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The Lyon Show Motivational Podcast
6 Podcast Tips to Keep You Ahead
Podcasts are a great way to develop traffic, impart information and build your credibility as an expert. But, like any repeating product, they are time consuming and difficult to keep producing. Not only because your motivation will ebb and flow but also because what you can say about any one subject is limited. So finding a topic to talk about for 15 minutes or so -- each and every week -- can be a daunting task.
How do you keep ahead and keep going?
In this article I'm going to give you six tips that will help you to keep ahead and keep producing podcasts.
1. Create your podcasts as a series.
It's always easier to create four or five podcasts (i.e. one hour) than it is to create a single podcast. It sounds silly but it's true. Creating one big piece is easier than many smaller pieces. And finding one idea that you can split into several is always easier than finding four or five separate ideas.
2. Create your podcasts as a group.
Getting two hours free once a month is easier than getting thirty minutes free every week. It sounds silly but it's true. The fact that you are under pressure to meet a deadline has two opposite effects. First it gives you the impetus to do the work -- which is good. But it also applies stress which makes it more difficult to do creative work. It's always easier to write, record and produce four podcasts in one go than it is to create four separate podcasts. So try to do your podcasts in a batch.
3. Keep an ideas book with you at all times.
Ideas come to you all the time. But most of them get lost in the ether. Why? Because they aren't relevant to you at the time they occur. How often do you remember your dreams? How often have you walked from one room to another and forgotten why you came into the room? Don't trust your memory... write it down.
4. Don't over deliver on each podcast.
You wouldn't expect a radio to give their personalities an unlimited time on the radio would you? Well you don't have an unlimited time in a podcast either. When you script your podcast you only have time for a set number of points. Don't try to squeeze more points in. Better to do two podcasts than one with extra points.
5. Take a break once in a while
No one can deliver creativity on a constant basis. Neither can anyone work all the time. You need to take a break if only to recharge your batteries. Doing batches of podcasts helps give you product to run during your break time.
6. Develop the ideas while you are waiting
When was the last time you got in to see the doctor without waiting? When was the last time you took your spouse shopping and waited while they shopped? We all have periods where we are just sitting waiting for someone else to do their thing. Use that time to outline your scripts. Use that time to develop one idea into topics for a dozen podcasts.
Why Podcasting?
Podcasting is an important tool for the information or learning content marketer.
But why? Why Podcasting?
There are a number of different reasons why a learning content product marketer might want to create podcasts.
1. It is low cost
Creating podcasts is extremely inexpensive. In fact, it's almost cost free unlike marketing tools like pay for click, banner advertising or other forms of advertising. Once you have a computer and a microphone, there really isn't any other expense. The software required can be found for free. And since you do the recording, there really isn't any cost.
2. It is time efficient.
Unlike other forms of learning content creation, creating podcasts can take very little time. In fact, you can do the entire process including editing in less than three times the length of the podcast. And since a podcast normally is relatively short -- usually less than 15 minutes -- the time involved is typically less than an hour a week.
3. It is a source of traffic
Podcasts can drive a great deal of pre-qualified, targeted traffic. Because the audience listens to the podcast first they already know what you are selling. In addition, they are motivated to buy since they wouldn't bother to visit your site unless they were looking for what you are selling.
4. It is repeating.
Podcasts don't go away. Unlike advertising such as Google ads which appear once and then may not appear to the same person again, podcasts are repeating. Every week there is a new and interesting podcasts which your followers will download.
This constant repetition makes the advertising message more likely to be heard. Even if a listener doesn't visit today, he might next week or the week after.
5. It is personal.
Podcasts are normally recorded by the individual learning content creator themselves. And they are audio. As a result, the audience hears you -- not a script writer or someone in a foreign land who has been asked to write an eBook. They hear you and as a result they will tend to form a relationship.
6. It is reputation building.
Podcasts can help you to build a reputation. Because they are content based they provide a chance to showcase your information. Effectively they become a once per week sample that your audience wants to download. And because they are personal in nature they create a relationship with your audience which helps to enhance the reputation being built.
7. It is well liked by the audience.
Podcasts are well accepted by their audience and are seen as a high value benefit. People like to listen to them. And what they hear influences their purchasing patterns as well.
What Does Self Motivation Mean to You?
At first it may seem like an odd question, but if you think about it it's not odd at all. Even before deciding what you hope to gain from self-help, and what benefits you expect to receive, thinking about what the entire concept of Self Motivation means to you will make it more likely for you to attain the results you want.
During the last few decades, the scope of Self Motivation has been a significant money-making industry. Those with credentials, as well as those with more greed than legitimate knowledge or information to contribute, all had something to offer to anyone who was willing and able to pay for it.
When you are considering the size and scope of the industry in comparison to the number of individuals who have been truly satisfied with the results, you may find it astounding. You may also wonder who is to blame, and if there is anything in the Self Motivation field that is actually worth it. You may even be tempted to think that there is no way anything can be of any constructive help, and be on the brink of giving up hope.
While some forms of Self Motivation have indeed been more legitimate than others, there is a sensible way of looking at why the huge number of consumers has not netted more positive results. Rather than pointing a finger of blame at the industry, pointing a finger back to one's own accountability would be much more useful in the long-run.
If the individual person does not have the self-motivation necessary to do what needs to be done, his problems will not miraculously disappear by themselves. Even if he purchases every Self Motivation book in his city's book store or online, and attends every single seminar billed as being for the purpose of helping a person achieve whatever he wishes, it cannot produce any true, lasting, positive effects if he does not have the self-motivation and self-discipline needed to focus on changing himself.
All of the good intentions in the world have one factor in common. They cannot produce the results which you must begin to produce for yourself. This is why the phrase "self-help" includes the word "self"-- it can only be done with your own direct participation, when you set yourself to the task.
It is not difficult at all to become self-motivated. All you need to do is to realize that the task of creating your future is in your own hands, and you are preparing yourself to take the first step.
6 Reasons Your Podcast Needs a Website
After all the work you put in to producing your podcast, the last thing you may feel like doing is spending the time updating a website as well. There are plenty of services that will host your podcast episodes for you that don't require any web administration on your part at all. Not having a website dedicated, at least in part, to your podcast is a critical mistake. Here are 6 reasons why your podcast needs a website.
· Brand Recognition
· Episode Archive
· Listener Interaction
· Daily Updates
· Humanize Yourself
· Monetization
Brand Recognition
Building a successful podcast is not just about putting out new content. If you want to grow your audience and attract listeners, one of the best things you can do is create, build, and nourish your brand.
I spend a lot of time talking about the elements of a brand in this article. The website for your podcast is your opportunity to pull the listener away from iTunes or Libsyn for a moment and introduce them to your brand. Who you are, what your podcast is about and all kinds of other elements that just don't translate into the podcast medium. Building brand loyalty among your listeners keeps them coming back for each new episode and will give you a strong foundation in the even you ever, start a second or third podcast, or get into some other type of online venture.
Episode Archive
Over time you will accumulate a large library of podcast episodes. For one reason or another you may find that you don't want iTunes to list all 150 of your podcast episodes in the directory. However, every day there are going to be people finding your podcast for the first time and if they enjoy your podcast they are going to want to be able to go back to the beginning and listen to everything they have missed. Having a website allows you to have a central location where every single podcast episode you have produced can be easily found by a new listener.
It will also give them the opportunity to explore all of the other content that you have on the website that they may not have otherwise been exposed to if the only interaction they have with your podcast is through iTunes.
Listener Interaction
The website is another way for you to interact with your listeners. While some members of your audience may not feel like leaving a voicemail or sending you an email directly, they might be willing to leave a comment on a post the find on the website. The comments portion of your website is another great way for you to connect with and interact with your podcast audience. It is also a great way to remind all of your listeners, outside of the podcast, about all of the different ways they can contact you: email, voicemail, etc.
Daily Updates
Sometimes there will be news or events related to either your podcast topic or the podcast itself that is time sensitive. It may be that by the time your new podcast episode is released the information will no longer be applicable or you may have missed a deadline. The website is a great resource for immediate interaction with your audience to let them know what is happening now.
In addition, there may be some things happening in your niche that may not be applicable to your podcast topic but is something that you know your listeners will be interested in. A quick post on the website to let them know what is going on is a great add-on value to your podcast.
One word of caution about this utilization of your website. The same rules for your podcast hold true with the website. If it is not good quality content that provides something of benefit to your user then it doesn't go on the website. If people who frequent your website find it increasingly full of garbage then they will stop visiting the site. Always be sure to make your website posts interesting with your own added value to keep them coming back for more.
Humanize Yourself
Depending on the nature of your podcast or your podcast topic, you may find it hard to just be yourself sometimes. It may not fit your podcast to be silly or sarcastic during the course of the episode. The website is a great chance to humanize the podcast host for the listeners. Step out from behind the microphone and be a person, not a podcast host.
Give your audience a brief update on how you are doing personally that week. If you are having a hard time getting motivated to put out a new episode, tell them, better yet tell them why. If you saw something that made you think of an email you got from a listener or something you said in a previous episode, bring that up to.
You might even use the website to give the listeners more insight into who you are personally that they might never get to see in the course of the podcast. Connecting with our audience on a human level will give them that much more appreciation for you when you get back behind the microphone as the podcast host.
Daily Motivation and How It Will Help You To Succeed
If you're ready to take your business to the next level, whether it's affiliate marketing or multilevel marketing, it's a great idea to get some daily motivation before you start on your day's To-Do list.
You can get your daily motivation in a variety of ways - reading books or listening to CDs from motivational speakers, heading to YouTube and watching seminars from inspirational speakers or tuning in to podcasts that your company broadcasts every day.
Every day we seem to have negative messages shoved in our faces. Just log on Facebook and see what things people are talking about - politics, bullying, banks cheating their customers, people losing their homes, children missing...
You don't even have to read the newspaper or turn the TV on to get bad news anymore. If you let yourself be consumed by all this negativity on a daily basis, it's easy to feel hopeless and just say 'Why bother?' It's easy to just give up.
But if you start every morning with a dose of daily motivation, in whatever form is easier and more comfortable for you, it will keep you inspired and motivated to keep pushing yourself toward success.
Sometimes just reading a lot of motivational quotes can give you the jumpstart you need to get things done, one at a time, on your To-Do list.
Share Your Daily Motivation Techniques With Your Team Members Too
Remember, there are people in your downline, not just member ID numbers. The more you motivate them, the higher the chances are that they'll succeed. Be sure to ask them what they're doing for their morning motivation too. It might be something that you'll want to start doing for yourself.
It's not a bad idea to have a couple of different forms of daily motivation. For example, when I start my day, I get in on Daily Wake-Up Calls. They have guest speakers and other members who share their words of wisdom on getting and staying positive throughout the day.
These calls are also recorded and broadcast as podcasts. If you're not able to get in on the live call, you can bring up the RSS feed and choose from podcasts going back at least three years.
When we log into our affiliate center, it's set up to promote daily motivation and inspiration with others by way of Tips, Quotes of the Day and the Stream, where you can share quotes and tips to help keep you positive.
No matter what business you're in, you'll have slumps, downtime, where you're not earning much or you don't seem to be generating enough leads. But these aren't the only times you'll need some 'kicks in the butt' to get your positivity back in gear.
And especially with MLM since it seems like the network marketing industry tends to get a bad rap every now and then. It's easy to fall into a negative slump when you keep advertising and blogging but no one seems to be signing up with your program.
But if you make it a habit to do something every day to get motivated, and even take a break during the day to stay motivated, then the slumps will be easier to handle, and you'll have even more drive to succeed when you believe you can.
5 Tips For Choosing a Podcast Topic
The first order of business for anyone starting a podcast is to choose a podcast topic. While this may seem like an easy answer, if chosen poorly it can result in a number of problems from a fledgling audience to podfading. So here are 5 tips for choosing a podcast topic that will ensure success and longevity.
What are your interests?
Podcasting about something you have an interest in will help you in a number of ways.
· Your enthusiasm about the subject matter will reach your audience.
· You will be motivated to produce content.
· In the early stages of your podcast when your audience is growing slowly, podcasting about a topic that enjoy will get you through those weeks when you don't always feel like putting in the time and effort.
· If you are not interested in the topic you are podcasting about, why do you think others would be interested in listening to it?
Choose a topic with depth
One pitfall that many first time podcasters fall into is choosing a topic that does offer any true depth of topics. You should be able to quickly think of at least 10 show topics for your podcast in roughly 5 minutes. If you can't, then you have probably chosen a topic for your podcast that either does not have enough material to allow you to produce quality content for an extended period of time. You may be able to remedy this by broadening your topic a little bit.
Example: A podcast topic of reviewing coffee shops in your neighborhood will limit you to the 7 or 8 shops within a 5-mile radius. What if you decided to review all of the coffee shops in your entire city? By widening your category you may find a lot more to draw on when creating content for your podcast.
What is your anticipated release schedule? If you plan on releasing a new podcast each week then you need to make sure that you have enough material within your topic to create new, quality, content every week; and yes it must be quality content every week. If you have work hard to create new content for your podcast episodes, you will find that the time between podcast episodes grows from weekly to monthly or monthly to every 2-3 months and eventually the podcast will drop off altogether.
Does the topic have an audience?
Keep in mind that the goal of any podcaster is to have an audience listening to your podcast. This should definitely be taken into consideration when choosing a topic. There may not be a large audience for a podcast on insect species in South America, if there is an audience for that kind of podcast; how are you going to reach them? Reaching your target audience is something that I talk about in a number of posts under podcast promotion but you should be aware of it even at this early stage in the life of your podcast.
Does your podcast fill a need?
One of the best ways to ensure that you can attract listeners to your podcast is to find a topic or niche that is not already saturated with 10 other podcasts on the same topic. The less competition from established podcasts in the same topic the easier time you will have in growing your audience at a faster rate.
Do a little research, if you think that you have found a good topic then go to the iTunes podcast directory and do a search on your topic. See how many other podcasts are out there using the same keywords. If you find that there are 5-9 other podcasts then click on each of them and look at a few things.
· How many episodes have they released? Is it a new podcast?
· How often do they release a new episode?
· When was the last time that they released a new episode?
You may find that there are 5 other podcasts with the same topic but they have not released a new episode in a year or two. This could still be a good opportunity to fill a need in a market that has become a little stagnant.
Making Money
If you are starting a podcast with the intent of generating some kind of income related to the podcast then this adds a new level of research to choosing your podcast topic. Obviously some types of podcasts are easier to monetize than others. A podcast reviewing the latest gadgets and gizmos may be easier to monetize through sponsorships and affiliate programs than a podcast in which you interview a different person in your high school class each episode. If making money is your goal with your podcast then make sure that you have a very clear plan of how you are going to monetize your podcast based on the topic you have chosen.
Producing A Podcast - Start With The Audience
Every once in a while someone will come up to me and say something along the lines of "I want to have a podcast but I don't know where to start."
My response is usually "Great. Who's your audience and what are you going to say?"
And usually the response is something like a blank look and "Well, I figured I'd talk about... since that's what I'm selling." At which point I have to stop them and explain that they are ahead of themselves.
You've got to start with your audience.
You see that's one of the biggest mistakes that new internet marketers (especially information marketers) make -- they start with their product. But information marketing needs to be a niche marketing endeavor. And the word niche refers not to your product but to your customer.
When creating learning content (aka an information product) -- and a podcast is a form of learning content -- you always need to start with the audience.
Why?
Because your audience is going to be buying your podcast. They may not be paying for it with dollars (although that would be nice). But they will be paying with their most valuable asset -- their time. And you need to provide them with value for their time. Or they aren't going to be interested in downloading or listening. And they shouldn't be.
You also need to be able to motivate your audience. You need to convince them not only to download your podcast but also to listen to it. You need to convince them that this is a must have, must listen podcast. You need to convince them that not only is it valuable to them but it's absolutely necessary for them.
The way to motivate your audience to listen is by picking topics based on what motivates them. It sounds simple. And it is. You need to identify what their biggest and most immediate problem is. You need to identify what they are afraid may happen. And you need to identify what they are hoping will happen. And you need to identify what is at the front of their minds at the moment. What has their immediate interest.
But of course, that's not all you need to do.
You also need to solve, avoid or achieve. That's right you need to solve their problem with your topic. Or you need to show them how to avoid the pain that they are afraid of. Or you need to show them how to achieve their dreams.
But to do that means you need to know them.
The Difference Between a Podcast and an Internet Radio Show
Internet radio shows are just like traditional radio shows, transmitting either talk or music audio, only via the web instead of traditional airwaves. One of the biggest differences between internet radio shows and podcasts is this ability to transmit live audio. Broadcasting internet radio audio is called "webcasting" to differentiate it from traditional radio even further with etymology.
This technology is further separated from podcasting and is closer to traditional radio in the sense that the listener has no control over when or how they listen to the audio because it is continuously streaming, just like traditional radio. Listeners engage with online radio shows by typing or pasting the proper web address to summon the media player and you're connected to their live show the moment you connect.
Time Commitment & Accessibility
Podcasts are downloadable audio files, a more "on demand" experience you have more control over as a listener. In an ideal world, your favorite internet radio shows will take advantage of this technology, too, and provide loyal listeners with the archived recording so that they, too, can download it and listen later or listen to it repeatedly if they want to. Most webcasting platforms do not offer this technology freely, so you will find that many radio shows are one and done. No recording will be saved to the internet or your computer. Webcasters must record their own shows to provide this feature.
The last concept is a big bonus on the side of podcast listeners, however, podcast shows are less predictable, making content available whenever they like which is often less frequently than their listeners would like. Internet radio shows have a set schedule they commit to and usually webcast for the same amount of time as well.
From The Content Creator's Perspective
From a show creator's perspective, there are benefits to both sides. Depending on the level of time they're willing to commit, the past two concepts will be a large deciding factor. If their motivations are tied to businesses beyond their desire to share content, they may want to consider the size of the net that's cast with each. Web-casting via internet radio show will allow you to capture a lot of listeners at one time. If this is important to you, or if you are selling or plan to sell advertising segments within the show, internet radio is the way to go. Podcasts only reach one person at a time because they require a download, and this is not ideal for selling advertising segments.
Understanding a Listener's Motivation
As a webcaster, you'll need to understand your audience's motivation behind listening to your show. With an internet radio station, you typically need to please the whole audience. Is your concept a crowd pleaser? Podcasting can be a little more specific, or niche, because the listener often seeks you or a certain topic out. Both are points to consider when formulating your whole brand and outlining "episodes".
How Podcasting Works
Podcasting is one of those tools that should be in every learning content marketer's toolkit. Podcasts help to bring targeted traffic. They help to establish your reputation. And they help to build credibility.
But how?
How does podcasting work? In this article I'm going to try to give you an overview of how podcasting works. More specifically, I'm going to focus on what podcasting is and how it goes from a simple idea to being a traffic generation tool.
Podcasting is a first and foremost a form of learning content. It is possible to make it a pure entertainment product however, unless you are selling entertainment that isn't going to help you. So for the information marketer a podcast is a form of learning content. And like any learning content it follows a particular process.
The process begins with the identification of an audience. Who is going to buy the product line? Who is going to want to learn what is being taught?
The next task is to determine what motivates your audience. What are their immediate problems? What are they worried about?
Once you have a motivator you need to provide a solution. How can your product solve their problems? How can your topic help them achieve their goals or avoid their concerns?
Of course a solution by itself is very difficult to learn and to teach. So you need to turn it into a system which can be followed easily. It needs to be simplified into a set of steps that anyone can follow.
You now have a solution which can be packaged and sold. But there are many ways to package it. In fact to make a profit you're going to need to create various packages of your solution. Some will be entry level products. Some will be high value products and some will be free products. Some will even be used for marketing.
Podcasting is one of these latter products.
Once you've determined that podcasting is one of the tools you are going to use to market your product line, you need to start creating the actual podcasts.
Like any audio learning content the process for creating a podcast starts with an outline. Unlike most of the audio learning content products you are going to need, podcasts are a repeating product. You're going to need a new one each week. And each podcast may actually consist of several smaller segments each of which can be produced independently.
In theory, you should be structurally editing and then converting your outline into a script. However, generally, podcast segments are too small and simple to justify this effort.
The next task instead is to record the podcast. This may take several attempts which effectively fulfill the same purpose as a formal edit.
You now have a raw recorded podcast segment. These segments are then edited to remove errors, add transitions, introductions and concluding credits and combine the segments into a final podcast usually in MP3 format.
The podcast is uploaded to either your own site or to a podcasting site. If you use your own site you will need to drive traffic to the podcast.
At the end of each week, the podcast is cycle repeats and a new podcast is uploaded to replace the previous podcast. Frequently a podcasting service is used for the current podcast and an archive of prior podcasts is maintained on the producer's site.
Traffic is driven to the podcasting service -- or your site -- and audience members select the podcasts they wish to listen to. They then download those podcasts to their own computers. From there they listen to them on the computer, copy them to CD or copy them to their MP3 players.
Typically podcasts are squeezed into other activities. This is why they need to be entertaining and a fairly light examination of their topic.
The concept is that the audience will enjoy the podcast so much that they will visit the producer's site to obtain past podcasts and other available information. This is why the producer's website needs to be featured prominently in the podcast.
Since the podcasts is a weekly, repeating contact with your audience it becomes a great way to develop a relationship with your potential customer. It then is up to you to convert, anyone who visits your website as a result of the podcast into a true customer.
First Steps in Creating a Podcast
Every once in a while I'm asked what the first steps in creating a podcast are. Inevitably these customers think that a podcast is a major undertaking that needs to be planned the same as any other learning content. They're shocked when I start off by saying that you've done most of the pre-work already!
What do I mean by pre-work?
It's all that stuff you need to do before you create the learning content. You see a podcast should be thought of as an audio version of article marketing. It's not really content on its own -- although it can be packed that way.
Instead it normally is used in support of a business (meaning selling a set of information products -- training, books etc.) So much of the pre-work has already been done.
By the time you are ready to start the Podcast creation you should already have:
1. Identified your target audience. This involves creating a profile of your perfect customer. The type of person that you want to work with. With details of their needs, wants and habits.
2. Identified your target audience's current problems, desires and fears.
3. Identified a solution to solve their problems, achieve their desires or avoid their fears. This is specific system for using your core product to perform one of the three motivators.
4. Planned your product mix. This is a list of all learning content products you will need to produce both for sales and for marketing purposes. Obviously a podcast would be identified as one of those learning content products.
At this point you will have already defined what you need to do with your podcast, how long it will be, and the base format. Now you get to start the process of creating your podcast.
1. Identify the format of the specific podcast. While you have already determined the format for the majority of your podcasts, you need to determine what format you will use for this podcast. Periodically you may want to change from the usual format just to inject a bit of change.
2. Identify the theme of the podcast. You'll want to inject new topics into the podcast based on many different sources. The best source, of course, is questions your audience asks. If you are doing a column style format you may want to use a common topic for all of the columns or you may want to keep them independent.
3. Design the podcast. Just as writing an article is made easier if you have a list of points you wish to make so is creating a podcast. However, unlike an article which is simple, a podcast is a medium level product. So you always want to do it with a script. This script can be written in full or it can be written as a series of points. However, you do it, you will need a detailed script for each column in your podcast.
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