I recently found a new podcast solution called podplatform. The least expensive is $97 a month. They promise to upload a file and they deliver a link for your to promote. They also state on their website:
[content_box_grey width=”75%”]”Thats right; DETAILED reporting. iTunes, Stitcher, and Zune do not offer any statistical reporting.”[/content_box_grey]
The site is designed by John Lee Dumas who has the very successful Entrepreneurs on Fire podcast. He has done quite well in six months. However I feel for $97 you can spend your money more wisely, and for FREE you can get very detailed stats in stitcher (so to say they don't offer ANY statistics is just wrong).
They say they can format the mp3 file for you. Can you go into Microsoft Word, and choose “Save as..”? Well that's pretty much what you have to do save your mp3 file in the proper format. They offer you 225 minutes a month for $97. You can spend $20 (or less) a month and Libsyn and get detailed stats. That means you would save $924 a year. You can get a free month at Libsyn using the coupon sopfree. If you use blubrry.com they will add the id3 tags for you, and paste the link into your post automatically and provide stats for a lot less than $97 a month.
While I encourage John in his business, I feel that the services her provides can be found in other systems for a lot less money. If you'd like to learn all of these things, and save a lot of money, sign up for the School of Podcasting today
Well Done Dave. Someone seems to be taking a license with people who don’t know what you really can do with just a little effort on your own behalf. Billy
My guess is John is from the Cliff school of thought. ‘Whatever the market will take’ pricing.
Yes, Mr. Dumas is EXCELLENT at the OVERCHARGE under-deliver school of business.
He is focused on people who don’t spend any time to do their own research and overprices all of his products.
He will be out of business sooner rather than later I suspect. He isn’t delivering nearly enough value and people catch onto that quickly. The reviews of his Kindle book primarily reflect the limited knowledge of his present audience.
The funny thing is that two people have said he is overcharging and the same information is available elsewhere for free.
This and those reviews I suspect are just the first shots across the bow of his bad practices. He is a huckster who isn’t delivering value. It works well for some, but it doesn’t work best.
IMHO the teach people what to do for free and suggest they purchase those services they can’t do without through your affiliate links approach is one of the most successful, and it certainly seems to work for Pat Flynn.
Anyone who steals Mr. Dumas’ publish everyday strategy to inflate their download numbers and remain featured following their New and Noteworthy exposure, while possibly borrowing his mini-podcat series strategy to remain in New and Noteworthy section and continue driving traffic back to the main podcast while using the give A LOT away strategy and ask your audience to use services THEY NEED anyway with your affiliate links make the most in the end, especially if they really offer a service people use.
Looks like JDumas has done quite well for himself in the past two years. I think your summary of his strategy (Jeremy) is pretty accurate to his success, but misses a few key takeaways.
1) publish new episodes daily to boost monthly downloads. Yes this is right – you get more downloads – which to find your “followers” you must then divide by 30 to get your per episode numbers. Regardless, that’s still listens just like anyone else’s listens even when they do weekly or monthly shows.
1 Takeaway) He’s not only gaining downloads from doing a show every day, he’s gaining the social buzz from 30 different big names promoting his brand to their own followers. That’s a fast way to get traction and rise above the weekly or monthly shows.
2) give-a-lot-away strategy: be a go-giver!
2 Takeaway) he focuses on creating and sharing and helping the most people he can – and that’s through daily episodes with different entrepreneurs. Diving into their stories, and having them distill their lessons into nuggets listeners can quickly absorb (albeit still 1/2 hour LONG podcast)
3) affiliate links: help people and make money from commission
3 Takeaway) this is yet another way you can provide people with a direct link to a trustworthy place they can make an online purchase. For non-techy people who have a friend explain podcasts to them but generally don’t like computers, providing actionable links to purchase from unknown sources is a real value in confidence. I know people who have never used sites like Amazon and never buy things online! Telling listeners that you have a safe link to order through on your blog – that’s a real value to real people and I think it’s smart to use affiliate linking since it allows listeners to support your financially through the regular pricing they’re already paying.
CRAZY PRICING? Aka “premium pricing” is something that’s slightly crazy to me, but my understanding is that instead of competing on price or comparing your unique services and limiting them to the low competition’s pricing – you price your unique advantage how you want (high) and let the people who truly identify with your uniqueness pay a premium for it based on the value they receive. Is it wrong for movie theaters to sell $1 candy you buy at the store for $5 at the theater? It’s crazy, but not wrong, and nobody is forcing the sale so it’s not even unfair. It’s what the market will bear – and that’s how they make their profit.
Will it come crashing down?
Episode 200 of The Audacity to Podcast – John is interviewed and talks about the money he’s making and what he’s doing with it and whether he’s actually 100% confident podcasting is going to keep increasing like it is and whether his business is going to keep growing like it did… Interesting listen – http://theaudacitytopodcast.com/achieving-massive-success-through-podcasting-with-john-lee-dumas-tap200/
I’m always hesitant when someone raises their pricing by 20% – question is why. Yes there is “now more valueable” – but what is that value? Once you publish your earnings each month, it can be a quick spiral down. I was just reading about AOL and how they went from $166 billion valuation to $6b (97% drop in value). Anytime you have a company where one person is the sole face of a company (Bill Cosby, Tiger Woods, etc.) you have a high risk. I’m pretty new to the podcasting world – but it seems like he’s done quite well for himself and is smart with investing and saving during these high years and is working to grow the podcast beyond just one show with a membership site.
Travis