Check it out. Chris Garret and I just recorded our latest PerfCast over Skype. The topic was “building long term value online” and we both got pretty playful with the metaphors.
Just a note of warning. Since we use Skype all the way across the Great Pond, there are some moments when the connection is a bit rough. But if you bear with that, I’m sure you’ll be pleased with some of the tips we discuss.
PerfCast Episode 3 where Chris and Ryan talk about Long Term Value versus Short Term thinking and manage to mix about 20 different examples into a yummy metaphor stew!
[podcast]http://performancing.com/podcasts/perfcast-ep3.mp3[/podcast]
Download link
What could be better than reading quality content? How about actually listening to it! Podcasting is still a relatively new phenomenon that has had its ups and downs, and while it might be fairly difficult to monetize a podcast on its own, it could be a valuable asset to your blog. However, be warned, podcasting is not for everyone.
Purpose of a Podcast
Everyone here has probably noticed that Performancing now has a podcast — Perfcast. For those of us (including myself) that are not camera material, it is a great way to connect to your audience that written words just might not allow. Even I have tossed around the idea of doing a podcast for quite awhile, and there are a few good reasons for it:
There are many other reasons as well; however, podcasting takes time. Time is valuable to many of us. Not only that, but podcasting can be very expensive — it depends on how much control is desired. It also requires quite a bit of dedication and motivation.
It would be best to attempt podcasting without the added pressure of listeners. The first episode might be the one opportunity to impress current readers, and if it sounds bad the first time around, they might be hard pressed to give it another chance later on. Keep this in mind before you publish anything live.
How to Make it Work
There is one site I would recommend any future podcaster to visit first — I would highly recommend checking out Podcast Alley where there are many helpful members with plenty of podcasting experience. If Google can’t steer someone toward an answer about podcasting, the members of the Podcast Alley forum certainly can.
To gain the skills and experience necessary to be a decent podcaster, it is best to find and listen to other podcasters to observe how it is done. Each podcaster must come up with his or her unique style, but learning from others is never a bad thing. Try to experiment, and be sure to avoid a monotonic voice.
The audience should determine how to approach the podcast. Should the length be 10 minutes or an hour? Should the tone be comedic or serious? Should you have guests? Plan for these things!
To make that voice sounds good, a podcaster will want to have a high quality microphone — there is no bigger turn-off to me than poor audio quality. No matter how good the podcaster actually is, if the quality is not up to par, the podcast will not receive the attention it fully deserves. I would recommend Shure microphones.
WordPress users are in luck as there are a few plugins to make things easier for podcasters, but there are also a great amount of resources that can be found through Google which can guide a new podcaster on how to accomplish this on their own.
Finally, a podcast needs to be hosted somewhere. Depending on the audio quality, amount of control, and number of listeners, this can be from absolutely free to a couple bucks per month.
Either way, podcasting can add be a great addition to any blog, but there are many things to consider before diving in. With the right attitude and motivation, podcasting very well might help your blog succeed. Just be sure to be patient and do it right the first time around.
In case you’re new to Performancing, we release a new, high-quality WordPress theme for free each month. For our March 2008 theme we are pleased to be releasing One In A Million, designed by my friend TDH.
One of my favorite things about this WordPress theme is the way it separates individual blog posts on the index pages. If there’s one gripe I have about most publishing sites on the Internet (including this one;-) it’s that posts often bleed into each other. Often, the only element used to split up posts is a bold headline. With One In A Million, each post is boxed off from the rest.
As a 3 column design with the content in the middle column, One In A Million has plenty of above the fold advertising real estate, while maintaining a sufficiently wide content area.
Click here to preview the theme.
Click here to download the theme.
There are many people providing social media marketing services. We do! But what you do not get with these services is paid diggs.
Your usual “deliverable” with a social media buy is a top class article, resource, widget or tool, that is attractive and compelling enough to draw votes and links naturally.
Now, obviously there is the temptation for anyone frustrated with their performance in the social media sites to cut out all this hard work and lack of guarantee. They want to buy a front page story and don’t care how it is achieved.
Enter paid diggs.
These services have been around for a while, Digg eventually neutralizes them, but subvertandprofit.com has been getting some Twitter attention so I thought I would mention it.
$2 a vote, what are the downsides?
Well you could well lose any chances of ever getting dugg again, but if you are not getting to the popular page anyway what have you to lose? Well, your reputation I guess.
BUT, what if some competitor saw you getting in Digg all the time and wanted to end your fun? One or two small payments to get you on Diggs banning radar and boom, got you banned.
And what about blog sales? Pay for votes, inflate your traffic (and therefore sale price), leave you to clean up the mess.
Am I paranoid or do these services cause more problems than merely subverting the social bookmarking sites?
One in a Million is a three-column theme for WordPress featuring a fixed-width layout with a center-positioned main content column. The theme is easy on the eyes, using subdued hues and clean typefaces. The header and footer have an old world, homey feel to them, using a wallpaper-like pattern as background image. Yet, One in a Million is very suitable for professional and corporate blogs because of the clean and legible look.
One in a Million is yet another collaboration between Performancing and Thord Daniel Hedengren, who has done countless other WordPress Themes for Performancing and Splashpress Media.
Click here to preview the theme.
Click here to download the theme.
Update: One In a Million has been updated for compatibility with WordPress 2.7 and up. Download the latest version here.