Whoopee! My microphone has arrived! Am I really that excited about a microphone? Yes. It’s one of the few pieces of physical equipment that are part of doing podcasts.

Remember, a few weeks ago, I was telling you about the upcoming 30 Day Podcasting Challenge led by D’vorah Lanksy and Doug Foresta? Well, our group has been going through the steps for a little over 10 days now. Together, D’vorah and Doug crafted short audio and video instructions with simple action steps to complete each day, coupled with the very supportive Facebook interchanges.

I ran into a snag early on over the title for my podcast series. I was set on a title when Doug mentioned that you should always check on the availability of your title. By doing a quick search on Google and iTunes, I learned immediately that the idea I had was already taken. So it was back to the drawing board or thinking board in this case.

Taking a survey of friends and readers, I found that they enjoyed my book Rainbows Over Ruins because of its inspiring stories, perfect to incorporate into my podcast series.

Doug emphasized that if your listeners have no idea why a technique will benefit them, their ears will not pick up. And as the group began a little word crafting for a title, I became aware that too broad a title does not capture the hearts and minds of listeners. Although it took a couple days for me to hit on the right title, doing so helped me to hone in on the exact people who would want to listen to my podcasts.

The lesson? When people glance over or hear your title, you only have a few seconds to communicate the exact problem and desired results to them.

The new title? “Rebuilding Your Life: Moving from Disaster to Prosperity.” It’s specific and expresses my point of view. You can get past great loss. You can rebuild your life and go on to do much more. I am passionate about it because I lived my way through it after the landslide.

Once I felt comfortable with my podcast title, it’s been fairly easy to move through the next steps. I’ve been downloading software for recording, editing, converting to MP3 and distributing podcasts. I’ve purchased the microphone.

We’re designing our Intros and Outros for our series now. It’s very creative as I look for the royalty-free music and reasonable voiceover talent to pull the wraps for the podcasts together. I’m ready for the next week of our challenge and cannot wait to get started. While our first group is now 10 days into the challenge, anyone can join at any time as these are self-directed lessons. If you’ve been thinking about doing a podcast, you’ll find this really helpful. Here’s the link — http://podcastingsuccesssecrets.com/access/aff/go/susans

If this is beginning to sound like a review to you, you may not realize that I’m already a great fan of D’vorah Lansky’s.

She took me through the step by step process of conducting a Virtual Blog Tour. The experience was great and her Facebook community was filled with people who actively engage with one another. The end result: I was able to meet so many new people in many different places around the world and bring my audience with me.

D’vorah has a great gift. She is able to step out instructions with the same skill as a good Do-It-Yourself expert on television. I love hearing about great projects I can do, however, when it gets down to making those ideas a reality, it really helps to be working with someone who can explain them as I execute each step.

Fast forward, when D’vorah announced that she would be teaming up with Doug to help authors reach larger audiences through podcasting, I was enthusiastic about participating. What once felt highly technical and out of reach for me is now within reach. The process is no longer getting in the way and the instant feedback and exchange of ideas is making the 30 Day Challenge every bit as enjoyable as the Virtual Book Tour several months ago.

Stage fright be gone! This is going to be lots of fun.

To Your Success,

 

Susan