"Talent hits a target no one else can hit; genius hits a target no one else can see." ~ Arthur Schopenhauer

3 Smart Ways to Level Up Your Podcast

Over three years ago, we interviewed 300+ podcasters (and another 200+ bloggers/new media creators) to start to build a robust, host-centric platform called AwesomeGuests™. We specifically were looking for ways to help the typical podcaster put together a “successful” show more easily. “Successful” being defined as unique, compelling, profitable and sustainable. Based on the massive amount of helpful and specific feedback we received, we focused on making sure AwesomeGuests™ helps podcasters more easily find success in these key areas:

1. Quickly grow an audience

2. Simply tap into multiple revenue sources

3. Easily make content more unique and compelling

Any podcaster(Host) can become a member and take advantage of our unique search and dynamic matching technology based on the Awesomeness Score™ - our proprietary algorithm based on 72 different attributes deemed very important to podcasters. All features of the platform are free for Hosts except for a handful that a small percentage of our research participants said they really wanted and would be more than willing to pay for. These are part of our “PRO-level” membership upgrade and they are:

Using the platform as a Guest and a Host Searching for Guests willing to pay a “Fast Track Fee” Finding Guests based on “Last-Minute Availability” Setting up “Unicorn Alerts” that automatically notify of new best matches Being hidden from Guest searches in “Stealth Mode” to avoid too many pitches

Here’s a quick look “under the hood” of how AwesomeGuests™ works for podcasters. https://youtu.be/Ef65nk0A2Ns

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Here’s what a typical

Host profile looks like

Once a show(Host) profile is set up, you can head over to the straight-forward Host dashboard. It shows:

How many times a Host has shown up in a search that week How many times a Host’s profile has been viewed that week A rotating list of suggested Guests based on show keywords Any new Guest messages and platform alerts/updates Other metrics are constantly being developed based on Host feedback

A Host can search for Guests based on any number of keywords. The initial search results are sorted according to each Guest’s Awesomeness Score™. Although proprietary, we can share that the Awesomeness Score™ is comprised of categories that grade Guests on such things like: previous media appearances, third-person bio, media samples available, activity on the platform, books published, timeliness of responses, feedback from Hosts, profile completion, etc.

Quickly Grow Your Audience

A Guest’s Awesomeness Score™

is easy to quickly understand both as a

symbol and color

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Other than Awesomeness Score™ - every batch of search results can also be sorted by an impressive array of other criteria as shown below. For instance, if a podcaster wanted to grow their show through much stronger organic SEO; they could make a strategic decision to book Guests that are authors or also those that have their own shows. All a Host has to do is choose the desired option under the “Savvy Sort” menu and the current relevant search results will automatically reorder themselves according to that specific criteria.

By booking more authors as guests, a show can naturally boost its SEO by including the author and book titles organically into their show notes, marketing and other SEO-friendly tagging mechanisms.

By booking other podcasters as guests, a

show can strategically leverage the platforms of other podcasters for a natural boost in traffic of more podcast-savvy listeners to their show.

Please note, it’s always our recommendation (and the way the platform is set up) to base Guest searches on keywords that are of the highest relevance to a show’s audience first and foremost. After that a Host can Savvy Sort any given batch of relevant search results based on whatever strategic criteria is needed outside of the Awesomeness Score™ to achieve specific growth goals. For instance, if a show feels like it might be elevated by having a few more Guests with impressive traditional/earned media credits to their name - a Host can Savvy Sort by “Featured In” to see Guests sorted by impressive logos (ie. Forbes, CNN, TED, etc). A podcaster can also Savvy Sort by how many media samples Guests have under their belt to book professionals with the level of interview experience that they prefer. If a podcaster travels to a conference, etc - they can search by geography and then Savvy Sort by “Last-Minute Availability” to book a bunch of live in-person interviews during that visit. Pretty cool!

“People who are truly strong lift others up. People who are truly powerful bring others together.” ~ Michelle Obama

Quickly Grow Your Audience

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Probably the most often recommended way to grow an audience is to build up a solid following on the social media platform(s) that are most relevant to a show’s ideal audience. To that end, AwesomeGuest™ allows you to instantly sort a batch of relevant search results by social media followings as listed below.

For instance, say a podcaster knows that their show should have a healthy and active presence on Instagram because they’ve learned that their ideal listeners prefer that platform; and yet the show currently has a fairly light/non-existent footprint there.

That podcaster would simply sort their relevant Guest search by “Instagram followers” to see potential Guests listed in the order of size of following on that platform. Then the Host can easily make the strategic decision to book these specific Guests for the next few months to leverage each Guest’s significant Instagram following and immediately start to grow the show’s footprint on that platform!

There is of course what is known to be the quickest and most powerful way for a podcaster to grow their audience - and that’s to consistently be a Guest on other quality podcasts. The problem is that the combination of proper research and pitching makes this a very work-intensive activity with inconsistent results. But now with AwesomeGuests™ this couldn’t be any easier. A Host merely needs to:

1) Go to their dashboard 2) Simply switch profile type from Host to Guest 3) Now they can use the powerful search and matching technology of AwesomeGuests™ to contact as many relevant shows as possible. Better yet, all the while this podcaster is already showing up in the searches that thousands of

Quickly Grow Your Audience

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"Leaders are visionaries with a poorly developed sense of fear and no concept of the odds against them." ~ Robert Jarvik

Traditional Media

THE SHOW Host, guests and

production costs are paid

by the PRODUCTION COMPANY

Advertising Sponsors

Shareholders

Massive # of Eyeballs

Guest gets… exposure 3rd-party credibility paid (if actors)

Host gets… ratings relevance paycheck

Studio gets… eyeballs ad revenue stock prices

Emerging NEW Media

“Sponsor” Affiliate $$$

Patreon

Own Products/Services

Guest Affiliate $$$

Advertisements

Network Shared $$$

THE SHOW Host, guests and

production costs are paid

by the HOST

Niche # of Eyeballs

Guest gets… exposure 3rd-party credibility possible direct sales

Host gets… expenses no guarantees no ceiling

Guest Fees

= most out of your control

Constellation of Revenue

Podcasters should consistently include as

many as possible

A Quick Word on Media Revenue Models

We firmly believe podcasters must pivot to a better understanding of revenue

possibilities in Emerging Media vs typically how it’s been done in Broadcast (radio/tv)

In Broadcast - all the profit centers/revenue streams are tied to

shareholder/corporation funding in one way or another. In New Media - all profit centers/revenue streams are tied to direct

audience participation in one way or another.

Simply Tap Into Multiple Revenue Sources

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Since the AwesomeGuests™ platform was built with the podcaster(Host) in mind - we made sure to include tools specifically to help a show more easily create revenue for their sustained success. The first way of doing this was to survey Guests on their willingness to pay a reasonable fee of some kind in exchange for the publicity boost from being on a show. We heard back from hundreds of professionals from across every industry with a conditional “yes.” Although no one liked the idea of having to pay an exorbitant fee to appear on every podcast; it made sense that this could be part of qualifying certain Guests as well as help a podcaster stay independent and profitable. Everyone we spoke to understood that a fee wasn’t in lieu of being a great fit for a show; rather that it’d be in exchange for having their interview pushed closer to a specific air date - so basically a “front of the line” benefit of sorts. We are adamant that first and foremost, a Guest’s profile should convince a Host that they’d be a great fit for their audience. If this standard of relevance isn’t met and someone is booked merely for the sake of a fee; this is undoubtedly a horrible scenario for everyone involved. With that being said, a Host can Savvy Sort for “Fast Track Fee” to reorder their relevant search results by the range of dollar amounts that Guests have stated they’re ready to pay.

Guests are typically willing to pay an “Fast Track Fee” because they are: 1) Serious professionals with a real marketing budget to grow their business. 2) Crowdfunding a new product/service. 3) Building publicity for a book launch/speaking tour. The Savvy Sort by “Fast Track Fee” sorts Guests by the ranges listed on their profile. A Host can see the specific dollar amount when viewing a Guest’s profile. Also because of all the unique information that exists on a Guest’s profile, a podcaster can also very easily do a lot of effective research on experts who have great affiliate products/services that can be tied into the show’s content organically.

For a limited time, AwesomeGuests™ also offers a $250 - $1,000 bonus cash reward program for Hosts to use the platform, provide feedback and mention us as a sponsor from time to time. This is perfect for podcasters of all experience levels and we’re excited to reward the great creators out there using this tool to make money, save time and avoid needless hassles while putting together great shows. We feel that even this kind of small financial support can be a significant boost to podcasters and are excited about the ways they can grow their success with this technology.

"A business that makes nothing but money is a poor business." ~ Henry Ford

Simply Tap Into Multiple Revenue Sources

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In our research with podcasters that put together interview-based shows; we found out that the typical Host put in an average of 7-10 hours to search for, vet and contact a subject matter expert for their podcasts. When you consider that most podcasters start out by producing their shows as a side hustle, this amount of time and effort can adversely affect their overall productivity and well-being. And it’s not even guaranteed that after all of that searching and vetting, that a Host will find what they’re looking for in terms of actual guests or relevant information to help create higher-quality content.

We earnestly believe that podcasters of every stripe will be able to put together much more unique and compelling interviews because of the ease of finding brilliant guests and the depth of valuable information readily available on AwesomeGuests™. All a Host needs to do is to start searching using relevant keywords to the audience and episode they’re creating. For example, this can be “entrepreneurs” in general but maybe one week it’ll be an emphasis on “finance” whereas another week it might be a focus on “Latin America.” An even more intriguing show might be any Guests that come up when searching “entrepreneur startup prison yoga technology.” The point being that because AwesomeGuests™ elicits very unique background information from every Guest - there’s the potential to discuss rather fascinating and even peculiar topics because of what can be found. Even simple things like gender identity, religion and terms like “entrepreneur” are hard to come by in places like LinkedIn, FaceBook and such. The typical podcaster will fill about 20 interviews from their immediate network and then maybe another 7-10 as referrals from guests or other podcasters - and then what?

Easily Make Your Content More Unique

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TURBO BOOST You now have the same

power as a full-time production team for great

in-depth research!

Easily Make Your Content More Unique

"Don't die with your music still in you." ~ Dr. Wayne Dyer

The sheer amount of in-depth information that is instantly available to a Host using AwesomeGuests™ is startling and a true delight for those podcasters working hard to avoid boring, boiler-plate, blah shows. Of course we can’t guarantee that a Host using the platform won’t put out mediocre interviews with the tools available here; but it won’t be because they ran out of time or didn’t have enough help in crafting a truly unique and compelling conversation for their listeners. What used to take hours to properly research even just a decent interview now takes mere minutes to do much, much better. And again, a Host can rely on the proprietary Awesomeness Score™ to help them quickly vet the quality of their guests or sort through guests based on various other strategic criteria vital to that podcaster’s growth goals.

We’re excited for even more Hosts to experience the difference that AwesomeGuests™ can make in their lives and in the success of their shows as they search, sort and schedule in just a few clicks.

Everything in a Guest profile is

searchable

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Your Exclusive LIFETIME Membership Offer

“No man will make a great leader who wants to do it all himself or get all the credit for doing it.” ~ Andrew Carnegie

Join the global leader in “finding the best

guests in just a few clicks.”

Get your special LIFETIME VIP membership here:

https://awesomeguests.com/shepodcasts

Start growing your podcast with the

full power of AwesomeGuests™ today!