Ravi Jayagopal

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About Ravi Jayagopal
Ravi Jayagopal is a Business Coach, Entrepreneur, 8-time Author, Podcaster, WordPress Developer, Digital Marketer, Speaker, and also an Amateur Ventriloquist :-)
He is the Co-founder & Co-developer of DigitalAccessPass.com, a membership plugin & marketing platform for WordPress. Ravi launched his first website in 1997 and has been selling digital products online for the past 25 years. He has consulted with, and coached, thousands of his clients and helped them create a profitable online business using digital products, membership sites, and recurring subscriptions.
He was the first Indian ever (back in 1998 when he was still living in India) to sell a physical book online to an international market. After failing at two brick-n-mortar businesses in India, he moved from India to New York in 2000, taking on a programming job. As a hobby, working nights and weekends, he developed and marketed the world's first download protector software for PayPal and ClickBank.
In 2007, he wrote his first book called "No Business Like E-Business" which went on to become an Amazon category best-seller at the time. He invented "Content Dripping" and co-founded the world's first membership plugin for WordPress, Digital Access Pass (DAP), which was the first software ever to do content dripping, along with his wife.
He is the host of the podcast "Subscribe Me" at SubscribeMe.fm, where he talks all about the making, marketing, and monetizing of online digital content. He is also the author of a book by the same name, "Subscribe Me".
Ravi is also the creator of WordPress plugins S3MediaVault.com and CoolCastPlayer.com.
Coming from humble beginnings in India, Ravi today is a successful entrepreneur, and through his family foundation in India, he and his wife give back to Indian children and communities in need.
Ravi lives in San Diego, CA with his wife Veena Prashanth (co-founder of DAP), 2 amazing kids, and a male dog inexplicably named Vanilla!
Read more about Ravi at https://SubscribeMe.fm/ravi-jayagopal
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Blog postI've talked and written about what I call "Start With The Last Thing First". E.g., when it comes to creating your offer, start with the last thing first - your sales page. And within that, start with the last thing first - the pricing table.
Start with the end goal and work your way backward.
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Episode brought to you by https://1 week ago Read more -
Blog postI have an acronym for Urgency Scarcity and Exclusivity: USE.
You've got to use USE in all of your offers.
Every offer should end in a call to action (CTA) – like “Buy this”, “Click here”, “Sign up” or “Call us”.
But a CTA alone isn’t always enough to get your audience to take action. There needs to be some additional motivation to get them to take action now.
Without that added motivation, your offer will probably get set aside for “I’ll get back to this later”.3 months ago Read more -
Blog postTakeaways From My Book LaunchWhy I launched my book on my own website, and not on Amazon Kindle:I recently launched my 8th book, Dogpoo & Dosaa: 67 Proven & Implementable Truths, Tactics & Hacks To Create Better Content, Promote Your Products, Grow Your Audience and Make More Sales.And here are some of the lessons learned […]
The post Takeaways From My Book Launch appeared first on SubscribeMe.fm.
4 months ago Read more -
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Blog postWhat most people will do after they finish writing a Kindle book, is they'll promote it for a little bit, and then they'll move on to their next book or digital product.
Instead, I recommend you go deeper into your book.
Listen to the show for the rest at https://SubscribeMe.fm
or search for "SubscribeMe.fm" in your favorite podcast app.
Episode brought to you by https://S3MediaVault.com - Audio & Video Player for Amazon S3 & File Protecto5 months ago Read more -
Blog postThe reason why I had the biggest book launch of my life, was because it was all about The Offer.
The offer is not just the product and not just a short landing page with a few bullet points about the product and a buy button.
As legendary Harvard Business School Professor, Theodore Levitt once said, “People don’t want to buy a quarter-inch drill – they want a quarter-inch hole.”
Check out my 8th book at https://DogpooBook.com
Listen to the show for the rest at6 months ago Read more -
Blog postI recently launched my 8th book, titled Dogpoo & Dosaa: 67 Proven & Implementable Truths, Tactics & Hacks To Create Better Content, Promote Your Products, Grow Your Audience and Make More Sales.
And here are some of the lessons learned and takeaways from the launch.
Check out the book at https://DogpooBook.com
Listen to the show for the rest at https://SubscribeMe.fm
Or search for "SubscribeMe.fm" in your favorite podcast app.
Episod7 months ago Read more -
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Blog postAudiobooks, ACX, Kindle to PaperbackMy first-ever video update for my email subscribers! In this video, I talk about...The Audiobook versionHow and why I'm creating it with Audiobook Creation Exchange (ACX) and Audible in mind,What are the specifications for ACX audio filesWhat software I'm using to make my files meet the specsThe Free Kindle ISBN that […]
The post Audiobooks, ACX, Kindle to Paperback appeared first on SubscribeMe.fm.
7 months ago Read more -
Blog post(listen to the article below via the player above)Sell First, Create LaterI frequently encounter entrepreneurs and digital creators online who spend a lot of time creating an elaborate online course, spend months, or even a year, creating a single course or sometimes an entire digital library, working on the content, setting up the membership site, […]
The post Sell First, Create Later appeared first on SubscribeMe.fm.
8 months ago Read more -
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Blog post(listen to the article below via the player above)No Such Thing as Too Long, Only Too BoringHow long should your sales page be?How long should your podcast be?How long should your blog post be?How long should your webinar be? I have one simple answer to this:No such thing as "too long", only "too boring".As much as […]
The post No Such Thing as Too Long, Only Too Boring appeared first on SubscribeMe.fm.
8 months ago Read more -
Blog postI frequently encounter entrepreneurs and digital creators online who spend a lot of time creating an elaborate online course, spend months, even a year or more creating a course or an entire digital library, working on the content, setting up the membership site, hiring a copywriter to write the copy for the sales page, lining up affiliate partners to help them with the promotion, setting up a bunch of Facebook ads, priming their list.
And then they launch it to their list and then...8 months ago Read more -
Blog postI've had a lot of people ask me, or ask online in various groups and forums, the following questions:
How long should your sales page be?
How long should your podcast be?
How long should your blog post be?
How long should your webinar be?
I have one simple answer to this:
No such thing as too long, only too boring.
Listen to the show for the rest at https://SubscribeMe.fm
Or search for "SubscribeMe.fm" in your favorite podcast10 months ago Read more -
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Blog postAttention surplus, attention deficit, Seth Godin, Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP), Pattern Interrupt, Roy H. Williams (Wizard of Ads), and a lot more in today's episode.
Listen to the show for the rest at https://SubscribeMe.fm
Or search for "SubscribeMe.fm" in your favorite podcast app.
Episode brought to you by https://S3MediaVault.com - Audio & Video Player for Amazon S3 & File Protector for Amazon S3 and CloudFront.
11 months ago Read more -
Blog post"Sounding Natural" comes with Practice.
"We talkin' 'bout practice" - Allen Iverson
How much prep goes into Saturday Night Live
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Episode brought to you by https://S3MediaVault.com - Audio & Video Player for Amazon S3 & File Protector for Amazon S3 and CloudFront
Listen to the rest of the show o11 months ago Read more -
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Blog post(Listen to this article via the player above) Seth Godin talks about attention deficit. And he also talks about attention surplus. And weirdly enough, they both conclude the same thing: No one is paying attention. Including yourself. I’ve always been intrigued by the psychology of persuasion (and am a big fan of the book by […]
The post I Came Home and the Dog Was Bald appeared first on SubscribeMe.fm.
11 months ago Read more -
Blog postWhat you need to know about creating and hosting your own Podcast Feed. Read the full article at Podcasting with WordPress Welcome to episode #105 of the SubscribeMe show from SubscribeMe.fm. I’m your host Ravi Jayagopal. This is the podcast to listen to, to learn about creating membership sites & online courses, making, marketing and monetizing digital […]
The post Podcasting with WordPress – 105 appeared first on SubscribeMe.fm.
1 year ago Read more -
Blog postWhat does it mean to host your podcast on WordPress?
Should you host your podcast feed on your own website?
How do you create the Podcast RSS feed?
What about the audio files? Where should you host it?
That's what I talk about on today's episode.
Listen to the show for the rest at https://SubscribeMe.fm
Or search for "SubscribeMe.fm" in your favorite podcast app.
Episode brought to you by https://S3MediaVault.com - Audio & Vi1 year ago Read more -
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Blog postDo you have an Online Video Course? If yes, then don’t create another video before listening to this mini-series. You probably have a membership site or online course, or maybe you want to start one. Either way, you’re going to probably have a bunch of Video, Audio and PDF’s in your online course. In this […]
The post 25 Video Course Creation Tips For Online Course and Digital Creators appeared first on SubscribeMe.fm.
1 year ago Read more -
Blog postProgramming concepts that you can apply to your online business, products and services Part 1: Episode #98 – Part 2: Episode #99 – Part 3: Episode #100 – Part 4: Episode #101 Welcome to episodes #98 – #101 of the SubscribeMe show from SubscribeMe.fm. I’m your host Ravi Jayagopal. This is the podcast to listen to, to […]
The post 17 Things Entrepreneurs Like You Can learn from a Programmer appeared first on SubscribeMe.fm.
1 year ago Read more -
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Blog postStreaming vs. Progressive Download Videos and Audio, why you should NOT host video and audio on your own website, using a CDN, to allow or not to allow downloads, focusing on the 99%, evergreen content, and Moving personalized dynamic watermarks
Listen to the show for the rest at https://SubscribeMe.fm
Or search for "SubscribeMe.fm" in your favorite podcast app.
Episode brought to you by https://S3MediaVault.com - Audio & Video Player for Amazon S3 & Fi1 year ago Read more -
Blog postJump Cut Joy: Ditch The Teleprompter, Talking-Head Videos, Addressing your audience 1-on-1, Scripting, Recording in Short Segments and more.
In today's episode (part 2), I continue to focus on Video creation and delivery.
Listen to the show for the rest at https://SubscribeMe.fm
Or search for "SubscribeMe.fm" in your favorite podcast app.
Episode brought to you by https://S3MediaVault.com - Audio & Video Player for Amazon S3 & File Protector for1 year ago Read more -
Blog postYou probably have a membership site or online course, or maybe you want to start one. Either way, you're going to probably have a bunch of Video, Audio and PDF's in your online course.
In today's episode, I'm going to focus on Video creation and delivery.
Listen to the show for the rest at https://SubscribeMe.fm
Or search for "SubscribeMe.fm" in your favorite podcast app.
Episode brought to you by https://S3MediaVault.com - Audio & Video Player for1 year ago Read more -
Blog postI've been using WordPress since 2004 (less than a year after it launched). I launched my own WordPress blog and wrote my very first blog post on Jan 24, 2005. And in all those years of working with WordPress, developing WordPress plugins, building my own WordPress websites, and helping my clients build their own websites, I've […]
The post 27 “Must Have” WordPress Plugins For Your Business Website appeared first on SubscribeMe.fm.
2 years ago Read more -
Blog postWaterfall Method, If It Ain't Broke, Don't Fix It and Junior Programmer - the last and final part 4 of the series 17 Things Entrepreneurs and Digital Creators Like You Can learn from a Programmer
Listen to the show for the rest at https://SubscribeMe.fm
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Episode brought to you by https://S3MediaVault.com - Audio & Video Player for Amazon S3 & File Protector for Amazon S3 and CloudFront
2 years ago Read more -
Blog postIn today's episode, I talk about Repeatability, Scalability and WORA - Write Once Run Anywhere (similar to DOPE: Do Once, Publish Everywhere at https://SubscribeMe.fm/dope/ )
Listen to the show for the rest at https://SubscribeMe.fm
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Episode brought to you by https://S3MediaVault.com - Audio & Video Player for Amazon S3 & File Protector for Amazon S3 and CloudFront
Read my entire paid K2 years ago Read more -
Blog postIn the last episode, I talked about Just-in-Time, Beta Release, and Minimum Viable Product or MVP.
In today's episode, I talk about Design Big, Implement Small, Algorithms and Rapid Prototyping
Listen to the show for the rest at https://SubscribeMe.fm
Or search for "SubscribeMe.fm" in your favorite podcast app.
Episode brought to you by https://S3MediaVault.com - Audio & Video Player for Amazon S3 & File Protector for Amazon S3 and CloudFront2 years ago Read more -
Blog postThis is kind of a cross-over episode, where I have taken some of the great programming practices that are used to develop software and systems, and I am going to show you how you can apply them to your own business, as an entrepreneur and digital creator.
Listen to the show for the rest at https://SubscribeMe.fm
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Episode brought to you by https://S3MediaVault.com - Audio & Video Player for Amazon S2 years ago Read more -
Blog postThe last and final Part 5 of the series: "The Greatest Free and Freemium Tools I Can't - and Won't - Live Without"
Skype, Slack, Discord, ToDo, Trello, Asana, UberSuggest, Xmind, OpenShot
See full list at https://SubscribeMe.fm/freetools
Listen to the show for the rest at https://SubscribeMe.fm
Or search for "SubscribeMe.fm" in your favorite podcast app.
Episode brought to you by https://S3MediaVault.com - Audio & Video Player for2 years ago Read more -
Blog postIf you’re an Online Course Creator you probably have Audio, Video, PDF and other files like Mindmaps, Powerpoints, Docs, Zips, Images etc, in your courses or on your website. If you use WordPress, the most important features you’re going to need from an WordPress Audio & Video player plugin, are the following: Easy to use […]
The post Pirates Keep Out appeared first on SubscribeMe.fm.
2 years ago Read more -
Blog postThis is Part 4 of the series: "The Greatest Free and Freemium Tools I Can't - and Won't - Live Without"
Headliner, Notepad++, OBS, Pexels & Pixabay, https://PodcastReviews.me, PushBullet, RescueTime, Restream.io, StreamYard
See full list at https://SubscribeMe.fm/freetools
Listen to the show for the rest at https://SubscribeMe.fm
Or search for "SubscribeMe.fm" in your favorite podcast app.
Episode brought to you by https://S3MediaV2 years ago Read more -
Blog postThis episode is Part 3 of the series: "The Greatest Free and Freemium Tools I Can't - and Won't - Live Without" - LastPass Edition
Part 1 is Episode 93: https://SubscribeMe.fm/93
Part 2 is Episode 94: https://SubscribeMe.fm/94
See full list at https://SubscribeMe.fm/freetools
Listen to the show for the rest at https://SubscribeMe.fm
Or search for "SubscribeMe.fm" in your favorite podcast app.
Download LastPass at https://Subs2 years ago Read more -
Blog postThis episode is Part 2 of the series: "The Greatest Free and Freemium Tools I Can't - and Won't - Live Without".
Part 1 is Episode 93: https://SubscribeMe.fm/93
See the entire list of the greatest Free & Freemium Tools at https://SubscribeMe.fm/freetools
Listen to the show for the rest at https://SubscribeMe.fm
Or search for "SubscribeMe.fm" in your favorite podcast app.
And check out my S3 Video Player For WordPress.
2 years ago Read more -
Blog postI've been selling online since 1998. And in all of those years, I've tried and tested an insane number of tools - desktop software, online services, and mobile apps. And I started making a list of all the free stuff I'm using almost every day, and the list came up with just blows my to think that I depend on so many of these tools on a day-to-day basis, yet I've never had to pay for most of them.
So here are some of the greatest free and freemium tools most of which I couldn't live wi2 years ago Read more -
Blog postTip #1: If you write a Kindle book solely for the purpose of making money, then you're going to be terribly disappointed, because a Kindle book will simply not make much money for a vast majority of the authors. And that includes me as well.
Listen to the show for the rest at https://SubscribeMe.fm
Or search for "SubscribeMe.fm" in your favorite podcast app.
2 years ago Read more -
Blog postWhen I say "Don't Write a Best-Selling Book (Do This Instead)", I'm not ACTUALLY telling you to intentionally NOT write a great book or I'm not telling you that you should write a below-average, low quality book.
The main point I'm trying to make is, don't set out with the intention of writing a "best-seller", because there are some downsides to having that kind of a mindset. Let me explain.
Listen to the show for the rest at https://SubscribeMe.fm
2 years ago Read more -
Blog postKevin Kelly wrote, "To be a successful creator... you don’t need millions of dollars or millions of customers, millions of clients or millions of fans... You need only thousands of true fans."
But how do you attract your 1000 true fans?
And to listen to the rest of this show, visit https://SubscribeMe.fm
3 years ago Read more -
Blog postI just finished a 3-day launch of my new course at https://1001TrueFans.com. I had over 150 people unsubscribe from my various lists these past couple of days because I sent them an email about the course.
So I figured, I would share how I felt about that on today's show, in case you're also going through something similar, and I hope that it helps you realize that you are way more valuable to your true fans, and that we should obsessively focus on those who stay, than those who leave3 years ago Read more -
Blog postQuestion: I would like to start monetizing my podcast by creating a membership club for new episodes. Do I put all the available episodes in the club and make them pay to listen, or leave a certain amount as free to continue attracting new customers.
My Answer: I don't think you should put every single episode behind a paywall and make it all premium-only. You've got to have free episodes there, because that's what allows you to attract new listeners, and turn them into podcast subscr3 years ago Read more -
Blog postWhat if you weren't married to any specific platform to build your audience? What if your product was platform-agnostic? Or platform independent? As it should be, right? You don't create a course only for your Facebook followers. You want your entire audience on ALL platforms to buy your course, right?
So if your goal is to get more leads, there are WAYYY better options for generating leads, at least when you're first getting started, than simply starting a new YouTube channel, or a n3 years ago Read more -
Blog postPodcast Monetization, Direction, Strategy.
Today's episode is the first of an AMA series I'm doing - AMA stands for Ask Me Anything. So a little while ago, on my birthday, I was feeling extremely grateful and thankful to my customers, my audience, my followers, my friends and my family.
So I asked my audience, via email, via Facebook, via Instagram and even via Twitter, to submit their questions to me, and I said I would answer them on my podcast.
So here goes the firs3 years ago Read more -
Blog postSo what does it really mean to stream audio or video? Is downloading a file the same as streaming? Does every video you watch online a streaming video?
The 3 types of "streaming" - Progressive Downloads, Adaptive & True Streaming, why one of them is not even actual streaming, what you should know about, why you should care, and the way it impacts how you deliver content to your audience.
I'm not going to go too deep into this, because you and I, we don't need to3 years ago Read more -
Blog postGo Deep, Then Wide: One day I woke up and figured out, that I have to do what my late father R.N. Jayagopal DID, not what he SAID.
But in my father's case, he obviously wasn't trying to mess with me or trying to mislead me. It's just that he himself didn't fully quite understand his own mega-success in life.
And it is really an immutable law to learning from successful people, is to do as they do, not as they say.
But in my father's case, he obviously wasn't tryin3 years ago Read more -
Blog postA Programmer and a Marketer Walk into a Bar is actually a true story. Easily one of THE most fascinating stories of my life.
And this is also the story behind one of the biggest lessons I learned as an Entrepreneur.
So enjoy the story, with the audio taken straight from my live video.
If you are an Entrepreneur, then one of the most challenging things today, is building an audience. So where do you go to find your audience? Facebook? Instagram? Podcasts? YouTube? Amazo3 years ago Read more
Titles By Ravi Jayagopal
No, not referring to the mouth-watering Indian Dosa nor actual dog doo-doo :-).
DOGPOO stands for Do Once, Get Paid Only Once.
DOSAA stands for Do Once, Sell Again and Again.
So DOGPOO and DOSAA - that is the title of my 8th book that I've written.
I have been selling online since 1997. And I've taken 25 years of my experience selling digital products, distilled it all down to the most concentrated version, to 67 proven and implementable tips and tactics and powerful true stories, for Entrepreneurs & Digital Creators.
If you create content, sell digital content, have a podcast, or a YouTube channel, or write blog posts, this book is for you.
This book will help you create better products and create them faster, create more engaging content, sell more products, make better decisions, use the right tools, show you how to validate your product before you go off for 6 months and then launch it and then ... crickets.
It will show you how to promote your website better, build a list, write better books, create better videos and podcasts, and also show you how to build a bigger audience.
You know that question people always ask: If you could go back 20 years and talk to your younger self, what advice would you give them?
This is that book, a book that I basically wrote with a younger me in mind. But there's no generic life advice BS.
It's entirely written specifically for digital marketers and content creators and entrepreneurs.
You can greatly cut short your learning curve and your execution curve as a Creator, by reading this book and learning from my mistakes as well as the things I've done well.
Better Than Radio & TV: "It’s Radio… It’s a Podcast… It’s a Flash Briefing!" (by yours truly).
The goal is to entertain, educate, engage, enrich or help evolve your listener, who’s probably getting ready in the morning to go to work. So as they’re brushing their teeth, showering, getting ready, making coffee, they can say out loud "Alexa, what’s my flash briefing?" and their Alexa-powered device – whether it’s the Echo Spot, Show, Plus, or other – will start playing all of the flash briefings that they’ve "enabled" in their Alexa app (or Alexa web), one after the other.
So it’s similar to a podcast, because you basically subscribe to a bunch of Flash Briefings (just like you subscribe to a bunch of podcasts), and you listen to them one after the other, until you hit stop – or in Alexa’s case, you say "Alexa, stop" or "Alexa, cancel". And to skip the current one and start playing the next flash briefing, you would say "Alexa, skip".
But when it comes to the format of Flash Briefings – basically getting quick updates on a whole bunch of things on a whole bunch of topics, all within a short span of time – it can be more powerful than podcasts, because podcasts are not as quick to get into the meat of the content. There are extended intros, small talk, set up talk, announcements and updates, multiple ads or promotions, and so on. So it’s like a "Podcast on Steroids" (your truly, again :-). And because of the short-form nature of Alexa Flash Briefings, as a listener, they know they can expect maximum value (whatever that "value" you’re promising them in your show’s title and description) in minimum time, minus all the fluff.
And it’s better than regular cable TV news, because there are no extended commercial breaks, chit-chat, teasers or promos of what’s coming later in the show, and so on.
Why Create an Alexa Flash Briefing: I talked about this on Episode #73 of my podcast, titled "Audio and Voice Are The Future, All-In On Audio". Give it a listen at SubscribeMe.fm/73
As powerful as video is, Audio can go where Video can NOT go - like when you're driving to work, doing the dishes, in the gym, on a run, walking your dog, cleaning the garage, heck, even when showering!
If you've seen any science fiction movie, you have seen a super-smart voice assistant. The Computer from Star Trek, Jarvis in Iron Man. And that's what is coming soon to a world near you. Voice is the most natural and most powerful form of communication. Which is why I believe that audio is going to be one of the most powerful tools of the future.
An article from eMarketer.com states, "Not since the smartphone has any tech device been adopted as quickly as the smart speaker." And it goes on to say how they expect the number of US smart speaker users to grow at the rate of 47.9% between 2016 and 2020, and end up around 76.5 million. According to Strategy Analytics, sales of smart speakers could top $23 billion by 2023, or according to another company Global Market Insights, it could reach $30 billion by 2024. And according to Slate.
Do you wish to create and launch a Podcast?
Wish you had an easy-to-follow checklist of things to do, in the exact order, that you could just follow, keep checking the checkboxes, and end up with a podcast at the end of it?
Wish someone would give you a simple system with specific recommendations for microphone, recording and editing software, best-practices, avoiding unproductive rabbit-holes, where to submit your show, and just tell you step-by-step what to do, instead of giving you 20 different options for everything and leaving you with more questions than answers?
Stop wishing and start reading, because that's EXACTLY what this book helps you do: It shows you how to start a podast from scratch, really fast.
This book assumes that you kind-of have an idea about podcasting. So, if you're like “Hmm, I wonder what a podcast is and whether I should start one?”, then this is not for you.
But this is for you if you just want to dive right in to the actual creation, publishing and launching of a Podcast, and not spend hours reading about "What's your Why?". Even if you’re not fully sure about all of it, the Podcast Launch Checklist in the book will help you with that.
It gives you a list of questions to ask yourself - and answer honestly, before you even think about creating a podcast.
Crowd-Sourcing How-To and Business Advice is not the best idea
If you try to crowd-source information via Facebook groups - even if you’ve joined the biggest podcasting group - you’re still going to get so confused with the myriad of answers with differing opinions and options that you’ll get with every question.
There are screenshots in the book taken from a Facebook group - it had 33 comments - and it is just mind-blowing to think that the first 8 comments alone offer 8 different suggestions for a podcast microphone
Then there's a screenshot from another Facebook group where a question about editing software gets 83 comments, and almost every answer recommends a different tool.
“What mic should I use”? 50 suggestions – and that’s without the various permutations and combinations of pre-amps, mixers, noise gates, blah, blah, blah.
“Where should I host my podcast?” Another 60 suggestions.
“What editing software should I use?” Another 70. You get the idea.
It is practically impossible to get everyone’s opinion at every step of the way and still get something done.
So you’ve got to kind of take a leap of faith here with me, that I won’t misguide you. I’ll give you a few options for every step of the way, and you can decide based on various factors that I’ll be pointing out.
And trust me – there’ll be plenty of time and money for you to waste down the road on more expensive equipment, of which there’s no shortage :-)
But when you’re first getting started, you don’t have need to spend $1,000 on podcasting gear when you can do almost as well with gear that costs about $100.
And even if you could afford to throw away $1,000, that still doesn’t mean your show will get off to a great start or become a success. Buying an expensive basketball won't automatically turn you into an NBA player, and an expensive tennis racquet doesn't mean you'll get to play at Wimbledon.
Creating something once and being able to sell it over and over again - like an Online Video Course, Software or a Report – is way more profitable, productive and fun than simply putting a lot of your time and effort into something that is done just once where you get to benefit from it just once.
DOGPOO: Performing live on stage: You get to charge for tickets only once. The show happens one time. Once it’s over, it’s over.
DOSAA: Recording an album, or video recording of your live event and selling them to thousands.
DOGPOO: Speaking live on stage or doing a show live on the radio.
DOSAA: Doing a Podcast and getting a large number of people to listen to it.
Having a Day Job Sucks – And So Does Selling One-Time Products
Selling one-time products is much like depending on your day job for income.
Day Job (DJ): You have to go to work every day.
One-time Products (OTP): You have to make sales every day.
DJ: You stop working, you no longer get paid.
OTP: You stop selling, you get no new customers, and you no longer get paid.
DJ: You start every month at $0.00 from your employer. You work first, then you earn (you have to work for a certain period even to get paid vacation and other benefits)
OTP: Your business starts with $0.00 in revenue each month.
You can see how there is absolutely no stability or security in either case.
When you are selling one-time products, the big issue is that no matter how well you do this month, you have absolutely nothing to show for the next month. So let's say this month you made say $3,000, but what happens next month? On the first day of next month, on the very first day of every single month, you start at square 1 – with an income of $0.00. And that really sucks.
Sure, by selling one-time products, you still build a list of buyers, to whom you can continue selling other products. Simple, right? Not really. If your business model is to keep creating products that you can keep selling to your past customers, then over a period of 3 or 5 or 10 years, think about how many darn products you will need to create and launch just to get those past customers to come back and buy from you again? It's just mind boggling. No one can create 5, 10 or 20 new products every single year, year after year, just to stay in business. It is just a very exhausting and draining business model that is simply not sustainable.
80% Failure Rate
You've probably heard this statistic that says 8 out of 10 small businesses eventually fail. A colossal 80% failure rate. Only 20% survive. So why did they fail? The obvious answer: They failed to make more money than they were spending. So they went out of business. But let's dive deeper. Why did they not make enough money to keep going? Why couldn't they make enough sales?
The non-obvious answer: They were selling one-time products, and could not find enough new customers, and could not sell enough to old customers. With one-time products and services, you could have a huge surplus of business one month, and then very little the next month. So if you hired extra help when your business was doing well, you have to let people go when things get real slow. You cannot reliably plan ahead for anything.
* Things to think about BEFORE you think about writing a Book
* What is your book really about?
* Best way to Brainstorm ideas
* "Dream Book TOC" technique
* Coming up with Chapters & Sub-chapters
* What topics to write about
* How long should your Kindle eBook be
* Little-known facts about formatting
* Choosing a Title
* Templates for brainstorming title ideas
* Tools required for writing and publishing your Kindle eBook
* Simplest way to prepare your eBook for publishing
* ISBN and other details that you should know (but not care about)
* Turning your eBook into a real book for free
* What you should know if you want to sell your physical book in regular stores
* What are the ideal first pages and last pages
* How to incentivize your eBook readers to give you their email
* How to build an audience using your eBook
* Best ways to create your book cover
* Cover creation tools that are free and almost-free
* Super-powerful book cover tactic to get an expensive $1,300 cover designed by a talented graphic artist - for just $50
* Tips for getting the best out of your cover (yes, people will always judge a book by its cover)
* Previewing your Kindle eBook and seeing what it will look like to your readers on all devices
* How to fix formatting and other issues quickly with the least amount of time and effort
* Proof-reading tips
* A Step-by-step guide to Publishing your book on Amazon KDP, with detailed screenshots
* KDP Select: What is it and why you should (and when you should NOT) enroll your eBook
* Book Launch and Promotion tips
* Should you give away free copies of your book? How and when?
* Marketing your book to get the biggest bang for your buck
* Free promotion tips
* Paid promotion ideas
If you are a first-time author, you may be tempted into writing your greatest book ever and pack every single thing you know into one massive book that leaves no stone unturned, as your very first book. And that’s ok if that’s what you absolutely, passionately wish to do.
I recommend starting with a quick win for your first book. Get something done, get it out there into the real world, see it go live on Amazon Kindle, share it with your friends, family and audience, and soak in the joy and attention that comes from being a first-time author. That will give you immense motivation, excitement and momentum to write more books and share your message with the world.
And this book will show you the fastest, most-efficient way...
* How to Write a book
* How to Publish a book
* How to Launch a book
* How to Write a Kindle book
* How to Publish a Kindle book
* How to Launch a Kindle book
* How to write a kindle ebook
* Write kindle book software
* How to write a kindle book fast
* Get Kindle book reviews
* How to write a best selling kindle book
* Tips on writing a kindle book
* Write kindle books ridiculously fast
* Writing a kindle book in word
* Write short kindle books
* Writing a successful kindle book
* write a book in kindle format
* write amazon kindle books
And this book will show you how NOT to promote your podcast on social media, how NOT to promote your podcast on Twitter, how NOT to promote it to just your friends and family on social and reach new audiences.
ROI, as you know, stands for “Return on Investment”. Generally speaking, if you invest in something, you then track the returns, and then you figure out whether or not it was worth it.
If it was a positive ROI, then you do more of it. And if it’s a negative ROI, then you can investigate it, tweak it, test it, and worst-case, do less of it.
Like, say, you started on a special diet. Or a new workout-routine. One way to measure your ROI is to check your body weight, glucose levels, body-fat percentage, blood pressure, etc. So whatever it is that you’re trying to achieve, you have a way to test for the results, and know if your new routine (or a tweak to your existing routine) is working.
But what if there was no way to measure your weight, or glucose levels, or blood pressure, or heart-rate? What if there was no way for you to know if what you’re doing is working, or hurting? What if you keep investing, but can’t see the changes, can’t track the results, can’t predict if it’s working?
Like a shot in the dark - you know the target, but you don't know where it is, how far it is, or if your shots are even anywhere close to it!
That’s one the biggest issue with podcasting right now. With a regular web site, you can put Google Analytics code on it, look at your analytics and page-views and bounce-rate and email signups and eye-tracking heat-map software, knowing how long a video has been played, page scrolling, exit-intent, retargeting – so many ways to monitor traffic, behavior, engagement, conversions and so on.
With a podcast, other than the basic “Downloads” stats, there is not much else available to help you track, measure, improve and optimize your podcast content and marketing. You don’t know how long the average person listens to your show, at what point do they stop listening, are they streaming or downloading (yes, there is a difference in terms of delivery, not consumption), how many true “subscribers” you have who have subscribed to your feed, etc.
Apple Podcasts now offers some stats for podcasts subscribed-to and listened-to via the Apple Podcasts app. And while the Apple Podcasts app is currently the most popular app among regular podcast listeners, but among power-listeners, the app is not very good when it comes to usability - yes, a strange thing to say about an Apple product. And its search is one of the most primitive and feels more like a 1995 Yahoo Directory than what one of the world’s richest companies should be offering up.
So podcast listeners who are more tech- and web-savvy, have left the Apple Podcasts app and have moved on to other far-better apps like OverCast.fm (iOS) , Podcast Addict and PocketCasts (both Android). And there have been no indications from any non-Apple podcast apps (iOS or Android) about offering podcasters any kind of listener-stats.
It’s a great start from Apple, for sure. But there are still tens of other great podcast apps and podcast directories which don’t offer any insights into the listening behavior, and there’s no indication if they’re even likely to offer them anytime soon.
If you've ever asked yourself:
* How to grow my podcast
* How to grow my audience
* How to grow my show
* How to launch my podcast
* Best
I host two podcasts now. But when I was just getting started with podcasting, I didn't just want to be a Podcaster. I'm talking about wanting to be a PodcaSTAR. Small play on the word, but huge difference in meaning and impact!
Before I got started with my own podcast, one of the star attractions of podcasting was seeing Pat Flynn (SmartPassiveIncome.com) and John Lee Dumas (EOFire.com) put out crazy monthly income reports, where they were making gobs of money each month via their podcasts.
And then came Tim Ferriss with his 60 Million Downloads!
But more than the money itself, what truly blew me away was the kind of raving fans and engaged audiences they were building, which pretty much allowed them to point that massive audience's attention to whatever it was they were promoting.
Affiliate links? BOOM!
New book launches? BOOM!
Selling Journals with blank pages?? DOUBLE BOOM!
They could just say the word, and get their massive audience to take massive action.
That's the kind of influence I craved.
But after closely following – and intently listening – to podcasting veterans like Dave Jackson of the SchoolOfPodcasting.com, Daniel J Lewis of TheAudacityToPodcast.com and Cliff Ravenscraft of PodcastAnswerMan.com, I knew it wasn't going to be easy.
After all, I had been in the online business world selling digital products and doing digital marketing for over 18 years. I had even written a category best-seller called “No Business Like E-Business” back in 2007. And I am the Co-founder & Co-developer of a leading membership plugin since 2008. So of course, I knew what it took, and I could coast through it all, right?
*insert harsh sound of buzzer here*
Oh, how I was wrong!
Podcasting is nothing like selling a digital product, but is still everything like selling a digital product.
(Whaaaat?)
Yup, that's how much of a contradiction podcasting is.
Podcasting is hard. Churning out great content week after week, the research, the editing, the uploading, creating a page for it on your site and optimizing it, then promoting it… all of that is hard. It gets even harder when there simply aren't any tools to measure a lot of the key metrics – like how many people that downloaded your episode actually listened to it, how long did they listen, ability to track ROI on paid advertising when it comes to converting clicks to listeners to subscribers – a lot of that is not possible right now.
Podcasting takes a lot of passion, knowledge & persistence to do it long-enough and well-enough to build authority and influence - and most importantly, a lot of marketing – to get the word out and build a legion of raving fans.
So in this book, I lay bare my soul, open my heart, and lay it all out on the table: Everything I've learned from doing my own show a while now, and more importantly, everything I've learned NOT to do, thanks to being a podcasting super-junkie who listens to podcasts ALL the time – whether I'm grocery shopping, waiting to pick up my kids, on a walk with my dog, on a run, and even when lying with my mouth wide open at the dentist's table.
1. What to sell (products, services, advertisements or a brand)?
2. How to sell (web design, copy writing, technology, getting paid online)?
3. How to get visitors to your web site (generating traffic: free and paid)?
4. How to get them to buy your stuff (conversion: creating something remarkable, pre-selling, branding, trust building, giveaways)?
5. How to keep them and their friends coming back for more (up-selling, cross-selling, affiliate program, joint ventures, self-sustaining lead generation)?
Master these 5 areas, one item at a time, and you are golden. But the real secrets lie in knowing not just what to do, but more importantly, how to do it.