Evaluating Your Podcast Year

Because of My Podcast the Creator From the Blacklist Gets Interviewed on Podcast

Troy produces numerous podcast, but today he is talking about the Blacklist Exposed podcast he had the creator of the hit NBC show contact Troy on twitter and ask to come on the show. While he was on the show he made announcements that were then used in Press Releases that had all the press releases pointing at Ttoy's site theblacklistexposed.com Tory point out that:

1. The Creator of the Show Called THEM.
2. It took three seasons (it didn't happen over night).
3. Make great headlines.

Evaluating Your Podcast Year

My stats are basically flat from the start of the year to the end of the year. I had a bit of an upswing in the middle of the year, and I'm up a bit from last year (kind of following the trends of podcasting up about 3%). Here are some things you can look at:

1. See what episodes were downloaded the most
2. See what episodes had the most comments
3. See what pages had the most visit (check your Google Analytics)
4. See what got shared the most ( I use Social Warfare for this)
5. Then look at what didn't do well.

You want to do more of what seemed to resonate with your audience and less of what didn't. Seems obvious, but without a time to evaluate what is working you could be going deeper into the wrong direction.

Top Ten Episodes of 2015

The Journey of Podcasting Starts with a Single Episode- Profitcast's The Real Brian

Taking Phone Calls On Your Podcast

What to Do If You Can't Pick a Podcast Topic

What Podcasters Can Learn From David Letterman

Podcasting's Most Frequently Asked Questions

Making a Living Talking about Horses - Glen the Geek is Never Boring

Audio Technica BP40 - Electrovoice RE320 - Audio Technica ATR2100 USB Microphone Shootout

Jeff Brown Shares 26 Years Of Experience Behind the Microphone

8 Ways a Stranger Can Help You Grow Your Audience

Honorable Mentions

The Most Addicting Social Platform Ever

What Every Podcaster Should Know About Stalkers

Is Soundcloud A Legitimate Option for Podcasting?

New Tools I Started Using this Year

Intelliplayer is a great tool that allows you to add calls to action to YouTube Videos, as well as get more stats than you get in Youtube.

Convert Kit  - A great email marketing tool that gives great insights into your email subscribers

Nimble - This is the tool I use to keep in touch with the members at the School of Podcasting and Consulting Clients

Social Warfare - Sharing buttons on steroids for Wordpress.

Simple Podcast Press - For me, the best "Advanced Player" out there. The ability to add an email sign up form AND any button I want, makes it a no brainer.

Cover Genie Pro - Makes great covers, ebooks, and a whole lot more.

*Note some of those links are affiliate links.

Tools I Will Stop Using

Soundcloud.com It may be cheap, but I'm getting zero return for my money.

Lead Pages - Great tool, but the tools I'm using it for (squeeze pages) I can do with Convert Kit. I was going to use their lead digits, but I then realized that I would be marrying myself to the service as my phone number would be in my old episodes.

The One Thing

Other things I've noticed looking back at this year is a pile of training materials that I never went through. I bought them to "watch later" and then went on my ways doing things in a manner that I'm sure could be more efficient. I've used Asana for years. It's a great free project management tool. I've never really mastered the software and its capabilities. This will be the first thing I work on in 2016. Get organized and then identify the ONE THING that I will do next. I've heard about the book The ONE Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results on how you should pick the NEXT thing that you will be working on and do it. Then the next, then the next. All the while making sure yo are only working on ONE THING.

Don't Forget to Celebrate the Accomplishments

While I could look at the things that didn't work this year (podcasting for free proved -as I thought - to be a bad experiment), don't forget to look at the things you tried that worked (using blab.im for Ask the Podcast Coach has really made that show fun). By focusing on my next meal, I've lost over 20 lbs in the last three months. Check out apps like the Gratitude app, or the Way of Life apps to help keep you focused and engaged.

In Between The Stats

While we can focus on the download numbers, and the amount of revenue we generate, this week showed me my greatest asset. My audience. After many years of therapy and making each other miserable, my wife and I dissolved our marriage. I wasn't looking for a pitty party when I announced it on Facebook, but the support that flooded in via email, voicemail, etc was baffling. I felt like George Bailey in It's a Wonderful Life." I've had numerous pep talks, and some great conversations. I'm as fine as one can be in this situation. I'm waiting for the dust to settle, but I'm looking forward to a much more quiet future.

While I've now been married twice (and for all purposely, my last), I have no children. I have ex-step children who I do miss, but nobody will be carrying my genes. Again, not looking for a pitty party, but just stating the facts. I have always felt like podcasting was a calling. It just fits me like a glove. It allows me to be creative, to teach, to help, and to use technology. It scratches every itch there is to scratch for me.

So I look forward to creating deeper connections with my audience in 2016. I look forward to being focused, and finding more effective ways of getting the word out about the School of Podcasting. I look forward to serving you as we move forward.

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