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Last time, we discussed the most basic facts of podcasting. Now, it’s time to start getting into the nitty-gritty of exactly how you do it.

Equipment

Obviously, the most basic requirements for podcasting are a microphone and recording software. While some will tell you to invest in a top-quality microphone from the outset, I would suggest a cheaper version to begin with, such as you might find in the computer section at Wal-Mart or Target…a headset model intended for voice chat. Once you get a few podcasts under your belt, you’ll probably want to upgrade your mic to a better model. A warning, though…shopping for “just the right microphone” can become addictive, and the highest-quality broadcast-level mics can cost thousands of dollars.

For recording software, again there are many options, with some costing hundreds of dollars. However, to get your feet wet, it’s perfectly acceptable to start out with the free Audacity software, which will do the job at no cost.

Recording

And now, the moment of truth. You have your microphone, you have your recording software installed, and you’re ready to go. Now what?!? This question, at least, has a very simple answer: record something. If you’ve never done this before, anything will do. Read tonight’s T.V. Listings, your shopping list, yell at the kids…your purpose at this point is to get used to your recording software. However, once you’ve made your first recording, you’ll have two questions which I’ll now answer for you.

● Yes, you really do sound like that.
● No, that does sound like you.

No one ever likes the sound of their own voice when listening back to it. That’s the first thing everyone runs up against. You can work on your voice if you like, but if you try to sound like “those radio guys”, you’ll wind up sounding phony, fake and (at worst) like you’re doing a bad parody of “those radio guys”. Just be yourself. Remember…you’re not recording a podcast, you’re talking to a friend….imagine your best friend sitting in front of you. Talk to them, not “the listeners”. No matter how many subscribers you eventually wind up with for your podcast, it’s still a one-on-one medium. You are talking to the person listening to your podcast…singular. Now, try it again.

Yes, I know…you still hate the way you sound. Welcome to podcasting! And remember, if voice quality was the key to success in broadcasting (which is all podcasting is…delayed broadcasting), then Casey Kasem would be selling used cars in Poughkeepsie.

Okay…you’ve got things set up, and you’re slowly starting to realize you don’t sound like Don LeFontaine. Actually, that’s great! The more you sound like “you”, the more successful your podcast will be.

Practice recording and sounding natural, and next time we’ll discuss “But what do I say?!?”…it’s both easier and harder than you might think.

If you want to know more about podcasting and would like to discuss it click here.

I’m going to introduce you to a new advertising network I found recently that I’ve fallen in love with! The network I’m introducing to you is called “Project Wonderful“.

Introduction to Project Wonderful

Project Wonderful is a new type of network that let’s you choose any type of ad format imaginable and sell the space to whomever has the highest bid that you allow at daily intervals. That’s basically the gist of it. Previously most blogs that wanted to do advertising but didn’t get many uniques would have a hard time selling site-wides unless it was blatantly for PR reasons. Now with Project Wonderful you can sell your space for what it’s worth. If you you sell say a 125X125 banner spot for ~$.20 a day that’s ~6$ a month; not a lot but definitely the difference between breaking even on your blog or paying the hosting yourself. It’s also in my opinion a brilliant way to deliver direct advertising in a search engine friendly widget. By search engine friendly I mean you won’t be passing or receiving any PR from those you’re advertising with.

That’s a small example but ultimately it’s you the owner of the site that controls how much it makes. You can opt for 1 banner of any size and have people bid it up or you can put a few boxes out and harvest the daily money from each. Currently at Bloggeries Forum I’m using one box; I put it up yesterday and it’s already up to $.30 a day with 10 interested bidders. I’m very interested to see where this will go over the next few weeks and months because most people have NO CLUE about this
service yet; did you?

Purchasing Ads

When purchasing ad space you can upload funds via Paypal which is incredibly convenient for myself and I’m sure most purely digital entrepreneurs a well. No need to load it on a personal credit card; it comes right out of paypal! Also when purchasing advertising you can bid in increments of $.10 at a time even though I’m currently a high bid on about 10-20 places; many of them only $.01-$.03 a day!! I mean this whole advertising campaign that I’m running costs me about ~$.33 a day! That’s ~1/5th the price of a Large coffee at a reasonably priced chain like Tim Horton’s, Krispy Kreme etc… When purchasing ad space it also let’s you know how many page views the blog/site gets on average and how many today which is EXTREMELY helpful and choosing whom to advertise with. I’m looking currently at sites with over ~300 page views a day and less than $0.05.

This project is wonderful but I think the time to get really cheap ads is NOW; once and trust me I believe this WILL become mainstream ads will go to what they belong at as supply and demand even out with larger numbers of advertisers and publishers. I spent about 2 hours last night buying ads and will do the same. If I can spend $20-30 a month and appear on dozens of blogs… Not too shabby!

Selling Ads

Selling ad space is as simple as putting the widget on your blog and checking your email for bids. You’ll get people bidding $0.00 right away so if you don’t want to deal with that just put a reserve. I caution you though; if you’re putting a reserve make it super low; I see a lot of blogs that get next to no traffic saying unless I make $0.40 a day it’s not worth it. Sorry
but with the current supply you’ll most likely get NO bids and say Project wonderful isn’t so wonderful. I recommend just letting people get on there and the market will even itself out. My widget has been online for less than 1 day and as already mentioned has seen some bidding.

You can opt to automatically accept new advertisers; have to approve each bid or allow them to bid as much as they want once approved. I opt for the last suggestion as once an advertiser is approved I want them to bid as much and as often as possible; why not!? The only reason I don’t have automatic is because I want to make sure the content is always child safe.

At the present time I have no idea how many advertisers are using the service but there are thousands and some blogs even have bids as high as $10 a day… Imagine having 4 boxes and making ~$40 a day from your blog without having to worry about PR issues etc? Basically this is opening the door to most online sites to make good money; all you need to do as a publisher is write quality content that gets people visiting; if you can do that I’m sure you’ll receive lot’s of bids and agree that project wonderful truly is wonderful. I just wish this came out months ago!

The Staff

The staff has to approve your account manually so I recommend you signup asap so your account will be ready when you finally decide to install the widget or widgets on your blog. Also I heard they don’t work weekends or holidays so don’t signup on Friday at 5PM like I did!

Conclusions

I urge you to live a little and throw $5 into your Project Wonderful account via paypal; it’s fun and productive. I just checked my stats and I signed up for advertisers late last night at about midnight; while I was sleeping I got 9 unique clicks from 450 page views at a total advertising cost of ~0.10-0.15$! Normally in the mornings my forum has a lower count from the at midnight inactive users being removed from the list; not this time so I’m assuming a few converted. Not bad for a dime during sleepy time.

Pepperjam: A Review

Affiliate marketing can be one of the most profitable ways to monetize your website or blog…usually second only to “direct sale” ads (where you and the sponsor communicate directly on the sale, with no network “middleman”). As with most monetization options, with affiliate marketing what you get out of it is in direct proportion to what you put into it in terms of time and effort, but with some networks you start the race with one foot in a bucket, no trainer and a blindfold on. Click here to register as a PepperJam Affiliate.

Today I’ll be looking at what is fast becoming one of the major affiliate marketing networks (primarily because they’re trying to minimize some of the problems with affiliate networks), PepperJam.

The System

When you see the system Pepperjam has in place for advertisers and website owners, you start to realize that Pepperjam does offer several improvements over a traditional affiliate marketing system. The highlight of these differences is the way the ads are delivered; with most affiliate networks, you select a product to market on your website, then place their ad on your site. Pepperjam, however, uses a proprietary system which allows for much more control over your adspace. In addition to the usual banner-ad style units, the PepperjamAds functionality allows you to build a custom ad for placement on your website, and also allows you to target your niche. Want an ad with four spots in it, all of which deal with financial advice? No problem. Simply log into your Pepperjam account and set it up. Just like that, you’re promoting four different affiliate programs in the same space you would have a Google Adsense box.

Also, one of the watchwords that Pepperjam is built around is “transparency”, or the ability of both affiliates and advertisers to see exactly what the other is doing for them. Pepperjam has a fairly detailed statistics system in place, allowing you to see exactly what’s working on your site and what’s not. Also, if you have any questions, you can chat with your affiliate program manager inside the Pepperjam interface, which allows misunderstandings to be cleared up with a minimum of trouble.

Show Me The Money

As I said at the beginning, affiliate marketing can be one of the most profitable methods of monetizing your website or blog, and Pepperjam makes it potentially more profitable than before. With the ability to target several affiliates without cluttering your site up with twenty ads, it gives you a much broader spectrum of offers for visitors to your site while reducing the ad clutter they have to be bombarded with.

Another thing that will ad to your potential earnings is the lineup of advertisers to choose from. With names like Baby Phat, Blockbuster and Oscar de la Renta, you can avoid the more traditional “Earn money now!” network marketing programs and promote programs with instant name-recognition. This alone sets Pepperjam apart from other affiliate marketing programs.

There are two types of payouts offered (depending on the advertiser you choose to promote), either a percentage commission on sales or CPA (Cost Per Action), which pay to the affiliate when the desired action is taken by someone that clicks on the advertiser’s ad on your site, whether it be signing up for a newsletter or mailing list, or becoming a member of the advertiser’s program or site.

In addition to all of this, Pepperjam also has its own affiliate program, paying you for every person you refer. With Pepperjam’s recent relaunch, this could add a decent amount to your earnings.

What’s The Catch?

There are only a few hitches in the program. While Pepperjam pays bi-monthly, your only two choices for payment at the moment are via check or direct deposit. That’s right…no PayPal, etc. Aside from that one quibble, the program looks solid.

The Conclusion

With a lineup of top-name advertisers to choose from, more frequent payments for affiliates, and the ability to have access to an affiliate marketing version of Adsense, Pepperjam looks like a winner. Just remember…to make the “big money” with affiliate marketing, it takes work, no matter what program you’re using.