280 Soundseeing Tours of China – Two Years of Podcasting With Zero Feedback – LinkedIn Skills Endorsements

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

8th Annual Podcast Awards Nominations Open Till October 15th
The nomination process for the 8th Annual Podcast Awards is now open. If you consider nominating any of the shows that I produce, please see http://gspn.tv/awards for important information regarding which category to nominate each show for.

Personal Plug of the Week
This week’s personal plug of the week is the Catholic Insider podcast from Fr. Roderick Vonhogen. This podcast was one of the very first podcasts I ever listened to and is still one of my favorite shows to this day. Fr. Roderick just returned from a 15 day trip to China and is now releasing daily episodes which feature his signature soundseeing tours. If you check out the podcast and enjoy it, please let Fr. Roderick know that you heard about him from Podcast Answer Man.

Three Quick Questions
In this episode, I answered several questions that had come in from the listener feedback hotline. Three of those questions were quick questions that I will list below. To find my answers to each of these questions, please listen to this episode.

Question 1: If you already have an existing blog, website and/or brand, should your podcast carry the same name?

Question 2: Cliff, do you use the “Smartcast” functionality of Feedburner?

Question 3: I’m using feedburner to optimize my Blogger Feed for podcasting. How can I correct my iTunes listing to display me as the author. It currently says “noreply@blogger.com.”

Two Years of Podcasting With Zero Feedback
In this episode, we had a call from someone who had spent over two years creating an audio podcast, had produced over 100 podcast episodes and who never received a single piece of feedback from their audience. How could this possibly be? I do just a bit of investigation and I uncover several issues that could explain this person’s results.

LinkedIn Skills Endorsements
In this week’s social media segment, Erik Fisher and I discuss the new ability to endorse the skills of others within your LinkedIn profile. We also shared our thoughts on how this might affect our social proof and the decision that we made to make sure that our greatest skills are highlighted.

Taking It To The Next Level
I open this episode by sharing that I have been taking my own health and fitness to the next level. I encourage you to check out my Pursuing A Balanced Life podcast. In fact, if you would like to follow me from the beginning on my most recent journey, I encourage you to start with episode 518.

If you do, you’ll learn how I’ve been motivated, in a very big way, by the use of my fitbit device. In fact, I’m not walking a minimum of 14,300 steps each day which is a total of 6.2 miles. Since August 24th, I’ve lost 12.5 pounds.

Please know that this podcast is about much more than just my health and fitness. If you think I share a lot of personal, behind the scenes, information about my business decisions in Podcast Answer Man, you haven’t heard anything yet! Check it out at http://PursuingABalancedLife.com.

Podcasting A to Z – Register Today!
Ready To Start Your Podcast or Take Your Existing Show To The Next Level?
I’m happy to announce that I’ve scheduled my next Podcasting A to Z Online Training Course. The course will start on Monday, November 26th and will run through Friday, December 21st.

Please check out http://PodcastingAtoZ.com for all the details about what is offered in this course. If you sign up using the discount code “PAM” in the shopping cart, you’ll save $100 off the cost of the course and you’ll be provided with immediate access to all the tutorials.

Shop With B&H Photo & Support Podcast Answer Man
I am thrilled about the relationship that I have formed with the folks at B&H Photo, Video, & Pro Audio. They have amazing prices on podcast equipment and so much more. Best of all, their customer service is almost as good as my own.

When placing an order through my affiliate link, you end up paying the same low price and I earn a generous commission. If you have used my affiliate link to make a purchase with B&H, please leave me a comment with your name and a link to your website in the comments section below.

Blue Host Affiliate Signup
I want to send out a special word of thanks to the folks behind the following domains that were used to create a new hosting account with BlueHost with my Blue Host affiliate link recently. As you know, I earn a commission each time someone clicks through my link to sign up with Blue Host. So thank you!

Accounts that were created recently:
– http://BestFutureStartsNow.com
– http://LetsTalkJapan.com
– http://WaltFord.com
– http://MichaelWildmanPhotography.com

Note: The fact that I have linked to these accounts is only to acknowledge that these folks have used my affiliate link to create a hosting account with BlueHost. These links are not an endorsement of any content that may be posted to these sites. If you ever recognize content blatantly offensive at any of these links, please let me know and I will be sure to evaluate and consider if the link should be removed from this post. These accounts are all brand new and may not be active yet. Also, it is possible that some of these domains were previously owned and my not have been transfered to BlueHost just yet.

The Podcast Mastermind
One of the reasons that I love working with podcasters so much is due to the fact that they are influencing someone every single time they produce a podcast episode. The world needs great leaders! I believe that podcasters who take their leadership position seriously can make a positive difference in the lives of others. The world needs you and your message! They need you to be a leader!

Many people ask me how to grow the audience of their podcast. I believe that one of the best things you can do is to BELIEVE IN YOURSELF! To take yourself seriously! To consider yourself to be a professional!

Are you willing to invest in your future success?
Are you willing to be the greatest leader you can be?
Are you wiling to commit to your personal and professional growth?

If so, please consider joining The Podcast Mastermind!

Free Month of Media Hosting With Libsyn!
Because of all the years of sending clients to sign up for accounts with Libsyn, they have created an affilate programs only given to a hand selected group of podcasting experts. I’m delighted that I am now able to offer your ONE MONTH FREE when you sign up for a new account with Libsyn. Simply use promo code GSPN when you sign up! For my complete thoughts on podcast hosting, click here.

PODCAST VIDEO TUTORIALS:
I have a growing list of video tutorials that I have created based up on the the top things my clients have hired me to help them with. See the full list of tutorials by clicking here.

I Appreciate Your iTunes Reviews!
If you have ever read my blog post about how iTunes podcast ratings work, then you know just how valuable leaving a 5 star rating and/or a written review can be to a content producer.

I am so incredibly thankful to those who have recently gone into my listing in iTunes to provide a five start rating and a written review of Podcast Answer Man.

Subscribe To The Podcast Answer Man Podcast:

Ryan Clarke

1 Like

Cliff, you are really A God Send! You most likely will remember me from my question I asked on PAM and commenting on the feed burner issue. I, as you may (but most likely may not know) I do a general video Game podcast with one of my friends in Kentucky over Skype. For A long time I felt that I wasnt 100% into my podcast and i later found out that my friend a.k.a co-host, wasnt into it that much either. It was formatted well, the quality was great but there were a couple of things I hated about it.

The First thing was the name. It's called FPS FTW which Stands for Frames Per Second For The Win or First Person Shooters For The Win. Lots of people who stumble on our podcast see FPS and think its a nitch podcast about first person shooter video game types, when its a all around gaming podcast. It would annoy me. The second Problem I had is that there are approximately thousands of podcasts that do general gaming, I even met and am now friends with a teen the same age as me and he has a podcast that is better than mine but they harldy get any feed back, just like my show. The last thing I absolutely hated about my show was me!! It might sound weird but my hosting wasnt and still isnt up to par on that show. My Co-Host is a better host then I an when I end up trying to state a important point about half the time I sound like im talking out my Butt the whole time. I personally know I am a very talkative person and when im talking something im passionate about like video games, I make sense and make good points but when I do a show I just sound stupid and inexperienced when im absolutely not!

Me and my friend both have though about re-branding it but we decided to start fresh with a new name, new logo and a new format. FPS FTW is on its 28th episode and it still feels like its on its first few episodes but with better show formant and flow. We couldn't come up with any ideas for a name and we are gonna continue doing the podcast for a bit but then I saw this episode and it changed my old podcast and now I can officially say, it was never EVER going to go anywere. After listening to your show actually after listening to the two year podcasting story. I immediately thought of an idea for a nitch video game show were me and my co-host would talk about recent video game happening's pick a side and basically debate or talk about our side on this matter and try to prove our point to the audience, we would call it The Gamer Debate Podcast or some thing like that and it would be something that wouldnt be a dead end like my old show!

I love podcasting and I want to pursue podcasting/radio as a career, in fact I am even working on starting a podcast network called podcasts for everyone, that would provide podcasts for all people of all ages. I started creating ideas for many shows and people who would host some of the shows besides me but I might have to revist the shows I had originally planed and give them a nitch topic in each field.

Cliff I cant thank enough for your help, god bless you and thank you for taking my show and my future network, to the next level. :D

PS: This is now most likely the longest comment ever to be on any PAM episode, I made history :P. Also do you plan to do any conferences in Toronto, Ontario. I would love to here you speak live in Canada!

Cliff Ravenscraft moderator

@Ryan Clarke Nothing in Canada planned yet, but I'm always open to invitations to do so.

So glad that the story shared in this episode inspired you to make some bold moves!

Keep dreaming big and always work to take things to the next level.

I appreciate the feedback!

11 comments

Newest | Oldest

Fit Desk Jockey

Hi Cliff,

I really appreciate the time you took to breakdown the problems of "the podcast with no audience". The first thought that came to my mind is that they REALLY need to embrace the amazing power of a $20 pop filter. :)

I just finished recording my second episode, which is my first interview, so I appreciate the opportunity to check the points you mentioned off my list (e.g. A quality image, quality sound, and a snappy attention grabbing intro) before I actually launch the podcast.

That fiverr option you mentioned is pure gold for the thrifty start-up podcaster.

Best wishes,

-Matt

@Lean Muscle Matt Let me apologize for the delay in responding, I didn't get any email notifications of comments from October 14th through November 23rd. I've since fixed the issue.

Thanks for leaving this comment!

JeffB

Cliff, I have to say I have to agree with you on that one podcast with no comments. My own podcast RPG Circus is a rather niche podcast with somewhere around 400-500 listeners, but we still manage four to five (or more) audio comments per year. I also wonder if they followed your advice and asked for audio comments from their audience. I know that's something I do at the end of every show I produce.

gregelwell1

Hey Cliff, Really enjoying your podcasts, and yes my declutter mission was successful! One thing I'm learning from you and others who have a successful show is that production, format and niche topic matters a great deal. Would love to hear more about developing and positioning ones niche topic. Thinking about taking your A to Z, but want to find that "Wow" topic first. I feel everything else just flows from that. Thanks! Greg

@gregelwell1 I agree with your statement. And that Wow topic is different for everyone. For me, the wow topic is podcasting, for Dan Mattson of http://HookedOnWoodenBoats.com, it's wooden boats. Find what makes you "come alive" and share that passion with the world. ;)

GSPN

@gregelwell I hope you enjoy! Best wishes on your decluttering mission.

mileopp

@GSPN @gregelwell ih

JDSutter

Hey Cliff!

Thanks for answering my question. I'm still using SmartCast for all of the shows on my Radio CSS Media network, but was just curious if I was making a huge error. Glad to know I'm not the only one! :)

"...Frogger style..." That comment cracked me up from some reason. Great episode!

-JD