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| | The Podcaster Central Network is not currently active and cannot accept new posts | | Introduction and questions | Views: 478 | | Sep 17, 2007 4:27 pm | | Introduction and questions | # | 
Lynne Cogan | | Hi Everyone.
I'm new to this network and have a couple of questions. Glad that you are all here.
I am currently developing a business with a practical program to help people realize their dreams. The initial focus will be a podcast highlighting success stories.
Right now, I have a couple of questions regarding pricing for financial projections and hope that a couple of you might be willing to share some of your expertise.
(1) There is a podcast company that I am considering working with. I am aware of their pricing and how much marketing they do in podcast directories and the cost for getting a copyright. What other costs are associated with podcasting that might not be so evident to a novice and about how much would it come to for a weekly show?
(2) These podcasts will be made available for downloading in various fee-based packages (other podcasts and written materials). What costs are associated with the making the podcasts downloadable including protecting them from being passed for free from one person to another?
Any thoughts on this will be much appreciated. Thank you.
LynnePrivate Reply to Lynne Cogan | | Sep 17, 2007 6:27 pm | | re: Introduction and questions | # | 
Dave Jackson | | This is a no win situation. Most companies that use a form of DRM (digital rights management - aka don't forward this to your friend technology) use some sort of windows specific format (wma) however this does not work on many portable players (most importantly an ipod).
So if you want to sell to the masses you have to trust them. However you can take steps to stop them from passing along the download link. I use a program called DLG (download guard www.trydlg.com which allows you to specify how long a download link is available, as well as how many times a person can download from that link. It also has fun features like coupons, the ability to offer items as bonuses, and work with a ton of payment systems (paypal, 2checkout, clickbank etc). You can also use it to create a membership site (so if a person buys your product they then have accessto a "members only area"). I believe the ocst is $127 for two liscenses. You can see a demo I did of this at www.musicianscooler.com/dlg
Another system designed specifically for selling podcasts is Premium Cast which creates a separate RSS feed for EACH person who purchases your product/podcast (you can use it to sell digitla products, or a podcast on an RSS feed). It also has time released features (grerat for audio books as you can send a chapter every day). While it doesn't have the "protective" features of DLG, it is pretty handy. There is a free version if you want to create an account, but if you are goin to tie in the ecommerce (paypal, or if you have your own credit card there is a API), you will need one of the non free versions ($37 a month). There are a ton of more features (liek the ability to create a podcast for just ONE person on your list, the ability to email people content in addition to rss).
There are tools you can use to cut submitting your podcast to directories in half.
Dave Jackson
www.personalpodcastcoach.com
Get 20% now through Oct 1 using the coupon "bts" at www.schoolofpodcasting.com
Private Reply to Dave Jackson | | Sep 17, 2007 8:02 pm | | re: re: Introduction and questions | # | 
Donna Papacosta | | Thanks for sharing this very useful info, Dave.
Overall, I encourage people to make their podcasts freely available (and sell something else), but these tools you mention could come in handy for those who want to "protect" their content.Private Reply to Donna Papacosta | | Sep 17, 2007 9:11 pm | | re: re: re: Introduction and questions | # |
Dave Jackson | | Oh I agree if you're getting into podcasting with the goal of making 100,000 the first week - forget it.
Step one: build an audience.
Step two: build their trust
Step three: off something of value
Step four: make 100,000 the first week.
Everybody wants to skip the first three steps. Its a great way to keep your name in front of your potential customers. There are a milloin ways to use podcasting as a business and marketing tool. Selling a product is just one of them, and those tools help if that is the goal. Many people offer a free version to entice the public, and then offer a more detailed podcast (or product) for a fee. It's a new model, but some people are trying (and succeeding) with it.
Dave Jackson
Personal Podcast Coach
www.podcastfastpass.com
Private Reply to Dave Jackson | | Sep 18, 2007 1:53 pm | | re: Introduction and questions | # |
Lynne Cogan | | Thank you all for your posts. These are a big assist.
May main interest at the moment is the expenses my business will incur, rather than the revenues that will be generated as a result of the podcast.
A free version of the podcast, complete with commercials will be available through the podcast companies website for several months. I know the costs and am aware of possible revenues from sponsors.
Right now, I am exploring the costs related bringing a value-added version of the podcast to my site (no commercials and additional content), along with an annotated transcript and worksheet.
Someone from another network has been sharing info regarding the cost of protecting purchased downloads.
So, I am interested in understanding other costs including the editing of the value-added podcast, uploading to my site, marketing, etc. Does anyone have thoughts regarding this they would like to share?
Thank you very much.
LynnePrivate Reply to Lynne Cogan | | Oct 05, 2007 5:19 am | | re: re: Introduction and questions | # | 
Lamar Morgan 954-603-7901 | | Lynne,
I would recommend you take a look at Talkshoe.com. Now, this is a free interactive podcasting service. It is extremely popular. It gets your podcast loaded to the iTunes Music Store's Podcast Directory, automatically. It pays you for your listening audience via Paypal. I know of one party that gets $1,000/month for their podcasting from Talkshoe. But, that is rare and this person's audience must be huge.
As has already been stated, most folks actively podcasting are focused on building an audience and establishing trust. They are not hoping to sell the podcast as a product. However, there are some exceptions - like SpeakerNetNews which does exactly that. However, SpeakerNetNews is not promoting itself, but access to high profile professional speakers via a teleconference with them. There is somewhat of a "celebrity element" involved in that promotion. It is no secret that people are often willing to spend some money just for "access" to a celebrity individual - even if it is really nothing more than a phone call.
Lamar Morgan
CDMM
http://www.squidoo.com/CDMM
Attract more customers! Private Reply to Lamar Morgan 954-603-7901 | | |
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