There are those who get into podcasting for the sole reason of making some quick cash. I typically FEEL this is bad idea (cash? maybe, quick? hardly). There seems to be a few different schools of thought on how to get into podcasting. We have all see the “On Fire” clonification of podcasting (I think I just made up a word) where everyone thought if they just did what John Lee Dumas does, they will make $2 million per year like John does. It didn't work.
There are others who just do it for fun. This is fine. I recently purchased some items for the kitchen, and nobody is approaching me asking, “Hey you spend $99 on that Power Pressure Cooker XL how much are you making from it.” We all have different dreams, insights, desires. Podcasting has many motivations. These include:
- To be seen as an expert
- To boost your exposure
- To build your community
- To understand your community
- To reach a global audience
- To increase awareness of your products and services
- To interview your favorite people
- To document your process of understanding a subject (I call this the “journey” podcast).
The Journey Podcast
Joanna Penn of the Creative Penn started a podcast because she wanted to know more about self publishing. She did. She interviewed experts and now, years later, she IS an expert on Self-publishing. She didn't wait until she knew it all, she started and did what she could along the way.
You Don't Have to Be Great To Start – But You Do Have to Start to Be Great
Today we hear from Crag from inglespodcast.com who mentions how he started with just putting audio on his website, and gradually over time built up his skills, his gear, and now has a top notch podcast. John from Lets Talk Metal and Treasure Hunting who mentions that the podcast How Sound mentions that they feel people should always map out their show. John feel that being an “independent” means you don't have to record like they do. This is true, you can record however you want. In the end it will be the listener who helps you shape your content. As John mentions he didn't care for one podcast because he wasn't interested in the topic. There was nothing wrong with the topic, but he is not the intended audience.
Starting Somewhere My Nomad Guitar
When I was in my early teens I had a paper route. I used the money from the paper route to buy a guitar of my own. It wasn't much, but it was mine. It was what I could afford at the time. You see the paper route wasn't mine. I was a helper for my friend who had his own paper route. Later, when I had my own route I saved up $300 to purchase a Gibson SG. In 1981 (and having a paper route) this was a huge amount of cash. I had developed my taste for guitar playing on the SG knock off, and now was ready to migrate to a REAL SG.
Brian From ProfitCast – On His Way to Being an Expert
Profitcast is a great show where the host “The Real Brian” interviews experts, but it also is where Brian reveals what he is trying (and if it is working or not). He looked at the podcasting community and saw that one of the biggest things that EVERY podcaster wants is to grow their audience, and in some cases to monetize it. Brian start Profitcast to investigate strategies and tools to help podcasters grow their audience. In the interview we discuss
What inspired Profitcast
The Episode where Brian pealed back the curtain and asked if people were getting anything (and how that impacted his audience)
How working with the “competition” lead to more leads.
How he setup a dual appearance on the Audacity to Podcast.
Brian is a great guy, and his podcast can be found at Profitcastuniverse.com
Can I Podcast For Free?
Can you? Yes. Should You? Oh wait, there is that should word again. I FEEL that its not the best practice, but then again, so was buying a Nomad guitar. With this in mind, I'm doing something strange. I going to teach something I don't believe in (how to podcast for free). I had to step back, and realize that some of these students will take the course (a one time fee) dip their feet in the pool and later decide they are ready to podcast “For Real”
Sometimes you want to test the water, and this is an inexpensive way to do it without any monthly costs. Order it today for $29 before the price goes up in March
Are Your Going To the New Media Expo?
Use the coupon code sop2015 to save $100 off at www.schoolofpodcasting.com/nmx
New Podcast Launched: Missional Man Podcast
Jonathan started this podcast because he wants to help other Christian men. Yes that assumes that these other Christian men need or even want help. He thinks they do. No, in fact he knows they do. Why? Because he's one of them. So actually, he started this podcast mostly for himself. He says, “I need help being both a Christian and a man.” Check it out at MissionalMan.com
Mentioned in this Podcast
Edison Research “Share of Ear” update
The Real Brian is one of the reasons I am still going