With social media companies constantly changing the rules, it becomes more and more important to invest in your own website. To start that process, you need your own domain name, but why is having a domain name important? 

Persons are able to find you

The modern-day buyer operates differently compared to in the former days. This is where ads use to drive consumer behaviour. These days, persons go on google to do a search for solutions to their problems. The results they find help them decide what to buy, or who to hire. You can be a part of that conversation. 

Say someone is looking to buy a new computer or cellphone. In such cases, they search for reviews of different options, read about the features and then decide what they are going to buy, then buy it. 

If you sell computers, persons can find a review that you did on your business website, and find you when they google computers. It works the same way as the yellow pages. The difference is, you have more space to talk about why you are different through the content on your website. If you don’t have a domain name eg: yourbusinessname.com then persons looking for computers won’t know you exist. 

Your name differentiates your brand from the competition

Toyota, Mercedes Benz, Dell are all names of well-known brands. If you ask anybody about their favourite cellphone, some will say Samsung, others will say iPhone. These are all brands. Like it or not, your name is a brand, and the name of your business is a brand. 

A brand represents a certain quality in the mind of the customer. When they think of something a brand relating to that comes to mind because they know what they are going to get. When you invest in building your brand through your domain name and online marketing, it will make it easier to grow your business from your website. It’s your sign online. That’s your real estate. 

It’s part of your marketing

When building a website one of the most important steps is buying a domain name. When you are promoting your business whether through social media, podcast, radio or TV  keep in, and you need a location to send them. If someone asks, how can I find more information about you what do you tell them? Your domain name of course. When they go to your website they will find all your marketing information,  and be in a position to make a buying decision.

Your domain name can be part of your call to action. Example visit mydomain.com for a free information kit. This will further help you sell your services while you are not there.

So as you can see, building a website and having your own domain , can help you automate your marketing, ] making it easier for persons to find you and build your brand.

Every podcast should have a website. Here’s why. This is your home base for all your marketing. Now with that said, the question is, what are the options for creating a website, and what is the cost to do so? With all the tools that are available, it’s confusing when choosing the right tools. Luckily they are cost-effective tools you can use to create your website.

Self -Hosted vs A  website Building Software

First up you have to understand the categories available to create a website for your podcast. So one is the self-hosted and the other, a dedicated website building platform. 

Self-hosted solutions allow you to download a content management system for you to install on your web hosting server. You then choose a theme that matches the look and feel of what you want for your site. you customize your site from there. This option gives you more control over your site. You manage the backend, and if something goes wrong you have to fix it. Of course, the hosting company’s support staff will be there to help you. 

The option of the Website Building platform is where companies offer you a full website hosted on their system for a monthly fee. You have access to modify the look of your site. They handle all the technicalities of the management of the website. they also give you a drag and drop solution for you to customise the site. 

How it works is that you sign up for an account, similar to what you do on social media, and you pay the fee and start customizing your site. This can be done in a few simple steps. You add a custom domain name and you’re done. What you have to do next, is add content.

Self-hosting options 

Now that you have an idea about the different website creation tool, what’s next? If you decide to go with a self-hosting option there are multiple content management systems available. Hee is a few to look to:

1. WordPress
2. Joomla
3. Ghost
4. Drupal

Out of all 4 WordPress is the most popular with over 30 per cent of the web powered by this platform. It has a large community and support system so you will find help for WordPress very quickly. You can find thousands of themes online both free and paid with lots of tools to customize the look and feel of your website. With premium themes, you will get additional design options. You will also need to find a web host for your site. 

Website Building Software options

 If you decide to go with the platform options there are multiple choices to work with:

1. Squarespace
2. WordPress.com
3. Wix
4. Weebly
5. Tumblr

These solutions are equally popular with different price points.  Squarespace and wordpress.com are at the top of the list. They offer drog and drop solutions. THis is so in the case of Squarespace. Weebly and Wix. If you choose a theme and add the content from there. You pay a subscription and you have nothing else to worry about, other than managing the content. 

After all your efforts producing your show for uploading, so that your listeners can enjoy, you also need a place that you can call your own. At this central place, people can find out more about who you are This defined space is a  hub to distribute your show and information. For these reasons. having a website is so important. 

A hub to distribute your show

using social media as your traffic source is good to reach your buyers directly. However, these platforms constantly change rules, and so, becomes more difficult to reach all your followers. Once you’ve built a solid website you can control all the messaging, and have an organised space for persons to find out who you are and what you do.

You can distribute all the show notes and audio directly from your blog to, all other podcasting platforms, and have another channel where people can find your stuff.

You can host other pages with special offers

Another reason for having a website is to have a space to host your offers through landing pages. This can be valuable to your marketing system  to guide your listeners to take the next step. You can’t create landing pages on facebook without having other distractions for people to click away. 

This is a good thing because you don’t want to become too dependent on Facebook to market your business. However, you can use it as a traffic source. Meaning a way to build awareness and connect with your customers and potential customers. This also makes it a tool in your marketing system.

A place where listeners can learn more about you 

A website is important for your podcast so that you can tell your listeners about you, and how you can help them. After hearing your show, they may want to check out the products or services you offer. They may not be sure whether you are the right person .this is where them going to your website prooves useful.

What information will they find when they visit your site? This information might be testimonials or a breakdown of your different offers. Each offer would be on its own page with a full explanation as to what listeners would get if they buy and how they would benefit. They would also want to know more about your background, to further find out if they can trust you. 

That’s the reason why you have an about me page to further tell website visitors why you are the best person to solve their problem. By the time they interact with you, they are already sold. 

The Wrap

These are 3 reasons why having a website for your podcast is important. It’s your distribution hub, a place to tell listeners about you and how you can help them using landing pages.

If you want to see tangible results from your podcast, a call to action is important. You want to get your audience to do something to take them to the next step in your marketing funnel, but what do you say to them? Well, that’s what this article is about. 

Before we get into what to say, you first have to decide what type of offer you’re going to give to your listeners of specific episodes. there are two kinds, hard offer, and soft offer.

 Robert Bly in his book “How to create irresistible offer” explain these in detail. 

The Hard offers aim is to get a sale right now. Your goal is to create a bundle package that your listeners can’t refuse. These offers are good when people are ready to buy your product or service. 

Soft offers are a bit different and aim to get listeners to ask for more information or join your email list. This is great for persons who are not ready to buy but want to hear more from you. once they join, you can send them more marketing information later. 

So which one of these offers should you use for your show? That answer may vary. The reason is, you have the flexibility to adjust the offer to the content, and that’s important. Not everyone will be ready to buy, so you might have to put out a sales offer, or do a campaign push. Better yet, have guest talking about a book, then a hard offer can be used. 

Examples of soft offers

Many internet marketers stress the importance of growing your email list. This is the key to helping your business grow. Soft offers are great a call to action for this purpose. Here are some examples of soft offers you can use on your podcast. 

1. Download our free meal planner to keep track of what you eat. Visit freemealplan.com 
2. Download our free guide about 10 mistakes people make, when buying carts. Get the guide at buycars.net/guide
3. Sign up for our free course on how to pay less in taxes
4. If you’re having trouble finding a plumber get our free guide to finding the perfect plumber at plumberguide.com
5. Get our free guide to personal branding now

As you see in these examples, the words you use must spur them to action. Signup for a free trial now. These are all soft offers. They help your listeners evaluate whether or not they want to buy from you. 

Examples of hard offers

Hard offers are what you’ll need, to get your listeners to” buy now.” These are statements you make to generate a sale. Here are examples of hard offers.

1. Visit mybrand.com and use the promo code fire to get 10 per cent off your first purchase.
2. IF you use the promo code hustle to get 50 per cent off if you sign up for an account.
3. Buy the book now at 9.99 on amazon
4. If you sign up now for an account using promo code podcast get 30 per cent off

If you listen to a lot of podcast you will start to recognise the use of these offers to get listeners to take action. They fit naturally based on the context of the show and your listeners won’t feel pressured. 

When crafting offers to call your listeners to action you have to give them a reason to act now. Also, remember the context in which to place your offer. ANd let it flow naturally throughout your show and you’ll be fine.

If you’re struggling to decide whether or not to start a podcast, you’re not alone. You might be asking whether it makes sense to do it? What’s the benefit going through the hassle of producing it? Will it help my business?

 These are all marketing questions. A podcast is a communication channel, which is audio and would fall in the same place as radio. The format is the same. The only difference is that you control the messaging.  When deciding to start a podcast there’s one question you need to answer. Are my customers podcast listeners?

Do my customers listen to podcasts?

This is the most important question you need to answer. Is this an effective medium to reach my customers? Do any of them subscribe to other podcasts? If they do its a no brainer to start one and start communicating with them.

It’s a principle that Dan Kennedy talks about in his book NOBS guide to direct marketing for non-direct marketing business. “Go where the fish are.” In your marketing plan, this would be part of your overall distribution strategy to reach your customers. 

To find out if they listen to a podcast is to ask them. Use survey tools like survey monkey to find out what they listen, if they listen to podcasts. You can ask them face to face when you can, or use a card in your office and have them fill it out. 

Based on the results of the survey, you can decide whether it’s an effective medium to add to your marketing mix. 

 if a large portion of your customers and potential customers listen to podcast it makes sense to use the medium. 

What do I say on the podcast

This question might come up if you’re looking to give podcasting a go. 

To start you can answer basic questions that come up from time to time. This will give you a few episodes. You can also address issues that you see happening and talk about it.

I wrote about this in a previous blog post which outlines a framework that can help you generate lots of ideas for your show, and how to turn those in podcast episodes. 

A podcast is an intimate medium and you have to feel comfortable speaking into a microphone and hearing the sound of your own voice. Not everyone will want to do this and that’s ok. You might be better suited for writing a blog or you can try video if that’s what you’re most comfortable with. 

If you think podcasting is best for you, then jump in and get started. You’ll enjoy it and build your business at the same time. 

Placing a call to action in your podcast episode will help your audience take the next step to build a deeper relationship with your brand. That next step depends on how customers buy what you have to offer. For some, it means downloading a free ebook, or other free information offers before they become paying customers. For others, it’s booking an appointment or buying a product. That’s why the call to actions are important. Call to actions helps listeners to move from just a casual listener to becoming a paying customer. the question is where do you put them? When is the right time to say it?

At the end of the show

one of the best places to put your call to action is at the end of your show. You can tell listeners what to do to take the next step, based on your show’s topic. An example of this is: “for more information call 1-800 – get help.” I use this call to action most times in my radio features. I find that if the information is useful and persons are ready to take the next step, they will call. 

Why is this is a good spot? This is so because after hearing all the information provided, some persons would want to buy right after. Others may not be at that place but would want to get more information from you. When the show ends tell them what to do. 

I remember listening to an interview on the story brand podcast with Donald miller. He was talking about a new book by Mike Michalowicz called clockwork. They were talking about the concept and where he wrote the book. ANd why this concept is important. I bought the book after the show was finished. That’s why the end is a good place to add your call to action.

In the middle

The middle is also a good place to add your call to action. Here’s something to think about. You’re teaching a concept and have a resource guide. This guide is perfect for your listeners to follow along and them the concepts. While teaching stop and ask your listeners to download this guide. This is also a good way to help them take action and apply the concept and become a lead.

The middle is perfect for this type of content. You can also put sponsored messaging in the middle of your show. This could be a special offer, a discount code, percentage off etc. These type of offers can also work in the middle of your podcast. 

At the beginning and throughout the show

the top is not usually a good place but sometimes proves necessary especially when you have a guide that goes with your show. Perhaps you may start by saying I have a checklist/ cheatsheet to assist with this show, download it at mypodcast.com\cheatsheet. Then you can start teaching the concepts. 

Amy Porterfield does this perfectly on her show that teaches people how to create and market online courses.  She also reminds listeners to download the guide throughout the show, and that’s how this method works.

Whether you do it at the beginning, in the middle or at the end. Ensure you put a call to action in your podcast episode. That’s how you see a real return on investment from your marketing.

If you want to see tangible and trackable results from your show, then putting a call to action in your podcast will help you with that. A call to action is a statement to get your listeners to do something. Whether it is to buy a product, download a  free resource, or to give you a call to get more information about your services. 

Sharing useful information is a good way to grow your audience and in return grow your brand and business How would you know if the show is useful? How can you track the return on investment and justify producing a podcast? Those are some key questions to think about. Come along and explore some of the reasons as to why I think calls to action are important.

It hints on  a next step

When your prospective customers are ready to buy, they go through a host of stages before they actually make a purchase. This is known as the buying cycle. The process begins where the Customers has a problem, searches for a solution, compare possible solutions, then choose the best one. In helping the decision process, your podcast should be able to bring persons through the stages.

Here’s an example of how  a call to action can bring listeners through the stages:

You sell accounting services and a person is looking for help with their taxes, one of your episodes could be explaining mistakes people make when filing taxes. Following that you explain how to file taxes correctly, Next, you can discuss the forms to fill out, how to track expenses correctly and so on. With each step of the way, you can provide the information that can answer their questions and get them to take a small commitment. This can be a checklist or a resource guide.

What this does is to get people on your mailing list. Here’s how you can do it. “Go to myaccountingservice.com and download our ebook on 5 mistakes people make when filing taxes.” Then you can start to send them more information to get them to become paying customers.

It helps you track your progress

Once listeners take the next step and join your mailing list, you can map out the other stages to guiding them to become paying customers. You can track the progress on how many leads your podcast is generating, and how many of those leads are becoming paying customers. As fun as podcasting is, your business has to benefit from the fun. That’s where email marketing comes in handy.

It’s a way for you to keep track of your leads. You are then able to identify who is ready to make a purchase. Over a time period, you get an idea of how many persons downloaded your free guide, and how many of those persons converted to paying customers. Using email marketing software you can add links and segment persons based on the actions they take, to really see how your podcast is performing.

These numbers help you measure your progress, and the number of sales you generate from your podcast.

That’s where email marketing comes in handy. It’s a way for you to keep track of your leads. You are then able to identify who is ready to make a purchase. Over a time period, you get an idea of how many persons downloaded your free guide, and how many of those persons converted to paying customers. Using email marketing software you can add links and segment persons based on the actions they take, to really see how your podcast is performing. These numbers help you measure your progress, and the number of sales you generate from your podcast.

It helps you generate sales

A call to action can help persons and their buying decision. When they are ready to buy from you, you tell them how to do so. Make it easy for them. Whether you put it in your emails, or you send to your list or in your podcast. 

At the end of your sales cycle, persons are trying to justify working with you compared to other solutions they have found. That’s where your podcast comes in. Over time listeners will become familiar with you and your work, then when they want what you have to offer, you guide them on how to do so with a call to action.

If you play live music for people to have a good time you may need a podcast (This is just my opinion). Gone were the days when every DJ aspired to be on the radio. Gone were the days of mixtapes and mix CDs.I’m not saying this method is entirely dead, because, In some cultures like hip-hop, it may still be used. I’m just suggesting an alternative, for you to constantly put yourself out there and build a loyal following. 

You can have your own radio show

The first advantage of a podcast is that you the DJ can host your own radio show. You produce your show without restrictions. You have to freewill to design the format and play whatever music you want, as you share your style and type of music.  Persons then become better familiar with who you are, and they have something to look forward to, for each episode.

Personally, I listen to a lot of electronic music podcast at work in my headphones, And I look forward to new episodes weekly. 

Having your podcast puts you in a prime position to get new music from artists. they will see you as an asset to their promotion. This will happen because of your consistency, reach and loyal following built. 

Radio Stations will come to you

This is another big advantage, once you’ve built up a good following and put out consistent shows., radio stations will come calling. I’ve seen a few DJ friends who did facebook live shows every week get contacted to do shows for radio stations across the Caribbean. The EDM  DJs have their own podcast and do sets for other stations.

So you see if you start a podcast and consistently put out content then opportunities will come to you. 

Book more live gigs

This is another advantage of doing a podcast. Back in the day, there’d be a sound system or you’d have a  DJ that would release mixtapes/ mix CDs, and distribute them. The more persons have it, the more their name got out to the public. With fewer people buying Cds and opting to stream from their phones, etc., DJs have to adapt to the current patterns of music lovers.

The distribution of mix CDs create a momentum of awareness, and as as a result, live gigs tend to follow. From my recall DJ’s and sound systems like “ Copper Shot,” “Code Red,” “Black Chiney,” “Bad Influence” and other sound systems in the early 2000s, benefited from doing this.  

If you take the same approach online, then you can have access to a global audience and book gigs anywhere in the world. The beauty about it is, you’d be in control of what you do. Keep in mind that it will take time to build a loyal following online. If you already have one, (a following that is) just feed them with new shows every week. It will only take you an hour to do it. Once you prep ahead what you plan to play, you should be good.

People are waiting for you to create that podcast.