Welcome to Podcast Suck, a podcast about starting a podcast, where we dive headfirst into the wild, wacky, and sometimes frustrating world of podcasting. If you've ever sat down with a microphone, hit record, and thought, what on earth am I doing? Or if you're just curious about the magic behind your favorite shows, then you're in the right place. Get ready for laughs, insights, and a whole lot of what not to do advice as we embark on this podcasting journey together. Let's dive in. What's happened to podcasters, aspiring podcasters, wherever you're at in your podcasting journey. Thanks so much for tuning in. I sure do appreciate you taking a few minutes out of your day to number one, listen, but also better understand what you don't know that you don't know about the world of podcasting today. I want to give some tips for brand new podcasters. Yesterday, I put out this week's. Newsletter over on LinkedIn and doing that for the past couple of months, extremely well received. From people wanting to better understand what they need to know about the world of podcasting, whether you're already in the game or you're just getting started either way. And it was podcasting 101 tips and tricks for beginners, so I thought let's record a podcast episode. Heck, I'll probably take this podcast episode included in the newsletter. Another upside of having a digital newsletter, you can always go back and update it and add new stuff to it. But I want to share these. I think I put seven tips in the post yesterday or the newsletter rather. Let's kick things off with a fun fact about podcasting. Fun fact, the most popular podcast genre in terms of listenership is comedy, followed closely by education and news. Just in case you were wondering what the most popular podcast category is out there. It is in fact comedy because we all love a good laugh. All right. So if you're brand new to podcasting, you call yourself a podcast newbie. This is some podcast one-on-one game for you. First bit of advice I want to give you about this topic is that you need to find your voice. Okay. Your podcasting journey begins with finding your unique voice, not Joe Rogan's, not your favorite podcast host, your unique podcast voice. What makes you stand out from the crowd? What makes you different? You need to dive deep into your passions, experiences, and expertise to really uncover those stories that you can tell, like only you can tell. Authenticity is key when you're building a loyal audience. So you got to find your voice, number one. Next. invest in quality equipment. Now that doesn't mean go spend a thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars on fancy equipment that you'll probably not ever use because you don't know how to figure out how to plug it in and make it work. But go to Amazon, get yourself a quality microphone that plugs in via USB. Get yourself a HD webcam where people can see you clearly. Get a ring light so you've got some lighting on yourself because most podcast interviews are recorded on something like Zoom or Riverside. But make that investment. Content's king. Audio quality is queen. She runs the house. Invest in a decent microphone and headphones. Maybe you don't want headphones, at least a microphone. You want that to ensure that you get that crisp, clear sound. And with technology these days and equipment, you can literally, one of my favorite mics ever is the Audio-Technica USB mic. It's like 49 bucks on Amazon, plugs right into your computer. And it has an XLR cable that in the event you upgrade and have an interface that you plug into, you can utilize that mic with an interface. Great mic again, 49 bucks invest in quality equipment. Tip number two, tip number three, plan your content out. Winging it is a terrible idea at any and all times. Doesn't matter if you want to script your episodes out or I'm a big fan of outlining key talking points. That's, that's the most realistic. Cause when you start scripting your brain goes, wait a second, I need to read this entire script verbatim and you sound like you're reading. So the script kind of defeats its own purpose. But when you have an outline meeting title of the episode, four to six key points that you want to cover during that episode. And you've got that there in front of you while you're recording your podcast episode. It acts as a guide, but it also forces you to speak intelligently about the topics that you've put on that outline. So should, do I need a podcast script for my podcast episode? I'm going to go with a firm no on that. Even though I did mention in the newsletter, whether it's scripting, maybe scripting is part of your game and you're able to script out an episode and still improvise with the script and use it as an outline, but you want to keep it as simple as possible. You want to keep your episodes structured, but spontaneous. And that's what an outline allows you to do. It leaves, leaves a lot of room for organic conversations to really unfold. Next tip master the art of editing. I will hashtag disclosure before I mentioned this next tip. Do not edit your own podcast episode. It's a complete waste of time. It's extremely frustrating. And there are people that are willing and able to edit your podcast for pennies on the dollar. Go over to fiverr.com, upwork.com. I'm talking 10, 15, 20, maybe 25 bucks an episode. If that, if you're looking to save 10 bucks and not hire someone to edit your episode. You may want to reevaluate your conversation around scarcity. Cause we're talking 10 bucks for one episode. I can change the oil in my car if I really wanted to. Can also go around the corner and pay Jiffy Lube 50 bucks, be done with it in five minutes. Remember that next time you think I'm going to edit my own, my own podcast, but more importantly, make sure the episode is actually edited. You wouldn't believe how many people just record something on their podcast on their, on their smartphone and just upload away. No adjusting anything, adjusting the volumes, editing out background noise, adding an intro or an outro. Editing is where the magic happens. You need to trim the fat, enhance the audio, add engaging elements like music and sound effects, and keep your listeners hooked and interested from start to finish. Don't just put out the audio because you're like, well, let's just get something out. People can tell when they listen to it. Next tip, promote, promote, promote. Listen, if you don't tell people about your podcast, they're not going to know about it. So don't be shy about promoting your podcast across all social media platforms, in your email newsletter, at networking events. That's right, offline. Hey, I've got a podcast. Pull up the Apple podcast or Spotify app. I'll pull it up for you and subscribe for you. That way you'll get notifications when new episodes become available. This allows you to build a community around your podcasts. It takes time and effort to do this, but the payoff is well worth it. Long-term in the macro, not just the micro, the micro is day by day and telling people about it every single day. The macro is eventually the show continues to grow because of all of the micro marketing you've done on a daily basis to tell people about your show. Next tip, engage with your audience. So when you're creating content and people are replying to your email because you sent the episode out to your email list like you should be, right? Or you're posting clips on social media and people are like, hey, that's a great episode. I really like this. Respond back to them, talk to them, have conversations with them, engaging with your audience. Your listeners are your biggest fans and critics rolled into one. You want to make sure you're taking the time to engage with them. Comments, emails, social media interactions. That feedback is also very invaluable content for you to really embrace and hone in your skills as a podcast host. And finally, stay consistent. Consistency, consistency, consistency. Consistency is in fact a very hard word to say with braces. Consistency is key to building a loyal audience. Whether you release episodes weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, stick to a schedule for whatever works for you and your audience most important. Show up consistently and your listeners are going to come back wanting more each and every time. So there you have it. Those are seven essential tips and tricks to kickstart your podcasting journey. If you're just getting started, maybe you need to start all over again, whatever the case may be. The goal is to be able to share these points with you so that you start to understand what you don't know that you don't know, but more importantly, really encourage you to lean into this podcasting will change your life and your business if you let it. questions, thoughts, ideas, concerns about this episode or any episodes on the show here, please shoot me a DM, find me on Facebook, track me down and say, Hey, listen to this episode. I got a question about this. I do respond to each and every one of you lovely people. And I do appreciate you once again for taking some time out of your busy day to hang out with me here on podcast suck. If you don't have one until next time, friends, Thanks so much for tuning into this episode. We sure do appreciate it. If you haven't done so already, make sure you're subscribed to the show wherever you consume podcasts. That's the way we get updates as new episodes become available. If you feel so inclined, please leave us a review and share the show with someone you know should start a podcast or may already have one. And remember, podcasts suck if you don't have one. Until next time, friends.