Unlocking the Secrets of PodPage Podcast Network Sites

Dave Jackson
00:00:00.480 - 00:00:25.544
Today on Podcast Website Tips, we're going to help you understand the podpage network pages. We're also going to give you some free resources to help you sell digital products.

Also, how do you adjust or turn off the announcement bar in PodPage? And are you losing your audience by the way you're introducing your guest? There are better things to do than read someone's LinkedIn bio.

Megan
00:00:25.672 - 00:00:58.430
Welcome to Podcast Website Tips, the ultimate guide for podcasters who want to level up their online presence with no coding required. Whether you're a seasoned pro or just getting started, this show gives you practical, actionable advice to build and optimize your podcast website.

We cover everything from design and content to SEO and monetization. Get ready to attract more listeners and take your website from good to great. Here's your host, Dave Jackson.

Dave Jackson
00:00:59.490 - 00:01:20.682
Hey, welcome to the show. I am Dave Jackson, head of podcasting@podpage.com and today we're going to talk about the networking page at PodPage.

And to join me, I'm bringing in the one and only founder, the main developer, the one and only Brendan Mulligan. Brendan, thanks for coming on the show.

Brenden Mulligan
00:01:20.786 - 00:01:21.750
Yeah, of course.

Dave Jackson
00:01:22.370 - 00:01:38.164
And what I wanted to talk about is our network option, because it's a very niche option. It either works great for you or in some cases, maybe not so much. So how do you explain networking to people with our.

Brenden Mulligan
00:01:38.252 - 00:02:48.162
So the network page on podpage was designed to be a single website for a network that has shows.

And so the ideal use case for it is you have a network, you want to put some information on the Internet about your network and you want to highlight the shows that are on your network. Each show will basically get a mini site on your network website. They don't have their own domain names. They're not separate websites.

They are just basically a folder on your network website that displays the podcast. The episodes are imported and you can import other and post other content.

The functionality of the network pages is equivalent to the pro individual page, minus the custom domain. So anything that you can do on an individual podcast page with the pro plan, your sub pages on your network page should be able to do that too.

We haven't added the elite features for the individual pages to the network pages or subpages yet. We have a pretty big update coming to the network stuff in general this year.

Dave Jackson
00:02:48.316 - 00:02:58.854
Got it.

And I think you hit the big thing we want to make sure everybody is aware of is when you do this, every show on the network does not get a domain name.

Brenden Mulligan
00:02:58.942 - 00:02:59.302
Yes.

Dave Jackson
00:02:59.366 - 00:03:22.536
Yeah, because that's usually the One that will. Once you say that, that's when you kind of decide, oh, this is going to work or this isn't.

It's really great for those kind of networks that are always promoting each other and they're like, oh, just go out to davesnetwork.com and then show number three says, oh, everything's available@davesnetwork.com. so they're always cross promoting each other by promoting that network domain.

Brenden Mulligan
00:03:22.648 - 00:04:33.102
I run into both cases.

There's some networks that are just like, when we sign a podcast or network, the web presence for that podcast is our network page that doesn't have its own website. Part of the whole way that our network works is that our homepage is the podcast homepage. And that's great.

PodPage is a really great solution for that because the goal of the network site is for the network to establish a web presence and have their shows on that web presence. There's some people who it's a network, but then they have shows that have their own web pages and that's also fine.

So you have DavesNetwork.com BrendansPodcast and then BrendansPodcast.com has its own website. Now that could be a pod page or a WordPress site or whatever, but they're two different things. Try to explain it in much different ways.

But the thing that you're subscribing to is a network website, not a network plan. On podpage to build a lot of pet websites for your network, hard to differentiate.

But we do have a way on podpage to have a single account and have tons of websites under that account. And they're all separate. They're all separate domains. That's, that's also fine.

You can set up different subscriptions for your different podcasts, but the, the network plan itself is a single website.

Dave Jackson
00:04:33.206 - 00:04:54.300
And then the other thing I think people get confused on is when you go into a network, you have to go into a show to, let's say, bring in videos or do a audience survey. There is no, like, I don't log into the network and I have a survey for the whole network. It's like each show has its own survey, correct?

Brenden Mulligan
00:04:54.460 - 00:05:35.452
It depends on what the feature is. So like, for example, the contact page, you have a one for your network, but you also have ones for your shows. Something like a listener survey.

We try to basically look at the feature and say, does this make sense at the network level? So, so a listener survey kind of doesn't make sense for majority networks. But again, the network is A shell that has a bunch of shows in it.

You're probably not going to be like, what do you think of all of our podcasts? Right. You probably want information about this specific podcast. And so there are some features that, like reviews, importing reviews from Apple.

That doesn't make much sense on the network level. So it just depends on the feature. When you get in there, you'll see the options that you have.

And if it's not there, it's just probably not Opera Networks.

Dave Jackson
00:05:35.516 - 00:05:38.348
All right, well, Brendan, thank you so much for coming on the show.

Brenden Mulligan
00:05:38.484 - 00:05:40.880
No problem. Hopefully that answers some questions.

Dave Jackson
00:05:43.620 - 00:13:36.976
If you're thinking of selling things on your website, there are places that will do that, but they charge you a monthly fee. And if you're not really sure if this is what your audience wants, that can get kind of expensive.

And so when you're selling digital products, you kind of want to find a way to test the water. So here's what you can do. There are sites out there that let you sell digital products with zero monthly fees. That's the good news.

There's no upfront costs, there's no subscription charge. It's just a straightforward way to start earning from your content.

Now, of course, there's always a trade off, and that is they're going to take a percentage of the sale. And I have two right now. And I call this great tools for you to do what's called proof of concept.

You've made something, you think your audience wants it. Let's figure this out. Let's offer it for sale and see if anybody signs up. And so I think my favorite is payhip.

Payhip makes it easy to sell digital products, Courses, coaching, and if you want to memberships now they charge a 5% transaction fee. And I was watching Shark Tank the other night and somebody got an offer and they were arguing over like, 3%.

The shark wanted 3% more of their company. And they're like, and Mark Cuban said, you know, it's better to own 80% of a watermelon than 100% of a grape.

And so, yeah, they're gonna take a fee, but you still get 95% of that plus transaction fees. Those are always in there, and that's usually around 3%. The other one is Gumroad. And this one you can sell digital and physical products.

They charge a 10% fee plus 50 cents. But again, the only time they make money is when you make money.

And so once you get a link to that product, you can easily add it as a product to your podpage. Website. And I'll have a link out of the website with a video showing you how to do that.

Links are in the show notes if you want to check out those resources from the help desk over at PodPage. I get this question on a fairly regular basis. And that is when you set up your website, there's a thing at the top called an announcement bar.

And by default it has the message that says, welcome to our website. And I have people go, yeah, that's very cool and all, but like, how do I get rid of that? Or maybe they wanted to say something else.

And so you could have it say things like, you know, follow the show on your favorite app and then put a link to your follow site. Have to do an episode on that. There are so many short links that PodPage makes for you.

Or, you know, pre order my new book, you know, and then have it linked to Amazon or whatever.

Well, you can basically go in to PodPage, it's under design, and then the announcement bar, and if you delete both the phrase that's there and the link and click on save, that will remove it from your website. Last up, we have some podcast tips. And this one is about introducing your guest. And it's. To me, it's a little bit of a pet peeve.

Have you ever heard a podcast host read a guest bio in a way that is, I mean, clearly scripted? You know, the part where they.

They rattle off like this long list of companies and achievements and awards and it's something that we've all heard, but have we ever stopped to think, like, why do they do that? Why are you reading me someone's entire LinkedIn bio where they went to college and here is this. And then they worked there.

And then why do we do that? Well, we want to prove that our guest has credibility.

You know, you might highlight all the amazing things this person has done to the audience, and so they know why you've asked them on the show. But is really listing 15 companies the way to do that? Here's an example.

How many listeners need to hear that someone is the founder of not just one, but five different companies? The reality is, after a while, the details kind of become, well, redundant, a little overwhelming, and we kind of tune out. I mean, it's boring.

In fact, it might even make people hit the fast forward button or even worse, the stop button. I mean, what's the outcome? You probably just lost your audience's attention before you even get to the conversation.

It's not about the credentials, it's about the Relevance. If the list of companies doesn't directly tie into the episode's topic, it's just filler.

And a better approach is try something simple and make it direct. For example. Hey, today on podcasting website tips, we have Brendan Mulligan, founder of PodPage.

Now, I could go on and list the other seven companies he's made or however many he's done over the years, but that's it. Now for this audience, we just care about the podcasting stuff. It's it, you know, it's short, it's sweet, and it's relevant.

And so in this case, you're a podcaster, I'm assuming, and you care about PodPage because it's relevant to them. You're probably maybe a customer. This is why it's so important to know the audience that is listening and to know what they want.

And here's a key question to ask yourself. Why are you. Yes, you. Why are you excited to have this guest on your show?

Well, share that excitement with your audience instead of just burying them in irrelevant accolades. They were voted valedictorian and most likely to succeed and blah blah, blah. We don't care.

Look, because if you're not excited about the guest, why are you having them on the show? That's a question you might want to ask. Think about this. In the end, the audience trusts you.

They believe you will bring on guests who are interesting, engaging, and again, relevant. You don't need to over validate the guest with a laundry list of accomplishments. Keep the intro focused and keep it meaningful.

I mean, after all, your audience came to hear the conversation, not the resume. Have you gone over to play with PodPage yet? You can go over for a 14 day free trial. Click on the button that says preview my website.

Type in the name of your show. If it's not public yet, we'll grab the RSS and throw that in there and we will build a website and you can see it with 20 different templates.

And remember, those templates are just starting points. You can go in and tweak this seven ways to heaven. Is that a saying? If so, I just made it. And really maximize your brand.

I'm Dave Jackson, head of podcasting at PodPage. Thanks so much for listening to podcast website Tips.

You know somebody who is struggling with their website or their podcast, send them over to Our website podcast websitetips.com follow.

Megan
00:13:37.128 - 00:13:44.550
Podcast website Tips is part of the power of podcasting Network. Find this and all of Dave's shows@powerofpodcasting.com.