Category Archives: Episode

Brian Basilico – The Bacon Podcast – PI 162



MacKenzie joins Todd for this episode as Mike is out for a few days. They talk about how Sirius XM and Pandora are dipping their feet into the content side of podcasting, they’re launching a Marvel set of shows. Women and female listenership is up, according to Edison Research. Brian Basilico was this weeks guest and actually featured Todd on his show as well.

Thanks for joining us on this episode of Podcast Insider.

News

Best Practice

  • Business Podcasts: How to produce a fantastic business podcast, featuring…
    • Product, services
    • Support
    • Longevity, trust
    • Promotion, sales
    • Interview, creative – showcase employees
    • Responsiveness
    • Testimonial, learn

Blubrry News

  • Texas Pod Con: Todd will be speaking at this first time event.
  • Fall Affiliate Contest: Win cash prizes for the highest number of sign ups and being a newly paid affiliate.
  • The Next Best Podcast Tool: Got an idea for a new service or feature in podcasting? Great submit your idea and we might just create it.
  • Network Plugin progression: We’re getting closer and closer to the release of our new network plugin. Few weeks from now.
  • Latest newsletter has been sent out, make sure you’re subscribed.

Interview:

Brian Basilico – The Bacon Podcast

An award-winning author of the best selling book It’s Not About You, It’s About Bacon! Relationship Marketing In A Social Media World. He was honored as one of the Top Marketers to Follow in 2018. Brian is an online marketing strategist with over 40 years of marketing experience, and the owner of an award-winning internet marketing company, B2B Interactive Marketing, Inc. He is world renowned for his LinkedIn Training and innovating content marketing strategies, and was one of the first 1,000 people to join the social networking platform in 2004.

Brian is a syndicated blogger, podcaster, and sought-after guest expert, featured in Entrepreneur and Inc. magazines. With over 500 episodes, how show The Bacon Podcast, is ranked as one of the Top 100 Marketing Podcasts on Apple, and was also recognized by Inc. Magazines as one of their Top 35 Business Podcasts.

Support

  • New call system – more flexible, additional staff added

Promo code INSIDER for a free month at Blubrry.com

Coming at you this week from the Convo by Design Studio in Columbus, Ohio.

Contact Us:
todd@blubrry.com
mike@blubrry.com
mackenzie@blubrry.com


Dan Smolen – The Tightrope – PCI-161



Thanks to Dan Smolen for joining our team this week to talk about his show, The Tightrope, you can catch his feature shortly after the beginning of the episode. Mike and Todd discuss some issues with Apple’s latest OS release, Catalina and what this means for some popular podcasting software. We’re working on a new service that our team is close to releasing, that we think network podcasters are really going to enjoy.

Thanks for joining us on this episode of Podcast Insider.

Interview:

Dan Smolen – The Tightrope

News:

  • Mac’s OS, Catalina, does not support Audacity (or any 32 bit software)
  • According to @MyCastReviews, Apple has hit 750,000 podcasts in their directory. Apple approved 2,200 new shows in just one day!
  • Some Spreaker weirdness – They’ve been IAB Certified, but as of now as just starting to use the IAB Certified stats for their customers.
  • Podiant Communities are ending soon.

Best Practices:

  • Taking a break, and when to do so.

Blubrry News:

  • Network Plugin is nearing completion and we hope to demo it early next week.
  • Texas Podcast Conference – Todd is speaking about the following:
    • Business podcasting and why you should
    • Importance of building your brand on your .com and why you need a podcast host

Support:

  • Passwords – When you change your password at Blubrry, you also have to re-login into PowerPress to keep them linked.
  • FILE NAMES of your media are important. Simple is better!
  • When it says ‘you’re out of space,’ that means you’re out of storage space for the month.
  • Check to see that you’ve uploading the correct file (no wav files or Audacity project files)
  • Did you release more episodes or longer episodes this month?

Promo code INSIDER for a free month at Blubrry.com

Coming at you this week from the New Media Studio in Southern Michigan and Mike Dell’s World Studio in Northern Michigan.

Contact Us:
todd@blubrry.com
mike@blubrry.com
mackenzie@blubrry.com


Eric Hunley – Unstructured – PCI-160



Our guest today is Eric Hunley (@hunleyeric) of Unstructured, whose authentic, well researched interviews deliver more insight and understanding than structured shows allow. Hunley cuts to the quick in his interviews to explore why his guests dared to go on their life changing journeys — and today we’ll learn more about his.

Mike is mostly flying solo, as Lena and MacKenzie are attending She Podcasts Live in Atlanta.

We talk about WNYC’s new podcast called Dolly Parton’s America, Podchaser’s 3 million credits, and its claim that it’s the “IMDB of podcasting.” Also on today’s episode with-mostly-Mike, we talk about the impending return of The Audacity to Podcast with @TheDanielJLewis; the release of PowerPress 8 and what it means for you; and our new full-time support person. Help us welcome Dave!

If you would like to be interviewed on Podcast Insider about your podcast, contact Mike, MacKenzie or Todd (our emails are below) to get on our schedule. We have some very good ones coming up as well as today’s great interview.

Interview: Eric Hunley – Unstructured

News:

Best Practice:   Subscribe to your own show!

Blubrry news:

  • PowerPress 8.0 is out
  • MacKenzie and Lena at She Podcasts Live! In Atlanta.
  • New Full-time support person!   (Dave Clements)

Support:

  • Meet Dave!
  • Expanded hours on the phone support coming soon
  • Write down info about your podcast! (We talked about this last week.)
    • Feed address
    • How do you generate a feed?
    • Email address used to login to Blubrry (or another service)
    • Web hosting company
    • ALL PASSWORDS
    • TITLE of the show

Promo code INSIDER for a free month at Blubrry.com

Contact Us:
todd@blubrry.com
mike@blubrry.com
mackenzie@blubrry.com


International Podcast Day Session – PCI-159



Todd, MacKenzie and Mike did a session for International Podcast Day 2019. A session titled, ‘The Top Things You Should Know About Your Podcast.’ Daniel J. Lewis, from the Audacity to Podcast, was in charge of our session – giving Steve and Dave Lee a break for the 24+ hour day.

As promised we announced our winner for our International Podcast Day giveaway, that includes free hosting for a year, some equipment, consulting from Todd and promotion on this show, Podcast Insider. Congratulations to Chuck Fields – Your Space Journey.

We also announced that PowerPress 8.0 beta is now available. We’re looking for more testers before the official release! Check it out here: PowerPress 8.0 beta.

See you next week with another NORMAL episode of Podcast Insider and thanks for joining us on this special episode of the show!

Coming at you this week from the New Media Studio in southern Michigan, Mike Dell’s World Studio in northern Michigan, and the MacKenzie at the Convo by Design studio in Columbus, Ohio. Special thanks for the IPD team as well.

Promo code INSIDER for a free month at Blubrry.com

Contact Us:
todd@blubrry.com
mike@blubrry.com
mackenzie@blubrry.com


Dave Rosen – Host of Piecing it Together – PCI-158



International Podcast Day is just almost 48 hours away and we can’t wait to get started. We have multiple slots throughout the day, and we’re hosting a giveaway. If you haven’t submitted your new show idea yet, you have a day or so left. You can learn more about it here. Todd and Mike discuss a new show from CNBC, iOS 13 has been released by Apple, and they have a handful of tech support suggestions.

Thanks for joining us on this episode of Podcast Insider.

Interview:

Dave Rosen, host of Piecing it Together

News:

  • CNBC has launched a podcast, Squawk Pod, in conjunction with their daily show Squawk Box.
  • iOS 13.1 has been released from Apple. They’ve included some bug fixes.
  • Information from Podnews. UK newspaper, The Daily Star stole a story from a podcast and published it as their own.
  • Descript Studio is now available. It’s a very interesting audio app!

Best Practices:

Make sure your subscribe sidebar widget is above the fold. When someone comes to your site on any device, this way they don’t have to scroll up or down to subscribe.

Blubrry News:

  • This Monday, September 30th is International Podcast Day. They’re starting on Sunday due to time zones. Win one year of hosting with Blubrry. Submit to win here.
  • Todd and others were in Columbus for some team meetings.
  • New Podcast Insider site coming soon!
  • PowerPress 8 scheduled to be released on the 9/30/19

Support:

  • When publishing a podcast episode, make sure you check that the file plays right after you publish. Press play or download just to make sure.
  • Here’s a publishing checklist:
    • Look at the post as a user would see it. (Good time to check for typos and such in the blog post as well)
    • Publish the post
    • Clear any site caching
    • Hit play on the player. Does it play?
    • Hit the download link. Does is either download?
    • Check the RSS feed at CastFeedValidator.com
    • Relax in the knowledge that my episode is out and inform your audience 🙂
  • If only one app is having an issue, it’s most likely that app, and not your feed or your hosting company. Even if that app is Apple Podcasts.

Coming at you this week from the New Media Studio in southern Michigan and Mike Dell’s World Studio in northern Michigan.

Promo code INSIDER for a free month at Blubrry.com

Contact Us:
todd@blubrry.com
mike@blubrry.com
mackenzie@blubrry.com


Tim O’Brien from The Shaping Opinion Podcast – PCI-157



Blubrry has lots of announcements and tips for podcast support this time around on Podcast Insider. Tim O’Brien from The Shaping Opinion podcast joins Todd to talk about his show.We’re excited for our Audioburst webinar next week and reviewing submissions our International Podcast Day giveaway. We’ll be speaking at that event on Sept 30 and Todd will be headed out to Texas Podcon in October. MacKenzie will also be headed to Atlanta for She Podcasts in about a month, catch her speaking on the Creative Money panel.

Thanks for joining us on this episode of Podcast Insider.

Interview:

Tim O’Brien from The Shaping Opinion Podcast

News:

Best Practices:

  • Stats: What number is the most important to track?

Blubrry News:

Support:

  • Show notes tips: Trying to force different apps to display different versions of your show notes is going to drive you crazy. If one app is not looking like you want it to, and all the rest are, the problem is with THAT app, not your feed. Don’t give them a choice. Put whatever you want to show everywhere in the post. RSS is a standard; apps and directories can pick and choose what parts of the RSS feed they will use and what parts they won’t. You do not get to control that and neither do we.
  • Patience: If you email support at 3AM ET, please do not email again at 6AM wondering why we haven’t answered you. Or worse yet, get on social media. We will get to you within 24 hours during the business week and likely the same on the weekends.

Coming at you this week from the Convo By Design studio in Columbus, Ohio and Mike Dell’s World Studio in northern Michigan.

Promo code INSIDER for a free month at Blubrry.com

Contact Us:
todd@blubrry.com
mike@blubrry.com
mackenzie@blubrry.com


Stephane Deschenes – The Naturist Living Show PI-156



No shortage of podcasting news and tips this week on Podcast Insider. Including an interview with Stephane Deschenes from The Naturist Living Show, Mike and Todd discuss multiple podcasting events, the Webby Award show, and mic technique. Not all mics are created equal and it’s important to master the one that you’re using for your podcast.

If you’re looking for some basic podcasting tips and practices, take a look at our blog, for some help.

Thanks for joining us on this episode of Podcast Insider.

Interview:

Stephane DeschenesThe Naturist Living Show (NSFW)

News:

Best Practices:

  • Say it with us: quiet recordings are better recordings. When you start with a clean recording, the end-product will be better.
    • Keep the recording area as quiet as you can while recording. We know, not always an easy feat.
    • Have some “softer” things on the walls; carpeted rooms are good too.
    • A closet full of clothes hanging up works good for a solo recording. Beware, you might get a tad sweaty.
    • Always test a recording for noise and/or other issues before committing to do a long show. Just because your setup didn’t change doesn’t mean your environment didn’t.
    • Any crackling or buzzing?
    • Record a little on the low side (level wise) and boost it in post. (Auphonic is a good choice) It’s better to have it too low than too high in most cases.
    • Mic technique: be careful about echos off things like monitors walls. Talk into the mic and use a pop filter if you need to (all mics differ and can sound vastly different on different people).

Blubrry News:

  • Podcasting 101: New blog post from the Blubrry team.
  • Todd will also be at Outlier Podcast Festival in LA Tomorrow and Saturday Sept. 13 and 14. Use the promo code “OUTLIER” for a discount on your tickets if you can make it!
  • MAPCON (now Independent Podcast Conference) report.
  • DC Podfest – will you be there? It’s happen Nov 1st – 2nd 2019.

Support:

  • Importing Podcast vs. Migrate Media in PowerPress
    • Import means moving the feed (posts) to WordPress via PowerPress.
    • Migrate means copying of files from the old host to Blubrry.com’s servers.
    • BOTH steps are needed if you have been using another company’s RSS feed for your show.
    • After the RSS feed and files are moved, a 301 redirect is needed from the OLD feed
    • If the old feed owner will not do a 301(Talkshoe and others) then we have a plan B to get *most* of your subscribers to move with you.
  • Good news, we’re working on enhancing our support pages. AND releasing  how-to video demos on the Blubrry features and system. Do you have something you think we need a video on? Let us know, support@blubrry.com

Coming at you this week from the New Media Studio in Southern Michigan and Mike Dell’s World Studio in Northern Michigan.

Promo code INSIDER for a free month at Blubrry.com

Contact Us:
todd@blubrry.com
mike@blubrry.com
mackenzie@blubrry.com


Dr. Justin Trosclair – A Doctor’s Perspective – PI-155



Todd and Mike are back on Podcast Insider this week discussing events, money and legal issues in podcasting and more. They’re also sharing their tips for sharing your podcast – they suggest sticking to your website. Big thanks to MacKenzie for joining Mike on the episode last week; it was good to hear her back ‘on the air.’ She’ll be back soon and has an interview or too lined up. Mid episode tune in for Dr. Justin Trosclair discussing his show and podcasting experience.

Thanks for joining us on this episode of Podcast Insider.

Interview:

Dr. Justin Trosclair D.C (Truss-Clare) – A Doctor’s Perspective

News:

Best Practices:

  • Sharing on social media, etc.: What to share? Your website! Recently Facebook has been removing direct links to episodes on Apple Podcasts for “against community guidelines.” We’re not entirely sure they’re still doing that. Sharing anything other than a link to your post on a site you own (or at least control) is the only thing you should share for your episode.

Blubrry News:

Support:

  • Support vs. Consulting: We do not consider web design tips to be part of the support team’s speciality
  • Feed traffic: This is a good problem to have because of your audience BUT… HostGator and WP Engine are very picky about feed traffic. We have a solution for that and it’s free! — PodcastMirror.com

Coming at you from the Convo By Design podcast studio at Blubrry’s Columbus, Ohio office.

Promo code INSIDER for a free month at Blubrry.com

Contact Us:
todd@blubrry.com
mike@blubrry.com
mackenzie@blubrry.com


Dave Stachowiak – Coaching for Leaders – PI-154



Are you a fan of the RODEcaster Pro? You’re in luck if so. They recently released a new update to their product, that makes transferring files much easier. That’s not all we talk about though, MacKenzie guest hosts because Todd is out of town for DragonCon. There is lots going on with Blubrry, multiple releases this week and information learning coming up in September. The podcasting community will that Australia is hosting their annual OzPod Conference this October. Don’t miss the interview with podcaster Dave Stachowiak.

Thanks for joining us on this episode of Podcast Insider.

Interview:

Dave Stachowiak: Coaching for Leaders Podcast

Podcasting News:

Best Practices:

  • File specs: 48khz or 44.1khz sample rate. 128kbps MP3 is standard file format for podcasts. You can use 64kbps mono or 96kbps stereo if you’d like.

Blubrry News:

  • Webinars: PowerPress for WordPress on Sept 18. We’ll be hosting a webinar on how to get the most out of Audioburst sometime in September as well.
  • Deezer: Now available for any Blubrry user, located in the Podcaster Dashboard – Destinations.
  • New Partner: Journity! focuses on creating exceptional websites for nonprofit organizations – and all of services work with them.
  • We’ve got an update to PowerPress with some bug fixes and better CastFeedValidator integration and Apple categories

Blubrry Support:

  • Realistic support response times: We promise we’ll answer you! It might not be within an hour though. Our team is mighty, but small. And remember, patience will result in a fuller, better answer.
  • Social media: We’re not monitoring social media for support tickets, because we have a ticket system for our service.

 

Coming at you from the Convo By Design podcast studio at Blubrry’s Columbus, Ohio office.

Promo code INSIDER for a free month at Blubrry.com

Contact Us:
todd@blubrry.com
mike@blubrry.com
mackenzie@blubrry.com


Lorna Bremner – Closure Optional – PI-153



We’ve got lots to talk about with podcast statistics, new deals, such as Sound Exchange, and confirmations from Podcast Movement. We start the episode with a fantastic interview from Lorna, and close it with Todd and Mike joined by Barry Kantz, General Counsel and CFO of RawVoice/Blubrry. If you haven’t taken a look at the Blubrry site in a while, take a minute to review the changes we’ve made recently.

Thanks for joining us on this episode of Podcast Insider.

Interview:

Lorna Bremner – Closure Optional

Podcasting News

  • Apple transcripts (in IOS13 beta): It seems they’re active at the moment!
  • Google making big changes for podcasts
  • Spotify: Making it easier for you to manage your show listing within their platform.
  • SoundExchange and SourceAudio: New deal for licensed music in podcasts.

Best Practices

  • The Blubrry way is the Google way! Talks from Podcast Movement confirm our way of podcasting.

Blubrry News

  • Homepage and directory: Blubrry.com changes continuing to take shape.
  • New service coming soon: Network Plugin / Newly Redesigned TechPodcasts.com
  • RODECASTER Pro contest at Podcast Movement was a success, our winner has already received their gift. Thanks for everyone for participating.

Blubrry Support

  • You must publish an episode before submitting to directories. The first rule in getting on a podcast directory or app is to HAVE A PODCAST — posted, public and ready to go. (no coming soon mode or private posts)
  • Stats: there is a delay between when you post an episode and when it will show in the stats.  It takes time for us to process the data and report it to you.

Promo code INSIDER for a free month at Blubrry.com

Contact Us:
todd@blubrry.com
mike@blubrry.com
mackenzie@blubrry.com