Should you start a blog or should you start a podcast?

Which medium will make you more money and which is best (given your skills)?

I started a blog in 2012 on the topic of crowdfunding and I launched a podcast on this same subject in 2015.

My blog has done millions of views and the podcast has been listened to by more than 150,000 people around the world!

Having both a blog and a podcast has given me a unique perspective on the difference between the two mediums. I want to share with you what I’ve learned so that you can feel more confident about which path to go down.

I don’t have anything to sell you in this article, so it will be my unbiased thoughts on the matter. If you do enjoy the article, I’d love it if you could take a second to subscribe to my newsletter.

Okay… let’s get started!

Blogging

Blogging reached its peak in popularity just around 2005 – 2007. The term was trending on very news website around the world. Celebrities were starting blogs about their life. Ordinary people were now able to share their opinions.

We heard about people earning six figures by doing nothing by writing online. They were gaining the attention of a massive audience of loyal readers. It seemed magical.

Then… the term blogging kind of died down. People didn’t talk about it as much. It kind of left the public mindshare.

This is right around when I started my own blog, in 2012. The important thing to note was that while interest in blogging from everyday Americans was dying down, the industry itself was alive and well.

In fact, it was going through a bit of a transformation. In 2011, The Huffington Post was sold to AOL for $315 million. TechCrunch was sold in 2010 to AOL for about $25 million. Even in 2015, ViralNova was sold for $100 million!

These online blogs were actually becoming more like online publications. They weren’t just about sharing opinions or thoughts. They were about sharing education, news, entertainment, etc.

I want to give you a clear idea of how blogs get traffic, make money, and the skills required. Let’s go a few quick bullet points and then I’ll explain a bit more after.

How blogs get traffic:

• Google search
• Social media (Facebook)
• Email marketing
• Referral traffic

The main way that educational blogs get traffic is through search engine optimization. People are typing key words into google and coming across the individual blog articles.

This is how big-name websites get traffic and smaller ones. It’s what leads to a dependable source of traffic that then allows you to focus on other things, like creating new products.

Entertainment blogs tend to see traffic from social sharing websites like Facebook and Twitter. If they’re news related, they might also see some traffic from Google.

As I go through in a video, blogging is just the front. There is a whole back end to a successful blog that causes the owners to earn six and seven figures from the work.

How blogs make money:

• Banner ads, sponsored posts.
• Digital products (courses, books, membership, etc)
• Services (coaching, consulting, services)
• Affiliate marketing (recommending products and services)

Large publications, like Mashable or Buzzfeed, tend to make money from advertisements and sponsored content. This is because they have so much traffic at their disposable. It just makes sense.

Smaller blogs can also pull in decent revenues with sponsored posts and advertisements, though they’ll be more likely to make the bulk of their funds from digital products like courses. They’ll also make a decent sum from services.

I’ve found that the majority of bloggers out there are not full-time bloggers. They’re usually freelancers and writing for other people’s blogs, along with their own.

In order to become a full-time blogger, you’ll need to build up multiple income streams, which also includes affiliate marketing.

The skills required:

• Blog post writing (especially headline crafting)
• Copywriting to sell products
• Email marketing
• SEO optimization
• Social media marketing
• Guest posting/outreach

To start a successful blog, you must be willing to write a lot. You have to be willing to learn how to craft good blog posts and, most importantly, title them effectively.

I’ve written over 800 blog posts. Think about that for a second.

You also need to learn a bit about copywriting, which is a different style of writing than informational-style articles. Copywriting is designed to get people to buy things.

Aside from the writing, you’ll also need to discover how to get traffic to your articles, through email marketing, SEO, social media marketing, etc. A lot of bloggers will also engage in guest post writing.

It sounds like a lot, but one good blog posts can pay dividends well into the future. I have articles that continue to get traffic, even though I wrote them more than 4 years ago.

Overall, blogging is extremely different from podcasting in a number of ways. I’m going to go through some of these differences and give you an idea of what it’s like to run a podcast, along with how you’ll be able to earn money.

Podcasting

Podcasting also saw a big surge in interest around 2005, but that quickly died down when the actual listening device wasn’t very practical for mass consumption. People had to plug in their Apple device in order to download new shows. Also, many of the shows were very amateurish.

Recently, we’ve seen a resurgence in podcasting, with some shows making six and seven figures regularly. Other podcasts, like Serial, have certainly garnered mainstream attention.

Podcasting has been regular growing at 10 – 20% with consumption steadily increasing. Many notable celebrities have taken to podcasting and it’s clearly going to be a major competitor to radio in the future.

If you’re going to start a podcast, you’re gonna want to know how shows get attention, make money, and what skills are required to produce a good one! I’ll go through these points and explain more down below.

How Podcasts Get Downloads

• iTunes marketplace SEO
• Related shows
• Email marketing
• Blogs
• Social media

A majority of the downloads for my show and others come from the iTunes marketplace. These are subscribers of my show, people who have found me via the podcast app, or listeners who have discovered my show from the “related shows” section on other podcasts.

I also will see spikes in downloads when I announce a new podcast through my email list, on social media, or on my blog.

Many podcasters out there also have blogs where they publish the podcast. These aren’t blogs in the traditional sense of the word, but moreso websites they use to keep an archive of their shows. They could also publish their show on YouTube.

How Podcasts Make Money

• Sponsorships
• Digital products (courses, books)
• Services
• Merchandise and swag

A lot of educational podcasts are used as lead generation sources for the host. The host will then have a backend business which is where the real monetization happens.

Since podcasts have a higher CPM (cost per 1,000 downloads) than blogs, a lot of hosts can also make decent money with sponsorship income.

Lastly, entertainment podcasts will offer swag, merchandise, and other goodies to bring more revenue into the company. Similar to blogs, podcasts have multiple revenue sources.

The Skills Required

• Audio editing
• Speaking
• Building rapport with guests
• Marketing your episodes
• Getting good guests

Unlike with blogging, the bulk of your content is likely going to be provided either by your guests or though your interaction with guests. This means you need to get good at asking the right questions, leading the interview, and bringing out their personality.

If you cross-post the podcast on your blog, you will have to do a little bit of writing, but people will mainly be tuning in for the podcast via the iTunes podcast app and listening while they’re doing other things, like commuting to work.

When I first started podcasting, I had to work on a lot of things like my tone of voice, authenticity, and overall excitement around certain topics. A certain number of people will tune into your show for what you promise, like education, but they’ll be far more likely to stick around when you’re also emotionally engaging.

Which should you go with?

I would evaluate what you’re already good at and where you want to go with your career. Do you want to become a better speaker? Do you want to become a full-time writer?

It’s up to you!

I started podcasting because I knew that I want to get out there more. I wanted to start the process of exposing the world to my ideas. I wanted to get better at public speaking. I wanted to have “a personality” that people could connect with.

I knew that I was good at writing, but I didn’t ONLY want to be a writer. I also wanted to be a powerful speaker. I wanted to have followers that would listen to what I had to say.

Whenever I heard famous writers in person, I always thought it was a bit of a let down. They were kinda boring. They weren’t as interesting as their books. That’s because speaking wasn’t their craft. Writing was.

I never wanted to be like that. I wanted people to come away feeling like, “wow!”

It’s 100% up to you. I have a great introduction to blogging here if you’d like to learn more. This video goes through some of the secrets that bloggers don’t share with you when you’re getting tarted.

I also have a book out there on Podcasting which will quickly get you started so that you can start publishing new show episodes and rack up downloads!

I wish you a lot of success in your endeavors. If you enjoyed this article, then take a sec to subscribe.

Podcasting is different from every other medium because the content isn’t generated by the host.

With a blog, YOU write the content.

With a YouTube channel, YOU talk to the camera.

With a podcast, YOU host the show… and talk with guests.

A bulk of the content comes from your interaction with the guest. That guest might share insights, education, lessons, resources, etc.

Listeners will also subconsciously rate the quality of your show based on the emotional vibe that you give off on the podcast.

For example, you might listen to a podcast and think that the host sounds robotic, candid, and fake. Based on their monotone interaction with the guest, it’s just boring. It’s informative, but boring.

When listening to another show, you might laugh out loud on the street (like a crazy person).

People around you will stare at you, but you can’t help smiling because of something funny that one of the guests said.

Even if it’s an educational podcast, you can come away feeling like you “had a good time” while listening to the show, because of the casual interaction between the host and the guest.

By becoming a better podcast host, you’ll actually build a competitive advantage for your show which sets you apart from everyone else in the marketplace. This article will show you exactly how to do that!

1. Set Your Guest at Ease with This Technique

No one performs well when they’re nervous or anxious. That’s why we don’t really seem like ourselves on job interviews and first dates.

Anxiety is the enemy of authenticity.

It’s your job to make your guest feel relaxed and comfortable while they’re on the show. You want to set their mind at ease, so that they’ll actually forget you’e recording it all.

An easy way to do this is to send over some sample questions to prepare your guest for the interview. They can provide a few bullet points, outlining their answers. This accomplishes a few things, like:

1. Makes them feel more ready for the show.
2. They have something to “hold on to” if they don’t know what to say
3. Gets their brain thinking about the subject matter.

Even if you don’t ask any of these questions, it will make the guest feel more prepared for the interview. You can also use their answers to guide questions if you ever lose your place.

A lot of setting someone at ease happens before the interview and in the early stages. Another simple thing that you can do is get them warmed up before you hit record.

We all go into our pre-programmed way of answering questions that are asked by strangers. You want to bring out their human side. Before the interview goes live, you can:

• Ask them easy personal questions (where are you from)
• Share a funny story
• Get them loosed up talking about non-threatening topics.

Once you go live, you’re going to want to maintain this energy. Don’t switch into an alternate persona. Don’t get all formal all of a sudden. Just transition smoothly as though you’re continuing the conversation.

Primarily, guests are looking to non-obvious cues from YOU about how they should conduct themselves. If you’re super serious, they’ll assume that they should be serious. If you’re laid back and tell stories, they’ll be relaxed too.

One of the things that I’ll purposely do is “mess up” if I feel like the guest is trying to be conscious of every word their saying. If they’re feeling too uptight and like they need to answer every question perfectly, then I’ll mess up and be like “oh man, I can’t think of the word, haha. Anyway…”

This lets them subconsciously that it’s okay to mess up, which will make the more likely to share things that are spontaneous rather than purely logical.

2. Stories are golden

When I first got started with my podcast, I thought that it was aaaall about information. I wanted to ask great logical questions that really go to the root of the information I wanted to share with my viewers.

What I’ve come to discover is that most people get bored when there is too much information, even if it’s good information. They’ll tune out.

The formula for an engaging podcast is simple… get your guests to tell stories (or tell them yourself). Stories will draw listeners in, peak their curiosity, and get them wanting to find out what happens next.

Oddly enough, people tend to remember the lessons from stories more than if you were to just share that lesson with them as though it was a bit of information.

You can use stories to convey tips, lessons, and takeaways. You can also use stories to serve as a mental “break” after going super in-depth with some logical explanation. Stories are emotionally recharging and allow us to get back to processing more information.

Finally, stories can be used to build an emotional relationship with your listener. After hearing a story, the listener might think “I want to be like that!” or “wow, I respect __ a lot more.”

It’s a non-invasive way to share more personal information with the audience. If you were to just tell them “I like the color green. My favorite movie is Star Trek. I dated this one girl in high school named Tina,” they’d be like…

… okay… why do I care?

But, if they picked up that information through a story, they’d be like “huh, I didn’t know mark liked Star Trek.”

It’s powerful man!

The only way you’ll get your guest to tell stories is through the use of questions. You’ll have to alter the questions that you ask them to elect stories. Examples include:

• Tell me the story of…
• What did it feel like…
• What happened leading to…
• Describe ___….
• Where were you at that point in your life…
• What was the moment when…

3. Be One With The Audience

You need to be in the audience’s head throughout the show.

If the guest says something that is very technical, ask them to explain it. If the guest says something that would elicit a question, ask it.

Always be reminding yourself what the audience might be feeling at this moment in time and what might be on their mind while hearing the information.

A listener is there for a reason. He or she wants to get something out of the podcast episode. They’re seeking out tips, advice, or they’re bored and want to be entertained.

By getting inside the mind of the audience, you’ll be able to ask much better questions of your guest.

I would also keep a close eye on the reason that people say they like your show. Listeners might really resonate with your personality. In that case, experiment with showing more of it!

Maybe they like a story that you told on the podcast. Then, tell more stories!

You might be very interested in the subject of your podcast, but you should never start podcast just for yourself. You also need to be mindful of the people listening.

It’s your job to deliver the content that THEY want. You can only do that when you intimately understand their thoughts, feelings, and even the beliefs they have about themselves and how it relates to the show.

For example, in one interview, I said “Well, if I was listening to this podcast right now, you’d probably seem like some guy with the midas touch. Is that true, or have there also been failures along the way?”

They then opened up and admitted to a bunch of failures. This made them seem more human and also made the audience feel more empowered. Someone probably had the thought, “Well if this guy messed up so bad and he still made millions, maybe I can too.”

If I had not asked that question, then the guest probably would have seemed less relatable. People might have been like “Well, of course he can do it. Everything goes right for him. But, what about me?”

The opportunity is there for a great show. Your job as a host is to excavate it and uncover it.

4. Know Why The Guest is There

A big part of being a good podcast “host” is similar to being a good dinner or party host. You must anticipate the needs and wants of other people. You must make them feel welcomed.

The guest must be having a good time in order for them to feel positive about the interview. They are there for a reason. They want to promote a book, a product, a service, etc.

Know why they’re there and give them opportunities to get their plugs in. When they get a chance to talk about something that is more self-serving they will trust you much more.

We tend to trust people who have our best interest at heart. This makes us open up to them more. If you’re only covering topics that you want in the interview, they’ll feel a tiny bit of resentment. Their mind will keep returning to the thought “oh, I have to remember to talk about x, y, and z).

In addition, by being mindful of this and giving softball questions, you’ll make it easier to get to the content that YOU want. When you get “the plug” out of the way and promise the potential for a future plug by saying things like “we’ll also get into x, y, and z later,” then the guest can RELAX.

We all only have so much mental capacity. Their mind will stop wandering to the thought “I gotta remember to talk about ____” and they’ll be more wiling to be in the present moment and think about the answers to your questions.

When you make the experience enjoyable for the guest, they’ll also be more likely to introduce you to other potential guests for your show. No one wants to recommend a bad experience.

5. Be Authentic (Or Else)

I believe that at times, we need to put ourselves in a particular emotional state to convey things like:

• A sense of urgency
• Excitement
• Passion
• Sadness, etc.

This is acting. You are conscious of how people perceive you and you are altering your emotional state so that the way your voice sounds is congruent with your thoughts and feelings.

That’s 100% okay in my opinion.

What’s not okay is trying to fake emotions. Don’t try to act excited when you’re not. It will come off as fake. Don’t try to pretend you care about something when you don’t.

Not only will guests sense that you are fake, but the listeners will as well (as result of your interactions with guests).

This will make them trust you less. They will also approach any announcements that you have regarding your own products or services with a bit of skepticism.

That’s a recipe for disaster!

Instead, if you want to come off as excited to talk to a guest, focus on something that you genuinely find cool and that gets you excited.

Sell YOURSELF on the experience so that there will be congruency between the tone of your voice and what you’re saying. Imagine how great it will be to talk to this person. Sculpt your thoughts and imagination a bit in order to get more excited.

6. Find good guests

A host can be very talented, but at the end of the day, they are only as good as the guest that they have on their show.

If you have a guest who is boring, irrelevant, closed-off, or unhappy, it’s going to be very difficult to shake them out of that emotional state in order to get them to open up.

Is Larry King famous for his interviews with random people? No, he’s famous because of his interviews with famous people.

Is Ellen Degeneres famous for her interviews with people off the street? No, she has on stars or viral social media sensations. She has her own personality, but still, her show revolves around the star power of other people.

What about Howard Stern? Yes… he does have some oddballs on his shows, but what he’s really good at is getting celebrities to open up and share things they wouldn’t normally share.

No matter how talented you are, you are only as good as the quality of your guests.

The hallmark of a good host is the ability to persuade sought-after guests to come on their show. You need to be able to gain access to valuable guests.

Ironically, this goes back to point #4, which is to have an intimate understanding of the psychology of your guest and why they would actually want to come on your show.

7. Take Care of Yourself and Your Show

You can do all of the above things, but if you forget to take care of your own interests, you will fail.

Based on some of the advice above, you might thin that I’m asking you to placate the audience and the guest that you have on. This is not true!

You’re simply providing a good show for them so that you can get what you want at the end of the day.

That could be to get more sponsors, sell products, or spread awareness for your personal brand.

A good host knows what they want and isn’t afraid to ask for it. Don’t afraid to promote, sell, and ask the audience for their attention.

If you are not willing to promote the show, your products, or yourself, then you will never be successful from an economic standpoint.

The only reason that shows are able to financially afford to continue is due to their business model. You are running a BUSINESS. The goal of a business is to make money.

Despite all of the fancy download numbers, cool guests, and life changing stories, the only thing that matters at the end of the day is how much cash you got in the bank.

That cash will fuel your ability to purchase equipment, hire assistants, or grow your show to reach more people.

Should you start a YouTube channel or a podcast?

Which channel is better suited to you and which will be better for your business?

Thankfully, both of these mediums are growing at a rapid pace. We’re seeing more people get into the online space than ever before.

Now, it’s not uncommon for someone to be able to earn a full-time income doing what they love from the comfort of their home.

I myself have a YouTube channel and a podcast on the same subject. They’ve grown a ton over the years.

My podcast has generated more than 150,000 downloads and my YouTube channel has been viewed more than 300,000 times.

I’ve learned a ton since starting my blog way back in 2012 and I’m happy to share with you that if you want to learn how to start an online business, then you’re in the right place!

With this article, I want to bring some of the pros and cans of each to light and share with you which has been more powerful for my brand.

This way, you’ll be able to make a more informed decision going forward. You’ll know how to devote your time and which channel will give you the best bang for your buck.

1. YouTube CPM vs. Podcast CPM

Without a doubt, Podcasting has a higher CPM than YouTube. On average you can earn about $25 per 1,000 listens for a mid-roll advertisement and $18 per 1,000 for a pre-roll advertisement.

This mean you’d be making about $43 per episode if you were getting 1,000 downloads per episode. This is for just one sponsor. You can have multiple on your show.

You can easily see how shows with a large number of downloads can rake in lots of advertising dollars. If you had a show that got 10,000 downloads per episode and you had two sponsors per episode, you could be making $860 per show.

In contrast, the CPM that you experience on YouTube will fluctuate based on the content that you produce and the demand for those viewers by advertising dollars.

Depending on the content of your show, you could be attracting visitors that are worth a $1 CPM or a $10 CPM. Even at those that upper number, this is nothing like the CPM that you’ll get with podcasting.

The reason here is that YouTube viewers are far less engaged than podcast listeners. Someone who listens to a 3 minute YouTube video is not as high quality of a lead as someone who listens to an entire 60 minute long podcast.

By studying the difference in advertising income, you’ll get a clearer picture of how you’ll monetize your work going forward. You’ll also gain more clarity about the opportunity available for each of the channels.

The reality is that you can earn anywhere between a $18 – $50 CPM with podcasting and you might get $2 – $10 on YouTube.

2. SEO vs. Novelty

YouTube is a search engine. Every minute of every day, people are typing keywords into the YouTube search engine in order to discover content. Those searches could look like:

“Funny cat videos” or “flirting with a hot chick.:

However, they could also be more serious terms like:

“How to grow a business” or “Best microphones for YouTube”

No matter what niche you start your business in, it’s pretty likely that people will be searching for content related to that industry on YouTube.

This is extremely powerful, because it means that you can take advantage of SEO optimization and receive perpetual traffic to your videos (and your website).

My videos receive thousands and thousands of views each year because of this concept alone. I have a good number of videos that rank well on YouTube and continue to get traffic from the search engine.

Unfortunately, podcasts don’t really work this way. Most people consume podcast episodes via the iTunes app on their phone or via Stitcher, Soundcloud, or Spotify.

While you can make the overall podcast show SEO optimized by including key words in your show title or subtitle, you aren’t likely to receive much iTunes search engine traffic to your individual episodes.

When people type that same term, “Grow a business” into the iTunes app, they are more-so looking for a podcast on how to grow your business, rather than an individual episode.

I have covered this in other blog posts, but typically, I will see the “download curve” of a podcast to look like a spike within the first 1 – 4 days after it’s released and then to sharply nosedive.

You’ll get most of the downloads for your podcast episodes within the first week of it’s airing date. On the flip side, if you rank well on YouTube, you might see the bulk of your views later as more people discover the video from search terms.

3. Attention Span and Consumption Habits

The attention span of a piece of content and the overall consumption habits are going to be different for an educational vs. an informational show.

For example, you can watch a 2 hour long movie and come out of that feeling ecstatic and emotionally recharged. If you were to come out of a 2 educational hour lecture, you’d likely feel tired and emotionally drained.

In general, YouTube viewers have a very short attention span (10 minutes and less). Many videos won’t get views even beyond the 3 minute mark, unless they are highly entertaining or emotionally engaging.

Of course, there are things that you can do to make your videos more interesting, like including sound effects, transitions, storytelling, etc, but as a rule of thumb a YouTube viewer is likely to view shorter videos (but a lot of them).

The consumption and attention span for podcasts is a little bit different. According to my own podcasting statistics, listeners on average are staying around for the majority of a show, which is about 45 – 60 minutes long.

That’s a very long attention span compared to YouTube. People are also more likely to consume one or two podcast episodes in a sitting, rather than a bunch.

Whereas YouTube viewers will give videos their undivided attention at home, on their phone, or in the workplace, many people listen to podcasts while they are doing other things, like working out, commuting on the subway, or washing dishes.

This gives more flexibility for an in-depth discussion of a topic rather than surface-level points.

By keeping the consumption patterns of YouTube videos and podcasts in mind, you’ll be able to pick the medium that is a better choice for YOU.

I publish both educational and entertaining vlog videos. I find that I’m better at the educational content, but over the next few years, I want to improve the entertainment quality of my videos so that people can have a deeper emotional connection with my brand.

4. Equipment and Skills Required

The resources that you’ll need to start a YouTube channel are different from that of a podcast. I want to give you a clear idea of what you’ll need to get started and the skills that you’ll need to improve if you want to have a successful channel.

Of course, you can film YouTube videos with a simple smartphone camera and a cheap lapel microphone. It’s not ideal, but it will work.

When you start to up your YouTube game, you’ll want to invest in a DSLR camera. This is the cool camera that will give you a blurred background when you’re shooting talking videos.

On the low end, you can pick up a DSLR camera for about $500 (like the Rebel T6). On the high end, it’s going to be $1,000. My camera was a little over $1,000 when I lump in all the accessories like the Rhode microphone.

A high quality camera is one component of good video quality (duh). The other thing that will make a major difference for your videos is the quality of the lighting. A bad camera with good lighting will produce a superior-looking video than a good camera with bad lighting.

The best lighting that you can use is natural lighting. You can also purchase lighting for your studio, like a simple lIght box setup. I use this lighting set occasionally for my videos.

After you do the recording, you can use simple recording software like iMovie to get started.

Good equipment: $500 – $1,200.

Now… the equipment that you’ll need to start a podcast is a little bit different. This will all depends on how you want to structure your show. If you want to have multiple guests on, you’ll have to figure out how you’ll record those guests.

If you are physically recording them in a room, you’ll need a different setup than if you’re recording the podcast via Skype or Zencastr.

Get my drift? It’s going to vary depending on the type of show you have.

For the standard podcast, you’re probably going to need a USB compatible microphone that you can plug into your computer. You don’t really need a mixer or any other fancy sound equipment.

I just record my podcast episodes via Skype and I use the Blue Yeti microphone. You can also look into these microphones.

Good equipment: $50 – $100.

It’s going to be cheaper to get started with podcasting than YouTube. But what about the skills that you need to master in order to get good?

What skill sets are each of these two mediums best for?

When we see someone achieve success in a certain area, it’s usually because their natural inclinations have helped them out a lot. They could be good a talking, social skills, breaking down complex topics, or engineering cool shit.

Whatever it is, their natural inclinations and skills will pre-determine their success to a certain degree.

With YouTube, the following skills are required:

• Speaking on camera. Being yourself on camera. You must either conveys information or convey your personality on camera.
• Knowing how to operate a camera and set up the video (lighting, etc).
• Editing the video with software
• Marketing the video (thumbnail, SEO, social media, etc).

I’ve found that the majority of my success on YouTube has come from my choosing the RIGHT videos to make. These are topics that in-demand and there isn’t enough content out there about them.

For you, your success could come from your personality, your style of editing, or the topic of your videos.

With podcasting the following skills are required:

• Interviewing guests and asking good questions
• Knowing how to get the best sound out of a microphone
• Editing your audio with software like Garageband
• Marketing the show and episodes. Getting good guests

My success with podcasting is two-fold. First, again, I chose good topics for my episodes and my show. I am fulfilling a need in the marketplace.

Second, I’m constantly told that I have good rapport with the guests and that I make the interviews fun and relatable. Many of the people that run business-style podcasts can make it super boring. I bring more passion and personality to my show.

I talk a lot more about podcasting and what you need to know to get started in my book, Podcasting for Beginners. This book covers everything that you need to know to launch and grow a podcast.

You’ll be talking on both mediums. You’ll be educating, entertaining, or both. I’ve found that the main difference in the skillset comes with whether you want to be the sole talking head or have guests on your show who provide the content.

5. Who do you want to be in 10 years?

YouTube and podcasting are both a great source of leads for your business. You can generate traffic, interest, and new email subs with either medium.

The main difference comes with your role in the process and what skills you want to improve on. Which do you enjoy more? What do you want to get good at?

Only YOU can answer this.

In 10 years, I want my personality to be out there. I want people to know my face, my name, who I am, and to follow me and my life like a TV show. I want a tribe of followers.

I want to be able to talk about in-depth topics through a podcast and to also be able to put out educational and entertaining YouTube videos.

All of this comes from the core desire expose the world for what it is and to teach people how things really work in society.

This can take small forms, like how to start a business, or larger forms, like how the structure of our society shapes our social conditioning and beliefs.

Who do YOU want to become? You have to answer this for yourself. I also have a great video that explores this concept for my own life and how you can do the same thing.

For advertisers, podcasting has been a mysterious medium.

They don’t really know how many people are actually listening to your podcast and they have no clue how many are listening until the very end.

This can make it seem like they’re throwing money down a long dark tunnel, without knowing what’s going to come out the other end.

It could be tremendous profits or it could be nothing.

Some podcasters have tried using things like affiliate codes to track the number of listeners that act on the “call-to-action” message.

Others have presented stats from services like Libsyn and other hosting providers to prove their traffic numbers to advertisers.

Now – everything has changed!

Apple recently released a “podcast analytics feature” which will show you tons of data regarding your show and individual episodes.

You’ll be able to see:

• The number of devices tuned into each episode
• Average listening time per device
• Listening trends
• and more…

Considering that podcast advertising revenues are shooting up, this was a good time to reveal the new functionality.

In fact, according to IAB, podcast ad revenues are expected to top $22 million in 2017, climbing 85% from the previous year!

It’s more important than ever that you show the ROI that advertisers are getting for sponsoring your show.

In this article, I’m going to cover how to get accurate iTunes stats for your podcast.

1. Log into the online “Podcasts Connect” application

You can log into Podcasts connect here.

This application is part of iTunes connect. When you log in, you’ll be able to access your podcasts and see the download numbers for each of them.

There are lots of other helpful resources, like how to sign up with iBooks and produce an ebook. Personally, I’ve found creating books on Audible to be a very profitable way to monetize my podcast.

I’m now getting started with iBooks to test the waters and see how it compares with the Amazon marketplace. I already have four books on Amazon (ebook + paperback).

2. Click on Your Show and Browse the Data

Once you have logged into Podcasts Connect, you’ll be able to select the show that you want and view the download data for this show.

You can sort the data according to a specific range, week, or month.

This is an extremely valuable dashboard. For example, you can easily see the amount of hourly listens that are coming from subscribers vs. new listeners.

This can give you an idea how how responsive your community is and whether or not people are sticking around to consume multiple episodes of your show.

You’ll get even more data like:

• Countries your downloads are coming from
• Average time a show has been listened to per device
• How much of an episode has been played per device (on average)
• Listenings trends by episode, subscribed device, or country.

One of my favorite parts of this dashboard is the individual show data which explains what percentage of your listeners stick around until the end of a podcast episode.

As you can see, not every single one of your listeners is going to stick around until the end of the show. This data gives you an idea of the number of people that are “listening” or “primed” to respond to your call-to-action message.

It’s super powerful!

It also shows you a bit more information about the subscribed devices that are listening to the podcast.

3. Compare This Data with Your Hosting Provider

This data will give you a good idea of the number of devices or people that are listening to your show and how many are sticking around until the end.

If you want even more data, you can look into the analytics of your hosting provider. I use Libsyn for mine. I’ll show you my Libsyn stats below, which gives you an idea of the download trajectory of a podcast.

By comparing this data, you’ll get an idea of the overall consumption pattern of your show, both when it comes to downloads, unique devices, and the percentage of your show that people listen to.

This will give you a much fuller picture when it comes to understanding the average listener of your podcast. You can use this to improve your episodes, change up the structure, or persuade sponsors of the value of your podcast.

4. Compare this Data with YouTube

A lot of people don’t agree with me, but I think that YouTube is a great place to publish your podcast episodes.

Not only are big-name podcasters starting to do this like Joe Rogan and Lewis Howes, but I have also seen people watching my own show this way.

When I publish it on YouTube, I don’t get nearly as many listens, but I do get a lot more data than I do from my podcast hosting provider.

For example, let’s take this one episode which I published and got 95 views. You can see the download trajectory below, which is pretty similar to the other stats providers.

This gives you an idea of total views for this video or listens for the podcast on YouTube. In order to get a full picture, I gotta take a look at the percentage of viewers that are staying around until the end of the show.

Now… the next chart is a little confusing. Basically it shows average retention for your videos. My video’s stats indicate that about 15% of the audience stays around until the 30 minute mark (when the show is closing up) and probably only 5% until the very, very end.

In total, the average view duration is about 8 minutes, but that number is misleading. I don’t really care about the number of people who listen to my show.

I’m more interested in the number that are “raving fans” because they are more likely to become buyers or take action in some way.

Make sense?

5. How to Use this Data…

Now that you know how to get more data on the listeners of your podcast, the question is how do you use it?

Of course, you can use this data to persuade more people to sponsor your show. It will be easier for them to see a direct return on investment for their advertising spend.

I talk about more podcast marketing techniques in my book, Podcasting for Beginners.

I think another great way to use it is to change up the structure of your show so that you’re making sure your announcements or call-to-action messages get the maximum exposure.

Many podcasters will only have a call-to-action message at the end or in the very beginning. They forget that they can do this in the middle or allude to what they want their podcast listeners to do throughout the podcast.

I plan to use this data to be more aware of when my audience is tuned into my show and when they’re not.

What do you think?

Podcasting has steadily been making its way into the mainstream as the Netflix-style equivalent for audio.

More people around the world are listening to podcasts than ever before in history.

In fact, according to Convince and Convert, 47 million Americans listen to podcasts WEEKLY.

Not only are we seeing 10-20% growth year over year for the industry as a whole, but also, it’s a well-document fact that the majority of listeners (about 85%) will stick around until the end of a show.

Right now is the BEST time to start a podcast. You’ll be joining a soaring wave that’s already re-defining how consumers access entertaining and educational content.

The only problem is… there’s a lot of preparation that goes into a new show.

You need to figure out:

• The right equipment to use
• Which microphone(s) work well
• How to get traffic and downloads
• The easiest way to host the show
• Where to find guests
• And much more…

But – don’t worry!

The library of educational content out there in podcast is growing. You don’t have to figure it all out yourself.

You can lean on the expertise of other podcasters out there who are sharing what they’ve done to make their show a success.

This list of the best books on podcasting is going to get you started quickly so that you can launch your show with a bang!

1. Podcasting for Dummies

There are a lot of outdated books out there on podcasting that don’t take into account new technology or marketing strategies that are working today.

Podcasting for Dummies is a great introductory guide on the subject of podcasting. You will learn how to set up your show, what equipment is out there, how to improve your voice, and more.

You can think of this as a textbook resource that you can reference at later dates in time.

If you’ve bought other books under the “for dummies” brand, then you know what to expect. It was written by Tee Morris and Chuck Tomasi.

2. Podcasting for Beginners: Start, Grow and Monetize Your Podcast

This easy-to-read guide will show you how to start, grow, and monetize your podcast. I wrote it from my own REAL experience growing a show to more than 150,000 downloads!

When I started my podcast, I was 24 years old, completely clueless about audio editing, and a painfully introverted public speaker. I was very, very meek.

I had no idea what I was doing, and it showed. They were horrible! I must have bored my early listeners to tears!

My voice sounded like a robot. Sometimes, I would “shout” and talk like an infomercial salesman because I wanted to sound more confident. It was really bad…

But, I kept at it. I kept trying. I kept growing. Most importantly, I kept learning.

Oh boy, am I glad I did. Over the next few years, I’d go on to:

• Amass more than 150,000 downloads
• Develop a fan base of loyal subscribers who “binge listen” to my show
• Get to interview amazing entrepreneurs, authors, and award-winning podcasters.

I created this guide for you, because it’s the book that I wish I had available to me. The techniques, strategies, and resources that you’ll discover in this guide will literally supercharge your podcast.

3. Out on the Wire: The Storytelling Secrets of the New Masters of Radio

Of course, you gotta know enough about podcasting to be able to produce a show. However, if that’s ALL you can do, you’re not going to get very far.

One of the MAJOR reasons that listeners tune into podcasts can be summed up in one word: storytelling.

You have to know how to weave a story around an event. This is what peaks curiosity and makes listeners give you their undivided attention.

When you ask the right questions, you can even get your guests to tell stories that will make them laugh, cry, or open up with new revelations.

This book shares with you some of the storytelling secrets behind today’s most popular podcasts and radio shows.

4. Podcast Launch

This book was written by John Lee Dumas, who is the host of the 7 day a week Entrepreneur on Fire podcast.

The EOFire podcast has been downloaded more than 12 million times and is responsible for earning six figures in sponsorship income.

The book goes through topics like what is podcasting, how to produce and edit your podcast, and how to grow your show.

You’ll learn about many of the introductory topics that you’ll need to master if you want to launch your own show.

It leads into an online course which goes more in-depth into podcasting tips, advice, and lessons.

5. Profitable Podcasting

Profitable Podcasting goes through everything that you need to know if you want to start your own show.

The author starts out by saying that podcasting is a very powerful form of content marketing and that it’s not as crowded as the blogging marketplace.

Content marketing refers to the concept of using free content as a way to build a relationship with your customers.

By putting out content, you’re helping them in a small way, and a certain percentage will become customers.

This book will get you up to speed on the best practices for starting a show and the various ways that you can publish one online.

6. Introduction to Podcast Technology

If you find that the technology aspect of podcasting is holding you back, then this book is a great guide for learning about the hardware that works behind the scenes.

I’m talking about microphones, software, accessories, media hosts, and more.

As more and more people start shows, the bar is being raised for the quality of your audio. You can’t get away with a horrible-sounding show.

This book will share with you the essential tools that you need to record, produce, and launch your podcast.

It’s a good companion to some of the other guides out there that focus on marketing.

7. Podcastnomics

Podcastnomics is an older book, but many of the points are made for beginning podcasters are still accurate.

You can use this book to start your own educational or entertainment show that earns revenue for your business.

It serves as a primer on this new medium and how you can use it to spread your message, attract listeners, and earn income.

Interestingly enough, Rob Walch the VP of podcasters relations at Libysn wrote the afterword for this book.

The author has written a few other books on the topic of podcasting and “audiopreneurs.”

Wanna hear something silly?

I never actually thought that people would listen to my podcast.

Haha, I don’t know why. I guess I just thought I didn’t have anything interesting to say. I didn’t think that anyone would tune in.

It didn’t help that I was an introverted 23 year old when I started my first podcast.

Over time, I’ve come to drastically improve my speaking voice and podcast. Since then, my podcast has done over 80,000 downloads! It also grew nearly 200 percent in 2016.

In order to get better, I had to kind of paste together podcasting tips from around the web. I had to learn as I went.

To save you that headache, I’ve put together a list of tips to make a good, if not GREAT podcast.

1. Be an authentic human being. Don’t adopt a “podcasting voice” or “radio voice” just because other people are. You’ll come off as fake.

When I started to speak more naturally, people started to feel more connected to me. The podcast downloads reflected that.

2. Offer value with every episode. Value could mean good emotions, helpful information, or a story that makes someone’s day better. Your concentration must be on making this a great experience for the listener. How are you improving their life?

3. Learn how to speak better. You can have the best equipment in the world, but if your voice sucks, it’s gonna be hard to keep people interested for a good 60 minutes. Learn how to breathe, sit up straight, and incorporate inflection and emotion in your voice.

4. Get your editing down, but don’t over-do it. This tip depends on the type of podcast. For example, Serial is obviously going to have extensive editing. If you’re just having a joe rogan style podcast between two guys, it won’t need as much. I use Garageband to edit my podcast and Audacity sometimes to cut out background noise.

5. Make your guest laugh. Joke around! Be a human being. Pretend you’re having a convo over beers. Sometimes, I’ll listen to a podcast while I’m walking down the street in NYC. I’ll find myself smiling or laughing when I hear the podcast host and guest laughing. Emotion is contagious.

6. Sell the episode. You gotta be willing to “sell” the episode. Why should people listen to it? What will they expect? They’ll use your emotional tone and wording to gauge whether or not the podcast episode is gonna be good.

7. Market the episode. My podcast episodes will naturally see downloads from the iTunes marketplace and from iTunes subscribers, but I also put effort into marketing them. I share them in various social media groups and send them out in an email newsletter.

8. Story is key. I’m a nerd. I’ll listen to a 60 minute podcast on some highly technical topic and actually find it relaxing. Most people aren’t like that. The average human tends to be engaged when someone else is telling a story, not just sharing dry information. A story allows them to empathize and remember the “takeaway” or “moral” of the story more easily.

9. Use decent equipment. Duh! Right? Wrong! Good equipment doesn’t guarantee you downloads or regular listeners. If that were true, the people who had the best equipment would be the most popular. Still, it does pay to have decent equipment. Grab a good microphone. Make sure your recording environment is soundless. Don’t be eating Cheetos while you podcast.

10. iTunes SEO is a real thing. Make it dead simple for people to find you via iTunes. I’ve had a decent number of listeners discover my podcast from iTunes search. I capitalize on keywords everywhere I can.

11. Hustle for Reviews. I had to hustle to get iTunes reviews. You have to specifically nudge people to get them. Most people won’t leave them. It’s great social proof for your show. I ask every guest that I have on to leave a review.

12. Set up a high-quality website. I recommend setting up a WordPress website so that you have a professional web presence. You can also schedule posts to go out at specific times. The easiest way is probably to use a hosting provider like this one and install WordPress that way.

13. Use landing pages effectively. I use landing pages to optimize for email addresses. I’ll mention a specific URL on the podcast that people can go to and grab a free giveaway or get on an email list. To set up these landing pages, I use the software app Leadpages.

14. Create filler content (huh?). I’ve memorized 1-3 things to say or do when I run out of things to say. It’s bound to happen. Maybe you’re doing a podcast with a high-name individual. You’re nervous. Your mind goes blank. Rather than going into a panic, fall back on these points.

For me, that could be a classic question that I ask all of my interview guests that’s designed to get a discussion going. It could also be sharing your own opinion and asking for their feedback on it.

15. Track the emotions you’re feeling. I am a meditator. I like to track the emotions that I’m feeling. I sit down for 15 minutes most days and make note of the mental images, thoughts, and feelings that I’m having.

When you’re on a podcast, it’s very easily to get tense, have bad posture, or lower your tone of voice when you’re uncertain. By paying attention and “checking in” to how you’re feeling, you’ll be able to compensate a bit better. For example, I might notice that I’m feeling timid, so no matter what I say next, I’ll make sure to up the volume a few notches because I’m probably being quiet, without realizing it.

I also have found that when I have good posture and I’m smiling, I tend to speak with more vibrant energy than when I’m slouching or not smiling .

16. Track the emotions your guest is feeling. The quality of the content that you get out of your guest is directly tied to the quality of the emotions that they’re feeling. Your goal is to make them feel relaxed, happy, and understood.

If you can see your guest, pay attention and make note of their facial expressions. Do they appear bored? Tense? Might be time to crack a joke. Do they appear nervous? Get them to talk about a very comfortable topic related to their life. Something that they can easily speak about.

If you can’t see your guest, this makes it a tad harder. Try to pay attention to the emotional inflection in their voice, how long they’re talking for, and the volume of their voice.

Once, I was talking with someone who was giving me super robotic answers. It was really annoying, but then I realized it’s because their brain is in “interview mode.” They are giving very informational workplace answers that are deemed socially acceptable.

I started to joke around a bit and put myself out there, which got them laughing. They then transitioned from “work mindset” to “having fun talking with friend” mindset. It led to a more pleasurable conversation and content for the audience.

17. Don’t listen to what people want. Watch their behavior. You’re going to have listeners telling you to spend time on this or don’t talk about that. People will tell you they wish the podcast was shorter. Take into account what they say, but look at their behavior, not their words.

18. Make an ask when you have attention. I find that regular podcast listeners aren’t super tuned in during the beginning and end of a podcast. That also goes when advertisements are playing. You can make an “ask” to do something, like go to a link, but you’ll have less overall attention on that ask. If you want people to take action, try dropping in hints throughout the podcast discussion, when you have their full attention and have already heightened their emotions.

19. Get a good podcast host. I use Libysn.

20. Invest in yourself!! If this is a supply chain, you are an integral part of it! I don’t have any courses or books out there on improving your speaking skills, but I might in the future. For now, I’d look into some of the books out there on podcasting and of course, info on public speaking.

21. Don’t take life so seriously. You gotta be relaxed if you want to perform well and think clearly. Whether this is a hobby for you, or the start of a growing business, we’re all only on this earth for a limited time and gotta have fun while we’re here!

I’m going to share with you some of my statistics for the last year *gasp.*

I am a young guy and these blog posts are actually more for me than for you. I want to be able to look back at myself and track my progress.

Let’s go through some of my statistics and findings. Then, I’ll share my thoughts on podcasting and my journey.

In 2015, my podcast had 20,880 downloads.

As you can see, there’s a spike in the second half of the year. Why is that? Well, I decided to take podcasting more seriously. I set up a regular schedule and really started to work to produce quality content.

I worked to improve my speaking voice. I was more conscious of the guests that I brought on. I really tried to deliver as much value as possible on every podcast episode.

If you want a shock, watch the YouTube video below and take a look at how my voice changed from episode 1 to the last episode I published. Woah!!

Anyway, let’s get back to the matter at hand. Let’s take a look at my numbers for this past year.

In 2016, my podcast had 58,285 downloads.

That’s an increase of 179% from last year!

Pretty cool, huh?

So why did my podcast begin to level off towards the beginning of this year? Great question!

I’ve sort of discovered a formula for creating/marketing/producing the various episodes. Once and a while, I’ll tinker with this formula, but I don’t change it up too much.

This is something that I want to change in 2017. I want to continue to become a better podcaster. I know it’s going to be tough, because I’ve reached a bit of a plateau, but I’m confident I can keep growing my skills.

I think my growth this year is going to depend on these factors:

• How good I get at storytelling and teasing stories out of my guests
• The quality of the guests I bring on the show
• The topics I choose to release episodes on
• My sales skills
• Cultivating regular show listeners and binge listens
• Studying the episodes that did REALLY well

I could obviously accelerate the growth by producing more than one show per week, but I don’t want to increase the frequency. I want to increase the quality. I also want to broaden my niche.

I’m also working on growing two YouTube channels and doing a product launch. I just got done writing/launching my fourth ebook of 2016.

In order to gain more insight into my podcast, let’s take a look at the other stats for my show. Most of my listeners are coming from: USA, Canada, UK, Australia, China, Spain, Hong Kong, Sweden, and France.

One way that I could improve my downloads is to create an episode with a specific guest from each of these companies. Then I could say, “Oh, by the way, go and listen to episode ___ if you’re from Spain.”

Now, which devices are my downloads coming from?

According to Libsyn, the majority of my downloads are coming from AppleCoreMedia, iTunes, itunesstored, and PodcastAddict. Chrome, Safari, Mozilla, and Firefox are also big contributors.

According to my calculations, about 19% of my downloads are coming from a web browser. That’s pretty surprising, right?!

These statistics are a testament to the fact that podcasting is alive and well. People are actually listening to my voice! I even now have people on my show who have “binge listened” to my podcast.

It’s not too late to submit your podcast to iTunes and join this new wave.

If you want some of my advice for beginners, take a look at the video down below. I hope you enjoy it. Good luck on your podcasting journey!

I’m going to share some of the things I’ve learned from growing a podcast to over 60k downloads, 100+ positive reviews in iTunes, and 100+ episodes!

This YouTube video will share three of the key lessons that I learned that I wish I knew as a beginning podcaster.

I started playing around with podcasting towards the end of 2014. I didn’t really get serious until pretty much the middle of 2015, and that’s really when I started to produce shows on a more regular basis. I start to get very serious about courting sponsors and about producing high quality shows.

Since then, my podcast has grown a lot and thus far its now done over sixty thousand aggregate downloads. I’m very proud of my work. The podcast has done over a hundred positive reviews in iTunes. I’ve produced over a hundred episodes for the show.

I don’t say all that to brag, just sort of to give myself a little bit of credibility. In this video, I shared three things that I’ve taken away from all this experience.

I hope you find the YouTube video to be helpful! If you do, take a sec to give it a thumbs up!

What’s up podcasters! In this post, I’m going to go over the method that I’m using to track the metrics for my show and why I think that this way is better than some of the other techniques out there.

First, before I get into it, I want to give due credit to Daniel J. Lewis, for his awesome article on tracking podcast downloads. It helped me out a lot in the early stages, so go check it out!

That being said, since I’ve been growing as a podcaster and I’m beginning to make money, I wanted to set a specific metric that I could focus on increasing each month.

I didn’t want to track my podcast by:

• Overall monthly downloads – These can fluctuate for a variety of reasons and advertisers don’t care about them.
• Six weeks of downloads for an episode – Although this is the advertising standard according to John Lee Dumas and others, I’d have to go back and track the six week mark for every episode, and it would just frankly be too much work for my small show.

I wanted to simply get a quick overview of how my show is doing in the long run. It’s pretty clear that downloads for new episodes is the only thing that matters when it comes to plotting actual growth.

Therefore, I’m going to start tracking the number of downloads in the first 10 days for every tenth episode (Libsyn makes this easy). As you might have seen before, almost every podcast I’ve put out has a spike in downloads in the first week and then kind of tapers off.

Granted the subject, title, and day of the week for every tenth episode will factor into their downloads, but it gives me a rough estimate of whether or not I’m growing my podcast. I’ll include a chart of my progress below.

Episode #20 was March, 24, 2015 and Episode #80 was March 23, 2016.

Therefore, my 10 day downloads grew by 217% from 2015 to 2016.

As you can see, the majority of the increase in my 10 day downloads came from EP #70 and up. Episode #70 came out on Dec 23, 2015. At the time of writing at this post, I’ve come out with 16 episodes in the new year, or about one per week.

I think that the increase comes down to improving my titling and marketing. I’m mentioning my podcast episodes more in the emails I sent out to my readers.

My goal is to get my 10 day download number to be 1,000. I’m not sure if I’m going to achieve that or how long it will take, but I’m more and more optimistic with all of the new things I’m learning!

Next, I’m going to be tracking the conversion rates of my podcast more closely. Stay tuned!