Episodes

  • Coding, Freelancing, and Star Trek with Charlynn

    Coding, Freelancing, and Star Trek with Charlynn
    Oct 29 2021
    This was another one of those interviews I looked forward to for weeks. Charlynn, of https://my.captivate.fm/Charwritescode.com (Charwritescode.com) joined me to talk about learning to code (shout out to Netscape Navigator for the headstart, yo) getting started in freelancing, our love of Star Trek, and the similarities (and differences) between Deep Space Nine and Babylon 5. Char has been a great cheerleader for me and my pursuits, and I am such a fan of hers and cheer her on as well. I wouldn't have done as much as I took on this summer without someone like Char in my corner, and I think that's vital to anyone seeking to take on a new direction. It helps you believe you belong in the space, which is a problem we all have from time to time. Find those people who do that for you. Follow Charlynn on Twitter https://twitter.com/ohtheprofanity (@ohtheprofanity) and https://twitter.com/charwritescode (@charwritescode.)
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    2 hrs and 7 mins
  • Music, Photography, And Planting Seeds With The Darph

    Music, Photography, And Planting Seeds With The Darph
    Oct 8 2021
    In this first episode of the 2nd Season of MLC, I have a conversation with The Darph.  He’s a new friend from my growing TikTok Addiction.  We talk making music, guitars, film photography, planting seeds, and much more.    This was a really fun talk with a really cool dude, and I hope you enjoy it.  
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    1 hr and 48 mins
  • Chapter 21 -- Conclusion

    Chapter 21 -- Conclusion
    Sep 6 2021
    ConclusionCongratulations, you’ve completed this guide to starting your podcast. I hope you’ve enjoyed this little guide to planning, creating, and promoting your podcast as much as I’ve enjoyed creating it for you. If you’d like to connect with me, you can find me on Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn at krisroley, and my website is http://krisroley.com/ (krisroley.com). I strongly encourage you to connect with me, because I’d love to hear and share all the podcasts you’ve created. Thank you, and Stay Solid, people.
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    1 min
  • Chapter 20 -- Ratings and Reviews

    Chapter 20 -- Ratings and Reviews
    Sep 6 2021
    Ratings and ReviewsWhen it comes to ratings and reviews, the bottom line is that they are and have always been the leading way to attract listeners. The more consistently you can get favorable ratings and reviews, the more chance your podcast gets featured on the podcast platforms. It’s a form of social proof. Other listeners vouching for you means new listeners will subscribe. If you’ve listened to any podcasts at all, you’ve no doubt heard the host ask for a rating and review at some point during the show. That’s perfectly natural, but I have come to believe that it’s the wrong thing to do. So instead, there’s a better and more effective way to ask for ratings and reviews. By way of full disclosure, I can’t take credit for this idea. However, this method comes from a Guru named John Lee Dumas, and while he’s one of the gurus, I have to give him credit for an idea that works. What JLD doesn’t do is ask for ratings and reviews during his podcast, and his logic is sound: When people are listening to your show, they’re jogging, driving, doing their Sunday chores, and anything else that doesn’t relate to being in front of a computer where they can give you a meaningful review. Instead, ask for a rating and review when you reply to them on social media or email. It’s straightforward. After you address the question or comment, thank them for commenting, asking for the review at the end, and giving them links to do so. According to him, this method accounts for 90% of the reviews he has received, and he’s got almost 3600 reviews on Apple Podcasts. I can’t argue with that kind of success. So take a page out of JLD’s notebook. Don’t ask for ratings and reviews during the show. Instead, ask for them when you’re interacting with a listener directly.
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    2 mins
  • Chapter 19 -- Q and As

    Chapter 19 -- Q and As
    Sep 6 2021
    Q and AsConsistent quality content is the key to a loyal audience. That said, human nature being what it is, validating your audience is another great way to grow loyalty, and a great way to do that is to schedule episodes where you answer audience questions. Here are a few ways to create these episodes: If you have an episode dedicated to a particular topic, let listeners know that you’d like to have an episode dedicated to answering listener questions on the subject at the end of the show. Ask listeners to respond on Twitter with a hashtag you create. Review the questions as they come in, answer some then (don’t forget to ask for ratings and reviews when you do), and pick the best five to ten questions of the bunch. Remember, when you have the material, you need to go back on Twitter to tell your listeners you have everything you need and stay tuned! Another method is pretty much the same, but it’s more of an open phones segment or Ask Me Anything show. Tell the listeners that you’re going to have a Q & A episode on a date-specific, create a Twitter hashtag, and follow the exact directions listed above. Finally, save the Q & A segments for when you have a guest. Let your audience know you have a guest coming on, and ask for questions you can pose to your guest. This time, don’t answer any questions (they’re not for you), and I’d leave this hostage open-ended until just before you interview your guest. Be forewarned: try to pick questions that are interesting to the guest. If the guest is someone who appears on a lot of media, they’ve probably heard a lot of the same questions. The more original you can be, the more engaged the guest is likely to be.
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    2 mins
  • Chapter 18 -- The Benefit of Landing Pages

    Chapter 18 -- The Benefit of Landing Pages
    Sep 6 2021
    The Benefit of Landing PagesAnother method you can use to stay in contact with your listeners is to create an email list. Now, some of you may find that one a bit icky, and I don’t blame you. I was like that too. I didn’t have an email list for years, and the reason I didn’t was that the Gurus push having an email list right from the start. Depending on who is driving you towards an email list, it implies opting into a deluge of emails for webinars, services, and products. It means the chances of opening up your email and seeing a great Wave of spam deluge your inbox. You hate spam, I’m not too fond of spam, and the last thing I would want to do is give someone access to my email. So, you might be surprised to hear that I would encourage you to do this. If you hate selling to people, then you don’t have to. I know several podcasters that send emails to people when they release episodes. Some do a weekly newsletter that covers what they did the past seven days and anything coming up. Others only send an email when they have something to promote. Building an email list from the start is one of the best ways to directly connect to your listeners and build a longer-lasting relationship with them. Most people know Mailchimp, but there are many alternatives like Constant Contact, AWeber, Sendinblue, and Convertkit. If you’re serious about growing your podcast, give yourself every opportunity to connect with your audience and get that email list started. A robust list is worth its weight in gold.
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    2 mins
  • Chapter 17 -- Have A Home Base

    Chapter 17 -- Have A Home Base
    Sep 6 2021
    There are many guides and posts out there that promise you that if you take specific steps, you can get your first one thousand listeners. I’m not going to promise you that. I’m going to tell you that if you work on growing your audience and spending the time necessary to do that, you will see your listeners and downloads go up over time. It depends on the time you put in and the content you’re putting out. There’s no magic bullet. Here are some steps you can take to grow your podcast and gain a loyal community of listeners. Have a home base.Most podcast platforms like the ones I mentioned in Part II offer a website where your podcast is displayed. However, if you’re offering a product or service or wish to grow a community, you’re going to want a home base of your own. In most cases, a blog site like WordPress or Squarespace is just the thing. WordPress is the most used blog software globally and has many podcast-related plug-ins and other customizable options. Squarespace, the platform I use, is for people like me who don’t want to mess around with coding and get ‘under the hood.’ Instead, you could decide to buy space from a web host like Hostgator or Bluehost and create your own space from the ground up. Whatever route you take, this is a place for you to host all the episodes of your podcast, blog posts, downloads, and other resources for your listeners. When you release a new episode of your podcast, you can embed a web player for that episode, append it with show notes and other resources, and post it to your website. Then, you can create assets for social media accounts and link your listeners back to the post on your website. Don’t forget to post your new content on social media! It’s the one thing most new podcasters forget to do, and it can significantly affect downloads and engagement at the very beginning. Make sure people know what you have going on and where they can find great content from you.
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    3 mins
  • Chapter 16 -- Submitting Your Podcast To Directories

    Chapter 16 -- Submitting Your Podcast To Directories
    Sep 6 2021
    Submitting Your Podcast To DirectoriesOnce you’ve signed up for a podcast host platform and created your show, the next step is to let the many directories know that it’s there. In many cases, the platform will have the ability to auto-submit the show for you or take you through a guided process to make sure the show is submitted. In many cases, submitting to Apple Podcasts takes care of many other platforms because they get their info from Apple. For example, if you use Overcast, a very popular and easy-to-use podcast app for iOS, you can search for my show and add it from within the app. There are many directories now, and listing them all would take way too much time for the low return you’re likely to get out of the lesser-known ones. So, here are the directories I would suggest you submit your podcast for the best results: Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Spotify Stitcher iHeartRadio TuneIn The Podcast Index. If you go the extra mile to make your show available in as many places as you can, that means your listener has a greater chance that they can listen to your show on their preferred platform or app. On the other hand, if the listener has to go to a different place to get your show, they may decide it’s too much of an effort, and they’ll either unsubscribe or never listen in the first place.
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    2 mins