Webbin' ain't Easy

Giving birth to a podcast

Mark had the brilliant idea that we could reach a wider audience for our stories with a podcast.

It seemed like a grand idea, after all, we’ve got so many of our favorite memories to write down, and we love to hear ourselves talk, and best of all we don’t need spell check. We can even add some background music to set the tone.

Wix made it pretty easy to start our blog, and they provided us a lot of help navigating their tools, and they supplied hints from what they’ve learned from their thousands of customers. It was not painless, but a little persistence helped master the learning curve, and it was well worth it.

We are constantly updating and improving our site for you, our loyal patrons. One nice benefit is we had no stage fright with our writing in relative obscurity, that only came once we posted, and learned some ideas work better than others. We had a new learning curve with public opinion. It is difficult to try and connect with everyone, and the truth is we can't, so, if you will be patient and maybe read between the lines, we will all learn. We have provided an option to actually leave a comment at the bottom. No typing and no spell check, and this is going to be the craziest thing I say all day; would somebody please record us a message telling us why you don't want to leave us a recorded message. Whew!

Then reality sets in

So, here we are at the talking portion of the show. Everything changes once you start recording your own voice. Those sultry tones you hear in your head, and that seasoned crooner singing in the shower with you are shot down the moment you press the record button. It is quite the slap upside the ego.

There are numerous videos extolling the benefits of having your own podcast, why it is so simple, just click here, or here, or hear. What is ironic is, if you listen to very many different videos, a lot of them completely missed the point of enunciation and editing. Practice what you preach. The websites you are talking about actually have editing tools to fix those things. Don't talk too fast, and run your sentences together, you are trying to give out valuable information so make sure people can understand you.

There are numerous providers to help you capture your audio recordings, and a few easily allow for guest hosts. Two of these that we tried were Audacity and Zencastr.

We use Zencastr.com because it allows you to speak directly, computer to computer, with no time limits. The connection is superior to Zoom or Skype, and crisper than recording from your phone. And best of all, it is completely free.

The instructions are plain enough for a 10-year-old, yet they seemed to baffle the Senior set.

I must give credit to Mark for his stubborn resolve not to be outsmarted by a free website. I learned from his persistence. We succeeded in connecting, and so we began our back-and-forth banter, and we took that first step and recorded the first session, and immediately realized we definitely need notes or a script to stay on point. What happened is we unknowingly invented our own rabbit hole, and jumped in with both boots

So now we needed a host, and much like Wix for our website there are numerous choices, but you should do your own research if you are going to try this. After exhausting research and checking all the reviews we selected

Buzzsprout as our host. The startup was actually painless, and they gave us access to all the major podcast streamers. Spotify, TuneIn, Apple podcasts, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, and Pandora, plus you can also click right to it on our website menu.

Just an interesting fact; there are over 1.7 billion websites and that includes 600 million blogs, but there are only 850,000 active podcasts and 30 million episodes currently exist. 104 million Americans tune in to podcasts monthly, and 68 million people listen weekly. That is a lot of listeners and 99% less competition. We hope you will make it 68 million and one.

Webbing ain’t easy.

Once we got started it became apparent, we needed a few select pieces of equipment. Some headphones to avoid feedback, and a decent microphone. You can use the built-in microphone on your desktop, but I can tell you from experience it has no filters for wheezing, and background hissing. I did have an inexpensive Koss headset that is so worn the fake leather ear cups are flaking. So, I went shopping on Amazon and bought headphones you can see if you Click Here and a USB microphone Click Here

That was the really fun stuff, the excitement of starting something new, and yes, being able to listen to yourself talk is pretty cool too. I really enjoy this chance to tell my stories and share them with a small but growing audience.

Sometimes life decides which direction you will follow, and my partner Mark, unfortunately had to make some changes. I know some of you have been wondering where that smooth talking, slow walking, tall drink of water disappeared to. Hopefully, he will decide he still has some time to join in the conversation again, soon.

A lot of our listeners mentioned how easily we bantered back and forth, and they could tell we go way back, so Mark, you are missed.

And finally, we come to the end, and this is where we need to take care of some housekeeping.

Thank you for joining us today, and as always, if you enjoyed this episode please share it with some friends, and take a giant leap and leave us a message at the bottom of the page.

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