Your Podcast Consultant

Welcome to “Your Podcast Consultant,” where every episode brings you actionable insights to elevate your podcasting game. Today, we've got an eye-opening discussion on the crucial differences between pitching and networking – and why knowing your audience is vital. Our host, Dave Jackson, mentions a post he saw from Steve Stewart.

I share insider tips on navigating online communities, the intricacies of offering your services without breaking community rules, and why networking within your field can be a goldmine of opportunity.

Join us as we dive into the art of making meaningful connections, steering clear of common faux pas, and enhancing your podcast's potential with strategic community engagement. Stay tuned to unlock the secrets of smart networking and avoid looking 'silly' in professional groups.

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When you join the School of Podcasting you get:

Step-by-step tutorials

A private podcast mastermind filled with brilliant podcasters

Unlimited one-on-one consulting (not a typo)

A 30-day money-back guarantee

Join today at www.schoolofpodcasting.com/consultant

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As someone who has been helping people understand technology for over 20 years, I'm here to say words matter. Today I help you understand two confusing terms floating around the podcasting space so you can stop confusing your audience.

Show Notes

Show notes is a phrase I'm going to swap out for "Episode Description." We know what a show is. We know what notes are, but your listener may not understand what it means when you put them together. Podcasters created this phrase, and most podcasters understand the phrase. Listeners may be a bit confused. If you add a little more clarity, they may avoid being confused. By calling the description of your episode the "Episode Description" may lead to less confusion.

YouTube Podcast

Youtube launched a "feature" to turn your YouTube playlist into a "Podcast." To this, I say, Just because there is a mouse in the cookie jar doesn't mean it's a cookie." You need an RSS feed to be a podcast.

Yes, YouTubers create content. But they are no podcasters. They are YouTubers. Technically we are all content creators.

Mentioned In This Episode

Profit From Your Podcast Book

Capsho (AI Transcription)

Swell AI (AI Transcription)

READY TO START YOUR PODCAST?

When you join the School of Podcasting, you get:

Step-by-step tutorials

A private podcast mastermind filled with brilliant podcasters

Unlimited one-on-one consulting (not a typo)

A 30-day money-back guarantee

Join today at www.schoolofpodcasting.com/listener

Timeline

00:00:08 - Words Matter (Opening) 00:00:53 - Show Notes 00:02:28 - The Most Upsetting Mistake 00:03:21 - What Else Do You Put In Your Episode Description? 00:03:52 - Google Wants GOOD Words 00:05:06 - AI Tools Need a Human Touch 00:05:24 - Your Episode Description is a Blog Post 00:06:13 - A Mouse in the Cookie Jar 00:07:47 - Embrace being a "Youtuber" 00:08:20 - Why Do I Care? 00:08:44 - Join the School of Podcasting

If there is a problem with the sound of your podcast, the way you troubleshoot it is by isolating each part of your signal chain (the path your voice takes from the microphone to the cable to the interface to the recorder, etc.

I recently attended an event and came back with lots of ideas I want to try to grow my audience. These include:

• Using a tool to help with episode titles
• Promoting the show on Tiktok
• Better Artwork

and many more.

So when we come back from these events we are excited and we want to see our download numbers soar and we put all these steps into place at once.

If this works, this is great and we keep doing all the steps. However, what if you chose five things to add to your already busy schedule and only one of them is responsible for your growth? That means you are wasting your time doing something that is not helping.

This is how podcast burnout happens. We watch YouTube, or go to events, read a book, etc and we get all sorts of ideas and we implement them all. Then later we get more content with more ideas and we feel overwhelmed. We feel we HAVE to do them ALL.

If you implement one strategy at a time, you can better see if doing that strategy moves the needle. I recently started using Tiktok. Consequently, I can see where it is driving more traffic to my website.

I am using a tool called switch which makes it very easy to monitor if people are clicking on things. Then you can see if something is working (or not) and if it is working, is it working enough to keep doing it? I will often create a coupon code to track and see if someone signs up for the School of Podcasting. That is my goal, and if I see multiple people have used a coupon such as YPC (for your podcast consultant) I can see where it is worth continuing to do this show.

The key here is you need to be patient and only implement ONE strategy at a time and then give it a month. If you can, give it two. Then you can look at your data, make informed decisions and only do those strategies and actions that are working, quit doing those that don't, and save your sanity as you watch your show grow.

I'm Dave Jackson and I want to be your podcast consultant who helps you plan, launch, grow, and monetize your show. Let's see what we can do together...

People ask me, "How Long Should My Podcast Be?" What is the ideal podcast length? For a while, everyone wanted to make a 20-minute podcast as that was the average commute in the US. I prefer the answer from Valerie Geller in her book Beyond Powerful Radio A Communicator's Guide to the Internet Age: News, Talk, Information which is, "There is no such thing as too long, only too boring." You can get the audiobook for free.

Longer Podcasts Are Doing Very Well

In episode 93 of Libsyn.com's The Feed Podcast, VP of Podcaster Relations Rob Walch states that at Libsyn.com

84% of shows with 100,000 downloads are 51 minutes are longer

Those that were 2.0 hours or more with 100,000 downloads per episode or more made up 13.2% of the podcasts on Libsyn.

Those that were 30 minutes or less made up 9.9% of shows.

This Doesn't Mean All Podcasts Should Be Long

The bottom line is, your podcast should be as long as it needs to be and not a minute more.

When I reverse engineered all the content I consumed, I found that the content did one or more of the following:

It made me Laugh
It made me Cry
It made me Think
It made me Grown
It Educated me
It Entertained me

If you can do more than one of these at the same time, you're on to something. If your content does not of the above, do NOT press record.

I would love to help you shape your message. I want to be your podcast consultant.

As someone who works in tech support for a podcast media hosting company, I get to see a wide view of the podcasting space. With this in mind, I want to help you get your podcast questions answered quickly.

Tip 1: Write down your login name and password.

There are times when we don't post an episode for a while and when we fire up the microphone we forget how to login. I use a tool called LastPass that securely stores my login and passwords.

TIP 2: Be SUPER Specific. Here are general terms that people use. My Podcast (name?) The Episode (which one) Isn't playing (where). Isn't displaying (where) My Client (which one)

TIP 3: Send the ticket from the email you use to login

This way if you forget to say the name of your podcast, then the tech support person should be able to look up your account based on your email.

TIP 4: Let Me Retrace Your Steps

So you feel something isn't working right. To recreate the problem, I need to know exactly what you've tried and how you did it. So instead of, "I can't update my billing." It would be. I logged into my account for my show (name of show) on my phone and I copied and pasted in my new credit card number. When I click save it go the error (then the error).

Tip 5: Uncropped Screenshots Are Always Welcome

Here is an article on how to take screenshots. You can paste these into a Word or Google Doc and then attach them to a ticket. TIP 6: Sending Multiple Tickets Can Slow Down The Response

I know the squeaky wheel gets the grease. However, when you send in a ticket, and another, and another. Instead of having all of your information in one place, I now have to organize all of your comments and that takes more time. Be patient. We want you up and running. Also, trying to shame people by posting to social media isn't helpful either. The social media person often is not a person on the tech support team.

TIP 7: Don't Ask Facebook

I realize you in a panic in some cases, and you REALLY need an answer. When you ask Facebook there are a few things to consider:

1. You are asking people who may not have any insights into the issue, but respond anyway. 2. The competitors of your current media host will start telling you to switch to their service.

I'm not going to ask my Dentist how to add a new starter to my car. The best place to get the best answer is from the team of your media host. They know the system inside and out.

TIP 8: Patience is a Virtue

I understand you're frustrated, but taking your frustration out on the person who is trying to help you doesn't help the situation. This especially goes for churches.

Summary:

Your tech support team wants you to be successful. They want you up and running sooner or later. No detail is too small. Many times if you log into your media host first, the information about your account is already included.