The YWAM Podcast is a place for you to find out more about what is happening around Youth With A Mission in these three areas. We talk about upcoming training opportunities, evangelism opportunities and ways that you can be involved in showing God’s love in practical ways.

Website

The website is very white. They say the easiest site to read is black text on a white background. Its very easy to navigate, and you can easily contact them if needed. The only thing I would recommend would be putting buttons to subscribe in iTunes and a standard RSS button. Check out this video to see how.

As the website is so incredibly white, I might play with adding a background color to the website. Keep the posts white, but change the background color to something that’s not white (maybe off white, gray, etc if you want to stick with the black/white theme).

Audio Quality

The audio quality was fine as much of it he had no control over (as he played clips or videos that he did not create). Bill did do a good job of making sure the volumes were even so when he started a video clip it didn’t blast my head off, or make me reach for the volume knob to turn up. His ID3 tags were included, and everything was fine.

Personal and Informative

Bill talk about his personal experience in this organization. It tied in and added a nice personal touch. It became more of a conversation than a news show. Many podcasters throw in personal stories that have nothing to do with what they are talking about, but Bill used his personal story because it DID tie in with his podcast.

A Great Example of How Organizations to Keep their Chapters Up to Date

If you have an organization and you want to keep them up to date, as well as use as a promotional tool – this is a great example. In addition to keeping people up to date, the podcast also included a music spotlight (which goes with knowing the audience and what they would enjoy).

Things Done Well:

1. Great job taking multiple clips and making sure the volumes are even.

2. Making finding the content on the website easy (with things like www.ywampodcast.com/62 )

3. Extensive show notes that leave no questions for visitors.

Things I was Confused On

It took me a few glances to figure out where the links to subscribe in iTunes were located. Also you mentioned dts (some sort of training that people do right after high school). I don’t know what DTS stands for (even though you did say it a few times). While this is “jargon” to people outside of your target audience, this probably was a second hand comment to anyone who is involved with YAWM.

Subscribe via iTunes or RSS

I had the most creative request to get a podcast review. I was told they really valued my opinion. I decided to review the show. I write this with a pain in my stomach as I hate to provide constructive feedback to people who look up to my opinion.  These seem to be very creative people who have not quite “found their voice.” They are obviously creative, but their efforts didn’t bring us to any release of emotions. Yes you have found the ability to add some sound effects to your voice, but much like the movies without a decent plot special effects can’t carry a movie. As you know these dogs, this might be funnier to you. As new listeners we don’t have that “inside view” into the dogs personality. Keep going, you might be on to something.

What We Liked

The artwork on the website showed lots of promise.

Not a huge time commitment per episode (short).

You sound like Hoops and Yoyo.

What Needs Tweaked

Change your headlines. 80% of what people read is based on the headlines.

There is a chance that some of the jokes here are a bit of an inside joke. In some cases we really had to think about the punch line to really understand if this was funny (if you have to explain the joke it’s not funny).

Make it easier listen to the podcast.

Don’t send people away from your website.

Remove the html from the beginning of the blog post (show notes)

Use the powerpress plugin.

I would get your podcast on your own self hosted website (not wordpress.com).

To Listen to the Night Terriors Click the Player below

Marc asked to have Monkey Radio reviewed. He has had lots of press, and according to Blog talk Radio he is getting LOTS of downloads. Here is what we came up with:

1. Blog Talk Radio is wrong on so many levels, that I may do a whole episode on it for the School of Podcasting podcast. BTR is listed as the talent not you. That is unacceptable.

2. Your intro’s volume is all over the place.

3. You took three minutes to let me know what was on the show.

4. You lead story was a weird date.

5. Your co-host seems to be too far off the mic, and needs to reposition his pop filter.

6. You’re using Wix as your platform. It works, but WordPress is my recommendation.

7. You spent a HUGE amount of time on your sponsor.

8. The food segment at the end was too long, and featured information that needed to be seen. I understand its the sponsor, but we got the point.

9. Your ID3 tags are messed up due to BTR (see point 1).

What we liked

1. I enjoyed the storied about the homeless. It was personal, and made me think.

Listen to Money Radio Now

I met Tony at the New Media Expo and he seemed like such an awesome guy. I was telling my wife about their story and podcast (it’s amazing). You can find them at oneextraordinarymarriage.com where you can find their podcast, and their books 7 Days of Sex Challenge: How to Rock Your Sex Life and Your Marriage and Stripped Down: 13 Keys to Unlocking Intimacy in Your Marriage or Happy, Healthy & Hot!: A 30-Day Blueprint to Take Back Your Health and Enjoy a Sexy Body No Matter How Busy You Are .

Their website is clean and simple to navigate. At first I couldn’t find their iTunes button (they have a smaller one listed at the bottom of each episode). Their podcast is BRUTALLY HONEST (they discuss BJs in this episode). They do talk about sex in an open and honest – very honest – fashion. For Diane and I it got us talking, and thinking. The episode we listen to was about showering with your spouse.

We both liked this episode, but we weren’t really sure that once they got the main topic out there that we needed the last 15 minutes of the podcast. The bottom line is the answer to “Would you listen to another episode of this podcast?” the answer is YES. This show started off with them sharing what was going on in their life. They had just the right amount of this. Some podcasters share too much here, and take forever to get to their main topic.

If you are married, this podcast is definitely worth listening to. When I spoke with Tony at the New Media Expo, he wants to eventually be syndicated on the radio.

One thing they need to do is add an RSS button to their website. They have links to iTunes and stitcher, but nothing for those who want to add their podcast to their phones (or other devices) manually.

You can find their podcast at oneextraordinarymarriage.com or click the play button to listen to them now or subscribe to them in iTunes

Today “the hammer” is back to comment on Mommy’s Cocktail Hour. I had heard about this podcast as it was up for a podcast award. It features four Mom’s who share a cocktail recipe and talk about the challenges of being a mom of young children. For us the highlight of the podcast was the kids, as they are adorable. They seemed to have an outline of topics to cover, but in the end there wasn’t much content that really enticed us (Saving money whne buying a purse is good content, it just didn’t strike a chord with me). This is another case that we are probably not their demographic (being that “the Hammer’s” oldest child just got married).

Sound quality was OK. It is hard to get four people on a call without introducing a fair amount of his. When you are recording children it gets even worse. Their album art was fine, but they need a description in iTunes (there isn’t any).

The content had us hitting the speed up button to get us through it. Tips on purse shopping and fountain drinks didn’t hold our attention. We did like the fact that they kept everything positive and it wasn’t a giant gripe session. One can easily see that if you were a young Mom with small children the tips on buying toys would’ve been very valuable (maybe when we get Grand kids it will ring more true).

An hour is a long time to fill for me, and this podcast didn’t move fast enough for us. On the other hand they have a large Facebook following, so what do we know…

You can find them at Mommyscocktailhour.com

Listen to Mommy’s Cocktail Hour Now or find them in iTunes

Today we review the computer tutor podcast. This is a NEW podcast that features helpful tips on all things computer. The episode I listened to was episode 3 which really took me back as host Scott Johnson recalled the days of dial up. The tip I learned was how to read an Internet article that makes me go to page 2, 3, 4 etc (I find these on a lot of health sites).

In the episode he goes in depth on the WHY websites do this (dial up, and ramping up page views). The cool thing is just about the time I was thinking, “OK tell me the secret” Scott did. This was a very useful tool for me (especially for those people who like to skim articles).

Scott has a pleasant voice, and the show covers one topic which will make it easier for this audience to find those topics later. When you have multiple topics in one podcast, it can be hard for the audience to find “topic 2 of 3.” It can also make it challenging when it comes to making headlines for your show.

The Computer Tutor Website

Scott’s website is clean and easy to navigate. I originally missed the iTunes button as the button kind of blends in with the background image. All of his episodes are one click away. He has a nice mixture of content, sponsors, and testimonials. He does a nice little call to action at the end of his show, and mentions that you can get more tips via his email list, and he can do computer support remotely.

Things That Could Be Tweaked

FULL DISCLOSURE: I know Scott as he is a member of the School of Podcasting, but I think you know that I would tell it straight.

I thought it was the headphones I was listening to when I first heard his podcast, but when I put on my “main” headphones at home I noticed that Scott’s intro seems to have a lack of bass to the music. It has an almost AM quality. This again was not a huge thing, and it wasn’t so bad that it made me want to tune out. It did make me adjust my headphones as I thought they may have been offset on my head.

The other thing I noticed is that there is no album art when I played it in Windows Media player (which displays the boring music note when there is no album art).

You can find the computer tutor at computertutorflorida.com/

Listen to the Podcast Here

Mentioned on this show

Social Triggers Tutorial

Podcasts About Podcasting

The Podcast

Today we review the Build My Online Store podcast.I LOVE the intro. Lots of energy, and it gets me going. Terry has some decent energy, and has someone who sells condoms online. I was like, “What?” So I was intrigued.

The show started out with a poll. This was confusing to me. He stated the poll, he stated the answers, but to me it didn’t make sense. The answers didn’t seem to tie into the question. When I finally went out to this site, he was referring to an info graphic. I then could see what he was talking about, what I realized is I didn’t care about the question or the answer.

The show uses music from Austin Powers which technically is illegal.

When they get to the interview the audio is kind of choppy. This makes me think he was cutting out ums, etc but it makes a noticeable edit.

It does give a nice behind the scenes look of someone selling condoms online and how they began the store.

I did listen to more than one episode and found them all to give good information. If yuo are looking to learn about defining what a “good” product is, how to import from China, and other great input you should check it out.

Website Opinions

Their website is easy to navigate. Their menu system consists of About, Articles, and Podcast. My first impression seeing that is this person does not want to be contacted. I scroll down and see that they are using Podpress. That’s not good. Sure it’s working, but they are headed for a heartbreak. The podpress plugin has parts of it that refers to a company that went out of business in 2008. On the other hand I haven’t listened to a second of the podcast yet, and the average user doesn’t care what podcasting plugin they use. They just care that it works.

The website also states that if you have an android phone you have to listen on stitcher. I would recommend BeyondPod (a great app for android).

I DO like the fact that their website does not look like every other WordPress site. Each episode appears as a box. The bad news is instead of putting the title of the podcast, they are putting “Episode __.” To this I state, I don’t care what episode it is. If it’s episode 6, I’m not going “Oh great I’ve been waiting for six.” So instead of being able to make a decision on the TITLE, I can’t because the tile is cut off because you used valuable space on your website to promote the number of the podcast. You have the date on the image, that’s more than enough to help people identify the episode.

This also renders their “What’s popular” widget useless as it shows the title of the post (which again just shows the number of the episode number mainly).
LISTEN

This week we have a brave soul who has only two episodes and asked to get reviewed. In reality this makes sense. Why not start out on the right foot? So when I went to the 2020 Astro podcast website it wasn’t cluttered with much. There were only two episodes (three if you count their promo). I would be sure to add some subscription buttons. This includes an iTunes button that takes the listener right to iTunes. You should also have an RSS button for those who want to subscribe to your podcast using other systems. It’s never a bad idea to have have an email option which you can do for free using Feeburner.com

When I first went to the site, the files were m4a files. These are sometimes called “enhanced” podcasts as you can add pictures that change throughout the audio file. The cool thing about audio podcasts is you can multitask while you listen. If your podcast requires me to look at it, then make it a video. M4a files may not play one all players, and you then make it hard for your audience.

Later when I went to the site (after sending an email to Mike asking why he was using the format) he had was in the process of changing the files to mp3. There were only youtube videos. To this I have a tip. Anytime you put a link on youtube, be sure to include the http:// as it will be a live link, and the first link should be back to your website so people don’t have to click on the more button to you view your link.

This is recorded live in a pub, but also has segments that have been recorded in quieter settings. I didn’t find the pub noise a problem and added a sense of “you never know what might happen” to the podcast.

This podcast is exactly what it promises too people who love astronomy, and they share that passion. As someone who is not memorized by the planets the content didn’t do much for me, but you can hear their obvious passion. They did have some book reviews, and tips on tools for looking at the planets.

Good Stuff

I loved the flow of the show. I really liked how they transitioned into a prerecorded book review. It was also obvious that these two guys love astronomy. They do a good job of keeping things “newbie” friendly. Their audo quality was good. They had their ID3 tags down.

Room For Improvement

I would lose the m4a format and go with mp3. I liked that you’re using yourubte, but if the image isn’t going to change, then give us back our audio player on the website. The reason being I think the image is going to change, so I keep watching and nothing happens and it gets furstrating.

When you make a youtube video, be sure the first link is back to your website.

Get some subscription buttons on the website.

If you’re looking for feedback from your audience you’re going to have to ask.

 Promo

This episode we featured a promo from the Weekly Web Tools podcast.

More Podcast Money News

Daves book “More Podcast Money” is now available on the Kindle (which can be read on any device). Find it on Amazon.com

Today I’m referring the Hayseed Report. You can find them at http://www.hayrolling.com/

First impression of the site: How do I listen to the podcast? There isn’t a player in site. I can subscribe via iTunes, I can listen in stitcher, and there isn’t a single player… wait, or there it is sandwiched between the tons of social media links is a download this file link.  – This could be better.

Second Impression: Their album art is so big it doesn’t fit on my screen. The album art you put into your media is typically 300X300 or 600X600. This is not to be confused with the album art that iTunes uses which is 1400X1400

Third Impression: I get to some pre-roll. No biggie. I can stomach it. Then I get to listen to some classic rock music, finally at the 2:10 mark the host makes an appearance. At the three minute mark I still have no idea what the podcast is. With a name like “Hayseed” I tend to think this is a farming podcast. Something to do with agriculture. Possibly allergies?

I go to their website and see that this is a podcast to talk about anything. I have one of these myself, but admittedly it is my least popular podcast. One of the powers of podcasting is reaching a niche, so far it sounds like there isn’t one on this podcast. I keep listening.

I listened to episode 34 “Porn, Kimberland, and a Green Meltdown” as I Porn is something I have strong opinions on. He stats talking about a new show. He talks about some political stories. I’m listening to see if he is more liberal or conservative. He discusses hustler magazine and a publicity stunt they pulled. It’s an interesting story as Larry Flint (Hustler magazine editor) is again pushing the limits.

While this show started slow, I’ve forgotten the intro, etc and I am now active listening at the 9:34 mark. I like his casual talkative style. He clues me in on some interesting stories concerning Barbara Steisand and a terrorist. He gets into Global Warming and really lets his opinions fly. Cool. You will now either love him or hate him. I like it.

His website has links to his stories if you want to read more about what he is mentioning on his podcast.

He ends his podcast with music that seems to have no purpose except to put space between the end of his podcast and a plug for his website.

Things I Liked:

I liked the conversational tone of the host. It sounded like he was just talking to a friend.

I liked that I was getting information that I hadn’t heard about on any other news source.

I like that he seemed, um, pretty “Fair and balance” and just stuck to the facts most of the time.

I like that he had links to the stories he discussed if I wanted more information.

Things That I would Work On

I would add two pages to your website. An “About” page, and a “Contact” page.

You have podcast promos listed on your website, but there is no link to download them.

Remove the social networking icons from the post areas. You already have them in the upper right hand corner. Those are very easy to see. If somone wants to connect with you on those network, they know where to go.

Your download link is lost in a sea of icon.

I would make your player oober obvious and see if there is a way to not have it cut off. It makes it look broken. Maybe use the “Play now” button option. Use that button on individual epsiode as well.

As you are knew to podcast (34 episodes ish) I would consider (unless there is a reason I’m unaware of) of dumping Joomla and Going with WordPress.

I would register the domain name hayseedreport.comI would change the album art inside the mp3 (not the one used for the iTunes store) to 300X300 or 600X600. Windows media player butchered it. It was like squeezing an elephant into a smart car.

The music at the begining was annoying. If you want to play music on your podcast, I understand. But I haven’t connected with you, I have no idea what your podcast is about, and you are playing music I don’t like. If I wasn’t reviewing it, I would’ve tuned out. Start off with the new listener in mind, and come up with an explanation of what the podcast is (so they don’t have to figure it out). Then maybe play some music. Keep in mind, playing liscensed music is illegal without the permission of the song writer, recording artist, and record label.

I went looking for a new podcast about WordPress, Internet Marketing, etc. I went to iTunes and entered the Word “WordPress” and after stepping over many podcasts that had “Podfaded,” I listened to Your Website Engineer. The show is hosted by Dustin Hartzler who also has a blog with website tips, and a business designing websites (using wordpress). Dustin Hartzler is an expert who teaches individuals and small businesses how to create their own fame and claim their brand online by social media and other online tricks. He focuses on improving your business’s web presence.

Website:

The website is super neat and organized. Dustin has done a great job of having a new listener be one click away from listening. He has all of his social media icons near the top of the page, and he is obviously building a email list with his podcast.He has great titles that sucked me into listening.

Audio:

His audio sounds good. In the episode I listened to he had a guest who might have been further away from her mic than she should’e been (but you can’t control everyone, and in the end she was fine).

Production and Pace:

Dustin has a nice voice, and his intro lets you know exactly what to expect. He quickly gets to the interview and keeps things in a nice casual atmosphere.

Conclusions:

The Good stuff: Dustin keeps the podcast moving, and doesn’t deviate from his title. He is always on topic. His website is neat, and easy to navigate. His content was good, and I learned a thing or two. He is using Libsyn for his hosting, so he has that correct as well. Being a geek myself, Dusting just got a new subscriber.

Things That Need Tweaked: In my opinion I would fix your album art in your audio files to display (my guess is you are using iTunes – which doesn’t translate well into Windows Media player). Your audio sounded good, but you have a lot of room to boost your overall signal without fearing that you will distort. It also seems that you are using the podcast and the website to eventually  promote your web design service. You’ve done such a good job of not turning the podcast into a giant commercial, that I say you’ve gone too far the other way. You barely mention your website for the podcast, or for your services. You also don’t mention how to contact you (unless I missed it, and maybe being an interview in this episode you skipped that part this time). Also while you’ve made it easy to listen, you might look into having a “player” that will play multiple episodes (so people can click on it and just let it go). Lastly when naming your file, you might want to add something there in the file name to brand your file (for example YWE065 might identify the file is Your Website Engineer before I even listen to it).

For more information check out yourwebsiteengineer.com

Or listen to it using this player

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