The Podcasting Underground
Audience
Share Their
Top
Podcasting Tips of 2007
The following tips were submitted by listeners of the Podcasting Underground. These are their top tips learned during 2007 to help you make more money, attract more listeners and streamline your podcasting workflow. Many thanks go out to all those who participated.
If you would like to add your own tip to this page, please email me at jason AT jasonvanorden DOT com.
This page has been formatted in a style that will allow you to easily and cleanly print it out to read. Enjoy!
The single most important thing I learned in 2007 was the importance of and how to interpret METRICS. First and foremost because I provide sales representation for The Real Estate Guys, and everyone from agencies to individual sponsors need accurate metrics to understand what the audience is. Knowing how many unique downloads per episode over a three week period is the key metric.
We were also able to implement surveys and gain valuable demographic information. In addition to the importance for sales, metrics allow for us to respond to our audience's tastes and propensities.
So we can see the effects of a marketing campaign in the numbers, find out which topics were most popular, find out which offerings triggered the greatest response from our audience. Having accurate metrics (we use podtrac.com and libsyn.com) and knowing how to interpret them is an art and science (which we are still learning) and the biggest lesson of mine in 2007.
Jonathan
www.therealestateguysradio.com
The number one thing
I learned in 2007 was how to get a sponsor by making them a part of the show.
By creating a segment with dynamic content that changes each week, it gives the
sponsor a chance to offer more than the typical "sponsored by" or
regular ads.
The listeners love
it because they end up learning something and the sponsors love it because the
listener is less likely to fast forward thru it.
I love it because it not only gives me content, it makes me money.
For the Strength Coach Podcast, I created a segment called "Ask the
Equipment Experts" with Perform Better, who is my sponsor, and they answer
a question from a listener each episode. People learn, Perform Better gets
their name out and establishes themselves as experts, I get content and some dough. Everyone's happy!
Anthony Renna
The Strength Coach Podcast
www.StrengthCoachPodcast.com
Better Golf with Fitness Podcast
www.BetterGolfwithFitness.com
To get sponsors, you just have to ask. It's a simple tip, but really, just ask. Go after the companies that fit your target audience and ask them to sponsor your podcast. You'd be amazed at how many of them will say "yes!" But do this on a daily basis to get the best results. Put aside 1 hour a day to do business development.
My podcast is The Digital Media Dude Daily Tip Podcast and you can check it out at http://www.TheDigitalMediaDude.com/
Cheers and keep up the great work on your site! You have some great advice!
Marcelo Lewin
http://www.TheDigitalMediaDude.com/
Grow your audience
by using a companion podcast or free podcast that directs your audience(s) to
the premium podcast--which can be education that provides evergreen value to
your audience.
My free podcast to GROW an audience with free content: The Struggling
Entrepreneur at www.strugglingentrepreneur.com.
My companion podcast to give some free content of value and testimonials, but
like PODCASTING FOR DUMMIES, has the purpose to promote the premium podcast
education training of a premium podcast: Gain Control of Your Day at www.gaincontrolofyourday.com (web site) and www.gaincontrolofyourday.com/podcast for the free companion podcast
How did it make me more $$?
It delivered subscribers
who signed up for the premium podcast training course, a Personal Productivity
seminar that shows the audience member how to accomplish more in less time with
better quality and reduced stress. This is evergreen, and the content for this
training is licensed from a firm that owns the intellectual capital -- and,
yes, neither David Allen nor anyone else has these techniques and tips and
methodologies and intellectual property (I bet you they wish they had). That's
why the content is of such great value.
Lesson learned: What traps did I stay away from?
I did NOT go for sponsorship or advertising. I still have emails and calls from
others who WANT to sponsor my show and pay me for including buttons and links
on the web site, but I am staying away from that for now and just delivering
good content. The subscribers are happy--in fact, one even emailed me to say
"Go ahead and cash the check (because of a 30-day money-back return
period), because I am going to take this course to the end."
Fred Castaneda
www.matrixsolutionscorp.com
It's actually difficult to zero in on the #1 lesson I learned, since this last year has been a year of getting up to speed via the fire hose method. But that's not a negative thing. I was anxious to get up and running and you were head fireman! Thank you!
Definitely the #1 thing I learned from you early on was to set up a free newsletter and get folks to sign up for it. It creates a great sense of security to know I won't lose my entire audience if iTunes dropped podcasting tomorrow, and the list is the best way to get existing listeners back to my website through prompting emails.
The #1 thing that grew my audience this year (besides being listed in iTunes) was actively promoting the podcast to others in the genealogy world:
* trade magazines
* bloggers
* other genealogy podcasters
* conferences
It's all about building relationships! What's new?! Simple, consistent emails sharing information and offering to swap website links sent to others in the genealogy world who have audiences has been very successful.
I'll be celebrating my 1 year podcasting anniversary on Feb. 25!
Lisa L. Cooke
The Genealogy Gems Podcast
www.GenealogyGems.TV
I learned a ton of things in 2007 as we launched on June 1, 2007. I think one of the biggest things we have done to grow our audience is to put our videocast into all of the video aggregators, especially You Tube, which has brought in buyers. We recently ran a sale on our premium videocasts at http://www.polymerclayclassroom.com we sent out e-mails to all of our newsletter subscribers with the sale using good copy and it worked, we got great conversion. We regularly give away prizes to our newsletter subscribers and listeners of the show. We have about 550 subscribers in only a short time.
The prizes are usually donated by authors and publishers and we attend trade shows and get lots of goodies to give away that way as well. I learned a lot of things from listening to the Podcast Academy, which is where I learned of you. I listen to podcasts and read a lot and that has given me a ton of ideas to move our show to the next level. I think one of the most important things with the show is to always find ways to improve it and that will only build our audience.
Ilysa Bierer
http://www.polymerclayproductions.com
Respect your listener's time. Give them good, quality content and be sure to edit out any um's or long periods of silence. Also, you should genuinely appreciate the fact that someone out there is listening to your content and you should express that appreciation to them.
Brian
www.MyOnlineGuitar.com
Free Guitar Lessons
I think the best tip
I could give for 2007 to improve my traffic flow would
be joining chat boards and forums and promoted issues that pertained to my
podcast.
As my weekly podcast show www.rippleoutdoors.com involves issues and
concerns for anglers & hunters in Ontario I participated in numerous online
forums and chat boards about hot issues and concerns I was covering. It was
also a great way to meet future guest speakers for upcoming shows.
Interviewing popular and well known outdoor people also helped boost
ratings.
As
a niche market Ontario's hunters and anglers wanted those valuable tips
and insights highlighted in my show.
Peter Wood
Create something
that relates to your niche and give it away free, in
exchange for a name and email address of course. ;) I built up my
subscriber base by simply giving away a free BBQ Sauce recipe book and
requesting that they subscribe. Building your list allows you to market
more effectively.
Create excellent
content on a regular schedule (each episode is released
within the same hour of the day like clockwork,) so listeners can be
confident a new show had been published at midnight on the 1st and 15th of
the month.
This schedule has
remained rock solid for two and half years now without
interruption.
Perry Bax
The Best Radio You Have Never Heard Podcast
http://www.bestradiopodcast.com
#1 Tip for 2007. I learned from Tim at the French Maids.
Always build two emotions into your show. Make sure you can touch people in at least two distinct ways with your content. Love and humor, humor and sadness....etc
Tim Dewey
Sled Dog Podcast
www.sleddogpodcast.com
I have been podcasting since 2005 and moved my show to my own podcast network, Personal Life Media, in May 07. I "re-started" my show with 700 listeners the first month and have steadily increased my audience to 7,000 listeners a month as of December '07. "DishyMix" has grown in part because of the quality of my guests, but also because I'm very active in promoting the show via email to mutual contacts of my guest and mine.
I am an avid Facebook user with 1250 friends and a LinkedIn user with 2500 friends. I look at who the mutual friends are of my guest that week and then send an email about the show with links to my site, my blog and iTunes. I think that single action does more than anything else to increase my listener base.
Susan Bratton
Great topic and I
like your show a lot. I'll give you 3 simple things
that I learned and think are great tips.
1. I do an interview based podcast and, where ever possible I ask the
person I interview to put a link to our talk on their site and or to
mention the interview and my site in any correspondence or newsletters
they send out. Its gotten me
all kinds of listeners and site visits.
2. Content is king. If you ain't got nothin' good to say, keep your
trap shut! Just like mom said! Make it worth your audiences time to
listen. Do meaningful interviews and research the topic so you know
what you are talking about and sound inteligent to
your listeners.
3. Quality matters. Make sure you and your show sound good. People
won't listen to something that doesn't sound professional. There are
too many reasons (other podcasts, other forms of entertainment, Etc.)
to tempt a listener to turn you off if you don't sound
good. While you
can buy a $30 microphone and podcast to the world, if you sound like
you are recording from a telephone or worse, you aren't going to
garner an audience.
Larry Wanger
DisabilityNation
www.disabilitynation.net
I started my podcast
late in the year but my number 1 tip would be to network with people that are
not familiar with podcasting! Stop preaching to the converted. The Rock and
Roll Report Podcast is a music podcast featuring unsigned and indie bands that I
feel should be on commercial rock radio and a lot of the bands, labels and
promo people I have dealt with for my blog don't know what a podcast is. When I
explain it to them they are almost all interested in getting involved.
In order for podcasting to grow it has to reach out to the non-podcasting aware
public.
The Rock and Roll Report
Podcast
www.rockandrollreport.com
Leave helpful comments on topics
related to your podcast at appropriate forums, message boards, etc. Make sure
in your signature line and/or in the comment itself you include at least your
podcast's website, or if appropriate, a little more detail about the podcast
itself (what topics you cover, how often it comes out, how long it is, etc.)
Toast & Siena
Girl Meets Girl
One of the things that I just started using more recently is blog carnivals (such as those at www.blogcarnival.com) where people are looking for topical content. Submitting the content you have to the appropriate carnivals can be a good way to increase page rank as well as get direct traffic.
Chris Christensen
Amateur Traveler Podcast
As the host of The pm411.org Project Management Podcast (www.pm411.org) I have learned quite a bit from your Podcasting Underground and Internet Business Mastery podcasts as well as your Promoting Your Podcast book. I believe that from your suggestions the thing that helped increase my listenership the most during 2007 was to blog in addition to just publishing my audio podcast. As a result, I was able to reach both types of information consumers - those that prefer to listen and those that prefer to read.
One other tip that I would suggest is to create online book or product reviews that reference your podcast. This actually does two things - it promotes your podcast to those already interested in the subject matter, and secondly it helps to establish you as an expert on the subject. Of course, you need to make sure you are ethical and have actually owned the product or book that you are reviewing.
As a matter of fact, I just submitted a book review on your book, Promoting Your Podcast, on Amazon.com.
Ron Holohan
Thepm411.org Project
Management Podcast
My best tip would be
to deliver on an extremely regular basis a professional
item, and never be late with it. The podcast name is also very important and
must contain frequently searched keywords.
William
Podcast Paris by Nite
www.parisbynite.fr
Upon redesigning my homepage I wanted to discover an avenue that would appeal to my "white collar" clients while ALSO appealing to the typical Boxer visiting the site. THUS, I divided the page into "3" sections that ALL act as a portal to the rest of my site.
Ricky Ray Taylor
www.BoxerDRILLZ.com
MY NUMBER ONE TIP: TABLE @ CONVENTIONS, FESTIVALS, or EVENTS!!!
Since Indie Spinner Rack revolves around Comic Book Publishing, I've found that attending conventions grows our listenership by large percentages each and every time. But not just attending, actually having a table. Tabling at a convention legitimizes your podcast and production in the eyes of attendees versus walking around trying to promote and pitch to everyone. When you have a table, people come to you.
I've discovered the more professional the presentation the more serious they take our show as well, so we spent a little money on a few banners, signs, and postcards.
My suggestion for other podcasts is to find festivals/conventions/events in their specific genre/category and see if they can get a table. Some may say, "I can't afford a table!" Then contact the director of the convention and speak with them, put forth a proposal to cover their event in exchange for your press coverage. If they don't need the coverage ask if there is something you could do to have a table gratis.
We had a booth at several Comic Cons now and we're at the point where we're being sponsored and asked to come to conventions. This also of course has led to many comp lists and paid sponsored spots from publishers and companies. It has also proven to be a great way to network and make new friends within the industry.
In 2008, we will attend around 6 conventions, 5 in the US and 1 in Canada to promote our cast.
Thanks for asking and I look forward to hearing other podcaster's insights!
Charlito
Mmmm – one tip? Our listenership is increasing weekly, possibly because everyone on our show has
experienced the world we are talking about...digital production/post-production
and distribution. We don’t just talk it, we’ve lived it!
A good podcast has an uncanny ability to understand its listeners and create a
show that they can identify with - It is personal, entertaining and
informational. So put yourself in their shoes and imagine what you would
want to hear and then give it to them in a very personal way and you'll have a
successful show! On Creative Planet's Digital Production BuZZ we know that not everyone has access to people and products they want to know
more about. So we make an effort to find them for our audience! Fun for them, fun for us.
Cirina Catania
This is going to
sound corny, but the very best tip I've discovered is "Be grateful".
I reguarly check my weblogs and technorati for referrals. When I find a site that has mentioned me, I send a message
to the author or leave comment on the site thanking them for their support.
Likewise, I check my iTunes reviews before every show and personally thank the
reviewer "on air".
Since I've started taking the time to do these things, my numbers have started
climbing.
Gratitude works!
And, in that spirit, I'd like to thank-you for giving me this opportunity to share.
KC
Short Cummings Audio
www.ShortCummingsAudio.com
The Official
Adventures in Odyssey Podcast has been live since Sept. 2006, and is currently in the Top 20 Kids Podcasts on
iTunes. Josh Shepherd, marketer for the podcast, has a tip:
"We generated a lot of buzz and new listeners by doing a special video
podcast. There was some great content we had which fans really wanted, so that
was one element of our success.
Secondly, we just placed an .m4v file on our feed and hoped for the best. Our
feed has been only .mp3 files since it began, and we considered creating
another feed just for this video... but there's a risk of your audience missing
it, because they have to subscribe to the new feed. Ultimately we erred on the
side of keeping all our content on one feed.
That video edition of the podcast has now received twice the
downloads of a typical edition. We have plans for doing more video
podcasts, despite the extra time it requires."
You can find The Official Adventures in Odyssey Podcast at
WhitsEnd.org/Podcast or search iTunes for "Adventures in Odyssey."
Josh Shepherd
Focus on the Family
The Official Adventures in Odyssey Podcast
www.WhitsEnd.org/Podcast
The greatest help to
our video podcast was a site you mentioned on your show: tubemogul.com. Wow,
what a time saver! Plus, we're getting traffic at sites we didn't even know
about! Many thanks
for the tip.
Pastor Dale Critchley
CrossFeed Religious News
http://crossfeednews.com
I guess the best tip I can come up with is to get your name out there among other podcasters. (like I doing right now !)
Soon those podcasters will mention you in some way or another, whether on their page or show. There are a lot of podcasters and podcast listeners from within our own community.
My show is based on storytelling. I try to craft each show with a beginning, middle and ending. Each show is about growing up as a teen in the 1960s, and I always try to put a spin on it so that the time seems to stand still, rather than straight line storytelling.
I broadcast these shows in the Philly area on WNJC 1360 am, but feel closest to my podcast audience.
Harry
My most helpful
lesson was to not call my podcast a podcast. My audience
often includes people who have never listened to a podcast. They're put
off by the term because they don't have an iPod or because they put it
into the "mumbo jumbo" category of their mind. When I meet someone in
person and mention the show, I can physically see them tune out when I say
the word "podcast!"
My site still refers to the word "podcast," but I talk about it more
often
as an audio program or just a show. This approach has helped me to gain
new listeners that never would have listened otherwise.
Wendy McMahan
Poverty Unlocked
www.povertyunlocked.com
Save a template of
your show in your audio editor. Include your opening and closing themes,
as well as any song clips or sound effects that you use regularly. That
way when it comes time to create a new show all you have to do is turn on the mic and go. Time spent on editing is kept to a
minimum.
Thanks for the show Jason. Through Podcasting Underground and Internet
Business Mastery you have influenced and encouraged me to create both my own
podcast and my own internet business and I'm thoroughly enjoying it. Please
keep up the great work.
Brian
Free Guitar Lessons
www.MyOnlineGuitar.com
Clean up every
aspect of the process. Simplify, simplify, simplify. Think speed
and efficiency. 90% is good enough. Get it out the door. If
you get bogged down in too many steps in your process, you will find it harder
and harder to bring yourself to record another show. Re-evaluate ALL the
steps to see which ones can be dropped or combined to simplify the overall
process.
The biggest combination of steps for me was to move the compression and EQ
process to the front end, before everything goes into the recorder.
Purists will say that I'm losing the ability to selectively clean things up in
post-production. That's the whole point. I don't want to spend the time
"doing it in post-production." My ideal show would require no
post-production. I want it out the door.
On TheDivaCast, I record five women. We spend
some time in the show planning process with the goal of recording it all in one
take requiring no post-production. Over time, we have cleaned up our
process and moved some tasks around for the better. Just so you know, we have recorded one show so far, where we did no
post-production. It's still a goal...
Robin
As a podcaster I've
found that keeping a set schedule to get certain tasks out each week has helped
tremendously. As a podcaster it's better to be the tortoise than the hare. I
have 2 shows: Tango Eternal! and Urban Outside and
every Saturday I look for new independent music to play on my shows and keep
these tracks in special folders on my desktop.
On Sundays I lay down the tracks for my podcasts. Then on the day that each
show comes out all I have to do is mix it down to an mp3, write the ID3 tags
and upload the show to the servers. Then I write up the playlist on the blog.
Being organized, planning ahead what will be played on each show and sticking to
my schedule is what helps me continue to get enjoyment from podcasting. I would
have to say that the biggest help in growing my audience is participating on
forums and other blogs and putting a link to my podcasts in my signature.
Steady does it. I get my shows out no matter what, even if I don't feel like
it.
Victoria
Tango Eternal!
http://tangoeternal.blogspot.com
Urban Outside
http://urbanoutside.blogspot.com
As a rookie in the podcasting world...we're talking less than 1 month, I have found that pre-recording intros and outros to your show saves immense podcast production time. On Saturdays or Sunday afternoons, I take 30 minutes and play with the editing of the welcome and the closing template I have created, and this 30 minutes takes out that 30 minutes during the week while I'm really busy. This may be a common practice, but I encourage people to do it if they have not started.
Blair Chadwick
Everything Creative
Edit and mix as you record. If there are things you know you're going to want to edit out, or mix in, as you record, do it right then, instead of recording, THEN mixing.
Toast & Siena
Girl Meets Girl
My #1 tip of 2007 is this:
Phone interviewing an expert over skype is a quick easy way to create interesting content. Experts are often chomping at the bit to share their knowledge with anyone who cares enough to show an interest. And 8-10 questions are a lot easier to prepare than an outline for 30 minutes of content.
Dr Jim
"The Bodcast"
I’m very new to
podcasting but here are two things I did to help me.
First, and I'm sure that a lot of your listeners who
create podcast
on a regular basis are already doing this, I created a podcast template.
My template includes my podcast logo image, My intro
and exit music
tracks as well as my host track and stinger tracks. Having all these
ready to just drop music or my voice into makes setting up my
podcasts quick and easy.
Another thing I did was took the time to go through every sound
effect/stinger/royalty free music piece I had and create a list of my
favorites and what they might be good for. For example: I have a
banjo picking loop that I like that I have noted would be good for
creating a wild west theme. Now I'm working on typing the name of the
loop and the theme sound into a searchable spread sheet so that if
I'm creating a story about a cowboy turned pastry chef I can search
western and have all the loops/ stingers/sound effects etc. that, to
me, sounded perfect for any western style story.
Thanks, I really love all of your advice!
Matthew S. Hicks
www.smileymediagroup.com
I've found that using 2 computers saves me a lot of time. While one encodes the audio, I can get the feed ready on the other. I could do it all on one, but having less running on the encoding computer frees up the processor and speeds up the process.
Dale
Tech Talk for Families
http://www.techtalkforfamilies.com
Your show is absolutely top notch - love it.
My top tip is: listen to several podcasts to get a feel for it and to help
you brainstorm ideas of your own. It's especially important to listen to
podcasts with differing subjects, not necessarily related to your own. It's
even more important to listen to someone who has been podcasting
consistently. By the tone of their message, you will get a good idea about
what messages work in an audio format.
Keep up the great work.
Cliff
buddhamirror.blogspot.com
I would say using crossfades during editing to soften transitions- the production values of the podcast have increased, as have my listeners.
Whitney Hoffman
www.ldpodcast.com
Since I'm still a
beginner, some of the basics were very helpful to me.
Developing an email list and sending them a survey was helpful and surprising.
People were more interested than I thought, and in general they seemed to
appreciate the notification and participation.
Shirley
spiritualityandchristianity.com
I had a situation where we had to record an interview on the phone (Skype not possible) and I recorded both locally using a decent phone tap box and using the confernce calling company's system (Intercall conference recording). Turned out that the conference recording was cleaner with less noise, but the conference company had a gate on the audio. The gate would silence the line when audio levels dropped below a certain point. So I would have dead spaces in between comments in the recording.
I recalled what we used to do when cutting audio for movies; we used to record a few minutes of quiet room noise (ambience) to lay in behind dialog tracks to eliminate that type of dead space. I used that approach to overcome the dead spots in the conference call quickly without having to resort to cleaning up the other recording with all its noise. I took a short recording of some room ambience and looped it behind the conference recording. Voila, dead spots vanished!
Scott Roy Smith
Our
Podcasts
My #1 tip is that listeners are loyal and want you to succeed. Every podcast episode I produce is done with that in mind. I truly care about my listeners, and I know they care about me. That knowledge helps create a successful show and a devoted listenership.
Colleen
Food for Thought
Gigavox for me is great.
Just do it...consistently is the best tip I can give....
George
http://georgekedourie.com
I've been meaning to write you in reference to the podcast where you discussed the question, "Is podcasting dead?"
For, in my estimation, podcasting hasn't even reached the general population yet!
You see, I'm a graying old ice hockey coach who especially deals with hockey parents and other coaches -- in their 20s, 30s and 40s. And I'm finding that I'm far more techie -- or more Internet savvy -- than most folks half my age. In some instances, I actually have had to drag some younger customers onto the Internet, and in many cases I've introduced younger ones to their first attempts at negotiating a blog or opening an mp3 file.
You might also know that, after my very first episode aired, I quickly changed the description of my media offerings to an "on-line radio show", purely because I realized that it was a lot more comfortable to Internet newbies than the term "podcast". (Ya, that seemed to frighten quite a lot of them.)
"Coach Chic's Hockey Secrets"
http://myhockeysecrets.blogspot.com/
The biggest best tip we can pass on to podcasters in the thick of it is Diversity! We have a show that is primarily a lifestyle/entertainment show.
Our interviews take us from the studio to on location. Watching the ever changing world of fast paced technology we learned in order to stay on top of the world of online media... diversity, exposure and thinking ahead of the market is top priority.
We think of podcasting as an added feature to viral market all facets of our talents and help expose other talent in the process.
Learn from others in the industry and ask a lot of questions. It can only help you gain more knowledge and help you network with those people trying to do and learn from what you're doing.
Jim Stelluto
www.firepitfridaymediagroup.com
I am an afternoon DJ for a radio station in Asheville, North Carolina. I also have a podcast and four radio broadcast. I am getting ready to begin another podcast for advertising, political and public interest items.
My biggest tip is take the time to get good equipment and have a good sound. You can make a broadcast with a boom box or a five dollar microphone. Do you know how many people want to hear it though? None.
Take the time to edit it well. Do not just slap anything on because it will just make you look bad. What I'm saying is, if it sounds like you made it in a cave, has static, a hum, a ring, or any other overwhelming distracting noise, try some other way. Trust me, when you make one like that people just complain or will not listen. Have the best quality you can.
Now, if the only way you have to get your voice out is that, then do it until you can get some better equipment. It is better to exercise your American and God given right of free speech than to not do anything.
Let me just say in closing, the answer to speech you do not like is not censorship, it is more speech. If you see something in print you do not like, then you put something in print. If you hear something that you do not like, use your voice to combat it. But, do not under any circumstances try to censor it.
Randy Keener
Preaching the Truth
preachingthetruth.mypodcast.com
My number one tip is "just do it." Too many worry about pitfalls and strategy.
People want alternative methods to learn about issues and organizations. We have 40,000 downloads of radio and television shows in 2007 (thanks to your book on promoting your podcast).
Http://media.csosa.gov is the country's most popular source for alternative media about crime and the criminal justice system. We accomplish operational goals through podcasting (see www.dcsafesurrender.org ).
Organizations can either catch the train or watch it go by, but either way, the train is moving
Leonard A. Sipes, Jr.
#1 lesson. Just do it.
Charlotte Babb
The number one lesson I learned is to start! Remember, the lights will never all be green at the same time, so just get going, and stop waiting for the "opportune time."
I'd had an idea for a podcast, which became Design Guy, and I'd dragged my heels for a very long time until I finally made up my mind to do it.
Well, I began it last summer, having purchased your book, Promoting Your Podcast, and set to work, publishing shows every week or two on average, and it eventually gained traction, finding the audience I'd hoped would be there. (The podcast focuses on timeless principles of design, rather than highly perishible information about software tips or industry events, the kind of information that is quickly forgotten. And this became my "niche" since most shows focus on current events and tips. And it seems I've identified a true niche, an itch to be scratched, judging by the steady growth in subscribers and the very positive reviews at iTunes.
So, I'd encourage others just to start, to begin taking steps.
Anthony Rotolo
Design Guy Podcast