Ask the Podcast Coach

Dave talks about the joys of dealing with traditional phones, and we are not quite ready to go live video with a phone call in. We field some questions from Tina about how to align your show content. It's nice to have Jim back in the co-host chair. 

Jim talks about how live is not great for a brand new podcaster (and mix minus is confusing). Dave agrees, we are doing live so we can talk about it from a first hand position. We are going to be talking about this on next week's show in regards to how Jim does live without a mix minus. 

Tina from http://savvyhomeschoolmoms.com/ asks about closing the show. If we ask for everything, does it reduce its effectiveness?

You need to try to figure out the ONE thing that you REALLY want your audience to do.

She puts the main topic at the end of the show. Should she move it toward the top of the show. Where do you put the "meat and potatoes" type of information?

Dave has been putting the interviews up front. Television shows put the big star at the end to keep you watching. In the end, its not a bad idea to use something like surveymonkey.com and ask your audience. 

Don't be afraid to create channels for your audience to contact you. Yes, it won't all be positive. But you get a better understanding from your feedback. How will you know if they like it? You need to be able to 

Gary calls in at 23:36 and states that you need to do your show the way you want, and don't worry about what people think. You're not going to be able to please everyone. You are in control of your content. 

When you come up with your show format, do you best to stay consistent. Your audience will feel comfortable when they know what to expect. 

Check out the Podertinment magazine in the iTunes newstand

LOURDES WELHAVEN is having friends who say they are getting great downloads, and she wanted our thoughts. For me, I will put a show up for a few weeks and I get single (maybe double) digit downloads. I don't think there are a lot of people looking for podcasts on the site. I know I wouldn't use their feed for iTunes. Like anything else, if you have followers over there you might get better numbers. They do have some very cool players. If you use the free version, you can upload and download a show a week (they only allow 2 hours free). One of the reason Dave likes libsyn.com is you can leave any time (get a free month at Libsyn.com using the coupon code sopfree). 

Mike Phillips show on Saturday http://mixlr.com/rickshouse/showreel

Chirbit.com is a cool player for Facebook