This is the first post on the new PowerPress Sites Deluxe powered Podcast Help Desk.
I’ve changed a few things on the transition over to PPS from Godaddy hosting (Nothing wrong with godaddy and I still have MikeDell.com over there).
First change is the main feed now includes both PHD and PHDQH. For those that don’t want the full episodes, and only the Quickhits, there is a feed for that here. Otherwise, stay subscribed to the main feed and you will get everything I put out.
Trying to simplify how I post things in the future.
Otherwise, business as Normal.
If you want to try a PowerPress site deluxe, you can get a Month free by using the promo code HELPDESK at checkout at blubrry.com
Here are the things I DO NOT worry so much about in my Podcasting:
1. My Statistics / Numbers
2. My Reviews, Ratings and Rankings
3. iTunes
4. Audio Perfection
5. Being Absolutely Everywhere
6. MP3 File Names
Things I do worry about:
1. Audience – Give them a reason to listen
2. Knowing my listeners
3. My RSS feed address
4. Being everywhere that matters
5. Ease of use for my listeners and web visitors
You will have to listen to the show to find out more 🙂
Soundcloud is NOT a podcast company. They are a music and audio sharing platform kind of like YouTube is for Video. They have lost something like $300 Million since they started. Investors are bailing out on them. They tried to get $100 Million more and failed (so far) and came up with $70 million in a LOAN. They even say that may not take them to the end of the year. YIKES! Run, don't walk, away from Soundcloud for your primary podcast host.
Soundcloud takes a $70 million loan because they can't get another round of investment
David Noel, Soundcloud co-founder, leaving
If you insist of sticking with Soundcloud for podcast hosting, at least control your feed in some way!
Today I give a bit of an overview of what you need to do BEFORE you put out your first episode of your podcast.
1. Pick a Topic
2. Pick a Title (for the show)
3. Pick and get your domain name
4. Figure out how you are going to do your RSS feed
5. Setup your site and feed
6. Figure out how and what you are going to use to record your podcast
7. Test record to make sure you know how to use your mic, software, devices and whatever else you use to record and edit your files
**** USE MP3 for Audio, USE MP4/M4V for Video ****
If you disagree with me or have a question, please send in a voice comment to mike@mikedell.com or Podcasthelpdesk@gmail.com
Don't fall for all the “launch” strategies that people are trying to sell you. Just “START” your podcast.
To get into iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher and other places, you only need 1 podcast episode in your feed. Not 3, 5, 7 or whatever, just one. START your podcast and don't LAUNCH it.
Shownotes are anything in this part of my post. Wherever you are seeing this, this is the show notes.
They are the main content area in your blog post.
Podcasting is just Blogging with media. So, no matter how you are doing your RSS feed, you are blogging. To get an episode you make a post. What you write in the main content area of that post, is your Show Notes.
My Predictions from 2015 in podcasting for the Year 2016
I Made some guesses on what was going to happen in 2016 back in Episode 71. Now we find out just how wrong I was.
Soundcloud will no longer be a podcast media host (Wrong, they are still here)
Soundcloud is still here and still nobody has bought them and they haven’t gone out of business (yet)
There will be at least one new podcast media hostt (Right)
Dan Benjamin's Fireside along with a BUNCH of others that didn’t really make a splash yet.
There will be at least one new podcast media host go out of business (??)
At least none that I know of. I'm sure there were some, but they went out with no splash just like they came in with no splash.
I will release “The NO BS Guide to Podcasting”. No Really…. I am going to finish it (wrong)
It will come out sooner or later or never 🙂
Feedburner will still exist all year long. (Right)
Yup.. Still a pain in my side.
Podcast Movement will be a big success. (no brainer) (right)
PM16 was great! The first one I went to and it was a ton of fun. Reminded me of the good old days in Ontario.
Blab will start charging “something” for service or will start some sort of advertising. (Not talked about in the show) (WTF? They went out of business)
They are just gone. So I don’t know if I was right or wrong. I guess wrong, they didn’t start charging, they just went out of business. Free is a lousy business plan.
A major player in the podcasting space (company) will change names / rebrand. (wrong)
At least, not that I know of. Blubrry went through a sort of re-branding. It’s now “Blubrry Podcasting, a RawVoice Company” in communications. But, really it was that all along.
There will be a major Movie announced that features podcasting in the central plot. (not a documentary or independent film) (Wrong – As far as I know)
1. DO NOT Host your mp3 files on your own webserver
Hosting your files on a webserver is the single quickest way to get kicked off of your web hosting server. Plus, if you get popular at all, your mp3 downloads will compete with your website and your RSS feed. It’s simply not a good idea.
2. DO NOT Use Feedburner (or feedblitz or any other 3rd party RSS feed service)
We have beaten this dead horse but I get calls every week from someone who is on feedburner and something goes wrong. Eliminate that problem by eliminating feedburner from your system. You give Feedburner a feed to “burn”, use that feed directly.
3. DO NOT Use your hosting company’s RSS feed
Using a feed that doesn’t have your domain name in it simply means you do not own that feed. Your hosting company does. It’s like email. If you have aol.com or hotmail.com in your email address on your business card, it makes you look stupid. Or at very least, unsophisticated or too lazy to do the work needed to have your own domain in your email. Same goes for feeds. If you run your feed from your own domain, it looks better than yourpodcastname.hostingcompany.com/rss. Plus, if your hosting company goes out of business (which DOES happen and has happened in the past) you will have trouble getting your subscribers back.
4. DO NOT Listen to anyone that tells you that WordPress Feeds are unreliable
There is a very well known podcaster / podcasting company rep that is spreading the BS that WordPress Feeds are unreliable. The simple fact that it’s WordPress does NOT make it unreliable and the fact that it’s from said hosting company, does NOT make it reliable. They have their feed problems too. Just like any system, there can be problems. (If there were no problems ever, why would they need a support department??) This person (and others) are using it as a marketing tool to make you think that if you host your own RSS feed, you are somehow more likely to have problems. That is simply not true. I know of several networks that are running WordPress feeds (many of them!) from one WordPress site and have no problems. It’s more about the server than it is about the system. This Hosting company (and the one I work for by the way) have very reliable and robust servers that cost a lot of money to maintain. A $3 a month shared hosting plan on a Web Server is not very likely to be able to handle a ton of traffic. That’s because it only costs $3. You get what you pay for, as the old saying goes. If you get really popular, you may need to step up to a higher level server. I run Podcast Help Desk and all my other sites save one, on Godaddy’s mid-level Linux servers. Yes, it costs more than $3 a month. But not that much more and my sites have never gone down. I don’t get Serial or NPR level’s of traffic. If I did, I could get a much bigger server, still run WordPress and be just fine. You can’t expect a 20 year old Toyota mini truck to haul the same load as an 18 wheeler, so you must get the vehicle that is needed for the job at hand. Same with webservers. But as I said # 3, it is worth the trouble because you want own your own brand, your own platform totally without any 3rd parties in your way.
5. DO NOT Use anything but MP3 for an audio podcast
I’m sure I will get some “feedback” from my friend Charles on this one, but Do NOT use another file format other than MP3 for your audio podcast. At least not at this time. AAC (or Apple’s M4A) format is great for music. Great for iPods, iPhones and the such, but it’s not great for older mp3 players that people still use. It also does not work as well for web players. Does it work? Yes, 90% but mp3 works 100%. Stick with that until something better comes along.
6. DO NOT Encode your MP3’s any bigger than 128kbps Stereo
In fact, most of the time, 64kbps Mono is good enough. (Constant bit rate too). Anything bigger is just wasting your hosting space and your listeners data pla…
Blubrry Podcasting has released Post to Social so you can post your episodes to Social Media (YouTube, Facebook and Twitter) from your Podcaster Dashboard at blubrry.com
See the announcement here: http://www.powerpresspodcast.com/2016/12/13/5327/
Find out how to do it here: https://create.blubrry.com/resources/podcast-media-hosting/post-to-social/
