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What do people think about podcasts?

by mishawilson
16 replies
Ive been studying Rich Schefrens Profit Hacks the last few days, and they really seem to love podcasts and talk about them in very high regards saying that anyone who markets should have one. What do you guys think about podcasts? I personally haven't ever really thought of Itunes for being a huge medium in which I should pull from... but maybe Im missing out big time.
#people #podcasts
  • Profile picture of the author cello
    That's a good question.
    It definitely depends on your niche. According to statistics, most podcast users are teens/young adults and more men than women listen to podcasts. If you're targeting theses groups, it can be a helpful tool, but if not, it might be more trouble than it's worth.

    Also think about your speaking voice, whether you have an engaging personality, and whether your "content" is well suited to audio listening- these things make a difference as well.
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    • Profile picture of the author force5
      I think it is about creating authority as much as anything. If someone has a kindle book and a podcast in the niche then they must be an expert right?

      Podcasts are not always easy to keep interesting if you do them weekly, finding experts to interview can be tough on a regular basis..

      According to statistics, most podcast users are teens/young adults and more men than women listen to podcasts. If you're targeting theses groups, it can be a helpful tool, but if not, it might be more trouble than it's worth.
      Some good points there

      Paul
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      • Profile picture of the author Steve B
        I have never thought of podcasts as either good or bad, useful or not . . . in my mind, what is important is the content.

        If the material is great, then YES, the podcast was good. If the content was awful, then I didn't like the podcast.

        Steve
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  • Profile picture of the author Preneur
    mishawilson,

    I think you might have missed the point of podcasting in the context of ProfitHacks.

    It's not about podcasting for podcasting sack, or for specifically ITunes traffic either.

    The reason AUDIO is so highly "regarded" is that its
    a/ an easy + fast content creation method
    b/ that audio can be then turned into video or articles (via transcription)
    c/ as 'force5' said, it's an authority play to get guests (that can help you create regular content)

    ... so the angle is, if you are doing audio recordings for points a + b above, you want to use "every piece of the pig" (as Dan Kennedy would say), so why not publish it as an podcast; and reach a new segment of your market in an different media/medium.

    Hope that helps.
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  • Profile picture of the author Venkat001
    Podcasts are really great way to get traffic but only if you use it in the right way.
    Always try to provide the useful information over them to gain more listeners.
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  • Profile picture of the author Dan Lyons
    Podcasts are extremely effective as a marketing tool when used in conjunction with the iTunes store. ITunes have over 500 million registered user accounts and there is a TON of traffic that goes through the store on a daily basis to download apps, movies etc.

    I have had a lot of success with reaching new people with a podcast in iTunes.

    Having a podcast just on your site is good as an engagement tool but not sure whether it does anything substantial in terms of traffic. You need to be in iTunes to see big traffic.

    Take care

    Dan
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  • Profile picture of the author Daniel Canfield
    Pay Flynn got some attention from the New York Times with a feature on their blog about his podcasting.
    How Pat Flynn Uses Podcasting to Build His Business - NYTimes.com
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  • Profile picture of the author writeaway
    Anyone use text to voice tools like odiogo to turn their text into podcasts? How helpful is it in RETAINING readers or reducing bounce rate?
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    • Profile picture of the author Daniel Canfield
      As a fan of podcasts I listen to a lot of different podcasts. One thing I never listen to is podcasts with the robotic voices. They are extremely annoying. I had never heard of Odiogo before. I went and listened to their sample and it sounded like a boring and annoying robotic voice.

      With Podcasts you need to develop relationships with your listeners and you just cannot do it with a Robotic sounding voice.
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      • Profile picture of the author Dean Martin
        Originally Posted by Daniel Canfield View Post

        As a fan of podcasts I listen to a lot of different podcasts. One thing I never listen to is podcasts with the robotic voices. They are extremely annoying.
        I'm a fan of podcasting also and would never listen to one with a robotic voice.

        Podcasting has been around now for 10 years or so - the 'newness' has worn off so you can't just throw any audio file out there into aggregation land and expect someone to listen to it. In my opinion you need some kind of angle or something special you are bringing to the table.

        Humor - Quality original information - Engaging interview style - great rapport with a co-host. Any one of these work to build subscribers and podcasting is all about building subscribers... people that download and listen to your podcast every time you publish one.

        People typically listen to audio podcasts while they are doing something else... jogging, working out, at a job where they can have something playing in the background, driving to and from work, etc.

        Think about how you can create something engaging to keep them coming back for more. I subscribe to 30 or so different podcasts (ipod touch that pulls them automatically from itunes every time I charge it). When time is short that week, I may only listen to 5 of the ones I really like that. During weeks that I have more free time I'll drift over into the ones that are interesting but somewhat less so.

        My suggestion:
        1. subscribe to some existing popular podcasts in your niche. You want to see what's already out there and what you can contribute that's a little different / better / funnier / whatever. Why are people going to listen to you over an established show.

        2. Have a regular standard format for your show so that people know what to expect. For mine, I do it similar to a regular radio or TV talk show. Maybe have a funny blurb from the show, then a produced introduction followed by me giving a short synopsis of what's coming up, then maybe some industry news. I follow that with the content of the show or interview, then a call to action and a produced close.

        3. itunes is the big dog so you want to get approved there ASAP. I always feed mine from a wordpress site with my favorite plugin (that some people hate so I won't bother mentioning it here).

        4. Promotion shortcut - this one's worth a $17 ebook but I'll give it to you free Your audience is people who already listen to other podcasts. Find a related podcast that already has a huge following and find some interesting way to interject yourself into one of their shows. Examples would be to send them an audio file of a birthday wish for one of the hosts - congratulate them on a 100th show - sing a silly parody song about their show - etc. Those of you who know me already know what my angle is because they've heard me do it. It's unique and funny and gets me air time because of that fact.

        Find your own angle that is unique and you'll get the air time also and lots of free promotion. When you get air time on a related show with 100,000 subscribers you will instantly get 5-15,000 signups to your show. Not all of them will stay but the ones that do will tell their friends and their friends will tell their friends, etc.
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        • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
          Originally Posted by writeaway View Post

          Anyone use text to voice tools like odiogo to turn their text into podcasts? How helpful is it in RETAINING readers or reducing bounce rate?
          I've played with several text-to-voice tools over the years, and I have yet to find one that I can listen to for more than a couple of minutes.

          It sounds like you are confusing 'podcasts' with posting audio versions of text posts on your site. Just because a piece of content is available as an mp3 does not make it a podcast.

          There is one area where a text-to-voice tool can be useful. And that's if you want to create versions of your content for the vision-impaired. They're used to getting that robotic voice; they know what it is, so it doesn't offend them.

          On the other hand, and this is simply my personal opinion, if I try a 'podcast' and all I get is a robot voice reading an article, that person has blown it for me. I'll look at anything they do, if I look at all, with an eye out for other shortcuts rather than being open to what they offer.
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  • Profile picture of the author Marcus Rockey
    Rich and Pete put such an emphasis on Podcasts because they are easy to create from other pieces of content - this is the real reason why they promote them so much. The work load involved can be very little for the amount of traffic or revenue you can equate from them.

    Rich also talks a lot these days about being across all modems. Podcasts is one of those.

    Thanks
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  • Profile picture of the author Michael Ten
    I want to get into pod-casting. It just seems hard to find a good free or low cost host. Any tips on that?
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  • Profile picture of the author movemaker
    not a lot of people use podcast to build their business. but from listing to those who do i hear it generates quality traffic. it makes sense that the traffic would be of high quality for the simple reason of the visitor has already listned to and went out of their way to find you.

    But you def have to be on iTunes to get the traffic...
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  • Profile picture of the author Randall Magwood
    Podcasts are cool. People like the idea of downloading a podcast and putting it on their MP3 player. This is what i do with Suze Orman's podcasts. Combined iTunes with Youtube and you can have a powerful combination.
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  • Profile picture of the author KyleG1461
    The problem with podcasts is that people rush out on a wave of enthusiasm, put together a great episode or two, then completely run out of steam and fade away again. Either they run out of things to talk about quickly, fail to realise how much time it takes to record one podcast then edit it together properly or simply get bored and wander off.

    If I were to launch a podcast I would write the "script" for four or five full episodes and then go and record and edit those full episodes. That way if it's something you liked doing and ittakes off you have some time to prepare your next episodes and if its a massive flop and a pain in the buttocks, you have at least a reasonable amount of content to show for it.
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