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Episode 136: How to Start a Podcast
480 Plays3 years ago
Today’s podcast is about – podcasting. Melissa Guller of Wit and Wire joins me to discuss how to get started with podcasting. We cover a lot in this episode, including why now is the best time to start podcasting, the advantages specific to podcasting, the gear and tools you need to get started, and how to grow your podcast. You’ll probably notice, as I did, that Melissa has taught this stuff before. I really appreciated her insights into podcasting and the way that she clearly explained each of the topics that we cover. I hope that we'll be able to release a Part 2 either later this year or early next year, where we specifically cover podcasting growth strategies. If you're thinking about starting your podcast this year check out our YouTube video that covers everything you should have on a podcasting website. We have a website template that checks all of those boxes and we just released that YouTube video this week. Melissa also has a course that you can check out which will be linked in the show notes.
For show notes visit...https://daveyandkrista.com/how-to-create-a-podcast-website/
Recommended
Transcript
Creating Content from Personal Experiences
00:00:05
Speaker
My number one tip is that who you are is already enough. Like your life, your experiences, you are already unique. It's not something you have to fabricate out of nowhere. But then when you think of the podcast idea, instead of just thinking of the topic, think about who are you serving? Who are you talking to? Because a podcast like yoga for young able-bodied people would be very different from yoga for hip pain.
00:00:29
Speaker
So even just thinking through who you're speaking to is going to really put a lens on all of your episodes. And that's a step that I don't see as many hosts considering before they even start reporting.
Introduction to the Brands at Book Show
00:00:41
Speaker
Welcome to the Brands at Book Show, where we help creative service-based businesses build their brands and find more clients. I'm your host, Davy Jones.
Starting a Podcast: Equipment and Growth Strategies
00:00:50
Speaker
Today's podcast is about podcasting. Melissa Guller of Whit & Wire joins me to discuss how to get started with podcasting. We cover a lot in this episode, including why now is the best time to start podcasting, the advantages specific to podcasting, the gear and tools that you need in order to get started, and how to grow your podcast.
00:01:10
Speaker
You'll probably notice, as I did, that Melissa has definitely taught this stuff before. I really appreciated her insights into podcasting and the way that she clearly explained each of the topics that we cover. I hope that we'll be able to release a part two either later this year or early next year where we specifically cover podcast and growth strategies.
00:01:29
Speaker
And if you're thinking about starting a podcast this year, check out our YouTube video that covers everything you should have on a podcasting website. We have a website template that checks all of those boxes and we just released that YouTube video this week. Melissa also has a course that you can check out, which I'll link to in the show notes.
00:01:48
Speaker
Be sure to check out the show notes at dvandchrista.com for the resources that we mentioned during the episode. And there are quite a few that we mentioned during this episode. And we
Engaging Audience Feedback
00:01:56
Speaker
want to hear from you. Let us know what kind of content you'd like to see on the Brandstalk Book Podcast as we move forward. To leave your feedback, just send us a DM on Instagram at dvandchrista. Now, onto the episode.
00:02:11
Speaker
Today, I am here with Melissa Guller from Whit & Wire. We're chatting all about a topic that's really near and dear to my heart, podcasting. And my podcast has been one of my favorite channels to produce content on for a while, and something that I didn't know was gonna be a very comfortable channel for me to produce content
Unexpected Comfort in Podcasting: Davy's Journey
00:02:30
Speaker
on.
00:02:30
Speaker
So we get a lot of questions about starting a podcast and what kind of equipment you need to get started and is it going to be really difficult to set up? So Melissa, I am glad you're here to help us work through this topic. Yeah, thanks so much for having me. I'm excited not only to talk about podcasting, but to learn more about your podcast a little bit too.
00:02:49
Speaker
Yeah, awesome. Well, it's fun because I never really get to talk about the podcast itself. So I'm an open book though, so feel free to
Melissa's Transition from Teaching to Podcasting
00:02:57
Speaker
ask away. But I know you have a ton of experience in producing podcasts, but before we get into the topic for today, which is just for people who are interested in starting a podcast or maybe even bringing their podcasts to the next level, diving into what they need in order to do that well, I wanna hear a little bit about you and your background and how you started Whit & Wire and how you got into this world of podcasting.
00:03:19
Speaker
It's funny, before I started podcasting, I was actually teaching in-person classes at General Assembly. So I often cite that as my first step because I absolutely love to teach. There's just something about seeing this light bulb go off in somebody's head. And I was teaching Excel classes, which notoriously I feel is like a love-hate topic. So to see somebody come into the class deciding they hate Excel and then through a series of jokes and helpful exercises by the end, they're loving it was always so rewarding.
00:03:46
Speaker
And so because of that experience, I had always wondered, would I like podcasting?
Launching 'Figuring It Out' and 'Booksmart'
00:03:52
Speaker
Will my skill set translate into this digital medium? But I sat on the idea for years. I was so afraid, I think, not even of the tech because I really enjoy editing and all that technical stuff. But I was just afraid straight up to put myself out there. I found it so intimidating to tell everybody, I'm going to do this podcast. Here's what it's about.
00:04:09
Speaker
But finally, I decided the only way I could know was to just go for it. So I taught myself how to launch a podcast. This is probably three or four years ago at this point. And my first podcast, now ironically titled Figuring It Out, was this modern millennial playbook about all things from how to negotiate through how to write a dating profile. And that podcast was 30 episodes long and taught me a lot.
00:04:34
Speaker
Specifically a lot of what not to do when it comes to watching a podcast by trial and error, but to maybe kind of kick through my own journey quickly and then we can go back through any of the pieces after figuring it out. I learned that I did really enjoy podcasting, but.
00:04:50
Speaker
not really talking about millennials. I didn't want to be known as this millennial expert. And I thought having a co-host could work out. So I launched a second podcast called Booksmart. And that one is all about personal development books with my co-host Em. And that was the podcast that really started to take off and taught me so much more about growth strategies for podcasting.
Understanding Creators: Melissa's Diverse Experiences
00:05:11
Speaker
And it also gave me the confidence to pitch the CEO of Teachable, my then full-time employer, on the concept of Teachable having a podcast.
00:05:18
Speaker
So drafted a pitch, proposed a budget, and then that's how I came to produce and host Everything is Teachable. And that ran for two seasons while I was still full-time at Teachable and now is in the third season, even though I've left the company. And that podcast top-to-charts as the number two career podcast in the USA. So I think it's been great to have this journey of very different podcasts because it gives me empathy for a lot of different creators. And ultimately, now I'm running my business, Whit and Wire, to help more online business owners launch their own podcasts.
00:05:47
Speaker
And now I get to see all kinds of topics from witchcraft through marketing and parenting. So I'm excited to dive into really any pieces of the podcasting puzzle that listeners might be thinking about today. Yeah, awesome. So General Assembly, can you explain people who might not be familiar with that what that is?
00:06:03
Speaker
Yes, General Assembly was founded based on the principle that there are so many modern things people need for the workforce that were not being addressed in a traditional university setting. So General Assembly is a global business. They have, I think, at least 20 locations where you can go in person and now online to take classes in things like user experience design, web development, data analytics, and all kinds of practical skills for the workforce. So I was teaching in-person classes at their New York location.
00:06:31
Speaker
Okay, awesome. So that's so interesting that you, I guess, struggled to put yourself out there, but you were teaching. And that's, I mean, to a certain extent, putting yourself out there, especially around a topic like Excel.
00:06:41
Speaker
But that was something I was so comfortable with. Excel is the thing I was always known for. No matter what job I had, I was the Excel girl. People would come to me with questions. I was always just good at figuring out not complicated Excel stuff necessarily, but how to make it simpler, how to make things more useful. And so teaching Excel classes was something that was totally in my wheelhouse. Plus, I find it way less intimidating to teach a classroom of
00:07:06
Speaker
eight to 30 people than I did to tell the internet what I was up to. Like that to me was terrifying because I'm very introverted. So social media, that whole realm honestly still intimidates me quite a bit. So teaching in a classroom felt very different.
00:07:23
Speaker
Yeah, it's funny how that works. I wouldn't even say that social media intimidates me as much as I just never remember to do it. When I'm out doing something, my mind just doesn't go to, oh, this would be a good Instagram story or whatever. But yeah, that's so interesting. And thank God that the world has people like you that know spreadsheets and Excel. We have one of my partners for Till Agency, Ryan. He can build anything in a spreadsheet and it's just amazing. It makes life so much easier.
00:07:50
Speaker
So anyways, and we'll get back to, we'll get back to podcasting here.
The Podcasting Opportunity: Not Saturated Yet
00:07:54
Speaker
So you've launched a few podcasts in the past. We're going into 2022 here. And I think one of the objections that I hear, you know, if I'm talking to somebody and maybe podcasting comes up and they say something like, I thought about starting a podcast, but it seems like everybody has a podcast these days. How would you respond to that, that objection?
00:08:12
Speaker
Perhaps no surprise to anyone. I'm going to start with some data, some cold hard facts, and then I'm going to get into the more, I think, human answer to this. First of all, the question, are there too many podcasts? We can start with some numbers. Maybe not to put you on the spot. Do you know how many active podcasts there are?
00:08:33
Speaker
Perfect. So as of April, 2021, Apple released a stat that there are about 2 million active podcasts on Apple. So that number doesn't really mean much yet, but even digging a little bit deeper, there was a study from a business called Amplify Media where they learned that 26% of all of those podcasts only have one episode.
00:08:55
Speaker
And taking it even one step further, 44%, so almost half, have three episodes or fewer. So basically half of all podcasts out there have three episodes or fewer. So already this two million number is starting to get debunked a little bit. But it might still feel like two million. What is that really? It's hard to kind of feel that tangibly. So one more guess and then I won't make you play games on your own podcast anymore. But how many blogs do you think there are? Oh, I would guess hundreds of millions.
00:09:24
Speaker
Yeah, you're dead on. It's 600 million as of the time of our recording. So now we've got 600 million blogs compared to, let's be generous, 2 million active podcasts. And you can really start to appreciate just how new the field of podcasting is, but in a great way, it's really buzzy. And I think what's unique about podcasting is that everyone is in one app.
00:09:47
Speaker
By that, I mean if you look at video, you've got movies, you have TV, you have YouTube, you have now TikTok and Reels. There are so many places where video can live, but with podcasting on somebody's phone, they could have brands that book next to a Netflix podcast because all of us live in the same app in somebody's phone in their universe.
00:10:09
Speaker
So a lot of people are hearing about podcasts because big media agencies are all producing podcasts. Celebrities are coming out with podcasts. But I see that as a huge positive because it means they are converting people to becoming podcast listeners. Like when I started podcasting four years ago, I had to tell people how to listen to a podcast. I had to put instructions on my website. I had to actually say it out loud in every episode. And now I don't have to do that anymore.
00:10:34
Speaker
So in my opinion, from a pure data perspective, there's plenty of room to start a new podcast. That's fascinating. I mean, I was shocked when I started my podcast at how quickly that channel grew. But yeah, I mean, that's something that I would typically respond with is like, you know, and I didn't know even know the numbers, but in terms of how many blogs there are out there, you know, it is not nearly as ubiquitous as blogging.
00:10:57
Speaker
Yeah, I feel like a lot of people are starting podcasts, but like you said, I think that's a solid point that to a certain extent, it's drawing more people to become podcast listeners as some of these certainly big production companies roll out with podcasts of their own. That is fascinating. What are some of the other reasons that people should consider starting a podcast this coming year if it's been one of those things that they've been kicking around?
Making Your Podcast Unique
00:11:19
Speaker
Well, to get into the more human element of, Oh gosh, there's so much competition. I know what that feels like. Like that's the other reason I don't like social media. You look out and you convince yourself, Oh, somebody's already doing this topic and they're bigger than me or they've already started. And so I think that's the other element of.
00:11:35
Speaker
Oh, I shouldn't start now. But to me, 2022 is going to be one of the best times, if not the best time, to start a podcast. We've already talked about the growing number of podcast listeners. But no matter what else people are up to, there's nobody out there who's going to put exactly your perspective and experience onto your topic. And I think at the end of the day, that's what you should look for when it comes to the podcast concept that you want to lead. It's not about finding a topic that's never been done.
00:12:03
Speaker
It's about the person that you are, your personality, your experiences, the way that you approach the topic, that's gonna resonate with people. And it's going to speak to a certain group that may not already have their person. So I often say the goal is not to be the number one podcast in Apple, it's to be the number one podcast for exactly your ideal listener. And there's a huge difference between the two. So I don't want people to feel like they have to come up with some special snowflake idea that's never been done before. In fact, that probably means there might not be a listener.
00:12:32
Speaker
for your podcast so i would say my number one tip is that who you are is already enough like your life your experiences you are already unique it's not something you have to fabricate out of nowhere but then when you think of the podcast idea instead of just thinking of the topic think about who are you serving who are you talking to because a podcast like yoga for.
00:12:53
Speaker
young able-bodied people would be very different from yoga for hip pain. So even just thinking through who you're speaking to is going to really put a lens on all of your episodes. And that's a step that I don't see as many hosts considering before they even start recording.
00:13:07
Speaker
Sure, sure. And I do want to dive into sort of the specifics and getting started with a podcast with you and hear a little bit. I'm really interested too in just some of your experience as well, launching a few podcasts now, a few of which have done really well and how you've grown those.
Podcasts in Daily Life: Quality Over Quantity
00:13:21
Speaker
Before we get there though, one thing that I think is interesting about podcasting, for instance, I listen to a number of different podcasts and it's always like while I'm running or I'm driving or
00:13:31
Speaker
but I don't make the same time in my day to consume other similar content in other formats. So I don't make time in my day to go catch up on the blogs that I most like. There are certainly blogs out there that I enjoy reading, but typically, I'll have to see something maybe shared to my feed about a post and catch my interest, whereas the podcast I listen to, it's kind of like, well, I'm going for a run, so I just kind of tee up what I'm subscribed to and I listen. And I just think that it's so powerful that way
00:14:00
Speaker
It almost feels like back in the day when people actually had like an RSS feed of their blog posts and it was kind of like, you know, I'm checking to see if so and so published. Do you get the same sense?
00:14:11
Speaker
I think that's a perfect pitch for why people should start a podcast. Because another common objection I often hear is that it takes a long time to create a good podcast episode. Now, I don't think it takes as long as maybe people think. I know the editing process can feel very intimidating. But if you imagine the thoughtful time you might put into prepping an episode, recording, editing, and then publishing it, yes, that does take a little bit of time. But on the other hand,
00:14:37
Speaker
It may take you less time to produce, let's say, a social media post, but the lifespan of that post is fleeting. While a podcast episode, the lifetime of that single episode could be years. I have people who regularly cite episodes of mine that are two or three years old, and they're finding me for the first time through that evergreen content.
00:14:58
Speaker
So I think if you compare the time spent creating content to the lifetime of the content itself, podcasting is the ultimate quality over quantity platform. And just like you said, people really make time out of their day for a podcast episode and the relationship that you can build with somebody while they're out on a run is so much deeper than I think a lot of other content platforms. So what do you think though, between all the different content platforms I know you're experienced with, why do you think maybe podcasting sets itself apart?
00:15:27
Speaker
I certainly like podcasting the most out of the different platforms and we just recently started investing in YouTube and I think there's a good case to be made for video and the different ways that you can use video. I found it still a little bit more struggle. Certainly podcasting of all the channels I think was the fastest growing for sure.
00:15:44
Speaker
I'm just not the kind of person as well same thing with youtube and i know there's youtube people out there like you know one of my friends tyler you know he help me set up our youtube channel and he's the kind of guy who subscribe to different youtube channels that's kind of like his podcast i guess to a certain extent where when he gets on youtube you know he sees the latest youtube episodes and and watches them.
00:16:05
Speaker
I think there's a lot of people out there who, and maybe again, maybe I'm just projecting onto our community, you know, how people consume content of ours, for instance, who maybe don't have time to just sit up and watch like to watch a YouTube video, but they have time to put a podcast on in the background and listen while they work, you know, or listen while they work out or listen on a car ride.
00:16:26
Speaker
And so that's what I think is just so valuable about the podcast in general. You can also use that audio in so many different ways. And like you said, it does seem to have an evergreen aspect to it. I think even beyond blogs to a certain extent, because, and I don't have any data to back this up, but I think because it's less ubiquitous, there's less content out there. It's more likely that somebody's going to stumble along a older podcast episode.
00:16:50
Speaker
than they would, let's say, a blog that I published three years ago that, if I haven't touched, likely isn't going to be doing well in search anymore, if that makes sense. It does. And I think with that podcast episode, it creates a deeper bond. Let's say I ran across a blog post today and a podcast episode tomorrow from two people I had never heard of. Even just by tuning into less than five minutes of one episode, I now have a better sense of that person.
00:17:14
Speaker
And even though I'm a reader, I love to learn and I do consume a lot of content via blog posts, I couldn't tell you what blogs they came from. I know the topic, but even if I bookmark it for later, I don't have as much of a brand connection to any of those creators. So I do think that the podcast world, that deep relationship with listeners is really unique.
00:17:36
Speaker
I'll also say, because we're talking a little bit about YouTube and podcasting, that I think YouTube is great. I am personally also trying to get into YouTube to experiment with that more as a channel. But where I think podcasting can really shine is maybe in one unexpected way, which is connecting with guests if you interview people.
00:17:53
Speaker
because I'm sure you've experienced this too, but the people that I've met through hosting a podcast have really gone on to be not just business partners, but close friends, people who have added value to my life in such real ways, people who have inspired me to take different actions in my business or who've just supported me or become real friends outside of my business. My co-host for Booksmart, Em, I met her because I cold pitched her via email to be a guest on my very first podcast.
00:18:20
Speaker
And I was just in awe of her website, and I wanted to chat with her. And then as soon as we did this interview, at the end, we were like, Wait, I think we're going to be friends. I think we are friends soulmates who are going to get along now. And so that's something that I don't think you get through any other medium. And on top of that, you can offer reciprocity to other business owners. So by becoming a podcast host,
00:18:42
Speaker
You'll open up a lot of doors for your own business because you can have people on your show, but then you can also go on their podcast. You can partner with them in other ways. And I think collaboration is such a big part of being a business owner too.
00:18:53
Speaker
I'm so glad you brought that up because I think it's so true and there are so many different business relationships that we formed and friendships that we formed as well. I mean, Vanessa Kynes, who's done a number of episodes on this podcast, her and her family's become close family friends, mostly because she came on the podcast really early on. Her family's been out to our house and stayed with us and it's even beyond just business friendships. It's been a really great way to connect with people and that certainly doesn't happen, I think, via blog posts, right? I mean, even if you're quoting somebody or
00:19:24
Speaker
featuring, you know, you're giving them a link or something like that. It's just not the same thing. So I think that's such a good point as well. Well, I think we should move into maybe some of the nuts and bolts of actually starting a podcast. So somebody who wants to start a podcast, I mean, where should they even start in terms of getting things set
Pre-Recording Preparation: Audience and Gear
00:19:41
Speaker
up? Like what do they need to have in order to actually produce a podcast?
00:19:45
Speaker
So we've talked about obviously the concept, right? So now we're getting into, let's produce this thing. I think that the best thing you can do before you buy gear, which we of course will talk about, I'm sure people ask you all the time about equipment. That's the number one question I get. We will get there in a second. But I will say that before you buy anything, or maybe you purchase something and it's shipping itself to you, I think just sitting down and brainstorming out a list of topics is a great place to start.
00:20:09
Speaker
Do some keyword-based research. Ask people if you have people who are in your community already, whether it's an in-person community or a digital community. Ask them if they have five or 10 minutes to hop on a phone call or a Zoom call with you. Just talking to real people, I think, matters a lot. And doing research around what you could help people with matters a lot because I think a mistake people make is getting started with a podcast to tell their own stories or to talk about themselves.
00:20:35
Speaker
You absolutely can and should share your experiences, but I think you have to paint it in the lens of a benefit to your listener. So start, write them down, get used to thinking about what your episodes could be like. Then let's talk about equipment. You're going to start producing one of these episodes, bringing it to life. Microphones are a podcaster's best friend, and if you spend money on absolutely nothing else,
00:20:56
Speaker
You absolutely do need a microphone. People are professional listeners. Think about all of the movies we watch, the music we consume. We know what good audio sounds like. And so if you don't use a microphone, people will tune away from you faster than they can microwave popcorn. It's just not going to last. And I think we don't have a good tolerance for bad audio.
00:21:16
Speaker
Yeah, I'd agree. And that was some advice that friends gave me who had been podcasting. And again, I think Tyler Harrington probably recurring theme in this episode, but just talking about the importance of bad audio and how, you know, and I can't remember if it was him or somebody else. We were talking about how maybe we have some more tolerance for bad video than we do bad audio. But anyways, not the point for somebody who just starting out though, like where would you, where would you even guide them in terms of like first mic to get. So if it's all right to share, I do have a list of different microphones at different budgets.
00:21:46
Speaker
Absolutely. We can throw those in the show notes. Perfect. So we'll put the link in the show notes. And what I'll say is if you're just getting started, you're not totally sure if podcasting is right for you, you're dabbling, then you can get a great microphone for under $100. But one thing I would definitely look for is a USB microphone. So when you start getting out into the world of podcast microphones, there are two categories, USB and something called XLR.
00:22:10
Speaker
And to simplify this, a USB microphone will have a cord that plugs into your computer via a USB. You might need an adapter depending on your computer, for example, if you have a Mac. But an XLR microphone has a different type of cable that will instead plug into a second piece of equipment, which is called an audio interface. And then the audio interface plugs into your computer. So for almost all beginning podcast hosts, I would definitely recommend keeping it simple with the USB microphone.
00:22:39
Speaker
It cuts out an extra piece of equipment. And frankly, the software and the technology today of USB microphones is more than good enough for most podcasts out there. Yeah, absolutely. And I would agree. I think the mic that we started with was the Yeti. It wasn't the Yeti snowflake. It was the Yeti. It was the blue Yeti. I'm sure that's right. Number one common podcast microphone recommendation still a good pick. It's on the list.
00:23:01
Speaker
Yeah, awesome. It did a good job. And then that allowed in, in part sort of a deal I made with Krista was she was like, Hey, we'll get this mic. And if you're still producing after, you know, X amount of episodes, then we'll upgrade your equipment from there. And so I thought it was a, a good way to get started relatively inexpensively, as we sort of proved out the concept.
00:23:21
Speaker
I think that's a great idea. And I think you absolutely can plan to upgrade later on. I think it gives you a little bit of an incentive to say, you know, if I hit the milestone, maybe I'll upgrade my microphone. I'm doing that right now. I'm getting started with YouTube and I am not buying a camera until I can prove out the concept I'm using my iPhone. So I think there's something to be said for using the tech that you have. But obviously, I think we're both making this case that buying a microphone and not just using your phone and not just using your computer is definitely a must have investment.
00:23:51
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. So moving on from the microphone, what's next? So the other piece of equipment, I guess software would be the better word to consider is the tool that you'll use to record and edit your podcast.
Recommended Tools for Remote Recording
00:24:04
Speaker
And I want to talk about two different camps. One is I am recording at home. And I am the only person here that's called a local recording when you're just recording to your computer.
00:24:14
Speaker
versus a remote recording, which means that you have a guest or a co-host who might be further away from you. So depending on your approach, you may need different tools. So some of the tools that I like to use for remote recording, I like to use a tool called Zencaster. It's free. We'll put a link in the show notes. There are other options as well. But what I like about Zencaster is that I started doing remote recordings well before the Zoom era.
00:24:39
Speaker
And with Zoom, there are a few cons that I think are important to consider. The first is that it does require people to download something to their computer. They have to have some kind of software. Nowadays, that's also the concern. But with Zencaster, you just send people a URL.
00:24:56
Speaker
They don't need a username. They don't need to log in. They don't need to download anything. The other thing that I think is important to learn about is called multi-track recording. When you have a guest, when you have a co-host, multiple people in a recording could end up talking over each other. One of you may sneeze while the other one says something brilliant. If you record using Zoom's default settings, there are other options, but the default setting is that Zoom does what's called single-track recording.
00:25:24
Speaker
Zoom was created for conferences for meetings. So that works for Zoom. But Zencaster was built for podcasters. So it uses what's called multi-track recording, where Davey has one track with his voice, Melissa has one track with her voice. And then in the editing process, you can get a little bit more specific with the way that you edit those two pieces together. So Zencaster is free. It's a great tool. It's what I recommend. But there are others like Squadcast, Riverside. I mean, the list goes on and on of tools that you can use to record remotely that I would probably recommend over Zoom, especially since they're free.
00:25:54
Speaker
Sure. That's a nice rundown. How do you like Zencaster? I hear that they added a video component to it. Is that is that right? They did in 2021. Zencaster added the ability to record video and audio to just see video but only record audio, which is a setting that I really like, or to just do straight up audio only, which was the classic. So if you are trying to record video for your podcast, then Zencaster can still be a great fit for you.
00:26:19
Speaker
Yeah, that's awesome. I started using Zencaster way back in the day and then got away from it a little bit and then started again and still I think a tool that I would use if I didn't have Ecamm Live here. So we're recording on Ecamm Live in part just taking advantage of a tool that I already have. I recorded, and I'm embarrassed to say this,
00:26:36
Speaker
For years on Skype and so if anybody's listening who's been on the podcast before they're probably like laughing because Everybody who gets on the podcast that was that I've recorded with using Skype. They're like, this is the only time I've ever used Skype in my life You know, like nobody nobody uses Skype and to your point of like downloading installing things it is it was a bear I felt bad So finally moved over something like you cam live here, which I think I mean at least the feedback I've got so far is pretty easy for guests Is that right?
00:27:03
Speaker
Yeah, this was very seamless. Similar to Zencaster, all you did was send me a link and then I popped right in. I think that's what matters most. But I will say, for anything in your business, if it's working, there's no need to change it.
00:27:14
Speaker
Sure, sure. I've heard great things about Zencaster though. Ecamm Live is great, especially if you're doing like streaming to Facebook groups or YouTube and things like that. That's really what this tool was built for. But it also does multi-track recording, which I agree with you is super important. And that's why I use Skype is because actually Ecamm had another piece of software that was specifically for Skype, where it would record the call and it record multiple tracks. And that was just the first thing that I came across and what I ended up using. So I do agree that multi-track recording is important.
00:27:43
Speaker
I'm sure you'll get to this, but as far as choosing a place to host your podcast, is that what's next? It is. Well, let's talk about editing first and then we'll get into publishing. So the editing process is obviously, I think, the biggest hang up for a lot of hosts because it can feel really daunting. What I will say about editing is that it's not so much about learning complex audio editing as much as it is about being a good listener.
00:28:13
Speaker
Most of the time that I spend doing editing is just listening through to cut out places where we paused, moments in the conversation I don't want to include. As you can learn small little tools or small little, I would say, skills and different tools, it really is just about cutting audio in certain places, clearing out little pieces.
00:28:33
Speaker
hopefully as daunting as it sounds. And I like to use a tool called Hindenburg. In my experience, it is the most user-friendly editing tool, or they're often called DAWs, digital audio workspaces, at the best price point. It's $90 one time. And if you are recording locally, so you don't have another remote person, you can both record and edit in Hindenburg. So what I do is if I have a remote guest, I will record using Zencaster, download the files,
00:29:02
Speaker
and then bring them into hinenburg and that's where i do all of my editing and i found that it's the most user friendly of the traditional editing platforms if you are a person who really doesn't love the idea of doing that there is a totally left field kind of new technology called to script where instead of editing waveforms you actually see a transcription on your screen and by deleting words on the screen it edits the audio track.
00:29:29
Speaker
Now these are very different types of tools and I think some people will love Descript and hate Hindenburg and some people will be vice versa, depending on if you've edited anything in the past. If you've done any video or audio editing, probably like me, you'll see Descript and think, wow, this is cool and wow, I have no control over anything. It was not for me, but I do think it's nice to have those two very different options.
00:29:51
Speaker
Yeah, that's insane to me. I've heard somebody else mentioned Descript. I want to check it out just because that sounds super interesting from a tech standpoint. I don't do any of my editing. This podcast wouldn't exist if I had to do my own editing. So we outsource that. So we do pay. We go through, we edit podcasts and they've done, yeah, they've done a good job and they're super responsive.
00:30:10
Speaker
So if they send something back and maybe they miss something or I just need to make an update, they usually do it, no problem. So really appreciated what they do for us because again, like I said, I would just get stuck on everything, every little mistake in an episode and I would just get in my head about it and it would just never get produced. So it's best that it's sent off. And then Hindenburg, I haven't heard of either, but I'll make sure for those who are listening to include links in the show notes so people can get access to those. Anything else about editing before we move on?
00:30:37
Speaker
Let me just say that I think it's worth trying. So if you've never done any audio editing before, try it out for an episode to see how it feels. But like you said, a hang up will be the fact that it's your own voice and that we're all such perfectionists about the way that we sound. So I do think that outsourcing is a great option. I hope that people will check out We Edit podcasts. I'm sure you can put a link in the show notes. There are tons of
00:31:01
Speaker
affordable editors who will free up your time to focus on the things that you really excel at, such as making great episodes. But I do think a rule of thumb for editing is that it's about two to three times the length of your raw recording. So if you record for one hour, it will take you two to three hours to edit that episode. And obviously, the first one will be a little bit slower as you're getting used to the tool. But I think that that can help people budget their time.
00:31:29
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. And honestly, I don't think it takes like from start to finish to, you know, plan, record, edit a podcast. Like I said, I haven't done my own editing. So maybe it's not fair for me to say this, but I'll spend six hours on a blog post, like writing a 1500 word blog post, you know, having to go through the editing process on that, get graphics made for it. I don't necessarily think that this is going to this takes much longer than that. And I get that, you know, some people are probably just faster writers than
00:31:57
Speaker
than I am. So they're just thinking like, Oh, yeah, well, you know, I could do that in two hours, no problem. So but anyways, just another another kind of argument for producing a podcast. But getting into where we publish podcasts, what do you use?
Podcast Hosting and Distribution
00:32:10
Speaker
Because I'm a weirdo, and this is my industry, I have used every hosting platform. Witten Wires Podcast is currently hosted with Captivate, but I've used every host. Clients and students have used all of them. Everything is teachable. It's hosted with Simplecast. I've hosted podcasts with Buzzsprout, Libsyn, The Works, and they all have their pros and cons.
00:32:31
Speaker
Have you used fireside.fm? Briefly years ago. Okay. That's what I started with. That's what I'm still using. And it seems to be good, but I don't have a ton of experience with other publishing platforms. Soundcloud way back in the day. I couldn't even remember where to start if you were to ask my opinion on it.
00:32:48
Speaker
Maybe before we keep going, we could tell people what a hosting platform is since I am not sure that's a term that people might know. Especially because you yourself are the podcast host. Sometimes we talk about podcast hosting, people are like, no, that's me. What are they talking about? Your hosting platform is the tool that you'll use to publish your podcast so that people can listen to it in Apple and Spotify and all of the directories.
00:33:11
Speaker
I think a common misconception before people learn about the tech is that you would need to submit episodes individually to Apple and then to Spotify and then to all of these different places. Nobody got time for that, obviously. What happens instead, that savvy or tech-friendly users or listeners, I should say, might know, is that your podcast is housed as an RSS feed. In the same way that blogs, all the information is encoded into this feed. What you do is you give your feed to Apple one time.
00:33:40
Speaker
And then once they approve your show, in the future, when you add new information or new episodes to your RSS feed, then they will automatically show up in Apple and Spotify and all those apps. So there's a one time approval process, most of the time, exactly. And then in the future, when your new episodes are scheduled, they show up. And the tool that you use to create your RSS feed is called your hosting platform. And there are tools
00:34:02
Speaker
For example, Squarespace, a website building ecosystem where they claim that you can have a podcast just built using Squarespace. But what none of you should be doing is adding individual mp3 files to be hosted by your website because that is not a feed. So that's why this separate tool is crucial to have.
00:34:20
Speaker
And there are a lot of really nice ways that you can use your hosting platform to publish the podcast, to see analytics about all of your episodes. It'll aggregate data on how many listeners you have and how many downloads you get per episode. All of that is going to be in your hosting platform in addition to uploading, of course, the episodes themselves.
00:34:40
Speaker
But then you can use really cool features from the hosting platforms on your website. So for example, anybody tuning into this episode, if you're looking at the blog post, the show notes that goes with this episode, you'll see a player at the top. And that embedded player is created by the hosting platform. So a big misconception I get a lot actually, which is very much tied to your business, is that people think that show notes are this like mythical thing. But show notes are just blog posts with an embedded player.
00:35:10
Speaker
That's it. So hopefully that demystifies some of the tech. Your hosting platform creates your RSS feed and it hosts all of your audio and podcast information and then you can use that information on your website to continue building relationships with listeners.
00:35:22
Speaker
It's so obvious that you've gone through this content with people before, because I'm just jumping on to the next thing. I'm like, okay, tell me. In part, I like talking to other podcasters and hearing about the gear they're using and stuff like that. I'm glad you're here to bring me back and be like, well, let's tell people what a hosting platform is first. Just to add that a little bit, I like Fireside because the metrics are pretty easy to understand. Like you said, they aggregate metrics so you can log into
00:35:48
Speaker
podcast connect and see some metrics from Apple, but it's only going to be from people who are using Apple to listen to your podcast. I will say something I was surprised about, and I joked about when you publish an episode to your host, it should automatically load to Apple Podcast, for instance. Sometimes you have to refresh that connection. And I recently changed our podcast art, and I had trouble getting it to publish to iTunes. And no matter what I did, I was following all their rules, it wouldn't publish.
00:36:14
Speaker
So I reached out to support expecting I'd hear back three years from now, and they responded within 24 hours. I was shocked. I feel like they've put a lot more in to their podcasting community lately, even just with the amount of metrics and access to different data that you have as a creator on that front. Is that something you notice as well?
00:36:32
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. 2021 has actually been a big year for podcasting because Apple, Spotify, and frankly, Amazon and Google, the four biggest players have all made some pretty significant updates. So from Apple's perspective, when you mentioned Podcast Connect, that is the admin dashboard where any users can submit their podcast and then become the owner of an RSS feed of a podcast in Apple. And in April of 2021,
00:36:56
Speaker
Apple announced a huge update, which was the release of paid subscriptions. So you can choose that your podcast listed in Apple could have some gated content, all gated content, and that people could only access it if they pay you a monthly subscription, which would be directly through Apple. Now, this is not a strategy I recommend for most independent podcasters who are not part of a network. But the reason I'm bringing it up is because Apple had to
00:37:23
Speaker
I think kind of rebuilds their whole podcast connect from scratch, which meant they did finally have to catch up and offer some more tools for podcasters. And it also meant that they broke a lot of stuff. So 2021 has been, I think, prime time for their support team. So I'm actually not surprised that they got back to you because when they released this update in April and then May of 2021, a lot of things went wrong. People couldn't submit their shows. People's podcasts disappeared. It was a rough time for podcasters. And for anybody listening now, that has been resolved. But
00:37:53
Speaker
Apple released that major update spotify quickly followed with their own similar monetization strategy so that's a big trend in the creator economy is that more apps. Are providing ways for their creators to earn money in app weather apple spotify tiktok instagram all of these different platforms are now offering some kind of monetization options but i'm a little bit on the fence weather i think they're good strategies for most podcasts.
00:38:20
Speaker
Sure, sure. You'd mentioned you're using Captivate, is that right? As your host, is that what you recommend to people that are getting started with podcasts? Is that typically where you send them?
00:38:30
Speaker
It is. So as of our recording, the two hosting platforms that I recommend for most new podcasters are either Buzzsprout or Captivate, and we can include links in the show notes for both. So both of these hosting platforms to me check all of the boxes. They are user friendly. They have helpful support teams. You can see strong podcast analytics. That's something that not all of the hosting platforms have
00:38:53
Speaker
equally, whether or not you can see, for example, individual episode stats is really important to me. And something that both Buzzsprout and Captivate do really well is that you can see how, let's say, episode 10 performed within the first 30 days, and then later on, compare it to how episode 40 performs within the first 30 days.
00:39:14
Speaker
And that can really tell you if your podcast is growing because if you only see very essential stats like anchor, anchor is a free hosting platform, but you kind of get a little of everything, but not quite all that you want. And with anchor, you can't necessarily see those single episode stats. So let's say you had a huge spike in your listens today.
00:39:35
Speaker
You won't know which episode caused those spikes. So you may not realize that it's not actually your new episode that went out today. It's a previous episode. So for example, with Whitten Wire's podcast, one of the top downloaded episodes of all time that consistently is in the top three is my very first episode. And the reason why is because even though that's true of many podcasts, your first episode will continue to be popular. People will find you, they'll go back to the beginning.
00:39:59
Speaker
This episode in particular went viral on Pinterest. And so for a year and a half, I have consistently gotten more people through one pin coming back to my podcast. And if I didn't have individual episode stats, I wouldn't know that. So both Buzzsprout and Captivate.
00:40:15
Speaker
I would say a differentiating factor is that the pricing is very different. It's not better or worse, but Buzzsprout charges you by hours uploaded per month. So if you upload three hours worth, that's one price. If you upload, I think the next one might be six. It's a different price point, $12 or $18 per month.
00:40:35
Speaker
but unlimited features otherwise. The biggest thing that Buzzsprout's pricing does is they charge per podcast. The biggest reason why I switched to Captivate is because they charge per user and users can have unlimited podcasts. I am that girl and I have a lot of podcasts. For me, Captivate was a better fit because they don't charge by hours uploaded. You can have unlimited features, unlimited podcasts on all of their different price points. Instead, they cap at the number of listeners you have within a month.
00:41:05
Speaker
So as you grow, you'll pay them a little bit more. But I think it's important to point out because Buzzsprout, Captivate, and all the other hosting platforms actually charge quite differently. So I would read the fine print based on which one is right for you. But my broad recommendation is if you only have one podcast, they are both a great fit. Buzzsprout could be slightly cheaper if you have a shorter podcast or if you expect to grow quite a bit. But if you think you'll have at least two podcasts, then Captivate will be a better choice.
00:41:33
Speaker
Yeah, that's so interesting. I'm thinking about Fireside now. I signed up so long ago. The nice thing about Fireside, and I obviously didn't know this at the time, was that they've seemed to grow as the Branson Book Podcast has grown. Obviously, the two are not correlated.
00:41:48
Speaker
That just convenient, right? So they've been rolling out more features that, you know, I didn't even realize I was missing until, you know, they rolled them out and like, this is great. I will say the one thing that, you know, I'm curious about is they do have specific analytic features that are only available to a new plan that is beyond the plan that I currently pay for.
00:42:08
Speaker
And so I kind of wonder what those metrics are. Most of the individual episode stats though are available in, I can't remember what I pay for it, but it was like $19 or $20 a month when I first signed up. I should probably know if that's what I'm still paying, but I assume it is in that ballpark. And I think it's based on number of podcasts you have versus not even hours, just like one podcast is going to be X amount.
00:42:32
Speaker
So anyways, maybe something I should have checked before we jumped on this episode. I'll include a link to that though in the show notes so that people can check that out as well. I do want to get through some of this other stuff as well. So as far as equipment publishing goes, are we through that?
00:42:47
Speaker
I think so. We've covered the fact that you need a microphone. We've covered the recording and the editing tools, the publishing tools. I'll throw in one wildcard, which are some accessories I would recommend. Depending on the microphone that you want to use, a pop filter is definitely something I would look into because it muffles what are called plosives, like when you have a harsh popping P or an S sound. And whether or not you need one will depend on if your microphone has a built-in
00:43:14
Speaker
Windscreen if you're buying the blue yeti just as an example since it is one of the most popular picks a pop filter which will cost you like fifteen or twenty bucks makes a world of difference so would recommend and then the other thing is a boom arm so something that most people don't think about is the fact that if your microphone is on a stand.
00:43:31
Speaker
It's susceptible to you touching the surface that the mic is on so the blue yeti again as an example since it's so popular comes with a stand works super well but if you accidentally tap the desk even slightly you risk hearing that on the mic.
00:43:46
Speaker
So test it out, but you might want to buy a boom arm, which will put your microphone on a snazzy arm that you can pull back and forth. Both of us have one right now. We're looking at each other, but the arm is not only nice because it doesn't take up desk space. It's also nice because it puts the mic into air, which means that you can't hit it as easily.
00:44:07
Speaker
Yeah, and I got a new desk recently. And so I had to get rid of my boom arm, but I got this. So I mean, it is a boom arm, but it's anchored with a weight at the bottom. It's called a Gator, I think is the brand. Yeah, Gator framework. So same concept. But instead of attaching to my desk, it does still sit on my desk.
00:44:24
Speaker
I've actually really liked it just because I can take this to there's a table behind me here that sometimes I record at so I can just lift it up, you know, instead of, you know, kind of unscrewing it, you know, the clamp to the table and rescrewing it and all of that. So I can include a link to that as well. And I'm sure in your it sounds like you're gonna send me, you know, something I can link to that has, you know, kind of all your gear recommendations.
00:44:46
Speaker
Yes, I have one page that has all of them. So I'll send you both links for the show notes. And then the last piece of equipment, which is actually more for your guest, is headphones. So a question I get all the time is, does my guest need to have a microphone? And the answer is no, because as long as you the host have a microphone, people are more willing to forgive the audio quality for your guest. If anything, it sounds like they're calling in.
00:45:13
Speaker
on a phone so i think it matches your listeners expectations of what's happening so if you have crisp audio it's okay if your guests isn't quite as good but headphones make a huge difference for two reasons the first is if you are using zencaster you can any of the tools we talked about if your guest or you are not wearing headphones
00:45:34
Speaker
then the audio is going to come out of your computer. So if any of you imagine me talking right now, if Davey wasn't wearing headphones, my voice would be coming out of his computer and the microphone could pick it up and create an echo. So both of you need to be wearing headphones to protect the microphones from hearing you. But the other reason why is because headphones have a little
00:45:55
Speaker
a little microphone included. I'm just wearing Apple headphones that have a little mic. And that puts a microphone so much closer to my mouth, as literal as it sounds compared to a computer. When you sit at your computer, mine's like two feet away from me. So the audio quality I'm going to get is going to be far worse than any headphones that your guest already owns that include a small mic. So headphones are crucial.
00:46:18
Speaker
And they really are. It's like my only rule for being a guest on the podcast is you have to wear headphones just because when you get a feedback, to your point, people can forgive bad audio. But if there's a feedback, they're gone. And it's hard to interview people when you're constantly hearing your voice back at you.
00:46:35
Speaker
Definitely with the headphones. One thing I definitely want to cover before we finish up is just growing your podcast.
Expanding Reach Through Earned Media
00:46:40
Speaker
So you launch your podcast, getting people to listen to it on a consistent basis. What are some of your biggest tips for launching a podcast well and then creating sustainable results, not even sustainable, but growing those results over time?
00:46:54
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I could talk about this for hours. So we're going to know I'm already thinking we're going to have to do like, there's going to have to be a part two at some point. Yeah, for today, we'll give people I think some big picture ideas of how to make sure that you do set up a long term sustainable growth strategy for your podcast.
00:47:11
Speaker
So the first thing that I'll say is that launching your podcast is obviously a huge deal. It's very exciting. Usually on your launch day, you do want to release at least a couple of episodes. It's the Netflix effect. You want to give people something to binge on so that if they like your first episode, they can keep listening and you can start to hook them in as an early listener.
00:47:30
Speaker
But other than that, I wouldn't worry too much about how many downloads you have on your first day. A download is the industry term for a listen. People do not need to literally download a file. If they stream it for 60 seconds, it counts. That to me is like your benchmark. That's your starting point. Yours will be different from anybody else's just based on what you had done before your podcast went live. So I would focus more on the consistency that comes after your launch.
00:47:54
Speaker
I think that's a big mistake that a lot of hosts unknowingly make is that they're so excited about building up to launch day that they forget that it's really day one. And then after your launch day, then you're at risk of thinking, Oh no, like I don't have an episode for the next week. I don't have a guest lined up. So before you launch your podcast, I would recommend recording at least another couple episodes. You don't have to have them fully edited, but at least use the luxury of time before your launch day to put yourself a little bit ahead so that you're not immediately
00:48:23
Speaker
on the hamster wheel. That to me is a growth strategy because if you're so burnt out from podcasting before it even begins, then you're going to pod fade. You're going to fall into that 44% of all podcasts that have three episodes or fewer. First thing I would focus on for the first 10 episodes, honestly, is just getting into your own routine, getting into a system, figuring out how you can save time and get into your own process as a podcaster. But then let's get into some nuts and bolts,
00:48:52
Speaker
The first thing I think we can talk about is the difference between owned media and earned media. One of the biggest mistakes I see a lot of new hosts making is that their marketing strategy is all about perfecting their social media of choice. Whether it's Instagram, LinkedIn, there are so many options. We're thinking that they have to be everywhere at once.
00:49:12
Speaker
But this category of owned media, that's anywhere that you create content and you can control what goes out to the world. Your website, your email list, your podcast even, a YouTube channel, social media platforms, these are all owned media because you are the person putting content out under a platform or a domain.
00:49:30
Speaker
And when I look at a lot of early hosts' marketing mixes, they only include owned media strategies. But what you really need to do is include earned media strategies. Earned media means that you are putting yourself in front of somebody else's audience. It's a guest blog post. It's you being a podcast guest. It's any kind of social media collaboration. It's an in-person event, you speaking at an event, a virtual summit. There are so many ways that you can put yourself in front of other audiences.
00:49:57
Speaker
And let me reassure anybody that you do not need to be a guru or an influencer or have a huge audience in order to be in front of somebody else's audience. You could be a case study. You could be somebody who just has a personal experience on a topic. You could be a growing expert in your field and you find somebody else who is also very new, another new host. Maybe you guys can be guests on each other's podcasts and then support each other as you grow.
00:50:23
Speaker
I know we mentioned collaboration earlier, but I think a real key to podcast growth is that you have to put yourself in front of new audiences, because if all you do is spend time perfecting your own Instagram grid, you're really just talking to people who already know about you.
00:50:36
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. I think that's such a good point. But one of the benefits of podcasting, right? I mean, just as you suggested is that you can have somebody on your podcast and then in exchange, they'll usually, if they have a podcast themselves and it makes sense, interview as well. And I think, again, that has just been one of the biggest, I think, benefits of podcasting and brands that book for a long time and still remains to be a podcast where people are interviewed.
00:50:59
Speaker
And I was telling you before this episode even went live, it's a great excuse to share about people down the line. It's just a great relationship builder. So I think a lot easier to earn media podcasting than it is to earn media blogging or some of these other channels.
00:51:17
Speaker
I think that podcast hosts are at the top of the list in terms of how many doors are open to you when it comes to collaboration with other business owners. And even if you aren't a podcast host, if you're trying to grow your presence online, collaboration, earned media,
00:51:34
Speaker
It's going to be crucial for you. So that's another reason to me to get into podcasting is to allow that two way street where yes, you want to be in front of other people's audiences, but now you've created the opportunity to promote other businesses and to build real relationships. And I think that that's so important. And all these people are real people. Like I've really enjoyed getting to connect with other hosts. So I think it's nice to be able to return the favor.
00:51:57
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. Well, we're running out of time here. We're coming up on an hour. And I'm thinking that at some point, we're going to have to record a part two to this episode, because there are all sorts of things that I want to dive into. I mean, even when it came to podcast hosting, you know, do you, you know, like, I don't know with captivate, but with fireside, you can build a website on fireside. Do you use that to build your website? Or do you have your own website that you host your podcast on, or at least use to share your podcast?
00:52:21
Speaker
The short answer is no, I would never use Fireside's website building tools. I mean, if you really, you know, just in terms of like, your budget only allows for you to invest in a certain amount of tools, and you have to build your website through a tool like Fireside, that's great. And I think a lot. I mean, does Captivate and Simplecast and Buzzsprout, do they all have like website building aspect to them?
00:52:42
Speaker
They do. And I can say this because my business is not about website building. I don't typically recommend them either, so it's not just about David and Krista. But I do think that there's obviously a full part to get into around, first of all, what are some of the more tangible organic growth strategies you can use? Is it viable to use paid advertising strategies to build your podcast? And how does your website fit into it? Because too often, I feel like I see this blanket advice on the internet about what your show notes should include or what your website should look like.
00:53:10
Speaker
But none of those take into account the goals of an individual podcast host. So that's something I get pretty fired up about because I think there are a lot of people doing a lot of unnecessary work and a lot of people who aren't doing quite enough work and lots of myths to debunk.
00:53:25
Speaker
You need that part too, because I'm truly interested in some of your answers to these questions, just because show notes, for instance, is something that I feel like I'm never really dialed in. Just having published show notes where I'm like, are these helpful? Of course, yeah, people can go to them and find the links maybe that they need, but is there something more I can be doing with them? And I tossed around the idea of publishing transcripts in the past, but just looking at the amount of a page that somebody consumed, it was like, well, nobody was really using the transcripts.
00:53:51
Speaker
I don't know. So there's so many other questions that need to be covered. But fortunately, in the meantime, between now and whenever part two happens, you have all sorts of resources that people can access.
Resources for Launching and Growing Podcasts
00:54:02
Speaker
And I believe even programs as well that people can go through where they're going to learn all of this and more in more detail. Can you tell us a little bit where we can find those things?
00:54:11
Speaker
Yes, I would love to. So at WittenWire, the core of my business is online courses and helping online business owners really share their passions and skills with the world and earn money doing it. So if anybody's interested in learning more, you can visit my website, wittenwire.com. See my very gorgeous Davey and Krista theme.
00:54:27
Speaker
You can also find me on Instagram at WittenWire. And if you are interested in launching a podcast, I do have a free masterclass about how to launch a podcast without feeling overwhelmed or feeling like it's super techy or complicated. And we cover everything today, much more in depth plus a lot of the growth strategies to help you get your first 1000 listens. So you can find that at WittenWire.com slash BTD. All right, awesome. Well, I'll include links to all of those things in the show notes in my insufficient inadequate show notes.
00:54:55
Speaker
Well, maybe between parts one and two, we can see how the show notes evolve. Yeah, that's right. Well, I really appreciate you taking the time to share your expertise around creating podcasts and publishing podcasts. And like I said, hopefully we can get a part two scheduled at some point.
00:55:10
Speaker
Yeah, I'm looking forward to it. And a huge thank you again for having me. Can I end with one small tip? Absolutely. So as a new podcast host, it can feel super uncomfortable to hear your own voice, to do all these things that are new for the first time. You've heard us nerd out on equipment and tools. And I know it can feel really overwhelming. But sincerely, I think that anybody can be a podcast host. I don't believe you need anything like a podcast voice. I don't believe you need to have huge influence or be a guru.
00:55:39
Speaker
I'm thrilled to tune in because you are exactly who they're looking for. So if you're curious at all, I think it's great to try it out. It'll feel a little uncomfortable. It's scary at first, but I think it's worth it. Awesome. And I think that's the perfect advice to end on. Thanks for tuning into the Brancet Book Show. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider subscribing and leaving a review in iTunes. For show notes and other resources, head on over to dvandchrista.com.
00:56:14
Speaker
you