We’ve talked a lot about videos in podcasting here, but finding an editor can be tough.
Luckily, Jay Clouse‘s newsletter recently showed me a new resource that’s worth checking out: ytjobs.co.
The list full jobs, as well as freelancers willing to work on a per-project basis, across different disciplines as they’re related to YouTube.
Definitely something worth having in your back pocket for when you need it!
There’s a new service out that combines 3 of my favorite things: Podcasts, Overcast, and Readwise — it’s called Podhighlighter.
It allows you to listen to podcasts in Overcast and, using Shortcuts on iOS, save highlights from the podcast to Readwise.
I’ve been using the PodHighligher server for a few weeks now, and I’m super happy with it. While it’s super niche, it definitely fills a huge void for people who listen to podcasts (even if it’s only for Overcast).
Read More “PodHighlighter a Great Way to Save Notes from Podcasts”
When I came up with the idea for Podcast Workflows — nearly a year ago at CEX 2023 — one of the aspects of the site was to have a “Tools” page — something that could showcase the tools used in the deep dives I was doing.
But I didn’t want to rush it. I wanted to focus on the content and see where the site went.
Well, in November, I made the decision to move from weekly breakdowns to more regularly published content around all aspects of podcast workflows, processes, and systems.
That kicked off (unofficially) with Podcast Advent, and in January I started publishing more regularly. I also had my VA move all relevant content from both Casabona.org and Podcast Liftoff to Podcast Workflows.
Read More “The Tools for Podcasters Guide is Live!”Say goodbye to saying, “…or wherever you get your podcasts.” A new website by Nathan Gathright called Episodes.fm makes it very easy to share a landing page with a comprehensive list of podcast listening platforms:
I launched Podlink in 2018 to make sharing links to the podcasts you love easier. I sold it at the end of 2020, and Spotify laid me off in 2023, but I still wanted to iterate on that mission.
Today, I’m excited to announce an early preview of Episodes.fm.
Starting out, the website will support 30 platforms, and allow you to link both to the podcast, and individual episodes:
The original Podlink supported 8 apps; Episodes.fm is starting with 30 and will add more soon. If you’d like your podcast app included, submit a pull request to this repo.
All you have to do is visit Episodes.fm, and search for your show. It’s quite impressive.
Perhaps the best device I’ve purchased in the last couple of years is my 32-Key Elgato Stream Deck. It’s a streamlined way for me to manage live streams, devices, and automation. I absolutely love it. When I first got it, I shared a photo on Twitter, fully configured. A lot has changed since then…including upgrading from the 15- to the 32-key. Here’s a breakdown of how I’ve set it up – everything from what it’s connected to, to where I got the icons.
Read More “My Stream Deck: How I’ve Configured it for Maximum Productivity and Production”
In an upcoming article, I’m going to pose the question, “what’s missing from your process?”
It’s something I think about all the time — am I leveraging my time, and the tools I have, properly?
I started thinking about my production toolkit when I did my year-end review for RSS.com. I was trying to add something in Descript and was struggling, so I decided to go to my old standby, Screenflow.
Read More “Thinking About my Production Toolkit — is it Time to Ditch Descript?”One of the hardest things to do for lots of podcasts is clean up audio. There are a lot of variables: environment, equipment, how you’re addressing the mic, external sound sources, and more. That alone usually makes hiring an editor worth it.
But veteran audio engineering company iZotope has released a tool that might help: an their AI Voice Enhancement Assistant, VEA:
VEA is an AI audio enhancer that takes any voice recording and makes it more powerful, more polished, and more professional. This easy-to-use tool is perfect for podcasters and content creators of all skillsets, whether you’re a beginner or a seasoned pro.
It supports both Mac and Windows, and integrates with a number of other audio editors, so it should slot right into your workflow.
AT just $29, it’s definitely worth a look.
One problem facing podcasters is that there are unscrupulous people scraping podcast RSS feeds for email addresses. They send bad pitches, ask for backlinks, or hawk their wares.
And while over the last few years Apple and others have made it so you don’t need an email address in a valid podcast feed, you still need it to validate you feed (for YouTube RSS ingestion, transfers, claiming it on Spotify, etc).
James Cridland, Editor of Podnews and all-around good podcast guy, has cooked up a solution: Podprotect.email.
Our email service forwards you all the emails you want and less of the emails you don’t. By default, we protect your identity, we add spam and virus protection, and keeps your real email address hidden.
I immediately requested an address and updated my feeds, and it’s pretty neat. You can even use the + modifier to give each show you have a unique address (ie 12345+show1@podprotect.email and 12345+show2…).
To protect yourself from unwanted emails, head over here and send James a request.
There was a fantastic resource shared in Podnews recently called Podcast Badges. From the website:
When designing Podlink, I hunted down vector versions of all the podcast app icons, redrawing them in some cases, and tweaked them to fit my aesthtic, namely masking them within a superellipse. Over the years, I’ve watched people appropriate my distinctive versions of the icons for their own purposes without credit. Since I don’t really have a right to these icons, I can’t take it too personally. So I’ve decided to publish the collection of icons and badges.
If you’re looking for a good set of uniform/matching podcast app buttons, check out Podcast Badges.
Back when I started my podcast, if I wanted clear, uncompressed audio that didn’t have that random robot voice you’d get from an unstable connection, I’d need to do a few things:
Things are different now. Many podcasters use Zoom, which does a pretty good job of managing audio and internet connections — and even gives you the ability to record separate audio tracks.
But you’re still subject to compression and bad internet connections…which could mean choppy audio.
That’s why today’s advent tool recommendation is Riverside.
At the beginning of Podcast Advent, I recommended Descript as an all-in-one tool, allowing you to record with Squadcast, then move to editing and publishing in Descript.
A question I get from coaching clients and students when I mention this is, “what if I don’t want to do any editing?”
I think you only want to record great remote interviews/conversations, Riverside is the better bet.
They have a ton of features to make it easy for you to log on and just press record, with video, or audio only.
They also generate transcripts for you, and have a fantastic feature for video called “AI switching,” where they’ll help you make clips from your recording, and automatically switch to who’s speaking. This can be incredibly helpful if you’re testing a short form video strategy.
It’s been one of the main drivers of my podcast for years, and while you can’t eliminate problems completely with any product that requires two people to be connected on the internet, Riverside has been incredibly reliable.
I’ve used it as a host, a guest, and as a producer — which allows me to sit in on, and manage, the conversation without actually being recorded. Producer mode is fantastic!
If you’re looking to level-up your recordings this year, check out Riverside. They have a free plan if you want to give it a whirl.
I’ve been saying for a long time that if you have a podcast, you need a clear call to action (CTA), and it should be to join your mailing list.
But what I often don’t talk about is literally everything else. Where do you get a newsletter? How much should it cost? What do you send once people start signing up?
So I thought there was no better time than Podcast Advent to dive deeper into the topic of building your newsletter — specifically with ConvertKit — so that you can start building, and leveraging, your email list in 2024.
This is Part 1: Getting Started. Part 2 will be sending emails and automating. Part 3 will be growing your list and making money.
Let’s address the elephant in the room first: if you have a podcast and perhaps a social media presence, why do you even need a mailing list? The answer for most creators and small business owners is simple:
A mailing list is the only place where you truly own the access to your audience. If Facebook, X, TikTok, or Medium disappeared today, you’d immediately lose access to the people you were able to reach so easily a mere 24 hours ago.
For podcasters, it’s even more important than that. You don’t really have access to an audience at all. Sure, people subscribe or come across your show and listen — but there’s no platform to send them messages outside of their podcast app.
Further, they can’t interact with you at all. There’s no liking or commenting on individual episodes. And if someone rates your podcast on Apple Podcasts, you don’t get further access to them.
Podcasting without a mailing list can feel like a one-way street. But what you have a mailing list, you have direct access to people and you’re not just relegated to their podcast app.
Now, there are lots of options for creating a mailing list — ConvertKit isn’t the only game in town.
There’s Mailchimp, which has been around forever.
There’s the relative newcomer that’s gained a ton of popularity, Beehiiv.
There’s also ActiveCampaign, Brevo (formerly Sendinblue)1, AWeber, MailerLite, and a bunch of other ones.
Outside of that, there are publishing platforms that double as mailing list services — most notably Substack, which also has its own ability to host a podcast.
I started on Mailchimp, but moved when I outgrew everything they had to offer. And honestly, if I were starting today, I’d give Beehiiv a closer look…but as you’ll see in Part 3, there are some features that put ConvertKit in its own class of Email Service Provider (ESP).
It really depends on what you’re looking to do. There are pros and cons to each, but here’s why I’ve stuck with ConvertKit.
ConvertKit is free for your first 1,000 subscribers — and honestly it gets pretty pricy after that. But there’s good reason for it. They have infrastructure in place to allow you to connect with your audience in ways other ESPs don’t.
You can tag and segment your list based on interest (or favorite episode), and send just those specific segments emails.
You also get rich automations to make sure your new subscribers feel welcomed as soon as they subscribe.
Their growth and monetizations tools are fantastic. They offer the Creator Network — which is a similar feature to Substack’s recommendations — and they allow you to sell digital products right from the platform2.
Finally, they know the industry and share their knowledge. Their podcast, Deliverability Defined, is a gold mine of information to help you keep a clear, healthy email list.
And of-course, you own your list. If you want to export it and go somewhere else, you can!
If that sounds good to you, check out ConvertKit here3.
In the video above, I show you step-by-step how to set up your free ConvertKit account:
We’re going to create a landing page — that way you don’t need a place to embed the form, just in case you don’t have a website for you podcast.
In the video I cover some other options worth checking out too…things like how you might want to set up a custom domain, what to do you do have a WordPress site, etc.
Something you’re probably wondering is what you should send to your subscribers. I’ll cover that more in Part 2 of this series, but for now, you could automatically email them when a new episode is out. This video shows you how to do that:
All right — you’re all set to start building your mailing list. Now, it’s time to start promoting it on your podcast.
Keep a look out for Part 2, where we’ll go through your first set of emails (the welcome sequence), and some basic automations.
One thing that’s as sure as the sunrise during the Christmas season is that kids and adults alike will look at the gifts under their tree and wonder what’s inside. They’ll stare at the box, hoping to will the answer without opening it.
Before the gifts are open, they can be anything1. It’s left up to our imagination.
Podcast stats can feel a lot like that sometimes. That’s why today’s helpful podcaster tool is Voxalyze. I like to call it the Google Analytics of Podcasting.
Here’s why.
First, Voxalyze makes it very easy to see your visibility in Apple Podcasts and Spotify:
They’ll give you rank, and score, and what percentage of all podcasts you rank in. You can see here I’m down over a few weeks — that tells me I need to look at what I was doing back in mid-October, and see what adjustments I can make.
On top of visibility, it will also give you an objective look at your episode stats — and include, to the best of their estimation, downloads vs. unique listeners:
This tells me two things:
They also give you some great stats on audio players — broken down by apps, and web players. Here’s my top audio players:
This graph is what made me realize it was be prudent to offer How I Built It PRO through Apple Podcast Subscriptions.
There’s also geographic stats, and download events — I can see where and when episode downloads are happening — which is pretty neat:
At this point, I know what you’re thinking: “But Joe…my podcast hosting platform also has pretty much all of this.”
And you’re right — but they don’t have this killer feature.
On top of great analytics, Voxalyze has a killer feature to help you with discovery: keyword research.
On a per show basis, they’ll give you the keywords that could help you rank better and get discovered. They’ll give you search volume and how easy it is to rank for that word.
Using this data, you can figure out what episodes and topics to cover on the show.
They also do this on a per episode basis on the higher-tier plans.
If you’re looking to get serious with your podcast in 2024, Voxalyze can be a valuable asset for you to help you gain, and keep, new listeners.