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Maybe we’re overthinking this whole video thing. It can take days to make a high-quality video, but even then there is no guarantee anyone will watch it. Or you can do what this guy did: Take one photograph, add music and a title and post it.

No script. No voice over. No nothing but a photo and generic elevator music. It’s called, “Gentle Understanding Cat” and as of this writing it has 86,000 views and 303 comments.

Even the creator is surprised, as he writes, “Damn this blew up. Please check out my other content with actual effort put into it.”

I did check them out, and his other videos have just 5 to 46 views each.

Then there’s YouTuber Charlotte Dobre. All she does is play social media posts of Bridezillas, Karen’s and other annoying people. As the clips play, you get to watch her reactions. Whoop-de-doo. It sounds stupid, right?

Nothing against Charlotte, but her videos contain essentially no original content other than her smirky remarks (which generally aren’t witty or funny). Even she appears surprised that so many people are watching her.

Charlotte has 570K subscribers, and here are a few of her viewership numbers:

•    The Fake People of Instagram, Part 2 – 1.1M views
•    Entitled People that are on Another Level – 881K views
•    Entitled People that are on Another Level, Part 3 – 839K views
•    Entitled Brides Getting Called Out on Social Media – 626K views
Essentially, she is earning a full-time income as a YouTube partner through advertising simply by reading OTHER PEOPLE’S social media posts and adding her own reactions to it.

When it comes to your own videos, you might take stock of what you’re trying to achieve with your videos and whether or not you’re on the best path to do that. If you’re making outstanding content that no one is watching, it might be time to recalibrate your video making methods.

If nothing else, here is a trick that works wonders for providing great ‘how-to’ content to viewers and still making the video entertaining and share-worthy on social media:

Use a polar-opposite partner.

For example, if you have strong views on a topic, your partner will play the part of the ‘dummy’ on the other side of the argument. The two of you bickering back and forth with you generally coming out on top while teaching something works wonders.

Your partner could also play the ignorant student who needs the super simple explanation to things. This makes the viewers feel smart and it’s an excellent way to come in under their resistance radar and bring them over to your way of thinking.

Don’t be afraid to be goofy, make mistakes and so forth. Today I discovered an animated series called “Suction Cup Man”.

The creator now sells a plushie Suction Cup Man doll at the end of video 4. To advertise it he uses video clips where the doll isn’t functioning as he wants it to, and it just adds to the appeal because it’s REAL.

You don’t need complicated videos. Simple is usually better. Entertaining is best. Combine the two – make it simple and entertaining, and you’ve got something.

That video you’re about to make outlining the 10 best things to know about your topic? Make it into 10 separate videos and find a way to be entertaining in each one.

The video you’re about to make to recruit affiliates to your launch? Please don’t read a script and try to look all stuffy and business-like. Be yourself. Speak from the heart about why your product rocks and how much you’re going to do for your affiliates. Be real. Make mistakes. Be goofy or silly. Leave your ego at the door, strive for the opposite of perfection and imagine you’re talking to friends… because you are.

Maybe the best analogy for creating videos is the old KISS method: Keep it Simple, Silly.

I couldn’t find the download anywhere. I checked my email, I clicked all the links and went to all the pages, I set up my new, free ‘membership’ and still the download wasn’t there. But they kept telling me to be sure to download it as soon as I watched the video. So I watched the video, but the download still did not appear.

Do you know what DID appear?

An email.

“We noticed you still have not downloaded the XYZ Document. If you need help, just click this button and someone will call you to assist.”

Ah-Ha!

Sneaky clever, don’t you think?

Here’s what they’re doing:

They’ve created an outstanding video that teaches a marketing technique. To get you to watch the video, they promise you a free download of one of their internal documents that’s made them millions.

But you can’t get to the document until you watch the video (it’s a long one) all the way to the end. You watch the video and… WHOOPSIE! Haha!

No download.

Next comes the super nice, super helpful sounding email. This is where they get you on the PHONE and sell you on their expensive program.

It’s a bit diabolical, but still I have to acknowledge their creativity.

What do most people like least about buying tangible goods online? I think it’s the shipping costs. Sure, you’re ready to pony up that $20 for the item you’re dying to have, but do you really want to pay the $7.99 shipping fee? Maybe not.

Then there’s another factor we might want to look at – remorse. Not the remorse that comes from buying something and then regretting it, but the remorse that comes from NOT adding something to your order.

Sure, you got the Super Duper Widget and the Super SUPER Duper Widget Accessory, but darn it, why didn’t you get the Super Duper Case to go with it? Blast it all, now you feel like you blew it. Except…

Except there is a company out there called Zulily that has an innovative solution for both of these obstacles. When you place an order with Zulily, you can order again anytime in the next 2-3 days and pay NO additional shipping costs.

This means you can go back and get the items you wish you’d purchased in the first place, and it won’t cost you a dime in additional shipping.

Zulily also offers to split your payment in half. You pay half now plus shipping and the other half in a month. They have your credit card on file, so the risk to them is extremely low. And I’ll bet the increase in business is substantial.

Is there a way you can apply these super consumer friendly practices to your business, and increase your bottom line in the process?

I’m gonna wring this guy’s neck and I don’t even know who the heck he is. Gimme a second to decompress…

Deep breaths…

Okay, here’s what happened.

I get an email with a topic that sounded good. Real good. “Go check out the product,” it says. So, I click it. I’m trying to read the sales page. I mean I’m REALLY TRYING TO READ THE SALES PAGE but he, whoever this guy is…

… WON’T LET ME READ THE SALES PAGE!

I am his prime prospect.

I want the benefit he so eloquently offered in the email.

He’s worked hard to get me on his list, get me to open that email, get me to click the link…

… but the result is I wanna strangle him.

Why?

Because every two seconds there is another pop-up that says:

JOE BLOW JUST BOUGHT THIS PRODUCT!
SUSIE Q JUST BOUGHT THIS PRODUCT!
JEDI MASTER JUST BOUGHT THIS PRODUCT!
FREDDIE KRUGER JUST BOUGHT THIS PRODUCT!

Sigh.

I closed the page and came here to write you this note.

While it’s terrific to show your prospects that your product is flying off the shelf, I’m not so sure that continuously interrupting them while they read your sales page is the way to do it.

Plus, between you and me, I’m not sure I even believe he’s making all those sales.

It comes out to about 1 sale every 2 or 3 seconds, and that just doesn’t seem likely, does it?

But here’s where I advise you to not take my advice…

(Wait… let me think about that a moment…)

Those super annoying pop-ups that tell you everyone and their brother are buying the product… (I hate to even admit this)

… actually increase sales.

Yup.

I am the exception here and NOT the rule.

People are naturally influenced by what other people do. It’s the herd instinct, and it’s hardwired into us for reasons of survival.

People see that others are buying the product and so they buy the product, too. I’ve seen data on sales launches where there is a big surge at the opening bell of people buying. This is typical behavior in a successful launch. Most people buy the first day or the last day, and in between sales sharply taper off.

But when these annoying sales notifications are added on the second day, suddenly sales go up again. More people who visit the page are buying right then and there rather than putting the decision off.

You can get the software to do this at fomo.com or other software providers. Just sign up for an account, implement the code, set your parameters for how you want the software to appear and act, and if all goes as planned, sales will increase.

But please, please make the notifications unobtrusive. The idea is to gently let prospects know that other people are buying the product.

If the pop-up is continually stopping the person from reading the letter, you will lose sales to people who don’t have the patience to put up with the distraction. Like me.

They almost didn’t add the upsell because it was too expensive and most of their buyers wouldn’t be interested… Or so they thought.

The main product was a super cool software plugin, priced at $47 for use on one site and $67 for unlimited sites.

Most people bought the $67 version.

The upsell was developers’ rights to the plugin.

Most people won’t buy that, right?

The two partners argued about it for three days before finally adding the developer’s rights as the only upsell to the funnel.

The promotion ran for a week, had plenty of affiliates promoting and guess what?

You know it – they brought in an extra $13,396 just from the upsell.

Maybe it wasn’t a fortune, but it’s extra money they otherwise would not have made.

Plus, it didn’t cost them a dime to offer that upsell, either.

What are you not selling right now that you could be in your sales funnel?

Time and again I’ve seen new marketers complain that they’re not earning 5 figures a month. So, I ask them what they’re selling…

$7 reports…

$17 ebooks…

$27 video sets…

“Okay,” I say, “let’s do some math. Five figures a month is $10,000 or more. How many $7 products do you need to sell to make $10,000?”

“I don’t know,” they say.

The answer is 1,428.

What about $17 ebooks?

If you sell 588 of those a month, you’ll make five figures.

Yeah, but what about $27 video sets?

You only need 370 of those a month. That’s 12 or 13 sales every day.

If you convert a whopping 5% of your visitors, you’ll need 360 interested visitors a day to achieve that.

That’s going to cost money to drive that kind of traffic, which means you’ll need to sell a whole lot more products.

You see where this is going.

If the basic structure of your business prevents you from earning the income you want, then you’ve got to change your business.

It’s like buying a car that only goes 50, and then feeling disappointed and mad when it won’t go 100. It’s just not built for that kind of speed, and your business might not be built to earn 5 figures a month, either.

Low priced products are great for building a list of buyers and essential for self-liquidating paid advertising. You pay $100, you make $100 but you’ve got a list you’re building, or rather two lists because one is subscribers (which can be good) and the other one is buyers (which is where the real profit is made.)

But if you want to make five figures a month, you’ll need to either sell something more expensive like a $197 course or a $500 coaching program, or else promote affiliate products.

Let’s talk about that $197 price tag – to earn $10,000 a month, you need to sell just 50 of those a month. Or you can sell 20 of the $500 coaching.

The point is, if all you’re doing is selling nickel and dime stuff, then you can’t complain if you’re not making any REAL money.

It’s time to step up your game. Whatever is holding you back from selling more profitable products, knock it off.

Don’t tell me your list won’t buy expensive products because I know they will. They’re already buying more expensive products from other marketers, so why not from you, too? Build trust and rapport with them and some of them will buy anything you offer.

But the first step is getting your own mindset in shape and believing that you can sell big ticket items.

And if this is too much of a stretch for you right now (you’re not alone) then you can at least get on the right track by adding multiple products to your line. Add a continuity membership site, paid newsletter and/or paid podcast. Add products that sell for $47, $67, $97 and more. Find affiliate products you love and believe in that earn good money per sale. This way you can work your way up to the big-ticket items.

Heck, I know one marketer who won’t sell anything that costs less than $1,997. He doesn’t have a list of 500,000 because he doesn’t need one. He’s got a couple of lists of about 5,000 each and he is absolutely CRUSHING it because every single sale brings big money to his own pocket.

His mindset is that $17 products are a total waste of his time, and he’s right. To earn $1,997 he can make one sale or he can make 117 sales. He chooses to make one sale and even as I write this I realize that I, too, need to focus more on the higher priced products. I guess there is a lesson in here for all of us. 😉

I’m about to blow your #1 podcasting excuse out of the water.

If you think you can’t start a podcast because you:

A: Don’t know what equipment to buy, how to set it up and how to use it

B: You can’t afford all that fancy, expensive equipment

Then I’ve got ONE word for you:

Anchor.

Anchor is a free, beginner-friendly platform for podcast creation. It’s got the tools you need to record and edit audio and arrange it into podcast episodes like a professional.

You can record episodes in the Anchor app on your smartphone… Yes, on your SMARTPHONE! 😊

Just hit record, speak and when you’re done it will automatically add it your Anchor account for publishing.

Anchor is free to use but unlike most of their competitors they also help you monetize your podcast by placing ads alongside (or even inside) your content.

My experience is they will usually allow you to generate $50 to $100 in ad revenue in the early days and if your podcast proves popular, they will help find additional sponsors in your niche who are willing to continue investing in your content.

You can learn more and try it now at: anchor.fm

From what I can see, right now there is no faster way to build an audience online than through podcasting. The demand for podcasts is growing at an unprecedented rate.

More than half of people are listening to podcasts on a regular basis. And podcasting creates loyalty and trust with your audience like almost nothing else out there.

Podcast audiences are more engaged and loyal than radio listeners or blog readers. Something like 88-90% of podcast listeners listen to the entire show, including advertisements. Podcasts are done in episodes, sort of like a television series. When you end one show, you can tease your audience with what’s coming on the next episode (think cliffhanger or bullet points) to ensure they’ll be back.

And get this… 79% of podcast listeners tune in to a new episode as soon as its released!

Think about that last article you slaved over to get every word just right. Now imagine speaking that article, not worrying about getting every word right, letting your personality shine and oh yes, promoting a product, too. Yes, you really can do this.

But if you’re new to podcasting, how do you grow your audience? In ways similar to how you drive traffic to a website, you can also grow your audience through podcasting SEO.

WAIT!

Does the term SEO create a bit of panic for you? If you’ve never done any SEO before, then it’s perfectly understandable to think SEO might be something other marketers do but not you. Guess again, because Podcasting SEO is easy enough that almost anyone can use it to bring in listeners, grow your list and maybe even make your podcast go viral. After all, stranger things have happened. 😉

How can you use podcasting SEO to build your audience?

Step 1: Know and Use Your Keywords

You might think that Google has a hard time finding and indexing podcasts, but your text content will go a long way towards helping Google find you and possibly even place one of your podcast episodes on the first page of Google.

Since 2019, Google has been placing links to podcasts in the search results, much like you see Google place YouTube videos there.

Your top two keywords are going to be:

•    Your brand/podcast name
•    “[your niche] Podcast” Examples: Online Marketing Podcast or Parenting Podcast

Here’s the trick: Host every episode of your podcast on a dedicated page on your website along with the keywords that fit that episode. And always, always include the word “podcast” in your keyword phrases. “How to make money from home” is never going to rank on Google when someone is searching for a podcast, but “How to make money from home podcast” can possibly get you ranked.

Step 2: Optimize Those Episode Pages

You already know you’ll be placing one podcast on a page and using your appropriate keywords on each of those pages. Those keywords are:

•    Your podcast brand name
•    Your general podcast topic combined with the word ‘podcast’
•    The topic specific to this particular episode

For example, you might have “Minnesota Tycoon” as your brand name, your general topic is business and marketing so it’s the “Minnesota Tycoon Business and Marketing Podcast” and this particular episode is on “Americans Doing Businesses in Canada.”

All of that makes it possible to get your podcast episode featured near the topic of the search page. But let’s go one step further and see if we can also target a keyword to get it ranked in the classic blue links.

In this case, we’re targeting “Americans Doing Business in Canada”. You have options here:

•    You can write 300 words or more of unique content about your topic on that page
•    You can add a text summary of the podcast itself
•    You can create a blog post summary that covers all of the key points in the podcast

You can do any combination of these three items.

Personally, I like to have a short text summary followed by a longer post that covers the key points. This way if people don’t want to listen to the podcast, they can still get the information. However, there is a healthy percentage of people who will read the text summary and then go ahead and listen to the podcast anyway because you’ve hooked them with the summary.

Step 3: Consistent Titles and Catchy Meta Descriptions

The title of your podcast episode is going to be the same title found on the page hosting the episode. In fact, you want to be consistent across every platform that has your episode, whether it’s Spotify, YouTube, Google Podcasts and so forth.

For your meta description, your target keyword is the first phrase in your title, and you might want to include the episode number, too. For example, “Americans Doing Business in Canada with The Minnesota Tycoon (Ep 21)”

Next you tell what your podcast is about. Make it honest, accurate, exciting and enticing. That’s a tall order, but you’re trying to get people to click on your link and you only get one shot to make this happen.

Step 4: Keep Google Happy

Google has been transcribing podcast episodes for two years now to improve its search results. This means Google has a very good idea of whether or not you are providing quality content. You can help Google to decide your podcast is worth sharing with the world by having a clear structure to your podcasts. Rather than rambling or hitting whatever topics come to mind, make an outline of what you’ll talk about or what you’ll be asking your guest so that you can stay on track. And use relevant keywords throughout the podcast, but use them naturally without keyword stuffing.

Step 5: Sign Up with Google Podcasts Manager

Google Search pulls data from Google Podcasts when showing podcast listings in the search engine results. Google Podcasts is a podcasting directory, meaning that podcast listening apps use Google Podcasts to find podcasts and enable playback. Google Podcasts does not store your RSS feed or audio files, but instead points to the RSS feed and audio files that you have posted elsewhere.

Google Podcasts has over 50 million regular users. Even a teeny tiny percentage of those users coming to your podcast could mean a tremendous boost in your audience size. To get your content listed in the app, go to podcastsmanager.google.com/, click ‘start now’, type in your podcast RSS feed URL and follow the verification steps. Once you’ve done this, Google will index your feed, enabling users to find you on Google Home, Android Auto, Google Search, Google Assistant and Google Podcasts.

Step 6: Expand Your Reach

Sign up with Podfollow podfollow.com/ to enable listeners to hear your podcasts on any platform they choose. Podfollow will also give you insights on where your traffic is coming from, so you’ll know what’s working.

Apple Podcasts and Spotify are two huge players where millions of people can find your podcasts. And there are plenty of other platforms to consider, too.

If you’re creating video podcasts – essentially recording yourself and your guest with video – then you’ll want to place your video podcasts on YouTube. You can even use a service like Patreon to paywall certain episodes. They also offer tiered plans, enabling you to have content for free members, paid members and perhaps an inner circle of movers and shakers who pay for the privilege.

Step 7: Create an Ever-Growing Network of Internal Links

Every time you place a new podcast/page on your website, find the pages already on your site that are related to the new page. Then link from the new page to these other pages, as well as linking from these other pages to your new page.

In addition, link each podcast page to the previous and the next episodes. This not only builds internal links, it also adds some navigational value for users.

Step 8: Transcribe Your Podcast Episodes

Google’s transcription can have trouble with accents, people talking over each other and so forth. And some of your users will want a text copy they can read, save, browse and so forth.

So go ahead and have every one of your episodes transcribed. You’ll be giving the search engines a crawlable copy without errors, increasing the chances of getting a good search engine ranking. Plus, you may find you want to repurpose some of your content into articles, social media posts, books and so forth. With transcriptions, this will be easy to do.

Step 9: Earn Your Backlinks

Podcasts work well for link building, especially if you have guests on your show. And once you’ve built something of a reputation, it will be easy to get more guests and better known guests to join you for an episode. Backlinks are just as important for podcast SEO as any other strategy, and fortunately it’s not that difficult to get backlinks, either.

Start with a podcast homepage, which might be a subdomain or subdirectory. This will be the domain of your podcast strategy, with each podcast having its only page on this domain. You’ll get some backlinks to your podcast homepage and others to each individual podcast.

To earn backlinks, do any and all of the following:

•    Be Newsworthy – cover the latest developments or new in your niche
•    Be Controversial – trying to appeal to everyone won’t win you backlinks, but taking a stand will
•    Be Unique – offer thoughts, insights and ideas found nowhere else
•    Bring on Guests – guests will increase your authority and win you backlinks from the guests themselves as well as their fans
•    Appear as a Guest – go on other podcasts as a guest and you’ll usually get a backlink to your own podcast domain
•    Promote Your Podcast – ask others to review your podcast or ask for their opinion on a subject you covered. Essentially, find ways to tell others in your niche about your podcast episodes without being obnoxious or pushy about it.
•    Create a Rivalry – team up with another podcast to create back-and-forth perspectives. A friendly rivalry can bring an explosion of new listeners via social media.
•    Reference Content Producers – anytime you get the chance, reference other authorities in your niche within your podcasts. Quote them, refer to their research, talk about something they did… the more you reach out to others, the more others will reach out to you and give you backlinks.

And when you reference other content producers in your podcast, be sure to include this in any repurposed content and social media posts for maximum effect. This way they’ll see you’ve referenced them and more often than not they’ll want to see what you said and link back to you.

Step 10: Repurpose Your Content

You can create more internal links when you repurpose your content, you can grab people who prefer to read, your content goes further, you can optimize text content for SEO… frankly there are a ton of reasons to repurpose and reuse your content. You can even create list building lead magnets and books for your content if you like!

You might want to consider recording video for your podcasts so that you can post on YouTube and social media. Video can be cut into clips, highlights and short, engaging posts for social media.

You can also repurpose your episodes into blog posts, guides, content series and so forth. Think short and long – you’ll be pulling the best bits out of your podcasts to entice people to listen or watch your podcasts. And you’ll be compiling podcast content into longer forms, such as comprehensive posts, books and even reports.

Do you remember when the internet started becoming popular? Some people said it was just a fad. Do you remember back when video was just catching on? Some people said that was just a fad, too. Now we’ve got folks saying that podcasting is a fad. But 5 years from now, there will be two groups of marketers – those who started their own podcast, and those who wish they had.

Which camp will you be in?

If you already have a successful, popular podcast, then you already know the power of podcasting to create an audience, to build credibility, to make connections with the movers and shakers in your niche and to sell a lot of product.

Think about this: When you have a podcast, you are in your target market’s ears for 20 to 60 minutes. This is intimate, one-on-one time with no interruptions or competition for their attention. You can create personal (PERSONAL!) relationships with your audience in a way that the written word can never do.

If you want to…

•    reach an audience
•    sell products or services
•    make crucial networking connections
•    build a business

… and you don’t already have a podcast, I’d like to suggest that right now is the ideal time to start one.

It’s like that saying, ‘The best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago, and the second best time is right now.’ Maybe the best time to start a podcast was a year ago, but today is nearly as good because unlike almost any other medium, there is still tons of room for you in podcasting.

Five years from now? You’ll either have hundreds of episodes in your pocket and an audience of several hundred thousand (millions maybe?) or you’ll be kicking yourself HARD because you didn’t start a podcast this year.

Have you noticed how popular podcasting is becoming? If you had doubts before, surely by now you realize that podcasting is here to stay.

•    At the time of this writing, there are over 2 million podcasts and over 48 million episodes.
•    37% of the US population listens to podcasts every month.
•    Podcast listeners listen to an average of 7 different shows per week
•    93% listen to all or most of each episode

Maybe you’re waiting to podcast until you ‘feel ready’ – whatever that means. But here’s the secret every podcaster knows: Almost no one who ever started a podcast was truly “ready”. In fact, you have the same level of experience as almost every other new podcaster out there. That’s because you know how to TALK, and if you can talk, you can do a podcast.

A few short years from now everyone and their dog will have their own podcast. But if you start podcasting NOW, your competition will be about 2-5% of what it will be in a few years. That means it will be 20 to 50 times EASIER to build an audience now than it will be later.

How do you get started?

Maybe you should do a bunch of research, buy some podcasting how-to courses, and take the next year to ‘figure it all out’. Yeah. Because that always works, doesn’t it?

If you take that route then a year from now you will be exactly where you are today – no podcast.

I’d like to suggest a different method, one in which you simply jump in and get started. No muss, no fuss. You just do it.

It doesn’t matter if NO ONE hears your first few broadcasts. Those are for practice anyway. But the point is to get started NOW, to figure out what you’re doing, and a month from now you can have a legitimate podcast with a real audience.

Your first few podcasts can be for practice while you learn. And learn you will. A month from now you can have podcasting experience under your belt as well as a growing audience. Stop thinking about podcasting and just start doing it.

Need more motivation?

Check out this list of podcasting facts from PodcastHosting.org:

•    75% of the US population is familiar with the term “podcasting”
•    50% of all US homes are podcast fans
•    55% (155 million) of the US population has listened to a podcast
•    37% (104 million) listen to podcasts at least every month
•    24% (68 million) listen to podcasts weekly
•    16 million people in the US are “avid podcast fans”
•    51% of podcast listeners are male, 49% female

Age of listeners:
•    12-34: 48%
•    35-54: 32%
•    55+: 20%

•    41% of monthly podcast listeners have household income over $75K (vs 29% for US population)
•    25% of US podcast listeners have a 4-year college degree (vs 19% of US population)
•    51% employed full-time (vs 44% of US population)

Do you sell anything in your business?

Yeah, stupid question 😊

Check out these advertising stats:

•    81% of podcast listeners pay attention to podcast ads
•    63% say they sometimes or always ignore TV commercials
•    66% sometimes or always ignore digital ads
•    61% sometimes or always ignore billboards
•    59% sometimes or always ignore radio commercials
•    60% of podcast listeners have bought something from a podcast ad
•    72% of people who have listened to a podcast for four or more years have made a purchase
•    54% are more likely to consider the brand advertised (only 7% are less likely)

You might think you need expensive equipment to create a podcast, but you can start with just your smartphone and upgrade later. Here’s everything you need to know about podcasting from your smartphone: www.rode.com/blog/all/How-To-Record-a-Podcast-on-Your-Phone

You can even use a service to handle all of the podcast details for you, so that all you have to do is the actual podcast. Just search for “done for you podcasting” and you’ll find a variety of options. As long as you can speak, there simply is no excuse anymore for not podcasting, while there are plenty of reasons to start your own podcast today:

•    Podcasts capture your audience’s attention. The same person who won’t read a 10-minute blog post will often listen to a 60 minute podcast.
•    Podcasts create a personal experience. Listeners hear your voice and get to know you on a deeper level than with text.
•    Podcasts help you build and maintain connections. You can feature guest speakers on your podcast who are industry experts. They create your content for you, and you build a networking connection with them.
•    Podcasts build your credibility and positioning in your niche. If you want to be known as a leader in your industry, start a podcast and bring on experts. The key is providing valuable content, fresh ideas and making it fun and interesting for listeners.
•    Podcasts make money. Real estate agent turned entrepreneur John Lee Dumas earns $46,000 a month from his podcast, Entrepreneur on Fire. He does it charging sponsors to be featured on his podcast as well as promoting products and services.

Are you convinced yet? I know podcasting sounds scary. What if you say stupid stuff? What if you can’t think what to say? What if, what if, what if… remember, there’s something called EDITING which allows you to remove anything you don’t like.

See? No more excuses.

One last thing: Here’s a quick list of even MORE reasons for you to start podcasting this year and yes, this MONTH:

•    You will build relationships and customer loyalty.
•    You’ll enjoy the fun of using running jokes and themes with your audience.
•    It’s easy – far easier even than you think.v •    Listeners can listen whenever they like, even at 3 in the morning.
•    Subscribers get episodes downloaded automatically on their devices.
•    All you need to get started is a smartphone, internet connection and software. A laptop is good, too, but not required.
•    No one can SEE you, so bad hair days, messy offices and pink polka-dotted pajamas don’t mean a thing.
•    You can build your audience.
•    Improve conversions through trust. I’ve seen podcast regulars buy products based solely on the recommendation of the podcaster, no sales copy needed. A survey of 300,000 podcast listeners found that 63% of them bought something a host recommended on their show.
•    Talking is easier than writing. Far easier. SO MUCH easier.
•    Your audience can hear your emotions. It’s not easy to make emotional connections in writing, but it is through speech. Listeners know when you’re happy, when you’re upset about something, when you’re laughing, when you’re serious and so forth, and it helps to build connection. Why did people fall in love with Oprah? Some say it’s because she allowed herself to become deeply emotional on air, creating a bond with the audience that lasts to this day.
•    Authority. If you want authority in your niche, you need to either create videos that feature yourself, write best-selling books or do podcasting. If you can do two of those, that’s optional but even better.
•    Money. Sell advertising. Take on sponsors. Promote your own products. Do JV’s with your guests. There are tons of opportunities to make money with a podcast.

Can you really afford not to have your own podcast? I don’t think so…

Goal setting is great in theory. Write down your goals, maybe write them down every day, carry them with you… And in a year nothing has changed. Let’s be honest… Most of the time goal setting simply is not enough to get things done.

Even when you break BIG goals down into little steps and then gradually work towards those goals, it still doesn’t work for many people.

If you are one of those people who can routinely achieve the goals you set, then congrats – you can stop reading right here. But if you’ve set goals – and set more goals – and set even MORE goals – and you STILL don’t have what you want…

…or maybe you don’t even like setting goals…

…then I’m going to propose you do something a little different.

Stop sweating the goals and instead focus on systems.

Yes, SYSTEMS.

You thought I was going to say habits, right? Habits are good but they’re not always flexible enough to get you to where you want to go.

Here’s an example of the difference between a habit and a system. Let’s say you want to bench press 250 pounds. You can make it a habit to do weight lifting at 6am on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. But if you don’t have a system for increasing your reps and weights over time, you’ll never reach your goal.

Habits are repeatable actions you do without thinking, like going to the gym at a certain time on certain days. A system is a series of actions you take, like systematically increasing reps and weight to reach your goal. If you’re just lifting weight without a system to increase reps and weights, you’ll never improve.

Goals alone without systems can be detrimental and limiting. Princeton’s theology school did an experiment: Theology students were told to go to another building on campus and teach a class on The Good Samaritan. You’ll recall that the Samaritan story is about a man who was beaten and left by the side of the road. Others walked past him, but the Good Samaritan stopped and helped him.

Students were told to go teach the story of the Good Samaritan to another class. But they were also told they were late and must hurry. An actor was planted on their path, lying on the ground, hurt, moaning in pain and even screaming twice.

Every single theology student ran past the injured person to go teach the class on the Good Samaritan. One person even stepped over the person in pain to get to the class.

The goal was to get to the class and make the presentation on time and the students were blind to any other possibility. They were so focused on that goal that they missed the bigger picture and personal perspective to help the injured person. But if these students had a system by which they lived, that system would likely have prioritized living the story of the Good Samaritan rather than just teaching it.

If you have a goal to earn a million dollars a year, you might bend rules, break laws or even hurt people to achieve that goal. But if you have a system that says you make money by providing real value to others, then you’re going to stay on the right path.

I think of the difference between habits and systems like this:

A habit is, “I write every day from 8am to 10am.

A system is, “I work on writing a book every day from 8am to 10am for two months, at which time I’ve completed a book. For the next 3 weeks I market and promote the book during this time, and for the fourth week I do research and outline my next book during this time. And then I repeat the system.

This might be an oversimplification, but the point is the system has more flexibility than a habit, allowing you to adapt as you go. Figure out what you want to achieve and then create systems to get you there. Build flexibility into your system so that when something unexpected happens, you know how to get back on track.

Lastly, focus on your system (the process or journey) and not on the goal (your destination). When you give your attention to where you are now (the system) you’ll find you’re much happier in the moment than if you are continually wishing for the goal itself. You’ll be able to celebrate little victories every single day by using your systems, rather than putting happiness off until you finally reach your destination.

Plus when you do reach your destination, because you have systems in place, you also won’t experience the paradoxical and yet all too common experience of feeling empty or sad because you no longer have that big goal to look forward to.