Spreaker Live Show #164 for Sept 12th, 2018

Show Duration: 68 minutes

-Host: Rob Greenlee, VP of Podcaster Relations, Voxnest and Spreaker @robgreenlee - rob(at)voxnest(dotcom)
-Co-Host: Alex Exum, Host of "Live Talk" and “The Exum Experience Podcast” on Spreaker
-We stream LIVE every Weds at 3 Pacific /6pm EST from SpreakerLiveShow.com
-You can now get the show on Google Podcasts App on Android
-You can hear this show on Amazon Echo Smart Speakers now via the New Spreaker Skill


Show Today:

- Skype is able to Record NOW
- Pros and Cons: Live Show vs Pre-recorded Show
- Your RSS Feed: What it is, Why You Need It and How to Use it
- Apple Podcasts Top 200 Ranking Manipulation Issue
- Dragon Con Podcast Track & TechCrunch Disrupt Events Download


On the show today:

-Pros and Cons: Live Show vs Pre-recorded Show?
Interactivity - connection with audiences at a deeper level with LIVE
More flexibility in production time for pre-recording segments and piece together

-Your RSS Feed: What it is, Why You Need It and How to Use it

RSS Feed: What is it?
Before explaining the ins and outs of exactly what an RSS Feed is, let’s look at what the acronym actually stands for. RSS literally means ‘Rich Site Summary’ but it is also commonly known as ‘Really Simple Syndication’. Why? An RSS Feed is mandatory for distributing or syndicating your podcast as it is literally the URL for your show!

What does a podcast feed mean? Once you set up your Feed your content will be ready to be submitted to podcast applications or news readers to subscribe to your content. So great places to add your podcast feed to are Apple Podcasts/iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify, and Google Podcasts. Create podcast only rss feed is required.

RSS feed: Why is it so Important?
Simply put: It contains all of your podcast’s information: title, image, description, mp3 file URL, and category. All the information necessary for your podcast to be distributed outside of your hosting platform. RSS allows you to syndicate content to different platforms so that you can reach diverse audiences without the need for them need to visit your website directly.

Podcast Hosting: What are the benefits?
For listeners: it means they don’t need to sign up for emails or push notifications for shows which interest them, they can stay up-to-date and find all their favorite podcasts in one podcasting app. Upload your content to one place and it get distributed everywhere

RSS feed: Where Should You Host Your Podcast? In answer to this question there’s no hard and fast rule – it completely depends on the sort of podcaster you are! The first thing you need to ask yourself though is whether you want to self-host or use a hosting platform and there are advantages and disadvantages to both.

Self-hosting – by hosting everything yourself it means that you have complete control over your Feed, you own it and your workflow is simple – in turn, this means if anything happens to your website, your podcast goes down too. Furthermore, shared hosting means lots of people using the same resources which can lead to technical problems. Bear in mind that you will need to have some technical skills in order to know how to code and build the RSS Feed and to always know what’s happening in the industry which might require an update to your Feed!

podcast rss feed example

Host – host platforms are designed to handle the specifications and needs of a podcaster, this means the technology behind the sites are able to scale with your show as it grows! As they are developed for end-users they also have excellent support teams who are on hand to offer technical support when needed!

your feed is the skeleton of your show

When weighing up the positives and negatives of where to host your RSS Feed, consider this: your feed is the skeleton of your show and when deciding your host location you absolutely need to make sure your hosting service allows redirection. The most popular hosting services generally allow this and Spreaker includes this option in the RSS Customization option.

google play email tag - recommend not to worry about submitting to Google Play

With Spreaker you can also apply very specific changes according to the devices in which your listeners are listening to your show, like iOS11 and the Season and Episodes tags. You can also apply changes from Spreaker CMS that will come through as tags in your RSS feed’s metadata, such as: your seasons, episode order and episode labels. To read more about this, check out our previous blog post on adding tags to your podcast.

iOS11 seasons and episodes tags

RSS feed: How Do I Stay in Control?
Nowadays, podcasters or whoever is using an RSS Feed have a high level of control over it, users can manage, move and customize their feed to exactly how they want it. Most podcast hosts allow podcasters to customize different fields of their RSS Feed with categories, author’s name or e-mail. For example Libsyn and Blubrry’s Powerpress both offer extensive RSS Feed customization.

The option to have full control of the RSS feed also offers the chance to redirect the RSS Feed and to add a prefix to the RSS Feed. Redirecting a feed means fully owning it and it’s worth noting that in the future you might want to host your podcast somewhere else and if you forward the old one to your new host it will mean that you don’t lose listeners who are subscribed to the old feed.

how to get a podcast feed address

Round Up
Whichever route you choose to go with your RSS Feed, self-hosting or using a provider, always make sure that you stay in control as it’s the key to utilising it to its maximum! We hope that by using our guide you now feel confident in answering some of the key questions on the subject, such as: what does podcast feed mean? or where to submit podcast your feed. Good luck in making the most of your podcast RSS Feed!


-Apple Podcasts Top 200 Ranking Manipulation Issue
In an astonishing video, Twitter user Lime Link posts a video that shows the extent of Apple Podcasts Chart manipulation: it shows a clever way of how to spot the podcasts gaming the system, and how to do it yourself (don't).

Podnews.net reported this in May, they showed five podcasts in the top ten suspected of manipulating the charts, and people advertising for manipulators. We've also seen evidence of people threatening podcasters who don't use their service with "one star ratings and bad comments". And where's Apple?
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wimv1aJ4ra8
My speculation: Only answer to this is that it might be misleading comparing subscription data on castbox to apply it to apple subscription activity, plus the only other explanation could have some element of editorial just like New and Noteworthy is all editorial (selected for feature by Apple staff, .
Buying placement by creating activity by using large banks of iPhones to subscribe and unsubscribe activity in a short period of time. Just DON’T DO It as it could get you banned from Apple Podcasts/iTunes.

-Dragon Con Podcast Track & TechCrunch Disrupt Events Download


Listener Comments & Questions:

HohO
Yes, you 2 have a great dynamic. A contradiction of personalities

Linda Irwin
Joe Rogan actually cancels his show if someone cannot make it.

Spreaker/Voxnest Links:
https://Voxnest.com
http://blog.spreaker.com
http://SpreakerLiveShow.com
https://Spreaker.com
Email: rob at voxnest.com

Send Questions and Comments to:
Twitter: http://twitter.com/spreaker using #SpreakerLive
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Twitter: http://twitter.com/robgreenlee
Twitter: http://twitter.com/alexeum
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