I accept your nomination for President …

Thanks to the great Geoff Smith for convincing me to run.

One of the highlights of the Podcast (Now New Media) Expo for me has always been the Profitable Podcaster Meetup.

Year 1 - we had but one other. Thanks Chris for not making me feel like an idiot.

Year 2 - a couple of dozen. Lobby of the Ontario Marriot.

Year 3 - i’d guess a hundred. We actually got a room at the Ontario Convention center.

Year 4 - we’re kicking up a notch and grabbing breakfast at the famous Vegas Peppermill Restaurant. Don’t worry, just a block from the convention center.

Saturday, August 16, 7am.

Please RSVP with UpComing.org so I know how many to RSVP for.

If you are a member of my New Media Inner Circle, breakfast is on me (but I need you to RSVP).

See you there I hope!

Full Disclosure - I am a Microsoft Digital Media MVP - but I am typing this on my MacBook Pro (and listend to my last 3 Podcasts on my iPhone). I’ve always been a “best technology for the job” kinda guy and I’ll hope you’ll read this with that in mind.

The clock over at New Media Expo reminds us all that we have 22 days until the big event. You’ll be hearing a lot from me about the event (so, if you haven’t already, do subscribe), but let’s talk one really important issue today …

Microsoft is getting serious here - and they are worth a second look.

Zune is a sponsor of this New Media Expo - not many have noticed this very exciting little fact.

You played with the new Zune yet? Not only does the Zune have a friendlier Podcast Platform than iTunes (wireless sync still isn’t in iPhone v2 and I won’t even get into sharing) but the face of Podcasting at Microsoft (Rob Greenlee) embraces the public and can be reached via email and phone. He’ll be at the Zune booth, drop by and say “hi.” While you’re at it, check out the new Zune.

BTW, I’ll have a fully charged Zune with me and will gladly wirlessly sync, and listen to, the most recent episode of anyone who shares their Podcast wirelessly with me at the Expo. If good, I’ll give you some promotion here.

I’d accept wireless syncs from iPhones but …

I’ll say it here - where is Apple? They’ve got a community that loves them but I’d sure love them to love us back. Why won’t they give a public face to Podcasting? Why aren’t they at the show?

It’s not just the portable players that excite me at Microsoft. The Podcasting Kit for Sharepoint is the only serious corporate play for my favorite distribution channel in the world. Sharepoint is by no means a perfect product but again, when you compare with what else is out there (what else is out there?), at least Redmond is trying to take this meme in some fascinating directions.

The amount of conversations I’ve had this week alone regarding the need for something like PKS is what triggered this posting. If we’re going to get serious about delivery this way, we have to get serious about delivery this way. PKS is part of that story - a very important one.

Here’s another point - PKS will be showing off their wares at the Odeo booth. Yes, the Odeo booth. There are some partnerships between these two working on a secure Podcatcher for the Enterprise that should fascinate anyone looking for Podcasting’s next step. We need multiple secure distribution mechanisms for portable new media - will their’s be viable? I’ll be spending some time at the booth trying to figure that out. I recommend you do the same.

Getting the feeling the New Media Expo is going to be about more than the latest USB Mic this year?

And, of course, speaking of serious players in this space, Premiumcast.com will have a booth at the Expo. I won’t be there all hours (we’re going to have many of our Podcast Secrets students showing off their shows) - but I’d love to have you drop by and check out what we’re up to as well.

And yes, Premiumcast works with the Zune.

Bonus: I will buy a free iTunes copy of the Dr. Horrible series to the person who guesses the numbers I asked for in this previous post.

I have to start this out by saying that I am a huge Joss Whedon (Firefly, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, etc.) fan. Who knows how much attention I would have paid otherwise, but there are some really key issues at play here.

Anyway, back to Joss. He put together a Web Video play during the writer’s strike. Here’s the preview:

As Tim Street pointed out, this could be the start of something big here. Read his piece. Tim’s a smart guy.

Here’s another piece from Wired.

Some real fascinating elements here that some people might miss:

• This content is currently free at www.drhorrible.com. Yes, I just bought what I could have streamed for free. Tim Street just bought what he could have streamed for free. People buy what they can stream for free - it’s part of the bigger picture here - one that content producers should never forget.
• Not only are there iTunes sales going on today, but a DVD will be coming out later. Some people will buy the content twice. Yes, some people will pay multiple times for content they can get for free. Heck, I predict here musical tracks on iTunes audio before the end of the month.
• Despite sales and views (the streaming server has been down for most of the morning), this short-form piece is missing the boat on construction for this medium. Read Tim Street’s 2nd piece and realize that he is right. You don’t have to be perfect in the space to see some results.
• Talent is still talent. Neil Patrick Harris, Felicia Day and Nathan Fillion do what they do well (in Act 1 at least) - and that is as important as Whedon’s writing. Sometimes, you need to spend money on the talent. Ever wondered why Revision3 is doing so well?

We’ll see what happens with the Dr. Horrible story (and back story), and I sure hope Joss and the gang make a ton of cash on this Internet Musical.

And I hope we all learn a few things along the way ourselves.

Cause a man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do … (watch Act 1).

Technorati Tags: Dr. Horrible, Joss Whedon, Neil Patrick Harris, Felicia Day, Nathan Fillion, revision3

As I write this, John Reese is launching version 2 of his Traffic Secrets product.

Notice, I haven’t linked to it yet …

His launch brings up some very interesting issues in the world of affiliate marketing, etc.

First of all, very few people promoting or marketing the product have actually seen the thing - I sure haven’t and I’ve only read the review of one who has. Promoting a product site-unseen is a fascinating concept. I won’t touch on that here. I will point out that although Traffic Secrets 2.0 is an unknown entity, John Reese is not.

Secondly, and this is where it get’s really fascinating, the whole world of disclosure enters into play here. As people link to a product that they see revenue from, should they disclose this fact or not? How obvious should the disclosure be? I something like a Blog Disclosure Policy enough?

See this is fascinating because not only did John Reese “make his money” in the first launch of Traffic Secrets (he sold over a million dollars worth of his original product in less than 24 hours), a lot of others made a lot of cash (promoting the product through affiliate links) as well. How much cash? I know one guy who made enough to buy a “hummer and a half” in just a week of promoting the product - and he wasn’t the top sales guy if I remember correctly.

And I can feel good about experimenting on a product like this because I know if anyone picks it up, it comes from someone who actually knows this world of traffic generation.

Heck, look at the traffic he’s generating here …

Side note, and I think this is fascinating. Reese is selling 2.0 for much less than 1.0. I’m not sure if it is a “recession reaction” or some other strategy - but will be interesting to watch sales as well.

So, the experiment.

I sent a mailing to my list with links to Traffic Secrets 2.0. The mailing contained 2 links:

Link 1: Direct link to Traffic Secrets 2.0 where I receive no credit if they click.

Link 2: Affiliate link to Traffic Secrets 2.0 where I receive credit if they click.

Note: in every mailing I’ve ever done, the first link always gets the most clicks.

Now, I’ve offered no bonus for “buying Traffic Secrets” through my link. So this is just plain and simple here - very few complications.

Questions I have

1 - What percentage of clicks in the email will be for the direct link versus the affiliate link?

2 - What percentage of click in this blog post (of course I’m tracking them) will be direct link versus affiliate link?

Note: Obviously some will click on both, I know that (but they do go to the same place). Some will even click over to a more traditional piece on Traffic Secrets at PaulRecommends.com.

Place your predictions here.

Closest prediction wins a prize. I’ll be talking about that in the next blog piece.

Technorati Tags: john reese, traffic secrets, traffic secrets 2.0

Note: About halfway into writing this I realized that every vendor I talk about in this piece has a free or $1 trial offer so if you want to try to do this, look at the links at the end of this - and my very cool (I pay you / not vice versa) offer. We’re talking $0 for your entry into the paid Webinar game.

I’m in the middle of my Summer Webinar Series so when Tim Bourquin pointed out this silly blog post, I had reactions on multiple levels. Took me a day to digest this stuff but … let’s examine the issues at play here.

First of all, yes, my Summer Webinar Series is “free.” The goal of this series is simple - I’m building up a great opt-in list of people interested in the monetization of New Media. Will I be offering this list paid Webinars down the line? You bet I will.

What I think “The Webinar Blog” is trying to say (in a nutshell) in this post is “you can charge, but it is easier not to.”

Of course it’s easier not to charge for anything, but sometimes, you want to pay the bills. And, trust me, what I will do with the list gathered from my Summer Webinar Series will pay the bills quite nicely. And of course, I could enter my token “and if you pay the bills doing this, you can offer even better content cause you’re not competing with your day job any more” comments but I won’t (in this post at least).

Rant over - back to content.

My favorite model for Webinars is this - do a live Webinar event and then produce the event into a Podcast. Here’s a recording I did about that very model (yes, that one is free - but you bet there is a paid option to0). There are paid and free paths to this model - depending on what your end game is.

How Do You Charge For A Webinar? Is There Really No Easy Mechanism?

Actually, there is an incredibly easy mechanism.

1 - Charge them for the “ticket” using anything from PayPal (free) to AutomateSales.com (30 day free test drive) to my favorite - Premiumcast.com (not free for the ecommerce mechanism - but keep reading).

2 - On the thank you page, give them the registration information for your Webinar. My favorite companies - GoToWebinar (Free Trial available) and InstantTeleseminar.com ($1 for 21 day trial - and it’s not just teleseminar - they’ve got webinar features included). I’ve used GotoWebinar for the first 3 Webinars in the Summer Webinar Series - the one this Wednesday will use InstantTeleseminar for the Webinar on Blogging.

That’s it. It’s pretty easy.

Bonus …

3 - Offer those who can’t make it a live a chance to catch the recording of the event. Now you know why I’m such a big fan of Podcasting.

So, this offer I hinted at in the first paragraph of this piece.

May I challenge you?

May I give you some free publicity?

May I pay you for your Webinar?

1 - Anyone who posts a legitimate paid Webinar in the comments below, I’ll compile them all for a big post with lots of link love and Google juice spillover. You can do this! Let me send you some traffic.

2 - The first three people to post a legitimate paid Webinar (with a topic that interests me) with a ticket of less than $100, I’ll buy a ticket. Can’t promise I can attend but you’ll provide that archive option now, won’t you? I’m not willing to be your only customer, but I’ve very willing to be one of a small crowd. Remember, when you’re done, you’ve got content you can do some very cool things with later. Let me pay you.

3 - If you use Premiumcast.com to run this, I’ll refund you your first 3 months (whatever level you sign up for).

One more time, here are those links:

• Take Payment For Your Webinar (Credit Cards and Checks) with - PayPal (free).
• AutomateSales.com (30 day free test drive) is the engine I used to sell 7 figures in products online. They work wonderfully.
• Premiumcast.com (3 months free if you do this - just leave a comment below) is the engine we use to sell Podcast content (and do I dare say a “version 2 of AutomateSales.com?). This could be perfect for selling access to your Webinar. The system even generates the thank you pages - you don’t even need a web site.
• “Do” your Webinar With - GoToWebinar (Free Trial available). I’ve done dozens with them and I love their system.
• Here’s an alternative Webinar Option - InstantTeleseminar.com ($1 for 21 day trial). If you want to see them in action, attend Wednesday’s Webinar (or at least sign up for the archive).

Leave your comments and information about your paid Webinar below.

I always know we’re between a rock and a hard place when a student’s first question is “how do I get listed in iTunes?”

First of all, the whole process takes about a minute and is explained here.

But the problem is simple, there is this understanding out there that you

A) Produce a Podcast
B) Submit to iTunes
C) Rake in the big money

Sorry, but it isn’t that easy.

It’s more like this.

A) Produce a Podcast that has a viable model for revenue generation.
B) Submit to iTunes so you can be found there on the tiny chance that someone might be looking for you there.
B.5) Grow an audience for your profitable Podcast the way you grow an audience for anything else.
C) Rake in the big money.

Most people get stuck on the “A” part. The rest forget the “B.5″ element.

Let’s assume you’ve got a Podcast with a viable model for revenue generation.

Heck, let’s touch on that right now …

If you’re thinking your viable model is advertising, let’s run some simple numbers on a thrice weekly show (which like 3 people have, but that’s another story all together).

Let’s assume you’re getting a very nice $20 CPM.

Let’s assume (for the sake of making the number easy), there is no cost associated with your Podcast.

Let’s assume you want to make $50k a year.

Let’s assume the industry standard 1.6 multiplier to figure out things like insurance, taxes, etc.

So, you’d need to generate $80,000.00.

3 shows a week, 50 weeks a year (take two off for vacation, etc.) is 150 shows.

This means you’d have to generate $533.33 per show.

At a $20 CPM, that means you’d need 26,666 downloads per episode.

And, don’t forget, you’re doing that 3 times a week.

If you can pull off those numbers and get those advertisers, great, but if not, you’re still stuck in part “A.”

So, back to the audience generation thing.

In our experimenting around here, you can generate, at best, about 400 new subscribers, just by being in iTunes. We’ve submitted enough shows to iTunes with no additional marketing to feel fine about that number.

So, where do the other 26,200+ subscribers come from?

Side note - now you know why I don’t really like the massive audience game in my Podcasting ventures. I look for a very profitable niche where I can still make good scratch on a 1,000 subscriberish show. Really, in the end, it is much easier.

But where do you get the audience?

iTunes ain’t bringing it to you.

Podmevio ain’t bringing it to you.

Podango ain’t bringing it to you.

Wizzard ain’t bringing it to you.

Zune ain’t bringing it to you.

Ads on a show with a smaller audience than yours ain’t bringing it to you.

Even passing out business cards at the New Media Expo isn’t where you get your audience.

So, where do you get your audience?

You have to advertise OUTSIDE of the Podcasting “Space.”

The cool thing about that option is that OUTSIDE of the Podcasting “Space” is a pretty big space.

There are billions of people there.

And they want your content.

And it ain’t iTune’s job to show them the way.

It’s yours.

So, what are you going to do about it?

Leave your comments below.

Grammar Girl’s book comes out on the 8th. I got an advanced copy - but I’m thrilled to point you in the direction of the first 50 pages (in PDF).

This book has a long story attached to it. I touched on it a bit at my Google presentation and in a previous episode of Profitable Podcasting but, dear friends, this one has been a long time coming.

But, let’s ask the real question … is it any good?

You need to remember that the promise of the book here is “Quick and Dirty Tips For Better Writing.”

As a Blogger (oh, and heck, there were those books too), I can/should use any tips I can possibly find to becomes me a better writer. The problem is, I always hated English/Grammar Class of all shapes and sizes (don’t hate me Mignon) and barely paid enough attention to pass myself off as an English speaker.

This is, in short, the stuff I should have paid attention to - the stuff that I need.

It’s presented in a way that’s makes it as entertaining as it possibly can be and, as a bonus, has the grammar rules for emailing, texting, etc. - the stuff they couldn’t have dreamed of when I was in school.

This one is gonna (that was for you, Grammar Girl) stay on my shelf and be referenced for a long time coming.

And when my eight year old tells me “Dad, I hate English class,” I’ll lend her my copy.

Maybe she’ll grows up a better writer then me.

Geoff Smith is the hardest working man in showbidness2.0.

His new album, “Ones and 0s,” will be in all the usual places soon iTunes, CDBaby, etc.

But you got an option right now / today that I want you to seriously consider - the DYNAMIC ALBUM of “Ones and 0s.”

In short, through the magic of RSS, Geoff Smith is delivering not just his album by RSS, and not just some “bonuses” by RSS, but he’s delivering a YEAR of additional content by RSS.

His audience just moved from customers to subscribers.

In a year, when the new album comes out, all Geoff has to do is push a message to his subscribers and, BAM, they’re in line for the next one.

In a year, when the new (insert big name artist here) album comes out, they’ll need a multi-million dollar advertising campaign to rise above all the noise.

Which path makes more sense to you?

Where would you rather spend your time and effort - the million dollar campaign to make sure people know your still alive - or serving your audience?

Embedded below is a quick walkthrough of the whole process / sites / etc (make sure to click the full screen option). Enjoy!

Video also available at YouTube, MySpace, Metacafe, Google, DailyMotion, Blip.tv, Veoh and Stupid Videos

So I run this blog/website on the “business” of Podcasting and New Media.

That would indicate that there is so money to be made here.

That would / should result in some metrics so we can track this stuff … you know, the old fashioned “can you actually prove that all your time online is making us any cash?”

Rachel Happe offers this list of “Social Media Metrics” that is certainly worth your look but her list, for me at least, brings up more questions than it does answers. These include:

Is surveying really an effective way to measure the “effectiveness” of your new media venture? I mean, let’s be honest here, your fans are the ones who are going to complete your surveys. Of course they’re going to say nice things. Also, with the “smart” audience that consumes this stuff, they’re going to answer in the way that they think is the best for us (”of course I buy any product you recommend”).

How do we really measure an “engaged prospect?” Is there some definable metric for that? I have some huge fans who buy anything I produce who don’t wish to comment on blog posts are send me Twitter messages.

Is number of mentions online a good goal? The echo chamber that is all-too-often the Blogsphere only indicates that you got the attention of bloggers - and nothing else. Good if you’re selling a blogging product - meaningless if you’re selling anything else, right?

Could I suggest some social media metrics really worth tracking?

PPC - Profit Per Click. This one is SO important for so many reasons: A) If your PPC is lousy, growing your audience isn’t your first goal. B) If your PPC is significantly more or less than other methods, now you have some obvious action items. C) If this number is high, you can finally legitimize your social media efforts and get your boss off you back / get the funding you deserve.

STC - Subscribers to Clicks Here’s one nobody wants to talk about. Right now I got 2,200+ “followers” on Twitter but if I offer a hyperlink, how many of them will click? Facebook, Ads in Podcasts, Blog readers, etc. - if this number is lousy I better have a good explanation for why I’m doing this.

EPD - Earnings Per Download. I love how Podcasters love to argue what should be paid for CPM when the concept of EPD becomes so much more powerful. I’ve worked with Podcast Properties where we’ve seen more than 50 cents in PROFIT every time an episode was downloaded (through a direct marketing / commissioned sales ad). At that point, arguing about how many people actually “listen” becomes moot - I start looking for audiences to download these things. Yes, obviously, consumption must happen for earnings to be possible, but the metric of EPD is so much easier for me at least. You can translate these numbers directly to CPM too.

VV - Visitor Value. O.k., you’ve had 25,000 people through your site over the last year. It’s o.k. to ask how much money you’ve made from them.

What social media metrics do you use / follow / track?