Feb. 16, 2023
The Best Way to Start a Podcast • PCI 333
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As people who have launched lots of podcasts over the years, Todd and Mike from the Blubrry team are more than equipped to provide tips on the best way to start a podcast.
Welcome to the new look, new format Podcast Insider! For Episode 333, CEO Todd Cochrane (@GeekNews) and Blubrry Support Evangelist Mike Dell (@MGDell) take us back to the basics to discuss the best ways to start a podcast.
We hope you enjoy today’s episode of Podcast Insider; we’ve worked hard to ensure that you’re getting the best podcast knowledge. We’ll still be periodically having guests on, so if you’re interested in being featured reach out to the team.
Today’s Hosts: Todd Cochrane and Mike DellWe cover a variety of items at hand when starting your podcast.
Topics – Pick one you’re relentlessly passionate about and won’t run out of things to say about it; skip popular and stick with something you care about.
Podcast Titles – Do your research and secure the title quickly. Research other shows, you can do so here. Don’t make this too difficult to spell or pronounce.
Websites / Domains – Lock down a URL before it’s already taken. Consider if it will be your show title, network, business, your name, etc.
Artwork – 1400×1400 is recommended. Directories are very picky about this, so you have to get the specs right.
RSS Feed – Time to setup the lifeblood of a podcast; we suggest using PowerPress and Blubrry hosting.
Trailer / episode 0 / launch episodes – Should you do them or not? It depends, but it typically doesn’t hurt to give audiences a heads up.
Directories – You can’t submit to directories until you have your first episode; Apple, Spotify & Podcast Index. The page on where to submit your podcast can help.
Pro-Production TipBatch Recording and Social Media Setup
Got a subject you would like us to cover on the show, Drop an email to mike@blubrry.com (audio, text, video), and we may use it. You can also post a question on the Blubrry Podcasting Facebook group.
The best place for support with any Blubrry product or service is our ticket system (https://blubrry.com/support/). Tickets give the whole team access rather than direct emails or calls.
Fill out our listener survey at surveys.blubrry.com/podcastinsider
- Schedule a one-on-one with Todd (hosting customers only). Email todd@blubrry.com
- Schedule a tech checkup with Mike (hosting customers only). Email mike@blubrry.com
- Send us your podcast sticker and a self-addressed stamped envelope (SASE) and we will send you a Blubrry care package.
Our mailing address: Blubrry – MacKenzie 150 E. Campus View Blvd. #180 Columbus, Ohio 43235
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Then you've really got the basis done.
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Because oftentimes people
don't know on Apple Podcast,
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the name and the author are really the
only two things that, that are searched.
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The description on Apple Podcast
is not even a search topic,
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but other things.
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Search to description like Google and
Google Podcast and other platforms.
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You are listening to, podcast Insider
hosted by Mike Dell, Todd Cochran,
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and Mackenzie Bennett from the Blueberry
team, bringing you weekly insights,
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advice, and insider tips and
tricks to help you start,
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grow and thrive through podcasting.
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All with the support of your team
here at Blueberry Podcasting. Welcome.
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Let's dive in.
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This is Todd Cochran, c e o
and co-founder of Blueberry.
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And I'm Mike Dell, VP of Customer
Relations here at Blueberry.
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Today, we're covering the best
way to start your podcast,
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everything you need to do before
hitting record and after you published
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your first episode. So Mike,
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our topic of the day is the best way
to start a podcast. And you know,
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you and I started and sometimes
we've stopped a few over the years.
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I'm the king of stopping podcasts
after a short time.
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So fortunately I only have one that, uh,
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his so-called pod faded and it was
just really from a lack of time. But,
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you know, I think today is what
we really wanna focus on is we're,
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as we're getting, as a podcaster's
getting ready to start a podcast,
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and some of you that are listening
to this show already have a podcast,
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but maybe this is the advice you
can give to someone that you know,
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but sing about starting a
podcast. I always, you know,
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as I talk to podcasters today, I always
talk about what's the goal? Yeah.
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And, you know, is the goal of the
show that you're going to do is,
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is it gonna be number one? Is
it gonna be for you to advance?
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Is it gonna be to pro one a topic? Is
it gonna be, you know, what is the goal?
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And the goal will often
lead to helping come up with
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that, that show name. You know, if that
show name is gonna be the, you know,
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the Todd's Talk hour, or if it's
going to be the Todd Self-Help Hour,
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whatever it may be, whatever
the goal of that show is,
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if the goal is to provide help, you know,
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maybe the self-help
show is the right name,
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but I think it's often important to
figure out the goal and also what the
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topic's gonna be.
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We always said at the beginning
of podcasting, it was like,
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you gotta be passionate about what
you're talking about. Well, yeah,
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that's true to a point. The thing is,
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is you don't want to pick a topic just
because you think it's gonna be popular,
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and it's really not something you want
to talk about over time. You know,
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if you want your show to last,
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you want it to be something that you
know you're gonna be interested in long
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into the future. Like, this
show's about podcasting.
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We're all passionate podcasters here,
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and getting people started in it
and helping 'em out and all that is,
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is our goal, our topic that
we always want to cover here.
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But it's, it's a little harder, you know,
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make sure that it's not something
that you're gonna get bored with,
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but if it does, you, you know,
it can pivot. But, uh, you know,
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for longevity, I think, you know,
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making sure it's something you're
gonna want to talk about over the long
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term.
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You know, and the title of that show
should be pretty concise, you know, it,
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it's, it's gotta be something that people
are going to potentially search for,
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you know, so it's,
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the title of the show has to be
related to the content of the show.
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And then again, if you tie in the goal
of what that show's going to accomplish,
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I think you're gonna be in the
sweet spot. But at the same time,
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you probably don't want the
topic of the show to be how
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to pour concrete footers
for homes. You probably,
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that that's probably not.
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That's not a good title.
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, that's not a good title, but
it has to be, again, something concise.
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And the best way I think about it too is,
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is if you're thinking about doing
a show, and let's just, you know,
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we'll use the word entrepreneur because
that is a word that's, you know,
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being heavily used in the
podcasting space today. You know,
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if you want to do an
entrepreneur show, that's great,
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but what type of
entrepreneurial show then,
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maybe entrepreneur is not the word
that you actually want to use.
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Maybe it's a subset of the word and it's.
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Hard to spell.
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and it's true.
So I always, you know, I,
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I think Google's your friend
here where you go out and,
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and you google some titles and see what
comes up because you know, there are,
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even though today there is so-called
4 million podcasts out there,
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there's really only about 400,000
that are currently active.
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So you wanna be able to find a name
that's really going to describe what
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that podcast is, so that when
people are searching for that,
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they have a very clear and concise idea.
You know what this podcast is about?
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Yeah. One, it's just simply in the name.
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Yeah. One of the,
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one of the best places to look up
specifically podcast names is go over to
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podcast index.org and you
can search for just a title
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and you can see if somebody's already
using it or if it's been used a bunch
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of times. You know,
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so you really wanna make sure you're
not gonna get confused with a show that
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either pod faded or, or is active.
That's even worse, you know,
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two shows with the same
name is confusing, you know,
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and it doesn't help you any
in the, uh, Google search.
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Either. And it, and it actually
may run a file of trademark.
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Yeah. Depending on what it is. So.
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Yeah, so if a show's active
and being actively produced,
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they may have filed a trademark for their
show. So you have to be, you have to,
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and you say, how am I gonna find a
name? Believe me, you'll find a name.
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But the second part of
this really ties into that,
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that searchability of the show.
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So if you're going to do a
podcast that, as you name it,
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you can find a domain that's related
to that, that naming that's similar.
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And again, today there is multiple
levels of top level domains.
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There's dot coms, there's
dot co, there's show, um,
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there's no dot podcast sadly, cuz I
think that'd be a great one for everyone.
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Yeah, it would. But, but there's dot net,
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there's lots of different extensions,
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but I think you also have to be careful
cuz a lot of people kind of run home to
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mama and always put in such and such.com
and really don't think about those
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subdomains.
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So if you can find a.com that
goes along with that show name,
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I think it's, it's, uh, money
well spent to reserve that,
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even if you aren't completely
locked into the show name. So,
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so much doesn't snag that domain name.
And again, short domain name the better.
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Yeah. And also make sure it's
easy to say, you know, on the,
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because you're gonna be saying it on your
show, like we say podcast insider.com,
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that's pretty easy to spell, pretty
easy to say and people will remember it.
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Yeah. Same thing with me. New media
show.com, geek news central.com. You know,
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that was, and the show that I had that
podcast in was podcast legends.com.
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So real easy to kind
of remember, but again,
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associated domain with the
name isn't really important.
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You know, I,
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I had a friend that started out
right at the beginning of podcasting
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and he had, his first show
was called the Paretta Cast.
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Now try spelling that.
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the Procast. I, I would,
okay. He said, I called it.
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What? Procast cast or.
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Something. See that? See, see that we
are, we're already confused,
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so don't make it too fancy. Yes.
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You don't want it to add confusion.
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Something's hard to say or
spell definitely is an issue.
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Yeah. And.
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The word podcast after it.
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So like you could say
you're doing a business show
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about the septic pumping business,
for instance,. Right. So you,
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so you know, if you type sep septic
pumping.com, it's probably taken,
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but you could do septic pumping
podcast.com. It's still easy to say.
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It'd be a weird show
though, wouldn't it? Yeah.
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But it is still a little bit on the
long side. Yeah. If you can, and,
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and you know, the,
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we've seen throughout the
years where a show has come in,
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it would be like the example,
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the the Apple Podcast by
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Mary Jane Smith. That, that was the
name of the, you know, it would be a,
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it'd be the topic in front with
the person's name at the end.
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And that might be a way to
break your show out. But again,
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finding a domain name that's
gonna go along with that might be
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a bit of a challenge. So again, just
do research. Yeah. Take some time.
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Uh, you know, and what I often
do is I just do a, a list.
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I just open up a doc and just make
a bunch of names and then kind
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of go look what's available and see which
one makes the most sense. But again,
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try to tie it together and being
that you are gonna know your topic
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and you're gonna know
your goal, then really it,
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what Mike and I are describing here is
gonna make it much easier for you to
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come up with your list. Cuz we're
just kind of ad hoking here.
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Things that we're, you know, we're trying
to give you some example descriptions,
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. But again, I think you're gonna
have, uh, a much higher luck with your,
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by yourself. Just, you know, and another
thing too is be careful who you tell,
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because oftentimes I'll see
on Facebook, uh, pages where,
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and I've seen this happen
before where someone says,
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I got an idea for a show and, and
explain a paragraph about the show,
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and then all of a sudden
someone's hijacked that idea.
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So be careful to share your show
idea with someone that you trust.
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And again, when you're going out
there and doing that research,
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two or three domains that you may
purchase that you may never use,
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might be an expensive investment.
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Even if you don't let those renew
when it gets time later down the road
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and grabbing a couple of eight bucks a
piece, uh, might be a smart thing to,
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if you're undecided sure. Then it's,
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and you start publicly talking about
your show, of course, that domain name.
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And,
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and of course I wanna point out here
that we do highly suggest when you're
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starting a show to get
the domain name for it,
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whether you use it or not at that
point. But, you know, of course,
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if you're doing it the
way we like to do it, uh,
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you're gonna use it
with a WordPress sight.
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So after you've come up
with that great name,
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you've come up with a great
description. And again,
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two or three sentences should
be enough to describe your show.
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And again, spend time on
that, on that description,
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then you've really got the basis done.
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Because oftentimes people
don't know on Apple podcast,
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the name and the author are really the
only two things that, that are searched.
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The description on Apple Podcasts
is not even a search topic,
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but other things search the description
like Google and Google Podcast and
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other platforms.
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So you have to have a great description
to go along with a great title of a
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show.
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But one thing that you'll want to think
about then next is the artwork. Yes.
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And it's very important, and it's,
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it's not that picky tech-wise,
but it's just a little bit picky,
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the artwork, and we'll talk
about the text spec in a minute,
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but I think your artwork should
be something that, and I,
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and I highly encourage you to go look at
any podcast directory and look at like
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the top 200 shows and just look at
their artwork and see what stands out.
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And the the thing that really stands
out on most artwork, in my opinion,
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is a clear and concise title where
you can see the title of the show
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and something that infer
what the show is about.
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You have to be careful because people
are gonna look at that for two or three
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seconds and make me make a
quick judgment that, hey,
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I wanna check this show out
just because of the artwork.
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There is lots of places to get artwork
created. I'm not artistic at all.
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I'm not gonna make any
specific recommendation
because there's lots of places.
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But I will caution you if you do
go out and use some of the more
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inexpensive artwork creation
site somewhere where you
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pay someone, you have to be really, really
careful about your artwork graphics.
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Yes.
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Because if you don't wanna get a copyright
violation by using someone that's
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reutilizing art. Uh, so be very,
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very careful on who you pick and
who you deal with if you decide to
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have someone create artwork.
Now, most artwork creators,
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at least that I know of
in the United States,
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charge about $300 to create artwork.
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Now there's those other places you can
go and get stuff created much cheaper.
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But again, caution, well, Rogers, you
know, you gotta be careful on again,
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where that artwork is. And if,
my advice always is, is try to,
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if you're un not artistic, like me,
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sketch something out of what
your artwork's gonna look like.
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And then when you get ready
to have it produced a 1400 by
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1400 pixels square, mike, you know,
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what's your experience with artwork?
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Well, a again,
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that 1400 by 1400 is actually
just my recommendation.
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That's the minimum size.
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And the reason that's good
is it makes the file smaller,
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it makes it load faster and,
and all that good stuff.
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Now you can go up to 3000
by 3000, but think about it,
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even on the biggest cell phones,
your artwork shows up by, you know,
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like an inch and a half by an inch
and a half. So the quality is not,
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you don't, don't get crazy about the
quality, uh, because it's not, I mean,
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quality content and make
it look as good as you can,
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but 1400 by 1400 is plenty. 3000 by 3000,
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you could blow it up to billboard size
and it would probably still look pretty
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good,.
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But one of the big mistakes
I I see in support here is
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people will upload an image
that is like eight megabytes.
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It's just huge. It looks wonderful.
And you could, you know, like I said,
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you could make a billboard
out of it, but you,
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you gotta also take into
account file size. This is a,
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an internet thing and most
people are on their phones,
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so it doesn't have to be big. It's file
size wise, it should be kind of small.
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You know, I'm kind of on the geeky
side of this stuff, so, you know,
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I don't wanna bore you with
all the geekery. If you
need help with your artwork,
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I could sure help you out. There's sites
like Fiver, that's the one that, uh,
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a lot of people use. And.
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Again, I caution Yeah.
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Just be careful with that.
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Yeah. And again,
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you've got the ability
to do your own. And I,
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I made my own artwork in the beginning
and it was pretty horrible. Um,
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but I was not, I'm not artistic
at all. I draw stick figures,
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but I try to keep my, my
album art as they call it,
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or your show art, I,
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I try to keep it below about
500 k I try to keep the size at,
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at around around 500 k. So
get that artwork created.
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And again, this can be a work in progress.
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The artwork is not
required to get started,
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but we highly recommend to have the
artwork ready when you're getting ready to
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start your show.
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But once you've got a title domain
and your artwork figured out,
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it can be time to set up your hosting.
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And if you're hosting at Blueberry,
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obviously we allow you during
that process to create a
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free WordPress site. So you
really have a couple of options.
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You've got the ability to, uh, just have
a dedicated landing page at Blueberry.
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You have the ability to get,
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to get a free WordPress website that
we include with every hosting plant.
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Or if you have your own
WordPress site already,
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you can use our plugin
PowerPress. But the key here is,
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is if you so decide to
have a dedicated website,
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which we again highly recommend,
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and here's really the
reason being behind the,
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the thought of having a dedicated website
and why we give all of our customers
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a free WordPress site.
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It's really kind of the best in class
option because it's going to give
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you the best seo, the best
Google results over time.
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But maybe you're gonna say, oh, that's
too much, Todd, I I don't wanna do that.
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That's okay too. You're not
ready to get to that point.
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You can definitely just have a
dedicated landing page at Blueberry,
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and then if you want later to graduate
into WordPress site, you can't.
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00:17:03,400 --> 00:17:08,180
But if you do decide to set
up your own website in which
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design is crazy, we're not gonna
get into that in this episode. Yeah.
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It's, it's, there's just too many options.
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Yeah,
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sometimes it's just start out
simple and any of the WordPress
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default themes will work. And again,
you can always pick one later.
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00:17:24,140 --> 00:17:28,660
And the thing I like about those
default themes is it's pretty simple.
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You put in the site title, you maybe put
in a little description and really, it,
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it doesn't take too much maybe
under half hour to kind of configure
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00:17:38,580 --> 00:17:42,100
and maybe put a little color in and
they'll have a chooser there where you can
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actually pick the colors. And, um, and
maybe you wanna make that match your,
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your cover art.
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So maybe you've already got some starter
colors because you've done your cover
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00:17:49,960 --> 00:17:54,160
art. Don't go too crazy,
but just do the basics,
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get things up where you're not
cringing when you look at it.
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00:17:57,760 --> 00:18:01,480
But at the same time,
a basic design is okay.
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Yeah. One, one of the,
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one of the big things that stop
podcasters or potential podcasters
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from starting is, you know,
paralysis by analysis.
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So they want everything
just so perfect and you
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know, it, it's better to get started
and then tweak afterwards. So, you know,
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00:18:21,920 --> 00:18:22,920
again, with WordPress,
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00:18:22,920 --> 00:18:26,800
what's great about WordPress
is all your content's in there,
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you could switch themes and all
the content's still there, right?
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So you can redesign on the fly, you
know, find another theme you like,
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or, you know, hire someone to, to do it.
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00:18:38,840 --> 00:18:42,240
Now be careful when you're hiring
someone to do a website for you.
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Some web designers say, well,
you should really be on wics,
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or you should really be on,
you know, some other platform.
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Don't let them move you from WordPress
if you're doing your podcast from there.
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00:18:53,040 --> 00:18:54,680
Yeah. If you've
already started, yeah.
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And then you talk to our
team before you make that.
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Move. Yes, definitely.
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But backing up a little bit though,
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one thing to think about and is something
I've told content creators for many,
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many years is you record your audience
for your show and you write for
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Google. Yeah. Your,
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00:19:10,920 --> 00:19:14,520
your website's not gonna be like
this mecca of traffic immediate,
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unless you're already pre-established
and have had a website for many years.
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Maybe you've already got a mailing list,
but you, if you're starting brand new,
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this is a place to build upon. And what
you're really doing is you're saying,
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00:19:26,080 --> 00:19:28,320
I'm hanging my shingle out.
I've started a new show,
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00:19:28,470 --> 00:19:32,600
you're still gonna tell people, go
to Apple, go to Spotify, you know,
325
00:19:32,600 --> 00:19:34,600
go to the different locations, Amazon,
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00:19:34,600 --> 00:19:38,440
all these different locations where your
shows are gonna be consumed to find and
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subscribe to your show.
328
00:19:40,030 --> 00:19:43,360
Your website ultimately is gonna
be the place where you can, again,
329
00:19:43,360 --> 00:19:46,080
build your brand, start your mailing list,
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00:19:46,080 --> 00:19:48,960
all these things to help
build your show over time.
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00:19:49,310 --> 00:19:51,960
Rome wasn't built in a single day.
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Your podcast and your website will
not be built in a single day either.
333
00:19:56,760 --> 00:20:00,920
So that's why we say maybe use default
template, just kinda get it up,
334
00:20:00,920 --> 00:20:01,480
get it working.
335
00:20:01,480 --> 00:20:05,040
But the main thing is if you decide
again to do the WordPress round,
336
00:20:05,770 --> 00:20:08,520
is that from the time you
post your first episode,
337
00:20:09,180 --> 00:20:13,960
you start building credibility on
your own website and building your
338
00:20:13,960 --> 00:20:18,000
brand on your.com. If you're not ready
for that, don't worry. No pressure.
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00:20:18,000 --> 00:20:22,640
You can still use the landing page
at Blueberry. And if you, again,
340
00:20:22,640 --> 00:20:25,040
if you've already got a
WordPress site of your own,
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00:20:25,230 --> 00:20:26,760
that's where your show should live,
342
00:20:26,760 --> 00:20:30,440
especially if the topic matches
the website that you already have,
343
00:20:30,440 --> 00:20:32,520
and you can just add power press to it.
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00:20:32,820 --> 00:20:35,400
And the integration is
quite a beautiful thing.
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00:20:35,400 --> 00:20:40,200
Yeah. And we'll help you out for sure.
Uh, if you're hosting with us, uh,
346
00:20:40,290 --> 00:20:44,760
we do Zoom calls a lot and
support Dave and I so we can, uh,
347
00:20:44,930 --> 00:20:49,800
we could certainly help you add
WordPress to your existing or add Power
348
00:20:49,800 --> 00:20:52,400
press to your existing website.
349
00:20:53,650 --> 00:20:58,480
So with that comes really getting
your word, your RSS feed set up.
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00:20:58,480 --> 00:21:01,560
And really, if you set, if you're on
WordPress and you set up Power press,
351
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your feed will be set up. Yes.
352
00:21:03,620 --> 00:21:08,040
And if you're on blueberry
and you are doing your just a,
353
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a basic page,
354
00:21:09,230 --> 00:21:12,880
it's the simple fact that when you create
your new show by entering your title,
355
00:21:12,880 --> 00:21:16,640
your description, your artwork, you've
got about 90% of the stuff done.
356
00:21:16,640 --> 00:21:20,720
You may wanna go back in and add your
author and where the show originates and
357
00:21:20,720 --> 00:21:24,720
some of those things, but those are all
in the managed show area on blueberry.
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00:21:24,770 --> 00:21:27,080
If you're hosting your show@blueberry.com,
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00:21:27,410 --> 00:21:29,440
if you're doing on your
own WordPress site,
360
00:21:29,440 --> 00:21:33,800
then that's within the settings of Power
Press where you add that Maita data
361
00:21:34,130 --> 00:21:38,640
to kind of refine everything that's
gonna be about you in your feed.
362
00:21:39,180 --> 00:21:41,960
But, you know, really, we've
talked about the mechanics, Mike,
363
00:21:41,960 --> 00:21:46,680
of really getting to this point,
but now is the moment of, uh,
364
00:21:46,680 --> 00:21:50,640
re hitting record. Should you just
do your first episode and go blast,
365
00:21:50,640 --> 00:21:53,480
or should you do a trailer? Or what,
366
00:21:53,480 --> 00:21:57,400
what should the podcaster do when they're
getting ready to launch their show?
367
00:21:57,750 --> 00:22:00,800
Well, I've always subscribed to the, uh,
368
00:22:00,800 --> 00:22:04,160
theory that podcasts don't really launch,
369
00:22:04,350 --> 00:22:08,600
like this big launch thing and you
have a party and you know all this,
370
00:22:08,600 --> 00:22:10,080
but some people think that,
371
00:22:10,170 --> 00:22:14,120
so if you're gonna do something like
that and you've got a date that you wanna
372
00:22:14,120 --> 00:22:16,040
go live with episode one,
373
00:22:16,500 --> 00:22:19,680
you should do a trailer or
what we call Episode zero.
374
00:22:20,620 --> 00:22:24,480
And that lets you get into all the
directories you want to get into
375
00:22:25,430 --> 00:22:27,920
before your official launch date.
376
00:22:27,920 --> 00:22:32,680
But if you're not that worried
about a big launch event
377
00:22:32,810 --> 00:22:37,640
or whatever, then you probably don't need
a trailer episode or an episode zero.
378
00:22:38,220 --> 00:22:41,480
You know, you could just start
with episode one. Hey, here I am.
379
00:22:41,480 --> 00:22:45,520
Maybe do a little description
at the beginning of the
episode of what the show's
380
00:22:45,520 --> 00:22:46,720
gonna be about and be done with it.
381
00:22:47,390 --> 00:22:51,560
I do kind of think that Episode zero is
good because what it does is say, Hey,
382
00:22:51,560 --> 00:22:52,393
I'm, I'm Todd,
383
00:22:52,730 --> 00:22:55,720
or I'm gonna launch a new show
about this and maybe in two minutes,
384
00:22:55,720 --> 00:22:56,880
three minutes. Mm-hmm..
385
00:22:57,060 --> 00:22:59,640
And the reason for the episode
zero is you get it up there,
386
00:22:59,640 --> 00:23:01,400
you're really not ready
to do the first episode,
387
00:23:01,400 --> 00:23:05,600
but it allows you to submit your show
to Apple Podcast and kind of get set up,
388
00:23:05,600 --> 00:23:08,560
get in the gate, get ready to
run, right? Sure. It's like you,
389
00:23:08,750 --> 00:23:12,840
you've done everything to get
ready and now you've got your,
390
00:23:12,840 --> 00:23:16,560
you got all your listings out there.
It's like the prime, the pump is primed.
391
00:23:17,180 --> 00:23:21,920
And then when you record your first
episode or however you decide to do your
392
00:23:21,920 --> 00:23:25,920
first few episodes, you've got,
you get those done and then bam,
393
00:23:25,920 --> 00:23:28,080
you're all you have to do is
all you have to worry about.
394
00:23:28,550 --> 00:23:32,480
It's going in and write your post,
uploading your media and hitting publish.
395
00:23:33,100 --> 00:23:37,400
And it's kind of like, duh duh, the
pressure's off and you're live and well,
396
00:23:37,530 --> 00:23:42,520
so I'm a believer in Episode Zero
just from a pressure standpoint,
397
00:23:42,620 --> 00:23:44,200
but if you're just kinda
getting start and say,
398
00:23:44,200 --> 00:23:48,000
I'm gonna put episode one up and we'll
get out there as we can, that's fine too.
399
00:23:48,020 --> 00:23:51,960
But again, the, there's no rules here
and you can do it your way. That's the.
400
00:23:51,960 --> 00:23:53,960
Best. I always, I always
tell people when I'm, uh,
401
00:23:53,960 --> 00:23:57,800
helping 'em set up something like that
and if they got their first episode or
402
00:23:57,800 --> 00:24:00,040
their trailer or whatever,
they're gonna put up first.
403
00:24:00,730 --> 00:24:05,680
As soon as they hit publish, I go,
okay, so now you are a podcaster.
404
00:24:06,660 --> 00:24:08,920
Now nobody knows about it,
405
00:24:08,920 --> 00:24:12,800
so now you gotta go submit
it to the directories.
406
00:24:13,420 --> 00:24:17,840
The main ones that I would say get
on first would be Apple Podcast,
407
00:24:17,840 --> 00:24:19,760
Spotify and Podcast Index.
408
00:24:19,760 --> 00:24:23,880
You get on those three that
covers a lot of apps that
409
00:24:24,430 --> 00:24:29,240
people use and then circle
back and get on all the other
410
00:24:29,240 --> 00:24:32,880
ones. We have a destination
section in both of our systems.
411
00:24:32,890 --> 00:24:35,720
So in publisher and or Power Press,
412
00:24:35,770 --> 00:24:40,320
we have destinations and we have articles
on how to get on each one of them.
413
00:24:40,320 --> 00:24:43,640
They're all kind of different. Some of
'em are kind of a pain, but you know,
414
00:24:43,640 --> 00:24:45,280
it's always good to be everywhere,
415
00:24:45,280 --> 00:24:48,200
but don't fret about being
everywhere right at the get-go.
416
00:24:48,200 --> 00:24:52,800
If you get on those three, Google will
take care of itself for the most part.
417
00:24:52,880 --> 00:24:56,120
There is a way you can
kind of force 'em, but, uh,
418
00:24:56,120 --> 00:24:58,720
we can help you with that
later, but then, you know,
419
00:24:58,720 --> 00:25:01,680
circle back and get on some
of the lesser ones. That's,
420
00:25:01,680 --> 00:25:03,280
that would be my suggestion.
421
00:25:04,090 --> 00:25:07,240
My, my main thought process been for many,
422
00:25:07,240 --> 00:25:11,040
many years is I don't care how they
listen as long as they listen and I want
423
00:25:11,040 --> 00:25:13,960
them to listen wherever they
listen to podcasts. Sure.
424
00:25:14,130 --> 00:25:18,200
So even though Amazon
might be less than 1%,
425
00:25:18,230 --> 00:25:21,560
I still want my show on Amazon. I
still want it on Pandora, iHeart,
426
00:25:21,560 --> 00:25:23,680
all those locations. But again,
427
00:25:23,680 --> 00:25:28,200
it's not where the majority
of people listen to shows.
428
00:25:28,310 --> 00:25:32,000
It's a location where you
can be found later on.
429
00:25:32,000 --> 00:25:34,480
It's not that big of a deal.
So, like Mike said, you,
430
00:25:34,480 --> 00:25:36,960
you don't have to be the first
outta the gate with that.
431
00:25:37,300 --> 00:25:39,360
And you can do that later.
You get those other ones.
432
00:25:39,360 --> 00:25:43,480
Yeah. I, I like, I, I'm gonna be
doing, uh, some research that was,
433
00:25:43,480 --> 00:25:45,960
that's on my list of
things I want to check out,
434
00:25:46,540 --> 00:25:51,480
but I'm guessing that
90% of your listeners
435
00:25:51,480 --> 00:25:53,520
will be covered if you do Apple,
436
00:25:53,520 --> 00:25:57,400
Spotify Podcast Index and Google Podcasts.
437
00:25:57,830 --> 00:26:00,320
I I bet you that's a 90% right there.
438
00:26:00,540 --> 00:26:04,840
And Google Podcast pick
shows up automatically after
the first couple of episode
439
00:26:04,840 --> 00:26:09,280
cuz we do some magic. We basically
send out a signal that says, Hey,
440
00:26:09,280 --> 00:26:11,680
there's a new episode out
here. And Google is, uh,
441
00:26:11,680 --> 00:26:14,400
is listens for that signal and uh,
442
00:26:14,400 --> 00:26:18,560
that's why it's pretty quickly
before it's called we SubHub Hub.
443
00:26:18,560 --> 00:26:22,960
It's real geeky. But uh,
basically Google says, oh, there's a,
444
00:26:22,960 --> 00:26:26,320
there's a new post over here and it, it's
used for blogging and everything else.
445
00:26:26,320 --> 00:26:26,800
Yeah.
446
00:26:26,800 --> 00:26:31,600
Of course. We send out another
single signal to, uh, podcast index.
447
00:26:31,870 --> 00:26:34,440
Yeah. And that basically could
get your show updated very,
448
00:26:34,440 --> 00:26:38,880
very quickly so that you don't have
to wait for the RSS feed to be, uh,
449
00:26:38,880 --> 00:26:43,760
basically, uh, pulled by the, uh,
the platforms update. But anyway,
450
00:26:43,760 --> 00:26:47,160
that's getting real deep, deep in the
weeds here. Certainly. So best way to,
451
00:26:47,670 --> 00:26:50,760
I think we've covered everything on the
best way to start a podcast, haven't.
452
00:26:50,760 --> 00:26:54,800
We? Yeah, I believe so. But uh, if you
have any suggestions or anything, yeah,
453
00:26:54,800 --> 00:26:55,960
be sure to get ahold of us.
454
00:26:57,290 --> 00:27:02,150
And the next thing we got coming is
the pro tip from the Blueberry Pro
455
00:27:02,150 --> 00:27:04,950
production team. Take it away.
456
00:27:06,380 --> 00:27:07,270
Thanks Mike.
457
00:27:07,290 --> 00:27:10,790
And what a great conversation you and
Todd are having about all of the things
458
00:27:10,790 --> 00:27:15,070
that it takes and that you can do to make
it easier to start publishing your own
459
00:27:15,070 --> 00:27:15,903
podcast.
460
00:27:16,170 --> 00:27:20,870
The only thing I'm going to add to that
is setting up your social media and
461
00:27:20,870 --> 00:27:25,270
batch recording your episodes and
maybe integrating a tool like Canva
462
00:27:25,390 --> 00:27:30,390
where you can create social posts for
each episode and schedule them right in
463
00:27:30,390 --> 00:27:33,510
Canva to go out every time your show airs.
464
00:27:33,740 --> 00:27:38,030
It's kind of one stop shopping
and this isn't a promo for Canva.
465
00:27:38,030 --> 00:27:40,990
There are lots of different
sorts of publishing platforms,
466
00:27:41,410 --> 00:27:46,110
but the one I find to be most convenient
is the one that gives me the ability to
467
00:27:46,110 --> 00:27:50,750
both create the posts and the art that
goes with them and publish from the same
468
00:27:51,030 --> 00:27:54,750
platform. And the best one I've found
to do that with so far is Canva.
469
00:27:54,800 --> 00:27:58,390
So the pro tip is batch
record, your podcast batch,
470
00:27:58,390 --> 00:27:59,870
create your social media posts,
471
00:28:00,370 --> 00:28:05,310
set them to release automatically
and it's a set it and forget it
472
00:28:05,310 --> 00:28:06,710
until you batch record Again,
473
00:28:07,060 --> 00:28:10,190
this is Kate from the
Blueberry Pro production team
and I'll see you next week.
474
00:28:10,300 --> 00:28:13,310
Thanks for joining us. Come back
next week and in the meantime,
475
00:28:13,310 --> 00:28:17,710
head to podcast insider.com for more
information to subscribe, share,
476
00:28:17,710 --> 00:28:21,230
and read our show notes to check out the
latest suite of services and learn how
477
00:28:21,230 --> 00:28:24,550
Blueberry can help you leverage
your podcast. Visit blueberry.com.
478
00:28:24,660 --> 00:28:27,910
That's blueberry without the ease
because we can't afford them.
00:00:00,110 --> 00:00:02,520
Then you've really got the basis done.
2
00:00:02,520 --> 00:00:05,000
Because oftentimes people
don't know on Apple Podcast,
3
00:00:06,230 --> 00:00:11,010
the name and the author are really the
only two things that, that are searched.
4
00:00:11,010 --> 00:00:14,770
The description on Apple Podcast
is not even a search topic,
5
00:00:14,870 --> 00:00:16,490
but other things.
6
00:00:16,490 --> 00:00:20,570
Search to description like Google and
Google Podcast and other platforms.
7
00:00:21,230 --> 00:00:25,770
You are listening to, podcast Insider
hosted by Mike Dell, Todd Cochran,
8
00:00:25,770 --> 00:00:30,090
and Mackenzie Bennett from the Blueberry
team, bringing you weekly insights,
9
00:00:30,090 --> 00:00:32,930
advice, and insider tips and
tricks to help you start,
10
00:00:32,930 --> 00:00:34,770
grow and thrive through podcasting.
11
00:00:34,950 --> 00:00:38,650
All with the support of your team
here at Blueberry Podcasting. Welcome.
12
00:00:38,930 --> 00:00:40,130
Let's dive in.
13
00:00:40,800 --> 00:00:44,170
This is Todd Cochran, c e o
and co-founder of Blueberry.
14
00:00:44,510 --> 00:00:48,810
And I'm Mike Dell, VP of Customer
Relations here at Blueberry.
15
00:00:49,170 --> 00:00:52,170
Today, we're covering the best
way to start your podcast,
16
00:00:52,440 --> 00:00:57,170
everything you need to do before
hitting record and after you published
17
00:00:57,170 --> 00:01:02,010
your first episode. So Mike,
18
00:01:02,010 --> 00:01:05,730
our topic of the day is the best way
to start a podcast. And you know,
19
00:01:06,110 --> 00:01:09,970
you and I started and sometimes
we've stopped a few over the years.
20
00:01:09,990 --> 00:01:14,010
I'm the king of stopping podcasts
21
00:01:14,620 --> 00:01:17,250
So fortunately I only have one that, uh,
22
00:01:17,250 --> 00:01:20,890
his so-called pod faded and it was
just really from a lack of time. But,
23
00:01:21,270 --> 00:01:24,570
you know, I think today is what
we really wanna focus on is we're,
24
00:01:24,570 --> 00:01:28,250
as we're getting, as a podcaster's
getting ready to start a podcast,
25
00:01:28,470 --> 00:01:31,690
and some of you that are listening
to this show already have a podcast,
26
00:01:31,710 --> 00:01:35,370
but maybe this is the advice you
can give to someone that you know,
27
00:01:35,370 --> 00:01:38,130
but sing about starting a
podcast. I always, you know,
28
00:01:38,130 --> 00:01:42,770
as I talk to podcasters today, I always
talk about what's the goal? Yeah.
29
00:01:42,790 --> 00:01:47,770
And, you know, is the goal of the
show that you're going to do is,
30
00:01:47,770 --> 00:01:51,890
is it gonna be number one? Is
it gonna be for you to advance?
31
00:01:51,900 --> 00:01:56,090
Is it gonna be to pro one a topic? Is
it gonna be, you know, what is the goal?
32
00:01:56,870 --> 00:02:01,650
And the goal will often
lead to helping come up with
33
00:02:01,970 --> 00:02:06,410
that, that show name. You know, if that
show name is gonna be the, you know,
34
00:02:06,410 --> 00:02:10,690
the Todd's Talk hour, or if it's
going to be the Todd Self-Help Hour,
35
00:02:11,050 --> 00:02:13,490
whatever it may be, whatever
the goal of that show is,
36
00:02:13,490 --> 00:02:17,080
if the goal is to provide help, you know,
37
00:02:17,080 --> 00:02:19,160
maybe the self-help
show is the right name,
38
00:02:19,340 --> 00:02:23,840
but I think it's often important to
figure out the goal and also what the
39
00:02:23,840 --> 00:02:24,800
topic's gonna be.
40
00:02:25,630 --> 00:02:28,220
We always said at the beginning
of podcasting, it was like,
41
00:02:28,220 --> 00:02:31,020
you gotta be passionate about what
you're talking about. Well, yeah,
42
00:02:31,020 --> 00:02:33,780
that's true to a point. The thing is,
43
00:02:33,780 --> 00:02:38,620
is you don't want to pick a topic just
because you think it's gonna be popular,
44
00:02:39,360 --> 00:02:44,340
and it's really not something you want
to talk about over time. You know,
45
00:02:44,340 --> 00:02:45,660
if you want your show to last,
46
00:02:45,660 --> 00:02:50,060
you want it to be something that you
know you're gonna be interested in long
47
00:02:50,060 --> 00:02:52,580
into the future. Like, this
show's about podcasting.
48
00:02:52,580 --> 00:02:54,580
We're all passionate podcasters here,
49
00:02:55,200 --> 00:02:58,660
and getting people started in it
and helping 'em out and all that is,
50
00:02:58,660 --> 00:03:02,400
is our goal, our topic that
we always want to cover here.
51
00:03:03,060 --> 00:03:04,960
But it's, it's a little harder, you know,
52
00:03:04,960 --> 00:03:08,840
make sure that it's not something
that you're gonna get bored with,
53
00:03:09,020 --> 00:03:12,600
but if it does, you, you know,
it can pivot. But, uh, you know,
54
00:03:13,220 --> 00:03:15,280
for longevity, I think, you know,
55
00:03:15,280 --> 00:03:20,040
making sure it's something you're
gonna want to talk about over the long
56
00:03:20,040 --> 00:03:20,873
term.
57
00:03:21,140 --> 00:03:25,240
You know, and the title of that show
should be pretty concise, you know, it,
58
00:03:25,240 --> 00:03:30,040
it's, it's gotta be something that people
are going to potentially search for,
59
00:03:30,040 --> 00:03:31,120
you know, so it's,
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00:03:31,140 --> 00:03:35,000
the title of the show has to be
related to the content of the show.
61
00:03:35,000 --> 00:03:39,240
And then again, if you tie in the goal
of what that show's going to accomplish,
62
00:03:39,240 --> 00:03:42,760
I think you're gonna be in the
sweet spot. But at the same time,
63
00:03:43,540 --> 00:03:48,400
you probably don't want the
topic of the show to be how
64
00:03:48,400 --> 00:03:51,960
to pour concrete footers
for homes. You probably,
65
00:03:51,990 --> 00:03:53,880
that that's probably not.
66
00:03:54,030 --> 00:03:55,280
That's not a good title.
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00:03:55,640 --> 00:04:00,520
it has to be, again, something concise.
68
00:04:00,980 --> 00:04:03,120
And the best way I think about it too is,
69
00:04:03,120 --> 00:04:06,440
is if you're thinking about doing
a show, and let's just, you know,
70
00:04:06,440 --> 00:04:10,800
we'll use the word entrepreneur because
that is a word that's, you know,
71
00:04:10,800 --> 00:04:15,600
being heavily used in the
podcasting space today. You know,
72
00:04:15,600 --> 00:04:18,160
if you want to do an
entrepreneur show, that's great,
73
00:04:18,460 --> 00:04:21,880
but what type of
entrepreneurial show then,
74
00:04:21,880 --> 00:04:25,680
maybe entrepreneur is not the word
that you actually want to use.
75
00:04:25,680 --> 00:04:28,000
Maybe it's a subset of the word and it's.
76
00:04:28,000 --> 00:04:28,833
Hard to spell.
77
00:04:29,200 --> 00:04:32,280
So I always, you know, I,
78
00:04:32,310 --> 00:04:35,320
I think Google's your friend
here where you go out and,
79
00:04:35,620 --> 00:04:40,000
and you google some titles and see what
comes up because you know, there are,
80
00:04:40,270 --> 00:04:44,480
even though today there is so-called
4 million podcasts out there,
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00:04:44,570 --> 00:04:48,640
there's really only about 400,000
that are currently active.
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00:04:48,850 --> 00:04:53,760
So you wanna be able to find a name
that's really going to describe what
83
00:04:53,760 --> 00:04:56,680
that podcast is, so that when
people are searching for that,
84
00:04:57,150 --> 00:05:01,640
they have a very clear and concise idea.
You know what this podcast is about?
85
00:05:01,790 --> 00:05:03,440
Yeah. One, it's just simply in the name.
86
00:05:03,440 --> 00:05:04,400
Yeah. One of the,
87
00:05:04,400 --> 00:05:09,000
one of the best places to look up
specifically podcast names is go over to
88
00:05:09,000 --> 00:05:13,600
podcast index.org and you
can search for just a title
89
00:05:13,660 --> 00:05:18,520
and you can see if somebody's already
using it or if it's been used a bunch
90
00:05:18,520 --> 00:05:19,720
of times. You know,
91
00:05:19,720 --> 00:05:23,640
so you really wanna make sure you're
not gonna get confused with a show that
92
00:05:23,640 --> 00:05:27,760
either pod faded or, or is active.
That's even worse, you know,
93
00:05:27,760 --> 00:05:32,000
two shows with the same
name is confusing, you know,
94
00:05:32,000 --> 00:05:34,680
and it doesn't help you any
in the, uh, Google search.
95
00:05:34,680 --> 00:05:37,880
Either. And it, and it actually
may run a file of trademark.
96
00:05:37,880 --> 00:05:39,680
Yeah. Depending on what it is. So.
97
00:05:39,710 --> 00:05:43,640
Yeah, so if a show's active
and being actively produced,
98
00:05:44,030 --> 00:05:47,920
they may have filed a trademark for their
show. So you have to be, you have to,
99
00:05:47,920 --> 00:05:51,480
and you say, how am I gonna find a
name? Believe me, you'll find a name.
100
00:05:51,980 --> 00:05:56,360
But the second part of
this really ties into that,
101
00:05:56,510 --> 00:05:58,560
that searchability of the show.
102
00:05:59,130 --> 00:06:04,000
So if you're going to do a
podcast that, as you name it,
103
00:06:04,220 --> 00:06:08,920
you can find a domain that's related
to that, that naming that's similar.
104
00:06:09,260 --> 00:06:13,360
And again, today there is multiple
levels of top level domains.
105
00:06:13,360 --> 00:06:17,080
There's dot coms, there's
dot co, there's show, um,
106
00:06:17,080 --> 00:06:20,200
there's no dot podcast sadly, cuz I
think that'd be a great one for everyone.
107
00:06:20,200 --> 00:06:22,760
Yeah, it would. But, but there's dot net,
108
00:06:22,760 --> 00:06:25,600
there's lots of different extensions,
109
00:06:25,860 --> 00:06:29,280
but I think you also have to be careful
cuz a lot of people kind of run home to
110
00:06:29,280 --> 00:06:33,840
mama and always put in such and such.com
and really don't think about those
111
00:06:33,840 --> 00:06:34,520
subdomains.
112
00:06:34,520 --> 00:06:39,040
So if you can find a.com that
goes along with that show name,
113
00:06:39,470 --> 00:06:43,040
I think it's, it's, uh, money
well spent to reserve that,
114
00:06:43,040 --> 00:06:47,200
even if you aren't completely
locked into the show name. So,
115
00:06:47,330 --> 00:06:52,080
so much doesn't snag that domain name.
And again, short domain name the better.
116
00:06:52,080 --> 00:06:56,910
Yeah. And also make sure it's
easy to say, you know, on the,
117
00:06:57,150 --> 00:07:01,270
because you're gonna be saying it on your
show, like we say podcast insider.com,
118
00:07:01,270 --> 00:07:06,070
that's pretty easy to spell, pretty
easy to say and people will remember it.
119
00:07:06,380 --> 00:07:11,350
Yeah. Same thing with me. New media
show.com, geek news central.com. You know,
120
00:07:11,350 --> 00:07:16,150
that was, and the show that I had that
podcast in was podcast legends.com.
121
00:07:16,160 --> 00:07:20,460
So real easy to kind
of remember, but again,
122
00:07:20,460 --> 00:07:22,860
associated domain with the
name isn't really important.
123
00:07:23,120 --> 00:07:23,820
You know, I,
124
00:07:23,820 --> 00:07:28,380
I had a friend that started out
right at the beginning of podcasting
125
00:07:28,840 --> 00:07:32,820
and he had, his first show
was called the Paretta Cast.
126
00:07:33,240 --> 00:07:34,540
Now try spelling that.
127
00:07:34,940 --> 00:07:39,420
okay. He said, I called it.
128
00:07:39,420 --> 00:07:42,060
What? Procast cast or.
129
00:07:42,060 --> 00:07:45,060
Something. See that? See, see that we
are, we're already confused
130
00:07:45,060 --> 00:07:48,260
so don't make it too fancy. Yes.
131
00:07:48,260 --> 00:07:50,460
You don't want it to add confusion.
132
00:07:50,560 --> 00:07:55,100
Something's hard to say or
spell definitely is an issue.
133
00:07:55,170 --> 00:07:55,820
Yeah. And.
134
00:07:55,820 --> 00:07:57,460
The word podcast after it.
135
00:07:57,470 --> 00:08:02,100
So like you could say
you're doing a business show
136
00:08:02,100 --> 00:08:05,620
about the septic pumping business,
for instance,
137
00:08:05,620 --> 00:08:10,340
so you know, if you type sep septic
pumping.com, it's probably taken,
138
00:08:11,040 --> 00:08:15,420
but you could do septic pumping
podcast.com. It's still easy to say.
139
00:08:15,850 --> 00:08:18,180
It'd be a weird show
though, wouldn't it? Yeah.
140
00:08:18,180 --> 00:08:21,660
But it is still a little bit on the
long side. Yeah. If you can, and,
141
00:08:21,660 --> 00:08:22,420
and you know, the,
142
00:08:22,420 --> 00:08:27,420
we've seen throughout the
years where a show has come in,
143
00:08:27,420 --> 00:08:29,260
it would be like the example,
144
00:08:29,320 --> 00:08:34,180
the the Apple Podcast by
145
00:08:35,160 --> 00:08:39,570
Mary Jane Smith. That, that was the
name of the, you know, it would be a,
146
00:08:39,570 --> 00:08:43,690
it'd be the topic in front with
the person's name at the end.
147
00:08:44,190 --> 00:08:48,450
And that might be a way to
break your show out. But again,
148
00:08:49,180 --> 00:08:54,130
finding a domain name that's
gonna go along with that might be
149
00:08:54,130 --> 00:08:58,960
a bit of a challenge. So again, just
do research. Yeah. Take some time.
150
00:08:59,810 --> 00:09:03,800
Uh, you know, and what I often
do is I just do a, a list.
151
00:09:03,800 --> 00:09:08,800
I just open up a doc and just make
a bunch of names and then kind
152
00:09:08,800 --> 00:09:11,920
of go look what's available and see which
one makes the most sense. But again,
153
00:09:11,940 --> 00:09:16,520
try to tie it together and being
that you are gonna know your topic
154
00:09:16,660 --> 00:09:20,920
and you're gonna know
your goal, then really it,
155
00:09:21,230 --> 00:09:26,080
what Mike and I are describing here is
gonna make it much easier for you to
156
00:09:26,080 --> 00:09:28,480
come up with your list. Cuz we're
just kind of ad hoking here.
157
00:09:28,750 --> 00:09:32,680
Things that we're, you know, we're trying
to give you some example descriptions,
158
00:09:33,160 --> 00:09:36,720
have, uh, a much higher luck with your,
159
00:09:36,720 --> 00:09:41,080
by yourself. Just, you know, and another
thing too is be careful who you tell,
160
00:09:41,450 --> 00:09:45,360
because oftentimes I'll see
on Facebook, uh, pages where,
161
00:09:45,360 --> 00:09:47,360
and I've seen this happen
before where someone says,
162
00:09:47,360 --> 00:09:51,560
I got an idea for a show and, and
explain a paragraph about the show,
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and then all of a sudden
someone's hijacked that idea.
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So be careful to share your show
idea with someone that you trust.
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And again, when you're going out
there and doing that research,
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two or three domains that you may
purchase that you may never use,
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might be an expensive investment.
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Even if you don't let those renew
when it gets time later down the road
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and grabbing a couple of eight bucks a
piece, uh, might be a smart thing to,
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if you're undecided sure. Then it's,
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and you start publicly talking about
your show, of course, that domain name.
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And,
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and of course I wanna point out here
that we do highly suggest when you're
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starting a show to get
the domain name for it,
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whether you use it or not at that
point. But, you know, of course,
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if you're doing it the
way we like to do it, uh,
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you're gonna use it
with a WordPress sight.
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So after you've come up
with that great name,
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you've come up with a great
description. And again,
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two or three sentences should
be enough to describe your show.
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And again, spend time on
that, on that description,
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then you've really got the basis done.
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Because oftentimes people
don't know on Apple podcast,
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the name and the author are really the
only two things that, that are searched.
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The description on Apple Podcasts
is not even a search topic,
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but other things search the description
like Google and Google Podcast and
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other platforms.
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So you have to have a great description
to go along with a great title of a
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show.
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But one thing that you'll want to think
about then next is the artwork. Yes.
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And it's very important, and it's,
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it's not that picky tech-wise,
but it's just a little bit picky,
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the artwork, and we'll talk
about the text spec in a minute,
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but I think your artwork should
be something that, and I,
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and I highly encourage you to go look at
any podcast directory and look at like
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the top 200 shows and just look at
their artwork and see what stands out.
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And the the thing that really stands
out on most artwork, in my opinion,
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is a clear and concise title where
you can see the title of the show
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and something that infer
what the show is about.
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You have to be careful because people
are gonna look at that for two or three
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seconds and make me make a
quick judgment that, hey,
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I wanna check this show out
just because of the artwork.
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There is lots of places to get artwork
created. I'm not artistic at all.
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I'm not gonna make any
specific recommendation
because there's lots of places.
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But I will caution you if you do
go out and use some of the more
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inexpensive artwork creation
site somewhere where you
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pay someone, you have to be really, really
careful about your artwork graphics.
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Yes.
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Because if you don't wanna get a copyright
violation by using someone that's
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reutilizing art. Uh, so be very,
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very careful on who you pick and
who you deal with if you decide to
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have someone create artwork.
Now, most artwork creators,
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at least that I know of
in the United States,
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charge about $300 to create artwork.
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Now there's those other places you can
go and get stuff created much cheaper.
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But again, caution, well, Rogers, you
know, you gotta be careful on again,
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where that artwork is. And if,
my advice always is, is try to,
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if you're un not artistic, like me,
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sketch something out of what
your artwork's gonna look like.
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And then when you get ready
to have it produced a 1400 by
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1400 pixels square, mike, you know,
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what's your experience with artwork?
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Well, a again,
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that 1400 by 1400 is actually
just my recommendation.
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That's the minimum size.
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And the reason that's good
is it makes the file smaller,
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it makes it load faster and,
and all that good stuff.
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Now you can go up to 3000
by 3000, but think about it,
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even on the biggest cell phones,
your artwork shows up by, you know,
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like an inch and a half by an inch
and a half. So the quality is not,
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you don't, don't get crazy about the
quality, uh, because it's not, I mean,
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quality content and make
it look as good as you can,
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but 1400 by 1400 is plenty. 3000 by 3000,
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you could blow it up to billboard size
and it would probably still look pretty
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good,
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But one of the big mistakes
I I see in support here is
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people will upload an image
that is like eight megabytes.
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It's just huge. It looks wonderful.
And you could, you know, like I said,
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you could make a billboard
out of it, but you,
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you gotta also take into
account file size. This is a,
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an internet thing and most
people are on their phones,
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so it doesn't have to be big. It's file
size wise, it should be kind of small.
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You know, I'm kind of on the geeky
side of this stuff, so, you know,
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I don't wanna bore you with
all the geekery. If you
need help with your artwork,
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I could sure help you out. There's sites
like Fiver, that's the one that, uh,
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a lot of people use. And.
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Again, I caution Yeah.
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Just be careful with that
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Yeah. And again,
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you've got the ability
to do your own. And I,
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I made my own artwork in the beginning
and it was pretty horrible
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but I was not, I'm not artistic
at all. I draw stick figures,
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but I try to keep my, my
album art as they call it,
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or your show art, I,
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I try to keep it below about
500 k I try to keep the size at,
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at around around 500 k. So
get that artwork created.
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And again, this can be a work in progress.
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The artwork is not
required to get started,
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but we highly recommend to have the
artwork ready when you're getting ready to
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start your show.
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But once you've got a title domain
and your artwork figured out,
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it can be time to set up your hosting.
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And if you're hosting at Blueberry,
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obviously we allow you during
that process to create a
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free WordPress site. So you
really have a couple of options.
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You've got the ability to, uh, just have
a dedicated landing page at Blueberry.
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You have the ability to get,
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to get a free WordPress website that
we include with every hosting plant.
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Or if you have your own
WordPress site already,
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you can use our plugin
PowerPress. But the key here is,
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is if you so decide to
have a dedicated website,
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which we again highly recommend,
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and here's really the
reason being behind the,
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the thought of having a dedicated website
and why we give all of our customers
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a free WordPress site.
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It's really kind of the best in class
option because it's going to give
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you the best seo, the best
Google results over time.
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But maybe you're gonna say, oh, that's
too much, Todd, I I don't wanna do that.
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That's okay too. You're not
ready to get to that point.
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You can definitely just have a
dedicated landing page at Blueberry,
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and then if you want later to graduate
into WordPress site, you can't.
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But if you do decide to set
up your own website in which
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design is crazy, we're not gonna
get into that in this episode. Yeah.
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It's, it's, there's just too many options.
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sometimes it's just start out
simple and any of the WordPress
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default themes will work. And again,
you can always pick one later.
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And the thing I like about those
default themes is it's pretty simple.
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You put in the site title, you maybe put
in a little description and really, it,
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it doesn't take too much maybe
under half hour to kind of configure
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and maybe put a little color in and
they'll have a chooser there where you can
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actually pick the colors. And, um, and
maybe you wanna make that match your,
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your cover art.
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So maybe you've already got some starter
colors because you've done your cover
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art. Don't go too crazy,
but just do the basics,
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get things up where you're not
cringing when you look at it.
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But at the same time,
a basic design is okay.
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Yeah. One, one of the,
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one of the big things that stop
podcasters or potential podcasters
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from starting is, you know,
paralysis by analysis.
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So they want everything
just so perfect and you
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know, it, it's better to get started
and then tweak afterwards. So, you know,
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again, with WordPress,
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what's great about WordPress
is all your content's in there,
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you could switch themes and all
the content's still there, right?
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So you can redesign on the fly, you
know, find another theme you like,
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or, you know, hire someone to, to do it.
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Now be careful when you're hiring
someone to do a website for you.
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Some web designers say, well,
you should really be on wics,
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or you should really be on,
you know, some other platform.
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Don't let them move you from WordPress
if you're doing your podcast from there.
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already started, yeah.
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And then you talk to our
team before you make that.
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Move. Yes, definitely.
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But backing up a little bit though,
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one thing to think about and is something
I've told content creators for many,
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many years is you record your audience
for your show and you write for
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Google. Yeah. Your,
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your website's not gonna be like
this mecca of traffic immediate,
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unless you're already pre-established
and have had a website for many years.
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Maybe you've already got a mailing list,
but you, if you're starting brand new,
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this is a place to build upon. And what
you're really doing is you're saying,
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I'm hanging my shingle out.
I've started a new show,
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you're still gonna tell people, go
to Apple, go to Spotify, you know,
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go to the different locations, Amazon,
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all these different locations where your
shows are gonna be consumed to find and
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subscribe to your show.
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Your website ultimately is gonna
be the place where you can, again,
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build your brand, start your mailing list,
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all these things to help
build your show over time.
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Rome wasn't built in a single day.
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Your podcast and your website will
not be built in a single day either.
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So that's why we say maybe use default
template, just kinda get it up,
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get it working.
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00:20:01,480 --> 00:20:05,040
But the main thing is if you decide
again to do the WordPress round,
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is that from the time you
post your first episode,
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00:20:09,180 --> 00:20:13,960
you start building credibility on
your own website and building your
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brand on your.com. If you're not ready
for that, don't worry. No pressure.
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You can still use the landing page
at Blueberry. And if you, again,
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if you've already got a
WordPress site of your own,
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that's where your show should live,
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especially if the topic matches
the website that you already have,
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and you can just add power press to it.
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And the integration is
quite a beautiful thing.
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Yeah. And we'll help you out for sure.
Uh, if you're hosting with us, uh,
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we do Zoom calls a lot and
support Dave and I so we can, uh,
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00:20:44,930 --> 00:20:49,800
we could certainly help you add
WordPress to your existing or add Power
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press to your existing website.
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00:20:53,650 --> 00:20:58,480
So with that comes really getting
your word, your RSS feed set up.
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And really, if you set, if you're on
WordPress and you set up Power press,
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your feed will be set up. Yes.
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And if you're on blueberry
and you are doing your just a,
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a basic page,
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it's the simple fact that when you create
your new show by entering your title,
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your description, your artwork, you've
got about 90% of the stuff done.
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You may wanna go back in and add your
author and where the show originates and
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some of those things, but those are all
in the managed show area on blueberry.
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If you're hosting your show@blueberry.com,
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if you're doing on your
own WordPress site,
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then that's within the settings of Power
Press where you add that Maita data
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to kind of refine everything that's
gonna be about you in your feed.
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But, you know, really, we've
talked about the mechanics, Mike,
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of really getting to this point,
but now is the moment of, uh,
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re hitting record. Should you just
do your first episode and go blast,
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00:21:50,640 --> 00:21:53,480
or should you do a trailer? Or what,
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what should the podcaster do when they're
getting ready to launch their show?
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Well, I've always subscribed to the, uh,
368
00:22:00,800 --> 00:22:04,160
theory that podcasts don't really launch,
369
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like this big launch thing and you
have a party and you know all this,
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but some people think that,
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so if you're gonna do something like
that and you've got a date that you wanna
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go live with episode one,
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you should do a trailer or
what we call Episode zero.
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And that lets you get into all the
directories you want to get into
375
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before your official launch date.
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00:22:27,920 --> 00:22:32,680
But if you're not that worried
about a big launch event
377
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or whatever, then you probably don't need
a trailer episode or an episode zero.
378
00:22:38,220 --> 00:22:41,480
You know, you could just start
with episode one. Hey, here I am.
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Maybe do a little description
at the beginning of the
episode of what the show's
380
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gonna be about and be done with it.
381
00:22:47,390 --> 00:22:51,560
I do kind of think that Episode zero is
good because what it does is say, Hey,
382
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I'm, I'm Todd,
383
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or I'm gonna launch a new show
about this and maybe in two minutes,
384
00:22:55,720 --> 00:22:56,880
three minutes. Mm-hmm.
385
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And the reason for the episode
zero is you get it up there,
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you're really not ready
to do the first episode,
387
00:23:01,400 --> 00:23:05,600
but it allows you to submit your show
to Apple Podcast and kind of get set up,
388
00:23:05,600 --> 00:23:08,560
get in the gate, get ready to
run, right? Sure. It's like you,
389
00:23:08,750 --> 00:23:12,840
you've done everything to get
ready and now you've got your,
390
00:23:12,840 --> 00:23:16,560
you got all your listings out there.
It's like the prime, the pump is primed.
391
00:23:17,180 --> 00:23:21,920
And then when you record your first
episode or however you decide to do your
392
00:23:21,920 --> 00:23:25,920
first few episodes, you've got,
you get those done and then bam,
393
00:23:25,920 --> 00:23:28,080
you're all you have to do is
all you have to worry about.
394
00:23:28,550 --> 00:23:32,480
It's going in and write your post,
uploading your media and hitting publish.
395
00:23:33,100 --> 00:23:37,400
And it's kind of like, duh duh, the
pressure's off and you're live and well,
396
00:23:37,530 --> 00:23:42,520
so I'm a believer in Episode Zero
397
00:23:42,620 --> 00:23:44,200
but if you're just kinda
getting start and say,
398
00:23:44,200 --> 00:23:48,000
I'm gonna put episode one up and we'll
get out there as we can, that's fine too.
399
00:23:48,020 --> 00:23:51,960
But again, the, there's no rules here
and you can do it your way. That's the.
400
00:23:51,960 --> 00:23:53,960
Best. I always, I always
tell people when I'm, uh,
401
00:23:53,960 --> 00:23:57,800
helping 'em set up something like that
and if they got their first episode or
402
00:23:57,800 --> 00:24:00,040
their trailer or whatever,
they're gonna put up first.
403
00:24:00,730 --> 00:24:05,680
As soon as they hit publish, I go,
okay, so now you are a podcaster.
404
00:24:06,660 --> 00:24:08,920
Now nobody knows about it
405
00:24:08,920 --> 00:24:12,800
so now you gotta go submit
it to the directories.
406
00:24:13,420 --> 00:24:17,840
The main ones that I would say get
on first would be Apple Podcast,
407
00:24:17,840 --> 00:24:19,760
Spotify and Podcast Index.
408
00:24:19,760 --> 00:24:23,880
You get on those three that
covers a lot of apps that
409
00:24:24,430 --> 00:24:29,240
people use and then circle
back and get on all the other
410
00:24:29,240 --> 00:24:32,880
ones. We have a destination
section in both of our systems.
411
00:24:32,890 --> 00:24:35,720
So in publisher and or Power Press,
412
00:24:35,770 --> 00:24:40,320
we have destinations and we have articles
on how to get on each one of them.
413
00:24:40,320 --> 00:24:43,640
They're all kind of different. Some of
'em are kind of a pain, but you know,
414
00:24:43,640 --> 00:24:45,280
it's always good to be everywhere,
415
00:24:45,280 --> 00:24:48,200
but don't fret about being
everywhere right at the get-go.
416
00:24:48,200 --> 00:24:52,800
If you get on those three, Google will
take care of itself for the most part.
417
00:24:52,880 --> 00:24:56,120
There is a way you can
kind of force 'em, but, uh,
418
00:24:56,120 --> 00:24:58,720
we can help you with that
later, but then, you know,
419
00:24:58,720 --> 00:25:01,680
circle back and get on some
of the lesser ones. That's,
420
00:25:01,680 --> 00:25:03,280
that would be my suggestion.
421
00:25:04,090 --> 00:25:07,240
My, my main thought process been for many,
422
00:25:07,240 --> 00:25:11,040
many years is I don't care how they
listen as long as they listen and I want
423
00:25:11,040 --> 00:25:13,960
them to listen wherever they
listen to podcasts. Sure.
424
00:25:14,130 --> 00:25:18,200
So even though Amazon
might be less than 1%,
425
00:25:18,230 --> 00:25:21,560
I still want my show on Amazon. I
still want it on Pandora, iHeart,
426
00:25:21,560 --> 00:25:23,680
all those locations. But again,
427
00:25:23,680 --> 00:25:28,200
it's not where the majority
of people listen to shows.
428
00:25:28,310 --> 00:25:32,000
It's a location where you
can be found later on.
429
00:25:32,000 --> 00:25:34,480
It's not that big of a deal.
So, like Mike said, you,
430
00:25:34,480 --> 00:25:36,960
you don't have to be the first
outta the gate with that.
431
00:25:37,300 --> 00:25:39,360
And you can do that later.
You get those other ones.
432
00:25:39,360 --> 00:25:43,480
Yeah. I, I like, I, I'm gonna be
doing, uh, some research that was,
433
00:25:43,480 --> 00:25:45,960
that's on my list of
things I want to check out,
434
00:25:46,540 --> 00:25:51,480
but I'm guessing that
90% of your listeners
435
00:25:51,480 --> 00:25:53,520
will be covered if you do Apple,
436
00:25:53,520 --> 00:25:57,400
Spotify Podcast Index and Google Podcasts.
437
00:25:57,830 --> 00:26:00,320
I I bet you that's a 90% right there.
438
00:26:00,540 --> 00:26:04,840
And Google Podcast pick
shows up automatically after
the first couple of episode
439
00:26:04,840 --> 00:26:09,280
cuz we do some magic. We basically
send out a signal that says, Hey,
440
00:26:09,280 --> 00:26:11,680
there's a new episode out
here. And Google is, uh,
441
00:26:11,680 --> 00:26:14,400
is listens for that signal and uh,
442
00:26:14,400 --> 00:26:18,560
that's why it's pretty quickly
before it's called we SubHub Hub.
443
00:26:18,560 --> 00:26:22,960
It's real geeky
basically Google says, oh, there's a,
444
00:26:22,960 --> 00:26:26,320
there's a new post over here and it, it's
used for blogging and everything else.
445
00:26:26,320 --> 00:26:26,800
Yeah.
446
00:26:26,800 --> 00:26:31,600
Of course. We send out another
single signal to, uh, podcast index.
447
00:26:31,870 --> 00:26:34,440
Yeah. And that basically could
get your show updated very,
448
00:26:34,440 --> 00:26:38,880
very quickly so that you don't have
to wait for the RSS feed to be, uh,
449
00:26:38,880 --> 00:26:43,760
basically, uh, pulled by the, uh,
the platforms update. But anyway,
450
00:26:43,760 --> 00:26:47,160
that's getting real deep, deep in the
weeds here. Certainly. So best way to,
451
00:26:47,670 --> 00:26:50,760
I think we've covered everything on the
best way to start a podcast, haven't.
452
00:26:50,760 --> 00:26:54,800
We? Yeah, I believe so. But uh, if you
have any suggestions or anything, yeah,
453
00:26:54,800 --> 00:26:55,960
be sure to get ahold of us.
454
00:26:57,290 --> 00:27:02,150
And the next thing we got coming is
the pro tip from the Blueberry Pro
455
00:27:02,150 --> 00:27:04,950
production team. Take it away.
456
00:27:06,380 --> 00:27:07,270
Thanks Mike.
457
00:27:07,290 --> 00:27:10,790
And what a great conversation you and
Todd are having about all of the things
458
00:27:10,790 --> 00:27:15,070
that it takes and that you can do to make
it easier to start publishing your own
459
00:27:15,070 --> 00:27:15,903
podcast.
460
00:27:16,170 --> 00:27:20,870
The only thing I'm going to add to that
is setting up your social media and
461
00:27:20,870 --> 00:27:25,270
batch recording your episodes and
maybe integrating a tool like Canva
462
00:27:25,390 --> 00:27:30,390
where you can create social posts for
each episode and schedule them right in
463
00:27:30,390 --> 00:27:33,510
Canva to go out every time your show airs.
464
00:27:33,740 --> 00:27:38,030
It's kind of one stop shopping
and this isn't a promo for Canva.
465
00:27:38,030 --> 00:27:40,990
There are lots of different
sorts of publishing platforms,
466
00:27:41,410 --> 00:27:46,110
but the one I find to be most convenient
is the one that gives me the ability to
467
00:27:46,110 --> 00:27:50,750
both create the posts and the art that
goes with them and publish from the same
468
00:27:51,030 --> 00:27:54,750
platform. And the best one I've found
to do that with so far is Canva.
469
00:27:54,800 --> 00:27:58,390
So the pro tip is batch
record, your podcast batch,
470
00:27:58,390 --> 00:27:59,870
create your social media posts,
471
00:28:00,370 --> 00:28:05,310
set them to release automatically
and it's a set it and forget it
472
00:28:05,310 --> 00:28:06,710
until you batch record Again,
473
00:28:07,060 --> 00:28:10,190
this is Kate from the
Blueberry Pro production team
and I'll see you next week.
474
00:28:10,300 --> 00:28:13,310
Thanks for joining us. Come back
next week and in the meantime,
475
00:28:13,310 --> 00:28:17,710
head to podcast insider.com for more
information to subscribe, share,
476
00:28:17,710 --> 00:28:21,230
and read our show notes to check out the
latest suite of services and learn how
477
00:28:21,230 --> 00:28:24,550
Blueberry can help you leverage
your podcast. Visit blueberry.com.
478
00:28:24,660 --> 00:28:27,910
That's blueberry without the ease
because we can't afford them.