The Fact And Fiction To Making It To #1 In iTunes - The Podcast Report Episode #99

The facts and Fiction of Making it to number one in iTunes it's the podcast report episode 99 show notes, links, conversation and more@thepodcastreport.com 99. Hey, this is Paul Colligan. This is the Podcast report. And that's a good thing because you are a podcaster podcaster that's looking to reach more with your message or profit more from your content. Congratulations, you're at the right place. I've been podcasting for over a decade, written some books, made some good money doing it and consulting others how to do it. And I'm going to share that with you today. The big idea for today's episode is simply this. If the person making it complicated sells a course or charges by the hour, you just might want a second opinion. Before we go further, a quick special announcement. I am recording episode 100 of the podcast report and doing it live Wednesday, July 13th at 6:00pm you can get a link to that either the live@the podcastreport.com 100 or you can get the replay@thepodcastreport.com 100. That'll be pretty much right after this episode comes out, we will release the audio version on the stream like we normally do. So setting this up, I just got back this weekend from launching a client to number one in iTunes and I launched the client to number one in two different categories and he actually made it to number 30 and all of itunes. Client is thrilled. Today I just watched a previous client of mine come back and just in coming back from a about a two month hiatus, came back, relaunched the show and because of the way things have been set up, season two enters into the world, making it number two in all of management and marketing. This stuff works. Tomorrow I get up early and I watch another client launch and I know he'll make it to number one as well. This industry works, this process works. It's not that complicated. Now the funny thing is is while I was down in LA helping this client launch and looking at the numbers and you know, not questioning anything, it's just there you hit refresh and you saw them go up. What was hilarious was gurus, folk in the know, strategists, people, you know, called them, emailed them, text him, said, oh, you got to do this, you got to do this, you got to do this. And the funny thing was he didn't. This was working. He had some tech guys internally company who were saying you got to do this, you got to do this, you got to do this, you don't. The system to get to number one just isn't that complicated. I know this works. People like to make it complicated. And that's what I want to examine in today's episode. Why do people make things complicated in podcasting? Why do some feel it's their job in life to complicate the process? Well, a couple things. Number one, let's talk about the cynic in me. The course, you know, if you are selling a course and how to podcast and basically you got a 60 day, you know, 60 day money back guarantee. If you tell somebody they've got to get 10 or so episodes out, the fact of the matter is they can't get those episodes back in time for the money back guarantee. And yes, it's a cynical thing, but gosh darn it, you don't have to launch with a bunch of episodes. I have never launched with a bunch of episodes. I had one client who launched with three. Every other client has launched with one. The client who launched with three regretted it, wished she had done one. It's just not that complicated. So one of the reasons that people do it, make things complicated is because they have a course that's long and complicated and they have to justify it. If you take a look at my how to podcast book, it's, you know, it's 57 pages. The rest of it's just commentary. This whole process of podcasting is not complicated. Getting to number one on iTunes is not complicated. You've heard me say it over and over again. It's all about the number of subscribes that you get in a 24 hour time period. So one of the reasons some make it complicated is the course, the consultant. Let's face it, if you charge by the hour, if every minute you're on the project you charge, you got to make these things more complicated because then you can charge more. And that's not the game. Something else. The nature of the podcasting beast. You know, when I started podcasting, there was that giddy, nerdy, geeky thing about figuring this out for the first time. That's fun, that's fancy. Some podcasters are still doing it, but the fact of the matter is we don't have to work really hard to make this happen anymore. We don't have to do a thousand things just to get our episodes out. There are systems in place, there are processes and things that we can do to just get this bad boy out the door. And then finally, I'll be honest with you, there is certainly a guilt element here. You know, I can. You can we can, the world can get in front of a microphone, chat, click a couple of buttons, and it's available to the world. And sometimes there's that little voice inside of us that says, it can't be this easy. It shouldn't be this easy. I don't know why it's this easy. Well, the thing is, people, podcasters. I shouldn't call you people. You're podcasters, we're friends. We're all in this together. The thing is, it really isn't that complicated at all. And anybody who tries to make it complicated for you, I want you to ask why. I want you to, you know, I mean, why would I bill my client less money to not get the job done if there was something out there that could get done? And he was good. He treated me well, much better than some clients have in the past. And I understand the clients who get nervous. You know, you only get that one chance to make a really, really big launch. But he was like, well, what about this? What about this? What about this? I'm like, calm down, take a deep breath. It's going to be okay. Calm down, take a deep breath. It's going to be okay. When it was done, the client said, hey, Paul, your process is elegant. Thank you. And that's what I try to do. So here's what you need to do as the podcaster. Go with what works, not what people say works. And it's really funny because you can actually test if something works by asking for proof. And if somebody says, oh, this is what you have to do, well, figure out where they are at in the charts and figure out what happened when they launched and figure out, does it have to be this way? Go with what works, not what people say. Ask for proof. That's okay. The second step to this is just really simply. Just because it worked doesn't mean that it worked for a specific reason. Just because a person made it to number one on iTunes doesn't mean that they made it to number one in iTunes. Because they had 10 recordings, by the way, I don't think I've seen anybody make it to number one in iTunes with 10 recordings. But that's a whole other story. But the fact of the matter is we'll do things and we'll claim that because we did this, this happened as a result. And that's just not the facts, you know. Well, my highest ranked episode was recorded with a certain mic. Therefore, all episodes should be recorded with a certain mic. Sometimes things don't connect. Sometimes causality has to be Examined. So just because it works doesn't necessarily mean it worked for a reason. And this makes me crazy. This happened all over Internet marketing. This happens all over Kindle publishing. This happens all over YouTube. This happens all over podcasting. Somebody does something, something happens, they connect the two. Inexplicity for the rest of mankind. And it's just not that complicated. Here's what else you do is just exammer. Yeah, examiner. That's what you should do. Examine simpler ways to get things done. Ask yourself, do I really have to do 10? Can I do five? Do I really have to do five? Can I do one? Do I need to spend three hours on this? Or can I spend two hours on this? And obviously don't cut corners and don't be sloppy and don't get things wrong. But simply ask yourself, you know, hey, are there simpler ways to do it? It's really funny. Computers are here to do the hard work. That's why they're computers. And, you know, yes, I'm a fan of good science fiction and we have all those cognizant robots, but the fact of the matter, the robots are here to do our work. And if there is a way to let the computer do the work or make things easier, make things less complicated, this is what we need to do. It makes me crazy when we do it the other way. Finally, the last thing we really need to do is just simply get over the guilt. You've got a message, you've got something. You have to tell the world. You have found podcasting. You are podcasting. It doesn't need to be complicated. Somebody looks at you and says, this is complicated. You know, that's their problem, not yours. It's not that complicated. You can do this, be it getting to number one in iTunes, or be it to getting an episode out or recording or editing or leveling or tagging or social media or any of these things. To get to number one on iTunes, you need a lot of subscribes over the course of 24 hours. That's it. To get your podcast available to the world, you got to put an MP3 and you got to get a feed around it. That's it. And then it's just all the steps to how do you do this as quickly as possible. If getting to number one is about subscribes and you got a way to get subscribes, get subscribes, you know, don't make it one on one, don't hope for the best, don't believe that it's about getting number reviews, that kind of Thing, it's about the subscribes. You can do this. So what do you do with this? If you're making a number one run, it's about subscribes. It's not complicated. But bigger than that, if there's something in your podcasting that you are taking a lot of steps to do, if there's stuff in your podcasting that you just know deep in your gut that, oh, gosh, it should not be this complicated, here's the thing, it doesn't need to be this complicated. If someone's shown you a shorter way and they've seen results from that shorter way, examine the shorter way. Going long, going hard. You know, sweating over the whole process doesn't make you a better or more honorable podcaster. Simply get over the guilt. Now what do you do? Is there something that you should be taking less steps to do? If so, start taking less steps. Ask yourself, for every step of the podcasting process, is there a faster, easier, better way? If there is, take it on. Take a deep breath. Get to know your family again. Maybe see that new Captain America movie. It's pretty good. And then finally, number three, just question everything. If someone tells you something, you got to do it this way. You know, ask why it's okay to question. Nobody owns podcasting. Yes, there are some huge names in it, but nobody owns it. There is absolutely no governing body that makes these rules. Question everything, do things that make sense, and you are going to do a much better podcast. Be that launching it to number one or anything else. Thank you so much. Chat with you soon. Bye. Thanks for listening to this episode of the podcast report. I love interaction. Head out to the podcastreport.com and interact with this episode or or any other that you might listen to. But don't just visit the website and click play. Subscribe to the podcast report. Thepodcastreport.com iTunes thepodcastreport.com Stitcher thepodcastreport.com Google once you subscribe. Once you set it up so that every time a new episode comes out, you are automatically updated. You are experiencing. You experience the power of podcasting. It's not that you have to come out to my website. It's not that you have to go anywhere. It's that the content comes straight to you. Once we understand that power, podcasting will get to a better place for all of us. So please do subscribe. Once you subscribe, let's interact. You can do it at the website, or you can do it on social. ThePodcastReport.com Twitter, ThePodcastReport.com Facebook. Pick the social network of your choice and we are there to interact. The website's great, too, but when you do social, the world sees more. Find out about podcasting more. Find out about how to make their podcast better and the world becomes a better place. So go ahead, interact with us on social. This is the Podcast report. My name is Paul Culligan. I'm thrilled you've been listening. Please subscribe, please interact, and I'll chat with you next week. Bye.