Podcasting Equipment

You might be under the impression that expensive equipment and a studio is required to have a successful podcast for your business. Nothing could be further from the truth. The best thing about podcasting is that you can do it at home with simply a basic Mac or PC and an inexpensive microphone, but a better microphone will improve your sound quality to some degree. Some podcast hosting sites even make it possible to podcast using your cell phone. You simply register with the service and create your podcasts by recording them when you’re on your cell phone.

If you want to kick it up a notch, there are several ways to set up a podcast recording ‘studio’. And for serious podcasters, the list of necessary podcasting equipment is as follows:

• Microphone
• Preamp
• Digital recorder (or computer)
• Headphones – (These are the ones I use to record my podcasts)
• Sound-editing software

Frequency:

Podcasting on a consistent schedule is important when building a community and a wider audience. In fact, don’t expect your podcast to have a large audience in the beginning. But with proper promotion, quality content and a regular schedule, your podcast audience will grow. Many podcast audiences number in the thousands.

Decide, before you get started, how often you will be able to broadcast. Each podcast will take time to script, rehearse and record. You are likely to want to commit at least four hours of planning and production time for each podcast.

Length:

To determine how long your podcast should be, you’ll want to consider how frequently you’re going to broadcast, what content you’re delivering, and who your audience is. For example, if you’re doing a daily podcast you would be likely to want to keep it short. Five to ten minutes is a perfectly acceptable length for a daily. It is enough time to offer an inspiration, a tip for the day or an insight. If you’re doing a weekly and you know that your subscribers generally listen to your podcast on their drive to work, then a 20-30 minute podcast would fit perfectly into that time frame. I have always kept my podcast interviews to under thirty minutes and my training podcasts to under an hour.

Costs:

Great news! Podcasts can actually be free. If your computer came with a microphone or you use the headset I recommended above, then you already have your recording equipment. All you need is a podcast host and, like blogging hosts, many are offered for free. Simply use your favorite search engine and you’ll find numerous choices.

Of course, for a few extra dollars you can find podcast hosts that offer sound editing software, more storage and unlimited bandwidth. To choose the right podcast host, it really depends on how many podcasts you want to produce per month, how big they will be and what kind of subscriber base you are expecting for your shows.

Adding music/sounds to your podcast:

Adding music to your podcast can:

1. Set the theme of your podcast
2. Prepare your listener for individual segments or features within your podcast
3. Entertain your listener

When selecting your music, remember to consider the theme of your podcast and your target audience. Since each podcast is different and has a unique audience, the music used should reflect both.

Royalty-free music can be used in productions without recurring fees, i.e. without paying royalties each time the music is played. An alternative to royalty-free music is “podsafe” music.

Podsafe music is acquired by partnering with a musician and crediting their work during the podcast. Independent artists are making their compositions available as podsafe music in exchange for publicity and airplay. Sound effect libraries can be subscribed to for a modest fee, or podsafe CDs can be purchased and imported through your computer’s media player.

By now you can see that podcasting equipment is inexpensive, music can be added easily, and that this is an effective way to reach your target market quickly. Do you have other questions or concerns I have not addressed in this post? If so, leave a comment and I will answer you personally.

Subscribe To My Award Winning Podcast

Today I have some excellent podcasting tips for you. I have hosted two highly visible and successful podcasts since 2011. In fact, my marketing tips podcast was recently named as one of the Top 100 Small Business Podcasts of 2014. Podcasting will help you to position yourself as an expert in your niche. If you’re not familiar with the term “Podcasting,” it is defined as the use of audio or video to broadcast a message. Though experts disagree on where the term came from (some say it came from a combination of the Apple iPod and the term “broadcast,” while others say it comes from “Public on Demand” + “Cast”), the medium is growing exponentially as a tool businesses use to communicate with customers and potential customers.

Think of it as an audio blog or an audio e-newsletter. Like both of those tools, podcasts are an excellent and cost effective way to reach your target market in a personal and informative way. In addition, your podcasts can be distributed through RSS format, which is a subscription service that announces and delivers the podcast to your subscribers like a blog or a newsletter.

One of the reasons for the popularity of podcasts is that users, your customers and your target market, are able to easily access the information and listen to it on their computer, mobile device, mp3 player or just about anywhere.

Podcasting Tips: How you Benefit from Podcasting:

1. Podcasts increase your marketing reach and online visibility. You will expand your target market because different people prefer different mediums. Some customers like to read company information, others prefer videos or live communication and still others like to download your information and listen to it when they have time. Many podcast users listen to downloaded podcasts on their way to work or while they’re working out.
2. Podcasts may improve your sales and conversion rates. Podcasts are yet another way to reach your customers, and the one-on-one communication provides the kind of personal touch that customers crave. People are more likely to buy from someone that they feel they have communicated with directly, and podcasts enable you to do just that.
3. Podcasts provide a consistent line of communication with subscribed listeners. It has been proven that regular communication with your customers improves both your overall relationship with them and their buying frequency. A regularly distributed podcast can strengthen your relationship with your buyers and help to build a community with your customers.
4. Podcasts provide beneficial and value added content, which increases customer loyalty. Podcasts can offer a different kind of content to what you can provide with a blog or an e-newsletter. This kind of content can be extremely beneficial to your customers.
5. Podcasts allow you to distribute industry news and trends, which sets you apart from your competition and establishes you as a respected leader in your niche or industry. One of the best ways to get repeat purchases and loyal customers is to become the “expert” in your industry. Once your business is established as the place to go for quality information, services or products, your profits will grow.
6. Podcasting, or adding audio or video to your website and email messages, enables customers and prospects to access information in a more personal way. You can add video or audio testimonials, quick “how to” segments, and even a special promotional message. Adding audio or video is a unique way to add a personal touch to your website.
7. A podcast or an audio file can be used as a giveaway to build your opt-in list. Consider recording either an interview with an industry expert or a seminar or workshop, and then offering the audio file as a free download. In return, you get their email address for future mailings.

By now you can see that podcasting makes an excellent addition to your marketing mix, and that it is an effective way to reach your target market. Do you have other questions or concerns I have not addressed in this post? If so, leave a comment and I will answer you personally.

Publishing on Kindle

Becoming a Kindle author will help you in much greater ways than just by the income you will earn. I currently have more than a dozen titles of my own published on Kindle, and these have helped me grow my business exponentially over the past several years. Being a published author has always carried with it perks that some were locked out of. But now with Kindle Direct Publishing, you too can take part in what most authors have always known publishing can do for them.

Here are some reasons you’ll want to add publishing on Kindle to your online business marketing mix:

1. Become an Authority in Your Niche – Having enough material for a Kindle Book or a series of Kindle books makes you into an instant authority figure within your niche. Creating a well put together, well researched and designed Kindle book will raise your authority status faster than most other means.
2. Establish Deeper Relationships – A book can be a more cohesive way to tell your story, to get the word out about something you’re passionate about that is more than a sound bite. A Kindle book can be as long as it needs to be to explain to your reader about who you are, what you do, why you do it and what’s in it for them.
3. Get Known outside Your Current Circle – Due to the way Amazon promotes books, you can find some of your audience via Kindle who have never heard of you otherwise. It’s yet another way to promote your products and services that should not be passed up. Just like you wouldn’t pass up being on any social media that exists where your audience goes, you should not pass up being on Kindle where your audience is looking for eBooks and information about your niche.
4. Get Recognition and Awards – Some people don’t realize that if you publish a Kindle book and make great sales, and enter some contests you can also win publishing awards just like people do with the big publishers. This type of recognition can get you more response than you might think.
5. Build a Strong Community – Being a published author can help you build your community larger than before and turn the community you have into raving fans. By cross promoting your online real estate, like your blog to your book readers, you will introduce them to your work in a new way. By telling your blog visitors about your eBooks, you’ll get new respect.

You’ll be able to reach more people than you ever thought possible via your Kindle Books. If you use the Kindle Select program your book can be loaned and you’ll still earn money, so that makes it even more likely that you’re going to be discovered. Many speakers, coaches and service providers use their books to prove expertise that they otherwise would not have been able to establish with traditional publishing. Take a look at some of the books I have been publishing on Kindle and in paperback here.

Google Hangouts on Air expert Zane Miller describes a Google Hangout as having your own television show and studio right in the comfort of your own home. In my recent interview for the podcast series Zane and I discussed the many way to monetize your Hangouts and why everyone should give them a try.

Personally, I was intimidated by the technology of Hangouts when they were first offered by Google. Then I joined a few other people’s Hangouts and learned a few things that were helpful. Learning from Zane makes it all much easier.

Zane takes us on a virtual tour of how to get started, why Hangouts are so important, how to incorporate them into our online business, and when to monetize your Google Hangouts for maximum results. Check out Zane’s training on using Google Hangouts more effectively here.

I’m sure you will enjoy this podcast immensely, as we teach and explain the ins and out of this new technology. You may listen through the webcast right here on this site or…

Subscribe to all of my calls in my Online Marketing Tips Podcast Series.

Podcasting Tips for Beginners: Online Marketing Tips Podcast

Podcasting Tips for Beginners is the topic of my most recent online marketing tips podcast. I have been podcasting regularly since December of 2011, and currently have two different and popular podcasts available on iTunes that are helping me to grow my business. Recently this podcast was named as one of the Top 100 Small Business Podcasts, and you can read all about it in that post.

I’ll be explaining how you can do this as well by following my model. Also, my own training will be released on this in the very near future (my Podcast Show Notes page for further details). People on six continents have now discovered that starting an Internet business is the fastest way to achieve both time and financial freedom, as well as to great success in all areas of your life, and you need help to get there quickly. That’s why I started this online marketing tips podcast for my community.

Starting your own podcast can be an excellent way to increase your visibility and credibility as an online entrepreneur. In this episode of the Online Marketing Tips Podcast With Connie Ragen Green, my newest marketing training podcast series, I discuss in great detail how I got started, why I decided to start a second podcast, and why I release each podcast using a post on one of my blogs. Knowing where you are right now with your niche and where you want to go is crucial to the process of becoming the online entrepreneur you are meant to be.

I take questions from those who attended the live recording, including why having your own podcast is so important, my 10K Laser Coaching program, how to get the technical side of things up and running, attending live and virtual events, and my own upcoming event, The Weekend Marketer: Affiliate Marketing for Everyone, in Las Vegas October 10-12. Also, when I am asked how to start earning right away I share the details of what I did that very first year that made a huge difference in the level of my success.

This online marketing tips podcast, as well as all of the calls in my podcast series is intended to teach you and other new online entrepreneurs how to take your business to the next level quickly and effectively, and as a way for me to share my exact Case Studies, secrets, and advice on creating a profitable and lucrative online business using the ‘multiple income streams’ approach. You will see that each session is first recorded live as a teleseminar, and then repurposed into a podcast to extend my reach to the world. Please join my list (opt in on the right) to be included on these calls, and be sure to introduce yourself and share your site for optimal exposure for years to come!

Also, you can now pick up my popular training on winning affiliate contests and other online marketing tips for only seven dollars at Affiliate Contest Secrets. Use the discount code CONTEST to bring the price down to $7. This training has been completely updated for with the latest information, strategies, and Case Studies for you to use in your own business.

Subscribe To My Online Marketing Tips Podcast Today!

Generosity is something you’re born with, I honestly believe. It has nothing at all to do with how much money you have, how well connected you are, or whether or not you believe that giving to others is optional. It does have everything to do with knowing that sharing your time, money, knowledge, and resources with others, especially if they have done the same thing for you is the right thing to do on a regular basis.

Here is something I began notice as my business began to grow and I was surrounded my more and more successful people:
People who are more successful are generally more generous to those around them.

It turns out I am not the only person to feel this way. Seth Godin discusses something he refers to as the Generosity Boomerang. It goes like this:

“Success makes you happy. Happiness permits you to be generous.
In fact, it actually works like this:
Generosity makes you happy. Happy people are more likely to be successful.”

Godin goes on to say in another post that we seek to be around people in our life who are open, generous, and connected.

“Open to new ideas, leaning forward, exploring the edges, impatient with the status quo… In a hurry to make something worth making.
Generous when given the opportunity (or restless to find the opportunity when not).”

When I spend time with people who do not seem to have a generous bone in their body I am always tempted to start a discussion on the topic with them. Many are just getting started with their businesses and would argue that they simply can’t afford to be generous right now, but fully intend to when they are earning more money.

Generosity is all about gratitude, and understanding that when we are grateful for what we already have in our lives we are given even more.

Just as I believed I could not volunteer for charities and other organizations back when I was a classroom teacher and also in real estate, this is just wrong thinking. You always have enough time and money to serve others, both those you know and whom are helping you and those you may never meet because they live half way around the world. Generosity is a trait worth developing, if you were not born with it.

What do you think about generosity – is it a trait we are born with, or must it be developed?

I’ve been reading Pamela Slim’s latest book, Body of Work: Finding the Threat That Ties Your Story Together, and it has made me think more about what I am doing in my own life and business. In her latest blog post Pamela asks her readers what’s next in their body of work.

Here is an excerpt from her post that rings true with me:

“We have so much more in common than we think– people in every work mode want to know that the work they do matters, they want to enjoy what they do, and they want to know that they will remain highly employable, no matter the economic climate. My heart sings when I get to help individuals, organizations and communities work together to create positive, productive and sustainable economic growth. So that is my next challenge!”

As I look back over my own Body of Work, almost nine years in the making since leaving my life as a classroom teacher and real estate broker/residential appraiser behind, I think about what I have accomplished. Some is tangible, like the fifteen hundred blog posts I’ve written on my two main sites, the ten books I have published, the events I have spoken at, the Workshops I have hosted, the Retreats I hold in Santa Barbara, and the thousands of people whose lives I have touched and whom have touched mine as well.

The real victory for me is the intangible; the way I have been able to change my mindset and belief system to know anything is possible if we want if badly enough, the feeling of accomplishment I have when one of my students excels, and the way I have been able to step up to help a variety of charities around the world. I’ve come so far, yet I feel in many ways that I am just beginning my journey.

What’s next for you, in your unique body of work?