Full Transcript: School of Podcasting – Switching Podcast Hosting Companies

Full Transcript: School of Podcasting – Switching Podcast Hosting Companies

: Today, on episode number 602, we're gonna talk about podcast media hosting, and, if you've ever thought of moving to a new host, when you should, why you should, when you shouldn't. We're gonna talk about that. I'm gonna share a story about a new media host that was really one of the worst experiences I've ever had. Speaking of bad experiences, I tried something, and it didn't work at all the way I thought it would, and I'm so happy I did it. Hit it, ladies!

: The School of Podcasting with Dave Jackson.

: Podcasting since 2005, I am your very own personal podcast coach, Dave Jackson, thanking you so much for tuning in. If you are new to this award-winning podcast, here's what we do. I'm gonna help you massage your message. I'm gonna help you tackle the technology. Today, we're talking a lot about technology. We're gonna get our geek on. I help you face your fears.

: I help you flatten that learning curve, and get you on the road, not just to just podcasting, because look you can go out to YouTube, right now, and watch a lot of really old, outdated YouTube videos. and it's gonna get you going in the wrong direction. Today, I'm gonna stop you from going in the wrong direction. Wait til you hear about the fun I've had.

: Our website is SchoolofPodcasting.com. Use the coupon code "LISTENER," that's L-I-S-T-E-N-E-R, and, by the way, that coupon code is not on the website. I'm giving it to you because you took the time to click on play. It's my way of saying thank you.

: Now, what we're gonna talk about today is moving either your podcast media hosting … You're gonna go from company A to company B, or maybe, you've been self-hosting, and you think you should start using a podcast media hosting company. We're gonna talk about that. We're gonna talk about should I move my webhost, and how do I do that, and why would I wanna do either one of those? I'm also gonna tell you one of the absolute worst experiences I've had with any podcast company ever.

: That is coming up, right after I get done telling you about what I'm doing July 24th through the 26th, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. That is, of course, Podcast Movement 2018. This is where you're gonna have over 2,000 podcasters from around the world converge on Philadelphia, PA.

: I was thinking about this today. I have met so many cool people at Podcast Movement. One was Seth Ressler. I met him at Podcast Movement. He's a guy that's kind of coming from the radio side. He's a really cool bridge guy. He talks radio, and he talks podcasting. There was a really big article that went out a couple weeks ago about is there a discovery problem in podcasting. Seth was the guy behind that, and I was included in that article. Why? Because I met him at Podcast Movement.

: There is everybody there from … If you're a brand-new podcaster, starting out, if you're a seasoned podcaster, and you're having fun, but you'd like to maybe take your podcast, and start maybe monetizing it, things like that. This is a place where you wanna be.

: Again, over 2,000 podcasters from around the world; over a hundred sessions on topics, ranging from the technical aspects of setting up your equipment, and the audio production, as well as the marketing, cuz it's not enough just to make it, you gotta market it. If you're into it, if you wanna monetize your podcast, there's gonna be some resources there for that, as well.

: When you venture into the Expo Hall, you're looking at over 60 podcast service, and equipment providers. Whether you're in the mood for a new microphone, or you're trying to figure out which host is best for you … We're gonna talk about hosting today. You can do this face to face at Podcast Movement.

: Again, it's in Philadelphia PA, July 24th through the 26th. Check it out – PodcastMovement.com; use the coupon code "SOP," when you go over, and sign up. Thank you, Podcast Movement, so much for sponsoring The School of Podcasting.

: All right, let's get intimate, shall we? That sounds funny. I wanna share a story. I have a course, it's called Podcasting in Six Weeks. If you're a regular listener, you've heard me promoting this. I did it about five years ago; it went gangbusters. In fact, I had two sessions of it. It was really cool. Kinda took it off the market, cuz I had to work on my marriage, at the time. I was a little overbooked.

: Now that I am divorced – apparently, that wasn't the problem – I've brought it back, and I maybe didn't give myself enough time to promote it. Maybe coulda worked on the sales page a little bit, but can I … Since it's just me and you, can I tell you something? I only have one student. That's right. One person signed up.

: I always tell you, you can't improve what you don't launch. Some of us wanna launch the perfect podcast, and I … You've heard me say this – if you're a new listener, it's one of my favorite – Your podcast is not a statue, it's a recipe, and here's what is so cool about this. I did something, and, in a way, some might say it was a … Could you give me air quotes? "A mistake." It wasn't, because, number one, this is my top-dollar program. It's not cheap. It's 1,499. Six weeks in a row, we get together; we plan your podcast. It's me and you, working side by side.

: It was supposed to be group coaching, but here's the cool thing: I have one person sign up, and what I'm able to do is tailor this class. We didn't change it a whole lot, but I'll give you an example. He'd already recorded a podcast in the past, so, he didn't need the whole microphone thing, and some of the other things, but he was thinking of having an online course. I'm like, "Well, I can help you with that." We customized the class for him, and I was like, "Ooh, this is cool. This is actually making a difference in this person's life. This is changing … Okay, cool.".

: Then, when I was doing this, I had probably, I don't know, a dozen people contact me; had a few of them on the phone, and they're like, "Ooh, I wanna do this. Oh, I wanna work with you. Oh, this is gonna …" but there was one thing – there was a schedule. The schedule. Oh, yeah … Soccer practice, whatever it is. I was like, "Okay, well … Hmm, okay."

: So, here's what I'm going to do, and there's no sales page for this now. I'm just throwing this idea out there. If you're the kinda person that wants me to get in the mud with you, work side by side, I love this, because I am doing all the things that I do: help you find influencers, help you find places to shape your content, and work with you on equipment, and things like that.

: I wanna test this a little more. If you're interested in this, just e-mail me, and put in the subject line: Podcast Mentorship, because what I'm … This is what I'm thinking, you buy six hours of podcast consulting, just like Podcasting in Six Weeks. You get a year's subscription to The School of Podcasting. Then, instead of me going, "Here's when we're gonna meet," what you do is you look at my schedule, and you tell me, you tell me, when we're gonna meet. You wanna do this in six-hour things? Great. You wanna do it in 12 half-hour things? Cool. You wanna do it in 30 15-segments. Fine. You have 12 months, from the minute you order it, to use your six hours.

: I am not a phone company. I don't wanna get into the fun joy of tracking how much time you have left. I like that idea. Some of you, we may do a traditional Podcasting in Six Weeks. We'll go from zero to hero. We'll go through planning, and everything else, but some of you may just want that mentorship to, "Hey, Dave, can we really get into you listening to my show, and helping me improve it?" or whatever it's going to be.

: Again, I like this idea. I like working in groups, but it's, to me … I remember when I was working in a corporate scenario, and we would have people come in, and I was teaching computer stuff. I helped three people get their GED. They came in with their GED, the paperwork, and just gave me a big hug, and said, "You know, I couldn't'a done this without you …" I remember one person … This one person could not do math. I just kept saying, "You got this. You can do this. Just a little practice. Breathe." I really helped her through … She had serious test anxiety.

: There is something of working one on one, too, that is … For me, it scratches an itch. Let's just put it that way. It's something that I'm like, "Oh, wow, I made a difference in that person's life." I kinda like this idea, too, of getting down the mud with you, and working with you, together, as a team. If you're interested in that, simply email me: [email protected].

: Again, I wanna go back to my main point. I threw this out there. Wasn't sure if it was gonna work. I got feedback from my audience. I'm listening to that feedback, and now I'm coming out with my new recipe, and saying, "Hey, for those of you …" and I hate the phrase 'handholding.' Some people say that, "I just want you to hold my hand," but for those of you that want a little more personalized approach, and you've got the budget for it, what do you think of this recipe? I'm putting the pie back on your table, going, "Take a taste of that." Does that sound … Does this taste more like what you're looking for?

: You can do the same thing with your podcast, but you can't … There's only one way to know if your podcast is good or not, and that is you have to launch. In my case, I was like, "Mm, not sure if Podcasting in Six Weeks is gonna work. It worked five years ago. Let's throw it out there," and it works. It's working great for one person, but I had a buncha people that said, "Mm, like the idea. Can we switch the schedule?" Here's my recipe, let me know what you think – [email protected].

: "Hey, let's talk about the elephant in the room, shall we? That is, for almost two years now … I was hired, in February of 2016, to work at Libsyn – L-I-B-S-Y-N.com – It's a podcast media hosting company. You can get a free month there, using the coupon code, "SOPFREE." That's "SOPFREE," all one word.

: Today, I'm gonna be talking about media hosting companies, and a lotta times, people go, "Oh, Dave, it's just gonna be a show for Libsyn." If you go to SchoolofPodcasting.com/602, you'll see where there are a lotta things; that I have lots of screenshots today. I'm really trying to keep my School of Podcasting hat on, and just talk about facts.

: There are times when people think about moving from one company to the other, and I wanna talk about what's involved with that. I wanna talk about what I look for in a media hosting company, and we'll kinda go from there. Behind the scenes, this is the third time I've recorded this. I have notes in front of me, and it's just really long, so I'm kinda trying to do a Reader's Digest version, without leaving out all the good stuff.

: Here's my criteria, and this comes from me being a teacher for so many years. I think that's where [inaudible] here's the criteria. This makes it really easy to determine if I like a podcast host, or not. I've actually updated this.

: The first thing is don't mess with my file name. There's an asterisk next to that one, and I'll explain why, here, in a second. Number two, don't mess with my file format. Don't change my bit rate. Don't mess with my ID3 tags. Number three, give me the ability to have an unlimited back catalog, so, unlimited storage. Number four, don't limit my audience size; meaning unlimited bandwidth. Number five, don't control my feed, and make it easy to leave, if I choose to do so. I need to be able to put in a 301 redirect.

: Number seven, charge me for your service, so you can stay in business. I know some people are like, "Wait, don't you want it for free?" No, cuz free companies go out of business. I've seen it happen three times. Number eight, give me stats, so I can see what's working, and it would be nice if they were accurate. Number nine, this is new, support the iTunes serial-episodic season, and episode numbers. Those are the new fields that came out last year.

: Then, number 10, be IAB-compliant. Now, please note, as I record this, on January 2018, nobody's compliant. We're all in line to be certified, but the certification process hasn't been unveiled yet. In the future, that's gonna be part of it. When you can be certified, I want you to be certified, so that I know my stats are normal.

: The very first one – don't mess with my file name … I know that some media hosts offer the ability to inject MP3 files with an advertisement. In those instances, you get a pass, cuz I really don't expect you to take my file, split it in two, throw an ad in the middle, stitch back together, and not change the filename. If I'm not doing any kind of advertising, don't mess with my filename, doggonit.

: Here are the media hosts I looked at: Amazon S3, Buzzsprout, Podomatic, Libsyn, Blubrry, Podbean, Spreaker, SoundCloud, Simplecast, Podmio, Pinecast, and Whooshkaa. Applying that 10 criteria, realizing that nobody can do number 10, yet, here's who made the cut: Libsyn, Blubrry, and Podbean. You're like, "But, Dave, don't you like Spreaker?" I do like Spreaker, but only in certain circumstances. They don't allow you to have an unlimited back catalog, but if I was a band, wanting to do live podcasts on the road, or record a podcast with my phone, Spreaker would definitely be in that conversation.

: Why would you move your podcast to a new media host? In some cases, maybe you don't have an old media host. Maybe you were hosting your files on your web host. You go, "But Dave, my web host has unlimited bandwidth, unlimited storage." It's not a problem with the bandwidth, or the storage. It's the matter that all the sudden, hundreds of people, maybe thousands of people, are grabbing that one MP3 file at the same time, and their servers go [gasping], and they can't handle it. You will get a thing, "You're using up too many of our resources," and they will politely ask you to move, or leave.

: In some cases, maybe you're using … Now, everybody knows, if you're a regular listener of the show, SoundCloud is a music company that does podcasting poorly. Squarespace is a website company that does podcasting poorly. In the case of SoundCloud, they came out with two improvements, like two updates, like, "Here's what's coming in at SoundCloud." Two of them, last year. Neither one had a single update to their podcast system. Meanwhile, Apple has thrown out these new fields – the serial, the episode numbers. Not even a mention of it at SoundCloud. They're really not a podcast hosting company, in my book. We could also throw on top of that, they've lost hundreds of millions of dollars. So that would be one reason to leave.

: Maybe you're just not happy with somebody's service. Maybe you're not happy with their support. Whatever it is … Maybe, in some cases, they sold you certain features that you find out later that aren't entirely accurate. We'll talk about that a little later. Maybe you decide that you, just for whatever reason, you hear about a bright, shiny thing, and you wanna try the new thing. Well, that's what I kind of wanna talk about here.

: Let's talk about what moving to a new media host will not do for you. This is one of those … It's kind of a gray area, but, if you're thinking moving my show from … Let's say you're self-hosted. Let's go that route. Let's do a specific example. I'm self-hosted, and I decide to move to Libsyn, using the coupon code, "SOPFREE."

: Is that going to bring me more audience? Because, I'm already on iTunes, Google Play Music, TuneIn, and Stitcher. Is it gonna bring me more audience? No, probably not. Why? Because you're already listed in all the directories. What you won't have, now, is your web host going, "Hey, you need to move." What might happen is your website might – key point, there – might speed up, because you can use the Libsyn feed, now. Might … Maybe.

: That would be something I wanna point out. If your podcast is not bringing value to your listeners, the fact that you have a new media host hosting those files is not going to grow your audience. Now, I realize that some podcast hosts have more opportunities to promote your show, on things like Spotify, and iHeart, and things like that, but let's just go … Let's kinda forget that for a second, and just say, look, media host to media host, that's not gonna grow your audience. I see people that think that. "Oh, if I move to somebody else, They're a more popular host. They're a more popular media host. No. It's really about your content. That's what's gonna grow your audience.

: What is the process of moving from one media host to the next, cuz I just did this, twice, and I'm here to tell you it's not a lot of fun. Now, on the other hand, it's not that hard, but there is one step that's really, really not fun.

: Here's the typical process. Number one, you take your feed … Well, let's go right there, cuz if you're new to podcasting, you're like, "Dave, what's a feed?" Let's use the analogy of radio. If you're a regular listener of the show, you've heard this before. Hang with me. That is, with radio, you have a frequency. Here in Ohio, I have a 100.7, and I can have different radios – a Panasonic, and a Sony – both tuned into that that station, that frequency. When I put on a new record, that new record is then going out to those radios.

: Well, with podcasting, instead of having a frequency, you have a feed, and instead of radios, instead of a Sony, and a Panasonic, you have Apple Podcasts, and Stitcher. When you put out a new episode, it is syndicated out to those apps.

: What we're gonna do here, is we're gonna take your feed that has all your information, your artwork, and all your MP3 files, and you're going to give it to your new host, and they're going to import it. In fact, a better way of looking at it, they're going to clone your feed. It's gonna look exactly like it. All the information, all the artwork, all the MP3 files – everything is there.

: Then, you go to your current- you go to your new host, and you wanna put in a thing called a New Feed tag. It's just a little bit of code, you copy and paste it in there. This is per Apple, by the way. That step is from Apple, saying you need to do this. Step three is, then, you basically redirect your old feed. This is like saying, "Hey, we're no longer on 100.7," and when you tune into that station, it says, "Hey, we've moved to 97.5." That's basically … The techie term for that is 301 Redirect.

: If we follow that, now … Let's say I'm a listener of your podcast. I fire up my phone. I fire up my app. It goes to your feed, to say, "Hey, is there any new episodes out?" Instead, your feed goes, "Hey, we moved. We're over here on this new media host." Your app follows the address, goes over to the new media host, and the new media host says, "Hey, check it out. We're new. We're brand new. Could you do me a favor, and update the app, and in the future, don't look at the old host. Just look at me, and I'll let you know if there are any new episodes." The app goes. "Okay," and it updates. This all happens behind the scenes. That's the cool thing; that's what happens, and that part is easy.

: That is something … Again, you've gotta be very careful with this, because if you mess that up, and let's say you put in a redirect that says, "We moved over to 97.5," and put in 97.6. That could be bad. You just told people … You just sent people to … Let's say it's a house. You just sent … Instead of giving them the correct address, you gave them the wrong address. Be careful with this, when you're messing with your feed. If you're not sure, find somebody who understands podcasting. That could be me, or whoever, and they can walk you through this, cuz it's one of the things that's easy, but you don't wanna just like, "Meh, whatever …" and blow your way through it, cuz you can really shoot yourself in the foot.

: The fourth step of this process is the one that nobody wants to hear. In my case, I had a hundred episodes, and I switched my feeds, because I was playing. Basically, me, as a podcast consultant, I like to play with a lot of different toys. I had to take all the episodes, and replace them on my website. If I wanna track all of my downloads, the feed thing gets all my subscribers, but what about the people coming to my website?

: I had to replace all the old episodes on my website with the new files. It sounds much harder than it is. For me, it took about 15-20 minutes, having multiple tabs open – a lotta copy-paste-copy-paste-save-copy-paste-save-copy-paste-save.

: Now, the other thing is Apple recommends that you leave that redirect, that kind of change of address … They want you to leave it there for four weeks. Why is that? That's because not everybody fires up their favorite podcast app, every day. If they fired up every two weeks, and you only left it in there for two days, they're gonna miss the note that said, "Hey, we moved," and they're gonna keep looking at your old … They're gonna keep tuning into your old radio station, when you move to the new radio station. They're gonna keep looking at the old feed, when you have a new feed.

: Now, in some cases, Google Play Music, and TuneIn, you might have to contact them manually, to update your feed. You can go into Stitcher.com, and update that yourself. You just go to the Partner Portal. In general, you go to all the places you went, where you submitted your show to these directories. You go to the exact same place. That's either a) where you can update it, or b) contact people to say, "Hey, can you put in here that I moved?" That's pretty cool.

: Now, this whole redirect thing sounds kinda geeky, like how do I … 301-huh? In some cases, if your podcast is on your website, you can contact your web host and say "Hey, can you put in …" and that's the phrase you wanna use, a 301 Redirect … If somebody comes to my old feed, yada-yada-yada/feed/podcast, I want them to go to yada-yada- yada/newfeed/whatever-whatever. Your media host may do that.

: Now, there's also a really cool, free WordPress plugin, and it's creatively named, you guessed it, Redirection. You can find it at Redirection.me. It's from John Godley, who actually worked for Automatic, which is the company behind WordPress. Basically, you install this plugin, and I've got screenshots, and directions – SchoolofPodcasting.com/602.

: You put this in, and you save it, and your redirections should be in place almost immediately. How do you test that? You simply put the address of your old feed into your address bar. In English, you kind of go, like it's a website … You go to your old feed address, and you should see it switch to your new feed address, whatever that is. Now, if you're doing this in Chrome, you're probably gonna get a face full of code, and that's normal. We don't really care about that. What we wanna do is look at the top, at the address, and if that address is your new feed, then it's working.

: What will happen, again, your app will fire up, and your audience will fire up their app. They'll go to the old feed. The old feed'll say "Hey, go to the new feed." The new feed will say, "Hey, I'm new. Update the app," and everything is cool. Then, again, you just have to replace your files on your website with the files from your new media host, and that's all you have to do.

: Just keep in mind, again, that a) this may not help you grow your audience at all. In the end, it's your content that really gets your podcast going up the charts, and things like that, because you're inspiring word of mouth. Keep that in mind. If you are thinking of doing this, but you're like, "Dave, most of that just went right over my head," well, again, you can go out to SchoolofPodcasting.com/602, or just contact me: [email protected], and I can answer your questions on this.

: Since I'm going to be talking podcast media hosting, I am gonna stick to the facts. That's how I do this, because obviously, I work for the competition. If I'm gonna do this objectively, here's what happened to me, in my case. This also stops me from getting sued.

: The company I'm talking about is Podmio, and to pull back the curtain, I wasn't gonna review them at all, because I didn't wanna give them any exposure at all. They did something, recently, that I'm like, "Okay …" and this sounds weird, but I feel somewhat responsible for you. Like, if for some reason, two months from now, you joined them, and they turned out to be awful, I would feel bad that I didn't say "Hey, here's the experience I had with them.".

: I'll tell you the final straw that I was, "Ahh, I gotta talk about these people." Here's the thing. They came out, and on their website, it says … Well, first of all, they contacted me. They contacted me, and so maybe that's rule number one: know who you're talking to. They have a statement on their website, "Podmio is the world's number-one podcasting platform that has everything you need for a podcaster of any level, at any affordable price.".

: I interacted with a person via email; wanted to know if I wanted a demo. I'm like, "I really don't have time for this." On December 23, he came on Ask the Podcast Coach, which is a show I do every Saturday, with Jim Collison, from The Average Guy.tv. He gave us a little demo, and we kind of called him out on that particular thing, and this is what it sounded like.

: Go ahead.

: You have the world's number-one podcasting platform?

: Yeah.

: Okay, cuz I'm like I'm thinking there might be-

: Can you qualify that?

: We are … When I show the features, and the services we have, you will realize that no one even comes close to what we do. I'm not going to name anybody on this [crosstalk] demo, but I will highlight some points for you.

: Okay.

: Listen, you can't do this, Dave, but I can. I mean, it is a little … "The world's number-one podcasting platform" is a little misleading, because why. I guess, if you guys are gonna have your own definition [crosstalk]

: Thinking of it this way … As a podcaster, who actually comes to the website, on sales pages, we have to convince them.

: That's the reason they have that. He's trying to convince you that they're number one. I asked him how long they've been around. They've been around, he said, for two months, for the back end, and publicly, for two weeks. This was back in December, again. Let me just, cuz the first time I tried to tell the story, it took me like an hour.

: Here's what happened. I jumped in. I wanted to test them. The first thing I saw is I went to import one of my old feed. This is where, again, and we talked about this at the beginning of the show, you want your new host to clone your old feed. Well, the first thing I see is, "Hey, thanks for your feed. It'll be imported in the next 24 hours." Now, again, from my chair, and I'm sure Blubrry can say this. I know I know Spreaker … I've done it on Spreaker. It doesn't take 24 hours. I've imported people from SoundCloud, and if you're on SoundCloud you can import your feed for free on Libsyn. Doesn't matter how many back catalog you have. I've imported people with hundreds of episodes, in 15 minutes, if that. The fact that I had to wait 24 hours, I'm like, "Mm, okay."

: Then, it didn't have all my info, when it did import. Now, they said that wasn't their problem. It was the feed I was importing from, but they did fix it, so, let's talk about the bad, and the good. They did fix it, and they re-imported it. When I went to say, "Hey, this doesn't have all my information," they sent me to a ticketing system that didn't work. I went back to my original contact, and said, "Hey, your ticketing system doesn't work," to which he sent me to another ticketing system, and I'm not making this up, it didn't work. Screenshots at SchoolofPodcasting.com/602.

: They were saying, "We're innovative, and we have all these new things." Well, the one thing they have is a thing, and it used to say this on their website … They use the phrase 'ad insertion,' and they have since updated this, which is good on them, because ad insertion, to most people, means that you're going to take my file, and somewhere in the middle, or end, or the beginning, or something, you're going to insert an ad. It's called dynamic ad insertion.

: I noticed they just updated their website to 'interchangeable advertisements.' What this is, is this has nothing to do with your subscribers. Their ad system only works on their website. Now, it is kinda cool, because you specify an image, you upload an MP3 file that has your ad, and you have a link. When people click play on your website – that's a key point here – this little thing pops up. They have to watch the ad. It's a little bit like YouTube, where you have to watch an ad, before you can listen to the thing. That's cool, to a certain extent. Then, it dawned on me, "Oh, that's right. About 80 percent of people listen to podcasts on a portable device, not on a website." I was like, "Hmm, okay …" There are no stats on how many times the ad is played, or things like that. Again, they're new.

: The thing that, for me, I was like, "Wait a minute, you said, 'dynamic ad insertion,' and this is not …" It's dynamic ad insertion on your website, with their player. Wherever you embed their player, this little thing pops up. I was kinda like, "That's not dynamic ad insertion, at least not in the traditional thing." That, again, is where you'll see where I kinda go, "I don't think they get podcasting.".

: This innovative, number-one podcasting platform, when I logged in – this, again, is in December – did not have the new iTunes tags. Now, they have them now, thanks to me, because I went, "Hey, where's the iTunes tags?" I'm talking about serial episodic … Episode numbers, serial numbers. Once they put them in, it messed up my show. It put that my show was season one. I don't have seasons for this particular show. When I went to delete the number one, it caused an error message. Back to the help desk, and again, they fix it. I'm doing Q&A for what is essentially a competitor of mine, and I'm not getting paid for it. I was, at this point, a little leery. I'm like, "Okay, I don't think I'm gonna actually use these guys.".

: I thought, "Let's kill two birds with one stone." There's a new service called PodcastMirror.com. This is from Blubrry. If you've been around long enough to remember FeedBurner, it's FeedBurner with a different name. You basically put your source feed into PodcastMirror, and instead of submitting your source feed to iTunes, and Stitcher, you submit the PodcastMirror feed, and then later, if you wanna switch media hosts, you just change it in PodcastMirror, and it updates every place else.

: I get it. It's time for my opinion. You ready? This is my opinion. I try to keep the technology between me, and my audience to only things that are essential. In this case, I was no longer really trusting the media host I was working with, and I had a feeling I was gonna move, so I moved to PodcastMirror. That was kinda weird. When I went to PodcastMirror, and put in the feed – again, screenshots, SchoolofPodcasting.com/602 – it said "Hey, this applied URL is not a podcast feed." I went, "Well, that's odd, because I did go to CastFeedValidator.com, and it said it was valid."

: I reached out to the lovely folks at Blubrry, who replied very quickly, and said, "Well, there's a couple of things. The iTunes category in your feed doesn't match what's in iTunes. The duration for the episode was in the wrong format." Again, this just led to me not feeling comfortable with their knowledge of the podcasting space. At that point, I went, "Okay, I'm done. I think I'm just gonna leave these guys," because, again, I'm kinda tired of doing Q&A. At that point, I quit telling them what the problems were, because quite frankly, I'm not getting paid to do Q&A. You guys figure out your own bugs.

: They have a thing in there, where you can do a 301 Redirect. This was the one that I went, "Oh, okay. This has to go public." You typically put in this redirect … This is that change-of-address thing I was talking about before. After two days, it wasn't updated in Apple to show the new feed.

: I went to my new host, and I said, "Hey, where do I put this new feed tag, because Apple says I should put that in the new feed, and you don't have a place for it?" In this case, this was Pinecast. I was gonna test them, as well. Kudos to Matt, from Pinecast, because he went above and beyond, and said, "Hey, I went back and looked at the Podmio feed that you were redirecting, and instead of being a permanent 301 Redirect, [we're gonna get kind of geeky here] it's a temporary 302 Redirect, and because Apple knows that's temporary, and not permanent, Apple isn't going to update." He says, "I've emailed the people at Podmio to let them know."

: All right, that was on Thursday. Friday night, so it's been 24-hours-plus, I go into Apple. I find my podcast source, and it's still looking at Podmio. I emailed, again, the help desk at Podmio, with a screenshot from Matt, and said, "Hey, you guys are using a 302 Redirect, and I actually …" Plus, for the record, Matt had sent that to me on Thursday. It's Friday. I went out to Redirect-Checker.org and got the same result. Two different people, two different results. They're using the wrong redirect.

: I emailed them, and – screenshots at SchoolofPodcasting.com.602 – I got a reply that says, "The redirect type we use is also fine." No, it's not, not for a permanent redirect; not to have apps update. Then, they said this, "You can also update your new feed, directly from iTunes, as well." That's when I went, "Okay, that's just horrible advice." In fact, right now, if you go to their website, on their support page, they say this again. "All you have to do to update your feed in Apple is to go to Podcast Connect, and update your feed." You ready for this? I'm trying to stay calm, but this … It makes me mad. That's how you lose your audience. You will lose all of your audience …

: Picture this, let me walk you through this … You're on podcast host A, and Apple is looking at podcast host A. You put in a redirect, and it doesn't work. Apple is still looking at podcast host A, and so is … All your subscribers are looking at podcast host A. You go to Apple, and you say, "Hey, Apple, you look at podcast host B." Well, that's great for anybody who subscribes today, going forward, but your old audience – all those people, all the months, and years that you've worked on getting that audience – they're still looking at podcast host A, and there's nothing there to say, "Hey, you need to go look at podcast host B." Consequently, you just drained the swamp of your entire audience, not that your audience is a swamp, but you know what I mean.

: To say that publicly … I was like, "Hold on a second …" because, and again, for me, this, again, diminished my confidence in their knowledge. I've, since then, went to their support, and said, "How do I cancel my account?" To their credit, to their credit, they did refund my first month, because I found their bug in their import feature.

: They are doing some things that are different. Let's point out the good things they're doing, things that they're trying that are new. They have a way to capture email addresses, right there on their player. Now, again, not really new. It's new that a podcast media hosting company is trying that, but if you have a Hani Simple Podcast Press, or Pat Flynn Smart Podcast Player, both of those players have the ability, now, to capture email addresses. They also have a way, if you use Stripe.com, a way that, right on the player, you can accept donations. Again, somewhat new that a podcast media host will do that, but Podbean has been doing that with their player, and most podcasts, now, either have a PayPal button – that's not new, at all – or they're using Patreon. Again, not really new.

: For me, let's inject some opinion here, now, when it comes to … Cuz you can actually capture email addresses, and then, use them as your email list. That's new. For me – this is where I'm gonna inject my opinion – when I use an email-list provider, I don't wanna email-list provider that is also a etc., etc. I want an email-list provider that does one thing, and that's make sure that my email is delivered.

: If we go back 10 years ago, there were times when it was hard to get your email delivered, and that's why you went to these lists, because if somebody on your network was a giant spammer, the whole network would not get their email delivered, or it would be much more hard to get it delivered. That's my only worry. That's my opinion about using somebody who is not an email provider to provide my email list. That's the only thing I have worried about that, but I will give them credit, that's new.

: They also had something … It was a little controversial, that when you use their Donate feature, there is no fee to move your money to your bank, like a bank-transfer charge. When they were on the Ask the Podcast Coach, there were people in my chat room that said that is not true. Any time you transfer money to a bank, cuz there's a bank involved, they're gonna charge you for it. On their website, they're saying they can do that without a charge. So, all in all, it's not a …

: The other thing that got me about this is … Let's go back to the facts, okay? The facts: their import feature is slower than others. You got to wait a day. Their advertising feature does not inject ads into the MP3 file. Now, again, they have changed their wording. They had bugs to work through. Whether or not it was a few, or a lot, there were bugs to work through, and those have been repaired. Again, end result, there are less bugs. Their feeds, based on the PodcastMirror example, are questionable. I'm sure, when they hear this episode, they'll go over, and fix it. They actually do change your file name. The original criteria that I sent to my original contact, I said, "Do you guys do this?" and they said, "Yep," and they don't. They changed the file name. If I'd known that, I wouldn't even looked at them in the first place. Again, to their credit, they did refund my first month, due to the fact that I ran into so many bugs.

: Now, let me talk about my opinion. I do not feel, based on their advice of things like, "Change the feed in iTunes," or, "3O2 Redirects are fine …" Based on those statements, I don't feel their staff has a deep understanding of the podcasting space, or how RSS syndication works, in general. My opinion is their support was not bad. In fact, it was pretty speedy. It was just sad that I had to use them all the time, and about every other day, I was finding some sort of issue. Now, to their credit, when I pointed out the issues, they were resolved. Another opinion, I feel their statement of 'the number-one podcasting platform,' I think that claim … I agree with Jim. That's misleading. I also, in my opinion, would never, at this point, in January 2018, recommend them as a host.

: Keep in mind, when you're gonna try one of these new … Like, "Hey, here's somebody new on the scene …" If you are a new podcaster, this really might've taken you out of the game, and said, "Look, it's going wrong …" For me, when they added the seasons, and my entire listing in Apple just went kablooey … It was still there, but it was all jumbled, and people were like, "Where's the latest episode?" I'm like, "Ahh …" Again, to their credit, when I pointed it out, they changed it, but I do not recommend them as a media host, especially now, until they get all their bugs worked out. Because I'm leaving, they're gonna have to have another new guinea pig to do this.

: I am done testing media hosts. Here's the cool thing about this, because I have people like you, and you're out there in the podcast world, and because there are Facebook groups, and because there are all these other awesome podcast … If somebody comes along that truly is doing something new, because the whole thing about having an ad pop up on your website, that's not new.

: Spreaker's been doing that. Right now, if you have ads in Spreaker, if you're using Spreaker … Now, granted, you're gonna get … When I was using it, it was .000. That's three zeros … Two cents per download. It would pop up a little thing, and say, "Hey, click here to go to the Home Depot," or whatever.

: They've also had pre-rolls. If you listen on the Spreaker website, I actually have a pre-roll that says. "Hey, Spreaker listeners, thanks for listening. SchoolofPodcasting.com, blah-blah-blah." That's not new. The whole getting payments on a website … Todd Cochrane's been doing that since 2004, with PayPal. That's not new.

: Keep that in mind, sometimes, that sometimes the marketing can make it sound like they're really the bee's knees, but, in reality, they're not really doing anything new. That's my facts, that's my opinion, and that's why I don't recommend them.

: Just keep in mind, when you're moving to these new platforms, it's gonna be hard to compete with Blubrry, with Libsyn, with Podbean, with Spreaker. Some of these companies have been doing it … Libsyn, since 2004; we're looking at 14 years. It's gonna be hard to really ramp up, and come up with something that's going to beat that. Be careful, when you're looking at hosts. That's why I have my criteria. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

: What are you doing in February? I will be at Podfest. Check out Podfest.us. I'll be celebrating my birthday by having my closest friends rip me to shreds. Yes, it's gonna be a lot of fun. I will be roasted at Podfest, as well as I'll be doing a presentation there. That's in Orlando, Florida, February 8th through the 10th.

: Then, on February 28th, through March 2nd, I will be at Social Media Marketing World. This is in lovely San Diego. I've never been to San Diego; never been to Social Media Marketing World. I know the opening night is on an aircraft carrier. This is a really great … Both these are great places to go, but I've never been to Social Media Marketing World. I'm really excited about that, and the fact that people are gonna rip me to shreds.

: If you're interested in these, go out to SchoolofPodcasting.com/602. I've got links to both in the show notes.

: I was making radio shows for fun. If everybody does it … Everybody I know … Shut up!

: Speaking of fun radio shows, if you missed episode number 601, go to SchoolofPodcasting.com/601. We were talking about how to be a guest, and how to find guests for your podcast. In the future, I'm gonna be reviewing the … This is a great piece of equipment, I hope … The PreSonus AR12 mixer. It is a USB mixer. It's got two auxiliary sends, and it's got a built-in SD recorder. I'm looking forward to that.

: Today, we talked about moving your podcast media host. I found a really cool tool for web hosts. We'll save that for another episode. I'm going to be talking about … I found a theme for WordPress. In the past, I recommended Appendipity. I've have been playing with a theme. I really like it. We're gonna be talking about that in the future.

: To get an episode the minute it's available, all you have to do go to SchoolofPodcasting.com/subscribe, and I've got every kind of way to subscribe. [Inaudible] there if you're an Apple, or a Stitcher, or whatever, simply go to SchoolofPodcasting.com/subscribe, and get the content, the minute it's available online, all for free.

: That is gonna do it for this episode of the School of Podcasting. Remember, you can't improve what you don't launch. You may find out that by just throwing that podcast out there, that your audience may go, "This is good. Have you ever thought of doing this?"

: I would love to help you with that. Simply go to SchoolofPodcasting.com/start, use the coupon code, "LISTENER." You can sign up for a monthly membership, or a yearly membership. Again, if you're looking for podcast mentorship, email me: [email protected]. Put in the subject line: Mentorship, and I can answer any questions that you might have about that. I really look forward to working with you, no matter what format you choose. Thanks so much for spending your time with me. I deeply appreciate it. Until next week, class is dismissed. Take care, and God bless.

: If you like what you hear, then, go tell somebody. If you like what you hear, go tell someone …

: I'm not making this up. In the Podmio support, they have a section – How to Migrate Your Existing Subscribers. If you're moving from Libsyn … Now, here's the fun thing, you can go to Libsyn's support page, and get the exact step-by-steps. Instead, they say, "Put the iTunes new feed tag into your Libsyn box." That's absolutely incorrect. Proving, once again, that I feel that these guys do not have an actual understanding of how podcasting works. The thing that blows my mind is the directions are on the Libsyn page.

: If you like what you hear, then, go tell somebody. Go tell somebody. Yeah, go tell someone.

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