Does Your Podcast Need A Website? The Podcast Report Episode #5

Does your podcast even need a website? It's the podcast report, episode number five at thepodcastreport.com five show hotline is 503-897-1290. It's the podcast report with Paul Colligan. And here's Paul. All right, we start with the big idea. If this resonates, I'd love a tweet or a quote online. You can head out to thepodcastreport.com 5 to tweet it out, or you can go ahead and do it yourself without the site. The big idea is this. Design a show that doesn't need a website, and you will design a better show onto that. First, what's the podcast report? I've been part of podcasting since the beginning. I love this industry. It's seeing huge growth and resurgence, having a lot of fun. This is the show that reports on that, the new stuff. Not what microphone's better or what camera do you buy, but what are the big ideas? What are the things that make all the difference out there? It's not a massive play, but it's a deep one. I hope you see that, and I hope you be part of the conversation. So the topic, why are we looking at websites and podcasting? Isn't that essential? Isn't that what's done? Well, I was in an event with Ariana Huffington was there from the Huffington Post. And you might love Ariana, you might hate Ariana, but, man, she's a smart galaxy. And she said something that blew my mind, and it's really revolutionized a lot of what I've been doing online. And it's one of the main reasons, actually, why I put together this show. And she said, ubiquity is the new exclusivity. And I want to say that again. Ubiquity is the new exclusivity. What does that mean? Well, you know, it used to be cool to be exclusive. It used to be cool to be only found in one place. And that doesn't matter anymore. What matters now is that you are found in everywhere. Think of any of the big media superstars. Just a couple that run through my mind. Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga, Britney Spears. Yes, all three of those are musicians. But it's the same thing with artists. It's the same thing with movie stars and TV personalities, even business people. It's not their website that matters. It's their books at Amazon, it's their movies at Netflix, it's their songs at itunes. It's their thoughts at Twitter. It's their pictures at Instagram, it's their conversations at Facebook. As a matter of fact, for a lot of these people, if you just go to their websites, many of their websites are just links to their Facebook, their YouTube, their Twitter, all these things. It's just kind of who they are and what it is that they do. And it's strategic. And it's funny because the media superstars realize that they need to be everywhere. Yet a lot of us in podcasting, a lot of us in the Internet marketing space, we tend to think, come to my site, come to my site, come to my site. Well, if ubiquity is the new exclusivity, why are we focusing so hard on exclusivity? I see a lot of podcasters spending a tremendous amount of time on their website, directing people to their website, making their website a focus of what it is that they're doing. And I understand that. But honestly, the proportions seem off. It seems like the focus is bad. It seems like we're focusing on being exclusive and not understanding the power and the ability for us to be ubiquitous. So that's today's conversation. Now I'm going to revisit this one. This one's been fascinating. There's been a lot of things. We're going to come back to this definitely in a future episode. But that's said and done. Let's get to work. So the first thing is I poked in on the communities. Google has a new podcaster community that's really good, very vibrant. A lot of podcasters in there. Probably, like all communities, there's some time wasting and some wheel spinning and some debate for the case of debate. But there are a lot of earnest, wonderful people in there who are trying to figure things out. And so I put this idea there. I put this idea at my Facebook page as well. Obviously not the same audience, not the same market. I've got links to both of these conversations@thepodcastreport.com 5. Let me review a couple of things that people said because I find them to be really, really interesting on the Facebook page. On my side, what was interesting was I basically proposed four options. I said, which of these resonates with you and why? A, I'd rather have one podcast subscriber than 500 website visits. B, a podcast website should support the show and not vice versa. C, if your podcast needs a website, you're doing it wrong, and D, my future podcast subscribers aren't coming from any website. And a number of people responded. What was interesting was Susie said a number of things but the big thing, she said, it's a podcast ecosystem with many avenues supporting others. The podcast is many wheels in motion in our business, which I thought was interesting. I think a lot of people do that. I think a lot of people see the podcast as part of the pie, and I agree, but sometimes the percentages are off. Now my audience tends to be a little bit more pro what I'm doing and conversations over at the podcaster community at Google. A number of things, you know. Lex said, I don't agree with any of them. Interesting, Christopher says, none. These questions are a sign of not understanding media publishing and marketing and how they all work together in building content, audience and benefit for both the podcaster brand and the consumer listener. So Lex doesn't agree with them. Christopher thinks I don't understand. It's interesting, Yannis said, I find the idea of building a website for my podcast exciting. I get that. That's very, very good. Daniel said. Each of these points and I'm abbreviating it again. If you want to see these, please go ahead and jump out. Each of these points is a good thing to consider, but I think not having a website is a big mistake. Then Todd Cochran from Blueberry. Todd's been around forever. I chat about how my podcast book didn't have the iPhone in it. Well, Todd's original podcast book didn't have itunes in it because it came out that early. So I appreciate all that Todd's done and his historical perspective here. He says, and I want to read this entire quote, my site was a tech blog before the podcast. I cannot imagine the site not having a regular blog post in addition to the podcast. I built my brand that hubs around the website. But I don't discount the people who find the show other places. But ultimately I want them to come back to the website. And so I asked Todd to tell us why he wants people to the website and hopefully he'll come back and respond. But I don't have it at the time of this recording. But the fact of the matter is a lot of people believe that a website is an essential part of the podcast experience. And well, as we know from life, just because we believe things doesn't necessarily mean them to be true. So let's examine what we've got here. The first thing is let's look at the real world of content, the real world of content consumption. And this would be television shows, radio shows, movies, books, music, that kind of stuff. The more you watch, the more you listen, the more you consume the content, the Less you are visiting the site. Now, last night was the season finale of 24 for me. I love 24. I'm a big Jack Bauer fan. It's my way to get away from it all. And I came home to the DVR and watched 24. Skipped through all the commercial to get to the end. A big fan, rushed home, never visited fox.com 24. Why? The content was there. The story was there. Now, they had interaction. They had more about the show. They had all these things. But I didn't come out of the website. I'm a big website user, and I know a lot of you listening are the same. I got to ask you, your favorite artist, are you at their website? Not are you following them on Twitter, not are you a fan on Facebook, but do you go to their website? Your favorite book, your favorite author, are you visiting their website? I really believe. And please come back with me if you think I'm wrong here. I think the more you consume the content, the less you visit the website. Then, of course, there's the myth of the bookmark. It's been funny, boy. I've been podcasting since 2005, but I've been in the web since 1995. Oh, my goodness. There was this idea, the myth of the bookmark. We go to these websites that say, oh, well, bookmark our website and come back often. I mean, what is the last time you opened your bookmarks? What's the last time you bookmarked a site? What gets you to come back? Let's face it, it's an email request to come back or it's something in social media or it's a podcast, for goodness sakes, that brings you back. But this idea that the myth of the book market still prevails. I still see websites that tell me to come back often, visit on a regular basis. And my favorite, of course, are the websites with the copyright of 10 years ago that say, come back on a regular basis. They want me to come, but they never change. Now, there's the whole idea of rss. RSS built podcasting. Now, if you don't know what RSS is, don't worry about it. It's okay. More of you don't know what RSS is than do. And of course, now I've confused the audience. But the fact of the matter is, RSS is a format, is a tool that is wonderful and powerful, but a tiny amount of the world uses it. Now, if you're Todd Cochran and you've got a tech podcast for tech bloggers, if you're Leo laporte, and you've got this week in tech. A lot of your audience knows what RSS is, but a large part of the audience doesn't know what RSS is. And that's just the fact of the bookmark this idea that this tech is going to bring us back. So, three questions in podcasting and website. Question number one, Discovery. Is the website the best way for people to find podcast? If you've ever heard me speak or talk about podcasts, you know that I like the itunes directory, but I'm telling you, it's not the number one source where you're going to get people from. So maybe it's the website. So discovery is issue number one. Opportunity versus obligation. Obviously you have an opportunity to build a website around your podcast, but do you have an obligation to build a website around your podcast? Then the third question, the third issue is the chicken and the egg, which supports which. And this is important. Does the podcast support the blog or does the blog support the podcast? And I think this is an element of strategy that you really got to take a look at. So let's go back to the three of these. Okay. Discovery itunes directory. Itunes has a lot of people, directs a lot of traffic, has a lot of interest, but in the grand scheme of things, podcasting remains in the itunes directory, specifically remains a super user type of element. Yes, a lot of people go, a lot of people poke around, but it's not where the majority of podcasters come from. You know, I Right now, the podcast report is a new and notable. Great. But the amount of subscribers that I get from new and notable is going to be considerably less than the amount of subscribers I get from many other venues. The itunes directory is there, but it's not that big. My website's there. I finally put up the blog. I actually had three episodes of this podcast out before I put out the blog. The blog is up, the podcastreport.com is ready, and I'm sure I'm going to get a subscriber or two from there, but it's not that big. What I'm looking for is I'm looking for discovery. There's a couple things. There are people who are going to share the podcast. Hey, Podcaster A tells podcaster B Paul's show is out. He's having a good time with it. He's exploring the stuff that matters. But the other thing that's interesting are some of the new discovery options out there. Things like stitcher, stitcher. I'm referring to them as a verb. I don't know if they're going to win, but the concept of a Pandora of content is tremendous. And the idea that people looking at this are going to find me because they found something else. That's all there. So the first question as you look to blog and podcasting is where are they going to find you? And if they're going to find you at your website, then obviously you got to build out your website. If your website is your main point of discovery, then obviously you have to build that out. But the question is that where they're going to find you. The second issue, opportunity versus obligation. Now, obviously you have a tremendous opportunity to have a website that supports your podcast. You can grab Everybody's comments. Again, ThePodcastReport.com 5 will have the links to the communities that I referred to earlier, as well as my own comment section. And it's a great place to send people to continue in the conversation. But of course, we know this. A tiny, tiny, tiny percentage of my listener base is going to visit the website and an even smaller percentage of them are going to engage in the conversation. So I have an opportunity for the conversation, but I'm certainly not going to pay the bills with the conversation, and I'm not going to have the conversation be the end of it all. Now, there are other opportunities that come from having a blog for or a website for your podcast. One of the biggest things is the quote. I started this with ubiquity. If the only place to consume what it is that I have to offer is at my podcast, then I'm only one place. I'm truly exclusive. I'm not ubiquitous, and I want to be everywhere. And that's part of why I have the blog, and that's part of why I have the transcripts. A little while you're going to see these transcripts morph into Kindle books and that type of thing, ubiquity is there. Really the question is, is your website for your podcast an opportunity or is it an obligation? You need to make that decision. Then the last decision you need to make is the chicken and the egg question, what supports what? You need to know this, because if your podcast supports your website, then the website is the focus. If the website supports the podcast, then the podcast is the focus. If the website supports the podcast, but you spend the majority of the time on the website, that's misplaced time, that's misplaced direction. And a lot of people do that. And it's a problem. I see podcasters spinning their plates and staying up all night and working on all these things that it's just such a tiny, small amount. So fair question, you know, does the podcast report need a website? It doesn't need one. I honestly believe it doesn't need one. Now the opportunity provided by one and the ability to extend and go further with my audience is there. But I'll tell you, I'm collecting social media followers just by mentioning social media. The options are there. ThePodcastReport.com Twitter, ThePodcastReport.com Facebook, they're all there. But it's an opportunity, not an obligation for me. So what do you do with this? Where do you go with this? What is the take home for the podcast or new or old? Well, decide. The first thing you want to decide, and a lot of people haven't gone through this process, is what supports what? Does my podcast support my blog website or does my website support my podcast? Then pick a percentage. If obviously the one that is the biggest. Spend the most of the time there, but then decide if your podcast is first. Does Your podcast get 80% of your time, 70% of your time, 60% of your time? Just decide strategically what gets the most amount of effort and then work those numbers. One thing I've seen over and over again is that the most strategic podcasters are the most successful podcasters. The most strategic podcasters are the most successful podcasters in my opinion. And this is what I started this out with in being strategic. The best shows in podcasting. The best. The best shows in podcasting don't need a website. And if you design a show that doesn't need a website, then you will design a better show. First, ask the questions. You don't necessarily have to come to my conclusion, but ask the questions, figure out what relates to what the percentages are and be strategic about it. And then just finally ask yourself that question. My show doesn't need a website. Will it be a better show? I think the answer is yes. Okay, obviously it's time to interact. I would love your thoughts. The podcast report, if you want to go right to the website, you want to interact with the larger world. We're@the podcastreport.com Twitter, the podcastreport.com Facebook for further conversations. Obviously, the website will have links to all the communities we had as well all the community discussions we had, plus, you know, a conversation specifically to us. The other ability to interact is you can text EP5 as an episode 5 to 5. 038-971-290 that's EP5 to 503-89-71290. That will get you the notes, the mind map for today's presentation, as well as the transcript when we get that done. If you are internationally, you don't have the ability to text us in a hashtag. You can call and leave a message after the beep. It's also the show hotline 538-971-290. If you want to leave voicemail. We're still figuring out the flow here, but it is a lot of fun. And yes, by letting people interact by text and by letting people interact by calling in and leaving voicemail, there are ways to interact with the show and by doing social there are ways to interact with the show that are not the website. The website is not the most important thing, at least for me here. So viewer voicemail. This week we have no viewer voicemail. That's okay. I think we're going to have some coming in as a result of this. But let's chat about where you can listen to the podcast report. Obviously we are at iTunes, the podcastreport.com iTunes. We're at Stitcher, the podcastreport.com Stitcher. We are also at PocketCasts, thepodcastreport.com PocketCasts and of course thepodcastreport.com TuneIn. We're looking at SoundCloud and we will be examining SoundCloud in a future episode. Not there. Do subscribe to the podcast report. I know some of you podcasters are surprised that I even bring this up, but a lot of people don't know the power of subscription. We chat about that in an earlier episode. But the fact of the matter is if you subscribe to the show, if you click the button or whatever it is your podcast client calls it, every episode will come to you automatically. You don't have to get an email from me. You don't have to visit the website on a regular basis. It will come to you. Podcasting subscription. So powerful. Definitely make use of it. The next episode we will be chatting about the most exciting non itunes source of podcast discovery. The most exciting non itunes source of podcast discovery. Where are they going to find you other than itunes? I would love your thoughts on that one actually. So if you head to the podcastreport.com 5, I'll have a link to an opportunity to discuss that as well. Obviously when we record the next episode, if you're listening to this in the future, I won't be able to deal with your interaction on the show, but I have a feeling it will be a conversation that will be going on for some time. The blog is up. Comment away. Review at itunes. Review at Stitcher. I'd love either one of those. Send me an email@the podcastreportoutlook.com thank you so much. This is Paul Colligan at the podcast report. You've been listening to episode five. Does your podcast really need a website? See you next time. Bye.