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As many of you will know, last week I stuck to my promise of launching a Podcast in the new year and released the first episode, ‘How I Would Make Money Online If I Was Starting from Scratch‘. I had hoped that a lot of people would get some value from the recording and be able to start 2012 in style, but I didn’t anticipate what happened next. Within 24 hours the podcast made it to #1 in Marketing and #2 in Business on iTunes which totally blew me away – sandwiched in between 9 podcasts by the BBC and the Financial Times.
In just 6 days (I don’t have stats for the last 24 hours yet) the first show has been downloaded over 18,000 times. Keep in mind that I didn’t even write a blog post about the launch, so the majority of my audience are only hearing about the episodes now. Episodes was not a typo. I’m adding another recording in the next 24 hours.
On top of that, this website had some of the best traffic days it has had, ever. In fact, January is the highest traffic month for the blog so far since June 2011, and there’s still quite a few days left before it’s over. I’m really surprised by the results and really, the only thing I can complain about is that I wish I had started this podcasting thing earlier.
As you can probably tell, I’m really happy to have launched and can see that this is going to be a big step in taking the ViperChill brand forward. For those of you who see opportunities for audio to grow your business, I’m going to show you the exact, step-by-step process of how to launch a podcast in style.
Why Start a Podcast?
Though there were a number of reasons for me to start a podcast, many of which you would probably relate to, I have to admit that one of my biggest motivations in kicking this off was seeing the success that Pat Flynn has had with his own podcast over at SmartPassiveIncome.
The number of downloads his episodes are getting has been increasing month on month, with over 100,000 being listened to in December alone. Pat interviewed me in one show early on in the life of his podcast and I’m constantly hearing from people that it’s how they discovered ViperChill.
Not only that, but in a survey he gave to his audience he discovered that his podcast was the number one way that new people found SmartPassiveIncome in 2011. Are you itching to start yours yet?
When I was first starting out online I would sometimes listen to recordings from Webmaster Radio on my iPod as I walked to school or was sitting on the bus to work. My favourite show was on the topic of SEO which was put together by Dave Naylor and Mikkel de Mib, two very well known people in the industry who were always up to date on what to do about the latest algorithm changes.
Despite my love for it back then, I honestly haven’t listened to that many podcasts since. I would estimate that I’ve probably heard around 15 different episodes in the last two years, and that was just downloading the individual files directly; not subscribing to feeds in iTunes.
I still love SEO and marketing in general, but since I’ve been doing this for so long, it’s pretty rare for me to hear new things that nobody else is talking about or that apply to the specific types of things I’m working on. I’m always looking to learn, but I have a trusted system for growing my ‘knowledge-base’ and it’s all revolved around text. That aside, I definitely see this as an opportunity for me to give more value and grow ViperChill at the same time.
I see a lot of potential for you all to benefit from this medium as well. Some of the main advantages that come with podcasting include:
- Creating a stronger connection with your audience – For a lot of people, hearing me on this podcast was actually the first time they’ve ever heard me talk. While my weird mix of Geordie (people from Newcastle) and South African probably scared a few people away – heh – I know that others definitely feel more connected with me now and know a little more about the Glen behind ViperChill.
- Increasing the size of your reach – One big thing for me was to reach a new audience, and primarily people who are already listening to Business and Marketing podcasts in iTunes. I can see that thousands of people are now pulling my XML feed through the site – far more than I sent over to iTunes – so I’ve hugely increased my reach by thousands in just a couple of days. Something that’s very hard to do with other platforms.
- Give people who prefer audio what they want – Some people definitely prefer listening to podcasts rather than reading thousands of words of text, so this also allows me to give those people in my audience exactly what they’re looking for. Countless people had emailed me to say that they would love to listen to a podcast from me on their journeys to work or while they’re lazing around on the beach, so this gives me a way to “keep in touch” with people who aren’t in front of a computer screen.
- Have the freedom to switch up your style – When I spend a lot of time writing about marketing, it’s nice for me now and then to go back to writing about personal development for guest posts or in various posts for this website. Podcasting also allows me to ‘switch things up’ and take a break from my regular schedule of just writing and swap the keyboard for a microphone.
There are probably a few items in here that I’ve missed, but those are definitely the most important benefits that I’ve noticed myself. If you’ve decided that producing a few MP3 files or starting a full-blown podcast just might be for you, then I’ll now get into the specifics…
Preparing to Record Your First Episode
Once you’ve decided to give this a try, it’s time to get ready to record your first episode. Though the internal microphone on my Macbook Pro is more than suitable for Skype conversations, I wanted a bit more quality when it comes to producing a podcast so I decided to look around to see what was available.
Since I’m back in Cape Town at the moment (just for a couple of weeks before I start my ‘new life’ on a new continent) I went looking around the computer shops at a few malls to see what was available. Sadly, the best thing I could find was a small Logitech mic for about $30 which the salesman tried to convince me would sound fantastic, but I wasn’t convinced.
After asking around on Twitter a few people like Derek suggested that I pick up a ‘Blue Yeti’ USB microphone that seems to be a popular option. I knew I wasn’t going to have any luck in the shops here so decided to do some searching online. The best price I could find was on an African, eBay-style website where it was being sold for R2,200. That’s around $273, almost triple the price the microphone would cost if I were to buy it in Europe or America.
I wanted a quality microphone and while it wouldn’t kill my bank balance, I had no idea how long it would take to arrive, so decided to pass. I was getting a little frustrated with my hunt when Diggy had the idea of going to a music shop around five minutes from my apartment. My bad luck continued when they didn’t have any USB microphones in the shop, but the person I dealt with said they could order one in for me and it would arrive just after the new year.
I’m usually an impulse buyer and hate waiting for things, but at R749 (around $90) the price seemed a little more reasonable, and compared to the Amazon price of $73 I didn’t feel like I was being totally ripped off either. The microphone – the Samson C01U – arrived in store a few days later and I quickly tested it out (see image to your right). The quality far surpassed that of my internal microphone and impressed Diggy so much that he ordered the exact same one within five minutes of hearing mine.
The next thing on my list was software. For years now I’ve used Audacity for recording DJ mixes and MP3 files for various projects, so decided to go with that again. It’s totally free, and available for Mac and Windows users over here. I know other people like to use GarageBand (Mac) but it’s not something I’ve had much experience with so I decided to stick with what I know. My microphone actually came with it’s own software as well, called cakewalk, which I thought was a nice addition and I’ll definitely test it out for one of my future recordings.
After a few sound checks I silently wished that I had purchased a ‘pop filter’ for the microphone – which stops any P sounds like Pppppp – but found I could avoid that problem as long as I didn’t speak directly into it, and instead had it slightly to the left of my mouth when talking. However, this is an item I’ll still probably pick up in the future.
Deciding What to Talk About
My recommendations for what you should be talking about in your podcast don’t really differ too much from my content idea generation post when I was talking about blogging. The basics really apply here:
- Make sure it’s relevant to your niche
- Cover topics that you’re passionate about
- Give it a title that will make people want to listen
But hey, this is ViperChill, and we don’t just stick to the basics. One cool thing about iTunes is that is shows you the popularity of individual episodes. Just like you can go to blogs in your industry and figure out what their most popular posts are, you can also look at people podcasting in your industry and see which episodes of there’s were hits. What topics they talked about which really got their audience excited.
For example, I can go into the health category and click on a random show, The Meditation Podcast. By looking down their list of shows I can see that the most popular are the ones that focus on sleeping. Now I know this is an area that – if I can share some good information on the topic – will be of interest to a lot of people if I were to produce a podcast.
It’s probably a good idea to suggest here that once you have released a few episodes, make sure you check your own show ratings as well so you can keep giving your audience what they want.
Intro / Outro
If you’ve listened to my own podcast then you’ll know that I apologised for not having any “awesome intro music or cheesy lines from some voiceover guy on Fiverr.” I honestly don’t think that having these is really that important, but I do think it makes your recording sound a little more professional and shows new listeners that you’ve actually put some care into the production of what you’re doing.
When I ran PluginID, at the end of my videos you would hear lots of people saying the name of the website, including males and females with totally different accents, ending with my Taiwanese friend Rose repeating “PluginIDeeeeeee”. I could be wrong, but I think it gave the site a more global feel, and really showed that people all over the world were reading / watching.
I’m contemplating doing something similar with ViperChill, but don’t send in your MP3 files just yet. If you’re looking for voiceover resources besides Fiverr, you could try a ‘voice marketplace’ like Voices.com, or even just contact the owners of podcasts whose intro you like and ask for recommendations.
Producing and Editing Your MP3 File
I’ve created a few MP3 files for various projects before, so I wasn’t totally new to this and had an idea of how I wanted to approach things. Whenever I used to record them I would try and speak off the top of my head without any script, but would find myself losing focus and sometimes missing key points. It’s a lot less time consuming to talk naturally without writing anything down first, but I think I need a lot more practice with this.
I decided to write a fairly detailed outline of what I was going to say before I started recording. This way I know exactly what I want to cover and can ensure there’s nothing that I miss out. This also helps me keep some form of ‘flow’ to the recording as well. One downside to this approach though is that it is slower, and you do run the risk of sounding a little robotic. To combat the latter point, don’t be afraid to go ‘unscripted’ at times and then get back to your next item.
Before I released my podcast to the world I sent it over to my friend Graeme to see what he thought, and listened to it myself for the first time as well. We were both in agreement that the information was good, but I could benefit by first of all, talking slower, and secondly, not trying to cram in as much information as I did.
I’m happy with the recording, but if you space out for a few minutes then there’s probably a lot of information that you’ve lost. I’m contemplating adding a little bit of ‘fluff’ in future recordings and not try and get so many concepts across in a short space of time, but I would love to know what you think about that in the comments.
If you’re anything like me, whether or not you are reading a script or going at it naturally, there are going to be times when you screw up and say something totally wrong or ridiculous. I did leave in a few errors, but some things are best taken out. Whenever I have a slip-up I’ll simply shout “STOP” into the microphone then carry on speaking.
When editing in Audacity, I can clearly see a big sound wave from when I shouted, so I know where the errors are and in turn know where to make my edits.
Once you’ve finished recording, it’s time to produce it as an MP3 file. If you’re using Audacity, you will be asked to locate a certain file once you try to Save it as an MP3. This file doesn’t come with Audacity by default, but you can find what you’re looking for over on this page.
One person that was constantly recommended to me when I was looking to launch a podcast was Cliff Ravenscraft’s website, PodcastAnswerMan. He has some great video tutorials on his site and with the introduction of one of them being “most people who podcast forget to do this” I had to keep watching.
His suggestion was to use a program called ID3 Editor to edit the specific information of your MP3 file and do something I had totally never thought of, embedding an image into the MP3. This image is what will show in the likes of Windows Media Player and iTunes as the cover graphic of your album or individual MP3′s when playing them, as shown below:
Audacity which I use already has options for things like the Title, Album name and track number so these were already filled in for me after producing. I added the simple graphic that I had already created for when submitting to the iTunes podcast directory and it was done. This image should be 300px by 300px.
To test that you’ve done this properly, just open your MP3 file up in iTunes and see if the cover shows when playing the file.
Creating your RSS Feed and Submitting It to iTunes
I was recently asked in an interview why I have a very strong community with this site. Basically, why my posts get so many shares and comments and discussion. One of the reasons, I assumed, was that I don’t claim to be an expert on everything. I’m always willing to learn more things and share my findings with people here.
This step is a good example of that. Simply put: I’ve found something that works, which I’m going to share below, but the way I do things is probably not best way to go about it.
Your podcast RSS feed allows general RSS readers, podcast directories and places like iTunes to ‘pull’ information about your podcast and your episodes such as its title, length, publish date, specific show information and the actual location of your MP3 files. It also allows you to notify these places whenever you add new shows or just want to make some changes to episode information.
The most popular option I’ve found for bloggers who podcast is to use a plugin like the podcasting plugin for WordPress, found here. With over 130,000 downloads, I’m sure you’ll recognise the little player it adds to your posts from some of the blogs you read.
This plugin will also help you create your own iTunes feed from a specific category on your blog, which you can then run through Feedburner and submit to iTunes. For most of you reading this, the plugin solution is probably your best option.
I didn’t take this route for a few reasons. First of all, I want full control over my XML file that iTunes and other services are pulling. I’ve witnessed more than enough people having corrupt RSS Feeds from conflicts with certain plugins (though they’re definitely the minority) and not being able to fully control them in WordPress.
Secondly, I didn’t really need the majority of the features in the plugin. Since I’m not going to be putting podcasts into posts (at least not anytime soon) and instead have them highlighted on a page, there’s no RSS feed that I can generate from a specific category.
Instead, I hand-created my XML feed. Again, for 99% of people, this probably isn’t the best option to take. I’m only going to be adding one or two podcasts to the site per month at most so it’s really not a big deal for me to manually edit the file. However, if you’re adding one every couple of days then it would probably get annoying.
A friend said he could make me a small script in 10 minutes to update this file if I ever wanted to take some more shortcuts. I’m kind of enjoying getting involved in all the technical stuff by hand at the moment though.
You can view the XML data I have for ViperChill below, if you’re looking to go the same route as me:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<rss xmlns:itunes="http://www.itunes.com/dtds/podcast-1.0.dtd" version="2.0">
<channel>
<title>ViperChill Podcast : Viral Marketing</title>
<description>Presented by Glen Allsopp, who at 18 was the social media manager for companies like Land Rover and Hewlett Packard, the ViperChill podcast shares internet marketing insights you wont find anywhere else. I'm ultimately here to teach you how to get more traffic and make more money!</description>
<link>http://www.viperchill.com</link>
<language>en-us</language>
<copyright>Copyright 2012</copyright>
<lastBuildDate>Thu, 08 Jan 2012 11:30:00 -0500</lastBuildDate>
<pubDate>Thu, 08 Jan 2012 11:30:00 -0500</pubDate>
<docs>http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss</docs>
<webMaster>hq@viperchill.com</webMaster>
<itunes:author>Glen Allsopp</itunes:author>
<itunes:subtitle>The ViperChill Podcast teaches you how to succeed online by getting more traffic and making more money. </itunes:subtitle>
<itunes:summary>Presented by Glen Allsopp, who at 18 was the social media manager for companies like Land Rover and Hewlett Packard, the ViperChill podcast shares internet marketing insights you wont find anywhere else. I'm ultimately here to teach you how to get more traffic and make more money! </itunes:summary>
<itunes:owner>
<itunes:name>Glen Allsopp</itunes:name>
<itunes:email>hq@viperchill.com</itunes:email>
</itunes:owner>
<itunes:explicit>No</itunes:explicit>
<itunes:image href="http://www.viperchill.com/podcast-graphic.jpg"/>
<itunes:category text="Business">
<itunes:category text="Management & Marketing"/>
</itunes:category>
<item>
<title>How I Would Make Money If I Was Starting from Scratch Online</title>
<link>http://www.viperchill.com/podcast/</link>
<guid>http://www.viperchill.com/Starting-Online.mp3</guid>
<description> Learn exactly what I would do if I was starting from scratch online in the first ever episode of the ViperChill Podcast!</description>
<enclosure url="http://www.viperchill.com/Starting-Online.mp3" length="21243263" type="audio/mpeg"/>
<category>Management & Marketing</category>
<pubDate>Sun, 08 Jan 2012 11:30:00 -0500</pubDate>
<itunes:author>Glen Allsopp</itunes:author>
<itunes:explicit>No</itunes:explicit>
<itunes:subtitle>Learn exactly what I would do if I was starting from scratch online in the first ever episode of the ViperChill Podcast! </itunes:subtitle>
<itunes:summary> Learn exactly what I would do if I was starting from scratch online in the first ever episode of the ViperChill Podcast!</itunes:summary>
<itunes:duration>00:22:06</itunes:duration>
<itunes:keywords>make money online, starting online, viral marketing, viperchill, glen allsopp</itunes:keywords>
</item>
</channel>
</rss>
It should be fairly simple to work out what you need to change when you create your own XML file if you wish to do so. You’ll see that I’ve referenced the ViperChill MP3 file on my own server. If you don’t want to upload them to your site via FTP like I did you can also upload MP3 files to your site using WordPress, by clicking ‘Media’ on the left navigation menu in your admin panel, and selecting ‘Add New’.
Once you have your podcast RSS feed through whatever format, it’s time to add it to iTunes. To do that, simply open the software on your computer and – making sure you’re connected to the internet – click on ‘iTunes Store’ on the left menu. On the top menu bar select ‘Podcasts’, then a small link on the right sidebar gives you the option to ‘Submit Your Podcast’.
You’ll then be asked to provide your RSS URL, which iTunes will relay back to you so you can check that the information is correct. You’ll then go through a manual review before being approved onto the store. For me this took less than 18 hours so it shouldn’t take too long to see your podcast live once you’ve submitted it.
As far as making any changes to the podcast RSS feed go, I’ve generally found my changes to reflect in iTunes within 3-4 hours, though I’ve heard it can be much quicker at times.
Getting It Out There
The obvious first place to go with the launch of your podcast is in front of your current audience. I wanted to dedicate a page on the site just to view the podcast, rather than writing a post every single time I produce a new recording. Most of you would probably see more sense in the “posting every time you produce something” concept, but I guess I’m kind of weird like that. There’s also no reason why you can’t do both, ala Steve Pavlina.
Though I didn’t write a blog post about the launch, I did send it out to one email list and promote it on Twitter and Facebook. This no doubt helped me get a push up the rankings, and I again want to thank everyone who took the time to subscribe, review and rate over on iTunes. As promised, I’ve been checking out the sites of everyone who let me know via Twitter.
The aim really is to get higher up some of these category pages which iTunes podcast listeners check on a daily basis. If you can get in the ‘New & Noteworthy’ section then you’re probably even more likely to get a listener boost as well. Being high up on these sections is probably the best thing you can do to increase your audience in the early stages of your podcast.
In other words, if you’re going to launch on the iTunes market, try and make sure you can give your show as big a boost as you can in the early days to help your chances of your podcast being featured.
It’s up to you whether your not you want to want to give your audience a transcript to go with your audio files. I only received one ‘thanks’ for having one, yet I’m sure I would have heard a lot of complaints if I didn’t. Around 14% of the people who downloaded the MP3 from me directly (rather than going through iTunes) picked up the PDF, so it is used by a decent amount of people.
Since I had written a lot of what I was going to speak, it didn’t take very long to fill in the blanks and write the rest of the transcript. For transcripts you can once again find works on Fiverr, and assistants on the likes of oDesk, but you may want to look into the various software solutions that are available on Google. I haven’t fully looked into any of these yet, so can’t personally recommend them.
There are a number of podcast directories out there for you to list your new show, but I couldn’t find any that seemed popular, and would assume this is probably a waste of time. Now that I have some decent audience figures I’ll test some out and then update this section. This leaves my final process pretty straightforward, and highlighted in the graphic below:
The final question I want to answer is “Should I Start a Podcast?“. They clearly have a place in the marketing world, but audiences here are definitely more tech-savvy than the average person. I think that even if you don’t want to create a regularly updated podcast, at least create something so you can connect further with your readers.
It’s so easy to create an MP3 file that you can send out to your list or add to a page on your site or use as a bonus to a product that there’s really no reason not to give it a try.
I really hope you got some value out of this post and suggest that, as always, if you have any questions just leave a comment below. Thanks again to all of you who subscribed to and rated the show on iTunes!
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FIRST!
Hah! And I think it’s your first comment over here too.
Nice to see I’m not the only one in Cape Town awake at 1am
I’ve commented a couple times in the past on VC, but this time I’m sitting online and in the very minute I was looking to see how else was up and about I saw your tweet
I’ve now had a chance to read the post, cool insight into the submission to iTunes, a podcast is on my list for 2012 that I wrote at the beginning of this year so this post should kick my butt into doing it. Take it easy mate!
Geln,
I heard you’re interview with Pat Flynn and saw on his blog that you started a podcast, so I had to listen. I was blown away by the content, I couldn’t believe we we’re getting it for free. I have listened to it 3 times and have used it to start a niche site: http://excitingfamilyjourney.com/. I look forward to following this blog and using all that you offer to grow my niche site. I have a main website: http://talesofwork.com/blog/ but after listening to your podcast I wonder if it’s too board of a topic, it’s my passion though. Anyways, thanks for what you’re doing and how you’re helping others make it online!
Congratulations on the success bro. You’ve got a lot of loyal fans out there.
Thanks BT. Just don’t reveal that secret I emailed to you any time soon…
And you too!
Ha ha.
Wow! I’m impressed that you got that much exposure so fast!
I’ve been getting ready to start a podcast of my own and this really gets me excited.
Thanks for sharing your experience, Glen
Awesome, Clayton.
Yeah, the potential really surprised me too. I just regret not doing it earlier.
Thanks for the comment!
Awesome man, I’m so glad that this worked out for you! You’ve got a really cool style (pirate radio kid) that people dig, and I think it will indeed take your brand to the next level. Way to go!
Thanks buddy.
Excited for the next launch
Fantastic Glen!
I’m one of those proud reviewers.
So glad you decided to start podcasting.
And thank you very much for enlightening us all on how to create a podcast in such a great detail.
Best Regards,
Henrique
Thanks Henrique,
Just saw your tweet as well. I really appreciate the support!
Keep well
Awesome Glen, always wondered when you’d get into podcasting.
Next up, dominating YouTube?
Hah. My BloggingCaseStudy videos took 3 days more than I had planned for each of them.
In other words..wayyyy too much work
Insane results!!
Great stuff !
In the long run, Pat (SPI) mentioned a plugin somewhere on his site (I couldn’t find it easily) which allowed you to download more than the usual 10 last podcasts. So you could alter the XML feed which gave him another 9000 download or something from previous sessions which didn’t show up in iTunes.
You could just shoot him an email and ask what that was if you are planning more than 10 podcasts
Anyway all the best!
Ralph
ps.. you visiting Sydney any time soon?
Hey Ralph,
Yeah I saw Pat’s post about that. It was basically a fix to show more items in a feed for certain categories, different to your normal WordPress limit. That doesn’t really apply to me though.
Thanks for the comment! No plans
Ok, I have a question for you…and maybe I’m over-thinking this one…
I host a podcast for our company site (we’re a real estate tech company). The show’s called: dsRadio – Internet Marketing for Real Estate Professionals.
I want to launch my own podcast on my own site, but I’m stuck on a name. My niche is real estate and small business, but my domain is my name “RicardoBueno.com.” That said, I can’t think of anything catchy like the “ViperChill podcast” or “SmartPassiveIncome.”
Any ideas?
“Richard’s Bueno’s Guide to Real Estate”
“The Bueno Podcast to Real Estate”
“Real Estate done Bueno”
“Real Estate and Business in a Bueno Way”
Just from top of mind
Wow very comprehensive, well done on the post and the podcast!
Thanks Dan!
I have one major problem with all this Glen. I have been procrastinating on doing a Podcast for almost 5 years, yes 5 frickin years. I even bought all the kit and the saddest thing of all a ‘Podcasting For Dummies’ book that I’ve never even read.
My complacency is disturbed now and I really ought to get my act together, so thanks and no thanks
And I very much agree with Gregory, YouTube next! If you can conquer that sucker people will bowing down in supplication and throwing vast amounts of dosh at you….probably.
Hah, I’m looking forward to it Tim!
Good to see you over here
I enjoyed the post and the podcast. It’s unbelievable how fast you ranked so high, congrats!! I look forward to the next.
Interesting about the mic choice, lots of pod casts out there that have horrible audio and it takes away from the content.
BTW I first heard you on Pat Flynn’s podcast!
Even more proof in the power of podcasts then
Thanks for the comment Tom!
Great info! Thanks!
One question… what software/analytics program are you using to track your Podcasting stats? I’ve been looking for something for a while and can’t find a thing!
Good question.
It’s almost impossible to track this with a regular stats tool like Google Analytics or Clicky. Instead you need to look at your server logs. I used Awstats which is available if you have Cpanel access to your server, and then look at the number of downloads for individual file types
Consider using a podcast hosting site like Libsyn and you’ll get all sorts of stats about your podcast shows. Cliff Ravenscraft explains it all on his website Podcastanswerman.com, and in his free tutorial at LearnHowToPodcast.com.
Thanks so much for the shout out Rich!
Spotted this string in your XML, not sure it is deliberate:
blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss
Yep, it’s deliberate.
When I found the original code I believe it said that it just helps people find out more about RSS for those who want to know. I haven’t found where it actually shows in iTunes though.
Hey Glen!
I listened to your podcast… 1.75 times
Congrats with the success you are having and I can’t wait for the second one to be released.
P.S> What country are you heading to next? Do you have a friend or two there to show you around?
Hey Moon,
I don’t want to say where just yet in public. I would rather tell my family etc first, but I do know
Nope…don’t know anybody there, but I guess that’s part of the appeal as well. I’m always up for a challenge…
It has been a while!
Congrats Glen! It was certainly a great start and I’m looking forward to the next podcast too.
I’m also glad you went into some detail as to why you made a page for the podcast vs individual posts. I’m interested to see if you will test/tweak this at all in the future to try for an even bigger push?
Jonathon
Hey Jonathan,
Thanks for the support buddy
Possibly. If I record something very different to what I would blog about then there’s a chance I’ll do that. More than likely, I’ll just mention new episodes (if any) whenever I write a new post.
Glen,
You always amaze me! But how did you “prime the pump” to get to the top of iTunes? Was it just by sending it to your email list and RSS? I would be curious to know if you had planned any sort of reviews or subscriptions from people?
Thanks and keep up the great work!
-Nate
Hey Nate,
Yeah, as I suggested, it’s really just about getting as big an audience as you can behind it in the early days. It makes sense that iTunes would be tracking ratings / reviews / downloads to pick these automatically. I’m guessing it’s pure downloads that decides on the top podcasts for the day.
Hi Glen
The success you’re seeing doesn’t surprise me in the slightest, mate.
I was also listed well in several sections, and agree – it certainly helps to have an audience already in place to boost those initial numbers. The real secret is to continue to churn out great content so people continue to download. Which, I doubt you’ll have a problems with!
Keep rockin’ – I’ll be listening…
Chris
PS. Thanks, also, for the mention in the first episode, too!
No worries on the mention!
Good to see you over here, Chris. Thanks for the comment
Hi Glen,
great to see it here 
When I requested “how to be # in iTunes” via twitter @betterbloggingw, I didn’t really didn’t expect you’d think of it seriously
all the best for the upcoming podcasts..
Shamelle
Hah, I just thought it would make for a better headline
Thanks!
The podcast sounds like exactly what I need. After working in consulting (database marketing) for years, I’m now staying home full-time with my 2 kiddos but would like to make money online to eventually buy and pay off a house (all the money I make would go to this goal until we make it!) I’ve been reading a lot over the past couple weeks and while there seem like multiple opportunities, I really need to identify where to start, particularly given my limited time while taking care of kids. I’m off to listen to the podcast and hoping for some direction. Thank you!
Hey Tiffany,
Thanks for your comment and sharing more about your situation. It’s always good motivation for me to give more back.
Best of luck to you!
any suggestions on where to host the mp3 so my server bill doesn’t give me a headache?
Have you thought of getting an account with Amazon Web Services? You’ll pay pennies compared to what you could with other options.
What kind of bandwidth does your hosting come with? You have to get a lot of downloads to start getting worried…
Great info. Duper long post! How old are u Glenn??
Just saw this comment. Answered below.
Great info. How old are u Glenn? ? Nice podcast episode yeah.
22
Awesome stuff, congratulations on your podcast, 18000 downloads and counting is a great effort.
Thanks Jason,
Definitely nothing to complain about
Congratulations on the podcast and great post!
Thanks Mark!
Great post!
Thanks Jason.
Congrats on the success Glen!
I knew your podcasts will be very successful after listening to the first episode, and I love how practical it is with the examples you included.
I’m also planning to start a podcast this year as soon as my long overdue home office is ready. I have been wanting to ask you which Mic you used, and this post couldn’t come at a better time.
Can’t wait to listen to future episodes; I think some more marketing related podcasts will have a huge impact also
Best Regards,
Oni
Hey Oni,
Good to see that you’re starting one as well. I’m curious to see what your accent sounds like
Thanks for the support as always, and good luck!
I love the podcast its brilliant. I cant wait for the next one
Thanks Patrick!
Coming very soon
Congrats man….
rock On…..
Awesome Glen,
Podcast is something that I love to look into after seeing the success from Pat and yourself. I’m actually looking for a USB mic as well because somehow my laptop only has a built in mic but not a normal slot for mic in .
And the price is pretty expensive for USB, and it is quite rare…
Cheers,
Ming
Thanks Ming,
Which country are you in?
This is a really good guide Glen. Believe or not, my wife and I started recording our first podcast episode over the long weekend. Thanks for the guide, I will be referring to it over the next several days as we launch our podcast.
Awesome!
Let me know if you have any Q’s…
Congratulations on the awesome success, bro. Can’t wait to listen your future episodes !!
-Dev
Cheers Dev,
Good to see you over here
Just listened to the podcast and loved it! Looking forward to all of the upcoming episodes – keep it up!
Thanks Chris,
Next one is coming very soon!
Thanks for the help!
I just started making you tube videos for a client, this has some excellent info that I can use for them.
I just got my own podcast submitted in itunes the other day.
Had a couple problems with the image, but looks like its working now:
http://itunes.apple.com/ca/podcast/network-marketing-on-the-internet/id495529028
Actually mine is a video podcast. Is that a vodcast? I hate the sound of that.
Is that why your background on the page is black? Or did you set that yourself…
Looks interesting; good luck!
Hi Glen,
Have been following your blog for a couple of years now, thought this was an opportunity to give you some advice for a change
We started developing podcast production software a couple of years ago and this year we are actually sponsoring the European Podcast Awards.
Although not free, a vast number of podcasters in EU and US are switching from Audacity to our $95 Journalist version as it makes editing and podcasting audio SOOO much easier than anything else.
It includes features like 1-CLICK PODCAST, that allows you to create pre-sets for upload destinations for your Podcast, including to Soundcloud, so that your next podcast in a series is just 1 click to upload, with episode-naming and RSS feed creation automated.
Other features include auto-level, voice profiler, enhanced podcast creator. read more here: bit.ly/hindyjourno.
Feel free to contact me for more info.
Best, Chris
Fantastic Glen, you are shooting for the stars.. I like your style
Thanks for the podcast, and thanks for be a big inspiration..
You’re very welcome.
Thank you for the support
Hi Glen,
Thanks for sharing your knowledge, keep up the good work.
I must mention that I am both your fan and Pat from the smartpassiveincome.com blog.
About software to do transcription, there is soundbooth or premier cs5 by Adobe that can do a good job at transcription. The downside is that it is expensive I guess.
Please keep giving us more of this. Really are a motivation to some of us that want to actually go your route.
Thanks David,
Appreciate the heads up on the software as well!
Congrats, Glen. I really enjoyed your first podcast and can’t wait to hear the next episodes!
Thanks Rich!
Did you notice I screenshotted you in this post?
Very interesting Glen. For now podcasting is not really for me as English is my second language and at times I still have difficlties understanding it; reason why I always go for the written word. But I’ll save this great post for when the time will be right. Great job, really well done.
Cheers Hypno
Good luck!
Another gem from Glen.
BTW, I read the transcript instead of listening to the blog. I will have a listen at some point, as sound is one of my things.
You are dead right to offer different ways for people to access your content and ideas, as everyone comes at learning from either: hearing and responding; reading and assimilating; hands on doing. Perhaps a cartoon or animation is your next move…
Using a high quality, sensitive mic will allow you to get far superior recordings, and, as you found, you can record off axis and work around problems with plosives.
Worth looking at the little Sony stereo mics (not USB, but minijack, so can do a job) http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00005QBUW/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_2?pf_rd_p=103612307&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B0007TBJRC&pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_r=1SY4P82E5RPFPSV5NAJ7
In my experience, they can capture a great sound on small consumer recording devices. Also worth looking at a recorder like the Zoom H4n for recording anywhere, anytime.
Despite nearly 30 years in music, sound etc, I had never thought of shouting when a mistake occurs to make it easier to find in the edit – genius!
Great one from you Glen. You are surely leading the way for others to follow and I am privileged to be amongst the people that are learning from you too.
I’ve been able to redesign my blog to what I really want to be after reading much from you.
Thanks for bringing out the best in you to teach and give out all for free.
You Rock!
Cheers Sheyi,
Much appreciated
You welcome buddy!
Be Good
-Sheyi
I love how in depth your posts are, always a fantastic read! Thanks for sharing, and also, glad to see your promoting the SOPA ban
Glen, Thank you so much for the mention in your excellent post here! I really appreciate it! I hope your post inspires folks to get their message out there. I love to see people start new podcasting journeys!
Jesus.. I guess you are pretty happy about the beginning of podcasting
?
18.000 Downloads for a 20 minute podcast…. This is the internet at it’s best!
By the way, I came across your site from Mr .Flynn (Who I also just started to follow).
I have been reading your blog for a couple of days now and you have same awesome content! It’s an amazing effort you put in to your in-depth post and this is exactly what blogs should be about. Quality over quantity! Keep them long, detailed and in-depth.
I am currently working on my first (English) online marketing blog at Trovatten.com, which will launch in about a month. I will definitely follow you and Pat’s strategy on providing in-depth content with less frequency.
Anywho, I thought I owed you a comment since I have really enjoyed the blog and learned a lot from your articles by now.
Have a good one Glen!
Frederik Trovatten
For those who detest iTunes: http://www.viperchill.com/podcast.xml
Good stuff. Especially the details about embedding the podcast art into the file and editing the details of it. thxx
No problem Justin!
First class Glen, I listened to the pod cast last week and found some great info there about niche site development. I have a couple online which are doing ok. I also had a massive spike in one last week 1125 hits in one day which tailed off a little over the course of the week. I put this down to January and the fitness niche being so popular this time of year?
Anyway I should be creating more in the future and hope to get the same kind of results. Keep up the pod casts Glen great stuff.
Dan
hey man you are rocking ,awesomw content, you always try to show your muscles in the form of content ,you are great keep it up.
That made me laugh. Thanks!
Glen, where do you come up with these ideas from!!!! unbelievable!!! why has no one else in SEO land thought of writing how to rank #1 on itunes!!!!
love it!
Jonny
Hah. Just made sense to go with what happened
Thanks for the comment!
Good work Glen. Listened to both your podcasts on iTunes. Both had great nuggets of info!
Someone I follow tweeted this and I guess that just reconfirms why I follow them. I would never have seriously considered producing a podcast for my business but now I can think of many ways I can do so to reach my target market. Thanks for really spelling out how to go about it.
Great stuff, as always Glenn. Congrats!
1 quick question: why do you recommend Podcasting Plugin by TSG
over the Blubrry PowerPress Podcasting plugin (another popular option)?
And something related to that. Why aren’t you posting a post to present your podcasts on your blog like Pat or Brian are doing on their own blogs ? Having your podcats on the blog can make better your activity metrics (average duration per visit), and that could overall benefits all your rankings.
I am curious to understand the rational behind that decision. Thanks!
Really impressed with how slick your podcast is.
I was really nervous about mine, but was really fortunate to be able to interview Pat Flynn (who was awesome and did most of the talking).
If you’re interested, here’s that podcast with Pat: http://www.smallbusinessunleashed.com/sbu-001-the-very-first-podcast/
Glen;
This is my first time leaving a comment – just wanted to say thank you for sharing your knowledge and your myriad ideas out here on the interwebs! Your emails are pretty much the only ones that I always set aside time to read in full – to process and learn from.
Inspiration to do the work needed to succeed!!
;-}Pam
Thanks Pam!
Really appreciate the kind words
Great work and great info, not everybody enjoys the sounds of their own voices which is why I think it deters quite a few people to go down this route.
Well done on the podcast.
If you haven’t got a pop filter a quick way to reduce popping is to use a pencil. Seriously!
Tape a pencil vertically up and down the centre of your microphone diaphragm. The solid mass of the pencil separates the air as it hits the diaphragm and reduces the popping. (old muso trick).
Allan
Interesting tip Allan, thank you!
Good stuff. Especially the details about embedding the podcast art into the file and editing the details of it. I love the way of your define… Really awesome and thanks for sharing with us.
The exposure that this marketing channel provides is brilliant. Apart from the XML feed is there any other element of the recording that needs to be optimized to perform well?
- Sajeet
Thanks for the post. I will be using it as a guideline when I start my podcast. Great info!
Hey Glen,
I’ll definitely be referring to this post again when I launch a podcast on iTunes. It was very easy to follow, appreciate it. I’m currently listening to your podcast on iTunes for the second time right now, while I’m writing this comment. -Multi tasking.
Even though I have some experience already as an internet marketer, I know I’m headed in the wrong direction. I’m nowhere near where I want to be at. Compared to you, I’m a wannabe. But your information is so straight forward and makes so much sense, that I know it will help me get back on track.
You’ve already gotten me so inspired, motivated and so very focused, thanks. Keep up the incredible work that you’re doing, and looking forward to your next Podcast.
P.S. I’m so glad I heard about your free Blue Print Videos on your podcast. What a sweet find!!
I think your podcasts are inspirational, good stuff Glen.
Podcast has been a best marketing and brand tool for me. I have been podcasting for over four years and I have builds a strong community of followers and listeners. Beside, podcast has been one of the easy way of creating content.
Hey Glen – there’s some awesome content on this site and this is just one of them. I’m looking to add podcasts/vodcasts to my site and will use this as my No1 resource for getting started.
Glen listening to #2 right now. Great content. Love the audio quality and a shout out from Whitley Bay.
Hey Glen,
I was thinking about making a podcast for my own business, but the problem is that I’m not a native English speaker.
I can talk English, but it doesn’t sound good, and sometimes it’s not even understandable.
I’m looking for some course so I can learn how to speak English better. What do you suggest me to do ?
Thanks in advance
Really enjoyed your podcasts and I hope to see more soon. I also enjoyed the time I had in the new and noteworthy section and got tons of downloads, unfortunately I took a break on the podcast after that due to technical difficulties and watched my podcast drop completely off the radar. I have been working on it quite a bit more now and trying to get more subscriptions. Hope yours stays up there and hope to see more soon!
since i started reading your posts i managed to make much more money from the site
namely your article blogging without a blog was such a transformation for me
thank you so much and keep it up
Hi I love pat in this shark infested business he is one of the very few who every second word is not trying to sell you something I live in london never met or likely to meet pat but he has helped me a lot in starting and keeping my business going. thanks
When i am using viper bar my menu is disturbed can any one help me out
Awesome blog post as usual
Thanks for the blueprint Glen! We have been debating this for awhile, one of those things we just need to do!
Please create more podcasts. I ma one that is ready for more info. I love listening to them while I am driving to and from work.
As someone that listens to a lot of podcasts, I hope you keep creating them. Please don’t stop.
This is great news to me. I have never been into podcasts, but clearly this post shows I have been leaving tons of leverage on the table.
Thanks, Glen for this post.
It is enlightening to learn that podcasts still work.
Well, I just jumped right into it and started a podcast yesterday! It just got approved. It’s just for fun so I don’t know that I’ll jump to #1 (and it’s not business related so no competition to you lol) but I’m off and running! You can check it out here:
Subscribe to my new podcast on iTunes. Real Life Stories Between Friends. The link is here: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/real-life-stories-between/id575805015
Hey Glen, loved this post! Landed here after reading and clicking on a post on http://www.tropicalmba.com
I just launched my very first Podcast and I’m soooo excited! No audience yet, but I managed to follow Dan Norris’ instructions – pretty straightforward, and no fancy-pants stuff for me.
MacBook, Audacity, no music, or intro/outro – but it’s all early days. I aspire to be at least a good Podcaster and I have some great folks to follow (like you
Took me 4 days to get iTunes approval, but I foolishly applied right before the Thanksgiving Day weekend – d’oh.
Anyway, just thought I’d say thanks for this sterling amount of exceptions podcasting info – I’m learning so much, so fast I feel like my head will explode some days haha
Here’s my Podcast – only 5-7 mins long, and if anyone gets a chance to listen, be gentle with me, ok? – I’m a total Podcast newbie!
https://itunes.apple.com/au/podcast/build-brand-not-just-website./id580440296
Ciao for now, waving from Melbourne, Australia!
Teena
Hey Glen, totally forgot to mention your great idea of “shouting” when you make a mistake.
Here’s a trick I’ve learned when making all my videos for my sites and clients – CLAP 3 TIMES LOUDLY – on both sides of the mistake — soooo much easier to find for editing purposes, but then again I’ve never tried “shouting”
Hey, if it ain’t broke … don’t fix it.
Just thought I’d throw this PS in as it might be helpful to your readers.
Ciao ciao! Thanks again!
Teena
Great post. Kind of makes my Ultimate Guide to Podcasting look a bit less ultimate. I disagree just a little where mention audiences being more tech savvy. That was the case a year or so ago when everyone thought podcasting was dying (except me!), but with all the new apps like Stitcher, podcasts are in front of anyone with the savvy to search for the app, download it then search for a podcast. There are many other apps by the way, I just prefer stitcher personally and am in no way affiliated.
At any rate, I suspect I will read this post again to make sure I didn’t miss anything. Thanks!