Are You Getting the Most Out of RSS?
Are you getting the most out of your RSS feed?
To figure out if you are, you first have to understand how a podcast workflow works, which means you need to understand:
- what an RSS feed is
- how you make one
- where you get the best feed
- and how you make sure you're getting the most out of it
Don't Make These Mistakes
In this episode, I'm going to explain some of the mistakes I see people making with RSS feeds, especially when it comes to getting the most out of transcripts. In some cases, people aren't putting their transcripts into their media host, which means their transcripts aren't going into their feed. That is not something the best way to maximize your show.
Where Do I Get an RSS Feed?
Your RSS feed comes from your media host. For me, the best RSS feeds come from dedicated media hosts. Places like Captivate, Buzzsprout, rss.com, and Blubrry. All of these do one thing: they host your files, they provide an RSS feed, and they provide statistics.
Make Sure Your Transcripts are In Your RSS Feed
While having transcripts on your website is good, you are missing another opportunity by having them in your feed (which can be used in Podcast apps). When it comes to Podpage, having the transcript in your feed put it into a place where Podpage can grab it and put it on your site.
Don't Hire Your Dentist to Work On Your Car
Other places like Riverside are trying to be a jack-of-all-trades and a master of none. I don't want someone who's not a master of the RSS feed. The RSS feed is like the blood in your veins; it is your veins, and you don't want your veins to be Scotch-taped together. You want an RSS feed that is fully compatible with all the features available for podcasters.
Directing People To Your Site
When I recently tested Riverisde, you could not direct people at the episode level to your site. This is a missed opportunity.
This means that, when somebody is consuming your content in an app, usually there is a link to go to the website, which takes them to, (if you're doing it correctly) your website. On the episode page, I'm offering the ability to follow the show easily on Spotify, Apple, Pocket Cast, etc. If you don't have that link, you're missing an opportunity to send the audience where you want them to go. I need to email Riverside because this just reeks of a company who doesn't really understand podcasting getting into podcasting. Consequently, I know it's nice to have everything under one login, but how hard is it to login to more than one account (especially if you have 1password).
No RSS No Podcast
People keep asking what a podcast is. I'm not sure why. It's audio, video delivered via RSS. This means YouTube is not a podcast. It's a show. Radio is not TV. Both are content. When we blur the definition it messes up all of our reports. People have asked, "Well, the audience thinks YouTube is a podcast are we supposed to tell them they are wrong?" The answer is yes.
Then we could have separate reports on YouTube vs Podcasts.
If someone hears me listening to the band Sum 41, and says, "I love blink 182," I would say, "That's not Sum 41, it's blink 182. You're helping them not look stupid in the future. You would do the same thing if they called a banana an apple.
Other Hosts I Don't Recommend
Spotify: From their lying to their original partners, to making features that only work inside of Spotify (ignoring the open podcast system), and often eliminating features shrtly after they launch (never worldwide). I could go on for hours. Yes, it's free but so is RSS, Buzzsprout, and Red Circle.
Soundcloud: Soundcloud, to the best of my knowledge hasn't implement features that were introduced in 2017. You can buy soundcloud plays (Google it) so consquentially you will never have sponsors while you use Soundcloud.
Mailbag: AMP 30 Second Rule
Thanks to Mark for pushing back on my math. In the end (as of this date) AMP can't decide what their definition is (As they've already changed it). Also one of their "hidden" companies was YouTube. I'm sorry, if you're not doing anything wrong, why are you doing it in secret?
Defined in their original press release as “30 seconds of content played, audio or video, once per user per session”, the corrected text drops any definition of a session length, becoming just “30 seconds of content played, audio or video”. - source Podnews.
Mailbag: How Are Your Updating Your Question of the Month?
Rob from Softball Central asked how I was having the current question of the month appear in episodes that are years old. For the last two years I've hosted on Captivate. I love their business model (Multiple shows for the same price - and their super flexible dynamic content system). Dynamic content doesn't always have to be ads. Here are examples
- Question of the month
- Where will I be (live appearances)
- A pre-roll that mentioned that I had given out a wrong episode number.
They also allow me to tag the current promotional mp3 so later I can easily take all the "questions of the month" and update them with the new, current months question.
Click Here to watch me show this off.
Mentioned in This Episode
The 4 Cs of a Standout Podcast: Clarity, Contrast, Consistency, Character
Sponsor Magnet Book by Justin Moore
Captivate Media Hosting
Buzzsprout Media Hosting
RSS.com Media Hosting
Podpage - Build the Website your show Deserves
Mentioned in this episode:
Have You Heard About the Podpage Assistant?
Here's what it can do: Identify the best search keyphrase to target — The Assistant analyzes your episode and finds the keyphrase most likely to drive organic traffic. Generate optimized SEO titles and descriptions — Get search-friendly titles and meta descriptions written for each episode automatically. Expand your show notes — Turn brief show notes into detailed, search-friendly content that helps Google understand what your episode is about. Create SEO schema — Automatically generate structured data including FAQs and key takeaways, giving search engines even more context about your content. Generate episode transcriptions — If your podcast host doesn't provide transcripts, the Assistant can create them for you. Create companion blog posts — Each episode can get a dedicated blog post that supports your episode's SEO and gives listeners another way to find you. Automatically categorize episodes — Keep your episode library organized without lifting a finger. Start your 14 day trial at www.podpage.com/preview
Question of the Month
This might be harder question to answer because when I ask people, the sometimes freeze. The question? How do you measure success for your podcast beyond download numbers? I need your answer by June 26th, 2026. Don't forget to tell us a little bit about your show and your website address so I can link to it in the show notes.
Don't Wait to Level Up Your Show
Thinking about starting a podcast—or already 300 episodes in? Skip the rookie mistakes, save money, and level up your show with the School of Podcasting with Dave Jackson, where you get hands-on feedback, one-on-one support, and practical advice that actually improves your podcast. Not sure? Just ask Krista and Mark from practicalprepping.info Then join the School of Podcasting at www.schoolofpodcasting.com/join (or use the link below)
Live Appearances
I love to meet people when I'm on the road. I'm going to be at Empowered Podcasting Conference in Charlotte NC Podcast Movement in NYC Podindy in Indianapolis In. For more information and links, go to schoolofpodcasting.com/where To have me speak at your event, reach out at schoolofpodcasting.com/contacnt
00:00 - Untitled
00:00 - Coming Up
00:32 - Opening
01:16 - Leave Margin in Your Life
02:01 - Callback: Identify Your Thing
03:02 - The Flow of RSS
04:28 - Radio is to Podcasting
08:52 - So Far So Good?
10:09 - Getting the Most From Transcripts
13:43 - YouTube is Not a Podcast
15:05 - You Can't Cancel a Podcast
15:31 - Big Companies Don't Care
20:43 - Your Dentist is Fixing Your Car
24:46 - Mailbag: AMP 30 Second Rule
26:48 - Mailbag: Dynamic Content
29:58 - Not Programmatic Ads
30:51 - Pre-Roll Saves the Day
31:23 - Captivate Tagging
32:08 - Buzzsprout Updates on Ads
35:00 - Bloopers
Speaker A
Podcasting's real superpower isn't that you publish, although that's cool.
Speaker A
It's that your show syndicates everywhere.
Speaker A
But here's the catch.
Speaker A
If you don't understand how that information flow works, you'll miss the exact leverage RSS gives you to get found and stay efficient.
Speaker A
Today I'm going to explain how RSS works.
Speaker A
I know it sounds kind of nerdy, but in the end, it's going to stop you from doing things that shoot yourself in the foot.
Speaker A
I've also got the mailbag.
Speaker A
Hit it, ladies.
Speaker B
The School of Podcasting with Dave Jackson.
Speaker A
Podcasting since 2005, I am your award winning hall of fame podcast coach, Dave Jackson.
Speaker A
Thanking you so much for tuning in.
Speaker A
If you're new to the show, this is why I help you plan, I help you launch, and I help you grow.
Speaker A
And today I'm going to help you understand podcasting.
Speaker A
My website is schoolofpodcasting.com use the coupon code listener and the show is also brought to you by PodPage, the number one way to make a great looking website for your show without having to learn how to code.
Speaker A
And so I was going to do an interview today and just to peel back the curtain here, one of the things that I have talked about in the past is leaving margin for your life so that when, you know, life happens, your podcast doesn't go off the rails.
Speaker A
And so to make a long story short, in the past week, my best friend of.
Speaker A
Boy, this makes you sound weird.
Speaker A
Of 50 years.
Speaker A
I've known this guy since I was basically 10, 12, something like that was in town.
Speaker A
So I made time for him.
Speaker A
And then this weekend, this is the one that really threw me for a loop.
Speaker A
My sister is a huge Rick Springfield fan and I took her to see Sammy Hagar in Rick Springfield.
Speaker A
And you're like, Dave, why are you talking?
Speaker A
This isn't podcasting related.
Speaker A
Actually, I want to do a callback.
Speaker C
It's a callback.
Speaker C
It's a callback.
Speaker A
If you remember, two episodes ago, episode number 1039, the four Cs of a standout podcast.
Speaker A
And I was talking about how you need to find your thing.
Speaker A
And it has been many moons since I've seen Sammy Hagar.
Speaker A
I've probably seen him four or five times, but I forgot.
Speaker A
Sammy's thing is if you have a T shirt or a hat or whatever, a big banner that says Sammy Effin Hagar, throw it on the stage and he will hold it up to where all the fans will then go and then he will hang it on a, you know, an amplifier or a drum riser.
Speaker A
So by the end of the show, it just looks like Sammy's drying his laundry.
Speaker A
And I was like, oh, yeah, I totally forgot.
Speaker A
That's Sammy's thing.
Speaker A
There you go.
Speaker A
I'll have a link to that out in the show.
Speaker A
Notes@schoolofpodcasting.com 1041 and so that was one thing.
Speaker A
And then the other thing I wanted to talk about today is somewhat nerdy, but when I was 16 and I got my first car, my dad showed me how to change the oil, and he showed me how to change a flat tire, and I already figured out how to put gas in it.
Speaker A
But these are things you need to know.
Speaker A
So I want to talk about this, and here's why.
Speaker A
Why are you talking about RSS today?
Speaker A
And this has nothing to do with what is a podcast, blah, blah, blah.
Speaker A
But I've seen people that are making steps that don't make sense, in fact, may actually hurt your podcast because they don't understand what RSS is.
Speaker A
And in my world, it stands for Real Simple Syndication.
Speaker A
The bottom line is that last S is the important ones.
Speaker A
Syndication.
Speaker A
And then some shows call it, you know, basically, it is the source of truth, because everything that is in your feed ends up in Apple and Spotify and Pocket Cast and all those things.
Speaker A
So that's.
Speaker A
I always say when you do things with your feed, that is not outpatient surgery.
Speaker A
So if you're switching from, say, Riverside to Captivate or Buzzsprout, that involves your feed.
Speaker A
Don't multitask when you do that.
Speaker A
And so I just have a simple analogy here, and that is if, if you remember radio, it's that thing in your car that you never use anymore.
Speaker A
But in, in my car, if I turn it to 100.7 WMMS, Cleveland, Ohio, I will hear probably ads, but occasionally I will hear, I don't know, an AC DC song that I don't want to hear anymore.
Speaker A
Right?
Speaker A
They play music, but nonetheless, I tune into a frequency.
Speaker A
So let's back up a second.
Speaker A
What do you mean, frequency?
Speaker A
I mean, that's actually a frequency of electricity, I guess, or it's a radio frequency.
Speaker A
I don't want to get involved with electricity.
Speaker A
And if you were to look at it, my dad had an oscilloscope in the basement and you could look at this stuff.
Speaker A
And now his was, I was looking at electricity.
Speaker A
But nonetheless, you get it.
Speaker A
It's a frequency.
Speaker A
It's a big squiggly line that goes up and down real fast.
Speaker A
You know what I'm talking about.
Speaker A
And that doesn't make any sense, but if you put that squiggly line into a radio and you tune the dial to 100.7, what do you know?
Speaker A
Here comes the buzzard.
Speaker A
And music would come out and probably a lot of ads.
Speaker A
Okay, we all like.
Speaker A
Yeah, I know how that works.
Speaker A
And then you have presets that you put in your car.
Speaker A
Well, with an RSS feed, you used to have a DJ in a DJ booth at a radio station.
Speaker A
Now you have you in your spare bedroom, maybe in your basement.
Speaker A
And then the DJ in the booth worked at a radio station that had a big old tower that was really expensive to maintain, and you had all sorts of licenses and stuff, and that tower broadcast a frequency.
Speaker A
Well, you don't have a tower.
Speaker A
You have a media host.
Speaker A
Some of my favorites are Captivate, Buzzsprout, RSS.com.
Speaker A
I'm actually in the process of making a course for Captivate and.
Speaker A
Well, I already have one for Captivate and Buzzsprout at the school of podcasting.
Speaker A
I'm working on1forrss.com and as much as it pains me to say I don't.
Speaker A
There are some.
Speaker A
Like, Blueberry's a great host.
Speaker A
Libsyn is a great host.
Speaker A
But I don't really recommend Libsyn because when it comes to features, they're lacking.
Speaker A
And I just like Captivate and Buzzsprout.
Speaker A
Same thing with their other ones.
Speaker A
But Podbean I don't really.
Speaker A
Again, not horrible, just better choices.
Speaker A
So.
Speaker A
But my.
Speaker A
The one I do not recommend is Spotify or Soundcloud.
Speaker A
Now, let's go back to where were we?
Speaker A
We were talking about the radio station is now your media host.
Speaker A
And that media host, because you're like, well, how do I even get an RSS feed?
Speaker A
You get a media host and we'll talk about why an RSS feed from a media host is better than an all encompassing buy one, get one free situation, such as Riverside.
Speaker A
We'll talk about that in a second.
Speaker A
But the power of the RSS feed, that's your frequency.
Speaker A
So if you think about it, if somebody knocked over the tower of a radio station, your frequency goes down and now your radio is nothing but static.
Speaker A
Well, now you have a media host.
Speaker A
The RSS feed shouldn't go down if you have a good media host.
Speaker A
And again, if you actually looked at an RSS feed.
Speaker A
So if you.
Speaker A
I'll put a link to one in the show notes.
Speaker A
And this is an old feed I have from Libsyn and if you click on it in Chrome, a little homework.
Speaker A
If you want to see it, you'll go.
Speaker A
Because it's just a wall of text, and it doesn't make any sense.
Speaker A
Well, remember, the frequency that was just a squiggly little line didn't make any sense.
Speaker A
Well, now, this RSS feed, which is just really a big text file that lives on the Internet, when you put all that gobbledygook from the text file into something like Pocket Cast and Spotify and Apple and whoever else and things like, I don't know, podpage, then they translate it in the same way that a radio translates a radio frequency into something you can listen to.
Speaker A
A podcast app can translate a feed into something that has words, it has a play button, it has links, and all that come from the feed.
Speaker A
Are you with me so far?
Speaker A
So let's just back up a second.
Speaker A
You are a podcaster.
Speaker A
You publish via a media host who creates a feed, and the feed is syndicated because it's rss.
Speaker A
And that last S is syndication to podcast apps, podcast, any.
Speaker A
There are blog readers still that will take an RSS feed, and there are places like PodPage.
Speaker A
So everything begins with the RSS feed that you populate.
Speaker A
When you say publish on an episode, it just adds it.
Speaker A
Let's say there was one paragraph of stuff from episode number one, and now you publish episode number two, and you hit publish in your media host.
Speaker A
Give them five to ten minutes.
Speaker A
And.
Speaker A
And that second paragraph that's all about episode two is now in your feed.
Speaker A
And then that feed goes into Apple and Spotify.
Speaker A
And basically what happens are the apps.
Speaker A
Check, I don't know, every now and then to see if you have new stuff.
Speaker A
And if you have new stuff, it adds it to their app.
Speaker A
So the RSS is the.
Speaker A
It's your vein.
Speaker A
It's what carries the blood through your body, Right?
Speaker A
Without the RSS feed, your podcast goes away.
Speaker A
And so what I wanted to talk about is PodPage, where I work, I'm the head of podcasting there, they launched a feature because there are apps like Libsyn that don't provide a transcript.
Speaker A
Now you can provide your own, but places like Captivate and buzzsprout and rss.com they make it super easy because they give you one, or in some cases, they sell you one really, really cheap.
Speaker A
And if you're on a host that doesn't provide a transcript, or if you're on Spotify, who only has their transcript, work in Spotify.
Speaker A
Hence why I call them the Walled Garden, you're kind of, you know, that goes to all the apps.
Speaker A
So that's why you want your transcript in your media host, whoever you are using.
Speaker A
And if they don't provide a transcript or if they give you away like Libsyn and you're not adding one, you're kind of missing the boat.
Speaker A
And so that transcript goes into the feed.
Speaker A
And again, this is more squiggly line stuff.
Speaker A
But when you get to an app like Pocket Cast or Apple or things like that, it will then have a link like click here for the transcript, or it might actually display it.
Speaker C
And.
Speaker A
And while not all apps use transcripts for, you know, findability, searchability, SEO or whatever you want to call it, it's some do.
Speaker A
And so it's that some do that come in handy.
Speaker A
And then there's the other thing that makes it somewhat a legal issue.
Speaker A
Sirius Satellite Radio, I think, is still in a lawsuit because they weren't providing transcripts for people that obviously can't hear the radio, but they still want to consume your content.
Speaker A
So that's the other nice thing, like, hey, everybody gets to hear your magic words.
Speaker A
But here's what happened.
Speaker A
Podpage said, look, really, your media host should be supplying.
Speaker A
That's what we feel, that a media host should supply the transcript.
Speaker A
And if you don't have one, well, we feel bad for you and we will provide, if you're on the appropriate plan, a transcript for your show.
Speaker A
And when people heard that, they actually went to their media host and said, we don't need a transcript.
Speaker A
And that's the direct.
Speaker A
They're like, we're going to let PodPage do it.
Speaker A
Well, when you add a transcript to PodPage, and again, we make beautiful websites for people that don't want to learn how to code.
Speaker A
That transcript goes to, I don't know, Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo.
Speaker A
It's on the website now.
Speaker A
It's not going to go back to Apple or Spotify or Pocket Cast or any of those things.
Speaker A
Podcast Attic.
Speaker A
It's not.
Speaker A
You want to have everything go into your feed because the feed is the source of truth.
Speaker A
And when you put your transcript into your media host, it then goes to all those places I just named Apple, Spotify, Pocket, all the apps and things like podpage and anything else that uses an RSS feed.
Speaker A
So I see people making that mistake by not having the transcript in their RSS feed and only putting it on their website.
Speaker A
And the other thing is realize that what makes a podcast a podcast is an RSS feed.
Speaker C
It's a Callback.
Speaker C
It's a callback.
Speaker A
I'm going to say this quickly.
Speaker A
YouTube is not a podcast because it doesn't have an RSS feed.
Speaker A
And why do you care, Dave?
Speaker A
I don't care.
Speaker A
Except they just came out with another report that said YouTube is the number one podcast app.
Speaker A
And I'm like, that's not entirely true, because not all of the shows on YouTube have an RSS feed, and an RSS feed is what makes it a podcast.
Speaker A
So why do I get upset?
Speaker A
Because when I hear stats, I would love to have a report that said YouTube viewing is up by whatever percentage, and podcast viewing or listenership or whatever doing is up blank.
Speaker A
Because it's two separate things.
Speaker A
It's like saying, you know, radio and TV are the same thing.
Speaker A
They're not, but they both have content, and the audience thinks that radio is tv.
Speaker A
Well, here's a novel idea.
Speaker A
Tell them they're wrong.
Speaker A
I know what I'm supposed to tell.
Speaker A
Yeah, just go.
Speaker A
No, let me explain.
Speaker A
See, TV is something you watch, and radio is something you listen to.
Speaker A
Yeah, but they think, yeah, they're wrong, and then we could have better reports.
Speaker A
And with that, I will shut up on that, because that is.
Speaker A
You know, I've poked the bear myself here.
Speaker C
It's a callback.
Speaker A
I hate the example, because I don't really like the guy at all.
Speaker A
I think he's kind of creepy.
Speaker A
And that's Alex Jones.
Speaker A
And he actually got deplatformed.
Speaker A
Like all the apples and all, they went, ah, let's get this guy off.
Speaker A
Because he crossed the line.
Speaker A
He did.
Speaker A
But nonetheless, if you had his RSS feed, you could get his content.
Speaker A
Well, what makes me worried about these big companies coming in?
Speaker A
As I mentioned, I went to a concert.
Speaker A
My sister does not have a smartphone.
Speaker A
And I was dealing with Ticketmaster.
Speaker A
Ticketmaster, very big company.
Speaker A
And between them and Live Nation, who I think owns one or the other, it was an absolutely horrendous experience.
Speaker A
And I'm not talking about the price of the ticket, although that's another fun thing is I bought the tickets for her, and then I thought I could, you know, get the tickets.
Speaker A
Well, the tickets were only available if you had a smartphone.
Speaker A
She doesn't have a smartphone.
Speaker A
So I went to their website and I said, hey, I don't have a smartphone.
Speaker A
How do I get the tickets to my sister?
Speaker A
And because neither her or her boyfriend had a smartphone, they said, we can send you the tickets.
Speaker A
Long story short, they didn't.
Speaker A
And then they said, but if they don't show up, which was kind of a red flag.
Speaker A
And I called them the day of the show and said, you guys didn't get me the tickets.
Speaker A
You said they were there because I called them three days before.
Speaker A
Oh, no, they'll be there.
Speaker A
Nope, they lied.
Speaker A
And then let's just say their customer service was horrible.
Speaker A
So that when I got to the actual venue, ended up having to buy a ticket so that I, a guy with a smartphone, could get my sister into the concert.
Speaker A
And they didn't recognize my tickets.
Speaker A
It was horrendous.
Speaker A
And just.
Speaker A
It was.
Speaker A
I even said, hey, I paid, you know, $5.50 to have those tickets mailed to me, and you didn't mail them to me.
Speaker A
I would like a refund.
Speaker A
And so when I called them on the day of the concert to say, hey, not only are the tickets not here, but I want my $5.50 back.
Speaker B
And.
Speaker A
And they.
Speaker A
And I really expected the person on the phone to say, oh, that's already been refunded.
Speaker A
And he said, okay, I will do that for you.
Speaker A
And I was like, and if you want to get on the bad side of Dave Jackson, it's really easy.
Speaker A
Just lie to me, because you don't have to lie to me.
Speaker A
I can take hard truth.
Speaker A
And it was just.
Speaker A
And I thought about it.
Speaker A
I'm like, here's a big company.
Speaker A
And, oh, here's the great thing is my sister bought her tickets because he's a huge Rick Springfield fan months ago to sit on the lawn.
Speaker A
Not great seats at all.
Speaker A
55 Bucks if you wanted a seat inside the actual pavilion.
Speaker A
The cheapest price was 100 bucks.
Speaker A
And she said, nope, I'm fine on the lawn.
Speaker A
So she paid $55 months ago for these tickets.
Speaker A
I bought mine day of the show.
Speaker A
35 Bucks.
Speaker A
Yeah.
Speaker A
This is a company that cares about customer service.
Speaker A
They're using dynamic pricing so they can gouge you for as much money as they can.
Speaker A
Now, is it Fair to compare YouTube and Spotify to Ticketmaster?
Speaker A
Probably not, but it's very close to the same type of industry entertainment trying to get as much money from their customers, regardless of the experience.
Speaker A
And so when we move things away from rss.
Speaker A
So now instead of having the link to the HLS video and Apple, it's now an API thing that is concerning when we start to take steps away from rss.
Speaker A
This is not an old man screaming on his lawn saying, back in my day, I'm just saying, look, we haven't changed the protocol for email since it came out.
Speaker A
Why?
Speaker A
Because it works.
Speaker A
Maybe we should be a little cautious about moving away from RSS as we move forward, because we're gonna lose the ability to go, you can't do anything to me.
Speaker A
I've got an RSS fee.
Speaker B
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker A
And the other thing, I've seen this happen in, like, the last couple months, a couple times.
Speaker A
And this one always worries me because it makes it sound like it's a pitch.
Speaker A
But I work with all sorts of podcasters on podpage, and they, number one, I hear this a lot.
Speaker A
I don't have time to mess with this, so I'm gonna hire somebody.
Speaker A
Okay, Sounds good on paper, but I'm not making this up.
Speaker A
Somebody said they had hired kind of a website guru who didn't know PodPage and kind of made things worse.
Speaker A
So he's taking more, you guessed it, time to fix things.
Speaker A
And then the other thing they did was they hired a podcast guru and this person was looking into something, but they had to get back to us because they had to go research this RSS thing.
Speaker A
And when I say research, I mean they didn't understand what it was.
Speaker A
And that's kind of like your mechanic not understanding what gasoline is.
Speaker A
And so be very careful.
Speaker A
My number one criteria would be, if you're working with a podcast consultant of some sort of, please ask them, where can I listen to your podcast?
Speaker A
And if the only one they have is on YouTube, you don't have a podcast guru.
Speaker A
You have a YouTube mentor.
Speaker A
And there's a difference between the two, because you need to understand RSS so you can get the most value out of it.
Speaker B
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker B
The school of podcasting.
Speaker B
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker A
I believe I've mentioned this before, but it's worth repeating since we're talking rss, you have some of these companies that are kind of bolting on rss, and one is Riverside.
Speaker A
And Riverside wants to be a one stop shop.
Speaker A
And I totally get that idea.
Speaker A
But I'm here to tell you, when you go into an episode in Riverside, as of June 2026, you can't put a link to your website for the episode.
Speaker A
The goal is of almost every podcast is to drive people back to your website so they can do something.
Speaker A
And with Riverside, I don't know where they're pointing people, but it's not your website.
Speaker A
I need to email them and go, what's the deal with that?
Speaker A
Because that's kind of a deal breaker.
Speaker A
Riverside is a jack of all trades, master of none, but you want someone who's a master of the RSS feed, hence A real media host.
Speaker A
I need to email them and go, what is up with that?
Speaker A
Because that's really.
Speaker A
You want a fully functional RSS feed, and the last time I checked, you couldn't do that, which is just stupid.
Speaker A
We got some mailbag coming up right after this.
Speaker B
It's time to open the mailbag.
Speaker A
Hey, I love when people push back on the show.
Speaker A
And by my buddy mark over@practicalprepping.info which is no zombies, no bunkers, just great knowledge to help you out in times when, you know, life throws you a curveball.
Speaker A
And he said, I think your math is off because that whole they're doing that thing where they're trying to change a play to 30 seconds.
Speaker A
And I just said, I think that's going to double the number of plays you had.
Speaker A
Now, for the record, this is all about advertising.
Speaker A
And what's interesting is in their original press release, they said it was 30 seconds of content played audio or video, once per user, per session.
Speaker A
That's where I was like, wait.
Speaker A
Because anytime you hit pause or if you're driving and your map program says, turn right in 300ft and then it starts your podcast again, does that count as a play?
Speaker A
And so they've corrected this now, and it simply says 30 seconds of content played, audio or video.
Speaker A
No per session, no per user.
Speaker A
And the other fun thing that came out is that YouTube is part of this group.
Speaker A
Now, it was interesting that they met in secret in the first place because, you know, if you're not doing anything wrong, why meet in secret?
Speaker A
But they did.
Speaker A
Now I get it.
Speaker A
It might have been they thought too many cooks in the kitchen would spoil the stew, but one of the cooks in the kitchen was YouTube.
Speaker A
And I'm like, wait, why?
Speaker A
Why would you not say YouTube was part of the group coming up with this 30 second definition?
Speaker A
Again, this is all about advertising.
Speaker A
But I just.
Speaker A
When we get big companies that are doing things in secret, call me crazy.
Speaker A
My initial reaction isn't like, oh, I bet this is gonna make the experience so much better and they're going to lower their prices.
Speaker A
And this next one comes from Rob D. He's the co host and producer of Softball Central podcast.
Speaker A
You can find that@softball centralpodcast.com he says, hey, Dave, I'm going through your back catalog of the school of podcasting, and I'm listening to an episode from October of last year.
Speaker A
And the current question of the month came up.
Speaker A
And I was like, wait, what?
Speaker A
I know you aren't going through a thousand episodes each week.
Speaker A
And changing the call to action, are you?
Speaker A
There must be a tool, an add on, a magic troll, something please tell me I gots to know.
Speaker A
So, Rob, thank you for again emailing me.
Speaker A
You can do that by going to schoolofpodcasting.com contact or you want to drop me some audio that I can play in the show, go to schoolofpodcasting.com voicemail.
Speaker A
And of course, that technology comes from PodPage, but the tool I'm using, and there are multiple ones you could use, is Captivate.
Speaker A
And Captivate is one of my favorite media hosts.
Speaker A
And the reason for that primarily is their pricing.
Speaker A
It's 19 bucks a month for as many shows as you want and as many episodes as you want.
Speaker A
As long as you don't go over 30,000 downloads in a month, that's a whole lot of downloads.
Speaker A
So I'm not really worried about that.
Speaker A
And I've got a number of shows on that, but they have a dynamic content tool.
Speaker A
And this is where I think a lot of people are thinking, well, I don't have ads, so I don't need it.
Speaker A
And I was doing the question of the month and it dawned on me.
Speaker A
I was like, hey, you know, if somebody listens to.
Speaker A
In this case, Rob was listening to something from last July.
Speaker A
And what goes, what good is it for Rob?
Speaker A
What kind of value am I delivering if.
Speaker A
If he hears about a question of the month that he can't answer?
Speaker A
So when you hear me say right after this or something like that, and the question of the month comes up or where am I going to be?
Speaker A
That's another one that's dynamically inserted.
Speaker A
So dynamic content doesn't always need to be ads.
Speaker A
Now, the ads for the school of podcasting and the ads for PodPage, those are all dynamic.
Speaker A
And part of the reason I do that is even though I could easily bake those in, they're not going anywhere, so I can swap them out.
Speaker A
So you're not hearing the same exact ad every week.
Speaker A
I have probably eight or nine ads for that.
Speaker A
So that's how I'm doing that, Rob.
Speaker A
I'm using that now.
Speaker A
If you're like, oh, I'm not on Captivate, well, you could do this with buzzsprout has a really slick tool as well, Blueberry.
Speaker A
For an additional fee, you can do it as a pre roll.
Speaker A
Now, Captivate lets you put as many ads as you want wherever you want.
Speaker A
Buzzsprout has some time restrictions, like you can only put in ads if it's X amount of minutes long.
Speaker A
But Nonetheless, they still make it super easy to swap things in and out.
Speaker A
Transistor FM has the same business model as Captivate, so as many shows as many episodes, they just have a lower threshold.
Speaker A
20,000 Downloads a month before your bill goes up.
Speaker A
But they have dynamic content insertion, and you just need to double check.
Speaker A
So, for example, RSS.com has dynamic ads, but that's it.
Speaker A
That's the programmatic ads.
Speaker A
The ones that I always kind of poke fun at that, you know, pay you well, in the case my last bill from Libsyn, I was making a dollar per 1,000 downloads.
Speaker A
So.00, zero.
Speaker A
How many?
Speaker A
Zero.
Speaker A
I forget.
Speaker A
But it's not much.
Speaker A
And obviously your mileage may vary.
Speaker A
But most programmatic ads do not pay jack squat.
Speaker A
Which is why I recommend the book sponsor Magnet by Justin Moore.
Speaker A
If you are really into sponsors and that's what you got into podcasting for, that's the way to do it.
Speaker A
Not so much these programmatic ads, but realize that that's why I call it dynamic content.
Speaker A
I don't call it dynamic ads because it could be whatever you want.
Speaker A
The other thing, I forget which episode it was, but through the whole thing, I said the wrong episode.
Speaker A
I was like, oh, just go to schoolofbodcasting.com 1, 2, 3.
Speaker A
And then five minutes later, let's go to school podcasting.com 1, 2, three.
Speaker A
And then I got done and I realized, oh, it's 1, 2, 4.
Speaker A
And I could have gone back and edited all the times I said, 1, 2, 3.
Speaker A
And I'm like, you know what?
Speaker A
I'm using Captivate.
Speaker A
And so I made a file that said, hey, every time I say 1, 2, 3, in this show, it's 1, 2, 4.
Speaker A
And I put it as a pre roll.
Speaker A
And the thing I really like about Captivate over other tools is they have a thing where you can tag them.
Speaker A
So, for example, I just put in a new where am I gonna be?
Speaker A
File.
Speaker A
And when I add those to my episodes, I tag that as where because, you know, I. I'm creative like that.
Speaker A
And so when I add a new place that I'm speaking or one of the places I'm mentioning, I've already been there, I need to update that.
Speaker A
And so I go into Captivate and say, show me all the dynamic files that have been tagged where?
Speaker A
And I see them and I go select all.
Speaker A
And I go replace them with this new file I made that doesn't have the thing that happened last week.
Speaker A
Now, Buzzsprout does make it easy to swap out the pre roll, the post roll and a mid roll.
Speaker A
I'm not sure I could go in and say find this ad in all the episodes and swap them out, but I use that for Ask the podcast coach and we do a featured supporter every week.
Speaker A
And I just go in and I can say, here, take this file and use it for the pre roll and it'll swap it out.
Speaker A
And I can also see how many times that advertisement has been played, which is cool because you don't get those kind of stats on Captivate unless I'm missing something.
Speaker A
But just realize dynamic content doesn't have to be ads.
Speaker B
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker A
Lastly, as I record this happy Father's Day to all the fathers, I think back to my grandpa Jackson who told me, hey, you're a Jackson.
Speaker A
When you go to work, you come home tired.
Speaker A
My dad proved that because most of my life my dad was sleeping on the couch after getting home from a long truck drive because he was a truck driver.
Speaker A
And if you were lucky enough to have a good dad, take some time today, do something besides buy him a tie.
Speaker A
And it's one of those things that When I was 18, 16, I was convinced my dad was an idiot.
Speaker A
And by the time I turned 25, I was like, oh man.
Speaker A
And now that I'm even older than that, I look back and realize that guy spent a lot of time working really hard to make money that he never got to spend.
Speaker A
So thanks to all the fathers.
Speaker A
Sometimes it's a thankless job and occasionally you'll get a tie or maybe some macaroni art or something like that.
Speaker A
And that's going to do it for this week.
Speaker A
If you need help with your show, that's what we do over at the School of Podcasting.
Speaker A
We help you plan, launch and grow your podcast and it comes with a 30 day money back guarantee.
Speaker A
Use the coupon code listener when you go over to schoolofpodcasting.com I'm Dave Jackson.
Speaker A
I've been helping podcasters for over 20 years.
Speaker A
I can't wait to see what we're gonna do together.
Speaker A
And until next week, take care.
Speaker A
God bless.
Speaker A
Class is dismissed.
Speaker A
If you like the show, please share it with a friend.
Speaker A
If you like the show, pretty, pretty please share it with a friend right now.
Speaker A
And my buddy Mark over podcast.
Speaker A
Oh geez, man, I'm tired.
Speaker A
It's not even it's practical prepping.
Speaker A
It starts with a P, but other than that, I'm not even anywhere close.
Speaker A
Very easy.
Speaker A
I use bus route for the Ask the podcast coach, and it's super simple.
Speaker A
I go over and change the.
Speaker A
Jeez, I cannot talk today.
Speaker B
Yeah.
