Tag Archives: Tips

Prep for Your Online Radio Show Like a Pro: 10 Quick Tips

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quick-tips8In our ongoing effort to help BlogTalkRadio’s many talented online radio hosts better produce and promote their shows, we’ve developed a new Quick Tips series.

Available as a downloadable doc, the first edition in the series covers 10 helpful tips for preparing for your show.

Covered among the Quick Tips—complete with helpful “dos” and don’ts”—are such topics as:

—Choosing the best episode title, episode description and keywords.

—Determining your show schedule: The importance of having a consistent show schedule.

—Why a show intro is important, and how to create one.

—The benefits of creating a show outline.

—How to load up audio files for music, sound effects and pre-taped interviews.

—The importance of test shows.

—How to optimize sound quality.

Click here to download the BlogTalkRadio Quick Tips document.

And be sure to visit the BlogTalkRadio Learning Center for more helpful information on creating, producing and promoting your BlogTalkRadio show.

Host Tip of the Week: Profile Customization With Pics and Video

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hosttip-of-the-week1

CUSTOMIZE YOUR PAGE!

When hosting shows with BlogTalkRadio, what host doesn’t want their profile page to be unique, creative and indicative of their shows?

There are all kinds of cool things you can do to maximize your profile. Like adding pictures or video that can enhance your page, making it more visually stimulating, attractive, and interactive. Here are a few examples of what you can do to your page:
Example 1
Example 2

HOW TO DO IT
To customize your page and add video, pictures and/or html code you can go into your Settings link at the top left hand side of www.blogtalkradio.com (You must be logged in to do this). Once there, look to the gray box on the top left hand side and click on My Page. From there you have two places that you can use to add detail to your profile page.

1) In your Show Information Box. Look for the “Add Video or HTML Code” box. Any code that you enter in here will appear at the bottom of your Profile Page, beneath your Episodes on Demand, in a box called “Extras.”

2) In your Show Notes Box. Anything you add here will appear directly above your Episodes on Demand on your profile page in a box called “Show Notes”.

You can also add pictures and HTML to your various show descriptions.

USEFUL LINKS FOR ADDING HTML & IMAGES
Here is an informative and free website that explains the step by step input of HTML and what it all means: http://www.html.net/tutorials/html/

When you add pictures you will need to do so using HTML code. Many users take advantage of Photobucket to upload their own pictures and generate their own HTML code to use with them.

And, it is likely you are familiar with YouTube. You can use YouTube to upload and generate HTML code for your own videos that you have uploaded.

BRANDED PROFILE
If you are looking for evening more branding and customization, you may want to take a look at the Branded Profiles option on BlogTalkRadio. This BTR offered Premium Service is a great because it enables hosts to:

• Customize all show graphics on your page
• Own all the banners placement: You can use these to market your own services or to sell sponsorships and keep 100% of the revenue
• Stream content live and archived content on your site with a branded player
• And much more.

Here are a few examples of what your page could look like:
Branded Profile Example 1
Branded Profile Example 2

Click Here for an in depth look at the features and benefits of the Branded Profiles. If you want more information regarding branded profiles, contact us here.

Keep up the great work with your profiles!

BlogTalkRadio’s Host Tip of the Week: Picking a Show Time

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Happy Friday BlogTalkers!hosttip-of-the-week1

It is great to bring the weekly host tips back to you!

Many hosts have asked us “when is the best time is to host my show?”

There are a few important things to think about when choosing your show time for your online radio show.

Time Zones
When selecting the best time for your audience, you first should take into consideration the time zones. There are a lot of different time zones, but the most common are EST, CST and PST. If you are trying to attract a local audience your job will be easy as you just need to worry about your own time zone. If you are trying to reach a wider audience you will need to think about choosing a time that works for multiple time zones. For example, scheduling a show at 8:00am EST will likely not work for those on the West Coast where it is 5:00 am. Here is a great site for finding out what time it is in different areas.

Content and Audience
From there, gauge your content and your target audience. Do you host a show providing parenting advice to stay-at-home moms? Early afternoon might work for you. Have a sports show targeting male sports enthusiast? An evening during the week, or during the day on the weekend might be best. Try to put yourself in the shoes of your target audience. You can also research other shows on the network that have similar content and large followings. When are they hosting their shows? You probably don’t want to compete directly with their time slot, but looking at the general time frame when they are hosting their shows can be helpful.

You can also do some basic research with your target audience. Conduct an impromptu survey with family, friends and colleagues that fit your target demographic. Ask them what time would work best for them and see if you can identify any trends.

Keep in mind that there may be times when members of your audience are not close to their computers. Those people can dial in to listen to your show if it is airing during their commute, or can come back to the archive later. That is the great thing about the BlogTalkRadio platform, people can listen from anywhere, anytime, multiple ways. The content is always available via archive and can be downloaded by listeners so they can listen whenever they have a free moment.

Same Time Next Week
When building a listener base it is important to establish a consistent rhythm with your show. Try to keep it on the same days and at the same time each week so your audience knows when to expect it and can build it into their routine.

Good luck scheduling and have a great weekend!

Part Three: Using Social Media to Promote Your Show, Cinch

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hosttip-of-the-week1We’ve covered how to use some of the most popular tools online to aid promotion of your BlogTalkRadio show. Now, let’s turn to Cinch, a free service available from BlogTalkRadio, which uses audio recording and sharing technologies to get the word out online.

How does Cinch work?
With Cinch you can easily create and share audio, text and photo updates using your phone or computer. Cinch’s tools enable users to capture and report on the go, and add new dimensions to the usual text updates online. These updates can then be shared across the web, through Facebook, Twitter, CinchCast.com and more.

Below are some helpful tips on how to use Cinch to promote your online radio show:

TIP 1: Use Cinch for Advanced Promotion
Use Cinch to tell your listeners, veteran and prospective, about your next show by creating audio cinches and automatically pushing them to your Facebook and Twitter accounts. This streamlined process will take a few steps out of your promotional efforts.

You can easily share a short audio clip telling your fans about an upcoming guest, previewing what topics you will cover in your next broadcast, or other highlights that might entice them to participate. Audio cinches give your promotional messages a personal touch, and will draw in listeners. With your cinch promotion you can include text with show details and a photo of your guest or show logo.

The added benefit of Cinch is that you can also share your cinches on your website or blog using a simple embed code or by creating a custom cinch player in the Cinch Toolbox.

TIP 2: Use Cinch to Promote Past Shows
Many listeners on BlogTalkRadio consume content on demand rather than live, so promoting your show after it has aired is just as important as promoting beforehand. Use Cinch to leave a short audio message about your last show, or re-promote one of your favorite past interviews.

TIP 3: Enlist a Cinching Army
Cinches spread fast! Use Cinch to take advantage of the tried and true “word of mouth” method of promotion. Enlist your friends and family to share your cinches, and if so inclined, to record and share their own Cinch messages about your show onto their blogs and websites. So things go smoothly, approach family members and pals who have already embraced social networking first.

Using Cinch can increase the depth and versatility of your promotional efforts. With its ease of use, an automatic push to Twitter and Facebook, and its fast growing community, Cinch has proven an effective tool for reaching out, and bringing people back to your show time and time again.

We would love to hear your social media marketing ideas. Please share them in the comments below. Read our previous posts here.

Host Tip of the Week: How to Get Great Guests

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Many hosts have asked me this question: What is the secret to getting great guests? image_guestsAlthough hosts go about it many different ways, there are steps you can take to secure guests that you can be proud of, just by doing some extra work and being yourself. Charisma and persistence will take you a long way. BlogTalkRadio hosts who snag great guests did not always have connections, most had to learn this as well.

So, what steps should you take to get quality guests? Here are some tips and we encourage hosts who have found other methods to post their advice in the comments.

First, decide what type of guest you want and do a little research to find out who represents them. If your ideal guest is an author, his or her publishing company, as well as representation information, is often listed within the book (usually in the very front or back). If you are interested in a Hollywood celebrity, your best point of contact might be their PR representative. Find their contact information by searching the name of the celeb followed by PR, or establish a premium account with the Internet Movie Database. Premium accounts have access to the most accurate information (oh, and BlogTalkRadio is in no way affiliated with IMDB).

Next, make a list with every potential guest that comes to mind, from the easily accessible to the guest that seems out of reach.

Now, make contact! If you prefer to use email, here is an example of a format that works.

Dear (potential guest’s name),

My name is (your name here) from BlogTalkRadio.

I host a live, Internet Talk Radio show called (your show name here), and I would like to have you on my show to promote your new (book, screenplay, movie, cd). You can be a guest simply by using a telephone and a computer from anywhere in the world. You will have the potential to reach hundreds of thousands of listeners and I will promote your new (book, CD, movie, etc..) on my show page so my listeners can just click on it to purchase. We have hosted everyone from Obama to Brad Pitt. We would love to have you on the (name of show) sometime in the next few months. Let’s discuss a time. Is daytime or evening better? You can contact me at (phone number) or email me at (email address).

Sincerely,
(Your name)

Feel free to also use this basic approach over the phone. Be persistent!

Best of luck,
Christie Sweet