Prologue
The $100,000 Podcasting Studio
I've got a friend with a "podcasting" studio that contains roughly $100,000 worth of gear, including a $60,000 mixing console.
In fairness, he's also a music engineer, so he does more than just podcasts.
But it's easy to spend a ton of cash on podcasting. Fortunately, it's also pretty simple to get something that sounds pretty good and not spend a lot of money.
In this issue of Big Podcast Insider, I'm focusing on free tools (and training) to help your podcast sound its best, including an opportunity to work with Google/PRX, free fonts (and how to use them), speaker training, software to "mix" your podcast automatically, and more.
And a BONUS, because I appreciate you reading these every week ...
You can get the print version or audiobook (or both) absolutely free. No catch, but if you like what you read/hear, I do ask that you leave a review on Amazon.
Why? Getting you warmed up and up-to-speed for this one coming on June 6.
Podcaster Opportunities
Google Podcasts Creator Program / PRX Training
Last call to apply for the 2022 Google Podcast Creator Program Accelerator.
This program has been designed to help mid-career podcasters “level up” with a renewed focus on business development, audience growth, optionality, video strategies, and long-term sustainability.
The deadline to apply is April 24th, so if you're interested, get on it.
Podcast Marketing
Google has 100s of Free Fonts – Here's How to Pair Them
Google has hundreds of free fonts that work great for websites, books, and podcast artwork. The problem for most people is there are too many choices and this can make pairing the fonts difficult.
Here are 11+ most beautiful Google Font pairs to help you make your podcast artwork and website creation easy!
Tag me with your artwork and I'll share your stuff on the Big Podcast Instagram.
Podcasting Events
Want more podcast listeners? Try speaking live ...
This virtual event starts Monday, May 9th. It is free to attend (see the "register" button at the top).
Topics are below. But first, here's why you should care.
- Everything a live speaker does, from topic selection, to keeping people entertained, to building an audience, applies to podcasting.
- Next-level podcasters are also doing live events. Speaking live is like an infomercial for your podcast and will enable you to reach hundreds (or even thousands) of people at once, then immediately transition them to being podcast subscribers.
What you'll learn:
- The Stories Your Promo Materials Tell About You
- How to Get on a TEDx Stage
- How to Double Your Bookings
- Speaking in the College Market
- How to Create True Fans
- The 7-Second Speech that Every Speaker Needs
- Top Reasons Why Event Professionals Won't Hire You
- Six Steps to Turn Your Expertise Into a High-Profit Business
Again, the live event is free to attend, so you have nothing to lose.
Podcasting Tools
Loudness.fm - Automatic Podcast Mastering
Loudness is an automatic podcast mastering service for podcasters who want to sound great without worrying about all the technical stuff.
If you like Auphonic, you'll like this. And right now, it's free.
Just upload your audio file and Loudness makes it sound better. Automatically set gain levels, reduce background noise, level out speech — all in one click!
Vend Email - Get a Dedicated RSS Email You Can Instantly Transfer
As I talked about in Issue 71, one of the problems with the RSS feeds that we use in podcasting is that they expose your email address to anybody and everybody. This is why you get so many crazy "interview requests" and pitches for podcast hosting.
Vend is an easy (and free) solution to this problem. It allows you to create a dedicated email address you can use for your podcast feed (or anything else). But what's really great about it is that, should you ever want to sell your podcast (or just the feed), it makes transferring that email address to somebody else easy.
It's a nice tool to have in your kit.
The Business of Podcasting
Research: Praising Your Competition Benefits You
Compliments and recommendations cost you nothing, but can mean a lot to the people you endorse.
Adam Grant talks about this in his book, Give and Take: Why Helping Others Drives Our Success.
A challenge for you ... Recommend your "competition" on your next podcast episode, or via Instagram.
Want more info on why this works? Read this.
The Wrap Up
The Wrap Up
My goal is to better empower podcasters to be more successful spreading their messages and make more money with their podcasts.
I'd love it if you'll help me spread the word about this newsletter by sending your podcasting friends to bigpodcast.com/newsletter.