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Introduction

You’ve likely heard about the power of viral sharing. When enough people share content and it goes viral, the traffic is virtually unstoppable.

And it’s targeted, FREE traffic!

When you inject viral sharing into your sales copy or funnel, you’ll immediately maximize exposure with very little work involved. Instead of spending hours setting up traffic campaigns and ads on social media networks, you motivate your visitors into doing all the work for you!

I’m going to show you exactly how to set up a viral sharing platform that’ll drive steady traffic to your website and how to best convert that traffic into sales.

Are you ready to get started?

Let’s begin!

The Friend vs a Stranger

So many marketers and online businesses spend months working on advertising campaigns in the hope of going viral.

Just say the word “viral traffic” around these people and watch their eyes light up! Do you know why? Because they understand the power of a viral marketing campaign.

It can be absolutely life-changing. One viral campaign could transform your business in a way that no other advertising platform ever could. And once it goes viral, that one campaign will continue to send a tidal wave of traffic to your website for months, even years to come.

And here’s the truth about viral traffic – it’s not just any old traffic, it’s highly targeted, word-of-mouth traffic. There is no higher quality traffic than that.

Do you know why?

Because the visitors you get have been sent there by a friend, family member or someone that the visitor knows and respects in some capacity.

The traffic isn’t based on your ability to earn trust, that part has already been done for you. You are simply capitalizing on the trust of someone else!

Traditional traffic is like opening the door to a salesman standing on your walkway. You don’t know this guy so instantly you’re on guard.

You don’t know if you want what he’s offering. You are cautious, and likely to say “no, thanks” before closing the door. No one likes being sold to and when we don’t have a relationship with that person, it takes more work to convince us to place that order.

Does that sound like you? Yeah, it’s most of us.

But viral traffic comes from a very different source. Rather than a stranger standing at your front door trying to sell you something, you open the door to find a friend that you trust. That friend is recommending a product or service that they recently used and love.

And no other advertising trumps a personal recommendation from a friend.

Can you see where I’m going with this?

There is nothing better than word-of-mouth viral traffic.

But here’s the cold hard truth…

It’s not easy to create a campaign that will go viral if you don’t know the inner workings of a tried-and-true system.

Sure, you can create insanely good content, build blogs that are updated regularly, create a series of videos and upload them to YouTube, and even create infographics and mind maps in the hope that people will share them enough to generate some traffic to your site.

But, how many of these things will truly be share-worthy?

No one is going to be inspired to share decent content or mundane copy. Few people are ever going to share sales pages or landing pages unless you have something incredible to offer. And few people are going to want to share videos or infographics if all they do it try to sell something.

No, you need to do something different – something that is not only guaranteed to be effective, but it’ll also make it easy for you to harness the traffic you get from your viral campaign and funnel it into the places that matter.

So, what are you going to do?

You’re going to bribe ‘em. ;)

Creating An Irrisistable Bribe

If you want to stand out in your market and get those sign ups and sales, while encouraging people to share your information with their friends, family and social circles, you need to make them an offer they can’t refuse.

Thankfully, this is easy to do. You just need to come up with something that people in your market are eager to get their hands on, and give it to them!

So, think:

What are people currently paying for in your niche?
What are people asking about?
What kind of content does your market want?

Find out and then offer them something similar for free.

It’s that easy. If people in your market are actively paying for the same type of product that you are offering for free, they’d be insane not to take you up on your offer. And better yet, they’re going to want to share that offer with other people they know within the market because it makes them look good!

What kind of things could you offer?

A coupon that dramatically reduces the price on a high-ticket item.
- You need to make sure that you’re offering a massive discount that stop people in their tracks. If you regularly price a product at $97, consider setting up a coupon that gives it to them for $5.

Low cost, front end products are a great way to get massive amounts of people into your sales funnel where you’re able to sell them on higher-priced products as they move through the sales process.

Plus, it’s a great way to get people’s attention. Everyone loves a great bargain. Just look at sites like Groupon.com and you’ll see how successful coupon and discount sharing networks are.

A contest targeted to your market
- Build excitement easily while encouraging people to spread the word by running a short-term contest. You can use software to randomly choose a winner and if you make your gift reward a digital product or e-gift certificate, you won’t have to worry about shipping anything out.

A viral giveaway
- Make everyone a winner! Giveaways are a popular way of generating traffic, reaching new customers and spreading the word about your business. In fact, giveaways are a common marketing tool used in just about every industry online!

Think about it: Authors give books away using sites like Instafreebie, and Internet Marketer’s run giveaways for digital products all the time. And now it’s your turn to take advantage of this powerful tactic to maximize exposure.

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Introduction

Private label content comes in many different forms. You can find everything from eBooks, reports and articles, to complete “business in a box” packages that include sales pages, lead magnets and even back-end products.

The problem isn’t in finding PLR. The trouble is in knowing exactly how to make money with it so you can maximize your profits!

We’ve personally used private label content in many different ways over the years, and if done correctly, PLR can ultimately maximize your income with very little time and effort on your part.

But before we begin, it’s important to understand that not all private label content is created equal.

The key to making money with PLR is to choose the best quality content possible. You then make simple tweaks and modifications to the content, and in the end, you end up with a polished, market-ready package that your customers will gladly pay for.

Private label content is one of the easiest ways to generate more content, which equates to more money.

After all, the more content you can put out there, the easier it gets to attract leads, subscribers and customers. Content powers everything from marketing campaigns, membership sites, to backend systems.

Whether you’re a blogger, affiliate marketer or developer, you need fresh, targeted content that speaks to your audience and furthers your brand.

The problem is, creating content for your business can be incredibly time consuming. Sure, you could outsource it to professional freelance writers, but if you’re on a limited budget that isn’t always an option.

Private label content is an easy, cost-effective way to get this done.

PLR allows you to take someone else’s creation and brand it entirely as your own.

Better yet, you can often price it however you wish, use the content in many different ways, including membership sites, blogs and back-end systems.

It’s not only one of the easiest ways to maximize your income, but it’s also one of the fastest ways to kick-start a new business, marketing campaign, or to test out the waters in an unfamiliar niche.

In this special report, you’ll learn all about buying PLR content from qualified content specialists, and then selling that content at a much higher cost, while continuously extending your sales funnel so that you’re able to quickly maximize your income and set yourself up for long-term success.

Let’s begin!

Understanding License Terms

When you purchase private label content, it’s very important that you completely understand the terms of your license.

Even though PLR should always come with the option to edit the content and add your name and brand to the material, when it comes to distribution there are sometimes restrictions in place.

Understanding exactly what your license allows you to do before you even begin to use the content is extremely important. You never want to risk any potential legal issues by utilizing PLR content in a way that goes against the developer’s terms and licensing restrictions.

Some of the things you want to pay close attention to when purchasing private label content include:

Whether you can edit the content.
PLR should always give you the option to customize the content, add your name, website URL and other branding information.

If you purchase content that doesn’t allow modifications, it’s usually called “Resale Rights” licensing, or “Master Resale Rights”. Still, it’s important to be sure, even if they provide you with the DOC/source file.

Claim Authorship.
Private label usually permits that the buyer to claim authorship, meaning that you can put your name on the content as though you were the original creator. Most other license types, such as RR (resell rights), or MRR (master resell rights) do not.

How the content can be used.
Never assume that PLR content can be distributed, sold and used in every way imaginable. Always check your license for information on any distribution restrictions (such as not being permitted to publish on Amazon, or other marketplaces), as well as any pricing restrictions.

Price Restrictions.
You may also want to pay attention to whether the seller has set a minimum price. Some sellers request that you do not sell the material below a set minimum to preserve the quality of the content. While this can’t typically be enforced legally, it’s always best if you follow the seller’s wishes. If you don’t like their license terms, find another PLR seller.

And speaking of licensing, whenever you purchase PLR, you should always be provided with a detailed, comprehensive license that leaves nothing to guesswork. If you can’t find a license in your package, reach out to the developer and ask for a copy.

Just the same, if you are ever confused or unsure about the terms of your license, take a minute to contact the developer before you begin to use the content.

Not all private label content offers the same licensing options, so it’s always important to confirm with the developer prior to using the material.

For example, there are many different forms of licensing, including:

Personal (non-transferable) Private Label:
With this license, you’re typically allowed to sell the content under your own brand, but you are not permitted to pass on those rights to anyone else.

Transferable Private Label:
These licenses often allow you to pass on private label rights to your customers.

Unrestricted Private Label:
This type of PLR license is the most flexible, often allowing you to do whatever you want with the content.

In addition, certain PLR developers will allow you to even give PLR away, provided within a membership site and not offered publically, while other developers don’t allow the content to be given away, requiring that it be sold.

The Value of PLR

Now that you better understand the difference licenses often attached to private label content, I want to take a closer look at the kind of private label content that will make you the most money, as well as PLR that is best to avoid.

To start, you should never buy private label content that comes with an “unrestricted” license.

An unrestricted PLR license means that you can do virtually anything you want to do with the content. You could give it away, sell it, share PLR rights with your customers, and distribute it openly and freely.

It’s easy to see what the problem is with this kind of license, right?

There’s no value in it!

You won’t be able to convince people to purchase this kind of content from you, if they’re able to find it on hundreds of other websites for free. There’s no quality control in place. And that means it’s not going to help you further brand awareness, or even be content that you’ll want to attach your name to. So, avoid unrestricted PLR whenever possible. There are far better licensing options available.

On the flip side, the highest quality private label will only offer a limited number of PLR licenses. This means that you’ll be one of only a handful of buyers to ever have a license to use this content. You won’t deal with an overload of competition, or worry about your ability to sell the content because it won’t be found freely online, or distributed by thousands of other sellers.

If you can find a high-quality PLR developer offering fewer than 100 licenses, grab a copy. This will be the absolute best license you can find, and it’ll be much easier to sell the content and rebrand it as your own.

You also want to make sure that the PLR you purchase cannot be given away. It should always have to be sold. The only exception to this is when purchasing a lead magnet PLR package.

Lead magnet PLR packages typically include a front-end report that people can use as an incentive to convert visitors into subscribers.

While you still want to make sure that there are only a limited number of licenses being offered so that there isn’t a high number of copies in circulation, these PLR packages can be an easy way to set up lead pages quickly and easily.

For example, https://www.swabd.com/monthly-plr-lead-magnets-package gives you the opportunity to make money reselling access to fresh new lead magnets every single month. People absolutely love these packages because they come with private label rights, allowing them to modify the content and use it to convert visitors into subscribers.

You could easily make money by becoming a reseller of a website like this, and better yet, you don’t have to spend time creating a membership site of your own because you simply direct your customers to your own sign up links, they pay you directly, and then they are automatically redirected to the lead magnet download center.

Regardless of how you decide to monetize private label content, when it comes to your licensing rights, you want to purchase PLR content that allows you to:

Sell It (with personal rights only, non-transferable)
With these licensing rights, you will be able to sell personal rights to the completed product, but will not be able to sell the content with private label rights to others.

This is exactly what you want because you are not interested in giving your customers the right to pass on the material to other people, but instead, they are purchasing a copy of a finished product for personal use only.

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Introduction

A mailing list will always be one of your most valuable business assets. With it, you can connect with your target audience, build brand awareness, tap into hot niche markets, and maximize your income through affiliate marketing and product launches.

What you want to do is build a mailing list that is organized and segmented so that you are able to communicate your message clearly and to the right audience.

I’ll show you exactly how to do that in this report, as well as how to increase opt-in rates as well as open-rates so that your emails are seen by thousands of subscribers who will respond to your messages, and buy your products.

Are you ready to start building a profitable, laser-targeted mailing list of your own?

Then, let’s begin.

Building A Solid Foundation

One of the biggest mistakes that new email marketers often make is in pushing every subscriber into the same mailing list funnel.

Rather than segment their audience so that each subscriber is sent into a specific mailing list based around their interests, they build massive mailing lists filled with subscribers from every walk of life.

Not only does this make it incredibly difficult to later target subscribers with offers that are tailored around them, but it becomes virtually impossible to personally connect with prospects!

Don’t make this mistake. Create the foundation for a profitable mailing list campaign by segmenting your list from the beginning.

Here’s how to do that:

Create multiple email lists within your mailing list account. If you don’t yet have a mailing list provider, you can visit https://www.Aweber.com or https://www.GetResponse.com (two of the most commonly used providers online). Every list you create within your account should have a strong focus around a specific topic.

Add your opt-in code to specific pages on your website rather than the same subscription box on every page.

For example, if you own a blog that offers tips and information on writing, you might want to create a mailing list around all the sub-sections of your niche, such as: Self-Publishing, Ghostwriting and Freelance Writing.

Your opt-in box would direct subscribers to a different mailing list based on the page they are reading. That way, subscribers choose for themselves what mailing list best suits them by being able to subscribe to specific offers.

Every opt-in page should feature a different incentive offer that speaks directly to your audience, and connects with what is most important to them.

Using our earlier example, on a blog for writers, an incentive offer on the “Self-Publishing” blog page might include a free eBook template, while on the “Freelance Writers” page, it could feature a checklist for Freelancers. Subscribers receive the freebie after entering their name and email address and joining your list.

Setting up your website this way makes it easy to segment your audience because you’re putting them in control. Rather than adding every subscriber into one mailing list that ends up difficult to target, you’ll know exactly what your subscriber is most interested in.

If you aren’t sure how to add opt-in boxes to your blog or website, check out https://conversiongorilla.com/ where you can create customized opt-in boxes easily.

You’ll be able to change the color, overall appearance as well as when the opt-in form appears. You can even go so far as to have the opt-in code triggered only when someone attempts to exit your page.

Laying The Groundwork

The next step is to create your autoresponder sequence. This is another area that new email marketers often overlook as not being an integral part of their sales funnel.

So, they create their mailing list, generate the opt-in code and place it onto their website in order to capture leads, but they haven’t done anything on the back-end to keep those subscribers.

Don’t make this common mistake. It’s important to open the channel of communication and start a dialogue with your subscribers from the very beginning. Your list will run cold very quickly if you fail to connect with your prospects from the early stages of introducing your brand.

Your autoresponder messages work for you 365 days a year, so if they’re set up correctly, they have the power to keep sales pouring in, even when you’re not even at your desk. They’re one of your most valuable assets so don’t overlook the importance of continuously working on extending your autoresponder sequence.

Here’s how to do it:

Create a series of autoresponder messages that are sent in a carefully planned sequence.

The first email should go out to your mailing list immediately after they subscribe. This message would contain the download link to the incentive offer featured on the opt-in page that motivated them to sign up in the first place. It should also introduce your brand, and highlight the benefits of staying on your list.

This is called “warming up your list” because initially your email list is cold. Those people probably don’t know much about you, or what you have to offer.

Sure, they subscribed to your list because you offered them a cool incentive that they felt was worthy of their name and email address. But that’s it. That’s all they know about you.

So, you’re first email warms them up, introduces your brand and reminds them who you are, and how smart they were to have joined your list because of all the great things you have in store. That’ll build excitement and anticipation, and help to keep them on your list.

The second email could go out the next day, or 2-3 days later. This email should begin to build brand awareness. You don’t want to inundate your subscribers with paid offers just yet.

This is the time to build a relationship and trust with your audience. The objective is to become an authority in your market, and for your subscribers to turn to you for advice and guidance on products and services that will help them.

This doesn’t mean that they want to receive advertisements from you just yet, though. You haven’t earned that yet. While other people will argue that rapid-fire advertising campaigns can be effective, it’s always best to provide exceptional value upfront before asking for a commitment to purchase anything through your links.

So, consider offering your subscribers an additional incentive for free. The first one got them into your mailing list. The second one will keep them there.

Your third email can be sent within the first 7 days, and here’s where you can begin to start monetizing your list.

Start by conditioning your audience to open your emails by combining an equal balance of useful and informative content (that doesn’t sell anything), with paid offers and promotional campaigns.

One thing you will want to do it direct your subscribers to your website or blog whenever you can. Instead of filling up your email with all the information they need, break it down so that your email only features the most important nuggets that’ll capture their attention and motivate them to click your link to find out more.

You can also use your social media accounts to further connect with your audience on a more personal level.

Send them links to photos or memes on Instagram and Pinterest that they may find amusing.

Don’t be afraid to be personal and be real with them. The more laid-back and genuine you are, the better your subscribers will respond to you – and the more likely they’ll remember your brand.

Make sure to test out your entire sequence by forwarding it to your own email address. Read through your autoresponder messages. Proofread. Check the links. And then continue to build on your back-end autoresponder system by incorporating additional emails into the sequence.

You should spend a few hours a week creating new content for your mailing list. Then, once a month go through your autoresponder campaign to update any older emails or swap out product links for newer offers.

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Introduction

If you’re looking for a way to make money without a huge upfront investment, and without a lot of hassles or work, drop shipping with an e-commerce platform is exactly what you’ve been looking for.

It’s simple, inexpensive to get started, and your business can be run in your spare time or turned into a full-time business, if you wish to branch out.

With drop shipping, you don’t have to worry about having money to invest in inventory, or about dealing with finding warehouse space or shipping out packages.

Simply add products to your online store, place orders with the drop shipper, and have them sent directly to your customers. For the most part, it’s incredibly straightforward, and hassle-free!

Obviously, like any business, you’ll have to be ready to deal with issues occasionally, but we’re going to cover some easy ways you can minimize any such issues and keep your business running like a well-oiled machine.

This special report is all about helping you get started with drop-shipping quickly and easily. Not only will I show you how to find the best drop shipping sources, but I’ll even show you to jumpstart your business by generating premium traffic to your store.

So, let’s get started!

How Drop Shipping Works

Let’s take a quick look at how the drop shipping process works, starting with how to sell using just a single product as an example.

Let’s say you decide to drop ship fidget spinners. You choose a model you believe will be popular, and you create a simple web page for the product with a photo, description, basic information, and a link to buy.

When someone makes a purchase from your page, they pay you at the time of purchase. You then order the product from the supplier’s website, paying for it with the money the customer already paid you, and enter your customer’s shipping address instead of your own.

It’s a bit like making a gift purchase from a site like Amazon. You pay for the product, but you have it shipped directly to the buyer.

Okay, you probably have a whole bunch of questions running through your mind right now. We’ll get to most of them shortly. But yes, it really is that simple.

The first thing you’re probably asking is, “Why not just order the products from Amazon if it’s that simple?”

Well, there are two BIG problems with that.

First, you’d never make much of a profit doing that. Products on Amazon are being sold around retail price, so making a profit would be pretty difficult unless you somehow manage to get into a niche market with a lot of demand where you can charge a premium price and still have buyers.

Second, Amazon puts their own promotional material all over everything they send out. While you might get one order from a customer, once they realize the products came from Amazon, they’ll go there, discover the product was much cheaper there, and never order from you again.

It’s just not a smart way to build your own brand.

With drop shipping, most companies won’t put their materials or branding on or in the boxes, and some may even put your promotional material into the packages for you, if you ask!

Example: I’ve purchased coder stickers from a popular programmer online and while he’s transparent about the fact that he purchases the stickers from a drop-shipper in China, when the package arrived every sticker package had his branding and logo on the box! I would have never known it was a drop shipped package from China.

And that’s the point. You are selling products as though they come directly from you, even though you never have to bother shipping anything out or tracking packages. You simply receive payment, order the item, and let the company handle delivery.

Are you starting to understand why so many people love drop-shipping?

Drop Shipping Benefits

You don’t have to use drop shipping to be successful in e-commerce. You can find success with just one simple, inexpensive product with a relatively small upfront investment.

You can also find success investing a great deal upfront in stock and offering a wide variety of items. It’s totally up to you and your circumstances.

However, if you want to have a full e-commerce site, and you don’t have a lot of money to invest in the beginning, drop shipping is the perfect business model to help you get started. You can always invest in inventory later, once your business is profitable enough.

Keep in mind that drop shipping is not a perfect business model. There are a few issues you need to keep an eye out for, which we will address in the next chapter. But there are some big benefits, too.

Let’s take a look at some of the biggest benefits of drop shipping.

For one thing, you don’t have to invest a huge amount of money in the beginning to get started. All you need to get started is a domain, website, and the software to run your shop. In most cases, you can get started for less than a hundred bucks.

Also, you don’t have to spend as long sourcing products. One of the most time-consuming elements of e-commerce is finding the right products for your shop, and when you use drop shipping, you’ll often be able to source multiple products from the same supplier.

It’s also very easy to add inventory to your shop, because most major drop shipping suppliers either have a plugin you can use to automatically add inventory to your shop, or they have CSV files you can import into your software to control your stock. This is a huge time saver.

Another great thing about drop shipping is that there is much less risk involved. Since you aren’t investing in product upfront, you don’t have to worry about getting stuck with unsold inventory if you buy something that turns out to not be as popular as you anticipated.

It’s also very nice to not have to worry about having warehouse space, managing inventory, and sending out packages. These are all things that are expensive and time-consuming, and they are completely avoided by using drop shipping.

These are just a few of the biggest benefits, and you can probably already see how great it can be for someone who’s just getting started!

Avoiding Potential Pitfalls

Let’s take a look at a few of the most common problems that might come along, and how you can minimize the potential of experiencing them.

Products Out Of Stock

One of the most common complaints you’ll get is when certain products are out of stock, especially if they are particularly popular and hard to find. This can happen to any store, even monolithic stores like Amazon. And it definitely upsets customers when it happens.

However, it’s important to keep track of stock to minimize the potential of upsetting customers, because they will be a lot unhappier if they think you have the product in stock and place an order only to find out the product was out of stock than they would be just being notified before they purchase that the product isn’t available.

For this reason, it’s a very good idea to use some sort of plugin that will automatically update your site whenever products are out of stock.

We’ll take a look later at a nifty extension you can use to keep track of stock, and it will help make your job of finding and adding stock much easier, too!

Product Returns

Every single company on the planet must deal with returns. Even if you have a strict no-returns policy, you will still have to deal with unhappy customers that attempt to get a refund. And telling them no will just result in very angry customers.

I know someone who purchased a lot of items from one very popular discount shopping app, found that the quality was terrible and the sizing was way off, and could not return them because the company had a no-returns policy. The customer was very upset, and left bad reviews for the company all over the place. And this person was far from the only person complaining about not being able to return items.

For this reason, it’s not a good idea to have a no-refunds policy on physical products. This will just lead to chargebacks, which could get your account with PayPal or any other billing company canceled. It’s not worth the chance.

Plus, people who are unhappy with their purchase and cannot return it will spread bad reviews, which can have a negative impact on sales over the long run.

Always make sure your product descriptions are as accurate as possible, and make sure to have sizing charts and pictures to minimize returns.

If a product is under $20, you might just ship another item to the customer without requiring them to return the original. If the product is over that price, have the customer ship the return to you, and when it arrives, send them a new one as quickly as possible. If it is returned because it’s damaged or defective, return it to the supplier.

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Introduction

In case you haven’t heard much about podcasting, let me tell you a little bit about it, and how it’s commonly used by business professionals.

Think of podcasting as somewhat like a radio talk show, only podcasts aren’t typically broadcast live. They are usually pre-recorded, edited, and then uploaded. Sometimes they CAN be live shows that are recorded and uploaded later, but that’s far less common.

Podcasts can be set to download automatically by fans of that podcast, and can be listened to anytime, from any location, as long as internet is available to download the podcast at some point before listening.

Podcasts are a great way to stay in touch with your audience, while also expanding it quickly. Millions of users listen to podcasts every day, and you can reach a large number of those users quickly and easily.

In fact, Pat Flynn of the Smart Passive Income blog, says that his podcast has become his top method for reaching new customers and generating fresh traffic to his website, ranking podcasting’s global outreach above Google, social media, and inbound links!

As a result of his podcasts, Pat has received lots of media coverage and opportunities that probably would not have been open to him if he hadn’t started his podcast.

Wouldn’t you like to have that kind of exposure?

Then let’s get started!

Podcasting 101

Podcasts are an incredible way to reach both current and new prospects, no matter what type of business you’re running, or what niche market you are positioned in.

Podcasting is also a great way to stand out, and set yourself apart from the competition. Lots of people have blogs and YouTube channels and social media profiles, but not nearly as many people have a podcast!

There are around 100 million people who listen to podcasts every single day, but only about 200,000 active podcasts. Compare that to the millions of active blogs out there!

Podcast readership is also still growing. Between 2015 and 2016 alone, listeners grew by a whopping 23%!

Podcasting is a fantastic way to gain exposure for your blog, YouTube channel, social media profiles, books, courses, brand, app, software, video game, or anything else you’re working on!

Plus, it’s a great way to gain exposure for people who aren’t as comfortable in front of a camera. People never have to know what you look like. And even if you hate your voice, you could use a voice changer to modify it!

But don’t think you have to have a fantastic voice to do well with a podcast. As long as you have something interesting to say, listeners will keep tuning in.

Whatever you’re trying to accomplish with your business—whether it’s selling products, getting readers for your blog or books, getting views to your YouTube videos, or building your brand—you can achieve it with podcasting!

Types of Podcasts

There are many different types of podcasts you can create for your audience, and nothing says you need to stay with a single format. In fact, lots of people use multiple formats for their podcast based on whatever they are trying to accomplish at a given time.

Let’s take a look at some of those different formats, and how they can best be used.

Solo

Most podcasts are solo, simply because it’s usually individuals who start them. Solo podcasts generally consist of one individual talking about a particular subject during each “episode”.

Duos

Duos are also popular, with two people talking together about the topic. Duos are often spouses or friends, but may be business partners, or other close acquaintances.

The reason most duos are close is that their personalities need to mesh well for the podcast to be interesting.

Duos need to feed off each other, joke around with each other, and be able to read each other to understand where the other one is going with the conversation and respond thoughtfully.

Interviews

Interview based podcasts typically involve two people. One, the host asks questions, and the other party provides information and shares their strategies, and experiences within the podcast.

The interview format is a simple one: The host provides a set list of questions ahead of time, giving their guest a chance to review the material and prepare for the episode. Just like in any other podcast scenario, it’s always best to have a pre-written outline of what you plan to cover within the podcast, as well as opening and closing remarks.

Interview based podcasts can work especially well if you manage to get well-known people in your industry to participate, because those established names can draw in additional listeners, and they may even promote your podcast to their own fans or followers.

Groups

The group format can be tricky, because powerful personalities often have difficulty taking a backstage to each other and tend to talk over one another and interrupt. But they can be very successful if they are properly moderated.

If you’ve ever watched a show like Real Time with Bill Maher or The View, you’ve pretty much seen how interesting, and dynamic this type of format can be.

The group format isn’t as common in podcasting because of the need to moderate so many personalities and because of potential scheduling conflicts, but they can be quite successful if executed correctly.

As I mentioned before, you don’t have to stick to a single format. You might run your podcast as a single format most of the time, and switch to other formats here and there, or you might switch it up all the time. It’s totally up to you, and what you hope to accomplish.

If you are just getting started with podcasts, you’ll likely want to start with just a solo podcast format. That way, you can cut your teeth on the process involved in creating great podcast content, gain experience and become more comfortable speaking to your audience.

Then, as you become more familiar with the process and feel prepared to try a new format, consider the interview-style format where you can welcome a guest from within your niche market to appear on your podcast. It’s a great way to network with others in your industry while giving your listeners helpful information that will motivate them to continue tuning in each week, or month.

Plus, with interviews, you aren’t required to come up with as much content as you would in a solo-format. You simply create a list of questions and let your guest provide the answers. In exchange for them appearing on your podcast, you could promote one of their products or website. It’s a win-win!
Getting Started With Your First Podcast

A lot of people mistakenly believe that they need special equipment in order to create a podcast, but the truth is, you probably already have most of what you need on your computer.

Here’s what you need:

A computer
A microphone
Some sort of recording software
Audio editing software (optional)
Domain
Hosting

Let’s take a closer look at each piece of equipment you need, so you can get started quickly and easily.
Computer
You don’t need the world’s most powerful computer to create a podcast. Working with audio isn’t nearly as intensive as working with graphics or video, so a basic computer is fine.

Technically, you can even create a podcast on your phone or tablet using software such as BossJock Studio. It’s one of the only apps on the market that will allow you to record two mics at the same time, and if you plan to do any interviews, you’ll need this feature. It’s a very affordable app, and you can upload and publish your content as an MP3 file directly from the app.

Microphone

Many people just use the built-in microphone that comes with their computer or mobile device, and that’s fine when you’re just getting started. But the sound quality will probably not be what you want it to be.

Built-in microphones are generally low quality and will pick up too much ambient noise, and may include annoying artifacts such as static, hissing, wind, etc. This will hurt the overall quality of your podcast considerably, especially for people wearing earbuds or headphones.

Instead, it’s recommended that you pick up an external microphone--ideally one that has a stand, noise reduction, and a windscreen or pop filter.

A pop filter is a shield that attaches to the microphone and blocks any air from your mouth and nose from reaching the mic, which will help reduce wind noise when you’re speaking. Since it sits between you and the microphone, it won’t block ambient airflow from other directions.

A windscreen is usually made of foam and fits over the mic itself to help reduce wind from all directions. This is useful for blocking wind when you’re recording outdoors, but will also reduce noise from fans, air conditioning, etc.

You can buy pop filters and windscreens separately if your device doesn’t come with them. If you aren’t ready to invest in these accessories, you can also cover it loosely with a tissue or thin cloth to help reduce wind. It won’t be as effective as a paid product, but it will help some.

There are many different types of microphones on the market. The least expensive models are generally not very good, but you don’t have to spend hundreds of dollars to get a quality mic.