” file. You simply use the programs to import an audio file, insert a static image or set of images for your podcast branding and and then export it to a web-ready format that you can upload to YouTube.

Below is an example of my Fireworks Podcast converted to a YouTube video.

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It can take some time to get the workflow down. This post only scratched the surface of what can be done on YouTube. I’ll be posting a tutorial demonstrating my workflow in the near future, as well as more detailed ways to leverage YouTube to increase your audience!

Please leave your comments on this post below! Also, if you like what you find here, signup for our free email updates below, or on the sidebar! I look forward to engaging with you!

 

Podcasting Champions – Cliff Ravenscraft

by Tim Arthur on January 27, 2012

At first glance, podcasting looks easy. Beyond the initial look, however, you will see that there are a multitude of things that are involved if you are interested in creating and producing a professional-sounding podcast that has an audience.

Before starting my podcasts, I spent countless days and hours reading and learning from the resources that I found online.

In terms of learning about all of the elements in podcasting, no resource was as complete or informative as Podcast Answer Man – a podcast and online resource created by Cliff Ravenscraft.

Cliff Ravenscraft

Cliff started podcasting as a hobby in December 2005. Along with his wife, he launched a podcast that focused on their favorite television show, Lost. The show enjoyed some success and reached a sizeable audience. In fact, for the shows series finale, several guests flew in from outside the US to watch the final episode with Cliff and fellow Lost fans.

Soon, Cliff created several other podcasts that covered topics covering topics such as Entertainment, Technology, Faith, and Family. His commitment to community has been evident from the very start. He continues to embrace a community of people that share his passions, hopes, and fears.

Cliff’s backstory is a very interesting one. Prior to becoming a full-time podcaster, Cliff was a very successful independent insurance agent in an insurance agency run by his father. Although he enjoyed tremendous financial and professional success as an insurance agent, he found the work was not fulfilling. He longed for the day when he could leave his career in insurance behind, and could pursue his dreams of running a business he was passionate about.

After a few years of producing content, Cliff felt the urge to pursue his passion for podcasting full-time. In January 2008, Cliff left his career in insurance and push towards realizing his dreams.

Since leaving his career in insurance, Cliff has helped hundreds of people create and launch successful podcasts. He offers services such as one-on-one consulting and coaching. He has produced hours of valuable video training tutorials and 2,800 podcast episodes of more than 20 different shows. To say that Cliff is committed to helping others create quality podcasts is an understatement.

Currently, Cliff is a full-time podcast producer, podcasting/new media consultant/coach. He was invited to speak at BlogWorld & New Media Expo in 2011.

Cliff has been a tremendous influence on me as a podcaster. I’m most impressed with his dedication to the podcasting community, his ability to create compelling, useful content, and for his focus on positive thinking and faith. Although I haven’t hired Cliff as a coach or purchased his products, the information I have learned from his content is invaluable.  The podcasting community is blessed to have Cliff as one of its leading contributors and assets.

Please be sure to head over to Podcast Answer Man and check out the tremendous resources that Cliff has created for us! You can also follow Cliff on Twitter @GSPN

Camtasia Giveaway for Mac or PC!

by Tim Arthur on January 18, 2012

Many podcasters and bloggers create content for YouTube and other online video services. Have you been searching for a great screencast application?

The folks at TechSmith have a terrific product line called Camtasia. It’s available for both the Mac and PC platforms. They have been very generous in providing us with two licenses to giveaway to Podcasting Tutor readers. We use Camtasia exclusively to create our YouTube tutorials and other instructional videos.

To see how Camtasia allows you to easily generate effective videos that help you train, teach, sell, and more, as well as how to win one of two FREE licenses for the software, read on…

[click to continue…]

Apple Pulling Podcasts From iTunes

by Tim Arthur on January 17, 2012

This past weekend, several podcasters notified the media hosting company libsyn that their podcasts had been pulled from iTunes completely. The podcasters received only a general email message from Apple simply informing them of the fact.

Libsyn reports that Apple’s reasoning for the takedowns:

  • The offending podcasts album artwork included unauthorized Apple product imagery.

Many content creators were unaware that companies are required to defend their trademarks and takedown unauthorized uses of them.

If you currently have Apple products, logos or imagery in your current podcast artwork, you should update NOW. No troubles in the past, this will not be ensure that will continue (one of the podcasts removed had its artwork up there for close to 5 years).

Waiting until your show is pulled from iTunes you may result in the loss of your shows ratings and reviews. If in doubt about your artwork, it would be prudent to change it now.

Apple is seemingly becoming more pro-active in seeking out use of unauthorized Apple imagery within podcast artwork and pulling the offending podcasts from the iTunes directory.

Podcasting Champions – Leo Laporte

by Tim Arthur on January 12, 2012

Welcome to the first entry in an continual series called Podcasting Champions.

Since podcasting popularity began to soar in 2005, several podcasters have emerged as leaders in the industry. This series will focus on people that have positively influenced the community and artform of podcasting.

Leo Laporte

I first became familiar with Leo Laporte back in 2000 when he was the host of the television series “The Screen Savers” on the cable television network TechTV. Leo also hosted the show “Call for Help” on the same network. I instantly became a fan. He presented tech topics in a fashion that was easy for non-technical folks to digest.

Just a few days After TechTV announced a merger with Comcast’s G4 gaming channel in March of 2004, Leo’s contract with TechTV expired. After his long run at TechTV, Leo went on to host television shows for G4techTV Canada, which is owned by Rogers Media Inc. He also began to host a weekly tech radio show on KFI AM 640 radio in Los Angeles, CA. His radio show “The Tech Guy” was syndicated in February 2007.

On April 18, 2005, Leo reunited with several of his TechTV friends to recorded a one-off “roundtable” discussion. The show featured himself, Patrick Norton, Sarah Norton, Kevin Rose, David Prager, and Roger Chang. It was recorded at the 2005 Macworld Expo in San Francisco, and was entitled ”Revenge of The Screen Savers.” Due to some legal issues, a cease-and-desist order was sent to him ordering him not to use the name “The Screen Savers.” After crowd-sourcing, the show was later named “This Week in Tech (TWit).”

Since starting Twit, Leo has built a large network of podcasts. He prefers to call them “Netcasts,” since the media can be played on any device that can play media files, and not just iPods. Twit remains the networks flagship show.

TWiT became a very popular show, and Leo placed a ton of effort into producing other shows. His goal was to produce content similar to those that appeared on the original TechTV. Initially, he produced only audio programs, but has since started producing video versions of network shows.

Currently, there are 29 active shows on the TWiT network, each of which covers some aspect of technology. Leo hosts or co-hosts and produces a good number of the shows, but the network expansion has led to the addition of new hosts and participants.

All of the TWiT network shows are distributed for free. The network is supported by advertising and listener donations.

In July 2011, TWiT launched its new studio with a broadcast of its flagship show This Week in Tech. Leo revealed that the new studio cost his company a total of $1.2 million. The facilities are incredible and feature 40 cameras spread across multiple different sets. One interesting aspect of his sets is that they all use state of the art LED lighting technology.

You can check out the TWiT network at: http://twit.tv/

Leo has been a tremendous influence on my passion for podcasting. He has demonstrated over and over again that if you have a vision and put in the hard work, your goals are achievable. I’ll continue to keep an eye on what Leo is up to. His shows are informative and entertaining. He has done an incredible amount to advance the podcasting space. I’m confident he will continue to inspire me as well as other podcasters in the future.

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