Authority Building Content

When was the last time you checked your website stats for old pages? If you aren’t checking, you might be missing a veritable goldmine for list building. Today we’re talking about what content upgrades are, how to use them alongside popular content, and get people on your list by giving them more of what they want. Read more…

Video takes time, team resources, and money to produce. So you should make sure you’re squeezing every last bit of value out of that video you worked so hard to create! In today’s show, we’re talking about four of our favorite ways to repurpose a video that will take you BEYOND just the video platform and into other areas of social media. Read more…

Want to write an amazing video script? You have to consider more than just the words to say. In today’s episode, we talk about what a video storyboard is, how to plan one using different shots, and whether or not you should script your episode. If you’ve got a ‘how to’ video in mind for your business, there’s a simple template you can use! Read more…

Blog posts have been around for a long time, and you’d think that everyone would have it down to an art by now. But the truth is, they don’t. We have a special guest expert, Lisa Baker, joining us to talk about how blog posts are like sonnets and a sure-fire way to get people to continue reading through the entire thing. Read more…

Every multi-media platform has its superpower: blogging, video, podcasting, livestreaming, courses, and books. The trick is to identify your business goals - what you want to achieve - and then decide which superpower you need to succeed. In today’s episode, we’re talking about each of the multi-media platforms and what they excel at. Read more…

Livestreams aren’t just for sales webinars and spouting off random views. In fact, you can make livestreaming one of your most powerful tools for more efficient and effective support across multiple platforms. Think about it: would you rather answer 50 emails answering the same questions or would you prefer holding a livestream with those 50 people and being able to answer follow-up questions immediately? Not to mention, you can make these videos available forever! Learn all about how livestreams can support your other platforms on this episode.

We love worksheets. So does your audience, especially when you help them systematize information gathering, prioritizing the right things, and making decisions. A simple set of worksheets can take someone from having no idea what to do to being informed and in control of their actions. But how do you know which worksheet to make and why? We’ve got the answer on today’s episode!

You have a content calendar, but that isn’t enough. At least, it’s not enough if you want to see some results and traction from all that content you’re creating! You need a promotional calendar. It can be as simple or complex as you like, but in essence, this little thing will tell you what to do with every piece of content you make - in other words, how you intend to promote it. Even better, having a record of that will help you know if what you’re doing is effective. Read more…

What’s good for your blog isn’t good for livestream, and what’s good for livestream isn’t good for YouTube! So how do you figure out what content is appropriate for each platform, and then create it all without running yourself into the ground? It all comes down to knowing what your key messaging is for each platform and the audience who wants it. Read more…

If you’ve been creating content for a while but you aren’t getting the results you want from that platform (like YouTube, podcasting, blogging, etc.), then it’s time to run it through the Pivot or Quit scenarios to see if you should… well, pivot or quit! In this episode, we lay out different scenarios along with their symptoms, and more importantly, how to pivot if you aren’t going to quit. Read more…

Want to know why so many podcasters brag about their microphones but still sound like amateurs on their shows? It’s because even the best microphone can sound awful if you haven’t given your studio a solid acoustic treatment. Today, we talk about different acoustic solutions for different budgets that can make even a lower level microphone sound great. Read more…

When you start a podcast, a YouTube channel, a livestream series, or any other kind of multi-media content campaign, you’ll have goals. You might be looking for business growth, you might be looking for the esteem of your peers, or you might be looking for lots of organic search and domain authority. But how will you know whether it’s working? By keeping solid metrics. Today we talk about how to track the different types of metrics for several common goals. Read more…

What the heck is a multi-media content path? To put it simply, it’s when an audience member clicks a call to action in a piece of your content that takes them to another, relevant piece of content, like clicking a video link from a blog post. Why does it matter? It’s a FANTASTIC way to turn audience members into customers or engaged fans! Discover the different content paths and how to use them on today’s episode! Read more…

YouTube playlists are second-to-none when it comes to growing your platform and your audience, and chances are, you’re missing the biggest hidden benefit. YouTube treats every new playlist as if you released a new video! More than that, the title of the playlist has the same SEO weight as a regular video title. Find out how to leverage playlists on this episode! Read more…

Books, like courses, bring a lot of authority to your personal brand, but who has the time to create them? Actually, you do. In fact, you might already have everything you need for a solid first draft, and in today’s episode, we’ll walk you through the steps to find the hidden book or course in your existing content. Read more…

Did you know that social media isn’t the best way to promote your podcast? Did you know email is one of the most effective ways? There are a lot of ways you can get the word out about your podcast, so if you want to know how to get the most results for your time and energy (and maybe even your money!) then don’t miss today’s episode! Read more…

Do you feel panic when you open up a blank page to create a piece of content? How about when you open a 12-month calendar to create your multi-media content calendar? Yes - it can be overwhelming, but there’s a simple-to-execute thought process that goes into making one that works for you and your audience. We’ll lay it out for you on today’s episode. Read more…

It’s a universal law that, at some point, your tech is going to rebel. Maybe it’s gremlins, maybe it’s a conspiracy, or maybe it’s just user error, but it’s going to happen. You need a strategy - two strategies, actually - to help you prevent what you can and fix what you can’t. That’s exactly what we have for you in today’s episode. Read more…

Today’s a special day! We have a guest expert, the queen of repurposing, Gayle Lantz. Gayle has created an app, written a book, has speaker handouts and more, but she barely lifted a finger to get that done. How? She looked at the body of written content she’d created over the years and organized it so she could leverage it on multiple platforms. Learn how Gayle did it on this expert episode of the Authority Building Content podcast! Read more…

Are you wasting your conversions by not having a strong followup? Conversions are only the first step in getting your audience from passive to engaged to paying customer. Not only do you need to deliver on what you promised in your call to action, but you also need to give them more than they expected. When you do it right, your newly engaged audience members will be more willing to take another, higher risk step toward your offer. Find out how to make that happen on this episode! Read more…

Conversions are what you need to succeed online these days. What is a conversion? It’s when an audience member does what you tell them to in a call to action... and they become something MORE. When you send an email and they click the link to buy your program, they convert from audience member to customer. Beware - not all conversion strategies work on all multi-media platforms. Learn about the different conversion strategies on today’s episode! Read more…

Content, Charisma, and Connection (a.k.a. The 3 C’s) are what make your multi-media presence online exceptional. And you only need to do two of the three really well to succeed! Content is what your episode is about and how it’s presented. Charisma, both natural and learned, are what draw people in. Connection is the emotional bond that turns fans and guests into evangelists. Find out how to use content, charisma, and connection to supercharge your content online, from blog posts to video to podcasting, on this episode! Read more…

What does it mean to speak the language of your audience? It means you know what phrases they use, what jokes they make, what difficulties they face, and maybe even what they binge-watch on Netflix. Why does it matter? It’s simple: like cliques, audiences have their own way of speaking, and you’ll have a harder time fitting in and building relationships if you don’t speak that language. Today, we talk about how to learn and speak the language of your audience, or your future audience! Read more…

Video, blogging, podcasting, livestreaming, books, and courses: you have big dreams, but which one should you chase first? How do you figure out what’s going to get you closest to those dreams while staying sane? It comes down to a few key considerations: decide which superpower you need to get closest to your most critical goal, determine what resources you have available, and figure out how you can get the most mileage out of your content. Read more…

What if I told you that an author could use a podcast to: write their book, promote their book, gather material for their book, increase the dialogue and interest around their book, turn readers into dedicated fans, test ideas for new content, network with influencers to help promote their book, and generate leads to grow the business behind the book? When you stop thinking about a podcast as just something you listen to and start thinking about it as a consistent, content generating and networking machine, good things happen. Read more... 

A livestream is when you broadcast yourself, in real time, to a platform where there is the expectation people will be watching you do it, and engaging back with you. Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and Twitter all have some kind of livestream functionality - often with a third party software. People livestream for lots of reasons, from new business generation to educational content delivery but most of them fit into three high-level categories: Audience ConnectionAudience Connection is the biggest category of livestreaming. Because it’s, well, LIVE and a two-way dialogue between you and your audience it’s the most intimate and direct way to communicate with your people outside of a phone call. If you have a lot of fans - or a handful of highly devoted ones, you and they will both value the time you get to connect directly on social media. Some ways this can be done well are to have standing livestreams where you discuss a prepared topic - maybe relating to a recent podcast episode or blog post, and invite discussions and feedback. Q and A, or Ask Me Anything livestreams are also popular. If there is more about a topic you’ve covered recently, a livestream is a great way to really dig in - it can be a lot more unstructured that other kinds of multi-media and that’s often a very liberating thing! People in your audience want to be seen by you, and a livestream gives you the chance to speak directly, and give them the attention they want, while still controlling the platform and creating content that has a broader appeal.  Customer Service and Content DeliveryA lot of creators use livestreaming to deliver training and support for their customers - particularly those who sell online courses or information products. The live, two-way conversation style of livestreaming makes giving support and getting feedback very efficient!  In addition, not every media creator has a full customer support team! If you sell products and services then you’re going to need to provide some kind of support for them, and a standing “office hours” livestream is a great way to do it. It cuts down on your support emails, and lets you provide answers to many people at once. Your livestream recordings can even become a permanent resource for your customers-  it’s a great investment of your time. When things are easier demonstrated than explained verbally, livestream is a killer resource.  PracticeThis is almost the unspoken benefit of livestreaming. So, so, so many people have nerves around creating multi-media - whether it’s podcasting or video, and there is only one tried and tested way to get over them. Practice. Consistent, ongoing practice. You’ll also be getting into the habit of creating content on a regular basis! Creativity isn’t always a sudden stroke of genius - it’s a habit too, and whatever helps you BUILD it, is worth the time. Livestreaming is a good way to practice delivering your content. Do people understand? Do they respond the way you think they will? Are you explaining it the best way?  Is the topic a good fit for your audience?  Livestreaming is a low-risk, low-cost way to experiment with new material and hone your delivery so that when you record it in a more permanent way, you’re doing it justice.  Action Step Your action step for today is to find a livestream on one of your social media feeds and attend. Engage with the host and try to figure out what their purpose is. Are they connecting, delivering or practicing? What do you like about the stream, and what don’t you?  Are you thinking of livestreaming? Let us know! 

There are a lot of reasons guests don’t share episodes. Some you can control and some you can’t. Let’s start with what you CAN control. You CAN make sure you provide lots of good quality swipe content like emails, graphics, videos and social media copy. You can tag them in posts, on social media platforms, so it’s easy to click to share. You MUST do really good post-production and mention to them specifically what you think is interesting and insightful about their interview. You can also send personal messages before and on launch day, then share positive feedback. All of this makes a great impression on your guest, which is powerful for network building, but even when you do it all PERFECTLY - you’re still not always going to get the shares you want.   Because you can’t control what is happening on other people’s promotional calendars, and what someone decides is interesting and valuable for their own audience.   But here’s the thing. An expert is an expert for a reason. They TALK about their area of expertise. A lot. Why would they share an interview that talks about the same things they’ve been publicly saying for YEARS to an audience that has heard it dozens of times? And to the point of their promotional calendar - experts and other entrepreneurs often have their calendars booked out months in advance for what they’re going to be sharing, talking about and promoting. A podcast interview they do for someone’s show isn’t always going to make the cut.  It’s not personal, it’s priorities.  Finally, let’s talk about audio-quality. If you have a guest that is regularly on highly produced podcasts, they’re not going to share something that isn’t on that level because it will detract from their brand. This IS NOT PERSONAL and it’s NOT YOUR FAULT - but it’s a reality of the situation.  It’s important to keep having guests on your podcast in perspective.   What’s new and interesting to *your* audience could well be old news to *theirs*, so it makes no sense for them to share it, especially if they're in the middle of a launch, or some other kind of promotion and it makes no sense to be upset about it. You got a great conversation with someone you can build a relationship with that you can deliver to the audience you are growing and nurturing.  That’s amazing.   Having guests isn’t a marketing strategy. It’s a content generation strategy. (Sometimes it’s also a lead generation or networking strategy.) Do your research and hone your interview technique to make the most compelling audio possible. Produce to the highest level you can. Make it as easy as possible for people to share, by tagging them, by giving them swipe, and by letting them know when they’re live. But after that, let it go. That brings me to your action step for the day. If you have guests on your podcast, are you doing everything you can to encourage sharing? Do an audit of your process and make sure you are sending swipe sharing materials, tagging your guest, and sending them personal messages about when their podcast is going live and what the response to it is!  Interested in getting a hand with your podcast? We can help!

Audience, for our purposes, is an umbrella term for everyone that reads, watches or listens to the content you produce. They might be your podcast subscribers, your blog readers, your followers on youtube, or your fans on social media - but they are REGULAR consumers of your content. Clients and customers can be a part of your audience (or not!) and audience members can BECOME clients and customers - but they are two different things and should be treated differently. In most cases, you’ll want your audience to contain as many potential clients and customers as possible - this will mean that you’re investing in lead generation, brand building and education as much as content that will help you establish thought leadership or SEO. Sometimes, however, it can make sense to build an audience who is at a different stage than most of your clients and customers, to help nurture and educate them to the point when they’ll be ready, or to have a pool of people who might be interested in a different kind of product or service offering. Let’s get into a few more characteristics of an audience. As much as possible, you should know who your audience is (or who you want them to be, if you’re just starting out) - and you identify them by creating an audience profile for EACH content platform you want to work with.  Start by looking at your existing customers - who are they? What do they have in common? What of those things they have in common makes them most likely to hire, or buy from you? The last thing you want to keep in mind is that they are probably already USING the content medium you’re working on. What does that mean? Well, if you build a following on YouTube, by creating, sharing and promoting your videos, you’re attracting audience members who are in the already-existing pool of “YouTube Users.” You can have different audiences for different platforms. Your audience on YouTube can look different than your blog audience, and you can share different things on each platform - different content, different kinds of engagement and different offers.  There should be broad similarities in your audience across all platforms so that you’re able to effectively repurpose and reuse your content - BUT, if you have a YouTube channel talking about beginner level content to grow your pool of future customers, your blog can be really geared towards people who are closer to “ready to buy” and deal with more sophisticated information, and your livestreams can be for your current clients to give them support, answer questions and deepen the relationship.  What content you put on what platform and for what reason is one of the strategic decisions you make as a content creator.  Your audience should also engage with your content, by commenting, sharing and converting to different platforms. Not everyone will - in fact, most probably won’t! Audience building is a numbers game, and the bigger an audience you HAVE, the more opportunity you have for sales and promotion. As you start to build your audience, and send content their way, you’ll get a sense of what your conversion numbers are likely to be - how many people will respond to a tweet, share a video, or listen to a podcast. Once you start collecting that kind of information about them, you’ll have tons of useful information for planning campaigns, promotions, and offers. Your action step for this week is to think about the different platforms you are on, or want to be on, and determine if you’re looking at the SAME audience for each, if they are slightly different for the different platforms, and what your goals are for each of those platforms. Want some help? Get in touch! 

There are 5 Steps to using a business podcast as a tool to land more clients, connect with more influencers, grow an audience, generate salable content and – absolutely write an authority-building book. Step 1. Activate your Existing Audience Always start with what you have. Right now that’s your existing audience, and the audience of those who know and like you enough to help out. (First guests, maybe?) A podcast launch is where everything begins – you let your community know what’s going on, get people excited and test the waters for your idea. After a short period of careful, strategic planning, you’ve got a small amount of work to do every week that will bring you huge returns. Step 2. Curate a Strategic Guest List There are lots of people who can tell you that your guests should be your clients. But will your audience appreciate listening to you have a pre-sales call with a lead week in week out for months on end? Not likely. Striking the balance between your ideal clients, experts in your field and other genuinely interesting people to create a top-quality show your listeners will love does 2 things: it means you’re actually creating something interesting, and you’re nurturing different kinds of relationships. It’s not all about sales, and it never will be. Influencers, experts and potential partners are all equally valuable. Step 3. Multiply Your Content A podcast episode should never be just a podcast episode. It needs to do double or triple duty in your business as educational materials, sales assets, book inspiration and content, social media content, and as a tool to leverage yourself. The key is to make sure you know at the planning stage what you’re going to be doing with the content you create during an interview, or in a solo episode. Plan in advance, then let the process take care of the rest. Step 4. Grow Your Influence As you podcast, you will be growing a new audience. Podcast downloads don’t always skyrocket from day one – but you know what’s great about podcast listeners? As long as you’re giving them great content – they’re loyal, and they remember what you tell them. Also, being someone who recommends as well as someone who teaches or provides a service cements your authority AND helps you improve and deepen your relationship with other influencers. Step 5. Launch Your Book When you have spent a year strategically creating awesome content and growing your personal network, then creating a polished, useful book is a breeze. And with your greatly expanded network of colleagues, leads, clients and connections who are personally invested in your content – launching it can be a massive list building opportunity – with a well-orchestrated partner launch, there is no reason not to add thousands to your community. Over the course of your podcast’s life – you will get some subscribers who are interested enough – and have good enough memories – to click through to your site and sign up for something – but you won’t get a hell of a lot. Not so with a book launch – that’s when your hard work and months spent creating compelling content pays off in terms of your own community growth. And… you have a book now. Congratulations! Because you planned content over the course of a year to inform and add to your book, it’s not going to be just a pile of transcripts or newsletters mashed together and called literature; it’s going to be a thorough exploration of your expertise. Want to talk about how this will work for you? Email Megan@OneStoneCreative.net and we’ll jump on a call, or visit Podcast to Book for more information.

Most course trainers will tell you that there is a virtually unlimited pool of potential students for your course. This may be technically true in the sense that there are over 7 billion people on the planet who exist and might someday buy a course. But let’s think about things a little more critically. Who will buy from you? How many people realistically 1) are in your target demographic, 2) are at a point in their lives or businesses where they are in the sweet spot between knowing they need a specific kind of information but where they can’t afford 1:1 help, or to hire something done for them, 3) are familiar with the concept of online courses, 4) are self-motivated enough to complete and make use of an online course, 5) know you and your brand well enough to confidently make the investment, 6) are in your sphere of influence – already in your community, or the community of people who will promote your course for you, 7) have the time to take a course on a specific topic? Rules of thumb for course creation Simply put, people are asking you for one. We mean several unique individuals, and different times, and UNPROMPTED by you saying some variant of “I wish you had a course that I could buy.” If that happens at least 5 times, from 5 different people – go ahead. Make a course.   Another good time to make a course is if you have a large pool of existing clients or other stakeholders who will get value out of taking it. An example of this might be a course on engaging professionally on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn for all of your social media management clients. Basically, if there are people who NEED information from you, a course can be a great way to give it to many of them at once. Finally, a free course (which still needs to be high quality!) can be a good way to build your email list or community. Note that this is FREE. This can be to educate the broader world about your subject matter area so that a percentage of them will ‘graduate’ to becoming clients, and to build out your list for sales of related products or services. (Think of an accounting online course offered by a bookkeeping software.) Three criteria to meet: 1) You have to be an expert. You’ve probably got this one down, honestly. 2) You have to have either weeks of available time to create content, or be able to afford thousands of dollars to have something professionally made, or have a big enough audience that likes you well enough to tolerate poor quality audio-video materials. (Yes, some big names make absolutely bargain-basement quality learning materials. This is because they have enough social capital that they do not need to demonstrate respect for their students by producing quality materials. It is 100% a lack of respect if they do not provide good quality learning materials.) 3) You have to have an audience big enough, that has enough disposable income that you can make a profit on a 1% conversion rate, or you have to have relationships with people who have a large audience and are willing to promote your course for an affiliate commission. (If your course is for internal use, or free, you can ignore this one.) Need some help? If you’re in the sweet spot for online courses, or you want to talk about some possible alternatives, book a call with Megan Dougherty, to figure out how to get your message out there in the most effective way for your business.

Podcasting is a really good way to grow your speaking career. Both having your own show and being a guest on other people's shows can help you stand out from the crowd, hone your message and make the connections you need to enhance your speaking career. How do we know? Well - a good number of our clients ARE speakers. And their podcast helps them grow their businesses. Let's talk about how. One: Perfecting your Delivery Because podcasting is such a consistent, regular event in your life it's the perfect testing ground for practicing your stories, experimenting with new techniques, and getting a feel for how audiences respond to different ways of communicating. It's your sandbox to connect with people who will care about your message, and test out what you want to say, so that when it comes time to present your keynote - you're more than ready. Two: The Proof is in the Podcast When you make pitches or submit applications, you need a robust library of content to point at. It should show you being interesting, authoritative, thought-provoking - whatever it is you're going for - and your podcast can be your proof. If you're not up for your own - then being a guest on other people's shows is a great place to begin. Check out our free guide on how to be a great podcast guest, or get a copy of How to Pitch Yourself as a Podcast Guest eBook and audiobook. Three: It's Really All Who You Know Who you know makes a big difference in the opportunities that are going to come your way, so making yourself known to the movers and shakers in your industry is a great way to make sure you're top of mind when it's time to make recommendations and review submissions.  Four: Cultivate Your Audience A podcast or podcast appearance is a wonderful way to give the people what they want: more of you! If you were making the decision on who to invite to speak at an industry-leading conference, would you pick the relative unknown or the popular thought leader with thousands and thousands of passionate fans? It's not a hard decision to make. Five: Diversify your Income Podcasting isn't typically revenue generating right out of the gate, growing an audience and growing credibility can take time. If you're a speaker with a business behind them, however, then your podcast becomes another channel for leads, and through which to promote your appearances, sell your products and even support the causes you believe in. It's never wise to have all of your eggs in one basket and diversifying the methods you use to make an income means that you'll be less dependent on each one. Access to your OWN audience through your OWN platform is priceless. Are you convinced yet? I hope so! Today’s action step is for current speakers or those who WANT to be speakers. Look at some popular speakers you admire, maybe they do Ted talks, maybe they keynote, maybe they have really great YouTube numbers - and see if they podcast either as a host or a guest. If they do, listen to a few episodes to hear how they convey their message, engage with their audience, and promote their speaking careers. Then, spend a little time considering whether or not a podcast, or being a guest on podcasts, might help you advance your career. Free Resources Check out our free guide on how to be a great podcast guest, or get a copy of How to Pitch Yourself as a Podcast Guest eBook and audiobook.

One of the first things we talk about with clients is their podcast launch. It can be as simple as you want, or as complex as you have time and resources for - we’ve seen it all! The things you MUST have are: a reason to podcast, an audio recording of your show, a show description, cover art, and a podcast host.  The audio recording is simply an edited recording of you and your guest, if you have one. A show description is a quick 100 or so word description of what your show is going to be about, and why people should listen. Cover art is the visual that is going to appear in podcast hosts - it should be 3000x3000 pixels, very easy to read, and reflective of your brand. The podcast host is the company you’ll be using to store your audio, that creates the RSS feed used by different podcast players like apple podcasts, i heart radio, player FM and so on.  But you might need a lot more: Show Structure Planning - this is a long discussion about what you want the goal of your show to be, and how you want it to be structured. An Audio Brand is also known as an intro, or bumper. It’s a pre-recorded section of you, or a voice actor giving a VERY brief intro to the show, usually over music. This will be added to every episode.  An Episode Runway - It is very, very wise to record at least a few weeks’ worth of episodes before you launch. A Trailer Episode - this is a very short episode that is basically an expansion on your show description.  Launch Team – an email list or segment of people who have committed to helping promote the show when it launches. You gather together a launch team, sometimes called a street team! Email Launch Campaign – Emails to your main email list announcing the upcoming podcast, and encouraging subscribing and sharing on the launch date.  Promotional Partners - these are other content creators, in your space who you have relationships with, who are willing and able to help you promote your new show. Often, they’ll also be the guests of your first couple of episodes! Social Media Sharing Campaign – images and text shares for different social media platforms that contain links to the show, and teaser content. These are for you to share yourself, and for your launch team. Swipe Kits - Swipe is pre-written content you create for your guests, launch team and promotional partners, so that all they have to do is copy, past and post to make sharing easy. You can include graphics, emails, coy for different social platforms - even videos.  So you see - there is a lot of flexibility here - and there isn’t a right or a wrong way to launch your podcast. The larger your audience, and the loftier your goals - the more elements you should include in your launch. If you’re newer in your business, or have hyper-specific goals for your show, you won’t need nearly this much! Your action step for this episode is to think about your own podcast launch, if you’re planning one. What would you like to include? What will make the best first impression for your audience? What do you have the time and resources to include? If you’d like a little help or support with a podcast launch, you can download the totally free Podcast Starter Kit, which you’ll find on the right sidebar.

The first, and biggest, problem is not understanding the platform. YouTube’s goal is to keep people on YouTube. And what they deem most important isn’t subscribers; it’s how many minutes people watch videos on their platform. People also tend to try to use ads on their videos too early. It doesn’t make sense to do when you’re only getting a few views for each video. The payout isn’t that good, and you’ll be better off building goodwill with your growing audience. And, no matter how your audience uses YouTube, there is a set of best practices to get more views. We’re talking how to use titles, thumbnails, descriptions, tags, playlists, cards, endscreens, and more. The second mistake people make is they lack basic AVL knowledge.  Let’s start with the A: good audio is expected. Smartphones might have megapixel cameras, the mics leave much to be desired. And you might have the best camera, but without a decent shotgun mic or lav mic, your audio will be subpar, making you sound amateur. Next up is video! Many YouTubers are doing just fine with their high quality smartphone recordings. So can you! And like mics, quality cameras are getting cheaper. And there’s one thing you can do that will make any camera look even better… and that is - Lighting. The L in AVL. And it can be as simple as standing in front of a window and recording yourself, letting the sunlight bathe you in its free-of-charge glory. There are also some nice lighting systems. You just need to find what works for you, your budget, and your schedule.  Once you’ve got great AVL, then you need to set up your shot correctly! Make sure your background isn’t distracting, and don’t put your face in the center of the screen. Instead, you want the top of your head nearly at the top of the video frame! It looks much better! And make eye contact with the camera. It gives the viewer the sense that you’re talking with them instead of at a point over their shoulder. The third mistake is winging it. Make sure your intro is solid. I start every podcast saying exactly what the podcast does for listeners, then a short hook on what the episode is about. Next, keep it quick and clean. YouTube likes 10-minute videos. Write an outline before you record to keep yourself on track, and if you go off on a tangent, stop. Pick up at a good place and then edit the rambles out in post. Remember, low energy kills your video. Be the excited version of you (like, don’t fake it), and you’ll be more likely to hold your viewers’ attention. The final mistake is expecting instant results Unless you already have an audience, or you have a network of people who have audiences, it’s going to take a while to build one up. You can’t get impatient. If you truly love the platform and use it to its best advantage, success will happen. It’s just a matter of time, paying attention to your audience, and using the tools YouTube provides. Your action step for today is… Really simple. Watch cat videos. If you want to succeed on YouTube, you need to see how other people are doing it, and overall, getting yourself familiar with the platform. Spend an evening or three treating YouTube as your main source of entertainment, learning, or whatever. Then head on over to the Creator Academy and learn how to leverage metadata.  Do you want a little help getting your own YouTube channel set up and going? Let’s talk! There are a lot of potholes we can help you avoid - beyond what we’ve covered in this episode. If you want to do YouTube the smart way and make the most of your time, check us out at OneStoneCreative.net! Resource YouTube Creators Academy 

Blogging and producing written content in a readable, free format in your online spaces can be very valuable. While not everyone enjoys climbing a wall of text, it’s still one of the most powerful forms of communication. There are a couple of different ways you can blog. Your writing can live on your own website, on a content platform like Medium, or on one of your social media accounts that allows for longer form content - Like LinkedIn or Facebook. There are pros and cons to each. Blogging on your own site Writing on your own site gives you the biggest boost in organic search and SEO, and it’s the place where it’s easiest for your readers to engage with more of your content, and learn more about you and your services. On the flip-side, unless you already have good traffic and an existing audience, it can feel a little bit like screaming into the void. Building traffic takes time.  Blogging on sites like Medium Writing for a platform like Medium has the benefit of a built-in discovery network, where readers on the platform are directed to your content - if it’s related to other things they’re reading, and Medium has a membership system where you can be paid for the content you write, based on how many people read it. It *is* playing in someone else’s backyard, however, so it’s not as easy to get someone to learn more about your business. This can be fine - and many people use a Medium installation connected to their website for all of their blogging.  Blogging on Social Media Blogging on social media isn’t terribly common - because the goal of a social media site is to keep people ON social media - but my goodness, is it ever easy to share and engage with content there! If your main goal for content is to connect directly with your readers, in almost real-time, then blogging on social might be something to consider. (We wouldn’t recommend that as your only written content strategy, however! As much as possible, you want reading to happen in a place you control, because if you’re playing in someone else’s backyard, they can get fussy and tell you to go home.) Getting traffic quickly A way to get traffic results a little more quickly is guest blogging - creating written content for other people’s sites. Think about the bloggers and websites you like in your industry, and see if they ever post guest content on their blogs. If so - pitch an article, and link back to your own online environments.  Other uses Writing is also a good way to test content – to help you organize your own ideas about it, and find out how different concepts or topics are received by your audience without the initial outlay of video, podcasting or creating courses. It’s also great material for repurposing! Once something is written - the ideas are out there and you can take bits and pieces of it to use in other pieces of content: your emails, your videos, your courses, your livestreams, your books - it’s pretty much endless. And that does it for today! We’ll continue to bring you great daily tips to build your authority and create smart, strategic content, so make sure to subscribe! Or sign up for a Friday 5-episode digest.

There are 3 main types of show notes  - Minimal, Bullet and Blog Style, with plenty of variations each. There is also one format that - as of this recording - works the best with the different podcast player apps. We’ll tell you what it is in a few minutes, because first, we’re going to talk about the TYPES of show notes, starting with the minimalist. Minimal show notes will usually have a short description of the content of the show, links to any resources mentioned, and info about the guest being interviewed - if there was one. There might also be a link to a transcript and one or two key moments. These are the quickest to put together, and you’ll often see them where a show is being produced by a solopreneur doing their production in house, or in shows where the main business goal of the podcast is networking and relationship building. In the first case, a host needs to prioritize relationship building and promotion with their podcast dedicated hours. In the second, if a business is podcasting so they can expand their professional network (which is it AMAZING for by the way), then investing a lot of resources in creating detailed show notes doesn’t make a lot of sense. Second, the bullet show notes are probably the most common. They have more written content than minimal show notes, but they aren’t as complete as blog style notes. They’ll take key points, ideas, questions and insights from the podcast, and write them as bullet points, with or without formatting or timestamps. The goal of each bullet is to give a compelling reason to listen and encourage people to engage with the content. Bullet style show notes are also great from a repurposing standpoint because many of the bullets will be very well suited to social media platforms. They take longer to put together, but they result in more listens, and more engagement, and do a little more for your SEO -- IF you’re putting them on your blog. Finally, we have blog style show notes. This is when you’ll have either a near transcription of the episode, or paragraphs of content about the show, and what it contains. Some people take it a step further and write a totally unique blog post expanding on one or more ideas from the episode - but that will usually be in addition to another style of show notes. Blog style show notes are far and away the best for enhancing your SEO - you can optimize for keywords, link to other content, and drive traffic to your opt-ins. But, they also take the longest to put together. It’s not about time-saving as much as it is batching your work. Instead of needing a blog post and a podcast with show notes that you create at different times throughout the week, you get your notes, post, and maybe socials and an email all done together. Now, that format that works best with the different podcast players - it’s blog style! Many players will strip out the formatting of your notes, so bullets don’t appear as you want them to. However, there is a functional limit of about 4000 characters - some players won’t display more than that, so if you have longer show notes, you’ll want to create different versions of your notes for submission to the players and your own site. Your action step for the day is to check out the episode pages of some of your favorite podcasts and see what style they’re using. See if you can guess why they made the choice they did and decide whether or not it gives YOU the kind of experience you want from their show. As for us, we write a script, then refine it for our site’s blog post, and naturally, the blog post has an embed from our podcast player. Check out how we do it at AuthorityBuildingContent.com/4.

You've probably heard that repurposing content is how you get the most mileage out of everything you create. In fact, we’ve probably said that a couple of times. But do you know the main difference between reusing and repurposing? Is there a chance you're doing it wrong? Reusing Vs. Repurposing But all too often, Re-USING is mistaken for Repurposing - and that isn’t the same thing at all. Reusing content is taking something you have created for one context and using it in another context without making any real changes. Repurposing is taking content you have created, and turning it into something new.  If you record a video for your YouTube Channel you might RE-USE it by uploading it to your Facebook group, including it in the member's area of your course for a bonus, or linking to it in emails to leads that you’re nurturing.  You might RE-PURPOSE the video by pulling the key bullet points out and using them in a blog post, or taking the main idea of the video and writing a twitter thread about them.  Re-using changes the context, and re-purposing changes the content. Both are good! But choosing when to do which is important, because the experience of your audience has to come first.  Here are some questions you should ask yourself when you’re looking at a piece of content and deciding how to re-use or repurpose it. What impact does the platform it was made for have? Here’s what that means. Let’s say you’ve created a YouTube video. The expectation for that content is that it’s easily shared, easy to click links to learn more and SEE - with their eyes - what you’re discussing. If you’re going to RE-USE it, it needs to be in a place where they can still see, share, and click, like Facebook. If you’re going to repurpose the video, you need to rework it for platforms where your audience might only be reading or listening, like social media or podcasts.  How much does the content need to be altered? There’s a big difference between a blog post and an Instagram story - but the same idea, facts, research, and even phrasing can be used in both. If content needs a lot of altering to work on a different platform - you’re looking at repurposing, not re-using.  What do I want people to do because of this content? Every piece of content needs to have a clear purpose - and that purpose will often be tied to the platform you’re creating it for. If you want your audience to do the same thing on different platforms, you can often re-use! An example might be an infographic that demonstrates a strategy. That infographic can be re-used in a video, on social media and in a blog post. But if you want your audiences on different platforms to do different things, you need to repurpose the content to fit. Say I want our social media followers to engage with us personally, and I want our Youtube subscribers to click through to our website. I will re-purpose the content I make for video to be more engaging on social media.  Always be mindful about how you’re repurposing and reusing. Doing one when you should be doing the other wastes your time, and more importantly, your audience’s time! It looks lazy, and laziness does not typically contribute to building authority, elevating your brand, or getting new clients.  Your action step for today is to look at a piece of content you’ve created and decide whether you should re-use it, or repurpose it! Feel free to find us on Twitter and let us know what you’re working on, or learn how we re-used this script! 

There are four main purposes for creating content: 1) Audience building and Engagement. 2) Relationship and Network Building, 3) Thought Leadership, and 4) Organic Reach and SEO. Any of these CAN lead to sales, but none of them have to. Audience Building and Engagement This is one of the most common reasons to get into content creation. You make the content, get it into the world, people see it and like it, and join your list or buy your stuff! If you’re starting from scratch, you'll be on the Audience part before the Engagement part – which means getting your content in front of as many people as possible. On the engagement side, you already have an audience and are giving them something to enjoy, learn from, and talk about. Now, Audience Building and Engagement is a good reason to create content. But if you don't have the audience, expect to invest a bit of time building it. This doesn’t make sense for all businesses. And that’s fine. There are other reasons to create content! Networking and Relationship Building This is where you create content that puts you directly in touch with other people, either during or after creation. Interview podcasts are a great example! You need to interview people to have episodes to air, and so you’re effectively using the podcast as a tool to open doors and meet people. You’ll see the same kind of effect in a round-up blog post, or when you create a virtual summit. Thought Leadership A lot of people want to be thought leaders. And you know what? A lot of people are. Being a thought leader in your content means that you have something new in an industry where things seem almost entrenched, slow to change, or on the wrong path. In other words, focusing on your own thoughts, opinions, knowledge and expertise in what you publish. Organic Reach and SEO People use search engines to find information – and a staggering amount of search requests are totally unique. That means no one has ever typed them into Google before.  But if you don't have content out there, then you'll never by found by people searching for you! When you have a lot of content, you’re *going* to get more search – but you’re also going to have resources for your clients when they have questions. Demonstrations of how well you know your area of expertise, and mountains of content to draw on when it comes time to repurpose content for new initiatives like books, courses and podcasts. Broadly speaking, most of your content should be in one of the first three categories, and also doing number 4 – SEO and Reach. It’s absolutely fine to shake it up, of course, or even use different channels for different purposes, but for the most part – pick a real goal, and stick with it. Which strategy is best for you? There are a lot of variables that go into this kind of decision – but the key takeaway is to be consistent with the purpose for the content on each channel. Your Action Step for this Episode is to think about your goals as a business. Are you looking to generate more business? Do you need to elevate your brand? Do you need better organic search? Do you have an audience craving more connection with you? Whatever your most immediate goal is - think about the kind of content that will help you achieve it! Make it easy to decide: If you like this episode and want some more details about how to choose the right content for YOUR business, check out this handy infographic we made to simplify which content is best for which revenue-generating goal!

The internet is awash with content. It’s hard to know what content you should make, WHY you should make it, and what to do with it once it's made! Welcome to the Authority Building Content podcast. We'll help you make smart choices about content so you can build authority for your brand, generate leads for your business, and connect with your audience. It's a new age of content creation. It's time to be smart and strategic.