Deborah and I have been traveling back and forth from Hawaii to the mainland for several speaking engagements and business coaching “playshops” over the last five weeks (with one more two week trip starting this week.) Things have been hectic with the launch of the new “Marketing With Business Blogs” multi-media coaching course, and a new breakthrough business coaching program we’ll be revealing this weekend when we present at Stephen Pierce’s Unleash Your Marketing Genius event in Ann Arbor Mi.

But I just had to take a couple of minutes to let you know about this little firestorm about started at a recent internet marketing conference. It has to do with royalties “supposedly” due to a company that “supposedly” invented the MP3 technology.

Yep, that’s right — royalties on your MP3 Podcasts! (Or any MP3 products for that matter.)

I heard about this a few months ago but after doing some investigation and speaking with our attorney thought it was so ridiculous, I forgot about it. But now, some opportune marketers have decided to use this trouble making company from France (no surprise there) as a scare tactic for promoting their products and services. One of my friends let me know about what was said at the Las Vegas marketing conference right after the event, and I think it’s outrageous that marketers would attempt to sell based primarily on fear and mis-information.

Jim Edwards wrote a great piece addressing this issue in detail over at his “igottatellyou” blog and I suggest you give it a read. There are several good resources mentioned in the comments section as well if you’re interested in doing more research on your own.

Deb and I just got done with a business blogging article series that we’ll be starting to post on Wednesday. We should be back on track with our regular posting schedule now, even with this upcoming two week trip. They’ll be some exciting changes coming to the blog when we get back in August.

Happy business blogging!

John-Paul Micek is a contributing partner in the only multi-media course that truly coaches business owners how to integrate business blogging for more traffic, more clients, and more profits — Marketing With Business Blogs.

He’s a published author and weekly columnist for the business section of the Honoulu Star Bulletin. He’s known as the “Click-and-Mortar Business Coach” by by business owners around the world thanks to members of the Business Owners Coaching Club.


The © Copyright to all audio, video, images, and text are held by RPM Success Group Inc. and licensed under a Creative Commons License.

I’m on the mainland visiting family and attending a few events over this week and next so it’s been tough (if not intentional) getting online. Just stopped in to check comments and stats while in NYC, so I figured I’d post a heads-up on a couple new cool research tools that I came across in development.

The first is Podscope.

If you’re quickly becoming a podcast junky like me (business or otherwise,) this new tool is going to get you excited. Podscope is a new web engine that allows you to keyword search each and every word spoken in a podcast is now live in beta mode. In about a dozen single-word searcgh tests I ran on the engine’s capabilites it was amazingly accurate. Complex searches are still quite a ways off it seems. But hey… even with single word searches — Podscope can prove to be a big timesaver in discovering new podcasts.

The second tool is FeedPlex

FeedPlex is a search engine exclusively for XML (RSS, RDF) content. It relaunched in beta a couple of months ago and seems to be getting more accurate with each passing week. The database is being revamped and expanded by Nathan Enns, the person who also runs FyberSearch. In our testing using proven keywords for our own blogs and a number of our strategic partners, the FeedPlex engine has also been steadily improving.

Well, that’s it for now. I’m off to breakfast with the fam now, and off to Detroit for our “Innovation Playshop” with Stephen Pierce.

Aloha from NYC!

JP

Two weeks ago I wrote a review of Rush Limbaugh’s new podcast service and highlighted how with one fell swoop several hundred thousand Rush 24/7 subscribers instantly became podcast subscribers. No matter what your political views — it’s a pretty powerful (and exciting) act when 22 million people get exposed to and educated about podcasting, especially when it happens in a highly sought after high-end demographic like Rush’s audience.

Well, as I was perusing some recent news over at wired.com, I came across some trends beginning to surface with traditional radio stations in relation to podcasting. For instance:

• San Diego station KFMB-FM/100.7 Jack — that’s the same format that derailed oldies stations in NYC and Chicago earlier this month — is charging $4.95 a month for podcasts of the morning show.
• KCRW-FM, an LA public radio station, has scored underwriting from local Lexus dealers for its 22 podcasts.
• Podcasts of WNYC’s “On The Media” are being downloaded 15,000 to 18,000 times a week. “We’ve already been migrating to a digital environment, so (the cost) is really negligible,” Phil Redo, VP-station operations and strategy, told Wired News.

You can read more on traditional radio entering the podcast arena over at wired.com.

I have to tell you that news like this is really exciting! It reinforces our coaching focus with clients over here at RPM Success Group inc. — and we’re really excited for small and mid-size business owners because of the power that lays in a carefully crafted synergy between business blogging, business podcasts, and v-blogging (video delivered via blog and pushed via RSS.)

The rate of growth for podcasting continues to outpace any other trend on the internet (including blogs) because of the inherent flexibility of content consumption. Finally there is freedom from the desktop, and a viable alternative to traditional and even XM radio(define)!

Stay tuned for more info, education, and coaching on these exciting channels so you can learn to boost your business growth with an intravenous feeding tube of multi-media steroids.
________________________

John-Paul Micek is a contributing partner in the only multi-media course that truly coaches business owners how to integrate business blogging for more traffic, more clients, and more profits — How to Master Business Blogging.

He’s a weekly columnist for the business section of the Honoulu Star Bulletin. He’s known as the “Click-and-Mortar Business Coach” by by business owners around the world thanks to members of the Business Owners Coaching Club.


The © Copyright to all audio, video, images, and text are held by RPM Success Group Inc. and licensed under a Creative Commons License.

Well, today was the day a lot of people have been waiting for. Rush Limbaugh has taken Podcasting for profit mainstream. If you’re looking to succeed in business in the 21st Century marketplace, it doesn’t matter what your politics are. This is an exciting advancement because it’s an effort that’s getting functional Podcasting out to an educated, high-income demographic — and it’s being done for profit!

In one fell swoop 22 million listeners were exposed to a detailed explanation of Podcasting, and roughly half a million paid subscribers got to download the inaugural Podcast of the daily Rush Limbaugh show to their chosen MP3 player. I happen to be one of those subscribers, so in the always present spirit of my business coaching thought process — here’s what you can learn from this mega-size Podcasting for profit effort.

What YOU can learn from a REAL Podcasting for profit model

I’m going to give you a quick overview of how Rush’s Podcast system currently works, along with some business coaching insight as to what you should model in any similar Podcast effort (or any paid content delivery via RSS for that matter.)

The first step is to download a desktop management program which ensures only paid subscribers can access the RSS feed.

Downloading, installing, and configuring the super compact desktop program is a breeze. I had it done in 60-seconds. So even though it’s a separate program, it’s very consumer friendly. That’s an important attribute that some other “for fee” RSS programs out there are still lacking, and one important attribute you need to make sure is part of any Podcasting for profit effort you undertake for your business. (more…)

In scooting around this morning doing some research on business podcasting I came across a link reference from Lee over at the Common Craft blog. He references a new article from Wired magazine that highlights some interesting moves being made by Infinity Broadcasting, and here’s how you can join in to benefit.

Infinity with over 180 stations across the nation, is stepping into the business die of podcasting full force. They’re going to be taking one of their LA stations and converting it to 100% listener-submitted content. The station will be renamed KYOURadio. You can read the full article at over at Wired Magazine.

Here’s how to join in and benefit with your business podcast

As a business podcaster you should submit your digital audio files for broadcast consideration by way of the KYOURadio.com web site. It’s quick and easy to do! I just went through the process and it took under 15-minutes. If you have some podcasts already published, you can register and upload the audio file from the podcast you’d like to submit for consideration just as quickly.

I think this is brilliant idea, and incorporating advertising right from the start will obviously allow Infinity to monetize this right from the start. Something to keep an eye on. If this is even mildly successful, it will provide a great case study for others to follow and expand on.

John-Paul Micek
The Click-and-Mortar Business Coach
Business Owners Coaching Club
http:/www.AdvancedBusinessBlogging.com

The © Copyright to all audio, video, images, and text are held by RPM Success Group Inc. and licensed under a Creative Commons License.

My friend Thomas Pakii Pierce from Blog for Fun and Profit was interviewed last week by Denise Wakeman of Build A Better Blog System. As usual Thomas shined in his interview as he explained in detail the most powerful impact your business blog can have — building your social network.

Here’s a summary of the topics Thomas covered on the call:

What social marketing is fundamentally all about.

Why a social marketing emphasis is even necessary.

How to best position your blog for social marketing success and why blogging has changed the way marketing is being conducted online.

How to establish a successful community around your products, services and brand.

Why voice and value are the key to creating successful community and how to actually fine tune your voice to your blog to effectively communicate with your target audience.

How to leverage relationships with other bloggers for social marketing success.

Visit Thomas’s blog for the link through to the free recording, and while you’re there be sure to check out the great info he provides. Thomas is a passionate blogger and loves the technology. He’s always up to date with the latest things going on in the blogosphere.

Enjoy!

John-Paul Micek
The Click-and-Mortar Business Coach
Business Owners Coaching Club
http:/www.AdvancedBusinessBlogging.com

The © Copyright to all audio, video, images, and text are held by RPM Success Group Inc. and licensed under a Creative Commons License.

If you’re a small business owner looking for music you can use to make your free business podcast sound more professional, this is a business blogging resource you’ll love! New tech Podcaster from Philly, Mike, from the Mike Tech Show had a really kewl song on his new podcast on tech where he shares great tons of free resources for podcasting.

The song was called “goodbye beautiful day“, and I couldn’t help but play it over and over, after listening to several of his podcasts, many of which were live from the Trenton Computer Festival but more importantly, he replied back to my comment on his blog to share where he downloaded the free podcast song from.

Mike shared the resource he got the free music download where you can get Pod Safe music for your podcast.

Garageband.com is the place where you can listen to songs, review the songs, post your songs, or download songs.

Another free podcast resource he shared from his new podcast is for people who want to find sounds for your podcast to entertain while you educate your podcast listeners (aka - your audience).

Here’s what Mike shared about Pod Safe music:

“Here’s the scoop, if the artist has the song to download, you can play it, copy it, just not make a profit from it. We call that, “POD SAFE”, free from the wrath of the RIAA.”

So enjoy downloading free songs from GarageBand and be sure to adhere to the rules, and you’ll be Edu-Taining in no time!

Also be sure to check out and subscribe to Mike Tech’s new Mike Tech Show which also serves as his blog, where he’ll continue to share technology and computer podcast discussing cool sites, software, tips and tricks that will make you more productive at home and work.

Coach Deb
BusinessOwnersJournal.com

PS: Too funny about the blogging and podcasting world. Mike lives not too far from where I used to live back in New Jersey, but apparently, I had to move 6,000 miles away to Hawaii in order to connect with him. Small world the podcast community and blogosphere has created for all of us! Small world indeed…

As a small business owner it’s vital for you to understand the shifts taking place in the 21st century marketplace. In order to prosper, profit, and climb to the top of the heap in your industry or niche, you need to clearly envision where consumers are headed — then get there ahead of them to greet them.

Imagine a marketplace where a new podcast show is downloaded every 44 seconds, and a new podcast listener added every 1.7 minutes! Is this some fantasy of small business owners looking for an edge with consumer controlled media? Or maybe the vain hope of some techie geeks hiding in back rooms around the world?

Nope — they’re actual tracking results for March 05′ from the Australian new media company “The Podcast Network.”

Cameron Reilly, co-founder of The Podcast Network, was both surprised and pleased with the stats. He said, “If we can maintain this momentum, within seven months we’ll have half a million listeners, which is equivalent of the top radio stations in any Australian city. That’s when the podcasting business model will come into its own.” With 60,000 mp3 files downloaded in one month, they’re certainly off to a rousing start!

Mainstream outlets testing the waters

More and more “main stream” outlets like NPR and BBC are joining in on the podcasting bandwagon. And while that’s good news for the future of business podcasting, it also means you need to move fast to establish yourself as a leader in your industry or niche now. It’s much easier to defend a position you already hold, than it is to take a commanding position away from another business to gain their audience.

Get going now — one step at a time

Podcasting is a great tool, but be sure to put one foot in front of the other. You can business podcast without a business blog, but it’s infinitely easier to do it through your existing business blog.

Get your business blog up and running now. By doing so you’ll be setting yourself up to successfully launch your own business podcast or internet radio show, and establish a commanding lead in your industry of niche ahead of your competitors.

Consumer controlled media is the unstoppable wave of the future. A lot of small business owners are going to be shocked at how quickly the marketplace will be changing in the next few years. Those companies that continue to market and do business based on the outdated strategies and tactics of the last century will be in for a big surprise as their client slowly drain away.

Don’t let yourself be that type of business owner.

If you’re a regular reader of AdvancedBusinessBlogging.com. you’re well aware of the trend now, so you can’t plead ignorance. Step up and get the coaching and education you need to establish a solid business blogging strategy. Then, and only then, will you be fully prepared to profit from the business podcasting revolution on the horizon.

How to Master Business Blogging is the best place to learn the proven strategies that will prepare you to profit from business blogging and business podcasting together.

As our inaugural podcast of the Effective Entrepreneur Radio Show we have a two part interview with best-selling author Robert Kiyosaki.

Robert is successful business owner and real estate investor, international educator in financial success, and best-selling author of the “rich Dad, Poor Dad” book series.

Click here to listen to two of our business coaching interview with Robert Kiyosaki. And be sure to subscribe to the Business Owners Journal for email notification of new podcasts of the Effective Entrepreneur™ radio show.

As our inaugural podcast of the Effective Entrepreneur Radio Show we have part one of a two part interview with best-selling author Robert Kiyosaki.

The Effective Entrepreneur™ radio show is dedicated to the growth of small businesses just like yours. Whether you’re a “budding entrepreneur” or a seasoned business owner — the Effective Entrepreneur™ radio show is designed to bring you street-smart strategies and proven tactics that will help you grow your business and gain a competitive advantage over others in your industry or niche.

Robert is successful business owner and real estate investor, international educator in financial success, and best-selling author of the “rich Dad, Poor Dad” book series.

Click here to check out part one of our business coaching interview with Robert Kiyosaki and subscribe to the podcast for the Effective Entrepreneur™ radio show at the Business Owners Blog.