Sunday, December 15, 2013

How To Use Google Chromecast To Listen To Podcasts through the Speakers on Your TV

Chromecast and Podcasts Make a Perfect Match

I'm always on the hunt for new ways to listen to podcasts and Google Chromecast is my new podcast listening device. For those of you who don't already know, Chromecast is dongle that you can purchase from the Google Play store or places like Amazon, that connects to the HDMI port on your TV. This device fits in the palm of your hand and runs for about $35 on Amazon. Here's my affiliate link if you're interested in purchasing one. 


Google Chromecast


Watch this video I recorded that demonstrates the installation and setup with a Samsung Galaxy S4 and a Samsung SmartTV: 



No More  Ear buds

With the Chromecast app installed on my phone I can use the nicer stereo system on my SmartTV to listen while I am doing other tasks like cooking or cleaning. This comes in really handy when I don't want to be bothered with using my ear buds and I want more control of the volume of my favorite podcasts. 


Previously I talked about how I sync my iTunes library to Google Play and you'll see in the video that is what really makes this option possible. 

But What if You Have an Older TV, Will Chromecast Still Work?

In the video I am connecting Chromecast to a newer model television and using the dongle via HDMI and USB. However, if you have an older model TV that doesn't have a USB port, Chromecast includes an alternative connection method for plugging into a regular electrical outlet. Now if your TV is so old that you don't have a HDMI port, that I highly recommend you think about upgrading to a Samsung SmartTV.

More Apps for Chromecast Are Coming Soon!

If you are a music or movie buff, this setup will be perfect for you too. Here is a list of the other apps that are currently available for Chromecast:
  • Netflix 
  • HBO Go
  • Hulu Plus
  • YouTube
  • Google Play
  • Pandora
  • RedBull TV
  • Vevo
  • Real Cloud Player
Have you tried Google's new Chromecast yet? Let me know what your experience with it has been so far. 


UPDATE:
BeyondPod released an app which is now available for Chromecast
BeyondPod App on Chromecast
Ms. Ileane Speaks Podcast on Beyond Pod


Saturday, October 26, 2013

Top Podcasting Resources Curated on Listly

Top Podcasting Resources Wanted

List.ly is a content curation tool that is simple to use and share on the web. 
Here's a list of Top Podcasting Resources that I started to collect, but I need your help to make this list complete! 

Simply set up an account with List.ly, visit the Top Podcasting Resources list and click the add button to add a resource to the list. You can also give a rating to the items on the list by giving each one an up vote or a down vote. I started the list off by adding a few of the podcasting collections that I started curating in the last few years including my Scoop.it topic and Pinterest board. 

Podcasting Resources and Technology Community on Google+

I got the inspiration for this list from the fantastic members of the Podcasting Resources and Technology Community on Google+. This group is extremely helpful and many of the members have a long history in podcasting and internet broadcasting. Being a member of this community demonstrates how important it is to network and collaborate with your peers and connect to thought leaders in your industry.

Contribute Your Resources

Just to be clear about what is appropriate for this List.ly, it is not intended to list individual blog posts or podcasts. There is a different List.ly for that purpose which you find here.

As you can see below, List.ly is easy to embed on your blog but it is truly a work in progress. 
Top Podcasting Resources
View more lists from Ileane Smith

Do you have any podcasting resources you would like to add to the list? Head over to List.ly and look for the Add to List button at the top right. 



Then you will see the pop-up for Add New Item.



After I approve the item it will appear on the List.ly. I'm looking forward to your contributions and I'm sure you'll find some new podcasting resources to explore.

Sunday, August 18, 2013

Unbelievably Devoted To Podcasting

I'm Unbelievably Devoted To Podcasting

On a daily basis, I go through great lengths to listen to my favorite podcasts. 

Let me explain.

It's pretty common place to hear rumblings everyday about the resurgence of podcasting. Some call it the podcasting renaissance and even the USA Today proclaimed that podcasting is BACK! But most of us who have been podcasting for a year or more, know that it never really went anywhere. 

It's always been alive and kicking at least in our hearts and minds it has. 

In December 2009, I first wrote about my devotion for podcasts. I even recorded a YouTube video of me reciting the poem called Ode To My Podcasts. Looking back, I know now that was a pivotal moment for me and it was the point when I first got an inkling to start my own podcast. 

The sad part is - I didn't really understand the technical definition of what a true podcast is. I was a victim of the frequently held misconception that having a YouTube channel is the same as having a podcast...  

Podcasting Today

Most people these days listen to audio podcasts on their Smart Phones. Easy access to podcasts via the Podcast App on iPhone and iPad and the various podcast players on Android and Windows phone is heralded as the number 1 reason everyone is jumping back into the podcasting bandwagon. But let's not forget that Smart Phones are not the ONLY way people are listening to podcasts. Keep reading to find out how I listen to podcasts today.

Elsie Asks: How do podcasters listen to podcasts? 

That's the question that Elsie Escobar the "Podcaster Happiness Expert", from Libsyn asked on Facebook and shared in the inaugural episode of The Feed.

How do podcasters listen to podcasts

My response is way to lengthy and like I said in the title of this post, it's somewhat "unbelievable" in this new era of the podcast app! Here's a picture of my primary method of consuming podcasts (don't laugh).

My Podcasts on CD's
CD's with the podcasts I listen to in the car 
Call me crazy but, everyday before I leave the house for work, I burn a CD so I can listen in the car. I know it seems wasteful but I really don't have a choice. If I could find someone to pass these along to when I'm done at least they would have a little longer shelf-life.

You see up until a month ago I didn't have a Smart Phone. Ok, so now I know you're laughing at me. But wait hear me out. Back in July I got a Samsung Galaxy S4 and I absolutely love it. So you might think problem solved right. 

Well not really, because I can't connect the phone to the speakers in the car. I went online and tried to find some kind of kit that I could use but to no avail. 

The Alternative

Before you start feeling sorry for me, there is another way that I listen to my favorite podcasts that you might want to try also. You see when I purchased the Galaxy S4 the savvy sales woman made a suggestion. "Since you have the blogsite, I wanted to let you know that we are having a special on the Galaxy Tablet if you get them both at the same time."

I love a savvy sales woman don't you? Yeah so I got the Tablet as well and I use the Google Play app to listen to my favorite shows when I'm not sitting in front of the computer. 

Here's a couple of screenshots from Google Play for you:





Of course I couldn't get all of my favs in the screenshots but here are a few that I listened to in the past few days (don't worry this is not going to be another poem):
As long as you download podcasts to your computer (I use iTunes), you can sync your music library to Google Play and listen to your podcasts in the cloud without a separate app.  Give it a try and I hope you find this tip helpful!

What about you? How do YOU listen to podcasts?

Recommended Reading:


Sunday, June 2, 2013

James Schramko's Podcasting Takeover

Is James Schramko Taking Over the World of Podcasting?

I first heard about James Schramko a few years back from seeing his Facebook ads for Traffic Grab. This was a video course that I thought was quite professional and I remember learning a ton from it. It helps when you make a good first impression like that on someone and I hope I leave people with that same kind of impression when they run across my blogs and tutorials online.

I'd almost forgotten about "Jimmy", as his friend and Freedom Ocean co-host Tim Reid often refers to him, (more about Tim Reid later) until I heard him being interviewed on one of my favorite podcasts. At this time it's difficult to say which podcast I heard the interview on because he has appeared on just about everyone of my favorites. 

In fact if you do a search for "James Schramko" on iTunes here's what you might see:
James Schramko on iTunes
Search for James Schramko on iTunes

Schramko is currently doing his own solo podcast Super Fast Business but he is also a cohost on two other popular podcast!

Here's a playlist for quick access to these podcasts

Freedom Ocean with Tim Reid is my favorite out of all these podcasts but I must admit that I enjoy them all. The premise of Freedom Ocean is that "James makes millions from Internet Marketing. Tim's got millions of questions". This format appeals to me mainly because Tim is easy to relate to since he deals with a lot of bricks and mortar businesses and he is learning from James while at the same time sharing insights to James from what it's like on the other side of business.

You really need to listen in on this podcast to see exactly the type of chemistry that these two chaps have between them and I think that Tim is someone we can all relate to. Once you subscribe to this show you'll find yourself listening to certain episodes over and over again without getting bored. In fact you might either end up in stitches or sitting with a pen and notepad wishing it were an ebook or something.  That's why I stuck his solo podcast Small Business Big Marketing down at the bottom of that playlist widget above.

By the way, you can put away the notepad and pen because if you sign up for the Freedom Ocean mailing list you can get the pdf's of the full transcripts of each episode.

Think Act Get with Ezra Firestone has a different flavor to it. Ezra comes from the world of ecommerce however it is a subject that he and James rarely discuss on the show. Most of the content relates to mindset and how to develop a good (or even better) attitude for business. I see this more as a personal development podcast so if that is your thing, be sure to tune in. The show is quickly becoming a top rated podcast and I suspect it will hit the new and notable section many times this year in the U.S. market (if it hasn't already).

Super Fast Business is James's solo effort.

James Schramko Super fast business


This show is a mix of interviews, news updates and listener feedback episodes. I think most of the episodes (if not all) are also available on YouTube, so if you like to consume content via video this is the show for you. I listen to it as a podcast and I love it that way because the episodes are often under 5 minutes. This makes them very handy to use as filler content when I burn CD's for playback in the car or on an old Bose CD player that I keep in my bedroom. The interview episodes are my favorites especially when he brings on my favorite guest, Clay Collins the co-founder of LeadPlayer.

Clay Collins even has his own podcast now too called The Marketing Show and I'm sure that James has inspired him to start podcasting just as he has inspired so many others including my buddy Jake Hower of the Multimedia Marketing Show, just to name a few.

This is as good a time as any to share a video with you that I recorded where I mention James, Clay and Jake and I also talk about the results I'm getting with Clay's product LeadPlayer





By now I think you can agree that James Schramko is taking over podcasting by dominating on iTunes with all of his weekly podcasts, interviews and guest appearances all over the place. If you have a business and you haven't tuned in yet, be sure you do.

If you are an avid listener like me, please let me know which one of these shows is your favorite?

Saturday, March 23, 2013

Libsyn Podcast Player, New Logo and Site Redesign

Libsyn Gets a New Logo and a New Look

Libsyn, short for Liberated Syndication, is one of the most popular podcast hosting services around. Recently they redesigned the front end of the Libsyn website and updated their logo. I think the new logo looks great, don't you?


Libsyn Logo



I switched my podcast feed for iTunes from Audioboo.fm to Libsyn back in October of 2012. I decided to use Libsyn as my podcast host after listening to an episode of Ray's podcast when he interviewed Rob Walch from Libsyn and they talked about the stats dashboard.

The other featured that appealed to me about Libsyn hosting is the OnPublish feature with Blogger. In case you don't know, I am using Google's Blogger platform for The Ms. Ileane Speaks Podcast so I was really pleased to hear that Libsyn is integrated with Blogger.

Most bloggers who use self-hosted WordPress (wrongly) assume that they can host the media files for their podcast with their blog host. However that is not a great idea, you need to get additional webhosting, because when you end up getting more traffic as your audience begins to grow your blog host might shut your blog down. 

I found out years ago from listening professional podcasters like Dave Jackson from School of Podcasting and Ray Ortega from The Podcasters Studio that it's best to obtain separate web hosting for your media files. That applies to both audio and video podcasts.


Switching the Libsyn Podcast Player


There is one thing I didn't like about using Blogger for the podcast. The default podcast player that Libsyn uses with their OnPublish integration isn't very attractive. I ended up finding a way to make the player more attractive and engaging and I recorded this tutorial for it.



If you use Libsyn this tutorial will be helpful for you even if you don't use Blogger, because it shows how to switch to any of the available Libsyn podcast players. (click to enlarge image)


Customize the Libsyn Podcast Player on Your Blog


UPDATE: This image reflects the new Libsyn Four Interface

Here is what you can discover from watching the video:

  • How to Login to Libsyn and set the dimensions of your player
  • Generate the code you will use for Libsyn's Standard podcast player 475 x 45
  • Go to "Destinations" and select the episode to get the embed code for the player you want to replace
  • Edit the blog post in HTML mode and take out the old  "iframe" code from the legacy player
  • Replace it with the new "iFrame" code for the nicer looking podcast player
Let me know what you think of using Libsyn for your podcast webhosting and if you changed the podcast player on your blog.



Sunday, December 23, 2012

How To Insert AdSense Units Inside A Blog Post

Using Google AdSense To Monetize Your Blog

Many bloggers are using Google AdSense to monetize their blogs. Certainly this can provide an income for you if you have a good amount of targeted traffic coming to your blog or website. You can apply for the AdSense program with your Google Account and typically your blog should be more than six months old. 

In a previous post I mentioned that one of my favorite podcasts is AdSense Flippers and these guys are making a decent living by creating AdSense sites and selling them for a profit. Although they have acheived success through selling AdSense sites I think most bloggers would be happy if they can just earn a few dollars to pay for web hosting or other online expenses.  

Adding AdSense on a Blogger Blog 

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Last year I recorded a video demonstrating how to monetize a Blogger blog with AdSense using a Blogger "Gadget". At the time I was using Blogger's Dynamic Views template. You can see that video here:

How To Add AdSense To a Blogger Blog Tutorial

I no longer use the Dynamic Views template on Blogger because the down-side is that you cannot edit the template manually and I wanted something more flexible. 

I got this request in the comments on that YouTube video. Arlene wants to know:


How to add AdSense inside a blog post

How To Insert AdSense Units Inside A Blog Post


I think this is an excellent idea for a follow-up video and blog post. I get a lot of questions about AdSense from new bloggers over in my Facebook Group so I'm sure this video will be helpful to those of you who are new to AdSense. This is also a good tutorial for some veteran AdSense users who haven't turned on targeting for their ads yet. 




If you've been using AdSense on your blog for months but your ads aren't performing well there are three possible reasons:

1. You're not getting enough traffic
2. You're not using targeting
3. You're not testing different placement, types and ad sizes
    In this video I'll show you how to create and insert the ads and address the issues of targeting and ad types and sizes. Here are the steps you need to take:
    • Go to My Ads
    • Create a new Custom Channel for your blog and pick an ad size
    • Create a new Ad Unit for your custom channel using the same size
    • Name the Ad Unit and set-up ad targeting
    • Describe the content of the blog or the post you will insert the ad on
    • Save and copy the AdSense code
    • Go to your blog's post editor
    • Switch to the HTML or Text view
    • Pick the spot you want the AdSense unit to appear and insert the code
    • Update the post

    Your Ad should appear immediately on your blog. I recommend testing it for a few weeks before you decide to make any changes to the size or ad type. 



    One more thing I want to mention. Many bloggers are using too many AdSense units on their blogs and this is not a good idea. Be conservative and limit yourself to no more than 2 AdSense units on a page in the beginning. If you find that these are working well for you gradually you can add more but Google recommends that you don't have too many ads at the top of your page.

    Further reading: How to get a new AdSense account even after being Banned

    What about you, do you earn money from AdSense on your blog? What's your best strategy for AdSense placement?


    Sunday, November 25, 2012

    How To Install The Audacity Extension for Chrome

    Audacity is Available as an Extension for Chrome

    For years podcasters, musicians and audio technicians have relied on Audacity to edit their audio files.

    Typically you can download the open source software from SoundForge.net and it is available for PC and Mac.

    The other day I was browsing the Google Chrome Web Store and I was pleasantly surprised to see that Audacity is available as an extension for Chrome.

    UPDATE: THIS EXTENSION STOPPED WORKING!!





    In this video, How To Install the Audacity Extension for Chrome, you learn:

    How to install the Audacity application
    Agree to the terms from Roozz and Audacity
    Open Audacity in Google Chrome
    Open the standalone version of Audacity
    Play and Edit an audio file inside the application

    *this interactive video is courtesy of Viewbix if you visit their site I earn a small commission but you can get free access to the software

    This extension is brought to us by Roozz and they have some other applications you might was to download. Visit their site for the complete list.


    Roozz online software Rental


    Will you install the Audacity extension? Let me know if you want to learn more about how to use Audacity. You can find more podcasting news on my Scoop.it magazine for Podcasting.




    Friday, November 16, 2012

    Lynette Young Presents Google Plus for You

    Google Plus For You 

    Presented by Lynette Young from Purple Stripe Productions



    Lynette Young presents on how entrepreneurs and small businesses can get started with Google+.  This presentation was given at the Greater Philly Small Business Marketers Meetup on November 14, 2012.

    Philly Small Business Marketers Meetups


    I had the pleasure of meeting Lynette and my daughter took this picture of us.

    Lynette Young and Ileane Smith

    Here is a picture I took of my daughter Nikki Purvy. Ironically she asked me earlier that day to explain Google Plus to her. That was some timing wasn't it. 

    Nikki Purvy

    Liz Cies helped organize the event along with the other wonderful AWeber staff members.

    Liz Cies from AWeber

    Key points from the presentation:

    Lynette has over 1.5 million followers on Google Plus and she is the founder of the Women of Google Plus so it is safe to say she knows the platform extremely well. She shared several reasons that small business owners and marketers should hangout on Google+.

    She discussed the benefits of setting up your profile correctly including your profile picture and Google Authorship. There is a new feature rolling out that will show Authorship stats on your profile. 

    Share your content publicly so that it can be found in the search engines and in Google + searches and add the Google + sharing buttons. 

    Google + Hangouts and Hangouts on Air are powerful tools for promoting your business.  

    Look forward to Lynnette's book which will be available in 2 weeks but you can pre-order Google + for Small Businesses now. 

    JOIN THE GREATER PHILLY SMALL BUSINESS MARKETERS MEETUP GROUP


    More about Google Plus and YOU!

    Have you started using Google + yet? How many followers do you have so far?

    Add me to your Google+ circles today!





    Saturday, November 3, 2012

    Post Planner Rolls Out New Content Curation Features for Facebook

    Post Planner is known at The Ultimate Facebook Management Tool and for good reason.
    I started using Post Planner a few month ago and it has helped me juggle the task of managing 5 Facebook Pages and 2 profiles. I know that's a lot but even if you only have one page and one profile, Post Planner can be the answer to your Facebook posting nightmares. 



    One of the reasons I like Post Planner so much is because it lets you post to Facebook pages, profiles AND groups.
    Posting to Facebook groups is a huge plus because this is something that you can't do with Buffer or HootSuite. Now that I have Post Planner, I rarely use any other tools for posting to Facebook. 

    You can schedule posts so they don't overlap. This is really important if you belong to multiple Facebook groups and it helps stagger the posts to all your groups so it doesn't look like you're spamming your friend's streams. 

    There's one more advantage of using Post Planner over HootSuite or Buffer for scheduling posts to Facebook. Post Planner let's you brand your posts by including a link back to your blog on everything you share. Here is what it looks like:
    Basic Blog Tips Branding on Facebook

    If you post with those other services, it will have their branding. Wouldn't you rather have your own? This post happens to be from a podcast and anyone who sees it in their stream can listen to it right on Facebook, which is another feature that I really enjoy. You can drive traffic to your blog or your podcast from Facebook and Post Planner just makes the job so much easier.


    Curate Content with Post Planner


    Ever run out of ideas for what to post on your page? Post Planner will help you curate content that is targeted to your audience and can help increase your EdgeRank. 
    Watch this video to see PostPlanner in action 


    Disclosure:If you use my affiliate link I will earn a small commission but it doesn't cost you anything extra. Give Post Planner a try and keep me posted with your progress. 

    Visit my Facebook Page and you can leave a link to your page in the comments below.  


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