Captivate Insider from Captivate.fm

Hey and welcome to our first episode of 2023! Garry is joined by our SEO Manager Sarah McDowell to talk about using January as a test bed for that one thing you've been thinking about implementing or seeing other content creators doing throughout 2022. Let's get to it!This is Captivate Insider, a weekly update on what's happening here at Captivate, where we're actively helping the serious independent podcast creator save time, grow their podcast and monetize their content.Join me your host, Garry, the Head of Design here at Captivate where I'll be chatting with our team to get a behind-the-scenes look at what goes into designing and developing our features, our views on what's happening in and around podcasting PLUS grab some tips on using Captivate along the way.A new show lands every Wednesday in your preferred podcast app and if you're not using Captivate to grow your podcast, head over to captivate.fm to try us out totally free for 7 days. Enjoy, and happy podcasting.

A review of Courageous Content Live then onto our thoughts and recommendations on how you can start planning your podcast goals for next year now with some tried and tested do's and don'ts. This is Captivate Insider, a weekly update on what's happening here at Captivate, where we're actively helping the serious independent podcast creator save time, grow their podcast and monetize their content.Join me your host, Garry, the Head of Design here at Captivate where I'll be chatting with our team to get a behind-the-scenes look at what goes into designing and developing our features, our views on what's happening in and around podcasting PLUS grab some tips on using Captivate along the way.A new show lands every Wednesday in your preferred podcast app and if you're not using Captivate to grow your podcast, head over to captivate.fm to try us out totally free for 7 days. Enjoy, and happy podcasting.

Welcome to episode 30. I'm joined by our SEO Manager Sarah to chat about Google Podcasts Manager and how to use the data extracted for your own shows PLUS a run down on Captivate's platform updates and some podcast recommendations just in time for Halloween.This is Captivate Insider, a weekly update on what's happening here at Captivate, where we're actively helping the serious independent podcast creator save time, grow their podcast and monetize their content.Join me your host, Garry, the Head of Design here at Captivate where I'll be chatting with our team to get a behind-the-scenes look at what goes into designing and developing our features, our views on what's happening in and around podcasting PLUS grab some tips on using Captivate along the way.A new show lands every Wednesday in your preferred podcast app and if you're not using Captivate to grow your podcast, head over to captivate.fm to try us out totally free for 7 days. Enjoy, and happy podcasting.

Welcome to Episode 29! I'm joined once again by our developer Pierre as we talk about the design and technical process that went into our recent big update - AMIE 2.0. We've added some great features and functionality to how you use and manage dynamic content so we give you some insight into how we designed and built those along with how you can start using them today, for free, in your Captivate workflow. This is Captivate Insider, a weekly update on what's happening here at Captivate, where we're actively helping the serious independent podcast creator save time, grow their podcast and monetize their content. Join me your host, Garry, the Head of Design here at Captivate where I'll be chatting with our team to get a behind-the-scenes look at what goes into designing and developing our features, our views on what's happening in and around podcasting PLUS grab some tips on using Captivate along the way. A new show lands every Wednesday in your preferred podcast app and if you're not using Captivate to grow your podcast, head over to http://captivate.fm/ (captivate.fm) to try us out totally free for 7 days. Enjoy, and happy podcasting.

After a short bout of Covid, we're back and this week talking about Podcast Movement 2022 which wrapped just over a week ago. I'm joined by Sarah McDowell, our Head of SEO, to give you our thoughts on the conference and what we're looking forward to at next year's event. This is Captivate Insider, a weekly update on what's happening here at Captivate, where we're actively helping the serious independent podcast creator save time, grow their podcast and monetize their content. Join me your host, Garry, the Head of Design here at Captivate where I'll be chatting with our team to get a behind-the-scenes look at what goes into designing and developing our features, our views on what's happening in and around podcasting PLUS grab some tips on using Captivate along the way. A new show lands every Wednesday in your preferred podcast app and if you're not using Captivate to grow your podcast, head over to http://captivate.fm/ (captivate.fm) to try us out totally free for 7 days. Enjoy, and happy podcasting.

As Podcast Movement 2022 is just around the corner, I've grabbed our MD Mark Asquith who has attended PM many times, to give you a primer so you can get the most out of the event. Captivate will of course be there! We're sponsoring the New Attendees and New to Podcasting sessions and we're at booth 316 so come and say hi. This is Captivate Insider, a weekly update on what's happening here at Captivate, where we're actively helping the serious independent podcast creator save time, grow their podcast and monetize their content. Join me your host, Garry, the Head of Design here at Captivate where I'll be chatting with our team to get a behind-the-scenes look at what goes into designing and developing our features, our views on what's happening in and around podcasting PLUS grab some tips on using Captivate along the way. A new show lands every Wednesday in your preferred podcast app and if you're not using Captivate to grow your podcast, head over to http://captivate.fm/ (captivate.fm) to try us out totally free for 7 days. Enjoy, and happy podcasting.

Danny Brown joins me this week as we chat about engaging with your listeners to make sure they stick with you from early adopters or how to turn those lurkers into engaged supporters and advocates of your podcast. This is Captivate Insider, a weekly update on what's happening here at Captivate, where we're actively helping the serious independent podcast creator save time, grow their podcast and monetize their content. Join me your host, Garry, the Head of Design here at Captivate where I'll be chatting with our team to get a behind-the-scenes look at what goes into designing and developing our features, our views on what's happening in and around podcasting PLUS grab some tips on using Captivate along the way. A new show lands every Wednesday in your preferred podcast app and if you're not using Captivate to grow your podcast, head over to http://captivate.fm/ (captivate.fm) to try us out totally free for 7 days. Enjoy, and happy podcasting. Mentioned in this episode: https://podchat.ca/listen (Pod Chat) https://discord.com/ (Discord)

Being a guest on someone's podcast and being interviewed comes with similar feelings as when you're interviewing someone. This week, Garry and Sarah help you prepare and share some tips on putting your best foot forward so that you shine on any podcast. This is Captivate Insider, a weekly update on what's happening here at Captivate, where we're actively helping the serious independent podcast creator save time, grow their podcast and monetize their content. Join me your host, Garry, the Head of Design here at Captivate where I'll be chatting with our team to get a behind-the-scenes look at what goes into designing and developing our features, our views on what's happening in and around podcasting PLUS grab some tips on using Captivate along the way. A new show lands every Wednesday in your preferred podcast app and if you're not using Captivate to grow your podcast, head over to http://captivate.fm/ (captivate.fm) to try us out totally free for 7 days. Enjoy, and happy podcasting.

This week I'm joined by top man and developer Pierre once again as we chat about the benefits of having a website for your podcast, how easy it is to get up and running with our own Captivate Sites feature and how powerful it can be as you increase your reach and engagement with your listenership. This is Captivate Insider, a weekly update on what's happening here at Captivate, where we're actively helping the serious independent podcast creator save time, grow their podcast and monetize their content. Join me your host, Garry, the Head of Design here at Captivate where I'll be chatting with our team to get a behind-the-scenes look at what goes into designing and developing our features, our views on what's happening in and around podcasting PLUS grab some tips on using Captivate along the way. A new show lands every Wednesday in your preferred podcast app and if you're not using Captivate to grow your podcast, head over to http://captivate.fm/ (captivate.fm) to try us out totally free for 7 days. Enjoy, and happy podcasting.

We've just launched our new upgraded integration with Descript so this week we're joined by Danny Brown, who heads up our Podcast Experience Team, to talk about the benefits of transcribing your podcast and how to easily get this up and running with your own podcast here at Captivate. Check out the blog post mentioned with https://captivate.fm/podcast-tools-software/reviews/descript-for-podcasters-tutorial-everything-you-need-to-know (more detailed information on our new Descript integration.) This is Captivate Insider, a weekly update on what's happening here at Captivate, where we're actively helping the serious independent podcast creator save time, grow their podcast and monetize their content. Join me your host, Garry, the Head of Design here at Captivate where I'll be chatting with our team to get a behind-the-scenes look at what goes into designing and developing our features, our views on what's happening in and around podcasting PLUS grab some tips on using Captivate along the way. A new show lands every Wednesday in your preferred podcast app and if you're not using Captivate to grow your podcast, head over to http://captivate.fm/ (captivate.fm) to try us out totally free for 7 days. Enjoy, and happy podcasting.

This week we're joined by our SEO Manager, Sarah McDowell, and it's her first time on Captivate Insider after joining the Captivate Team a few months ago. We get an insight into her role, the awesome work she's been leading and a general chat on her podcast experience. Welcome, Sarah. This is Captivate Insider, a weekly update on what's happening here at Captivate, where we're actively helping the serious independent podcast creator save time, grow their podcast and monetize their content. Join me your host, Garry, the Head of Design here at Captivate where I'll be chatting with our team to get a behind the scenes look at what goes into designing and developing our features, our views on what's happening in and around podcasting PLUS grab some tips on using Captivate along the way. A new show lands every Wednesday in your preferred podcast app and if you're not using Captivate to grow your podcast, head over to http://captivate.fm/ (captivate.fm) to try us out totally free for 7 days. Enjoy, and happy podcasting.

This week I'm joined by our MD, Mark Asquith, to review the event we attended last week - The Podcast Show London 2022 with a recap on some of the talks, how the event was run and a couple of tips if you're thinking of attending a podcast or creator event yourself. This is Captivate Insider, a weekly update on what's happening here at Captivate, where we're actively helping the serious independent podcast creator save time, grow their podcast and monetize their content. Join me your host, Garry, the Head of Design here at Captivate where I'll be chatting with our team to get a behind the scenes look at what goes into designing and developing our features, our views on what's happening in and around podcasting PLUS grab some tips on using Captivate along the way. A new show lands every Wednesday in your preferred podcast app and if you're not using Captivate to grow your podcast, head over to http://captivate.fm/ (captivate.fm) to try us out totally free for 7 days. Enjoy, and happy podcasting.

Welcome to episode 20 and this week it's all about giving your podcast that professional edge when being viewed across the many potential marketing and monetisation platforms. Your podcast branding and design shouldn't stop with just cover art so I'm going to list out the most common places where you're design assets will be used so you're being perceived professionally. Links mentioned in this episode: https://socialsizes.io/ (Social Media Sizes 2022 + Templates) https://captivate.fm/how-to-start-a-podcast (How to Start a Podcast: Definitive, Jargon-Free Guide for 2021 | Captivate) https://podcasters.apple.com/support/896-artwork-requirements (Artwork requirements - Apple Podcasts for Creators) https://captivate.fm/blog/podcast-logos-cover-art-design (5 Do's and Don'ts for Knock-Out Podcast Logos and Cover Art | Captivate) This is Captivate Insider, a weekly update on what's happening here at Captivate, where we're actively helping the serious independent podcast creator save time, grow their podcast and monetize their content. Join me your host, Garry, the Head of Design here at Captivate where I'll be chatting with our team to get a behind the scenes look at what goes into designing and developing our features, our views on what's happening in and around podcasting PLUS grab some tips on using Captivate along the way. A new show lands every Wednesday in your preferred podcast app and if you're not using Captivate to grow your podcast, head over to http://captivate.fm/ (captivate.fm) to try us out totally free for 7 days. Enjoy, and happy podcasting.

I'm joined again this week by super-developer Pierre where we present our top 10 quick and actionable tips within Captivate's platform to get your podcast levelled up. This is Captivate Insider, a weekly update on what's happening here at Captivate. We're actively helping the serious independent podcast creator save time, grow their podcast and monetise their content. Join me your host, Garry, the Head of Design here at Captivate where I'll be chatting with our team to get a behind the scenes look at what goes into designing and developing our features, our views on what's happening in and around podcasting PLUS grab some tips on using Captivate along the way. A new show lands every Wednesday in your preferred podcast app and if you're not using Captivate to grow your podcast, head over to http://captivate.fm/ (captivate.fm) to try us out totally free for 7 days. Enjoy, and happy podcasting.

This week I've dragged our MD, Mark Asquith, back on to get his thoughts on Video Podcasts. With the recent announcement of Spotify's Achor adding video into their process the industry is talking about video as part of podcast content but should you look to adding this medium to your content strategy? This is Captivate Insider, a weekly update on what's happening here at Captivate, where we're actively helping the serious independent podcast creator save time, grow their podcast and monetize their content. Join me your host, Garry, the Head of Design here at Captivate where I'll be chatting with our team to get a behind the scenes look at what goes into designing and developing our features, our views on what's happening in and around podcasting PLUS grab some tips on using Captivate along the way. A new show lands every Wednesday in your preferred podcast app and if you're not using Captivate to grow your podcast, head over to http://captivate.fm/ (captivate.fm) to try us out totally free for 7 days. Enjoy, and happy podcasting.

For episode 17 Danny Brown, our Head of Podcaster Experience, joins us to talk all things post-production: editing, mastering and some recommendations on software PLUS a couple of great tools you can link to your Captivate account to save you time in post-production. You can find information on #Reviews4Good at Podchaser https://www.podchaser.com/articles/reviews4good/reviews4good-2022 (here) and on our own blog https://www.captivate.fm/news/charity/captivate-supports-podchasers-reviews4good-april-2022-raising-money-chefsforukraine (here). This is Captivate Insider, a weekly update on what's happening here at Captivate, where we're actively helping the serious independent podcast creator save time, grow their podcast and monetize their content. Join me your host, Garry, the Head of Design here at Captivate where I'll be chatting with our team to get a behind the scenes look at what goes into designing and developing our features, our views on what's happening in and around podcasting PLUS grab some tips on using Captivate along the way. A new show lands every Wednesday in your preferred podcast app and if you're not using Captivate to grow your podcast, head over to http://captivate.fm/ (captivate.fm) to try us out totally free for 7 days. Enjoy, and happy podcasting.

This week we're joined by Ben, from our User Experience team, for a chat on why honesty is always the best policy when dealing with our users and maintaining a high level of quality user experience regardless of user knowledge or issue. This is Captivate Insider, a weekly update on what's happening here at Captivate, where we're actively helping the serious independent podcast creator save time, grow their podcast and monetize their content. Join me your host, Garry, the Head of Design here at Captivate where I'll be chatting with our team to get a behind the scenes look at what goes into designing and developing our features, our views on what's happening in and around podcasting PLUS grab some tips on using Captivate along the way. A new show lands every Wednesday in your preferred podcast app and if you're not using Captivate to grow your podcast, head over to http://captivate.fm/ (captivate.fm) to try us out totally free for 7 days. Enjoy, and happy podcasting.

Welcome to episode 15 where this week I'm joined once again by top guy and developer Pierre to chat about our Guest Booking feature and how, like our other features, can cut down on your podcast production time. This is Captivate Insider, a weekly update on what's happening here at Captivate, where we're actively helping the serious independent podcast creator save time, grow their podcast and monetize their content. Join me your host, Garry, the Head of Design here at Captivate where I'll be chatting with our team to get a behind the scenes look at what goes into designing and developing our features, our views on what's happening in and around podcasting PLUS grab some tips on using Captivate along the way. A new show lands every Wednesday in your preferred podcast app and if you're not using Captivate to grow your podcast, head over to http://captivate.fm/ (captivate.fm) to try us out totally free for 7 days. Enjoy, and happy podcasting.

This week I'm joined by our MD, Mark Asquith, to learn about Captivate's early days when Mark and Kieran spent a lot of time attending various podcast conventions. Mark lays on us the importance of starting and nurturing relationships not just as a business within the podcast industry but as podcasters too, and the value it brings us as a result. This is Captivate Insider, a weekly update on what's happening here at Captivate, where we're actively helping the serious independent podcast creator save time, grow their podcast and monetize their content. Join me your host, Garry, the Head of Design here at Captivate where I'll be chatting with our team to get a behind the scenes look at what goes into designing and developing our features, our views on what's happening in and around podcasting PLUS grab some tips on using Captivate along the way. A new show lands every Wednesday in your preferred podcast app and if you're not using Captivate to grow your podcast, head over to http://captivate.fm/ (captivate.fm) to try us out totally free for 7 days. Enjoy, and happy podcasting.

As Head of Design at Captivate, my job is to deliver amazing User Experience design to our users which involves wearing a few hats and communicating with the rest of the team. Join me as I break down what design at Captivate entails and the thought process and ethos we employ to make sure our podcast users can easily use our tools to grow their podcasts. This is Captivate Insider, a weekly update on what's happening here at Captivate, where we're actively helping the serious independent podcast creator save time, grow their podcast and monetize their content. Join me your host, Garry, the Head of Design here at Captivate where I'll be chatting with our team to get a behind the scenes look at what goes into designing and developing our features, our views on what's happening in and around podcasting PLUS grab some tips on using Captivate along the way. A new show lands every Wednesday in your preferred podcast app and if you're not using Captivate to grow your podcast, head over to http://captivate.fm/ (captivate.fm) to try us out totally free for 7 days. Enjoy, and happy podcasting.

For episode 12 I'm joined once again by our super-dev Pierre to talk through working collaboratively with design and development, the importance of communication and how it's helped us ship top-class features to Captivate's users. This is Captivate Insider, a weekly update on what's happening here at Captivate, where we're actively helping the serious independent podcast creator save time, grow their podcast and monetize their content. Join me your host, Garry, the Head of Design here at Captivate where I'll be chatting with our team to get a behind the scenes look at what goes into designing and developing our features, our views on what's happening in and around podcasting PLUS grab some tips on using Captivate along the way. A new show lands every Wednesday in your preferred podcast app and if you're not using Captivate to grow your podcast, head over to http://captivate.fm/ (captivate.fm) to try us out totally free for 7 days. Enjoy, and happy podcasting.

We recently announced at our first Upfront live stream some great features and two of those were Episode Planning and Research Links. I've grabbed our MD, Mark, to dive deeper into this and look at some approaches to content planning, examples and tips on how to use these features in your workflow and some wider-industry chat about conferences and meetups. Captivate's inaugural https://youtu.be/3GQar8OXtXg (Upfront event.) This is Captivate Insider, a weekly update on what's happening here at Captivate, where we're actively helping the serious independent podcast creator save time, grow their podcast and monetize their content. Join me your host, Garry, the Head of Design here at Captivate where I'll be chatting with our team to get a behind the scenes look at what goes into designing and developing our features, our views on what's happening in and around podcasting PLUS grab some tips on using Captivate along the way. A new show lands every Wednesday in your preferred podcast app and if you're not using Captivate to grow your podcast, head over to http://captivate.fm/ (captivate.fm) to try us out totally free for 7 days. Enjoy, and happy podcasting.

Podcast show notes, a necessary step in the workflow which at times can appear as a real time-drain but it doesn't have to be so laborious. This week Danny, our Head of Podcaster Experience, jumps on to talk about show notes best practices, his experience of crafting show notes that work and tips on using our recently released dynamic Show Notes Builder so you can save time and focus on creating content. This is Captivate Insider, a weekly update on what's happening here at Captivate, where we're actively helping the serious independent podcast creator save time, grow their podcast and monetize their content. Join me your host, Garry, the Head of Design here at Captivate where I'll be chatting with our team to get a behind the scenes look at what goes into designing and developing our features, our views on what's happening in and around podcasting PLUS grab some tips on using Captivate along the way. A new show lands every Wednesday in your preferred podcast app and if you're not using Captivate to grow your podcast, head over to http://captivate.fm/ (captivate.fm) to try us out totally free for 7 days. Enjoy, and happy podcasting.

Welcome to episode 9, this week I'm joined by one of our developers, Pierre, to talk about some podcast basics to get nailed for either a new podcast or if you're giving your current show a spring clean and some of Captivate's settings to save you time in the long run. This is Captivate Insider, a weekly update on what's happening here at Captivate, where we're actively helping the serious independent podcast creator save time, grow their podcast and monetize their content. Join me your host, Garry, the Head of Design here at Captivate where I'll be chatting with our team to get a behind the scenes look at what goes into designing and developing our features, our views on what's happening in and around podcasting PLUS grab some tips on using Captivate along the way. A new show lands every Wednesday in your preferred podcast app and if you're not using Captivate to grow your podcast, head over to http://captivate.fm/ (captivate.fm) to try us out totally free for 7 days. Enjoy, and happy podcasting.

This week we're joined once again by our MD Mark Asquith as we take a look at the perception and details of growth within the industry, why some OG podcasters are getting a bit salty with newbies and some tips you can implement today to kick-start your podcast's growth. This is Captivate Insider, a weekly update on what's happening here at Captivate, where we're actively helping the serious independent podcast creator save time, grow their podcast and monetize their content. Join me your host, Garry, the Head of Design here at Captivate where I'll be chatting with our team to get a behind the scenes look at what goes into designing and developing our features, our views on what's happening in and around podcasting PLUS grab some tips on using Captivate along the way. A new show lands every Wednesday in your preferred podcast app and if you're not using Captivate to grow your podcast, head over to http://captivate.fm/ (captivate.fm) to try us out totally free for 7 days. Enjoy, and happy podcasting.

Episode 7 has dropped and this week we're joined by one of our devs, Pierre, to chat about the tech side of things within the podcast industry and the wider digital landscape plus a look to the future with things like the Podcasting 2.0 initiative. This is Captivate Insider, a weekly update on what's happening here at Captivate, where we're actively helping the serious independent podcast creator save time, grow their podcast and monetize their content. Join me your host, Garry, the Head of Design here at Captivate where I'll be chatting with our team to get a behind the scenes look at what goes into designing and developing our features, our views on what's happening in and around podcasting PLUS grab some tips on using Captivate along the way. A new show lands every Wednesday in your preferred podcast app and if you're not using Captivate to grow your podcast, head over to http://captivate.fm/ (captivate.fm) to try us out totally free for 7 days. Enjoy, and happy podcasting.

This week I'm joined by Ben who works in our Support and Experience Team. We chat about his day-to-day duties at Captivate, his experience with delighting our users, the importance of the community of Captivate users and some of the additional work Ben gets involved in. This is Captivate Insider, a weekly update on what's happening here at Captivate, where we're actively helping the serious independent podcast creator save time, grow their podcast and monetize their content. Join me your host, Garry, the Head of Design here at Captivate where I'll be chatting with our team to get a behind the scenes look at what goes into designing and developing our features, our views on what's happening in and around podcasting PLUS grab some tips on using Captivate along the way. A new show lands every Wednesday in your preferred podcast app and if you're not using Captivate to grow your podcast, head over to http://captivate.fm/ (captivate.fm) to try us out totally free for 7 days. Enjoy, and happy podcasting.

Join your host Garry with guest Mark, our MD of Captivate, to talk about yet another great feature that's hitting the platform this week - Show Notes Builder. This in-depth tool makes it super easy to create and manage the content within your show notes utilising templates, blocks and shortcodes. All of which are dynamic and allow users to pull in data from other areas of Captivate such as AMIE (our dynamic content engine) and guest booking information. This is Captivate Insider, a weekly update on what's happening here at Captivate, where we're actively helping the serious independent podcast creator save time, grow their podcast and monetize their content. Join me your host, Garry, the Head of Design here at Captivate where I'll be chatting with our team to get a behind the scenes look at what goes into designing and developing our features, our views on what's happening in and around podcasting PLUS grab some tips on using Captivate along the way. A new show lands every Wednesday in your preferred podcast app and if you're not using Captivate to grow your podcast, head over to http://captivate.fm/ (captivate.fm) to try us out totally free for 7 days. Enjoy, and happy podcasting.

What exactly is "podcaster experience"? In this week's episode, I've brought in Danny, our Head of Podcaster Support and Experience, to chat about consistently making our users happy, how support fits into the bigger picture and the best part of working in the support and experience team. This is Captivate Insider, a weekly update on what's happening here at Captivate, where we're actively helping the serious independent podcast creator save time, grow their podcast and monetize their content. Join me your host, Garry, the Head of Design here at Captivate where I'll be chatting with our team to get a behind the scenes look at what goes into designing and developing our features, our views on what's happening in and around podcasting PLUS grab some tips on using Captivate along the way. A new show lands every Wednesday in your preferred podcast app and if you're not using Captivate to grow your podcast, head over to http://captivate.fm/ (captivate.fm) to try us out totally free for 7 days. Enjoy, and happy podcasting.

Hello and welcome to episode 3 as we cap off our series dedicated to AMIE, our dynamic content engine, and chat once again with our co-founder and MD of Captivate Mark to find out his favourite part of the process, some tips on getting started with AMIE and a look to the future of monetisation within the industry. This is Captivate Insider, a weekly update on what's happening here at Captivate, where we're actively helping the serious independent podcast creator save time, grow their podcast and monetize their content. Join me your host, Garry, the Head of Design here at Captivate where I'll be chatting with our team to get a behind the scenes look at what goes into designing and developing our features, our views on what's happening in and around podcasting PLUS grab some tips on using Captivate along the way. A new show lands every Wednesday in your preferred podcast app and if you're not using Captivate to grow your podcast, head over to http://captivate.fm/ (captivate.fm) to try us out totally free for 7 days. Enjoy, and happy podcasting.

For a special bonus episode, I'm sitting down to chat with one of our co-founders, Mark Asquith, to chat about our acquisition by Global and the exciting future of Captivate. This is Captivate Insider, a weekly update on what's happening here at Captivate, where we're actively helping the serious independent podcast creator save time, grow their podcast and monetize their content. Join me your host, Garry, the Head of Design here at Captivate where I'll be chatting with our team to get a behind the scenes look at what goes into designing and developing our features, our views on what's happening in and around podcasting PLUS grab some tips on using Captivate along the way. A new show lands every Wednesday in your preferred podcast app and if you're not using Captivate to grow your podcast, head over to http://captivate.fm/ (captivate.fm) to try us out totally free for 7 days. Enjoy, and happy podcasting.

Welcome to the second part of our AMIE series. This week I'm talking all things technology and development with one of our amazing developers Pierre on the technical hurdles and big wins he encountered while building AMIE module one and beyond. This is Captivate Insider, a weekly update on what's happening here at Captivate, where we're actively helping the serious independent podcast creator save time, grow their podcast and monetize their content. Join me your host, Garry, the Head of Design here at Captivate where I'll be chatting with our team to get a behind the scenes look at what goes into designing and developing our features, our views on what's happening in and around podcasting PLUS grab some tips on using Captivate along the way. A new show lands every Wednesday in your preferred podcast app and if you're not using Captivate to grow your podcast, head over to http://captivate.fm/ (captivate.fm) to try us out totally free for 7 days. Enjoy, and happy podcasting.

In this first episode, we're chatting with our founders - CEO Mark Asquith and CTO Kieran McKeefery - to get their thoughts on how AMIE, our dynamic content engine, was conceived, its development, views on advertising in the industry plus what we can look forward to in 2022 and onwards for AMIE. This is Captivate Insider, a weekly update on what's happening here at Captivate, where we're actively helping the serious independent podcast creator save time, grow their podcast and monetize their content. Join me your host, Garry, the Head of Design here at Captivate where I'll be chatting with our team to get a behind the scenes look at what goes into designing and developing our features, our views on what's happening in and around podcasting PLUS grab some tips on using Captivate along the way. A new show lands every Wednesday in your preferred podcast app and if you're not using Captivate to grow your podcast, head over to http://captivate.fm (captivate.fm) to try us out totally free for 7 days. Enjoy, and happy podcasting.

This is Captivate Insider, a weekly update on what's happening here at Captivate, where we're actively helping the serious independent podcast creator save time, grow their podcast and monetize their content. Join me your host, Garry, the Head of Design here at Captivate where I'll be chatting with our team to get a behind the scenes look at what goes into designing and developing our features, our views on what's happening in and around podcasting PLUS grab some tips on using Captivate along the way. A new show lands every Wednesday in your preferred podcast app and if you're not using Captivate to grow your podcast, head over to https://captivate.fm (captivate.fm) to try us out totally free for 7 days. Enjoy, and happy podcasting.

It's weekly update time! This time, there's a brand new integration in the Distribution dashboard! Plus, we've improved our login screen to improve your experience and help you to find useful information a whole lot quicker! Player FM Integration - You can now submit your podcast to Player FM straight from the Head to the blog (https://www.captivate.fm/blog/a-new-player-fm-integration-and-a-login-screen-makeover/) to find out more about our new partner, its millions of active users and how to get listed on the platform. New Login Screen Makeover - She's here and she's gorgeous! We've given our login screen a polish for better user experience. You'll now be able to find useful and essential information a whole lot easier. Head to the login screen (https://my.captivate.fm/login) to check it out for yourself! As always, all relevant help articles (https://help.captivate.fm/en/) have been updated. That's it for this week!

Huge news! We’re proud to announce eight huge brand new upgrades to Captivate Sites™, making them the most powerful podcast websites from any hosting platform, included for free on every Captivate hosting plan.  Every single Captivate podcast website now has even greater build features, flexibility, functionality and marketing potential so that your podcasters can grow their shows on their terms. Here's everything today's feature includes: Two new additional site layouts, totalling three fully responsive website templates. Customizable episode order settings - display most recent or oldest episodes first. Pin an episode to the top of the page - perfect for trailers! Customize team biographies at show level - extremely useful for teams managing multiple podcasts. Email opt-in forms - capture emails for newsletters straight from your podcast website! Choose from direct integration with AWeber or insert an HTML snippet from another provider (which we'll make look pretty). Customize the copy of every single element to suit your podcast's messaging. Lead magnets - Captivate Sites™ now supports in-built opt-ins, allowing you to manage your lead magnet fully within Captivate and your email provider. As with sign up forms, you can use AWeber or insert a HTML snippet from your chosen provider. If you choose to upload an image alongside your email opt-in, Captivate will make your opt-in layout look great automatically, too! Website search functions - we've added a search bar to the site's top navigation. Listeners will now be able to satisfy their own search quickly without having to crawl through the entire feed. Captivate Sites™ now uses the API to display episodes, instead of the RSS feed - podcast feeds will now auto-paginate and will populate as many episodes as it needs to fill the page, improving site speed.

Well well well, we're back with more updates! This week has been largely a bug fixing week but we did do two things that might interest you, too... We integrated AdBarker prefix support directly into Captivate - thanks, Ryan Gray! We welcomed our brand new podcaster support expert to the support team. Welcome, Danny Brown! Danny has been a long-time Captivate user so if you're in our private Facebook community, I have no doubt that you'll know Danny already. Danny joins the team lead by Sam to continue to give our podcasters the very best podcasting experience, bar none! Hey also, we're thrilled to announce that we've been working with the Gerry Anderson network (creators of Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlett and so much more) on their stunning new show First Action Bureau which is an original, in-universe creation from Jamie Anderson and Nicholas Briggs and features an insane voice cast including Sacha Dawan, Nicola Walker and Patterson Joseph. ​, here (https://www.firstactionbureau.com/listen). Last up, we're announcing the first keynote speaker for our private Ready, Set, Grow! podcast marketing event tomorrow, too! This exclusive to Rebel Base Media podcasters using Captivate, Podcast Websites and Podcast Success Academy (growth-tier).

We also updated our Amazon Music/Audible integration with some more behind-the-scenes tweaks to make ingestion even easier for the Amazon team. FUN, EXCLUSIVE STUFF ALERT: Captivate is 1-year old on August 29th! We have something special happening! We debated whether to do a big public party or not but decided, for our first year, to instead honour those who have helped us the most through the first year: our podcasters like you. So, tomorrow (August 28th) we're going to be announcing something very special for our Captivate podcasters and you can join Mark at 12pm Eastern in the exclusive Facebook group (https://www.facebook.com/groups/rebelbasemedia) for the announcement.

Today we released a HUGE redesign of how Captivate's role management works, making it even easier to grant the right levels of access and create a custom setup that works perfectly for you and your team. You can now set very specific permissions for each show in your account, and for each person on your team. Plus, we released some background analytics tracking ready for a feature release in around a month - this is so that when we release the new analytics feature, you have some data in there already! As always, Sam and the podcaster experience team have updated all of the relevant help articles and tutorials, too!

We've been working hard with both the Gaana and the Podcorn teams to make life easier for podcasters so, to both teams, thank you! We also released our brand new podcaster resources section that includes our recommended design, outsourcing, music (intro, outro, etc) and editing tools - all from partners that we know, trust and use ourselves. Oh, we also updated the marketing section to allow you to use Google Podcast's new URL structure, too. Faaaancy.

Embeddable player multi-language support & YOU get a timestamp, YOU get a timestamp and YOU get a timestamp! Imagine if there was an embeddable podcast player that translated its interface into your listener's language. Well, now there is with Captivate's embeddable player! Plus, we make it easy to add clickable audio timestamps to any website and smash a bug like a Starship Trooper. Here's what we released today cats and kittens... Multi-language embeddable player support: Now the interface on your embeddable Captivate podcast player auto-translates itself to Dutch, Portuguese, Spanish, German, Polish, Italian and French depending on your listener's browser language setting. How fancy is that?! Clickable timestamps for you, and you, and you!: We released clickable timestamps to WordPress via Captivate Sync™ and Captivate Sites users a couple of weeks ago and today we've made it so that *anyone* can have them on their sites using a little bit of code in their site's header. How? Check out the help article here (https://help.captivate.fm/en/articles/4298394-clickable-timestamps-custom-installation). Unique listener bug: We had a few sporadic reports of the dashboard "unique listener" figure for 90-days being higher than the all-time number. That was weird. But we found an issue with one of our database queries and fixed it. Weirdness, be gone! Until next time :)

Today we released annual pricing for all podcasters using Captivate :) That means that Captivate now starts at $17 per month (paid annually) and that all plans have an annual plan available that saves you money on your podcast hosting. We also launched multi-currency options so that Captivate will detect USD, GBP or EUR pricing based on your location, meaning that if you're in the UK, for example, you won't pay extra if your bank charges for international payments (how is that still a thing in 2020?!) All of the new plans are available to new podcasters and to you as a podcaster already using Captivate. Just head to your account to switch to an annual plan. Oh, we've also tweaked the onboarding a little for new users so that we capture information that we need for VAT (to make your invoices more useful) and to help you decide how you want to be walked through your first minutes within Captivate. Saweeeeeet!

It's weekly update time!! This week we've introduced a few tweaks to keep giving you that gold-standard podcasting experience. Here's what's got better: MP4/M4A to MP3 auto-conversion: Although we all like to upload podcasts in mp3 format, sometimes podcasters upload an mp4 or m4a file to Captivate and Apple Podcasts, etc aren't so keen on it. So, we've made it so that Captivate now automatically converts mp4 and m4a files both on upload and on import from other podcast hosting platforms, to save you some hassle! It's nice to be nice. Upgrades to some admin reports: We love reports. Honestly. We love nothing more than a really nice spreadsheet. So, we've upgraded two of our internal reports that help us to help you - pretty boring, but really useful for us. Remember the clickable timestamps last week? That was more fun, wasn't it.

Introducing Clickable Timestamps! As a podcaster, one of the biggest goals that you have is to drive people through to your website. That's why today we're introducing automatic clickable timestamps to make it easier for your listeners to navigate your audio in just one click! All you need to do to add a clickable timestamp to your podcast show notes is to type a timestamp in the following format: (03:41) - Example 04:26 10:31 etc... Once you publish your episode, Captivate Sites or Captivate Sync™ will automatically turn those timestamps into clickable links that will take the listener to that point in your embedded Captivate podcast player. Magic! Don't worry, if you type an invalid timestamp in (that doesn't exist, for example), Captivate is smart enough to know that it's not a valid one and won't turn it into a link.

This week it's all about showing love to Captivate Sync™ and our wonderful WordPress users - we have feature additions, bug fixes and code changes to lighten the load even more. Episode-specific artwork upload now uses the WordPress media library for processing, providing better error handling of erroneous dimensions, etc. Fixed a minor bug that popped up now and then when an episode status is different between Captivate and Captivate Sync™. We’ll now alert you if there is something wrong with your MP3 file when uploading via Captivate Sync™. On new installations of Captivate Sync™, sync will now run every 10 minutes make sure all episodes are swept up nicely. Fixed an intermittent issue with episode date and timezones. You can now add a custom WordPress excerpt per episode in Captivate Sync™. Shiny shiny. We’ve also done a full code sweep and refactored lots of code to make things even faster. Love a good clear out! Sweet, right? Right? Right! See you next week!

It's weekly update time!! As always, we've worked hard to listen to what you'd love to see in Captivate and have put together the latest release as follows... Updated playlist player for seasonal podcasts: For you beautiful seasonal podcasters, we've made the Captivate embeddable playlist podcast player most recent seasons and episodes first and made it even easier to navigate for listeners. It's pretty nifty, actually! Expanded the use of automatic Apple banners on Captivate powered podcast websites: You know those fancy little banners that you see at the top of websites that send you to the app store or Apple Podcasts? Yeah? Well, Captivate sites automagically includes them on your Captivate powered podcast website so that visitors have one-click access to your show in Apple Podcasts from their device. Also pretty nifty! All relevant help articles have been updated to reflect these changes.

Introducing Collections, Curated Podcast Playlists that Your Listeners Love, Expertly Crafted By You! We just released a unique feature that lets you curate playlists with custom embeddable players and their own RSS feeds that you can use to educate, entertain and expand your podcast audience. The "Collections" feature can be found on the right side menu of your Captivate account. It is the perfect way to make your back catalogue more accessible and to increase listenership of your podcast through curation and collection of related episodes. We also put together three creative and really powerful ways to use the "Collections" feature, here (https://www.captivate.fm/blog/use-captivates-curated-collections-to-entertain-educate-and-expand-your-audience/) .

It's weekly update time!! As always, we've worked hard to listen to what you'd love to see in Captivate and have put together the latest release as follows... Switch show cover art on and off: As part of your advanced player customization options you can now decide whether you want to display your podcast cover art on your player. Just another way to make your player look and feel how you want it to. Head to your player settings for a closer look.  (https://youtu.be/i9CEjz6v1bU)  There are often times when you need to say something that is time sensitive, whether that is a holiday message, an announcement or something important that you need to tell your audience but that isn’t always something that needs to stay in your podcast RSS feed forever. It’s something I’ve needed, that’s for sure – so, we built it! From today, all Captivate podcasters can set an episode to “expire” from their RSS feed and thus, the podcast directories on a specific date and time. The time settings respect your Captivate timezone settings and each episode with this setting applied is clearly visible within your Captivate episode listing. Captivate embeddable podcast player (https://www.captivate.fm/blog/advanced-embeddable-podcast-player-customizations-more)  and so, today we also launched the ability to exclude podcast episodes from your RSS feed at your leisure – nice! All relevant help articles have been updated to reflect these changes.

It's weekly update time!! As always, we've worked hard to listen to what you'd love to see in Captivate and have put together the latest release as follows... Advanced player customization options: We're seeing podcasters all over the world using the Captivate player within their marketing stack. Often, that means that the player is integrated into a current website using Captivate Sync™ or via a direct embed. We've made it easy to control every single aspect of the interaction ability of a listener using the embeddable player by giving you the option to decide what you'd like your player to show to a listener. Head to your player settings for a look see. Thanks to Daniel J. Lewis! Captivate Sites social updates: We now show all social links entered in your personal Captivate profile within the bio section of your Captivate powered podcast website. We've also shifted from two additional external links and now will display one link, but with a custom label for the link. We force the update to your website whenever you save your profile. Magic! Not really... CODE! Added IAB Verified logo to sponsor kits: Following last week's announcement that Captivate is now IAB Certified (awww yeah!) we've added the IAB verified seal logo to your sponsor kit so that potential sponsors can see that your podcast analytics are verified accurate. Shazam!

As the podcast industry continues to develop and evolve, the one thing that we are dedicated to as a podcast hosting platform is of course, the accuracy of your podcast analytics.  We are passionate about getting closer to the people listening, not just the number of file downloads that your podcast receives and that’s why, Captivate is delighted to continue its user-focused push to become the world's best podcast hosting platform by announcing today that the platform is now IAB Tech Lab Certified! Awesome!  Check out the full details over on the Captivate blog (https://www.captivate.fm/blog/iab-certification/) .

We're always working hard to help you to grow your podcast. But, as podcasters we're a little addicted to measuring downloads when really, we'd love to be able measure people who listen to our show.  So, we've just introduced "Unique Listener Tracking" to your Captivate analytics as a free upgrade to all Captivate podcasters! Right now, in your Captivate analytics area you'll see a new section called Audience Overview. Within this section you'll now be able to see the following unique listener data points: Unique listeners today Unique listeners yesterday Unique listeners over the last 7 days Unique listeners over the last 28 days Unique listeners over the last 90 days All-time unique listeners This data is aggregated as: A unique listener is defined as a listener from the same IP address and the same device within the presented timeframe. This is a way of estimating the number of people downloading your show. This is based on the IAB v2 guidelines. This is part one of an analytics upgrade aiming to make it easier to estimate your true audience size and we're hosting a live webinar on this within our private, Rebel Base Media podcaster group over on Facebook next week to dig even deeper into this. We've also added "Last updated" information to the top right of your analytics screen and your main Captivate dashboard so that you can see the last time we updated your data for you. Pretty sweet, right?!