Podcasting: What we’ve learned so far
In February, 2020, my wife, Holly, and I launched “The How in the World Podcast,” our first such endeavor. A few weeks later, I followed that with “The Doofus Dad Podcast.”
Why would we involve ourselves in such a hair-brained scheme and pile even more work on top of our already crazy schedule? Great question. Here are my main reasons for adding “podcaster” to my resume:
- Promotion. We wanted to create a podcast “vehicle” to help promote our side business, Hobnail Trekking Co. and to market my books. This gives us a place to advertise. From a business standpoint, this is easily THE reason for creating a podcast — it places your service/product into a different media platform and, theoretically, before a new audience.
- Fun. We wanted a fun project we could tackle together, and it has turned out to be a hoot.
- Other projects. I knew I wanted to be able to record audiobooks and do voiceover work at home, too, so we wanted to make as much use out of recording equipment as possible.
- Communications training. I wanted to dip my toe into the process of producing and publishing a podcast just to learn how it all works. Mission accomplished. I’m now publishing two weekly podcasts.
- Revenue source. I really don’t expect either podcast to make money any time soon — or ever — other than indirectly, through the promotion of our trekking company and the sale of my books. Instead of No. 5, this should really be, like, No. 147.
“So how’s it going so far, how do you record it, and is anything in the above list working?” you’re now asking.
Geez, you’re full of questions today…
Format
After we decided on our topic — breaking down and explaining commonly asked questions about the world’s great mysteries — we had to choose a format. Would it be scripted or unscripted? How long would each episode be? Would we have call-in guests? How many episodes per month?
We decided on scripted episodes, around 10 minutes-long, one per week, and without guests (to begin with). This meant we would need to write 1,600-word scripts, roughly, after several hours of internet research per topic. That’s a substantial investment in time, but we committed to trying it. On occasion, we will throw in an unscripted episode where we each do our own research, make notes, and then meet in front of the microphones and “wing it.” This works pretty well, too.
Set-up and hosting
We also knew that the “How in the World Podcast” would need it’s own domain and website (I’ve already got a site for Doofus Dad), so that was another commitment of time and around $200 in hosting, security, domain registration, etc.
For both podcasts, we had to choose a hosting platform; we went with Blubrry (yes, that’s how it’s spelled). Although Libsyn was a close contender, we chose Blubrry mainly because of its seamless integration with WordPress. One the plugin is installed, a WordPress post can easily be converted to a podcast episode and, when published, is automatically routed through Blubrry and out into the podcasting world to all the popular platforms. So far, I’ve found Blubrry to be awesome, with excellent customer support. (Humans actually answer the phone.)
Production
It took me a while to decide on how I wanted to actually record a podcast, and I can’t claim that my way is the best, but it works for me. An old friend of mine from the music business turned me on to a recording device called a Rode Rodecaster Pro podcast production studio. At $600, this constituted our largest financial hit, but there’s a lot of bang for the buck. The Rodecaster is a self-contained podcasting studio that allows for four microphones to be operating simultaneously, each with its own fader and settings. There is also a Bluetooth channel specifically for incoming phone calls, which I haven’t yet used. One of the best features is the ability to record either to a micro SD card or directly into a computer via USB connection. This is great because it allows the recording process to be entirely mobile and without the need for a computer.
(And no, I’m not a Rode affiliate or anything. If only…)
As far as microphones go, we bought two MXL 770 cardioid mics, only about $60 each, as well as two desktop mic stands to hold them. Our headphones are Sony MDRV6 Studio Headphones.
I created a sound-dampening studio in one half of my home office by using two rolling garment racks draped in moving blankets and covered in tapestries to make them look better. On the walls, I installed around $120 worth of acoustic foam tile using Command Strips to hold them up.
As far as the actual recording goes, it’s a piece of cake. Holly and I sit across from each other and each hold a printed copy of the script. We read through the copy and throw in ad libs wherever we want. When we make mistakes, we simply go back to the start of the sentence and read it again without stopping the recording.
For a 10-minute episode, it usually takes us about 15 minutes of actual time to record an episode. Then, I import the audio file into Adobe Audition, edit out the mistakes, add the opening sequence and Hobnail Trekking ad at the end, and export the whole thing as a .mp3 file, which I’ll later upload into my WordPress post. This takes around an hour, depending on how well we did during the initial recording. Aside from writing the script, the most time-consuming process is creating the show notes and building the web page for each episode, which might take two or three hours.
Results
So far, I’ve been relatively pleased with the audience response to our podcasts, mainly because I had very low expectations. One of the podcasting coaches we subscribe to says that building an audience is a slow process, and if you have more than just your mom listening over the first few months, you’re doing well. And in case you’re wondering, it’s impossible to calculate the number of subscriptions. For whatever reason, that’s just not a metric that podcast distributors (like Apple Music, iTunes, Spotify, iHeart Radio, and others) report back to the host. Hopefully, that will change someday.
Incidentally, we’ve been approached by a company that pairs podcasts for cross-promotion, so we’ll see how that goes.
Parting thoughts
You know much better than me about your business’ demographic and whether or not your customers would be receptive to a podcast. Just keep in mind that, when things get back to (the new) normal post COVID, people will again be driving places, and the podcasting platform takes advantage of that “down time” unlike any other. A short podcast may be the perfect way to reach your customers when they are most receptive to listening.
Speaking for myself, our podcasting journey has certainly been worth doing and a lot of fun. Hopefully, within a couple of years, it will start paying dividends as far as our trekking company and books are concerned, but even if it doesn’t, it has been a great project for Holly and me. Even better, I now know how dry cleaning works, how grasshoppers turn into locusts, how cats purr, how the Great Wall of China was built, and a bunch of other stuff I was clueless about before.
If you’d like to check out the website I built for “The How in the World Podcast,” GO HERE. Also, find “The Doofus Dad Podcast” HERE. If you’d like any other information about podcasting or help setting one up for yourself or your business, email me any time.
~ Mark
