Podcast Pontifications artwork

Podcast Pontifications

610 episodes - English - Latest episode: about 1 year ago - ★★★★ - 30 ratings

THIS SHOW IS CURRENTLY ON HIATUS - PLEASE ENJOY THE ARCHIVE OF CONTENT FOCUSED ON MAKING PODCASTING BETTER.

Where plenty of podcasts about podcasting (PAPs) tell you what to do, Podcast Pontifications gives you what to think about in podcasting.

These insightful forward-looking episodes have one central tenet: Podcasting needs to be made better, not just easier.

Designed for the working podcaster, these short-form episodes get you thinking about the future of podcasting and how you can better prepare yourself -- and your shows -- for the future. The goal is simple: help you develop critical thinking skills needed to make the best future-proofed podcast you can with the tools of today. Plus a few sneak previews of what might be coming tomorrow.

Hosted by Podcast Hall of Fame Class of 2022 inductee Evo Terra.

This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:

OP3 - https://op3.dev/privacy
Chartable - https://chartable.com/privacy
Podsights - https://podsights.com/privacy

Business Education Self-Improvement communications distribution futurism management media production
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Episodes

Getting Your Podcast To Go Viral: A Healthy Move? [S3E121]

May 04, 2021 16:55 - 11 minutes - 10.9 MB

Will Facebook become the home of social audio for podcasters? We’re told Facebook will soon end its prohibition of audio stance, finally allowing podcasters—and anybody else, really—to share full episodes of podcasts as audio files in social posts. As a working podcaster, you should be thinking about what happens to our world when your podcast episodes can finally “go viral”.  And if social media can actually start driving meaningful, socially boosted attention to a show in a way that the ...

Pondering Podcasting's Partiality Problem [S3E120]

May 03, 2021 16:55 - 11 minutes - 10.6 MB

Seasoned podcasters have learned to expect a delay between time-of-publish and when the latest episode will publicly appear in various directories. But we’ve assumed that subscribers/followers bypass the public directory update so our episodes arrive on the devices of those listeners within minutes of publishing. We’re wrong about that. James Cridland of Podnews has an excellent breakdown of the infrastructure change Apple has put in place that exacerbates this problem for podcasting.  Sp...

Tapping Into The Power Of Podfaded Podcasts [S3E119]

April 29, 2021 16:55 - 11 minutes - 10.4 MB

Can you breathe life back into one of your podfaded or inactive shows? Better yet; can you use your podfaded or inactive show as a power source for a different podcast? In my experience, I’ve found that a significant number of people don’t bother to unfollow or unsubscribe from a podcast that stops publishing new episodes.  Before you ask how can you tap into that power, you first have to figure out if it’s worth the effort. The answer to the question lies in one of the most elusive metrics...

The Proud Way Of Finding Success In Podcasting [S3E118]

April 28, 2021 16:55 - 8 minutes - 7.83 MB

If you’ll indulge me, I’d like to refactor some Ted Lasso wisdom towards podcasting with this proclamation, which I hope doesn’t offend David:  Success isn’t about building a big podcast. It’s about being proud of the work you do as a podcaster. Are you proud of the work you’re doing in podcasting right now? The concept of pride is a tricky thing. Are we supposed to be proud of the state or country we were born in simply because we were born there? None of us had any control over where we...

The Art Of Selling And Keeping Your Podcast [S3E117]

April 27, 2021 16:55 - 11 minutes - 10.5 MB

Yesterday, Roman Mars announced the sale of 99% Invisible to SiriusXM and Jay Acunzo sold his podcast about podcasting, 3 Clips, to Castos. I’ve dutifully added those moves to the Who Owns Who In Podcasting? Airtable that Anne Baird created to keep track of…well, who owns who in podcasting, as it’s becoming quite the tangled skein!  If someone were to come knocking on your door with an offer to buy your podcast, should you sell it? My answer is an enthusiastic but qualified YES!  Anytime t...

Updating Your Podcast Listener Experience Assumptions [S3E116]

April 26, 2021 16:55 - 12 minutes - 11.9 MB

In an odd twist of irony, I'm about to have a chat with Mark Asquith from Rebel Base Media entitled “Creating Experiences that Inspire Loyal Communities”. It’s one of the first sessions happening at PHX Startup Week, and it's going to be very hard for me not to use Apple Podcasts botched Apple Podcast Subscription rollout as a negative example. If you’re still basing your assumptions on podcasting experiences before 2018, your assumptions are terribly antiquated. And not in a good way. Whe...

What's Apple's Motive For Apple Podcasts Subscriptions? [S3E115]

April 22, 2021 16:55 - 10 minutes - 10 MB

With the new Apple Podcasts Subscriptions, Apple sees a significant revenue opportunity for them, so podcasting is finally getting the attention it deserves.  Seamless Podcast Listening Worth Paying For At its most basic, Apple Podcasts Subscriptions allow for a frictionless way to let listeners pay for podcasts without having to manage multiple shows, feeds, etc. But I don’t think Apple is directly going after the premium/private podcast market. Thinking Like A Podcast Developer But dev...

The Easy Way To Make A Great Podcast [S3E114]

April 20, 2021 16:55 - 10 minutes - 9.87 MB

I spend a great deal of time talking about the need to make podcasting better, not just easier. But candidly, I'm more than a little concerned that the message received is “don’t do easy things” So let me be clear: the majority of the work you do as a podcaster should be easy. Imagine a piece of paper divided into four quadrants. Let the line that goes across the page represent difficulty increasing to the right. Let the line that goes from the top to the bottom of the page represent quali...

Reducing Your Anxiety Around Big Podcasting Changes [S3E113]

April 19, 2021 16:55 - 10 minutes - 9.53 MB

There’s way too much stress in podcasting. Stress brought on by speculation of coming changes that podcasters have little control over. Take the reports from Apple Podcasts beta testers that there’s a new “frequency” badge coming. What does that mean for your show, and what can you do about it? You don’t know, and nothing. In that order. The same goes for whatever else Apple might announce regarding podcasting tomorrow. I assure you that you will not need to take immediate action. Just lik...

Is A Top Placement In Spotify's Podcast Charts Worth The Price? [S3E112]

April 15, 2021 16:55 - 12 minutes - 11.7 MB

Spotify has made their podcast ranking charts available via a public webpage. Spotify tells us that a show’s follower count and user play activity are used in determining which podcasts and episodes appear on their refreshed-every-24-hours charts. Which makes sense. Shows with big audiences that get a lot of recent plays are exactly who should be there.  Spotify is hoping (strongly suggesting might be more apt) you’ll spend considerable effort convincing as many people as you can to follow ...

Have Evergreen Podcasts Gone Out Of Season? [S3E111]

April 14, 2021 16:55 - 11 minutes - 10.8 MB

Recently I’ve been thinking about what’s happening in my listeners’ lives when they aren’t listening to my podcast, and how much they are impacted by the seasonality of the world around them. Should I consider that seasonal/cyclical nature when I’m planning episodes? More to the point: should you? But before you make the assumption “Nah, bro. I’m evergreen and I’m good,” take a moment to read through these possible examples and see if your opinion changes. If your podcast is about a topic—...

Choosing The Difficult Path To Making Podcasting Easier [S3E110]

April 13, 2021 16:55 - 11 minutes - 10.9 MB

It's too easy to gloss over the difficult parts of podcasting that, when done right, help make a show truly outstanding and remarkable.  If you think about the process you go through when making an episode of your podcast, you’ll find some of them are less easy than others, possibly even difficult for you. Being a podcaster requires a variety of skills. It’s the rare superhuman (whom I’ve never met) who’s skilled in all aspects required to make a great podcast. Everyone struggles to complet...

Making Bigger & Better Podcasts By Sharing The Wealth [S3E109]

April 12, 2021 16:55 - 11 minutes - 10.7 MB

When the pandemic just getting started almost a year ago, an existing client introduced me to an associate of hers who was looking for a production partner on a new podcasting idea she had. While the company already had some internal competency in podcasting, two things were  clear:  The standard business podcast format wouldn’t be sufficient I’d need some help!  So I reached out to Sam Walker, veteran podcaster with BBC chops who moved to Phoenix literally on a whim two years ago. We pre...

Podcasting Like A Pro When You Don't Sound Like A Pro [S3E108]

April 08, 2021 16:55 - 9 minutes - 9.08 MB

The phrase “authentic voice” is very overused. But when it comes to the voice listeners want to hear on your podcast, your “authentic voice” is absolutely the right terminology. But a quick caveat and a recognition that not everyone's authentic voice is a match for their authentic self. If the voice that comes out of your face does not match the voice of the person you are in your head, then please understand that I am in no way suggesting you get over it and deal with what you were given. ...

Unlocking Podcast Listener Data Without Being Creepy [S3E107]

April 07, 2021 16:55 - 13 minutes - 12 MB

With the fresh news that Amazon Music/Audible has quietly launched a podcasters portal, I expect they’ll soon join the ranks of Apple, Spotify, and Google Podcasts, probably disappointing podcasters when it comes to our data needs. It blows my mind every day that in the 16+ years podcasting has existed, we still can’t answer the most basic question every podcaster wants to know: How big is my audience? Spotify’s Podcaster Dashboard has a metric they call “Listeners”, even though it’s not l...

Four Dumb Things About Podcasting We Still Haven't Fixed [S3E106]

April 06, 2021 16:55 - 11 minutes - 10.1 MB

There’s no doubt that we have, indeed, build a real economy out of podcasting. And I’m thankful for that, as podcasting is my only job! But some things about the podcasting economy we’ve built are still dumb. And I hope it doesn't take us another 16 years to stop doing some of those dumb things. Smart Speakers still suck for listening to podcasts. I lay a lot of the blame at the non-existent feet of voice-powered AI in its current state. Most of us are used to using our voice as the primary...

Five Additions To Move Your Podcast's Episodes From Good To Great [S3E105]

April 05, 2021 16:55 - 11 minutes - 10.3 MB

Today we’re going to finally pay attention to that nagging suspicion that we often have when listening to the final mix/master an episode suggesting to us that maybe, just maybe we could make it better.  What’s missing that might make your podcast episode better? Maybe one of these five things. Is a segment missing? Are you including a wrap-up section? Do you need a “good news” segment? Should you mention other takes?  Does this episode need internal guideposts? Adding in “here’s what’s c...

Will The Race For Podcasting's Profits Drive Our Dystopia? [S3E104]

April 01, 2021 16:55 - 13 minutes - 11.9 MB

You probably saw the announcement yesterday that AdvertiseCast had been acquired by Libsyn. This isn’t about that. It’s about a possible dystopian future when all podcast hosting companies have such an easy-to-use monetization engine that they require podcasters to use it. I think most podcasters would switch. No money out of pocket and a steam of revenue coming in? Heck yes, most podcasters would say yes. But such an action would have other unintended consequences, and I loves me some uni...

5 Boring Ways To Keep Your Podcast Fresh [S3E103]

March 31, 2021 16:55 - 12 minutes - 11 MB

There was a time when all a podcaster had to do was launched, publish, and a podcast would find its own audience.  But today there are millions of podcasts and some invest jaw-dropping sums of money to get all the discovery attention. To rise above the din, you need to do the boring things. Here are five: 1. Better In-App Episode Details (Show Notes) - This remains one of the biggest areas of neglect in podcasting. Which means if you do it right, you can get a quick win. 2. Find Time To E...

Growing Your Podcast Like An Architect [S3E102]

March 30, 2021 16:55 - 11 minutes - 10.3 MB

Podcast producers who don’t leave things to chance often fall into one of two camps: architects or gardeners. Architects must understand the client’s (or their own) vision for a podcast and give it all the structure and materials necessary to bring it to life. Large amounts of up-front planning, which can go on for weeks and or months. Part of that time is spent detailing the arc the episodes will follow and sketching out the segments that will be used throughout the show. Then comes the s...

Taking The Creepy Out Of Personalized Podcasts [S3E101]

March 29, 2021 16:55 - 12 minutes - 11.3 MB

Marketers ruin everything and it's difficult to have a conversation about personalization in podcasting without drawing some well-deserved side-eye from privacy advocates. (Hi, Andrew!)  Stripping away all the negative connotations and possible/probable nefarious behavior, most reasonable people would prefer a more personalized experience for many things they encounter in their daily lives. Think instead about what a more personalized listening experience might be if we abandon the one-size...

Finally! A Podcast Website That Doesn't Suck [S3E100]

March 25, 2021 16:55 - 12 minutes - 11.4 MB

Yesterday, I unveiled a new website. It showcases the design talents of graphic designer Nik Gill and hired UX designer Steve Yong. But a lot of credit goes to Juergen Berkessel and an idea/template he now calls the Conversion Optimized Podcast Homepage.  My first ham-fisted attempt to follow his guidelines is preserved for eternity via Intenet Archive’s Wayback Machine. Not long after, I made another not-very-pretty attempt at building it better, and it worked. Really, really well, as you’...

The Perilous Life Of A Podcast Producer [S3E99]

March 24, 2021 16:55 - 11 minutes - 10.8 MB

Being a podcast producer sounds like a fun job. Hey, it’s my job to produce podcasts on other people’s behalf and I can tell you that yes, absolutely, it is fun. And yes, absolutely, I love it. Most of the time. Other times, it’s just a job. There's a conflict between creators like you and me who want to create amazing things and those who we create for. They’ll tell us they want the same thing we want: to create amazing content. But what they really want is to make money.  In most compani...

Solving Podcasting's Opportunistic Challenge Today [S3E98]

March 23, 2021 16:55 - 11 minutes - 10.9 MB

Remember surfing through TV channels or scanning through radio stations, stopping when a show or conversation sounded interesting? Or skimming the sections of a newspaper or randomly flipping through a magazine? For many, this opportunistic style of content consumption is rather antiquated. Interactive TV  guides, podcasts piped through our car radios, and news delivered to our news apps. We’re choosing the content we want to consume, often when we want to consume it. Just like podcasts. P...

Reality Checking Account For Your Big Podcasting Dreams [S3E97]

March 22, 2021 16:55 - 10 minutes - 9.7 MB

The first mass-circulated daily newspaper was launched for about $10K in today’s money. 15 years later, those costs had shot up to $2.5m. Podcasting is a little over 15 years, and our costs haven’t increased 250x. Or have they? For most podcasts, that’s true. But the cost to make a mass-circulated podcast that becomes a household name? That’s different. 15 years ago, podcasting was small potatoes in both show selection and audience size. But soon there will be millions of podcasts listened...

Would You Prefer Accurate Or Actionable Podcast Metrics? [S3E96]

March 17, 2021 16:55 - 12 minutes - 11 MB

Do you want accurate stats that count every single access made to your audio files? Or do you want actionable data that inform you how your audience is responding to your podcast and your podcasting outreach efforts? You can only choose one, it seems. Overcast, a privacy-focused and quite popular iOS app that even I use on occasion, recently announced and implemented—and then quickly retracted, but the day is young— a change that would have blocked data intelligence services like Chartable...

Getting Paid For Your Podcast Without Podcasting More [S3E95]

March 16, 2021 16:55 - 11 minutes - 10.7 MB

I'm not so sure that bonus content for podcasters is the best thing. As uncovered in this year’s Infinite Dial 2021 report, the average weekly podcast consumer only listens to eight episodes per week. And only 19% of weekly listeners said their number is 11 or more. Offering additional episodes to consume when their listening cup already runneth over seems like a bad idea. Also, the thought of making an additional episode spikes many podcaster’s anxiety levels. And what about your friendly...

Unpacking Podcasting's Growth Seen In Edison's Infinite Dial 2021 [S3E94]

March 15, 2021 16:55 - 11 minutes - 10.6 MB

Today’s episode covers the key podcasty bits from the Infinite Dial 2021 report from Edison Research and Triton Digital. Here are the choice bits: 222 million Americans (78%) are familiar with podcasting 162 million Americans 957%) have listened to a podcast 116 million Americans (41%) listen to podcasts monthly 80 million Americans (28%) listen to podcasts every week For the purpose of the report, Edison creates three buckets based on the age of respondents. Here’s how the estimated si...

How Much Trust Can You Have In Podcasting? [S3E93]

March 11, 2021 16:55 - 9 minutes - 9.04 MB

The impetus for yesterday's episode, as it turns out, was inaccurate. I’m leaving the content up, but I will be posting clarifications/corrections for the part that turned out to be nothing more than a bug in a beta release. Because that’s the trustworthy thing to do. Podcasting has grown too big for any one person or company to have all figured out, no matter what they tell you. That means we podcasters have to trust others along the way. Like: Pundits like me: Do they know that of which ...

Apple Podcasts' Switch To Streaming Will Decimate Downloads [S3E92 - CORRECTED]

March 10, 2021 16:55 - 11 minutes - 10.8 MB

If the beta version of Apple Podcasts in iOS 14.5 is to be believed... ----- UPDATE AND CORRECTION: No, the beta version is not to be believed, we now know. It’s reported as a bug in the beta version and Apple claims the default “always download” functionality of Apple Podcasts will not change when the release is made public later this month. However, the implications and speculations on this action are still interesting, so I’m leaving them for you to read — Evo ----- ... Apple Podcasts...

Follow This: Apple Podcasts Is Killing The Subscribe Button [S3E91]

March 09, 2021 16:55 - 11 minutes - 10.4 MB

James Cridland of Podnews broke the news that Apple Podcasts will soon the word “subscribe” and present the option to “follow” a show.  Tom Webster from Edison Research has plenty of survey data that show almost half of non-podcast listeners say they don’t listen because podcasts cost money. For the better part of 17 years, we’ve been asking people to subscribe. Yet most people still don’t have the podcast listening habit. Will it be more inviting—and will see a spike in new listeners—if we...

Thanking A Few Of The Women Who Make Podcasting Better [S3E90]

March 08, 2021 16:55 - 10 minutes - 9.26 MB

In celebration of International Women's Day, this cis-gendered white Gen Xer dude has selected a few women in podcasting who you need to know more about. Mur Lafferty was one of the first people I collaborated with in podcasting. She is the editor of Escape Pod, the long-running science fiction podcast magazine, and the also long-running podcast, I Should Be Writing.  Susan Schwartz was the first client my frim took on whom I didn’t personally know. She is the host of the drinks-industry p...

Ways To Make Real Money In Podcasting Without Selling Your Soul [S3E89]

March 04, 2021 16:55 - 12 minutes - 11 MB

NFTs or non-fungible tokens have come to podcasting. Like most things cryptocurrency, I’ve but a tenuous grasp. So I’ll leave it to others to give you a primer and simply say it’s a new way for creators to get paid. Including creators or digital content.  Brian McCullough, host of Techmeme Ride Home has made an NFT out of his episode, which doesn’t surprise me in the least. But monetization in podcasting is not—and never has been—a one-size-fits-all prospect. Here are some of the ways podc...

The Case For Upgrading Your Podcasting Recipes [S3E88]

March 03, 2021 16:55 - 9 minutes - 8.41 MB

Podcasting tasks—the things you and I do to ply our craft—fall into one of two categories: Intrinsic tasks are things that you’ve internalized. They either come with proof or they are a part of Your Way of podcasting.  Instructions-required tasks are everything else. Things you were taught about podcasting but still aren’t quite sure of. Assumptions you've made from watching other podcasters. Checklist or guides you acquired in a class or online course. Got it? Now, once you’ve identified...

The Future of Podcasting Conferences Post-Pandemic [S3E87]

March 02, 2021 16:55 - 10 minutes - 9.71 MB

Is it weird for me to hope that podcasting conferences never go back to normal?  I could do without barely-competent but terribly-enthusiastic presenters doling out bad advice from the stage. But Zoom, Clubhouse, and other virtual events have taught us the value of The Law of Two Feet. I don’t relish enduring finicky house sound systems that make it hard to hear or be sure I am heard, something I rarely worry about when I’m on my own mic or listening on my earbuds. And I never have to suf...

Podcasting Listens A Lot Less White Than It Looks [S3E86]

March 01, 2021 16:55 - 10 minutes - 10 MB

Good news! US-based podcast listeners are much more diverse than the overall population. Here are the highlights presented by Nielsen In their Podcasting Today report: Non-white adult podcast listeners: 41%.  Non-white adult overall population: 36% In 2010, there were 6.8 million US-based Hispanic podcast listeners. That’s up 6x from 1.1 million in 2010 The growth rate for Asian, Black, and other “not white” listeners grew 5x over that same time frame. White audiences grew only by 4x S...

The Next One Million Podcasts Will Come From Clubhouse, Not Podcasters [S3E85]

February 25, 2021 16:40 - 10 minutes - 9.72 MB

In 2020, one million podcasts powered by Anchor launched, effectively doubling the size of podcasting. Concerns podcasters and listeners raised about “control” and “quality” didn’t matter. New creators with something to say flocked to Anchor. Clubhouse, the audio-only, drop-in social platform is currently tracking 10 million active weekly users. That pace of growth doesn’t seem to be slowing. So Imagine a world where Clubhouse enables distribution, turning every “club” into its own podcast,...

Stop Ignoring Your Podcast's Accessibility Issues [S3E84]

February 24, 2021 16:55 - 11 minutes - 10.6 MB

Perhaps I've been too subtle, so let me speak clearly and louder for those in the back: Accessibility matters.  Many podcasters are operating under the impression that accessibility is optional. It's not.  Many podcasters operate under the misconception that people who are deaf cannot listen to podcasts, and people who are blind cannot watch videos. Those podcasters are wrong. Very wrong. If that’s you, you don’t have to understand how that’s possible; you just have to accept that it is. A...

If Podcasting Can't Please Everyone, Should We Even Try? [S3E83]

February 23, 2021 16:55 - 11 minutes - 10.8 MB

This episode is based on a tweet from Andrew Wilkinson, co-founder of Tiny Capital and an investor in several podcasting businesses like Castro, Supercast, and Ride Home Media, who said (and I’m paraphrasing) that he’s stopped listening to podcasts on his phone because they’re all the same, and he’s picking up audiobooks to take their place. Clearly, Andrew is painting all podcasts with a very broad brush, which is a bit unfair. I could use that same broad brush call TV, radio, newspapers, ...

Podcast Categories Have A Bad Apple At The Core [S3E82]

February 22, 2021 16:55 - 10 minutes - 9.84 MB

I recently signed Podcasters Declare, an open letter to Apple designed to pressure the tech-giant into adding Climate Change as a top-level category inside of Apple Podcasts.  I had reservations about signing the petition. Not because of the topic. Climate change is real. No, my reservations were much more mundane. Was a new top-level category warranted? There are already over 100 categories inside of Apple Podcasts. Can the categorization system handle the pressure of giving every category...

How iHeart's Buying Spree Will Effect The Future Of Podcasting [S3E81]

February 18, 2021 16:55 - 11 minutes - 10.5 MB

Yesterday's big podcasting news was iHeartMedia’s acquisition of Triton Digital for $230 million. Because apparently, that's what podcasting companies do these days: buy up other podcasting companies.  I’m not going to speculate on how iHeart plans on integrating their new toys. I don’t work there, and I’m much more interested in what it might mean for all of podcasting. This is an “all things podcast tech” move. And a bold one that will accelerate the shift away from static podcasts, whic...

Podcasting's Elephant In The Evergreens Conundrum [S3E80]

February 17, 2021 16:55 - 11 minutes - 10.1 MB

Will the future be kind to your podcast? A good amount of us are making timeless podcast episodes that are fine to listen to 3 days, 3 weeks, 3 months, or even 3 years in the future.  But… will they be in 19 years? In 2040, how will we listen to podcasts? It’s 2021. In 19 years, it’ll be 2040. Deal with that for a minute, and then think about sound quality advancements. Yes, there’s a limit on the range of sound frequencies our human ears can perceive. And by and large, we’ve been able to ...

What We Talk About When We Talk About Podcasting [S3E79]

February 16, 2021 16:55 - 10 minutes - 9.46 MB

In the online podcast support communities, there’s a huge amount of demand for podcast monetization, growth hacks, and podcast launch strategies. That’s not surprising: on those topics, largely thanks to the continued growth podcasting is seeing and will likely keep seeing for years to come. But there’s also a lot of pre-existing supply of content to fulfill that demand. Competing in a market where there’s more than enough supply to meet the demand means that the race isn’t to build the bes...

How To Share Your Podcasting Brilliance & Not Be A Jerk About It [S3E78]

February 11, 2021 16:55 - 12 minutes - 11.4 MB

At some point, many podcasters feel the need to share the knowledge they have gained with other less experienced podcasters. But how you do that, and how you bill yourself and the materials you have to present matters.  Do We Need Another Book About Podcasting?   There’s always room for more books about podcasting. But have you amassed the experience necessary to allow you to fill a book about podcasting? This may come off a bit hypocritical of me, as I had less than a year of podcasting ...

Bringing Back The Magic To Your Boring Podcast [S3E77]

February 10, 2021 16:55 - 9 minutes - 8.93 MB

What do you do when you get bored with the podcast you're making right now? Yes, I said when you get bored, not if you get bored. Because people—especially multi-passionate creatives, a term Stephani Fuccio taught me just this morning—tend to eventually get bored for doing one thing for too long. If you’ve listened to or read my words for any length of time, you know I'm a big fan of change. Change is good and healthy for your podcast, so try these on for size: Change the format of your po...

Tweaking Your Serialized Podcast For More Listener Love [S3E76]

February 09, 2021 16:55 - 11 minutes - 10.8 MB

Recently I tweeted my frustrations with serialized podcasters. I’m convinced a good portion of podcasters are unaware of the distinction between serial and episodic. As such, many shows are secretly serialized. If you could make a book intended to be read from cover to cover from your podcast; you’re making a serialized podcast. If you’re narrating a manuscript across multiple episodes; you’re making a serialized podcast. If your podcast was originally written as a screenplay: you're maki...

Make Your Good Podcast Great With Syndicated Content [S3E75]

February 08, 2021 16:55 - 11 minutes - 10.6 MB

Podcasters tend to love collaboration, but it’s not easy. Unless we embrace the notion of syndicated content. Then it gets much easier. I don’t mean syndicated content as defined in the acronym RSS feed. I mean using syndicated content to inject fresh and relevant content into your podcast’s episodes, both enhancing your episodes and making them more enjoyable for your listeners. All without requiring you to create a lick of new content.  Perhaps things like... Incorporating today’s healt...

The Gateway Drug To Podcasting Is You [S3E74]

February 03, 2021 16:55 - 10 minutes - 9.91 MB

We podcasters all have a lot of jobs to do. So at the risk of adding one more role to your already-overflowing plate, there’s another job I’m going to ask you to perform: The job of becoming an excellent ambassador for podcasting. Yes, for all of podcasting. An awesome responsibility, for sure. But one you are uniquely qualified to perform. It’s true that a little over half of people surveyed said they have listened to at least one podcast. But many of them—most of them—fail to pick up the...

A Podcast's Power To Change People... And The Podcaster [S3E73]

February 02, 2021 16:55 - 10 minutes - 9.18 MB

Whether we know it or not, our podcasts and the episodes we produce change our listeners. And if they listen to the episodes of our podcasts long enough, that change can become permanent.  Some podcasters lean into that. Like Danny van Leeuwen on his podcast, Health Hats. His tagline is “Learn with people on the journey toward best health”, which clearly sets his intention to effect positive change on the health of his listeners. But podcasters too experience permanent change as we produce...

Making Your Podcast Better With Dynamic Content [S3E72]

February 01, 2021 16:55 - 11 minutes - 10.7 MB

It's 2021, my dudes, and there exists a way to keep content completely relevant to the audience regardless of when or where they access our content. As proof, I suggest you listen to the first episode of the podcast for Sounds Profitable.  Even if you don’t care (or don’t think you care) about podcast advertising, you need to listen to Bryan’s podcast. At least the first episode. It’s less than 30 minutes long. But allow me to explain why you’ll be blown away within the first few minutes an...

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