TPU #31 | Insider Podcasting Secrets Learned in 2007

At long last, I’m back with another episode of The Podcasting Underground. In this episode I share the top tips learned by experienced podcasters in 2007 to help…

• Build your audience
• Make more money as a podcaster or
• To streamline your podcasting process to save time and energy

The community responded in force. Over forty tips were sent in. I’ve included some of my favorites in the show. You can get your hands on all of the tips in this document here.

Thanks to all who sent in tips. The tips mentioned in the show come from the following podcasters.

• Anthony Renna | The Strength Coach Podcast | Better Golf with Fitness Podcast
• Ken | Real Men Grill
• Susan Bratton | Dishy Mix
• Tim Dewey | Sled Dog Podcast
• Brian | Free Guitar Lessons
• Robin | Robin Maiden
• Whitney Hoffman | LD Podcast
• Victoria | Tango Eternal
• Cliff | Buddha Mirror (link given was not working)

Items mentioned in this episode:

• Internet Business Mastery
• Internet Business Mastery promo for download to use on your show
• Voice over artist who did the Internet Business Mastery promo. You can get a special deal for Podcasting Underground listeners.
• Get on the early notification list for the Professional Podcasting Course

Download the Episode Here

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Air Force To Cut Access To Some Blogs

The Air Force is restricting access to a wide range of blogs its troops will be able to read.

The Air Force Network Operations Center (AFNOC) said," AFNOC has imposed bans on all sites with 'blog' in their URLs, thus cutting off any sites hosted by Blogspot. Other blogs, and sites in general, are blocked based on content reviews performed at the base, command and AFNOC level."

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Places to Get Ideas for Podcasts

Using Blog Posts to get ideas for Podcasts:

The best blogs and feeds are those that contain unique, fresh, compelling, content. So where do these prolific posters get their ideas? I talked to a handful of bloggers to determine where their inspiration originated for their content.

Not surprisingly, ideas for blog posts or RSS feed items originate or are influenced by other web content. The following are venues for finding your online muse:

Web Log Analysis

Analyze your web logs to determine the source of your web traffic. Everyone who understands Internet Marketing will tell you to analyze your web logs... but what does that really mean? What particular things should you pay attention to when analyzing your web logs?

Web Log Analysis

Hacker Launches iTunes Copier

The release of software from a firm run by a notorious Norwegian hacker is likely to cause waves in the music and film download world.

Jon Lech Johansen became the enfant terrible of the DRM industry when he released software which cracked the encryption codes on DVDs, aged just 15.

His firm, DoubleTwist, has now released software allowing users to share digital media files across devices.

It would allow songs bought on Apple iTunes to be shared on other devices.

complete article

Valleywag Goes Porno

Valleywag's never been one to pull punches, especially if the punch puts at risk the more prudish element of the audience. But they've never, as far I as know, gone full-on NSFW at the site itself. Celebrity sex tapes are all the rage on the Internet, but do a search on Valleywag and only one result comes back—one for Gene Simmons.

In a t-shirt, no pants.

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Tips to Writing Podcast Episode Notes That Gets Maximum Readability

If you’ve ever installed Google Analytics or any web analytics tool that allows you to track how long readers stay at your site, you should find out that average web users no longer read what’s on your site. Considering the short amount of time they spend on one site, there is no way they know if the site is indeed useful or not.

Looking at results from various web site statistics, the duration people stay on a web site is mostly at around 60 - 100 seconds.

As the result, as a web publisher, creating a page that is easy to read and deliver the right message to the audience is utmost important.

According to Jakob Nielsen, a web usability expert, web users don’t read. In Alertbox for 1st October 1997 — I know it was old, and I predicted the numbers are even worse nowadays — 9 percent of test users always scanned any new page they came across, only 16 percent read word-by-word.

As a podcaster who also publishes episode notes to the blog or podcast site, you need to address this problem. Doing this correctly allows you to convert more web visitors into listeners and listeners to podcast subscribers.

Here are the tips to create content that works for scanning readers.

• Bulleted lists (like this one). People like to scan through list. It allows them to locate each different points easily. If the bullet is long, it is also helpful if you combine this with the right format such as highlighting key points in bold.
• HTML formatting. Most common formats and typeface variations, such as bold and italics can be used to emphasize on key points efficiently. Readers usually stop at these words and read. They may decide to read on if they find the point interesting. If you quote, make sure to format is as with the right tag (blockquote). There are some other tricks but these are the basic.
• Short sentences paragraphs. Readers tend to skip long paragraphs and see passages that are easier to read. Breaking down long sentences and paragraphs into two or more helps a lot. The idea is to present only one idea per paragraph and make it as relevant as possible.
• Sub-headings. Use sub-headings to give a hint about that particular section. Title gives the whole idea of the content, and sub-headings focus it more to the section level. In HTML these are the h2, h3, and h4 tags. Sub-headings are useful for long content. They give users the time to rest their eyes and draw attention to the content that follows.
• Deliver key points quickly. They call it the inverted pyramid style. It means that the greatest content weight should be delivered immediately. What follows after it is the rest of the content that is less and less important. Another variation is to put more important points again during the end of the page to capture readers who go directly to the end.
• Grab attention quickly. Another way to draw readers in is to start with compelling reasons why they should slow down and read carefully. This trick is what I learned from copywriting, which almost always starts with a story instead of asking for the order right away.
• Include supporting images. Images can be distracting but used properly they are also great eye candy. When people stop at the image, it is another opportunity to grab their attention. It is best if the image is supportive to the content.

Practicing how to format podcast show notes are important. After all the hard work and time you’ve spent to get traffic, the next thing you want to focus on is conversion. Don’t turn your efforts into fruitless activities by making this small mistakes.

Design of the page, while important, is less critical than readability. That may be surprising for some readers, but that is just the truth. The number speaks for itself.

Finally, podcast episode notes are also important component of a podcast to drive traffic from search engines and convert visitors into listeners and podcast subscribers. Read the podcast promotion article to get more ideas about promoting and marketing your podcast.

Teacher Tube Provides a 6th Grade Perspective on Podcasting

Teacher Tube takes students beyond the confines of text books and a group of 6th graders explain podcasting in their own words.

Virgiania Podcasting Network

The Virginia Podcasting Network is a collection of podcasts from all across the Commonwealth, with a primary focus on state politics, history, and culture. You can listen to our archive at your computer, or subscribe to the site via-e-mail or by RSS.

The site is produced by Sean Tubbs, an audio producer and the president of Wordcast Productions, an audio production company based in Charlottesville. Tubbs is also the founder of the Charlottesville Podcasting Network, a site launched in February of 2005 as a producer of original programming and an aggregator of other audio and video programs produced in Central Virginia.

Digital Media Insider Podcast 22: Synthesizer Sound Design

Part of the joy of playing electronic musical instruments is exploring the unique banks of sounds inside. This month, we speak again with Francis Preve, a Top 10 remixer who also works as the principal sound designer for Ableton and a consulting sound designer for Korg. Hear how he creates the sounds behind the hits.

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