Podcast

After many false starts, it’s finally happening. A few weeks ago, I had a spur of the moment idea.

Create a podcast!

It was a spur of the moment idea, but it’s not the first time I thought of creating a podcast. I thought of creating a podcast in which I would provide digital marketing advice the way I do on YouTube.

That never happened.

I also thought of hosting a podcast where I would answer people’s questions. People emailed me their questions, and although I answered those people individually, I never turned those questions into a podcast.

I have all of those emails saved, so the possibility of me finally answering those questions for everyone (over a year later) is VERY strong.

Podcasting has eluded me for a long period of time. I always felt as if an invisible wall stood in front of me. But the spur of the moment idea got stronger, and I was sending out emails to potential guests.

Once the first guest said yes, I knew I was committed. Whatever was holding me back no longer stood in my way.

How To Find Great Guests For Your Podcast

If you don’t have guests in your podcast episodes, then you don’t have to worry about this step. However, having guests is a great way to get more exposure for your podcast because the guests will promote the episodes they are featured in.

I decided to have guests on my podcast. Once I was committed to the podcast (the first guest said yes), I had to think of ways to get more guests on the show.

I started off by asking people who I know within my niche. Some of these people said yes while others were too busy at the time.

However, this tactic will only work for a short period of time. You have to come across new people and ask them to be a guest on your podcast. These people must also be the type of guests you are looking for.

Now it’s time for the power tip. Believe it or not, it’s easy to find great guests for your podcast. I often read blog posts on ProBlogger. For a long time, I read those blog posts with a focus on obtaining more knowledge.

I still read ProBlogger’s content with the aim of learning something new. But now I look at the author. Getting your content on ProBlogger is tough. You have to be a highly skilled blogger to get your content featured there.

When I read guest contributions that I liked, I’ll read the author’s bio. If I like the content, and the author seems like the right fit for my podcast, I contact that author.

I’ll let the author know how I found him/her, invite the author as a guest, and then tell him/her what the podcast is all about—all in five sentences or less.

I am replicating this method across various blogs and media sites with prominent writers who would be great to have on my podcast.

The One Picture That Saved Me

So I have several guests. Now what? I had to get back to them but knew nothing about creating a podcast episode and how to interact with the guests as the show date got closer.

It was a picture I saved over a year ago in case I ever started my own podcast. It revealed the workflow that goes into a seamless experience.

If you are worried about what type of work creating a podcast entails, this workflow will bring a lot more clarity to what type of work creating a podcast entails—and how to get it done.

Building Relationships With Influencers

I know many people within my niche, so I had a group of people who I could contact. I asked them if they would like to be a guest, and a bunch of these people said yes.

But at some point, I didn’t know any of these people. How did they get to know me?

To put it simply, I helped them first. I wrote guest posts, promoted products, appeared on their podcasts, and similar things of that nature. When you help someone in a big way, you get that person’s attention.

A successful relationship between you and any influencer starts with an imbalance. You help the influencer as much as you can (multiple guest posts, promote the person’s product multiple times, etc) before that influencer does anything for you in return.

Then, you ask for the favor. In the case of a guest appearance on a podcast, the favor benefits both you and the influencer because you’ll both get more exposure.

The key thing to take away is that it takes time to get the influencers on your podcasts. You have to build relationships with them if you want them on your podcast. The more credible your podcast becomes, the easier it will be for you to get influencers.

If you are considering creating a podcast, then my recommendation is to build relationships with influencers now. Even if you don’t launch your podcast, those relationships will help you in the long-run.

You’ll Need Help

No, this is not the part where I promote consultation services or anything like that.

There are a lot of components that go into a successful podcast launch and successfully maintaining the podcast. You’ll end up doing most or all of the work associated with your podcast’s launch.

To save time, you’ll want to eventually outsource some of the tasks to other freelancers. I am a big fan of outsourcing, and it saves me countless hours of time in a given day. If I didn’t outsource, it wouldn’t be possible for me to expand into new opportunities—like podcasting.

I don’t have a team of freelancers helping me with my podcast yet, but I have given it a lot of thought. I am considering hiring someone to edit the audio and help me with the show notes. I’m sure I will consider (and hire) freelancers with more roles as time goes by.

Don’t be afraid of hiring freelancers to help you out with your podcast. Even if you feel like you have your podcast under control, you can hire freelancers to help you with tasks outside of your podcast. That way, you’ll have more time that you can utilize towards your podcast’s success.

In Conclusion

If there was one thing I thought I would NEVER do, I thought I would never start a podcast. So many false starts, a demanding schedule, and a vague idea of how I would get started.

Now I finally have my own podcast, and it feels great. When I first considered launching a podcast, it seemed very difficult. I have learned that things only look difficult when you haven’t implemented them yet.

Then you are forever stuck at square one having no idea how to advance to the next level. The decision to implement is the equivalent of driving on the road to success instead of walking on that road with mental baggage.

If you want to create a podcast, my best advice is to just do it. Once you begin the process, creating and maintaining the podcast will automatically become easier. The work will be the same, but now you’ll have clarity on what to do.

What are your thoughts on launching a successful podcast? Which of these tidbits was your favorite? Sound off in the comments section below.

One of my New Year’s resolutions is to create a podcast by the end of 2015, and for a good reason. After seeing the growth of podcasts on the web and successful podcasters such as Pat Flynn of The Smart Passive Income Podcast and Steve Scott of the Self-Publishing Questions Podcast, I decided I needed to have a piece of the action (you’ll see a podcast from me by the end of 2015; I haven’t given up on that New Year’s resolution). Here are six reasons why you would want to start your own podcast:

#1: You’ll Tap Into New Traffic

Podcasts are popular on the web, and some podcasts get millions of downloads. If you put your podcast on the iTunes Store, you would instantly tap into a new audience. As your podcast becomes more popular, more people will first hear about you through your podcast. Some of the people who first hear about you on your podcast may decide to subscribe to your blog and buy your products later on.

Not only do you get to tap into a new audience, but you can lead this new audience to your landing page. At the beginning of all of your podcast episodes, you have the opportunity to introduce yourself to new readers and promote your landing page at the same time. Just give your listeners a brief summary of what you offer on your landing page and then include a link in the podcast’s description to your landing page. If you get hundreds of people to download your podcast on iTunes every month, that’s hundreds of people who could potentially subscribe to your email list.

#2: Audio Content Is Becoming Popular

Audio is becoming more important than ever in a busy world filled with multi-taskers. In most multi-tasking scenarios, we do two things not as efficiently compared to our level of efficiency when we choose to focus on one thing at a time. Audio is different. If you go out for a walk, a run, or drive to the grocery store, then you can’t read a book at the same time. Reading and driving is the perfect formula for disaster. What is the substitute for reading? The answer is listening to podcasts.

Each time I run on the treadmill, I either listen to a podcast or a playlist of my favorite songs. Most of the time, I either listen to Pat Flynn or Steve Scott while running. I run for over an hour every day so I can listen to multiple episodes on their podcasts within a given week. In car rides, I either listen to Joel Osteen DVDs.

It is easier for us to listen to things than it is for us to read things. That’s why social media posts with videos get more engagement than social media posts without videos. That’s why YouTube is very popular. Audio content is easier for us to consume. You can listen with your eyes closed while lying on your couch.

#3: More Credibility

Having your own podcast gives you a new level of credibility. Why would you want more credibility? The simple answer is that credibility makes us look good. Would you rather buy the Twitter book from the person with 1,000 Twitter followers or the person with 10,000 Twitter followers (assuming the books were the same number of pages and both at the same price)?

The longer explanation is that credibility is easy to gain nowadays that we need more of it to truly stand out. Having a big social media audience isn’t enough. Having a popular blog isn’t enough. Having your own book isn’t enough. Having your own podcast isn’t enough. Many of the highly credible people in our niches have all four of these things, and more. You need to do more things of great value within your niche to really stand out.

[tweetthis twitter_handles=”@MarcGuberti” url=”http://bit.ly/1BybH3l”]You need to do more things of great value within your niche to really stand out.[/tweetthis]

#4: More Interaction With Your Audience

One thing I really like about the layout Steve Scott uses for his Self-Publishing Questions podcast is that he starts every podcast with a listener’s question. Starting with a listener’s question is a great way to come up with episode topics while encouraging more interaction. Steve encourages his listeners to ask their own questions to possibly get featured on his podcast and get their questions answered.

At the end of every podcast, you have the ability to encourage interaction. If you have a comment section at the bottom of every episode, then encourage your listeners to respond in the comments section. If your episodes don’t have comment sections, then encourage your listeners to contact you via email. As you continue to grow your audience, more people will take the time to interact with you.

#5: Podcasting Is A Big Deal

Podcasting is a proven, reliable method to reach more people and interact with your audience. As a whole, we have downloaded over 1 billion podcast episodes, and that doesn’t even include all of the podcast episodes we listen to without downloading. I don’t download Pat Flynn’s or Steve Scott’s podcast episodes. Instead, I listen to their episodes on their respective websites.

I think some people aren’t taking the plunge into podcasting because they are unaware of how big podcasting has become. Podcasting is a big deal, and based on its growth in recent years, podcasting has a great future.

[tweetthis twitter_handles=”@MarcGuberti” url=”http://bit.ly/1BybH3l”]Podcasting is a big deal, and based on its growth in recent years, podcasting has a great future[/tweetthis]

#6: You Can Interview Experts

When you start your own podcast, you give yourself the ability to interview experts in real-time for free. Instead of asking an expert questions via email or paying for a consultation session, you get to ask them questions 1-on-1 for the whole world to hear. Interviewing the top experts in your niche will boost your credibility, and you can potentially start joint ventures with some of these experts. Even if you don’t get the joint venture, many of these experts will promote your podcast episode that they got featured in. Your podcast episode now reaches new audiences, the audiences of the experts who you interview.

Interviewing the experts in your niche also allows you to learn more about your niche. You can think of these 1-on-1 conversations as 1-on-1 consultation sessions in which you ask the questions and get detailed answers from the experts. Don’t be afraid to ask questions about topics that you don’t fully understand. The job of an expert is to empower others with their knowledge. You can be more than sure that the podcast hosts learn new things from the experts they interview. If you want to become successful in what you do, you must constantly learn more about what you do, no matter how much you think you already know.

In Conclusion

Having your own podcast is a big deal. Having a podcast will boost your credibility and allow you to tap into new audiences. With a podcast, you have the power to provide your audience with audio content that they can listen to while exercising, driving, or doing a wide range of other activities. Although blog posts get their points across, readers can’t effectively exercise or drive while reading blog posts. When blogging, podcasting, social media, an email list, and a few other things mix together, you’ll have the recipe for success.

Do you have a podcast? Do you want to start a podcast? Do you have any tips for newbie podcasters? Please share your thoughts and advice below.