Podcaster Training: The Phases of Podcasting - Phase 1 The Basics Cont’d

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Last week, we started discussing a new series called The Phases of Podcasting. To recap, in Phase 1: The Basics of Podcasting, we talked a bit about the history of podcasting and how to begin recording a podcast using Audacity. Now, keep in mind, that a lot of this phase really requires a hands on approach, so if you are interested in doing this and need further instruction, please contact me and let me know how I can help you.

Today, we continue with more on Phase 1: The Basics of Podcasting. We will begin by taking the recorded audio in Audacity and we will do some basic editing. I will do my best to describe how to do this, as again, this is more a hands on type of training and cannot be handled very well with words, but we will do our best to get through this!

To start, fire up Audacity on your PC and record your podcast audio. We covered this last week, however, to recap that a little, click on the red button on the toolbar to begin your recording. Once completed, click the yellow square button to stop the recording. Now, listen to your audio all the way through and while doing so, take notes where you need to edit out ums and dead space or stuttering, etc. and then once you have listened all the way through, you are now ready to begin the editing process.

Run your audio to a point on your timeline to where you need to cut out some dead space or an um or whatever. Stop your playback just before that area you want to cut out and click on the Selection Tool (looks like a capital I) and then left click and drag across the area and only the area, you want to cut out. Once you have completed your selection, release the left click button and you should have a small portion of your timeline highlighted. Let me caution you right here. SAVE FIRST BEFORE EDITING! This is very important. If you edit an unsaved audio file and then you will not have a way to go back if you accidentally remove something you didn’t want to cut out.

Next, once the highlighting is done, click on the scissors on the toolbar and your highlighted section will disappear. You have now, cut out a small section and can playback that area to hear your results. If you are satisfied, you can move on to the next section until your editing is completed.

I will not cover how to add in new audio or import say like music and the like in this section. This can all be handled through the audio process as well and there are plenty of YouTube videos covering Audacity that will walk you though these steps.

After the editing is completed, you are now ready to export your audio to an MP3. To do this, you will need to have the Lame MP3 Encoder installed in Audacity. This too, is a free download. You will find the link on the Audacity download page.

To export to an MP3, click on File and then Export and choose MP3. You will be prompted for a filename, give it one that will describe your podcast and then the ID3 tag window will open to allow you to edit and change the ID3 tags for your MP3.

To learn more about using Audacity, there is a great online tutorial you can follow produced by Jason Van Orden. You can find the tutorial here.

Moving forward, after you have your recorded podcast ready to upload, you then need a podcast host. There are lots of hosts out there such as Libsyn and Podomatic, however, you are limited to a small storage area unless you pay a monthly charge for more space. Also, some hosts will charge you for bandwidth usage as well, so you need to check that out before choosing a host.

For those of you that podcast on Talkshoe, you get the best of all worlds because Talkshoe offers free unlimited storage and no bandwidth costs and you can easily upload a pre-recorded podcast anytime you like and it will be available virtually right away for consumption.

So there you have it. Some basic history of podcasting and a little insight on how to record a podcast using Audacity. Now, let’s look at some more basics that might interest you!

For the novice or beginner podcaster, this can be a scary or frightening hobby as many people don’t like how they sound on a recording. However, once you get over your “stage fright” then you can actually start enjoying the benefits that podcasting has to offer.

For the novice or beginner podcaster, here are some things that you should have to get yourself ready to start podcasting.

First, and foremost, a topic. Without a topic, it will be difficult at best to have good content, unless you are planning a podcast that will involve listeners and make it an “open mic” affair. In any event, you should have a topic and it should be something that you are either an expert on or at least have some knowledge about.

Take this show, for example. When I started Podcaster Training, it was called So You Want To Host Your Own Talkcast? At the time, Talkshoe was young and had little to no support, with the exception of Tommy Vallier, as many of you are already familiar with. I was hosting about 6 other shows at the time and was getting questions about Talkshoe on most of these shows, like “How did you get your audio to work over VOIP?” or “How can I use Gizmo to call into Talkshoe for free?” and I would answer these questions, as I already knew how to do this, so that part was easy. After fielding these questions almost daily, I approached Dave Nelson, the CEO of Talkshoe and asked him if he would object if I hosted a show supporting Talkshoe. He readily agreed and so on with the show! I now had a topic and had some of the knowledge necessary to host the show with. Tommy Vallier came in on the very first episode and offered to come onto the show weekly and answer questions and he eventually joined the show as my Co-Host until his departure from Talkshoe.

So having a topic is key, especially a topic you are familiar with. Next, you need to have a “working title” for your podcast. A working title is a title that best describes what your podcast is about, in as few of words as possible. Take this show again, my first working title said it all! So You Want To Host Your Own Talkcast? In those days, the live shows were called Talkcasts, now they are Community Calls. No matter, my title still said it all. When I changed formats, I chose Podcaster Training, again, the title says it all.

After you have your topic and working title, you should setup a blog using Wordpress.com or Blogspot, your choice, and then get an appropriate domain name that points to your blog. Dot Com domain names are cheap by today’s pricing standards. Depending on your topic and genre of your podcast, you may want to opt for a Dot ME or DOT Org or even a Dot Info domain name. Again, your choice.

If you are pre-recording your podcasts, setup an account with a podcast host or setup an account with Talkshoe and now you have the basics for a great podcast.

Remember, you may think that it’s all been said already. Don’t be fooled for a second. What you have to say is just as important, if not more so, than what’s already been said. And, you may even say something that no one has heard before!

In the coming weeks, I will cover more on promoting and monetizing your podcasts. Next week, we will move on to Phase 2: Prepping for your podcast. We will discuss what happens before the record button is hit to insure you have everything ready for a great podcast!

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Podcaster Training: The Phases of Podcasting - Phase 1 The Basics

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This week we will start another Podcasting 101 Series called “The Phases of Podcasting”. There are 6 phases that we will cover over the next several weeks that will take you from the very basics of podcasting to the more advanced levels, including video and screencasting.

So, let’s get started! This is Phase 1 - The Basics of Podcasting. In this phase of training, we will discuss podcasting from it’s very base form, pre-recorded and hosted. When podcasting first began in the early 2000’s, it was primarily used as a means for small radio stations to send out portions of their programming to listeners. In this way, if a listener was out of range for a station, they could still enjoy some of the programming that station offered.

The term Podcast has always offered several explanations for how it came to be. Originally, the term was said to have come from the words iPod and Broadcast, however, some trademark issues said otherwise. On February 5, 2005, Shae Spencer Management LLC of Fairport, New York filed a trademark application to register the word PODCAST for an ‘online prerecorded radio program over the internet’. On September 9, 2005, the United States Patent and Trademark Office rejected the application. The rejection notice cited Wikipedia’s podcast entry as describing the history of the term.

As of September 19, 2005, known trademarks that capitalize on podcast include: Podcast Realty, GuidePod, PodGizmo, Pod-Casting, MyPod, Podvertiser, Podango, ePodcast, PodCabin, Podcaster, PodShop, PodKitchen, Podgram, GodPod and Podcast.

As of February 2007, there have been 24 attempts to register trademarks containing the word “PODCAST” in United States, but only “PODCAST READY” from Podcast Ready, Inc. was approved.

On September 26, 2006, it was reported that Apple Computer started to crack down on businesses using the acronym ‘POD,’ standing for “Portable on Demand,” in product and company names. Apple sent a cease-and-desist order that week to Podcast Ready, which markets an application known as myPodder. Lawyers for Apple contended allegedly that the term “pod” has been used by the public to refer to Apple’s music player so extensively that it falls under Apple’s trademark cover. It was speculated that such activity was part of a bigger campaign for Apple to expand the scope of its existing iPod trademark, which included trademarking “IPODCAST,” “IPOD,” and “POD.” On November 16, 2006, Apple Trademark Department returned a letter claiming Apple does not object to third party usage of “podcast” to refer to podcasting services and that Apple does not license the term(s).

This slightly changed the term Podcast from iPod Broadcast to Personal On Demand Broadcast.

The first podcasts were pre-recorded and then sent to a podcast host or direct to the listener or subscriber. There were a variety of means used to pre-record the podcast, including tape recorders, and of course, editing was a long, not very easy, method that had to be completed before the actual podcast could go out. Most times, an unedited podcast would go out, if the podcaster felt it was quality enough to be heard as it was recorded, or there wasn’t enough time to do proper editing.

The term podcaster was given to anyone who would produce a podcast. This term still goes on today for anyone who produces a podcast, whether pre-recorded or live.

The first podcasts produced were done on an “as time permitted” basis. Many podcasters simply didn’t have enough time to produce more than one or maybe two podcasts a month because of editing requirements of the time. Today, with the use of PC’s and editing software, podcasts can be produced on a daily, weekly or even monthly basis and editing only takes minutes, compared to the hours spent of days gone by.

Let’s look at pre-recording a podcast. To pre-record a podcast, you will need some basic equipment including a PC with a soundcard, a microphone, a set of headphones or speakers, some basic audio software and of course, the basic knowledge of how these all plugin and work together.

I’m not going to go into a lot of details in this section, as most PC’s setup the same way on their soundcards. Generically speaking, your PC soundcard will have, at the very least, a mic input and a speaker output port. These ports will be identified by either graphics indicating what they are or actual verbage. Locate the proper ports for you microphone and headphones (or speakers) and plug these items in. Don’t worry about testing just yet, we will get to that after the software is installed.

Speaking of software, I recommend a free audio editing software package called Audacity that will allow you to not only record your podcasts, but will give you the capability of editing and adding effects to your podcasts too. You can download a copy of this free software from http://audacity.sourceforge.net/download/.

Now, I’m going to assume you already know how to download and install software, so I won’t go into any details about doing that here. If you need help with that, please let me know, and I will be happy to assist you in that area. Go ahead and download and install the Audacity software. Once installed, it will use defaults of setting to your PC’s soundcard for the mic and speakers. You can verify these settings by clicking on EDIT and then PREFERENCES.

Once you have the Audacity up and running, you will find a red dot button at the top on toolbar. This is your record button. Have your mic in front of you and then click on the record button. You will see a line progressing across the screen and as you speak into the mic, you should see a waveform appear and silences will appear as a flat line. Record a few seconds of voice, make sure you see the waveform and then click on the Stop button (looks like a yellow square) and then click the Play button (looks like a green triangle on it’s side, just like your VCR) and you should hear your voice playing back. If everything is hooked up correctly and operational, you should now have the means of recording a podcast. If no sound is heard, you need to make sure you have everything plugged into the proper ports. This should be the first place to begin troubleshooting audio issues like this.

When recording a podcast, you may want to script it out so that you have some material to read from or at least refer to while recording. This will help cut down on your editing time after the fact. To begin, shut down Audacity and restart it again to begin a fresh session. When you are ready, click the record button and record your podcast. When finished, click the Stop button and play it back to listen to your recording. Make notes for yourself of where editing needs to be done and listen to the podcast clear though. This will help you to get used to the sound of your voice on the recording and help you to become, “your own worst critic”.

Ok, that wraps it up for this week. We will continue next week with more of The Basics of Podcasting. Like I said in an earlier post, some of these phases will take multiple weeks to complete.

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Sneek Peek: The Phases of Podcasting

Over the next few weeks, we will be discussing a new Podcasting 101 Series called “The Phases of Podcasting”. There are 6 phases we will go over during our training beginning with Phase 1 (I think that’s a great place to start, don’t you? ) labeled “The Basics”.

We will begin at the front of podcasting with the very basic equipment and software you will need to get started with this hobby. This phase may take two episodes to complete, we will have to see how it goes for time, as I will be going into depth on each phase to insure that the maximum amount of information can be given to the listeners.

Phase 2 is labeled “Prepping for your Podcast”. During this training, we will discuss the various prep that should be performed in order to have the best, most professional sounding, podcasts. Most novice podcasters think that prepping for their podcast consists of just turning on the PC and doing it. This is not always the case as you will see during this phase of training.

Phase 3 is labeled “Going Live the First Time”. Since podcasting can be pre-recorded in most cases, many podcasters and would be podcasters, aren’t sure about this new arena of Live, Interactive podcasting. We will discuss what you need to do to Go Live with your podcasting.

Phase 4 is labeled “What Happens After The Show Is Over?”. Do you just turn off the mic and wait until your next show or podcast or do you try and build community by taking a few extra minutes to be with your listeners. We will discuss what happens between show/podcast times and what you may want to do to help build your listener audience.

Phase 5 is labeled “Taking Note”. In this phase of training, we will discuss the importance of having show notes and publishing these notes after the show. Blogging plays a big role here, however, there are a few ways that you can use your show notes and we will discuss this further during this phase of training.

Phase 6 is labeled “What Happens Next?”. During this last phase of training in this series, we will discuss how your podcast can evolve and what you need to do to “take it to the next level” and help it to grow. This phase may take a couple of episodes to complete as there is a lot of important information that will be covered during this training.

So there you have it, a sneek peek at the Phases of Podcasting coming to Podcaster Training over the next few weeks. I put out a blog post several days ago asking for your storieds as to how and why you started podcasting. Please take a minute to leave a comment on that post or here and let me know if I can use your stories along with my training. Make sure to leave links in your comments as this is a great way to promote your shows, podcasts, blogs or web sites!

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Podcaster Training: Using Video as a Platform for Podcasting

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Ok, you got a webcam for your PC and now are looking for a way to utilize it. You have a podcast and like to watch YouTube videos and you see Chris Pirillo and Leo LaPorte use their cameras to lifecast and do their shows and you start thinking that this would be a neat thing to do too!

But wait! How do you go about doing this video thing anyway? Well, before you jump in with both feet, prepare to sink before you swim! Producing a video show is a lot harder than it looks, believe me, I know!

Tonight, we will discuss how to get started producing videos for your podcast. Don’t mistake this as going straight video, because, you aren’t ready for that, just yet! Like with anything new, you must learn to crawl, then learn to walk, before you can learn to run with it.

Let’s look at crawling:
Start by making sure your webcam or digital recorder or whatever type of camera you are using, is properly hooked up to your PC. Next, go to SuperWebCam or ManyCam and pickup a copy of this free software for adding effects to your camera streaming. There is a commercial version of this type of software called VidBlaster that you may want to look at later, once you are up and running.

Now, install and setup the software you chose to download. Go to the Source area of the software and see if your camera is detected. If it is working properly, you should see images streaming from your camera (most likely you, if it is pointing to you, of course). This will help you to determine if your camera is setup and operational. Once this step is completed, you are ready to move on to the next step.

Ok, the next step is to actually produce a video. I’m not gonna cover how to produce a YouTube video in this lesson, however, I will go over how to “go live” to produce a live, interactive podcast with your camera.

In order to “go live”, you will need to go to a live, video streaming service, like uStream, Justin.tv or Stickam, just to name a few, and setup a free account. Once you have your account, you are ready to “go live”!

Now, in order to do this video thing right, take some extra time and get your clothes, hair, face, etc. in order, because unlike traditional podcasting, people will actually see what you look like and like always, appearances count!

Depending on the streaming service you chose, you will have a broadcast or go live button that will open up a broadcast window in your browser. This window will allow you to record, broadcast and even set your audio and video quality settings. You will have an option to choose your camera and audio source, such as a microphone, and then, you are ready to broadcast your show to the World!

I said earlier that producing a video stream is harder than it looks. Here’s why. Think about your podcast or live show you are currently producing. You can usually take a few minutes before the show starts to prep, get your notes together and then call in and go for it. With video, you must give yourself enough time to make sure your equipment is functional, that your streaming service is working, your PC has been rebooted before you do this so that you have enough CPU resources, and then you have your show notes ready and your audio is working and THEN you are ready to start your show. Video, as anyone that does this, takes longer to prep for than an audio show does. This is just the nature of the beast.

So, there you have it, in a nutshell. Going video by itself is easy enough to do, however, if you want to do audio and video podcasts at the same time, make sure you have enough CPU resources (a fast enough and powerful enough PC) and enough bandwidth to handle both. Otherwise, you may find your video stalling, freezing or simply not working at all and your audio may suffer too with breaking up or dropping out. Doing both isn’t for the faint of heart. You have to really be prepared to do this and make sure your equipment is up to the task too. If you have an older, slower PC with little RAM memory, then you most likely won’t be able to make video function with the audio podcasts at the same time, but maybe by itself without the extra overhead of the audio podcasting.

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How did you get started podcasting and why?

In a couple of weeks, I will be starting a Podcasting 101 Series called The Phases of Podcasting. It is a 6 part series that will start at the basics of podcasting and progress up to the more advanced stages such as video and screencasting.

I ask this question, “How did you get started podcasting and why?” in order to get some feedback from novice to experienced podcasters on what they did to get into podcasting, why they did it and what equipment did they use in order to get started.

Please leave comments to this post with your answers and also let me know that it is ok for me to use your stories in my upcoming series.

There are a lot of newbies coming onto the scenes nowadays and this is the main reason for beginning this series now. I will repeat this series, most likely a couple more times over the next 12 months, and maybe more frequently, as more new people come in and need this type of training.

Thank you in advance for all of your help on this. If you don’t want to leave a public comment, you can e-mail me the information and request that I withhold your information. Otherwise, feel free to put links in your comments on how others can listen to your podcasts so that you can get some free promotion out of this deal too!

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Podcasting A to V

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No, there is not a typo in the title, I meant to say A to V, not A to Z, because in this post I will be talking about taking your podcast from it’s humble beginnings to the next level, video! Now, before you go running off saying that this is too difficult or I simply wouldn’t understand, let me tell you, been there, done that!

Without getting into too much boring details, let’s start with getting started with podcasting, in it’s original format, pre-recorded.

In the beginning days of podcasting, you would take a recorder (you remember those don’t you?) and record your podcasts and then send them to your PC through your sound card input and save them on your hard drive, then take your saved recording (all your editing was done on the fly on the recorder) and then upload your recording to a podcast host somewhere, and from there, it would propagate across the few directories that were around in those days and people would listen to it, if they had an interest. Lots of work to do this, so podcasts, were infrequent and not real popular.

Then came some new technology in software for PC’s, that would allow you to record your podcast, direct to your computer using a microphone attached to your sound card input and would allow for basic editing right on the computer and would save the recording in a proper format for uploading to your podcast host. Because of this break-through, podcasting became a little more viable for people as they could afford to do this easier now. Some had to purchase microphones, while others already had the right stuff and could go for it now!

Along comes the iPod generation and MP3 Players, RSS, and you get the idea. With the availability of RSS feeds and so many portable players being sold and more and more each day, podcasting became a medium for many small businesses up to large corporations, to use to get market their wares. But what about the everyday Joe, where do they fit in this new equation? Well, some podcast hosts setup “free” accounts for hosting that was advertising based, allowing the normal person to post podcasts about whatever niche they wanted and granted them a small, but usable storage account for these podcasts. There was a learning curve with this, and many caught on, but just as many found it too difficult to do, so they just dropped off the scene as quickly as they had came in.

In 2005, a new company came on the scene offering EVERYONE the chance to do Live, Interactive Podcasting. This company, Talkshoe, gave even the little guy a way to sign up, for free, free hosting, free storage, and a way to talk about ANYTHING they wanted, for as long as they wanted (with 3 to 5 hours) and even record it, on the fly, using a simple phone interface! The phone interface meant that there was no equipment to buy, no microphones, no hookups to the PC, etc. just place a phone call and login. You could instantly be “on the air” and start you road counting down to your 15 minutes of fame. All of this for free!

A lot of people, from novice to experienced podcasters, jumped on this site and started broadcasting. Some lasted only a few shows (some less than that) because they didn’t have the passion they thought they had or simply suffered from burnout, early on. The ones that hung in there (and many still are) began building audiences of loyal listeners and started building their own communities in this social media network. Some that dropped out of podcasting, became loyal listeners of other shows and some even found their passion again and went back for another try to only succeed this time!

Like with any technology, there is always growth. In this next “growth spurt”, along comes live, video streaming. Now, in order to do this, you MUST have a web cam or other type of camera that can act as a webcam. You also need a microphone and a “reason” to plaster your face (literally) in front of potentially thousands or viewers. When you visit any of the video streaming sites, such as uStream.tv or Stickam, you will find a variety of celebrity streams, but you will also find the “run of the mill” streams that aren’t really filling a niche as much as they are just taking up some air time. These type of streams don’t do much for me, however, they seem to have lots of viewers, so there must be something that I am missing (or not).

After you have been podcasting for a while, whether old style by pre-recorded and posting or via live, interactive podcasting, there comes a time that you feel you could expand your horizons and take your podcast to “the next level”…live video.

In order to do this, you really need to stop and check your PC (or Mac) to insure that you have enough RAM memory and CPU to handle to extra workload. Also, you must have a decent broadband upload stream (500k and up) to insure that you don’t tank everything when trying to do this.

If you don’t have enough bandwidth, stop right there, and don’t pursue it any further until you get more bandwidth. Ask anyone that has done live video about this and they will tell you that this is very important. Take into account that your live audio will also take bandwidth, add on top of that the bandwidth requirements for video and if you have enough, go for it, otherwise you should really wait to go to the next level for now.

Now, if you already have a live podcast with loyal listeners, don’t just jump ship and go straight video (because of the bandwidth) and abandon your live audio podcasts. Remember, doing this, you will be starting over and you may not be mentally prepared for the shock that comes with not having anyone watching or listening to you, like you originally had! Here, I’m talking from experience. Having done this, I found that the live video streaming services aren’t always up to par with a live show that has a serious minded niche. Especially if that show goes more than 10 or 15 minutes. If this is you, don’t try this. Believe me, you will be disappointed, I know I was.

Well, that’s the gist of what I had to say. I am preparing a webinar on this subject and would like your feedback. Is this something that you would pay to learn the ropes from someone who has been there and you can learn from their mistakes? Or is this a subject that really doesn’t have a value for you, so you wouldn’t pay for it, but would like the information presented free of charge, even though you might not get the full value of it, if it was free? One last question, if you feel this is something you would pay for, say a three hour webinar, what would you pay to learn the ins and outs of going from the basics to more advanced levels of podcasting?

Leave me a comment letting me (and others) know what you think. I really want to know what you thing about this. Thanks in advance!

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Podcaster Training: Monetizing Your Blog or Podcast

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This is a subject that is talked about quite often in the New Media World and we are going to go over a few ways that you can monetize or make a little money with your blog or podcast. This discussion is by no means a complete list. I will cover some highlights that will enable you to have a starting point to your monetization.

Now, there are many ways to monetize, such as advertising, sponsorships, donations and affiliate programs. The easiest of these aforementioned methods is donations. You don’t have to do much of anything except to put a Donation Button on your blog or web site and if someone is inclined to help you out, they can easily click this and give you some money! Sounds easy, right?

Setting up a Donation Button will require you to have a merchant account (to accept credit cards) or a PayPal Account. There are other “PayPal type” places around that may offer this feature as well. Make sure to place your Donation Button in a prominent place so that it can be seen (and hopefully used) and then make sure to tell your listeners (of your show or podcast) or readers of your blog, that this button is there and then ASK them to make a donation! That’s all you need to do for this type of monetization structure.

The next type of monetization is sponsorships. These are a little harder to obtain, but well worth getting. To get a sponsor for your blog or podcast, you will need to approach several companies that you would like to “push their wares” in exchange for an advertising spot on your blog or podcast. There are places that will help you get sponsorships, such as BluBrry, a Rawvoice Company, that you can signup with, it’s free to do this, fill out an advertising survey and complete their requirements and then they will match you with advertisers (sometimes more than one) that you can place on your sites, blogs and use as host read ads in your podcasts. One such example of this is the GoToMyPC ad I read at the beginning of every show and have a banner ad on my blog for. Of course, once you get a sponsor, it is important that you do your part by reading the ad and/or placing the advertising your site or blog to insure that you will get paid!

Speaking of advertising, our next structure is actually two fold. Advertising can be from businesses or companies that you approach and signup with yourself or you can sign up with an affiliate program and place ads from different companies easily on your sites or blogs and use these advertisers as possible sponsors of your podcasts. You can go to places like Commission Junction, ShareASale or LinkShare to signup for a free affiliate account and start placing ads today! Affiliate sales usually get you anywhere from 5 to 75 percent commission on each sale. This is also an easy way to place ads for companies you like to shop with on your sites or blogs too.

The last way we will discuss in our monetization structure is selling your own product or service. You may be involved in a Network Marketing or MLM company and have such a product or service already, or you may have developed an eBook or piece of software that you can sell, however, which ever case it is, you can begin to use this as a sponsor of your podcast and run your own ads on your site or blog and you would have a built in sponsor. Now, keep in mind when doing this method, that you keep within the guidelines of the MLM company for advertising their products and services in this fashion. Some MLM companies do not like Web 2.0 strategies and may drop you as a representative, so be sure to double check with your MLM company before doing this.

If the product or service is your own, meaning you own the copyright, rights, etc. then by all means, this is a great method to promoting your product and your self!

Here’s one more idea that isn’t real popular, however, it does work for most people. Joint Ventures or JV Affiliate Opportunities, are a way to make commissions by selling someone else’s products on your site or blog. In most cases, you can even sell them on your podcast as a sponsored deal and direct them to your site or blog to click on the affiliate link (so you will make the commission and not someone else!). You can find JV opportunities in most eBook and software sales. Sometimes these opportunities are presented as Master Resell Rights or Resell Rights and you buy the product one time and have the opportunity to resell it as many times as you like and keep 100% of the sales as your commission. There are lots of these type of eBooks and software out there and you can find more than 200 products right now at The Personal Publisher for only $2.00 each! That’s a small price to pay to be able to resell these products for whatever price you like!

Concluding this topic, I know that there are plenty of other ways to monetize your blogs and podcasts. I have only presented just a few to get you started. If you would like to leave a comment to this post with other ways that you know of, I know my readers and listeners would like to hear from you!

Popularity: 61% [?]

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All Time Record for Podcaster Training Audience Attendance

Last night’s episode of Podcaster Training (September 19th, 2008) had an all time record turnout of 41 Live Listeners! Our Special Guest Speaker was Jason Van Orden, author of Promoting Your Podcast, and thanks to him and many of the listeners sending out “tweets” via Twitter, this helped to get people to the live show. I expect a record download of this episode as well as Jason was on with us for almost an hour talking about his newest project, Community Magnet, and answering questions from the chat room.

You can listen to this special episode in the player below. The show notes have been posted in a previous post.

Popularity: 65% [?]

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Podcaster Training: Guest Speaker Jason Van Orden

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In this special episode of Podcaster Training, our Guest Speaker, Jason Van Orden, talked about his book, Promoting Your Podcast and also about his new series called Community Magnet.

Since we had a guest speaker, our format changed a little tonight to accommodate this. I don’t think the listeners minded at all since Jason had a lot to contribute to our main topic tonight, Building Your Audience.

Since Jeff has announced that he will be leaving the show to restart Wordpress Weekly again, I will be incorporating some new changes and additions to the show. I sent out a post earlier in the week about these changes and additions, so be sure to check that out.

I announced a new weekly challenge tonight. Jeff does this on his Perfcast show and I really liked the idea, so with his permission, I’m doing it now! The challenge for this week is to post a comment to this post, include your name and e-mail address (since I run an open commenting section) and tell us what you liked most about Jason’s discussion he had tonight. A winner will be chosen at random and will win a free copy of the RSS Announcer Software (valued at $97.00 retail). I will announce the winner of this challenge next week on the show and once again issue another challenge. I think you’ll notice that these challenges will get harder as time goes on, so enjoy them while they are tame!

Next week will mark Jeff’s last night as Co-Host on Podcaster Training. Our topic will be Monetizing Your Blog or Podcast. I will also make some time for a “going away party” for Jeff on his last night. This will be incorporated into our After Show and we can have fun with it that way!

I can’t begin to tell you how much I enjoyed Jason Van Orden being back on the show again! Listen to this great episode in the player below to get the most out it!

See you next week!

Popularity: 72% [?]

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Jason Van Orden Will Be A Guest Speaker Friday Night

Jason Van Orden, author of Promoting Your Podcast, will be my Guest Speaker on Friday Night’s Podcaster Training Show. Jason has recently released a video series called Community Magnet and he will be discussing this as well as the different ways to build and audience for your podcast and shows.

Jason was a guest on my show back in August 2007 and we talked for more than an hour about his book. If you would like to pick up a copy of Promoting Your Podcast, I have a link at the top of this post from Amazon.com were you can get it online easily.

If you have questions for Jason concerning his book or about building an audience, have them ready to type in the chat room or join us live and I will present a time to ask your questions live.

Popularity: 46% [?]

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