Content Creation Episodes

In talking with new and seasoned podcasters I often hear questions that lead me to believe that people think they can "break" their podcast. Today I talk about a few questions I've heard and how 99% of the time you're not going to break your show. We also have a question of the month The Separate Track Challenge I have recommended Squadcast for years. The ease of use and the ability to have separate tracks of you and your guest makes it my go-to choice for remote recordings. then later I got ...

Are you looking to grow your audience? Get more engagement with your audience? Today I have Valerie Geller the author of the book Beyond Powerful Radio: A Communicator's Guide to the Internet Age—News, Talk, Information & Personality for Broadcasting, Podcasting, Internet, Radio which is also available on Audible Meet Valerie Geller Valerie Geller, president of Geller Media International, a broadcast consulting firm, trains broadcasters throughout the world by Creating Powerful Radio seminars, w...

Your brand is how your show is perceived. Perception is reality. So today I have tips on making your episode one that gets your audience coming back. I also share three tools that you can use to boost your podcast brand. Don't Leave Your Audience Hungry Can you imagine if a new restaurant opened in your neighborhood and was serving your favorite food? You get all dressed up and bring a date and go to the new place looking forward to eating some of your favorite food. You show up and the menu j...

We know that when you give value, your audience can feel like they "owe you" and when you give them the opportunity they will return the favor. Today we hear about a covert operation pulled off to deliver a box of presents to Glenn the Geek Hebert of the Horse Radio Network as he was recovering from not one but TWO surgeries. The story is amazing. We also have a tool to reward your superfans for sharing your show with their friends. We also catch up with the Dog Podcast Network. Glenn the ...

When I searched for the word "Random" in a podcast directory, there were over 50 shows, with many of them talking about "whatever." Today I'm going to share why I think this is a bad idea and how being focused has help Carey Green get 8000+ downloads per episode for his Morning Mindset Daily Christian Devotional podcast. How I've Seen Random Fail As a teacher for decades, I can say I've seen how humans are not fans of change. They like things to stay the same and be predictable. As a musician,...

Last week, I interview Matthew Dicks who is the author of the book Storyworthy. I am a HUGE fan of Matthew and was very excited when he agreed to come on the show. After the episode was published I get email after email. I saw comments on Facebook all stating, "WOW, That was a great interview." There will be times when you get feedback, and no matter if it's positive or negative you want to investigate why (so you can do more about it). I've received more than average feedback on episodes like ...

I have had the voice of Matthew Dicks in my head more than any other person this year. I heard him on a podcast, bought his audiobook Storyworthy: Engage, Teach, Persuade, and Change Your Life through the Power of Storytelling, and listened to it. When I was done with the book I wanted more and found his Speak Up Story Telling podcast. Unlike other books on Storytelling that have brilliant messages like "Stories are good," and "You should learn how to tell stories," I was THRILLED that I had fin...

This week rock guitar God Eddie Van Halen died after a long battle with throat cancer. As a guitar who was 13 when Van Halen's first album was released, and whose band provided the soundtrack to my adolescent years this hit me hard. With this in mind, I wanted to talk about things podcasters can learn from Eddie Van Halen. Sponsor -Profit from Your Podcast: Proven Strategies to Turn Listeners into a Livelihood Methods and Advice for Making the Most of Your Podcast—Pricing, Sponsors, Crowdfundin...

If you want to hold someone's attention you first need to know who they are and what they need. Then we hear that people's attention span keeps getting smaller. Is it? Today I look into attention spans, and what makes things interesting. I asked my audience what thought made things interesting. Thanks to everyone who contributed including: Craig From https://www.inglespodcast.com/ Thomas from www.novelmarketing.com Harris from Wild Talk (XFL Podcast) Orlando from www.hablandodetecnologia.com/ ...

As I continue (as a middle-aged white dude) to attempt to learn more about Black History, Culture, and issues, a friend of mine suggested I watch the TV show Black AF on Netflix as there is always a hidden history lesson. (a writer and producer) plays a television writer and producer (named Kenya Berris). In one episode the main character (who is a movie and television creator) is worried about giving feedback to a fellow black creator, and also is worried about what others might think about his...

It's to know what is working for your audience. Sure you can look at your downloads but there are other ways to look at engagement. Today in episode 738 I dig deeper. Website Traffic How many website visitors are you getting? You may be surprised that your top ten pages on your website are the same as the top ten episodes of your podcast? Why, you might have more keywords in your notes that attract google. People may be linking to your episode which can boost "Google Juice" (your rankings). WH...

There are those that are going to be surprised by today’s content. Why? Because I’m going to admit to making one of the biggest mistakes (if not THE biggest mistake) you can make in podcasting. This deals with your podcast feed. When you learn to shave, you have to learn how to hold the razor properly. The Radio Analogy Let’s start with some analogies. Radio is broadcasted on a frequency. That frequency is then deciphered by a radio receiver, which turns it into music. Podcasting is syndicated...

I've been asked this questions in a few interviews. As there are no rules and you can do anything you want in a podcast, are there are any Podcasting Best Practices? Well as we all see podcasting through many different lenses I thought I would share my opinion on the best practices. Have a Topic You Are Passionate About, as in REALLY Passionate about. Next week you will hear Jamie from Horses in the morning talk about her L O V E of horses. In the past I have said you need the passion that a si...

I hear so many podcasts that do interviews and they start their podcast by pulling a clip from the interview. Today we talk about why this may not be the best strategy. The interview snippet should build anticipation Piques the curiosity and makes them want to know more Some people pull clips that make people go WHAT WAS THAT? Many times these clips are long (I wouldn't make then any long than 10-15 seconds if not shorter) and just leave the listener confused. ROLL THE CLIP If you think abo...

My last episode had a typo, and a mistake in the audio ( I said the deadline for June's question of the month was in February). Today we're going to talk about how to fix things when you make a mistake in your podcast. SPONSOR: Focusrite * Scarlett, now in its 3rd Generation, is the world’s best-selling USB interface range with over 3 million units sold worldwide * Choose from 6 different interfaces with 1, 4, or 8 microphone inputs depending on the number of hosts and guests on your show * Sup...

The Train Wreck That is the Tiger King is in the Top 10 of Netflix After the fourth person had asked me if I had watched the Tiger King on Netflix I decided to give it a try. It's not good. I got about halfway through and only watched the second half looking for closure. It's bad people behaving badly. I was on a Zoom call with my family and my brother had not seen it yet, and as he put it "everybody is talking about it." The whole family said the same thing, "it's awful, its a waste of time." ...

What do people mean when they say "Bad Audio" well I made some. You will hear where some strategies DO create bad audio and others (using your phone may not be horrible). SPONSOR: Focusrite Focusrite is giving away a $2300 studio makeover. This includes the Scarlett 18i8, a Heil PR40, headphones, Hindenburg software, a deep discount on Squadcast, consulting and more (I wish I could enter). To enter the contest go to https://bit.ly/PSM_Dave-Jackson Mentioned in this Episode Samson Q2u Childless...

Descript is software that transcribes your episode and then you can go to the transcript and when you removed it from your transcript, it removes it from the audio. You can fade in and cuts that are a little rough to smooth them out. You can mix in music, have multiple mics go into two different tracks so you can edit the "cough" out from person number two while person number one was talking. Enjoy the live demo of Descript in this episode 712 of the School of Podcasting. Table of Contents 01:0...

I was in Houston for the Spark Christian Podcast Conference where I was speaking. It was a great event for the first time out of the gate and I met some really cool people. My buddy Sunny from the IPN asked me if I wanted to go see Joel Osteen who runs the largest church in America and is also an author and someone I refer to as "Happy Jesus Man." Jole is incredibly successful (his church is the building where the Houston Rockets professional basketball team played. It's a stadium that holds 16,...

Every month we have a "question of the month" and this month it's what are you going to do differently in 2020 with your podcast? Because of My Podcast Lee from the Covert Nerd podcast was trying to speak at a panel. He was sensing a little pushback until he mentioned he had a podcast ( and got the speaking gig). He also got some "street cred" from his kids who were impressed the "old guy" was doing something so hip as a podcast. What Are You Going to Different? As 2020 is upon us what are you...

Today we talk about creating great content that people will share, and take a slightly deeper dive into the topic by looking at WTF by Marc Maron. When I reverse engineered the content I consumed, I noticed that no matter if its a book, magazine, TV show, or movie, whatever I'm consuming: Made me laugh Made me cry Made me think Made groan Educated me Entertained me. Ingredients in a Good Podcast When I look at other elements that make a good podcast they: Allow you to see the vulnerable...

Today I take a lesson from my nine-year-old niece who goes crazy about a Christmas toy that makes absolutely no sense at all. I also have a great conversation with Cole Raven of Podchaser to explain what it is, where it's going and how you can use it in your podcasting effort. See the School of Podcasting at https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/school-of-podcasting-64937 Here is my profile on Podchaser Table of Contents: 00:01:11.850 Question of the Month 00:02:19.600 Focusrite USB Interfaces 0...

Today we are talking about Plugins. Plugins are things you add to your audio editing software to make it better, more efficient, etc. The best way to avoid buying these (or using these) is to record good audio in the first place. That is not always an option (especially with interview shows with guests) so there is a company that has a bundle on sale 72% off and I put it through some tests. Please note this is an affiliate link (but also note - some of these are not great). For videos and more ...

Today we are going to take the phrase "Value Proposition" which is typically used in business and apply it to podcast. In the past few months, I've attended a fair amount of conferences and I ask people about their podcast. In most cases, people explain their show and I can see if I want to listen or not (or decide if I'm their target audience). I want to identify what people feel is valuable, and then help you shape that into your message. I learned about some of this in Tim Schmoyer's Video Cr...