Podcasting with Aaron
Aaron Dowd
1 Creator
4.0
(1)
1 Creator
1 Listener
4.0
(1)
All episodes
Best episodes
Top 10 Podcasting with Aaron Episodes
Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best Podcasting with Aaron episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to Podcasting with Aaron for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite Podcasting with Aaron episode by adding your comments to the episode page.
90: Good Sound Part 2: Connecting Your Microphone and Headphones
Podcasting with Aaron
01/23/21 • 12 min
Watch the video version of this episode here.
Welcome back to another episode of Podcasting with Aaron.
I hope you're having a good week so far. I know I certainly have. This past week has been one of the better weeks in recent memory. Possibly the best week since 2016, actually.
Last week I talked about the importance of getting good sound for your podcast. I talked about why good sound matters, what it means when something sounds good, and why you should get yourself that nice podcast microphone you've been looking at.
This week I want to talk about something that might seem basic to you if you've been podcasting for a while. I want to talk about connecting your microphone and headphones, and making sure you have your microphone (or audio interface if you're using one) set as the input source for whatever recording software you're using.
I remember the first time I bought a microphone and a little audio interface. I probably spent close to an hour trying to figure out how to record an audio file because I didn't know that I was supposed to set the audio interface as the input source for the recording software I was using, and then also that I needed to select the channel my mic was plugged into (channel 1) as the audio source for the audio track in the program.
You'd be surprised at how many podcasts are recorded where someone forgets to set their good microphone as the input source, and ends up with a recording that was made with the built-in microphone on their desktop computer. Which makes them sound far away and thin and not good.
And the goal here is to sound good.
The Essentials: Connecting Your Microphone and Headphones
Step 1: Is everything plugged in and turned on?
USB Microphones
If you're using a USB microphone: Is it plugged into your computer? Yes? Good.
Now, which program are you going to use for recording? You need to make sure your microphone is set as the audio input source for that program. Usually you select your audio input source in the settings, or the preferences area of the software.
If you're having a hard time finding how to set your mic as the input source for your recording software, do a quick search on Google or YouTube.
Next: Does your USB microphone have a headphone port on it? (A place to plug in your headphones.)
If so, plug your headphones into that. This is a good idea because it will allow you to hear what you sound like in real time. You'll hear people refer to this as "monitoring yourself".
You'll also need to choose the audio output source for whatever recording software you're using. Essentially, where should the audio from your computer go?
If you're interviewing someone, and your headphones are plugged into your USB mic, you don't want the audio from your computer going to your computer speakers. You want it to go to your USB microphone.
Quick recap:
Make sure your recording software is using the right mic before you start recording, and also that your software or computer is sending audio to the right place.
It's pretty easy once you've gone through this a couple times, but I've seen many podcasters struggle with this set up when they're first getting starting, and also it's important to get in the habit of double-checking your input and output settings before you start interviewing someone or recording an episode.
XLR Microphones + Audio Interface
If you bought an XLR microphone and an audio interface (like I'm using here), the set up process is going to be similar, but there's a few additional things to keep in mind.
Step 1: Plug your microphone or microphones into your audio interface using an XLR microphone cable.
Next, plug the audio interface into your computer. Your interface should have come with a right cable for your computer, but it's possible you might need an adapter.
Like if the cable for your audio interface is a USB-C cable, and your computer only has USB-A ports and no USB-C ports, then you'll need to buy a USB-C to USB-A adapter. Make sense? Google has answers for you if you're not sure what kind of adapter you need.
Quick note here: If you're using a Windows computer, I've heard that sometimes you have to update the driver for an audio interface before your computer will "see" and be able to use the interface.
A driver is just a little bit of software that tells your computer how to work with a piece of hardware like an audio interface. So if you open up your recording software and you don't see the option to select your audio inte...
1 Listener
93: Good Sound Part 5: On Recording Remotely
Podcasting with Aaron
02/27/21 • 13 min
If you only need to record your own voice, or maybe a couple people in the same room, you won't have a hard time ending up with a podcast that sounds good.
However, if you want to record interviews or episodes with guests or co-hosts that are in different locations, getting good sound becomes harder. You won't have any control over which microphones the other people are using, if they use good mic technique, if they know how to set input gain levels correctly, what kind of room or location they're recording in, and so on.
It's always a good idea to have a conversation about someone's recording setup before you sit down for an interview or start a new podcast with a friend who lives in a different place, and that's something I'll be talking more about in the next episode.
But the the software you use to record the interview or conversation is going to play a big role in whether or not you end up with audio that sounds good.
You have three options for recording audio for a podcast:
1. Talk with your guests or co-hosts using a chat app like Zoom or Skype, and have everyone record audio locally on their computer or phone, then put the audio files together afterwards for editing. This is easy enough for shows with the same co-hosts every time, but not always an option if you're doing interviews with new people every week. Your guests might not be willing or able to record an audio file to a computer or phone.
2. Use the recording functionality from a chat app like Zoom or Anchor, where you end up with a single audio file that has everyone's voice in it. This is easy, but often causes issues with sound quality (more on that in a moment). This was very common in years past because there weren't any good apps that made it easy to talk to and record multiple people at the same time and get an individual audio track for each person.
3. Use an app specifically made for podcast recording, like Squadcast or Zencastr. This is the best option for most people in my opinion, as these apps allow you to talk to multiple people and will also record an audio file for each person on the call that you can put together and work on in your audio editing software later.
The pros and cons of recording everyone to a single track
Pros:
- It can be simpler, easier
- Less friction or work for your guest(s)
- Editing is less complicated (this isn't always a good thing, though)
Cons:
- Less control over editing and mixing
- You can't adjust the volume levels for each speaker without doing lots of editing to move them to their own tracks
The pros and cons of recording a track for every person
Pros:
- Far more control and flexability
- You can edit out more
- You can adjust any person's gain level (how loud they are)
- You can do unique audio processing on each track if you need to
Cons:
- It's a little more time consuming and complicated to edit three audio tracks at the same time instead of one
- If you do want to do processing for each voice, you'll need to know about EQ, compression, noise removal, and limiting (although I'd recommend learning about those things anyways if you're going to be editing your podcast)
- Good software costs money ($20/month for Squadcast, plus whatever software you use for multi-track audio editing, Logic Pro or Audition)
So which should you choose?
I believe Squadcast is currently the best and easiest way to record conversations remotely. It's not free, but it's worth the cost.
If you disagree or if you have a different solution you like (there are many remote chat and recording options, like Zencastr, Cleanfeed, Zoom Pro, and so on), leave a comment on the YouTube video and let the other listeners know, or send me an email, [email protected].
Thanks for watching or listening, be sure to subscribe if you'd like to get future episodes as I publish them. If you're finding this show useful, please tell a friend about it or leave me a rating and review in Apple Podcasts.
You can find more at podcastingwithaaron.com.
Next time I'll be talking about what you should discuss with your guests and co-hosts before you start recording.
Till then, be well and happy podcasting.
Aaron
1 Listener
89: How to Get Good Sound for Your Podcast, Part 1: Why It Matters
Podcasting with Aaron
01/16/21 • 23 min
I've been obsessed with things that sound good for as long as I could remember. I've always loved music and the effect it has on my body and brain, so I got interested in the process of creating and capturing sound when I was young.
The first podcasts I started listening to back in 2008/2009 were professionally produced, recorded, mixed, and mastered by folks who had been working in radio for a long time. So they sounded really good.
Then I started listening to some shows produced by normal folks, what you'd call independent podcasters. I liked the content just as much, but I noticed that the sound quality was usually a lot lower, and sometimes so bad it made me stop listening to the show.
So I started wondering, can you make a podcast that sounds good even if you don't have a lot of money to spend? Is it possible?
I figured out that there were a few key things that made a big difference. So I'm going to make a series of episodes where I share what I've learned about audio recording and sound quality, and how to make a podcast that sounds good.
Q: Does it really matter how good you sound?
Yes! The quality of an audio recording affects how trustworthy and credible listeners think you are.
As a podcast host, you want people to be able to hear you clearly and understand you. If they have a hard time hearing and understanding you, they're not going to stick around for very long. The same goes for any co-hosts or guests you have on your show as well.
There's a research article by Eryn Newman and Norbert Shwartz from the University of Southern California published in 2018 that demonstrates the importance of good sound quality.
The articles references a study in which two groups of people were shown a video of a scientific talk and asked to rate the credibility and trustworthiness of the presenters.
The first group got a version of the video with high quality audio.
The second group got a version of the video with low quality audio.
When the video was difficult to hear, viewers thought the talk was worse, the speaker less intelligent and less likeable and the research less important.
“As soon as we reduced the audio quality, all of a sudden, the scientists and their research lost credibility.” - Eryn Newman
The quality of audio influences whether you believe what you hear - news.usc.edu
It's important to learn how to record and publish audio that sounds good.
Q: When you say something sounds good, what does that mean?
I use to talk a lot about sounding good, but I never really broke it down in a way that was easy to understand.
I know because I got a 2 star review in Apple Podcasts last year from Red84604.
Red wrote:
I can appreciate that the podcast dude is a musician. So am I. But his obsession with audio quality made me look for another podcast to reach me how to podcast. Even if I came to this podcast exclusively for advice about audio, it wouldn’t be useful for that because, from the very beginning, his advice assumes that the listener already knows a whole lot about the subject (more than I know and I actually was a professional musician for a while). I couldn’t follow it. And he went on for episode after episode. I want to produce a podcast with great audio. But even after listening to several episodes I am still not sure how to do that because his advice was so technical. And his snobbery on the topic was off-putting. Sorry.
That's fair criticism. So really, you can thank Red for this whole 7 part series I'm about to make and share with you.
When I say a podcast sounds good, it means each voice that you hear in the episode is clear and easy to understand, and not difficult to listen to because of distracting background noise or other factors that make it hard to hear and understand someone who is speaking.
Let's break that down even further.
Clear and easy to understand means:
You've got a microphone that works well for recording a human voice, and you're relatively close to that microphone when you're speaking.
Your voice doesn't sound muffled, or far away, or distorted in any way.
The volume level of your recording is loud enough, but not too loud.
That volume level doesn't change dramatically during the recording. It's consistent, or gets louder when you get speak louder, and quieter when you speak quieter.
Your audio recording is free of distracting background noise (hums, buzzes, pops, beeps, echos, reverb that makes it hard to understand you, etc).
The volume level of your voice is roughly the same as the other voices in the recording (if there are other voices).
There's other things that can enhance the quality and impact of an episode, like sound design, music, pacing, and so on, but ...
1 Listener
How to Outline a Podcast Episode
Podcasting with Aaron
09/07/15 • 35 min
Today I’m sharing my process for writing outlines. If you've never written an outline for your podcast before, I'm going to teach you how today.
What does a podcast outline do for you? It helps you stay focused. It helps you make sure you cover all the topics you want to cover, or ask or answer the right questions. It helps you keep the episode on track.
Listeners want to know what they’re going to get from a show. You may have recorded an epic episode with tons of great advice and takeaways, but if you don’t tell the listeners in advance what they can expect, they won't know what's coming. People will tune out if they don’t know to expect or what the point of the episode is.
In this episode, you'll learn how to outline your episodes and explain the content of your episode at the start of your episode so you can keep people listening (and subscribing) to your show.
Highlights, Takeaways & Quick Wins
- The purpose of outlining is to keep you focused on the big picture things before you dive into the small details.
- Start your outline with your big idea. This will be the main topic of the episode.
- In your intro, tell your listeners what they can expect. Explain to them why this topic matters and why they should care.
- You don’t have to do any real writing inside of a mind map outline. It’s just for laying out the main sections and big ideas of the episode.
- Invest some time every week doing additional research on your topic.
- Find out what other people are saying about your topic.
- Find and address any counter-arguments.
Why Outline?
If you’ve never done outlines before for your podcast, I recommend trying it.
If you don’t have an outline, you won’t have structure. Your show won’t feel like it has direction. You might forget important things.
If you’re doing an interview, you might miss important questions or forget to talk about certain things.
While doing an interview, it’s ok to go with the flow and the conversation, but your listeners will appreciate if you prepare topics to talk about with your guest.
The purpose of outlining is to keep you focused on the big picture things before you dive into the small details.
If you try to write out an episode from start to finish, it’s easy to get bogged down in the details of one section and lose sight of the big picture.
But don’t take my word for it. Listen to what these folks have to say about outlining:
Scotty: I’ve been doing mind mapping to begin my process of outlining. I select the main takeaways that I can focus on and then prepare the outline. Sometimes my mind goes off the outline but that’s alright. Mind maps have been huge to stop me from staring at the cursor blinking wondering where to start.
Garrett: Outlining definitely benefits me. It helps me get my thoughts organized in advance so I can just start typing away and get the rough draft finished. I do think it’s important to not stick strictly to the outline. Sometimes you’re writing and you realize the order should be different, or you need to add something, or remove something, and that’s okay. The outline isn’t the definitive.
Let's start by walking through the sections of a typical episode outline, and then dive into more detail about each piece.
Please feel free to adapt this outline to meet your needs. This is how I outline and I hope it will give you a nice starting point but it’s not a one-size-fits-all solution.
How to Start a Podcast Episode Outline
Scotty asked: Do you have your headline set before you plan your attack? Or do you start to write your outline then form an engaging headline from there?
Now, Scotty said headline, but I think he means title. I always start with the Main Topic or the Big Idea.
This can also be the title of your episode, but you don’t have to have the title before you start writing the outline. You can change the title later if you want.
Start your outline with your big idea. This will be the main topic of the episode.
After you have your main topic, what is your hook? What perspective or opinions do you have that are unique or interesting about this topic? What are your listeners going to take away from the show?
After you have your topic and hook, start writing your intro. Think about how you’re going to introduce this topic or idea to your audience.
After you have your main topic and intro, start thinking about the main points related to that topic that you want to make. These will be your headers. These are the main sub-topics or ideas that will make up the meat of your episode. You should also address counter arguments after you’ve made your main points, but I’ll talk more about tha...
How to Make a Podcast: My Podcasting Process From A to Z
Podcasting with Aaron
11/02/15 • 45 min
Have you ever wondered what it takes to make a podcast? What the steps are? This week, I’m going to walk you through my process, step by step. I'm going to give you a better understanding of what it takes to make a podcast, take some of the mystery and scariness out of podcasting, and give you actionable steps to follow to make your own podcast.
Couple quick updates to this episode: I now use MP3 chapters instead of writing time stamps for each paragraph. My show is also now hosted on Simplecast, so my workflow has gotten a lot faster/easier.
Want the cheat sheet? Here's an updated PDF of my podcast production workflow.
Key Takeaways:
- Post-production seems to be the most difficult and time consuming part of podcasting. Fortunately, it’s also the easiest to outsource. Consider hiring an editor or assistant to take care of it for you.
- If you don’t have much free time to invest in your podcast, keep it simple. Share something valuable in 3-10 minutes.
- Mind mapping is a great creative exercise that helps me capture all the things I want to talk about related to my topic.
- Create presets and templates for your tracks and use them every week.
- Be ruthless about editing both before and after recording.
- Creating an email newsletter for every episode can be time consuming, but it’s important if you want to build an list of people that you can sell to later down the road.
- Don’t be afraid to share your older episodes on social media. Grab a takeaway from the episode and post it with a link to the episode.
In this episode I’m going to walk you through my entire podcasting process, but I want to start with a question from a listener.
Emily Carlton asks: How long did your entire process take when you first started, and how long does it take now? In what areas have you become more efficient to save time?
When I first started, each episode was taking me around 5-10 hours (sometimes more). It feels like it takes less time now, but not by much.
The time it takes to produce a podcast depends on the format and how much work you want to put into it to make it awesome. If you’re ok with your episode being a little on the short side, if you don’t want to super detailed or lengthy episode notes, then you could probably record and publish an episode in an hour or two.
A few things that saved me a lot of time: Learning how to edit quickly in Logic Pro X, how to save plugin settings as defaults, and how to create channel strip and project templates.
The Three Parts of Podcasting: Preperation, Recording, and Post-Production
My podcasting process can be broken down into three parts; Preparation, Recording, and Post Production.
Preparation includes things like researching what people are interested in learning about, coming up with topics, researching those topics, and writing an outline for the episode.
Recording is making sure your audio gear is setup, connected and ready to go, then hitting record and doing the show (and live streaming if that’s a thing you do).
Post-production is editing the audio file (or files, if you have guests or co-hosts), bouncing it out to an MP3 file, tagging the file, writing show notes, uploading those things to the website for publishing, creating the email newsetter, then promoting the episode on social media.
What’s the Most Time Consuming Part of Podcasting?
Robert Guzzo asks: Can you estimate the percentage of time & effort you devote to each: preparation, recording, post-production & publishing? I’m asking more for an estimate on which parts of the process take the most time–does prep take up the majority of the overall effort for an effort, or is post-production the biggest slice of the pie?
You can either do the bulk of the work up front or later in post-production. For example, when I’m doing solo shows, I write out almost the entire show before I record it. Then I don’t have as much work on the editing or the show note writing section.
If I’m doing an interview, I have an basic outline but I don’t know what’s going to be said, so I write the show notes afterwards. It’s very time consuming but that’s just how it goes.
As I told Robert in the chat before the show, it depends on when you want to do the work. If you do more work up front, the post-production work of writing show notes will require less time.
Pre-Production
There are three main parts to pre-production:
- Choosing a topic for the episode
- Mindmapping (brainstorming)
- Writing the outline
1. Choosing a Topic
Choosing a topic involves a lot of research. When searching for topics for my show, I’m asking myself:...
A Podcast About Podcasting, for Podcasters
Podcasting with Aaron
03/01/15 • 14 min
Welcome! My name is Aaron Dowd. This is a show about how to make a great podcast.
If you're interested in learning how to start a podcast, grow an audience, or improve at all the various skills that are a part of being a podcaster, this show is for you.
In this trailer episode, I'm going to share my backstory, and talk about why I decided to start this podcast, who this show is for, and what topics I’ll be covering in future episodes.
2020 update: I've decided to change the title of this show from The Podcast Dude to Podcasting with Aaron. The main goal is the same, but I felt it was time to move on from The Podcast Dude title.
Little bit about me:
I'm a podcast producer and editor from Fort Worth, Texas. I started helping people make podcasts back in 2013. I was a full-time editor, producer, and consultant for a small podcast network and a bunch of independent shows for several years before joining Simplecast in late 2017 to be their customer success lead.
My job for the past 6 years has basically been to answer questions and help people make great podcasts.
I started this podcast in 2015 to share everything I'd learned about podcasting. After producing 75 episodes, I took a break to finish a couple of online courses about podcasting called Successful Podcasting, Logic Pro X for Podcasters, and GarageBand for Podcasters.
Topics I'll Be Covering in This Show
As I'm recording this trailer episode in September of 2019, I've already published episodes about a wide range of topics related to podcasting, including:
- How to Start a Podcast
- The Best Affordable Gear for Podcasting
- How to Grow Your Audience
- How to Outline a Podcast Episode
- How to Record Audio That Sounds Good
- How to Write Great Show Notes
- How To Sound Natural When Reading a Script
- How to Streamline Your Podcast Production Workflow
- How to Get a Job Producing Podcasts
- and more
Most of these episodes were recorded between 2015 and 2017, when I was working as a podcast editor and producer for Sean McCabe (you'll hear me mention seanwes in the show, that's him).
I hope you find my podcasting journey helpful and inspiring (remember, you don't have get everything perfect the first time).
My Story (How I Ended Up a Professional Podcast Editor and Producer)
My story really starts with music. My mom is a classically trainer singer who also plays guitar and piano, she taught me (and my siblings) how to sing and gave us piano lessons when we were very young, and I started learning how to play drums when I was 12. Pretty soon after that I decided I wanted to be a professional drummer, but I wasn’t sure how to make that happen or if I could even make any money with it.
As I got into my late teens and into my college years, I didn't really have a plan for how to achieve my dreams, so I ended up just kinda drifting for awhile, working lame jobs and wasting a lot of time and money.
I woke up one day when I was 21 and realized I hated the life I had, so I decided I'd make a big change, set some goals, and start pursuing my dreams. I wanted to be in a band and tour, but I knew that most musicians don’t make much money, and I didn't have much money, so I wasn't sure what to do.
I had started working in an automotive parts factory around that time, but the work sucked and didn't pay much, and I didn’t want to be broke my whole life. I got the idea in my head that I could find a job I could do on a laptop so that I could make money while traveling with a band.
Hey Google, How Do I Make Money From a Laptop?
So in my early twenties, I googled "how to make money from a laptop". I found some articles about how it was possible to start a web design business and work from anywhere, so I started trying to learn how to be a web and graphic designer. I discovered podcasts around this same time too, and started listening to shows like Radiolab and This American Life, but also independent shows about business and marketing and web design and audio engineering, all kinds of interesting shows. This was all between about 2009 and 2012.
How I Got Into Podcasts and Podcast Production and Editing
Podcasts played a huge role in my self-education because I could listen to shows while working, driving, or doing chores. I was learning valuable things constantly and being introduced to ideas and potential opportunities I wouldn’t have known about otherwise.
Around this same time, I also started studying audio engineering. Being a musician, I was interested in recording, mixing and mastering because I wanted to make demos for my bands.
I started a podcast with some friends I met on a now defunct social network called...
RSS Feeds Explained: How to Get Your Podcast Into All the Podcast Apps & Directories
Podcasting with Aaron
11/19/18 • 12 min
Q: What is an RSS feed?
An RSS feed is a formatted text document that contains all the important information about your show. It's hosted on a server somewhere (usually public) and has a URL so anyone can view or access its contents. It contains info about your show and your episodes: Things like your show’s title, description, episode titles, and links to the audio files for the episodes.
It is possible to write and update an RSS feed yourself, but it’s time consuming and errors or typos can break things, so managing the RSS feed is usually handled by a podcast host.
Q: Why do I need an RSS feed?
The RSS feed is basically your show. Without it, you’ll just have blog posts or audio files, but no way for people to subscribe and get new episodes unless they visit your website (or SoundCloud page or Youtube channel, etc).
Your show’s feed is what podcast apps and directories (like Apple Podcasts, Google, Spotify, and so on) will use to display your show and episodes in their apps.
People can also bypass the podcast directories and subscribe to your feed directly using any compatible app. Since RSS is an established standard, there are many apps that can subscribe to and display info from RSS feeds. In fact, I use a mac app called Reeder to subscribe to the RSS feeds for multiple blogs and websites.
Q: How do I make sure my new episodes get into Apple Podcasts and the other directories?
In order to get your show into Apple Podcasts and the other podcast directories, you’ll need to submit your show’s RSS feed URL to them. This is almost always done via a web portal, like Apple’s PodcastsConnect website or Spotify’s Podcasters.Spotify.com portal.
Once the podcast directory approves your feed (most places will within 48 hours), they will use the info in the feed to display your show in their directory. They’ll also check the feed regularly for changes and new episodes.
Here's how it works: Your show has an RSS feed and you’ve already submitted the feed url to the directories. You publish a new episode in your podcast host, and some new lines that contain info about the episode are added to your show's feed.
Since the directories are checking your show's feed for updates and new episodes, they see that a new episode has been added, and they use that info in the feed to display the episode in their app.
As soon as the directory gets the new episode and adds it to their app, anyone who has subscribed to the show through that directory will get the new episode as well.
Q: What do I do if my new episodes don’t show up in the directories right away or at all?
As long as you included the required info about your episode when you published it, the directories and apps should see the changes and update pretty quickly, although Apple says it can take them up to 24 hours to update their podcast directory.
If you can’t see the new episode in any of the podcast apps or directories, then it’s likely an issue on your end. Check with your podcast host or whoever manages/updates your show’s feed.
If you can see the episode in all the apps/directories except one, then it’s likely an issue with that directory and not anything wrong with your feed. If you’re concerned, reach out to that directory’s support team and ask if they would mind taking a look.
Q: Can I change podcast hosts or RSS feeds without breaking things or losing my show’s subscribers?
You can move hosts anytime, although it’s easier with some hosts than with others. Most hosts will copy an existing RSS feed and audio files over to their service.
After you have the URL for the new feed that was setup for your show, you’ll need to update the podcast directories so they check your new feed for updates and new episodes instead of the old one. This is usually done through the same web portal that you used to submit the show, although some places require you to send an email. Your host should be able to help if you have questions.
You can check out this article for links and instructions for submitting and updating feeds.
Q: What is a 301 redirect?
The 301 redirect directs anyone who visits the old feed URL over to the new feed URL for your show. It’s kind of like setting up a mail forward.
Your podcast host should allow you to add a 301 redirect to your old feed if you’ve moved your show to a new host and gotten a new feed for your show. If your podcast host doesn't make it easy for you to easily redirect your feed to a new feed, your host sucks.
Q: I’ve read or heard about an iTunes new-feed tag that needs to be added to a new feed. What’s that?
The iTune...
Shawn Blanc | Content Strategy and Growing an Audience
Podcasting with Aaron
12/05/16 • 52 min
Shawn Blanc is a writer, small-business owner, productivity coach, and creative entrepreneur living in Kansas City with his wife and their three sons. Shawn has been teaching and learning about creativity, diligence, and focus for over a decade, and his online courses have helped thousands of people do their best creative work while learning to thrive in the midst of life’s tensions. A while back, Shawn sent an email that caught my attention. He wrote about the importance of creating a customer avatar and developing a content strategy to connect with them and help them achieve their goals. I liked the email so much that I emailed him back and asked him to come on my show to talk about his journey to making a living through writing online and what he’s learned about growing an audience. Shawn also shares my passion for productivity and deep focus; so much so that he’s gathered 12 incredibly smart people for a free 5 day online summit about the power of focused life. In this episode, Shawn shares how he was able to make a full-time living by writing online, and we discuss how you can grow your audience by creating a customer avatar (your ideal listener) and creating content that addresses their needs and desires.
Highlights, Takeaways & Quick Wins:
- Interview your customers to get a real life picture of your audience.
- Start selling products as early as possible.
- Your customer avatar is a real person that exists out there.
- Use the language of your customer avatar in your content to create a deep connection with them.
- Be in people’s weekly cycle at a minimum.
- Your niche is going to draw your audience but your ancillary interests will keep people interested.
- Show up consistently to earn people’s trust and create an anticipation of future value.
- Do guest-based podcasts to grow your audience.
- Reach people that are far outside of your social circle by connecting with the people you can connect with right now.
Show Notes
Aaron: Shawn Blanc is a writer/small business owner/productivity coach/creative entrepreneur living in Kansas City with his wife and their three sons, and Shawn is a member of our Community. He’s been teaching and learning about creativity, diligence, and focus for over a decade now.
His online courses have helped thousands of people do their best creative work while learning to thrive in the midst of life’s tensions. A while back, Shawn sent an email that caught my attention. He was writing about the importance of creating a customer avatar, that’s knowing who you’re creating for and what you want to help them achieve, what kind of person you want to help them become.
I thought it was really interesting, so I sent him an email right back. I said, “Shawn, do you want to come on the show to talk about this? I think podcasters need to hear about this idea of customer avatars and also content strategy.” Shawn agreed, and he also shares my passion for productivity and focus, so much so that he has gathered 12 incredibly smart people for a five day online summit about the power of a focused life, and that’s going to be starting, I believe, as this episode comes out.
If you’re listening to this in your podcast player, it’s starting today, I think. I’ll give you that link later. In this episode, I want to talk with Shawn about why you as a podcaster need to create a customer avatar, know who you’re creating for, develop a content strategy, and then also the benefits of deep focus, what we call deep work.
A few small changes in your daily habits can lead to big improvements in your productivity and creative output.
Shawn, that’s one of the longer intros I’ve ever done. Thanks for joining me today. I really appreciate you being here.
Shawn: Thanks, Aaron. I love it. Super excited to be here.
Shawn Blanc
Aaron: I think of you, Shawn, as a writer and as the creator of an online course called The Focus Course, which is great. You’re so much more than that. Do you want to give everyone a quick introduction, how you got here and where you came from? I would also like to hear what your biggest struggles have been over the years of getting to the point where you’re at right now.
Shawn: Absolutely. I’m in Kansas City. Originally, I’m from Denver. I’m a Colorado guy at heart. I’ve been married for going on 12 years, and my wife and I have three boys. It’s insane at our house. We used to call the first two the Twin Tornadoes, but we just had our third eight or nine weeks ago.
Aaron: Congrats!
Shawn: It’s awesome. Love it. I love being a dad. I used to be a drummer. I know that we have a lot of musicians around here. Sean McCabe plays a little bit of music, I think.
Aaron: Yeah, he used to write music, just like he used to do lettering. I still play drums.
Shawn: I used to p...
How to Sound Natural When Reading a Podcast Script
Podcasting with Aaron
05/30/16 • 30 min
It seems like some people can get on a podcast or video and sound so effortless and natural. How is this possible? What's the secret?
I got a question from a listener asking how they could improve their speaking voice when reading from a script. Since most of my episodes are scripted, I decided to share everything I've learned about improving my speaking voice and how I read from a script without sounding monotone or boring.
Key Takeaways:
- If you want to get better at something, do it everyday, even if it’s just 10-30 minutes.
- Telling yourself you’ll never be good at something only keeps you from getting better at it. Instead, try saying, “I’m not good at this yet, but I’m going to put in the time and get better at it.”
- Get comfortable with talking out loud and listening back to your recordings. It’s how you get better.
- I believe that success comes with skill, so don’t worry if you don’t have a great voice yet. Work on improving and you’ll grow a bigger audience as you improve.
- Remember that not everyone is going to like the way you talk. You gotta learn to be ok with that.
The first (and I’d say most important) piece of advice I have for you if you want to improve your ability to read out loud is:
Practice Reading Out Loud Every Day
Jay Britton said this in episode 48, and it’s the best advice I’ve heard: Reading a script out loud is a skill. If you want to get better, practice.
Like all skills, you aren’t born with a natural ability. As you do it more often, you’ll get more comfortable with it, you’ll get better at it, and people will start to notice. They’ll tell you you’re good at it which will increase your confidence and make you want to do it even more.
If you want to get better at something, do it everyday, even if it’s just 10-30 minutes.
Learn to Read Ahead
Another great piece of advice Jay Britton gave was learn to read ahead while you’re reading something out loud.
Reading ahead will feel unnatural at first, but after you do it for awhile it will get easier and you’ll start making less mistakes. You’ll make fewer mistakes because you’ll know which words are coming, and you’ll be less likely to mess up the intonation of a sentence.
Don’t Worry About the Type of Voice You Have, Worry About How Well You Can Use It
We can’t all sound like Ben Toalson or Barry White. Instead of being sad that you don’t have a deep sexy voice, focus instead on being a confident and dynamic speaker. Learn how to use your voice to the best of its abilities.
Here are a few things to keep in mind when you’re speaking:
- Use emotion in your voice. Don’t talk like a robot.
- Project your voice. Not too loud, but clear and full.
- If you mess up, stop, relax, and say the word or sentence over correctly. Don’t freak out or apologize.
- Don’t rush. It’s ok to talk a little slower than average if you speak intentionally.
- Speak clearly, make sure you say every word correctly (enunciate).
Stop Telling Yourself “I Can’t”
We all have things we’re good at, right? We all have things we’re comfortable with. If you’re telling yourself that you’ll never be good at reading or talking out loud, I need you to stop doing that. You can get better. It just takes practice.
Telling yourself you’ll never be good at something only keeps you from getting better at it. Instead, try saying, “I’m not good at this yet, but I’m going to put in the time and get better at it.”
Work on Your Podcast Voice
You aren’t stuck with the voice that you have. You aren’t stuck with the way that you speak right now. You can practice speaking in a way that people will find interesting.
I think of podcast voice as kind of like Will Farrell’s character’s voice in Anchorman. You want to speak in your voice, just a little slower (if you’re a fast talker), and a little clearer.
Mimic the People With Voices You Like For Practice, But Try to Find Your Own Unique Voice
When you’re just starting out, it’s ok to imitate people who have voices that you love listening to. Don’t steal their lines, but pay close attention to the way they speak. How fast do they talk? How do they emphasize certain words? What do you like about the way they speak?
You Might Have to Suck for Awhile.
You can either practice and get better in public, or in your bedroom.
It’s ok to make test recordings that will never be published (I’m doing this with video right now, actually). Play around with your voice and see what sounds good to you.
Experiment. Turn on your microphone and just talk for awhile. Read a book out loud.
Get comfortable with talking out loud and listening back to your recordi...
A 30 Minute Guide to Starting a Podcast
Podcasting with Aaron
11/16/23 • 33 min
Hello friends! I need to republish an episode for work stuff, so I thought I'd share this one from 2021 again and say hello!
Also I'd love to hear any questions you have about podcasts or podcasting, please visit this Google Form I set up and fill it out if you'd like to share your question(s)!
Hope you've been well!
Aaron Dowd,
Fort Worth Texas
November 16, 2023
---
My goal for this episode is to give you a big picture roadmap for how to start a podcast. You give me 30 minutes of your time, I'll tell you everything I know about starting a podcast.
This isn’t meant to be an exhaustive guide that covers everything you’ll need to know (that would take awhile longer and I'd like to keep this pretty short), but my hope is that it gives you enough information to help you start making progress on starting your own podcast.
If you’re listening to this in a podcast app, I’d recommend pausing it and switching over to my YouTube video. I’ll be showing some screenshots and other visual aids that I think you’ll find helpful. Here's the link: https://youtu.be/4zfglqqHHtA
Connect:
Website: https://www.aarondowd.com/
Threads: https://threads.com/aarondowdtx
Send me your podcasting questions: https://forms.gle/mGtoq9dQZjBrJNKt9
Aaron Dowd
Granbury, Texas
December 20, 2020
(Last updated November 16, 2023)
Show more best episodes
Show more best episodes
FAQ
How many episodes does Podcasting with Aaron have?
Podcasting with Aaron currently has 43 episodes available.
What topics does Podcasting with Aaron cover?
The podcast is about Design, How To, Podcasts, Education and Arts.
What is the most popular episode on Podcasting with Aaron?
The episode title '90: Good Sound Part 2: Connecting Your Microphone and Headphones' is the most popular.
What is the average episode length on Podcasting with Aaron?
The average episode length on Podcasting with Aaron is 37 minutes.
How often are episodes of Podcasting with Aaron released?
Episodes of Podcasting with Aaron are typically released every 14 days.
When was the first episode of Podcasting with Aaron?
The first episode of Podcasting with Aaron was released on Mar 1, 2015.
Show more FAQ
Show more FAQ