Lessons
Class Introduction: Build Trust and Increase Sales
03:12 2Why your Handmade Business Needs a Podcast
06:42 3What is a Podcast?
03:13 4How to Set up your Studio in 5 Minutes
04:48 5How to Launch a Podcast in 1 Week
05:58 6What Kind of Show will you Have?
03:02 7About the Interview Format
06:39 8About the Solo-Show Format
16:41About the Roundtable Discussion Format
07:55 10Which Format is Right for You
21:40 11Challenge: FInd What's Out There
03:25 12Choosing the Right Topic for your Podcast
14:19 13How to Make your Show Special
02:23 14Make Magic: Combine for a Unique Show
07:46 15Content Development Strategies
16:12 16Naming your Podcast Best Practices
07:34 17How to Introduce Yourself
11:34 18How to Write your Intro
03:48 19How to Exit with Confidence
09:00 20Where does your Podcast Live and Why iTunes Matters
20:06 21DEMO:How to Get your Podcast on iTunes
07:18 22How a Listener Becomes a Customer: The Customer Path
07:58 23Your Home Base: How to Set it up for Podcast Listeners
15:19 24How to Generate Content Upgrades
12:39 25How to Leverage your Podcasts to Sell your Product
04:53 26Question And Answer
06:58 27How to Launch your Podcast Successfully
18:06 28Defining "Success" for your Business
07:41 29Other Ways to Make Money from your Podcast
08:25 30How to Find Time for it all: Tara's Exact Workflow
25:19 31Wrapping it all Up
02:03Lesson Info
Naming your Podcast Best Practices
So the next step, now that we've come up with format and content ideas, is to pick your name. Yeah, this is really important because you are going to say it a million times. Now this is different than if you're doing a YouTube show or a video show because you have visuals on a video show, right? People can see the name, so even if you garble it when you say it, they can still see it. But in an audio show they're just listening to you. How you say it is super important. So there's a couple of things to make your show name really good. The first one is to keep it simple. It needs to be really simple, really straightforward. You need to not be fancy or clever or punny, this is actually really really important, if you make a pun or a homonym, where two words sound the same, but they're spelled differently, I hope I use the right word. (laughs) You have to explain it each time, people are gonna misspell it, right? So even a word like your and you're and yore, right, or their and there and t...
hey're, it's gotta be really clear, don't make it like a joke in the title or else people will go and misspell it and not find you. So you gotta make sure you keep it simple. So if you are doing something like, or you're spelling the word three but with an actual three in it, don't do that. (chuckles) My friend who has a amazing podcast about Instagram, Sara Tasker, her podcast name is Hashtag Authentic, and then the hashtag on Instagram is actually the hashtag sign and then the whole spelled out Hashtag Authentic, and she said in just episode two or three, "Oh wait, (laughs) I realize that people are gonna do just the hashtag and Authentic." So people were searching for it in iTunes with just the symbol and the word authentic when it's really all spelled out. So that's what I mean by keep it simple. Her show is doing fine, but that's one of the things that you just wanna think through. And you can even ask people, "Hey, if I say this how would you spell that?" And they need to be able to spell it. So if you have a really tricky last name, or if you are thinking of using a word or a language other than the native language of the listeners, just keep that in mind. So if you're doing a Spanish language podcast, then obviously use all the Spanish you want. If you're doing an English language podcast, and you think that many other people who listen to it won't speak Spanish, then you want to remember that in your word usage in the title. And then the main thing is are you gonna wanna say this a million times. So, (chuckles) I had a speech impediment as a kid, and I couldn't say my Rs. So I still get nervous. So I don't know why I called my podcast Explore Your Enthusiasm, it's too many Rs. My name is also tricky. So, you just want to remember, if you think you're gonna fall down on it when you say it a million times, also do you wanna say it to you mother, to your grandmother, to your in-laws, to your small children. Don't be clever and say something you're not gonna wanna say in church to somebody because people are gonna be like, "Oh, you have a podcast, what's it about?" Or you gonna wanna say to somebody, "Oh, I do this podcast about life with four kids," and people are gonna be like, "What's it called?" You don't wanna have to say something you don't wanna have to say. So, be really comfortable that you gonna say it a million times. The other thing about picking a name is you wanna check the URL, the social media profiles and the hashtag. So, what I mean by that is if you call your show Momma4Kids and momma4kids.com is taken, the other tricky thing about that, is it a four number or four spelled out. So, check the URL, make sure nobody already has a social media profile set up on it, and especially make sure that it's not like a porn site set up on it. So, so many people social media profiles are taken by places you don't want to send traffic. So, check that. (giggles) And the hashtag, is the hashtag for you on Instagram and Twitter, or is it used by something like two years ago somebody posted their vacation pictures under it, that's fine. So my hashtag is exploreyourenthusiasm for my podcast. I ask my listeners at the end of each show to post what they're doing while they're listening with that hashtag. If that one was taken, I would have had to come up with something else. I'm gonna tell you one of the easiest things to do is to go with your name, right. Now, a podcast typically has a name separate of your name, but you can use the URL, like mine is taraswiger.com, I'm @taraswiger on all the places, even the #swigerlive or taraswiger works, but so, if the name, you wanna do a longer, more complex, more interesting name, use your name as the things that you're gonna have to say out loud in the podcast 'cause again, the podcast is just your words. So you gonna have to verbally lead people down the path, and you need to be able to say it and then hear it and have a good idea of how to spell it, which, I know with a lot of peoples' names it's just tricky. So there's a workbook page on page nine, where I ask you, does your business have a name because if so, use your business name. Just use your business name, make it easy. So if you're Fairytale Yarns, make your show The Fairytale Yarn Show with Dawn Craig, right, or Sun Drop Jewelry, or just, it could be the Sun Drop Show for your podcast show, if that's the name of your company. Make it super simple, the branding will be cohesive, also ensure to think don't give people a third thing to remember. So if you're Liz Eaton in all the places and your company had a name, don't then give them something else entirely they have to remember. Because this happens all the time with podcasts I'm listening to, I don't know where to find them. What is their URL? 'Cause people aren't memorizing every word you say, so later they are like, "Well, that's Liz, and that's her, what's the name of that, what do I search for?" You need to make sure they can find you. Do you kind of always make a mental reminder that you say your name during a podcast more than just the opening or the end, do you tend to try and put it in throughout, just to try and remind people what they're listening to? Oh, like you would do on a radio show, right? Like, "You're listening to the blablabla." I don't because mine don't go on that long. So they're in general 20 to 45 minutes. So I say my name at the beginning, and then I say it at the end. So no, but I think, I don't know. So you're in radio, how often do they come in and say that? Usually maybe after breaks, or if you'd played a long song or segment or something like that. So in that instance you might want to remind people. So I think as you're saying, duration might be the key factor in that. If you're talking for half an hour or an hour, then you definitely want to remind, maybe want to remind people, but if it's five minutes. I think the other thing is that it was just occurring to me when you said when you're playing a long song on the radio, I'm gonna flip through and come in half way through, and I hear a song and then I'm like what am I listening to, what show is this. But on a podcast people aren't gonna come through half way through, unless it's a live broadcast you're doing, like I'm doing an Instagram Live. So I say on Instagram Live a couple of times, hey, I'm Tara, welcome if you're just watching, but if it's on my podcast they've started at the beginning, right, so by the time they've gotten to 20 minutes in, and even if I played a long song or something, they're still gonna know what they're listening to 'cause they haven't changed. So I think that's maybe key. So yeah, if you are doing something live, you wanna regularly remind people what they came across 'cause they might have just shown up. But on your podcast they're not gonna show up as much. But definitely say your name and the podcast's name and the URL at the beginning and at the end, and if you find that people are like, "Well, I was looking for it, but I couldn't find it," then you need to work on that.
Class Materials
Bonus Materials with Purchase
Bonus Materials
Ratings and Reviews
Tess
I design embroidery patterns and I love podcasts but I wasn't sure what I would talk about in my own podcast without being able to show pictures. After watching this course I already have 20+ ideas for podcast topics, plus I now know how to get a podcast up and running, step-by-step, AND how it fits with my business goals. Tara Swiger is an excellent teacher and coach. I filled page after page with notes!
Rhonda M.
Excellent, practical information.
Dawn Craig
Student Work
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Podcasting