The Cliff Ravenscraft Show - Mindset Answer Man

Celebrating My 300th Episode I knew that I wanted to do something special to celebrate my 300th episode of Podcast Answer Man. I thought that sharing one of the greatest keys to my success would be the perfect way to do that. What is this key to suc...

GSPN Community Disney Dream Cruise: Please click play above to listen to the informational call that will give you the full details of our upcoming GSPN Community Disney Dream Cruise. You are invited to join the online community experience ...

Telephone Interviews & Taking Live Calls Justin called in to say that he's thinking about getting rid of Skype for his interviews, especially those of the telephone variety. In this episode, I try to convince Justin to investigate improving Skype before going to other interview recording solutions. In response to his question about other options for doing telephone interviews, I did mention how he could use any of the free conference calling systems, a full blown telephone interface device, or even doing what is called a "double ender." Special thanks to Randy Cantrell from http://BulaNetwork.com and Nick Seuberling from the Who-Dey Weekly Podcast for helping me demonstrate live call in options.     Personal Plug of the Week This week's personal plug of the week goes out to the Great Business project podcast by Ralph Quintero. The following quote from Ralph's About Page will help you understand the focus on his show. Do you remember why you became an entrepreneur? Financial freedom? More time for yourself and your family? If you’re anything like most entrepreneurs, you’ve found out very quickly that things aren’t quite that rosy.   You’re on a hamster wheel! You are working what feels like 100+ hours a week, your cash flow sucks and you haven’t taken a “real” vacation in years. An afternoon off? Maybe…NOT! You can’t disconnect.   What’s more, is that you think your business will probably fail if you are not there, because your business is about you. Clients all want to deal with you, not your employees. You’re the brand.   Then one evening after an exhausting day at the office, you dream about a steady paycheck and benefits. Regular work hours. Less responsibility. Maybe a corporate gig isn’t that bad, right??   Sounds familiar? Been there? I have.   The good news is that it doesn’t have to be that way. Ralph also has an entrepreneur magazine for the iPad with the name. If you check out Ralph's show, please be sure to let him know that you heard about him from The Podcast Answer Man.     iTunes says they have new podcast tech requirements. Recently, nearly everyone with a show published in the iTunes podcast directory received an email from Apple about the new tech requirements for podcasts. The email read... Dear Podcast Provider, New Cover Art Requirement iTunes has been completely redesigned and there are new requirements for podcast cover art. To be eligible for featuring on iTunes Store, a podcast must have 1400 x 1400 pixel cover art in JPG or PNG format using RGB color space. The image URL must end in ".jpg", ".jpeg" or ".png" and the server hosting the image must allow HTTP HEAD requests. See our technical spec for details. Server Configuration Requirement Podcast streaming playback on iTunes requires all hosting servers to enable Byte Range Requests. Please confirm your hosting servers have this functionality enabled. If you work with a third-party hosting service, please contact them to confirm this functionality is enabled on their servers. 155 Countries & More Than 100 Languages iTunes Podcasts has launched in additional countries around the world. Note that reviews and ratings are unique to each country. Podcasts are published in more than 100 languages. Regards, The iTunes Podcast Team I discuss what this means to podcasters in this episode. If you want, you just directly to 51 minutes into this episode which is where I explain my thoughts on this email.     Upcoming Event Schedule One of my favorite things about traveling to, and speaking at conferences, is meeting members of my community. I always make it a point to host a community meetup wherever I travel. Below is a list of events that you might be interested in. If you can make it to any of these events, I'd love to have the opportunity to meet you. If you are not able to attend the event, but are in that area,

Podcast Patent Update: EFF & The SHIELD Act If you have not yet listened to Episode 292 of Podcast Answer Man where I introduced the Podcasting Patent Lawsuit, you may want to consider listening to that episode first. Now, several podcasters have r...

The SCOORE Conference I'm very excited to announce that I have officially registered for the SCORRE Conference in an effort to take my public speaking to a whole new level. If you have been thinking about improving your own speaking skills, I encourage you to listen to this episode to find out what this conference will provide. If you want to attend this conference with me, get registered today and use promo code "Cliff" to save $100 off the cost of the registration.     Podcasting A to Z Since March of 2011, I've completed nine sessions of my Podcasting A to Z course, helping more than 170 people launch successful podcasts. My next course starts on Monday, March 4th and I woud love to help you launch your podcast or take your existing podcast efforts to the next level! Everyone who signs up for Podcasting A to Z gets immediate access to all the training materials. I've had students who launched their podcast within the first week of the course as a result of this. Sign up using discount code "PAM" in the shopping cart and you'll save $100. To learn all that is included in this four week course and to reserve your spot in the next session, please go to http://PodcastingAtoZ.com.     Posterous Is Shutting Down I found out from Mashable that Posterous will be shutting down this April. Posterous is a blogging platform (and more) that had millions of users. However, Twitter purchased the company last year and recently announced that as of April 30th, 2013, they will completely shut down the service and the blogs created by the millions of users will no longer be available to view or edit. This is yet another reason why I feel that it is important that folks consider creating their own self-hosted WordPress website. To see my full thoughts on website and podcast hosting, please see my hosting blog post.     1 Pixel Out Audio Player Is Back! I'm very happy to announce that the 1 Pixel Out audio player has been updated and no longer poses a security threat. As a result, the great folks at BluBrry have added it back into the most recent update to the PowerPress Plugin.     Your Twitter Archive Is Now Declassified! I was thrilled to learn that that not only did Twitter add the ability to download every Twitter post we've ever made, they created an amazing stylized html document that easily allows you to browse through your entire archive by month and year. If reading this does not excite you, have a listen to Erik and I discuss this in our Social Media Segment and see if you can understand why I feel this is the greatest thing to happen in Social Media since Twitter first launched.     Exclusive Audio Branding Package Opportunity I want to remind you that I have an exclusive audio branding package through Music Radio Creative that is only available to the Podcast Answer Man community. For only $449, you will get the following: A one hour 1-to-1 web meeting with Mike and/or Izabella to discuss your podcast’s exact audio needs and help design your audio brand. An amazing podcast intro with an introduction to your podcast and music bed. An exciting podcast outro with music and a call to action of your choice. Three jingles/bumpers that you can use to transition between segments, mention your website address, introduce interviews, features and more. Complete script writing service for all of your audio products. I encourage you to check out the commercial below and then click here to schedule your audio branding consultation today.   ScreenFlow Tutorial is Now Available I originally created The ScreenFlow Basics tutorial as a Podcast Mastermind Success Seminar in response to members who asked if I could demonstrate how I use ScreenFlow to create the digital tutorials and other various videos that I have made available. I have decided to also make this tutorial available, for purchase,

An Interview With President George W. Bush Before you click the play button above to listen to this interview, check out the video that I recorded in the Green Room at the Platform Conference.   Meet John C Morgan! Okay, so person I'm speaking to in the video above, and in the interview found in this episode of Podcast Answer Man, is not really the former president, George W. Bush. Instead, this is world renowned George W Bush impersonator, John C. Morgan. When I met John this past week, I felt an immediate connection to him and his inspiring story, a story that I knew that I wanted to share this inspiring story with you. John and I forged an immediate friendship and we were both so eager to record this interview for Podcast Answer Man that we made a point to record it before we even left Nashville to come home. On my drive home from Nashville, I listened to the audio version of his book titled "My Life as a Bush and my heart for imitating Jesus." It is heavily faith based, as you may assume from the title. I thoroughly enjoyed the entire book and how he shares how his life of impersonating a former president is matches his desire to imitate Jesus in his day to day life. The wildest thing that struck me is that in all the hours I spent with John over the past few days, I knew that it was John Morgan that I was speaking to. However, there was something in my heart, my mind, or somewhere that made me feel as if I were in the presence of the former President of The United States of America. After reading (listening) to his book, it does cause me to wonder if there are folks who have spent a good deal of time me and had a strange feeling that they had been in the presence of God. As I said, I really enjoyed the book and the thoughts it has evoked. I encourage you to check out John's Website. Also, you can follow him on Twitter.     Platform Conference - My First Singing Gig! Thanks to the Platform Conference, I can honestly say that I made my singing debut in Music City, USA, Nashville Tennessee. Not only that, but my first song was actually recorded at the historic Sound Kitchen Music Studio, the same studio that has recorded such stars as Amy Grant, Brad Paisley, Brooks & Dunn, Bruce Springsteen, RUSH, Carrie Underwood, Don Henley, Taylor Swift, Tim McGraw, Vince Gill, and too many more for me to continue to list. You'll have to listen to this episode to learn the full details of how this came about. (Note: Be sure to listen to the very end of this episode, after my outro, to hear my beginning and end of my singing career) I am so incredibly thankful to my friend, Michael Hyatt, for giving me the amazing opportunity to take my public speaking to "The Next Level" at his very professional Platform Conference. The Platform Conference was the single best conference that I have ever attended. While my 45 minute time limit didn't give me the opportunity to share as much of my story as you can find in the current video on my About Page, I still believe that this was the best public speaking performance that I have given to date. It is friends like Michael who inspire me to face my fears and charge forward into becoming all that God has created me to be.     Nashville Meetup As I write these show notes (Yes, I'm writing them this week), I am bummed that I neglected to mention the success of the gspn.tv and SPI community meetup that Pat Flynn and I hosted. We had just over 40 people show up throughout the evening. I just got so caught up in sharing my "singing story" and the excitement over my newfound friendship with John Morgan, that I simply forgot to mention the other major highlight of my trip to Nashville. I have said it before, and I will say it again, but one of my favorite things about traveling is hosting these community meetups. This was an amazing time where I got to see so many old friends and to meet many new friends.

Why Am I Losing Subscribers? Tom recently called in to say he created a podcast four months ago. Today, approximately 50 people are downloading each episode. This is down from 400 downloads per episode in October. Tom’s question was what would cause this decline to happen. I review various aspects of Tom’s show such as the name of his show, the artwork, the audio quality, and more to see where the problem might be, and gave him additional thoughts on what he can do to increase the number of people who listen to his show on a regular basis.     What is Success for a New Podcast? Rick called in to say that he recently launched a new podcast. He was wondering what my thoughts were regarding how many downloads it takes for a brand new podcast to be successful. I share my thoughts on how to truly define success for a podcast in this episode.     Real Names vs. Pen Names and Privacy/Security (00:29:42) Dana recently called in to ask my thoughts on how I feel about using pen names. She is a mom with three kids, and routinely does a podcast where she shares about her kids. Her family has safety concerns when it comes to her sharing too much information. I give my thoughts about how my core values of "Authenticity" and "Transparency" drive the way that I feel about this subject. I Dana some ideas of how she can be authentic without compromising the safety of her children.     Personal Plug of The Week My Personal Plug of the Week goes out to Gaius Chamberlain, from the Great Black Heroes Podcast with Gaius Chamberlain. Just before I recorded this week's episode, I, received this email from Gaius: Hi Cliff,   I just want to take a moment to thank you. I have been a student and customer (I bought an equipment package as well as some digital training products), and I have been very appreciative for the insight you have provided. I use your affiliate codes when I purchase products or sign up for services because I appreciate what you do.   Now, however, I want to directly thank you. I have dragged my feet with launching a podcast for three years and I FINALLY went ahead and put it out there.   I set a goal to have 10 episodes ready for Black History Month and I did it. The site is called Great Black Heroes and the podcasts are at: http://www.greatblackheroes.com/podcasts/ I know that you receive a lot of thanks but I hope you know that you really have a positive impact that doesn't always get acknowledged, so thank you. This will be the first of many podcasts and I owe a lot of it to you!   Gaius Chamberlain     Do We Need Preamps? Albert, a member of the Podcast Mastermind called in to ask whether or not we as podcasters should concern ourselves with the use of preamps if we’re using a Heil PR-40 and a mixer set up. In this episode, I give my answer to Albert’s question.     Using an iMac as an External Monitor In this episode I shared how I recently took my monitor usage to the "next level." I pulled this off by using my second 27” iMac as an external monitor for my main, 27” iMac, and now with those two, in addition to my 23” Hewlett Packard monitor, I now have what looks like a NASA Mission Control Center.     My Personal Win of The Week Just yesterday I met with my CPA and filed my business and personal tax returns. In this episode I was very authentic and transparent as I shared what I achieved financially in 2012. More specifically: My "PERSONAL INCOME" for 2012 was $122,000 -- that is more money than I ever made in my previous career in insurance. In addition to that, my business paid the following benefits: Business Equipment (read fun tech gear) = $9,000 Continuing Education (books & such) = $800 Meals for Business Meetings (Lunch Meetings With Stephanie) = $2,800 Rent Income From Business = $4,200 Travel Expenses (mostly business "vacations") = $10,700 These listed benefits adds up to $27,500.

Exclusive Audio Branding Offer With Mike & Izabella Russell! I am so thrilled to spend some time introducing Mike and Izabella Russell, from Music Radio Creative, to the Podcast Answer Man community. I was first introduced to Mike and Izabella several months ago when they had contacted me about my Podcast Answer Man referral network. I had checked out their website and was quite impressed with the audio branding services that they offered. However, I didn't yet know them very well and my busy schedule continued to get in the way of my connecting with them. I am so blessed to have had the opportunity to meet Mike and Izabella in person while in Las Vegas for New Media Expo. I immediately fell in love with this couple and their story of how they had built their online audio branding business. They quite literally became instant friends and I knew for a fact that I wanted to work with them. What most impressed me was that I had shared my desire to have a commercial created to promote our gspn.tv Community Cruise. We talked only briefly about this and I told them that I would get a draft script sent to them soon after I returned home from New Media Expo. Things were a little busier than I had anticipated upon my return and I had not yet sent anything over to them. However, I was completely surprised to open my email just a few days after my return home to find the following promo that had already been created for me. I couldn't believe it. I had been working for weeks trying to come up with a script for this commercial and was nowhere near close to having anything that I was happy with. However, Izabella had simply looked at my http://gspn.tv/cruise page and came up with the commercial that I have embedded above. I absolutely loved it and have been using it ever since. I'm so excited to let you know that I have been working with Mike and Izabella to create an exclusive audio branding package that is only available to the Podcast Answer Man community. For only $449, you will get the following. - A one hour 1-to-1 web meeting with Mike and/or Izabella to discuss your podcast's exact audio needs and help design your audio brand. - An amazing podcast intro with an introduction to your podcast and music bed. - An exciting podcast outro with music and a call to action of your choice. - Three jingles/bumpers that you can use to transition between segments, mention your website address, introduce interviews, features and more. - Complete script writing service for all of your audio products. I encourage you to check out the commercial below and to go to http://PodcastAnswerMan.com/audio to schedule your audio branding consultation today.   Personal Plug of The Week This week’s Personal Plug of the Week is the upcoming Converge Podcast by Dane Sanders. This is the first time that I have ever share a personal plug of the week for a podcast that has not officially launched yet. However, I was just so impressed the first recording that Dan placed on his blog, that I had to share it with you. Have a listen to the episode to find out why. You can check ou this recording by clicking here. Be sure to leave Dane a comment and let him know that you heard about him from The Podcast Answer Man.   Facebook Online Dating Dating Search? In this week's social media segment, Erik Fisher and I attempt to wrap our minds around the newly announced Facebook Graph Search. I think it is too soon to tell if this new search will benefit us in any way. However, Facebook did seem to say that they believe it will be as valuable as our timeline and our newsfeed. We'll see.   Two Speaking Events Coming Up Soon! My next speaking even will be the Platform Conference held in Nashville TN on February 11-13. Both Pat Flynn and I will be speaking at this conference. If you haven't signed up yet, you can use promo code "Cliff" to save $100 when you register.

SpeakPipe Coming out of Beta - Announces Pricing Plans! I recently received an email from Vladimir Pankratiev, the founder of SpeakPipe stating that the SpeakPipe service is expected to come out of beta status effective March 1st, 2013. The great news is that many of those who have come to rely on this service for gaining voice feedback for their shows will continue to be able to do so using the Free Plan. Originally, the free plan was going to limit each voice message to 30 seconds. To Vladimir's credit, he listened to the feedback of his community and has raised the duration of voice messages on the free plan to 90 seconds. I'm the type of person who values a company more when they have a clear economic model in place for generating income. It gives me piece of mind knowing that the developer can afford to further invest into the development of the software that I depend on. You can check out the new monthly subscription and pay-as-you-go options over at http://speakpipe.com/plans.   Personal Plug of The Week This week’s Personal Plug of the Week is the JD Blogger Podcast by John Skiba. John is a member of The Podcast Mastermind and recently launched this new podcast devoted to helping lawyers build a profitable and thriving legal practice through the use of blogging, podcasting and social media. If you check out his show, please let him know that you heard about him from The Podcast Answer Man.   Blubrry PowerPress Removes 1 Pixel Out Player Due To Security Concern From their website, "Due to concerns of possible security exploits, the 1 Pixel Out Audio Player has been removed from PowerPress as of version 4.0.6. PowerPress users are strongly encouraged to update their copy of PowerPress immediately. The possible issue is with the 1 Pixel Out flash based audio player. The official 1 Pixel Out Audio Player was removed temporary from the WordPress.org repository until the security issues have been addressed. Once a new version is available, we will review re-including the player in PowerPress. If your site is currently configured to use the 1 Pixel Out audio player the Flow Player Classic player will be substituted in its place once your copy of PowerPress is updated." I have great news regarding this. I was looking at a Google Plus Post from my friend, Ray Ortega. Angelo Mandato, the developer who wrote the PowerPress Plugin, had commented on that discussion thread and said that the 1 Pixel Out player WILL COME BACK to PowerPress once it's fixed. (see screen grab below) If you would like to make a contribution to support the ongoing development of the 1 Pixel Out Audio Player, please do so at http://WPAudioPlayer.com. I made a $50 contribution today! I am a huge fan of the 1 Pixel Out Player.   Public Service Announcement About SD Cards on The Mac In this episode, I play some audio feedback from Tony Rose who wanted to make sure that everyone is aware that when you drag and drop audio files from your SD card to the desktop on the Mac and then delete them from the card, you are not really deleting them at all. I have covered this in the past. However, it is something that bares repeating from time to time. There are three ways that you can truly remove these files to free up the memory on your SD card. 1) You can hold down the Command Key while you click to drag and drop. This will actually "move" the file from the card to the computer rather than simply copy it. 2) Just after you delete the files off the card, while the card is still plugged into the computer, you can simply "empty your trash bin" and this will free up that memory on the card. 3) You can simply format the card in the recorder.   John Lane's Two Questions In this episode, I point John to episode 254 of Podcast Answer Man in a response to his question about how to grow the audience for your podcast. John also asked where he can get artwork made for his podcast.

The Podcast Patent Lawsuit Against Content Creators Please note: If you want to skip directly to the discussion of the Podcast Patent Lawsuit Against Podcasters, you can forward directly to 38 minutes and 54 seconds into this episode. Starting there...

Thoughts From NMX 2013 This week's episode was recorded late Monday evening, after hosting an amazing meetup here in my suite at the Rio hotel in Las Vegas. It is my hope that by listening to this conversation, you'll be inspired to make plans to attend New Media Expo next year. This was such a wonderful experience! In this episode: Karin Hoegh - Podconsult.dk Anne-Sophie Reinhardt - AMindMedia.com Peder Aadahl - 168Opportunities.com Dustin Hartzler - YourWebsiteEngineer.com Jenn Swanson - CommunicationDiva.com Albert Hathazi - TheLocalMethod.com Cesar Abeid - ConstructionIndustryPodcast.com   PODCASTING A TO Z The next Podcasting A to Z course will be January 14th through February 8th. You can learn more about it and sign up at podcastingatoz.com.   New Media Expo New Media Expo (NMX) is coming up next week! The event is held in Las Vegas from January 6th - 8th. Be sure to use the promo code GSPN20 to get 20% off. If you are a podcaster, you simply must make it to NMX in January.   Shop With B&H Photo & Support Podcast Answer Man I am thrilled about the relationship that I have formed with the folks at B&H Photo, Video, & Pro Audio. They have amazing prices on podcast equipment and so much more. Best of all, their customer service is almost as good as my own. When placing an order through my affiliate link, you end up paying the same low price and I earn a generous commission. If you have used my affiliate link to make a purchase with B&H, please leave me a comment with your name and a link to your website in the comments section below.   Blue Host Affiliate Signup I want to send out a special word of thanks to the folks behind the following domains that were used to create a new hosting account with BlueHost with my Blue Host affiliate link recently. As you know, I earn a commission each time someone clicks through my link to sign up with Blue Host. So thank you! Accounts that were created recently: - http://JohnLanePodcasts.org - http://LouisvilleLaw.com - http://TheSportsDuo.com - http://WillHaveOrder.com Note: The fact that I have linked to these accounts is only to acknowledge that these folks have used my affiliate link to create a hosting account with BlueHost. These links are not an endorsement of any content that may be posted to these sites. If you ever recognize content blatantly offensive at any of these links, please let me know and I will be sure to evaluate and consider if the link should be removed from this post. These accounts are all brand new and may not be active yet. Also, it is possible that some of these domains were previously owned and may not have been transferred to BlueHost just yet.   The Podcast Mastermind One of the reasons that I love working with podcasters so much is due to the fact that they are influencing someone every single time they produce a podcast episode. The world needs great leaders! I believe that podcasters who take their leadership position seriously can make a positive difference in the lives of others. The world needs you and your message! They need you to be a leader! Many people ask me how to grow the audience of their podcast. I believe that one of the best things you can do is to BELIEVE IN YOURSELF! To take yourself seriously! To consider yourself to be a professional! Are you willing to invest in your future success? Are you willing to be the greatest leader you can be? Are you willing to commit to your personal and professional growth? If so, please consider joining The Podcast Mastermind!   Free Month of Media Hosting With Libsyn! Because of all the years of sending clients to sign up for accounts with Libsyn, they have created an affilate program only given to a hand selected group of podcasting experts. I'm delighted that I am now able to offer your ONE MONTH FREE when you sign up for a new account with Libsyn. Simply use promo code GSPN when you sign up! For my complete thoughts on podcast hosting,

So Looking Forward to a Week in Las Vegas! I'm excited about so many different things when it comes to Las Vegas. Some of the things that I'm most looking forward to are the fact that I’m going to be able to hang out with 15 members of the Podcast Mastermind that are coming out, along with two spouses of the Podcast Mastermind members that are coming as well. Also, I'm looking forward to hanging out with an entire slew of Podcasting A to Z alumni and very close personal friends from the gspn.tv community that I know that are going to be there as well. It's going to be a blast! Additionally, I'm looking forward to seeing Leo Laporte and his keynote, as well as the fact that the Podcast Awards is going to be held at New Media Expo this year. Leo will be emcee-ing that event. I'm also glad that we were able to get Andy Ihnatko from Mac Break Weekly onto the podcasting track this year as well. I extended my stay so that I will be in Vegas for nearly an entire week so that I can also enjoy the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) and also so that I can potentially go and see some other sites that I'm looking forward to which I share about in this podcast episode.   Ain't Nobody Got Time For That Just days before I'm scheduled to leave for my one-week long trip to Las Vegas to attend New Media Expo and the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), I I was diagnosed with a mild case of the flu and a bronchial infection. Thankfully, I caught this in time, was able to get into the doctor and am already on some medications, so that I can potentially get over this before the festivities start on Sunday. This reminded me of the wonderful auto-tuned remix titled "Ain't Nobody Got Time For That." In the podcast episode, I played the audio from two YouTube clips that you may want to check out just in case you didn't get enough of it and you want to hear it over and over again. The original can be found here, which is just the news cast by itself and the auto-tune remix can be found here.   Audio-Technica ATR2100-USB Microphone - USB/XLR Both! I’ve been hearing a lot of wonderful things about this VERY inexpensive microphone that can hook up to a computer using USB and can also hook up to a mixer using XLR. It’s a great concept to have both options built into one microphone, and as you’ll hear in this podcast episode, the audio quality of this microphone is good, when you consider the price. In the past, when people have asked me about a good USB microphone, I’ve always told them to get a Shure SM58, with a USB to XLR adapter, but from this point forward, I will probably recommend the Audio Technica ATR2100-USB. At the time that these show notes are being written, you can get this microphone for as little as $43.60 using my Amazon affiliate link. This normally runs $79.99, and that is what you would pay if you use my B&H Photo affiliate link. Obviously, at this time, I would recommend that you get it from Amazon. This is by no means a replacement for the Heil PR 40, as you will notice from this podcast episode, but certainly for those who are looking for an inexpensive way to get into podcasting, I give this microphone a thumbs up.   New Years Resolutions Vs. Goals I recently came across a blog post from Kathy who recently published a post on her brand new blog about her experience with New Year’s resolutions, and the fact that she has decided to intentionally live life in a new and exciting way for 2013. Click here to read that post. I couldn't agree more with her sentiment about New Year’s resolutions, which is one of the reasons why I no longer make them myself. Instead, I have decided to live my life pursuing goals, which are much different. In this podcast episode, I talk about the formula that I have found that makes it possible for your goals to become a reality. It's a simple process to understand, but one that may take time to learn how to effectively implement. First,

  Where Does Microsoft Stand on Podcasting? This week, I'm joined by my good friend, Rob Greenlee. Rob manages the Podcasts Marketplace on Windows Phone/Zune at Microsoft. He and I have a very lively conversation about the state of podcasting on the Windows Platform. During our conversation, we covered a great deal of territory. Here are just a few of the fact that I recall off the top of my head. Please listen to the episode for full details on each of the following. - The Zune desktop software still runs on on Widows 7 and on the "desktop version" of Windows 8. Note: You must leave the "metro interface" and get into the "older style desktop" to run the Zune software. - The Zune desktop software will still sync to Windows Phone 7 and 7.8. However, it will not sync to Windows Phone 8. - Both Windows Phone 7 and 8 have the ability to subscribe to and manage podcast subscriptions directly from the phone. On Windows Phone 7, this is under the brand of Zune Marketplace. On Windows Phone 8, this is under Xbox Music. Note: Podcasting is in not officially tied to Xbox in any way. - There is no direct support of podcasting on Windows Surface Tablet RT. However their are a few third party applications that will allow you to subscribe to and manage podcasts. Ironically, these apps are likely pulling from the Apple Podcasts Directory API and NOT FROM the Zune Podcast Directory that Rob manages. - There is no direct support for podcasting on the Xbox console. - There is no longer a web version of the Zune Podcast Directory. However, the directory does still exist. Those who have the Zune Desktop software and those who have Windows Phone 7 or 8 can browse the podcasts using the methods I listed above. - Rob's email address has been changed from Rob@Zune.net to v-RobGR@Microsoft.com (UPDATE: podcasts@microsoft.com). You can email him your rss feed and he will add your podcast to the directory. You can also reach him via Twitter via @RobGreenlee. I want to personally thank Rob, on behalf of all podcasters, for the efforts that he has made to keep podcasting alive within the Microsoft platforms. I encourage everyone to reach out and thank him personally for his hard work and to encourage him to keep on fighting the good fight. Note: Here's the video that Rob referred to during our conversation.   Personal Plug of The Week This week's Personal Plug of the Week is for the Simple Life Together podcast produced by Daniel and Vanessa Hayes. Their podcast is dedicated to helping people lead a simpler life within our busy modern world. In the episode, I mentioned Daniel's blog post about his “World Shedquarters.” I encourage you to check it out. Daniel is an almuni of my Podcasting A to Z course and I'm honored to call him a friend. If you check out their podcast, please tell them that you heard about the from the podcast answer man!   I Knew This Day Would Come! I've been in the podcasting space since 2005 and I knew that this day would come. You may have been hearing a lot of buzz about the massive growth of podcasting during 2012. I have personally witnessed the largest growth in podcasting since 2006. Chris Brogan recently launched a new show and blogged about podcasting here: http://www.chrisbrogan.com/podcasting. After posting his thoughts on podcasting, Chris Brogan had many requests for information about how to launch a podcast. I was very honored to read how he answer this here: http://www.chrisbrogan.com/learn-how-to-podcast. Here In 2012, I had the honor of being a part of the launch of Michael Hyatt's "This Is Your Life" podcast which you can find here: http://michaelhyatt.com/thisisyourlife. Also, in 2012, I was delighted to help Michael Stelzner, of Social Media Examiner launch his Social Media Marketing podcast. You can hear him talk about what he calls "the renaissance of podcasting" here: http://gspn.tv/StelznerOnPodcasting.

My Secret Podcast Project Revealed In this episode, I finally reveal that The Lord of the Rings Fan Podcast is the secret project I've been working on over the past several months. I explain why I decided to create a Lord of the Rings fan podcast, the approach I'm taking to the show and the reason why I have decided to delay the official launch of the podcast. It is my hope that sharing this information will help you understand some of the thoughts that I consider before committing to the launch of an additional podcast.   Personal Plug of The Week This week's Personal Plug of the Week is for Willie Urish's Deer Hunting Podcast. Willie's done an excellent job and has great energy in his podcast. If you happen to be a deer hunter, you'll certainly want to check it out. If you're not a deer hunter, you probably know somebody who is; be sure to tell them about Willie's Deer Hunting podcast, and if you like it, be sure to let him know you heard about him from the Podcast Answer Man. Congratulations to Willie on publishing his first podcast episode this week!   Podcasting A to Z This week's Personal Plug of the Week, Willie Urish, happens to be one of our current Podcasting A to Z students. If one of your New Year's resolutions is to finally launch that podcast you've always dreamed of, now is the perfect time to sign up! The next Podcasting A to Z course will be January 14th through February 8th. You can learn more about it and sign up at podcastingatoz.com.   Streaming vs. Downloading - Are Stats Going Down As A Result? In this episode of Podcast Answer Man I talked about how the way people consume content today using mobile phone applications for podcasts is causing people to stream episodes when they're ready to listen versus having episodes automatically download for every podcast they're subscribed to. I share my thoughts on how this may be effecting some people's stats and what I've even noticed on my own stats for Podcast Answer Man and the various other shows that I produce.   Public Service Announcement About Animated GIFs! One of the things that happened to me this week is that I realized that I was annoyed by the fact that I had an animated GIF image in my sidebar flashing the different benefits of the ScreenFlow software. It's been so far down in my sidebar that I've really never noticed it before, but while I was responding to a comment the other day and had that comment up on my screen for a lengthy period of time, I found myself annoyed and distracted by the rotating, flashing image. So I made a decision to turn that image for ScreenFlow into a static image. My recommendation is that we not use animated images in our sidebar if we can avoid it.   Final Social Media Update Segment For 2012 In this week's episode, Erik J. Fisher joins me for the final Social Media Update segment for 2012. Each year, in December, Erik takes a nice long social media fast, but before he does, we share with you the most relevant, up-to-date information that you need to know about social media, which in today's episode, included the following topics: - Google Plus Rolls out Google Plus Communities. - How We Really Feel About Google Plus & Why. - Is Twitter reducing tweet length to 118 characters? - Everyone has photo filters! - Instagram has a new update.   New Media Expo New Media Expo (NMX) is coming up in just three weeks! The event is held in Las Vegas from January 6th - 8th. Be sure to use the promo code GSPN20 to get 20% off. If you are a podcaster, you simply must make it to NMX in January.   Shop With B&H Photo & Support Podcast Answer Man I am thrilled about the relationship that I have formed with the folks at B&H Photo, Video, & Pro Audio. They have amazing prices on podcast equipment and so much more. Best of all, their customer service is almost as good as my own. When placing an order through my affiliate link,

First Impressions of the New MySpace In this week's Social Media Segment, Erik J. Fisher and I discuss our first impressions of the new MySpace. We both created profiles which you can find at http://new.myspace.com/gspn and http://new.myspace.com/erikjfisher (These links only work if you have access to the private beta at this time). We talk a little bit about what we think after seeing it after just one day. We also talked about the Instagram vs. Twitter situation that's been happening recently and the fact that Facebook is now changing the language on personal profiles from "subscribers" to "followers."   Personal Plug of The Week This week's Personal Plug of the Week is for The Human Business Way podcast with Chris Brogan. I listened to three episodes: one with Christopher S. Penn, one with my good friend, Michael Hyatt, and one with Chris' mom and dad, Steve and Diane Brogan. My favorite episode of Chris' new show is the episode he did with his mom and dad. I absolutely love the fact that he published an unpolished interview with his parents; this adds to the flavor and personal touch that podcasting brings. I believe that one thing people really enjoy about the shows that I produce is that they have a personal touch and feel authentic, and it was great to experience that on Chris' podcast. Chris is not new to podcasting at all. In fact, together with Christopher S. Penn, he created PodCamp, the New Media UnConference. I also want to thank Chris for the awesome plug he gave me on his blog and on his mailing list. I encourage you to listen to Chris' podcast (you can catch it here or on iTunes), and if you like it, be sure to let him know you heard about him from the Podcast Answer Man.   Apple Podcasts App Tip For Video Podcasts A special thanks to John Bud who recently shared how he got a video podcast episode running in the background without the app up and running in the foreground. With what John shared I was able to immediately confirm the following: - I can start a VIDEO PODCAST. - I can click the home button (which will stop the playback). - I can then double click the home button and click the play button and it will play it audio only. - I can even fast forward 15 seconds at a time. - I can actually close/lock the phone and continue to listen. Thanks so much, John, for leading me to these discoveries!   What's Up With the .tv Domain Name? Debbie called in and asked why I chose to go with the .tv domain name when I chose gspn.tv. I provide the history and the inspiration behind my decision, and also give my thoughts about whether I would or would not use a .tv domain name again. I also share my thoughts on various other domain options such as .org, .net, .co, etc.   What if There Are No Other Podcaster's in My Niche to Interview Me? Ben called in to let me know that he'd love to be interviewed by others in his niche, but wondered what he should do since there aren't very many other podcasts in his niche. I gave Ben the following advice: - Inspire others in your niche to launch podcasts in your niche! - Are there podcasts that exist in other niches that also have your target audience? - Go where your audience is. - Be interviewed by the magazines they read. - Speak at the industry conferences for your niche. - Interview bloggers from your niche! I gave Ben some additional ideas as well.   Should I Submit My Podcast with a US iTunes Account? This question came from Anna. She lives in Germany, but has an English language podcast. She wonders if she should submit her podcast in the US store instead of the iTunes store in Germany. You'll have to listen to the show to hear my thoughts on this, and of course, if you have additional thoughts on this topic, I'd love to hear about them in the comment section below.   Trish Jones Sends a Big Thank You Trish Jones paid $2,000 for a podcasting course several years ago and didn't do a whole lot with it. However,