f you're anything like me and you love your community, then you might talk about it all the time.  Hence is why I do the Good Morning Gwinnett Show 4 days a week live.  It's been almost 4 years since I launched the podcast and I love it just as much today as I did when I first launched.  

I wanted to be more involved with my community and I love to share stories and podcasting has allowed me to be the voice of my community.  When you launch a community podcast people will start to invite you to tables that were unavailable to you before.  What you must realize is that podcasting is a big part of new media.  As a podcaster you can break a story in a New York minute without having to get approval from anyone.  The other great thing about starting a community podcast is that you can become a community partner.  You can shine the spotlight on people and places in your community that you love.  You can also become a marketing arm for small businesses who don't have the time to start their own podcast.

If there are causes that you care about, you will be able to share those messages with listeners around the world.  There is just so much you can do as a community podcaster.  The more you talk about your community the more people will look to you for that up to the minute news.  

The best part about taking this podcast journey is that you can make your podcast whatever you want it to be.  You're not locked into a certain way of doing it.  It can be the way you want to serve your community.  Just listen to an episode of Good Morning Gwinnett.  The way the show is formatted is entertaining, informative and empowering.  It's also fun for me to produce, otherwise I would not be going live 4 days a week to do it.

So don't sleep on podcasting.  It could change your life and shine the spotlight on your community.

Man.  I'm finally getting back to normal.  I had such a great time at Podfest 2019.  It's really cool to learn from people who know more than you do.  Not a lot of people will say that, but I have no problems admitting that I don't know everything especially as it relates to podcasting.  I learned so much from people who are touching lives around the world with their voice and their message.  The amount of knowledge that was in the place and the energy could probably be felt around the world.  Chris, John and their team are a class act.  I got to meet some of my podcast heroes like Pat Flynn who I've been listening to for about 5 years.  I got to meet John Lee Dumas also who I've been listening too for about 5 years.  I got to meet YouTube Master Roberto Blake. I mean I could go on and on about my experience.  It was high energy the entire time.  I learned stuff inside of the breakout sessions and I learned stuff in the hallways just sitting and talking to people. 

With everything that I learned it is my sincerest desire to create a show that I love doing and that my audience love listening to.  After attending the Boss Lady session I realized that my show can be what I want it to be.  For me Good Morning Gwinnett is a mix of news and entertainment.  I was trying to make the show into something that I wasn't 100% passionate about.  So moving forward Good Morning Gwinnett will be broken down into 7 segments which are:

• The Daily Horoscope
• People Helping People Shout Out
• County News
• Town News
• Contests & Giveaways
• Upcoming events
• Beyond Gwinnett

I realized that I wanted music incorporated throughout my show, so I have music.  It's not the normal podcast that most of us are use too and love, but I believe it will serve the purpose that I envision of reaching my local Gwinnettians who don't know what's happening most of the time around Gwinnett, because they are at work most of the time and don't get a chance to go out networking or go online to find out what's happening.  I also think about senior citizens who don't get out much, but would love to just here about things in their towns.  I think about people who are visually impaired who can listen to the show to find out what's happening in their own backyard.

I think about when I was younger and used to listen to the radio at work in the mornings, one of my favorite segments were the horoscopes.  I made sure that I was at my desk when it was time for the horoscopes.  I wanted to bring the horoscopes to my show and I will.  I want to run contests and talk about my favorite books and I will.  All of these new changes have become my reality because of listening to Katie Krimitsos talking about making my show what I want it to be.  I shifted my perspective about my show and I am excited.  If you are a podcaster and missed PodFest 2019, you don't want to miss Podfest 2020.  I found my people and I am so glad I went.

"I Realize That My Show Is An Octagon And Doesn't Fit Into A Round Hole"

Until Next Time
Make It A Great Day!
Audrey

Once a business owner begins to think about starting their own podcast, they will often get nervous because they have so many unanswered questions. Here are some of the most commonly asked questions about podcasting.   Check them out to help you make an educated decision on whether or not podcasting can help you accomplish your business goals. 

1. What is podcasting?
Podcasting is a way of creating internet-based audio files for the purpose of offering information and entertainment to a wider audience. 

2. How do I create a podcast?
To create your podcast you will need a microphone, some software to record the audio file, and a place to store the audio file so other people can listen to it. 

3. What kind of microphone should I use for my podcast?
Buy a USB one for under $100 that has high-definition sound quality. I personally use the Yeti which I bought off of Amazon for $99.

4. Do I need special software?
The industry standard is Audacity. It does take time to learn, but it is free to use. You can use this if you will be pre-recording shows that need editing.  I use Spreaker which allow me to pre-record my shows or go live.  Most of the time I go live.  I have the pro plan for $19.99 monthly.

5. What should I talk about on my podcast?
Choose a niche or specialized area or topic you want to talk about. It should be something that you are passionate about and have some knowledge about.  If you try to do a podcast on something that you are not passionate about it will come across as inauthentic.  Then think of how you can help people interested in that topic who have problems that need to be solved. Offer free information that will lead to paid product referrals, your own or someone else’s, that will make you money with each podcast.

6. How do I get people find my podcasts?
There are many ways to do this but the simplest way is to share your podcast on your social media pages with your friends and colleagues.  A content provider will create a podcast channel, or feed. Within that channel, they will create programs or tracks. Every time a new track is created, the channel will automatically update content on subscribers' computers. 

7. How can people listen to podcasts?
Your audience can listen to the files on their computer, cell phone, in their car or load them onto an MP3 player such as an iPod.  Many of the newer cars are now coming with podcast players already installed in them.  I don't have a podcast player in my car, but I listen to all of my podcast in my car by connecting my cell phone to the aux jack in my car.

8. How can people subscribe to my podcast?
There are so many ways for people to subscribe to your podcast depending on where your podcast is syndicated.  Here are three common ways they can subscribe. The most popular way is through an online service with software such as iTunes. Or, people can add your feed to their FeedBurner, that is, program that accepts RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds. You can also embed your feed into the pages of your blog or website and they can listen to them there.

I hope that this information help you in deciding if podcasting is right for you.  Podcast is one of my passions and as time goes on not only do I want to share my show with you, I want to share my passion for podcasting with you.  I want to be able to help you launch your own podcast, so this is the first in a series of articles about podcasting that I will be writing.  Be sure to check back often for more great information about how to start and grow your podcast.

Until Next Time
Make It A Great Day!
Audrey