1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:18,580 Hey everyone, Ashley here with RSS.com. 2 00:00:18,580 --> 00:00:23,320 In today's episode, we're chatting with Alex Sanfilippo of Podprose. 3 00:00:23,320 --> 00:00:27,400 The question we're answering today is do reviews really matter? 4 00:00:27,400 --> 00:00:28,960 Tune in to find out. 5 00:00:28,960 --> 00:00:37,320 Enjoy the show. 6 00:00:37,320 --> 00:00:39,120 But Alex, I'm really excited that you could be here. 7 00:00:39,120 --> 00:00:41,920 You were recommended by so many past guests. 8 00:00:41,920 --> 00:00:44,320 Because when I was asking people, who should we have on the show? 9 00:00:44,320 --> 00:00:46,600 Who do you think would be really good for our audience? 10 00:00:46,600 --> 00:00:48,680 They were like, you got to have Alex. 11 00:00:48,680 --> 00:00:51,720 And so I'm really excited you could be here and welcome to the show. 12 00:00:51,720 --> 00:00:53,960 Can you do us a favor and tell us what it is you do? 13 00:00:53,960 --> 00:00:54,960 Yeah, sure. 14 00:00:54,960 --> 00:00:55,960 Thank you. 15 00:00:55,960 --> 00:00:56,960 What an incredible thing to hear. 16 00:00:56,960 --> 00:00:57,960 That's so humbling and honored. 17 00:00:57,960 --> 00:00:58,960 Thank you. 18 00:00:58,960 --> 00:01:04,440 Yeah, my name is Alex Sanfilippo and I focus on helping independent podcasters. 19 00:01:04,440 --> 00:01:06,160 So I'm 100% podcasting. 20 00:01:06,160 --> 00:01:10,360 It's what I do full time and I serve through creating software solutions that other people 21 00:01:10,360 --> 00:01:11,440 haven't already created. 22 00:01:11,440 --> 00:01:15,080 Just kind of trying to fill in the gaps to make things more frictionless for independent 23 00:01:15,080 --> 00:01:19,580 podcasters that really have a passion, a purpose, a desire to serve people that are listening. 24 00:01:19,580 --> 00:01:21,480 So that's what my company does. 25 00:01:21,480 --> 00:01:22,480 It's called Podprose. 26 00:01:22,480 --> 00:01:24,880 It's kind of like the umbrella, if you will, and everything we do is under that. 27 00:01:24,880 --> 00:01:29,000 And again, all around, can we help podcasters continue to podcast so they can serve the 28 00:01:29,000 --> 00:01:31,120 world and ultimately make it a better place? 29 00:01:31,120 --> 00:01:32,120 Yes. 30 00:01:32,120 --> 00:01:35,400 And one of the things that's under your umbrella is pod lottery. 31 00:01:35,400 --> 00:01:37,040 And that's the thing that got me the most excited. 32 00:01:37,040 --> 00:01:38,040 And here's why. 33 00:01:38,040 --> 00:01:40,560 You know, one of the things that a lot of people talk about whenever they're trying 34 00:01:40,560 --> 00:01:45,040 to figure out how to promote their shows or how to get more people listening is whether 35 00:01:45,040 --> 00:01:46,560 or not reviews matter. 36 00:01:46,560 --> 00:01:52,120 And so my question for you that kind of prompted this whole thing is, in your opinion, in 2023 37 00:01:52,120 --> 00:01:55,800 and beyond, do reviews of a podcast still matter? 38 00:01:55,800 --> 00:01:58,800 You know, I had somebody challenge this idea. 39 00:01:58,800 --> 00:02:03,120 There's other industry guys like, why the heck do we care about reviews? 40 00:02:03,120 --> 00:02:07,120 And the first thing I said, when's the last time you bought something on Amazon or anywhere 41 00:02:07,120 --> 00:02:09,840 where you didn't first see if it had reviews, right? 42 00:02:09,840 --> 00:02:11,800 If it doesn't have reviews at all, major red flag. 43 00:02:11,800 --> 00:02:16,040 If it has bad reviews, whether they're real or fake, in our mind, we're like, I can't 44 00:02:16,040 --> 00:02:17,040 go with that one. 45 00:02:17,040 --> 00:02:20,920 You want to go with the one that has a high quantity of really good reviews. 46 00:02:20,920 --> 00:02:23,440 That's when you're buying a product, when you're buying anything, right? 47 00:02:23,440 --> 00:02:26,520 And so for me, I'm like, hey, if I'm going to listen to a podcast and there's three options 48 00:02:26,520 --> 00:02:31,040 on a similar topic, the one that actually has a review or multiple reviews is probably 49 00:02:31,040 --> 00:02:32,880 the first one we give a shot to. 50 00:02:32,880 --> 00:02:36,400 So to me, yes, it absolutely matters. 51 00:02:36,400 --> 00:02:39,440 Just from first and foremost, from me being a listener standpoint, from that experience, 52 00:02:39,440 --> 00:02:42,340 I'm like, okay, yeah, this one has something, right? 53 00:02:42,340 --> 00:02:46,280 But beyond that, when you're looking at sponsors, when you're looking at partners, the really 54 00:02:46,280 --> 00:02:49,320 only metric that someone from the outside can see is a review. 55 00:02:49,320 --> 00:02:52,400 So again, to answer your question in sort of a long way, Ashley, yes, I think reviews 56 00:02:52,400 --> 00:02:53,400 really matter. 57 00:02:53,400 --> 00:02:54,400 Okay. 58 00:02:54,400 --> 00:02:56,280 So if they matter, how do we get them? 59 00:02:56,280 --> 00:02:58,680 Yeah, there's a lot of ways to do this. 60 00:02:58,680 --> 00:03:02,880 And the first thing I want to mention actually is talking to your listeners. 61 00:03:02,880 --> 00:03:07,720 A lot of hosts do this, but I recently had someone poke a hole in this theory and it 62 00:03:07,720 --> 00:03:09,220 was very interesting to me. 63 00:03:09,220 --> 00:03:16,200 They have a podcast about, for former sex addicts that are coming out of that lifestyle 64 00:03:16,200 --> 00:03:20,680 and they're like, I don't want my listeners to leave reviews because that exposes them. 65 00:03:20,680 --> 00:03:23,280 And I was like, oh shoot. 66 00:03:23,280 --> 00:03:25,200 And they're like, so I would never ask a listener for review. 67 00:03:25,200 --> 00:03:27,960 I'm like, I don't know what to say to you. 68 00:03:27,960 --> 00:03:28,960 Right. 69 00:03:28,960 --> 00:03:30,880 And then I started thinking, I'm like, wait, this isn't the only topic like that. 70 00:03:30,880 --> 00:03:35,400 Like what if you're coming out of domestic abuse, like mostly things that are some sort 71 00:03:35,400 --> 00:03:37,320 of like trauma that's happening in your life, right? 72 00:03:37,320 --> 00:03:38,600 Like or loss, anything like that. 73 00:03:38,600 --> 00:03:42,160 I'm like, yeah, you don't want the listeners to leave reviews because you're going to expose 74 00:03:42,160 --> 00:03:43,160 them. 75 00:03:43,160 --> 00:03:45,720 And the whole thing is they're listening to your podcast because it's safe for them, right? 76 00:03:45,720 --> 00:03:48,000 They can, you don't even know that they're listening, right? 77 00:03:48,000 --> 00:03:52,440 You the host and you want to kind of keep that privacy on some of those topics. 78 00:03:52,440 --> 00:03:55,000 And so again, actually that really poked a hole in that theory. 79 00:03:55,000 --> 00:03:59,500 Now if you have a podcast, it's just about abundance, lifestyle, comedy, those things 80 00:03:59,500 --> 00:04:04,040 by all means, please get very tactful with asking your listeners for reviews. 81 00:04:04,040 --> 00:04:05,680 So I think that's the first point I'd share. 82 00:04:05,680 --> 00:04:07,560 I don't know if you have anything you want to add to that or we want to keep on going 83 00:04:07,560 --> 00:04:08,560 down a list. 84 00:04:08,560 --> 00:04:10,040 No, I just want to keep on going. 85 00:04:10,040 --> 00:04:11,040 Cool. 86 00:04:11,040 --> 00:04:12,040 All right, great. 87 00:04:12,040 --> 00:04:13,680 So really quick on that to get tactful with it. 88 00:04:13,680 --> 00:04:18,520 I think the best way to do it is actually just you, the host ask, but in like a raw, 89 00:04:18,520 --> 00:04:22,000 organic way, like you don't want to be this whole thing on like, Hey everybody, the show 90 00:04:22,000 --> 00:04:25,960 is going great, but I would love for you to leave a five star rating review. 91 00:04:25,960 --> 00:04:27,520 When you do, let me know. 92 00:04:27,520 --> 00:04:28,840 Let's get back to the show, right? 93 00:04:28,840 --> 00:04:32,280 If it's more like, Hey, we're really trying to grow this show and make sure we're getting 94 00:04:32,280 --> 00:04:33,400 the right people listening to it. 95 00:04:33,400 --> 00:04:35,800 Could you share it with somebody you know, who would add value to and while you're at 96 00:04:35,800 --> 00:04:39,560 it, if you could leave us a five star rating review, we'd really appreciate that. 97 00:04:39,560 --> 00:04:41,320 That motivates me to keep on doing this. 98 00:04:41,320 --> 00:04:44,360 I get to read those reviews, so thank you so much in advance. 99 00:04:44,360 --> 00:04:46,960 When you really spin it that way, what a beautiful thing. 100 00:04:46,960 --> 00:04:50,280 And someone who really likes your show, they're going to go take action and do that. 101 00:04:50,280 --> 00:04:53,920 So again, if you have a show in the right style or format where it's safe for someone 102 00:04:53,920 --> 00:04:58,360 to leave a review by all means be asking for it and just try to keep it raw, authentic, 103 00:04:58,360 --> 00:05:01,800 make it feel like they're doing you personally a favor, not you're here to serve the brand. 104 00:05:01,800 --> 00:05:02,800 Right? 105 00:05:02,800 --> 00:05:06,040 Like it's, it's for you and them to have that connection and for you to be able to see that. 106 00:05:06,040 --> 00:05:10,160 I think that again, that's really the step one is to be able to do that. 107 00:05:10,160 --> 00:05:14,400 I got to say the way that you did the example of asking for the review, it's like you've 108 00:05:14,400 --> 00:05:15,400 done it before. 109 00:05:15,400 --> 00:05:16,400 Uh, no comment. 110 00:05:16,400 --> 00:05:17,400 It sounded so good. 111 00:05:17,400 --> 00:05:18,400 You just spit it right out. 112 00:05:18,400 --> 00:05:19,400 Like, no big deal. 113 00:05:19,400 --> 00:05:20,400 You know, it didn't work. 114 00:05:20,400 --> 00:05:21,400 Let's put it that way. 115 00:05:21,400 --> 00:05:22,400 Or a friend, I'm speaking for a friend. 116 00:05:22,400 --> 00:05:23,400 They said it didn't work. 117 00:05:23,400 --> 00:05:24,400 Okay. 118 00:05:24,400 --> 00:05:25,400 It was me. 119 00:05:25,400 --> 00:05:27,200 You know, beyond that, beyond like asking listeners for reviews is leaving frictionless 120 00:05:27,200 --> 00:05:29,040 ways for people to do it. 121 00:05:29,040 --> 00:05:33,600 So there's a bunch of websites that will help you do this, which can link people directly 122 00:05:33,600 --> 00:05:34,600 to the show. 123 00:05:34,600 --> 00:05:37,600 So if you're a regular viewer, you can go to the website, you can go to the website, 124 00:05:37,600 --> 00:05:40,960 it's that will help you do this, which can link people directly to where they can leave 125 00:05:40,960 --> 00:05:41,960 a review. 126 00:05:41,960 --> 00:05:46,840 The first one that comes to mind I really like and use is called pod kite, uh, pod kite.com. 127 00:05:46,840 --> 00:05:50,040 They have a button that will, uh, basically when you're linking to your episode, like 128 00:05:50,040 --> 00:05:54,680 maybe on a blog post, which Ashley, you and I both, uh, we, we, we come from that world, 129 00:05:54,680 --> 00:05:55,680 right? 130 00:05:55,680 --> 00:05:56,680 Uh, we are big proponents of that. 131 00:05:56,680 --> 00:05:59,360 So having that blog post saying, Hey, click here to leave a review for the show and it'll 132 00:05:59,360 --> 00:06:02,080 automatically direct them to where they can do that. 133 00:06:02,080 --> 00:06:04,960 And there's other services that do similar things like that. 134 00:06:04,960 --> 00:06:08,760 Again, making it frictionless, like asking for someone to leave a review, but not explaining 135 00:06:08,760 --> 00:06:13,000 how, where, like why, like all those things is going to make it difficult. 136 00:06:13,000 --> 00:06:14,000 You're like, Hey, leave me a review. 137 00:06:14,000 --> 00:06:17,400 And people are just like, how, where, what do you want? 138 00:06:17,400 --> 00:06:18,400 Right. 139 00:06:18,400 --> 00:06:19,680 And so you want to direct people to that. 140 00:06:19,680 --> 00:06:21,720 And I should really give this disclaimer. 141 00:06:21,720 --> 00:06:28,240 I think that Apple reviews are the best because currently it's the only really big podcast 142 00:06:28,240 --> 00:06:29,240 player. 143 00:06:29,240 --> 00:06:31,240 So there's some small ones that do this, but this is the only big one that allows people 144 00:06:31,240 --> 00:06:33,760 to actually leave a review. 145 00:06:33,760 --> 00:06:37,040 Other places allow you to brief some sort of star rating and maybe that'll change at 146 00:06:37,040 --> 00:06:39,760 some point, but right now the only ones that actually can leave text. 147 00:06:39,760 --> 00:06:42,760 And to be quite frank, I don't know. 148 00:06:42,760 --> 00:06:44,960 Is that just having a star rating is really helpful. 149 00:06:44,960 --> 00:06:48,040 People want to know, okay, is there a human behind that or did this just happen from a 150 00:06:48,040 --> 00:06:49,040 robot? 151 00:06:49,040 --> 00:06:50,040 Right. 152 00:06:50,040 --> 00:06:51,040 So people want to be able to see it. 153 00:06:51,040 --> 00:06:54,420 And that to me means Apple podcast reviews are really, that's the one that we really 154 00:06:54,420 --> 00:06:57,200 need to be after is getting those reviews. 155 00:06:57,200 --> 00:07:00,960 So again, making a frictionless way for people to find out how to do that and linking to 156 00:07:00,960 --> 00:07:03,920 it is another great way to do it. 157 00:07:03,920 --> 00:07:09,800 Now one of the things that you mentioned, but you know, bots and things like that, how 158 00:07:09,800 --> 00:07:13,920 can we tell whether or not we're just getting bombarded with fake reviews? 159 00:07:13,920 --> 00:07:18,680 Do you have anything that we can look for that would tell us like, okay, that's totally 160 00:07:18,680 --> 00:07:19,680 bots? 161 00:07:19,680 --> 00:07:20,680 Yeah. 162 00:07:20,680 --> 00:07:24,520 First off, Apple does a pretty good job of removing these. 163 00:07:24,520 --> 00:07:28,000 I don't know if they review each review, if I can say it that way. 164 00:07:28,000 --> 00:07:30,640 I don't know if they're checking each review, that's better. 165 00:07:30,640 --> 00:07:33,720 But it takes a few days for it to get to show up on Apple. 166 00:07:33,720 --> 00:07:37,840 So I don't know if there's some sort of system behind that, but in general, I want them at 167 00:07:37,840 --> 00:07:41,840 someone span the podcast and my downloads went like through the roof overnight. 168 00:07:41,840 --> 00:07:46,160 I don't know how or why, but I told Apple, I'm like, Hey, I just got like 15 reviews 169 00:07:46,160 --> 00:07:47,160 and they're all nice reviews. 170 00:07:47,160 --> 00:07:49,720 But I'm like, it wasn't good English. 171 00:07:49,720 --> 00:07:53,360 First off, I know most of my audiences in the U S and also it was very, they almost 172 00:07:53,360 --> 00:07:55,080 all said exactly the same thing. 173 00:07:55,080 --> 00:07:56,800 And they're like, yeah, we see it, we'll take care of it. 174 00:07:56,800 --> 00:07:58,820 And then like a day later, they were all gone. 175 00:07:58,820 --> 00:08:04,240 So I think to some sense, Apple will actually remove it at the same time. 176 00:08:04,240 --> 00:08:07,320 I think us humans are pretty good at understanding humans and robots these days. 177 00:08:07,320 --> 00:08:08,640 I think we're only getting better at that. 178 00:08:08,640 --> 00:08:09,640 Right? 179 00:08:09,640 --> 00:08:10,960 So when you read it, you can see if you resonate with it. 180 00:08:10,960 --> 00:08:12,880 It was just like great show five star. 181 00:08:12,880 --> 00:08:15,040 It's like, okay, that doesn't really feel like anything. 182 00:08:15,040 --> 00:08:18,120 One says, I listened to this episode with Ashley. 183 00:08:18,120 --> 00:08:19,360 She's such a smart person. 184 00:08:19,360 --> 00:08:20,720 She helped me as a blogger. 185 00:08:20,720 --> 00:08:22,240 She's helped me as a podcaster over the years. 186 00:08:22,240 --> 00:08:23,240 Right? 187 00:08:23,240 --> 00:08:25,120 Like reading that, you're like, okay, this, this isn't human, right? 188 00:08:25,120 --> 00:08:26,640 Like somebody actually wrote that. 189 00:08:26,640 --> 00:08:30,840 So I think that in many ways it's up to us and thankfully Apple is doing a good job. 190 00:08:30,840 --> 00:08:33,960 I think keeping most of the spam out of it right now. 191 00:08:33,960 --> 00:08:34,960 Yeah. 192 00:08:34,960 --> 00:08:37,760 That's, that's good to hear because I mean, one of the things that's been happening, even 193 00:08:37,760 --> 00:08:43,960 with RSS is sometimes we'll get the most insane reviews and you can tell that they are, have 194 00:08:43,960 --> 00:08:46,280 nothing to do with actually the company itself. 195 00:08:46,280 --> 00:08:50,500 And one of the funny things that's been happening lately is we've been getting reviews for podcasters 196 00:08:50,500 --> 00:08:53,760 on our platform rather than the actual company itself. 197 00:08:53,760 --> 00:08:57,520 So it's kind of funny how that sometimes happens whenever you're like, okay, we're sifting 198 00:08:57,520 --> 00:09:01,640 through this trying to figure out what's real, what's not, what's good, what's not, what's 199 00:09:01,640 --> 00:09:03,080 a bot, what's not. 200 00:09:03,080 --> 00:09:05,360 And so I just, I was just curious about that. 201 00:09:05,360 --> 00:09:07,120 I wondered if you had any thoughts on it. 202 00:09:07,120 --> 00:09:10,240 So I'm glad you did. 203 00:09:10,240 --> 00:09:15,520 So now do you think that in terms of reviews, do you think it has any impact on the SEO 204 00:09:15,520 --> 00:09:20,520 that it's related to trying to get a podcast attention online? 205 00:09:20,520 --> 00:09:21,800 So this is a good point. 206 00:09:21,800 --> 00:09:27,360 And I really dove deep into this and I found a page on Apple's website. 207 00:09:27,360 --> 00:09:33,480 It's public where they literally say a review on Apple does not change anything in the algorithm. 208 00:09:33,480 --> 00:09:35,280 It will not help you. 209 00:09:35,280 --> 00:09:38,680 And so they flat out say this is not going to change anything, but in the day, so it 210 00:09:38,680 --> 00:09:42,520 might not help get you to like top charts, quote unquote, but it does help you with people. 211 00:09:42,520 --> 00:09:45,640 And I think that that's, that to me is what matters more than being on charts, right? 212 00:09:45,640 --> 00:09:48,700 Like that doesn't necessarily help with people, but someone looking at it can see a review 213 00:09:48,700 --> 00:09:50,200 they resonate with. 214 00:09:50,200 --> 00:09:54,620 So from that perspective, I don't think it does anything from an SEO perspective other 215 00:09:54,620 --> 00:09:57,680 than the fact that someone might see it and be like, Ooh, this show has 10 reviews. 216 00:09:57,680 --> 00:09:58,680 All the rest of them are zero. 217 00:09:58,680 --> 00:10:00,240 I'll check that one out first. 218 00:10:00,240 --> 00:10:03,760 I, from what I can tell, that's really it. 219 00:10:03,760 --> 00:10:07,360 What do you think about, what are they called? 220 00:10:07,360 --> 00:10:11,840 Review incentives where like, you know, you'll put them into a lottery if they give you so 221 00:10:11,840 --> 00:10:16,720 many reviews that they will get a prize or possibly get a prize. 222 00:10:16,720 --> 00:10:18,680 What do you think about people that do things like that? 223 00:10:18,680 --> 00:10:23,480 Yeah, gamification among your listeners, incentivizing them to leave reviews can be a really fun 224 00:10:23,480 --> 00:10:24,480 thing. 225 00:10:24,480 --> 00:10:26,000 It can build fans for sure. 226 00:10:26,000 --> 00:10:30,040 And some hosts go as far as reading the winners reviews or they read one a week and people 227 00:10:30,040 --> 00:10:31,680 are leaving them for that reason. 228 00:10:31,680 --> 00:10:35,600 If you can incentivize around it, as long as it's done tastefully and not in a way that 229 00:10:35,600 --> 00:10:37,260 feels like spam, right? 230 00:10:37,260 --> 00:10:39,760 If you're talking to your listeners being like, Hey, if you've listened to this podcast 231 00:10:39,760 --> 00:10:42,000 and you like it, I'm going to start reading reviews every week. 232 00:10:42,000 --> 00:10:44,800 Would love for you to leave one more people are going to leave them because they're like, 233 00:10:44,800 --> 00:10:46,240 Oh, I want to hear my name on my podcast. 234 00:10:46,240 --> 00:10:47,240 I like to listen to you. 235 00:10:47,240 --> 00:10:48,240 Right. 236 00:10:48,240 --> 00:10:51,240 If you have a private community, let's just use example of Facebook group. 237 00:10:51,240 --> 00:10:53,000 It's an easy, easy one to use as an example. 238 00:10:53,000 --> 00:10:54,000 Right. 239 00:10:54,000 --> 00:10:56,640 If you run some sort of contest among your listeners saying, Hey, I'm going to anyone 240 00:10:56,640 --> 00:10:59,840 who leaves a review this week, I'm going to give this right. 241 00:10:59,840 --> 00:11:01,640 Whatever the podcast is about. 242 00:11:01,640 --> 00:11:04,640 Um, then yeah, I think there's no problem with that. 243 00:11:04,640 --> 00:11:08,160 And I would always add the disclaimer personally to make sure it comes from integrity. 244 00:11:08,160 --> 00:11:12,240 Like I would even for me, I say it doesn't even need to be a five star rating and review. 245 00:11:12,240 --> 00:11:15,040 It can be like, just give me your honest feedback on the show. 246 00:11:15,040 --> 00:11:17,000 It's not going to change the fact whether you win or not. 247 00:11:17,000 --> 00:11:18,240 I just wanted to be authentic. 248 00:11:18,240 --> 00:11:20,360 And I always personally like to add that. 249 00:11:20,360 --> 00:11:23,200 Um, I think that's a really important point to add, but I'm all for that stuff. 250 00:11:23,200 --> 00:11:26,720 I think if you can gamify a little bit and get your, your fans and listeners engaged, 251 00:11:26,720 --> 00:11:27,720 why not? 252 00:11:27,720 --> 00:11:30,760 It builds more, I guess it builds a stronger fan base. 253 00:11:30,760 --> 00:11:31,760 Yeah. 254 00:11:31,760 --> 00:11:32,760 It helps build community too. 255 00:11:32,760 --> 00:11:37,640 And I like the idea that you mentioned of, of reading the, the reviews on the air, so 256 00:11:37,640 --> 00:11:38,640 to speak. 257 00:11:38,640 --> 00:11:43,800 I mean, I know it's not, we're not broadcasting on, on radio waves, but what radio background, 258 00:11:43,800 --> 00:11:44,800 I can't help it. 259 00:11:44,800 --> 00:11:49,160 So it just, it feels kind of cool to like actually give someone a shout out. 260 00:11:49,160 --> 00:11:50,800 And so I like that idea a lot. 261 00:11:50,800 --> 00:11:51,800 Yeah. 262 00:11:51,800 --> 00:11:53,000 I think that's something you can do. 263 00:11:53,000 --> 00:11:56,440 You know, I want to, if you don't mind, I'll riff on something that's a side note here. 264 00:11:56,440 --> 00:11:57,760 Um, if that's okay. 265 00:11:57,760 --> 00:11:59,400 Yes, go for it. 266 00:11:59,400 --> 00:12:03,000 So I mentioned like making sure it's an authentic review. 267 00:12:03,000 --> 00:12:07,840 A lot of podcasters I meet, they start getting reviews and someone leaves a four star review, 268 00:12:07,840 --> 00:12:12,640 a three star review to a one star review and they get really upset and they're like, this 269 00:12:12,640 --> 00:12:13,960 is going to damage our reputation. 270 00:12:13,960 --> 00:12:14,960 I'm done. 271 00:12:14,960 --> 00:12:15,960 I'm through, I'm over. 272 00:12:15,960 --> 00:12:20,600 And I, I want to challenge that belief because I think that's a really wrong perspective. 273 00:12:20,600 --> 00:12:25,440 As a matter of fact, if you have fans of what you're doing, the way you can actually create 274 00:12:25,440 --> 00:12:29,160 someone who's just a listener into a fan is to prove somebody wrong. 275 00:12:29,160 --> 00:12:30,320 And all of us, let's, let's face it. 276 00:12:30,320 --> 00:12:33,200 If you go to Amazon and you're going to buy something, the first thing you click is the 277 00:12:33,200 --> 00:12:34,200 one star review. 278 00:12:34,200 --> 00:12:35,680 Like what are the complaints about this thing? 279 00:12:35,680 --> 00:12:36,680 Right. 280 00:12:36,680 --> 00:12:39,400 And the thing is you might look at it and be like, that's the most ridiculous, dumb 281 00:12:39,400 --> 00:12:41,160 reason to leave a one star review of everything in my life. 282 00:12:41,160 --> 00:12:43,840 I'm buying this just out of spite for that person. 283 00:12:43,840 --> 00:12:46,880 The truth is you might get new listeners because they're like this idiot. 284 00:12:46,880 --> 00:12:48,480 Look, look, look what he said about this person. 285 00:12:48,480 --> 00:12:49,740 They don't sound like that. 286 00:12:49,740 --> 00:12:52,000 And I'm going to leave them a really nice five star review and 10, my friends are going 287 00:12:52,000 --> 00:12:53,600 to do it too, because this person's a loser. 288 00:12:53,600 --> 00:12:54,600 Right. 289 00:12:54,600 --> 00:12:58,680 I know I'm being extreme, but the truth is sometimes your best, most helpful review is 290 00:12:58,680 --> 00:13:03,000 the one that's the most negative because people are going to want to prove that wrong because 291 00:13:03,000 --> 00:13:08,200 they grow to like you and it'll expedite their ability to become a fan of yours. 292 00:13:08,200 --> 00:13:12,320 A lot of people don't agree with what I'm sharing right now, Ashley, but I really believe 293 00:13:12,320 --> 00:13:15,280 is you can get that one star review, not a hundred of them, right? 294 00:13:15,280 --> 00:13:18,240 But you can get that one, one star review from just the person who's a jerk, right? 295 00:13:18,240 --> 00:13:20,480 Or for whatever reason, just didn't resonate with you. 296 00:13:20,480 --> 00:13:21,800 Don't look at that as a negative thing. 297 00:13:21,800 --> 00:13:25,840 That is a positive because also if I have a thousand five star reviews and no one's 298 00:13:25,840 --> 00:13:29,160 ever said anything bad about me, that doesn't seem believable. 299 00:13:29,160 --> 00:13:30,160 I talk too fast. 300 00:13:30,160 --> 00:13:31,160 I'm too loud. 301 00:13:31,160 --> 00:13:33,260 I don't speak in good sound bites, right? 302 00:13:33,260 --> 00:13:34,600 Like all those things are real. 303 00:13:34,600 --> 00:13:35,920 So I get a three star review about that. 304 00:13:35,920 --> 00:13:36,920 People are like, Oh wow, cool. 305 00:13:36,920 --> 00:13:37,920 Alex is a real human. 306 00:13:37,920 --> 00:13:38,920 Someone doesn't like him. 307 00:13:38,920 --> 00:13:39,920 Right. 308 00:13:39,920 --> 00:13:43,360 So I think you need to actually think of that as a positive, not a negative, but teaching 309 00:13:43,360 --> 00:13:44,360 people that mindset. 310 00:13:44,360 --> 00:13:46,840 I had somebody who was so angry at me when I shared that with him. 311 00:13:46,840 --> 00:13:49,560 I mean, he was, he was ready to leave me a one star review because he's like, this is 312 00:13:49,560 --> 00:13:50,920 the most absurd thing I've ever heard. 313 00:13:50,920 --> 00:13:51,920 He goes, your reputation matters. 314 00:13:51,920 --> 00:13:53,120 It has to always be five star. 315 00:13:53,120 --> 00:13:55,440 I'm like, I don't subscribe to that. 316 00:13:55,440 --> 00:13:56,440 Right. 317 00:13:56,440 --> 00:13:58,320 So, uh, but I think there's a kind of challenge to think on that. 318 00:13:58,320 --> 00:14:01,760 A one star review isn't as negative as you may think. 319 00:14:01,760 --> 00:14:02,760 Absolutely not. 320 00:14:02,760 --> 00:14:07,040 Cause I mean, I've seen one star reviews where the person didn't like the host's name. 321 00:14:07,040 --> 00:14:08,040 They didn't like their last name. 322 00:14:08,040 --> 00:14:11,040 They're like, I can't believe they even said their name in the, in the episode. 323 00:14:11,040 --> 00:14:12,040 It's like, really? 324 00:14:12,040 --> 00:14:14,480 Like that's why you left a one star review. 325 00:14:14,480 --> 00:14:19,040 And it's, it's amusing to me why people will sometimes leave negative reviews, especially 326 00:14:19,040 --> 00:14:22,880 when you know, you can tell that sometimes they're just in a bad mood that day or they 327 00:14:22,880 --> 00:14:25,040 didn't like the specific topic. 328 00:14:25,040 --> 00:14:30,080 And so I agree that, you know, if you, if you are going to leave a one star review, 329 00:14:30,080 --> 00:14:31,960 it doesn't mean it's the end of the world. 330 00:14:31,960 --> 00:14:35,640 And the harder part, the thing that no one's going to want to hear, but I'm going to, I'm 331 00:14:35,640 --> 00:14:38,720 going to kind of lean into the mic and I'm going to really say this. 332 00:14:38,720 --> 00:14:43,560 Sometimes you need to hear those horrible reviews so you can fix something. 333 00:14:43,560 --> 00:14:45,160 Would you agree with that? 334 00:14:45,160 --> 00:14:49,160 Yes, through and through, we're, this is changing topics. 335 00:14:49,160 --> 00:14:51,280 We're not even in podcast anymore, but we're, we're fragile. 336 00:14:51,280 --> 00:14:52,280 Let's be real. 337 00:14:52,280 --> 00:14:54,960 Like, and maybe it's just the times that we're in, but like the truth be told, like our egos 338 00:14:54,960 --> 00:14:59,040 get hurt real bad, but I had a three star review where somebody told me Alex doesn't 339 00:14:59,040 --> 00:15:02,320 pause when he talks and he talks too fast and too loud. 340 00:15:02,320 --> 00:15:04,960 And I actually was like, man, they're a hundred percent right. 341 00:15:04,960 --> 00:15:09,280 Like I, not that I need to change who I am, but I do need to learn to not be so loud, 342 00:15:09,280 --> 00:15:10,840 to slow down, to take a breath. 343 00:15:10,840 --> 00:15:11,840 Right. 344 00:15:11,840 --> 00:15:13,600 And those are things that I am actively working on. 345 00:15:13,600 --> 00:15:14,960 I saw that and appreciated it. 346 00:15:14,960 --> 00:15:18,160 I had somebody the same week come to me and be like, this person left me a four star review 347 00:15:18,160 --> 00:15:20,040 because they said my intros are just too long. 348 00:15:20,040 --> 00:15:21,040 Like how long are your intros? 349 00:15:21,040 --> 00:15:22,040 Like eight minutes. 350 00:15:22,040 --> 00:15:23,040 I was like eight minutes. 351 00:15:23,040 --> 00:15:24,240 I'm like, yeah, they are too long. 352 00:15:24,240 --> 00:15:25,240 They're like, no, they're not. 353 00:15:25,240 --> 00:15:26,240 This is what my listeners like. 354 00:15:26,240 --> 00:15:29,160 I'm like, I, I didn't say it, but I'm like, I doubt that no one wants to hear you just 355 00:15:29,160 --> 00:15:30,960 riff for eight minutes before you get into your interview. 356 00:15:30,960 --> 00:15:31,960 Right. 357 00:15:31,960 --> 00:15:33,120 So, and I'm like, Hey, maybe there's something there. 358 00:15:33,120 --> 00:15:35,120 Have you looked at the data? 359 00:15:35,120 --> 00:15:36,120 No, but they're wrong. 360 00:15:36,120 --> 00:15:37,120 I'm like, okay. 361 00:15:37,120 --> 00:15:40,320 So yeah, people get really upset with hearing that, but hey, listen, have a growth mindset. 362 00:15:40,320 --> 00:15:41,320 Like we're not perfect. 363 00:15:41,320 --> 00:15:42,600 We're all on a journey. 364 00:15:42,600 --> 00:15:44,600 We're all on it, like a hunt in our own adventure. 365 00:15:44,600 --> 00:15:45,600 Right. 366 00:15:45,600 --> 00:15:47,400 Take it as something that you might be able to improve. 367 00:15:47,400 --> 00:15:50,200 And I think, I love that you said that actually, I think that's a really important point. 368 00:15:50,200 --> 00:15:51,200 Yeah. 369 00:15:51,200 --> 00:15:56,240 Cause I mean, you know, we had, we had Joe Pardo on several episodes back and we were 370 00:15:56,240 --> 00:15:58,320 talking about trolls and haters. 371 00:15:58,320 --> 00:16:01,800 And you know, one of the things that kept coming up is that, you know, sometimes people 372 00:16:01,800 --> 00:16:06,440 are just really vile, but it's like, you can't, you can't focus on that negativity. 373 00:16:06,440 --> 00:16:10,560 Sometimes you have to just hear the criticism and decide, is this constructive? 374 00:16:10,560 --> 00:16:11,560 Is it helpful? 375 00:16:11,560 --> 00:16:15,920 Am I going to use this or am I just going to be like, that guy was a jerk and I'm done? 376 00:16:15,920 --> 00:16:16,920 Right. 377 00:16:16,920 --> 00:16:17,920 Yeah. 378 00:16:17,920 --> 00:16:18,920 Keep going. 379 00:16:18,920 --> 00:16:19,920 So true. 380 00:16:19,920 --> 00:16:20,920 Yeah. 381 00:16:20,920 --> 00:16:22,400 I like to say that I'm not everybody's cup of tequila, but that's okay. 382 00:16:22,400 --> 00:16:24,760 You seem like mine and I love tequila. 383 00:16:24,760 --> 00:16:25,760 So yeah, I'm, I'm on board. 384 00:16:25,760 --> 00:16:26,760 Good, good. 385 00:16:26,760 --> 00:16:29,800 Well, what else would you like to share with me about reviews? 386 00:16:29,800 --> 00:16:32,760 Like what else do we really need to hear to help the listeners? 387 00:16:32,760 --> 00:16:33,760 Yeah. 388 00:16:33,760 --> 00:16:38,200 And I have another idea around, around gaining reviews. 389 00:16:38,200 --> 00:16:42,360 And this actually kind of blurs the line into also knowing your audience really well, which 390 00:16:42,360 --> 00:16:45,680 I think the two can be connected and can almost be your metric. 391 00:16:45,680 --> 00:16:49,920 So for me, what's really important, I think in podcasting, probably in my mind, the most 392 00:16:49,920 --> 00:16:53,040 important thing is to actually talk to your listeners. 393 00:16:53,040 --> 00:16:54,560 So how do you find them? 394 00:16:54,560 --> 00:16:55,880 They're engaging on social media. 395 00:16:55,880 --> 00:16:59,760 They're emailing you, they're messaging you just, you know, it's like liking something, 396 00:16:59,760 --> 00:17:03,320 find a way to contact them and just say, Hey, saw you like this. 397 00:17:03,320 --> 00:17:06,120 Any chance that you, if you listen to the podcast, would you be willing to give me 10 398 00:17:06,120 --> 00:17:07,440 minutes on a video conference call? 399 00:17:07,440 --> 00:17:10,840 Might be a little bit uncomfortable, but the truth is if you can get on that call, this 400 00:17:10,840 --> 00:17:15,480 is the bonus material here, by the way, you can learn a lot from your listeners. 401 00:17:15,480 --> 00:17:16,840 Ask them how they found the show. 402 00:17:16,840 --> 00:17:18,040 Ask them what they like about it. 403 00:17:18,040 --> 00:17:22,060 Ask what you think, would they, would they think you can do better for future listeners? 404 00:17:22,060 --> 00:17:23,060 Ask what they're struggling with. 405 00:17:23,060 --> 00:17:25,920 When you learn these things and you log that through an Excel spreadsheet, I am telling 406 00:17:25,920 --> 00:17:29,720 you what 10, 20 people later, you can learn how to really, really, really, really, really 407 00:17:29,720 --> 00:17:31,520 improve your podcast. 408 00:17:31,520 --> 00:17:35,240 Bringing that back to reviews now after that call, because most of your listeners will 409 00:17:35,240 --> 00:17:36,400 be very psyched to hear from you. 410 00:17:36,400 --> 00:17:38,200 Be like, Hey, really enjoy our time together. 411 00:17:38,200 --> 00:17:41,760 Hey, real quick while we're on, can you open up your, you have an iPhone or do you have 412 00:17:41,760 --> 00:17:42,760 iTunes? 413 00:17:42,760 --> 00:17:43,920 Can you go to Apple podcasts real quick? 414 00:17:43,920 --> 00:17:47,760 I'd love it if you'd leave me a quick review on the podcast, guide them through it. 415 00:17:47,760 --> 00:17:51,040 The thing is that could also be your metric for how many times you're getting on a call. 416 00:17:51,040 --> 00:17:52,040 If you're like, you know what? 417 00:17:52,040 --> 00:17:53,040 I want to get 20 reviews a month. 418 00:17:53,040 --> 00:17:56,640 Maybe you need to be doing 20 calls a month because that's going to make you a better 419 00:17:56,640 --> 00:18:00,200 podcastor, but also you now have the proof that yeah, I'm becoming a better podcaster 420 00:18:00,200 --> 00:18:02,080 while I'm also growing my reviews. 421 00:18:02,080 --> 00:18:03,360 Those two things go hand in hand. 422 00:18:03,360 --> 00:18:07,840 I think that if podcasters start doing that, you'll find you exponentially accelerate your 423 00:18:07,840 --> 00:18:11,080 ability to grow and really impact an audience. 424 00:18:11,080 --> 00:18:17,000 So I completely agree with every single thing you've said, especially the one thing that 425 00:18:17,000 --> 00:18:22,400 really hit me was you mentioned PodKite earlier and how you have to make it stupid simple 426 00:18:22,400 --> 00:18:24,040 for someone to leave reviews. 427 00:18:24,040 --> 00:18:26,920 So is that the first thing that you would do if you were trying to get people to start 428 00:18:26,920 --> 00:18:31,760 leaving them for you is make it seamless or would you start putting it into your podcast 429 00:18:31,760 --> 00:18:34,080 episodes and then go from there? 430 00:18:34,080 --> 00:18:36,920 What do you think is the best first step? 431 00:18:36,920 --> 00:18:40,160 First step is definitely make it as seamless as you possibly can. 432 00:18:40,160 --> 00:18:43,040 You've got to find a way just to make it stupid simple. 433 00:18:43,040 --> 00:18:46,760 Even if you're calling it out on your show, say, hey, go to my website, podpros, go to 434 00:18:46,760 --> 00:18:50,680 podpros.com slash review and it'll send you straight to a link to it. 435 00:18:50,680 --> 00:18:53,760 I have a friend, she went so far as to do a quick video. 436 00:18:53,760 --> 00:18:58,000 She did like a quick reel and she just links that in one of her pages showing you exactly 437 00:18:58,000 --> 00:18:59,000 how to do it. 438 00:18:59,000 --> 00:19:00,000 So it's like 35 seconds. 439 00:19:00,000 --> 00:19:01,880 It's like, here's how you leave a review on my show. 440 00:19:01,880 --> 00:19:04,520 And I was like, man, that's, I put it, I was like, can I take that? 441 00:19:04,520 --> 00:19:05,520 I'm like, I'll give you credit. 442 00:19:05,520 --> 00:19:07,880 I'm going to embed that in my page where I teach people how to do it. 443 00:19:07,880 --> 00:19:08,880 Cause I'm like, that's so helpful. 444 00:19:08,880 --> 00:19:10,840 Cause now if you want to say to me, I'm like, I can't figure it out. 445 00:19:10,840 --> 00:19:11,840 I'm done. 446 00:19:11,840 --> 00:19:12,840 You give them a link. 447 00:19:12,840 --> 00:19:13,840 You make it stupid simple. 448 00:19:13,840 --> 00:19:14,840 Right. 449 00:19:14,840 --> 00:19:16,200 And I think that that's the first thing is we got to remove the friction involved in 450 00:19:16,200 --> 00:19:17,200 it. 451 00:19:17,200 --> 00:19:18,200 I think we have to do that with everything. 452 00:19:18,200 --> 00:19:19,200 Yeah. 453 00:19:19,200 --> 00:19:23,960 I mean, that's, that's the whole reason I like RSS personally is because of the fact 454 00:19:23,960 --> 00:19:24,960 that it's so stupid, simple that even I could do it. 455 00:19:24,960 --> 00:19:26,960 Cause I'm not tech savvy at all. 456 00:19:26,960 --> 00:19:28,600 It starts with the name RSS. 457 00:19:28,600 --> 00:19:30,520 I mean, that's what podcasting is. 458 00:19:30,520 --> 00:19:33,320 So yeah, you all, you all got it right from start to finish for sure. 459 00:19:33,320 --> 00:19:34,320 Yeah. 460 00:19:34,320 --> 00:19:35,320 Talk about SEO. 461 00:19:35,320 --> 00:19:36,320 Like I'm brilliant, right? 462 00:19:36,320 --> 00:19:37,320 Right. 463 00:19:37,320 --> 00:19:38,320 No kidding. 464 00:19:38,320 --> 00:19:41,680 Well, where can people find you online if they want to learn more about you? 465 00:19:41,680 --> 00:19:42,680 Yeah. 466 00:19:42,680 --> 00:19:44,560 Everything I do is at podpros.com. 467 00:19:44,560 --> 00:19:46,040 So you can just go to podpros.com. 468 00:19:46,040 --> 00:19:47,360 You'll see my podcast. 469 00:19:47,360 --> 00:19:49,520 You'll see all the different product services I have. 470 00:19:49,520 --> 00:19:52,040 And I think that that's a great place for people to go. 471 00:19:52,040 --> 00:19:55,120 Well, there's also one question I have to ask you before I let you go. 472 00:19:55,120 --> 00:19:56,760 It's the question I ask everyone. 473 00:19:56,760 --> 00:20:01,640 What is one question I didn't ask you really wish I had? 474 00:20:01,640 --> 00:20:03,400 I guess we should have gotten into pod lottery. 475 00:20:03,400 --> 00:20:05,560 Maybe that doesn't mean we didn't even talk about it. 476 00:20:05,560 --> 00:20:07,000 I just realized, cause that is an alternative. 477 00:20:07,000 --> 00:20:08,000 That's another way. 478 00:20:08,000 --> 00:20:09,000 I didn't even mention it. 479 00:20:09,000 --> 00:20:10,000 We should probably go into that real quick. 480 00:20:10,000 --> 00:20:11,000 Sorry. 481 00:20:11,000 --> 00:20:12,000 Let's go into it. 482 00:20:12,000 --> 00:20:13,000 Cause I'm like thinking like that. 483 00:20:13,000 --> 00:20:14,000 I miss anything. 484 00:20:14,000 --> 00:20:15,000 I'm like, wait, yeah, I did miss something. 485 00:20:15,000 --> 00:20:17,600 So what is pod lottery? 486 00:20:17,600 --> 00:20:18,600 Okay. 487 00:20:18,600 --> 00:20:19,600 Thank you. 488 00:20:19,600 --> 00:20:20,600 Pod lottery. 489 00:20:20,600 --> 00:20:21,600 I should have brought this up earlier. 490 00:20:21,600 --> 00:20:25,240 Pod lottery is an alternative solution for getting more reviews on your podcast, specifically 491 00:20:25,240 --> 00:20:26,240 Apple reviews. 492 00:20:26,240 --> 00:20:29,040 And the idea was, could we do like a peer to peer type of thing? 493 00:20:29,040 --> 00:20:34,120 It almost feels like a review swap among podcasts host specifically, but do it in a fun, gamified 494 00:20:34,120 --> 00:20:35,120 way. 495 00:20:35,120 --> 00:20:37,360 So we built it to be like a lottery system. 496 00:20:37,360 --> 00:20:39,480 So I'll explain the whole thing and how it works. 497 00:20:39,480 --> 00:20:40,840 You register as a host. 498 00:20:40,840 --> 00:20:42,700 You get a ticket with that ticket. 499 00:20:42,700 --> 00:20:44,600 You pick a number and every night numbers are drawn. 500 00:20:44,600 --> 00:20:48,120 If your number is picked, you win reviews from other podcast host. 501 00:20:48,120 --> 00:20:50,360 When they review your show, they win a ticket. 502 00:20:50,360 --> 00:20:51,360 They get a number. 503 00:20:51,360 --> 00:20:52,600 They get a chance to win. 504 00:20:52,600 --> 00:20:55,880 So it kind of turns into a review swap and we've got people that have literally 100s 505 00:20:55,880 --> 00:20:56,920 of reviews. 506 00:20:56,920 --> 00:21:00,080 Like sometimes I don't know how you get so lucky, but some, we have like five numbers 507 00:21:00,080 --> 00:21:01,480 get drawn and they had four of them. 508 00:21:01,480 --> 00:21:02,480 Right. 509 00:21:02,480 --> 00:21:03,480 And I think it got like 163 reviews. 510 00:21:03,480 --> 00:21:05,140 I was like, wow. 511 00:21:05,140 --> 00:21:09,440 So they get 163 reviews from other podcasters, but we actually worked directly with Apple 512 00:21:09,440 --> 00:21:10,440 on this. 513 00:21:10,440 --> 00:21:11,440 This is a really important point. 514 00:21:11,440 --> 00:21:16,080 We can validate a listen and we can validate that it's a review left from a place of authenticity 515 00:21:16,080 --> 00:21:17,080 and integrity. 516 00:21:17,080 --> 00:21:18,080 So it's not copy pasted. 517 00:21:18,080 --> 00:21:19,440 It's not the same one they just left. 518 00:21:19,440 --> 00:21:20,720 It has more than 10 words. 519 00:21:20,720 --> 00:21:22,200 It doesn't have profanity in it, right. 520 00:21:22,200 --> 00:21:24,320 Unless it's fitting, I suppose. 521 00:21:24,320 --> 00:21:25,320 Right. 522 00:21:25,320 --> 00:21:27,360 So, but they also, again, validate the listen. 523 00:21:27,360 --> 00:21:30,040 So again, we can make sure this comes from a place of integrity. 524 00:21:30,040 --> 00:21:33,480 And that for us has been a really, just a fun thing. 525 00:21:33,480 --> 00:21:34,480 It's free. 526 00:21:34,480 --> 00:21:37,360 There's no charge involved, but it's like, Hey, can we help each other get more reviews 527 00:21:37,360 --> 00:21:39,760 so we can make sure that our podcasts are getting known? 528 00:21:39,760 --> 00:21:42,520 They're getting noticed. 529 00:21:42,520 --> 00:21:44,880 I mean, that just sounds like really cool. 530 00:21:44,880 --> 00:21:48,000 So how do people start like working with pod lottery? 531 00:21:48,000 --> 00:21:50,440 Like what do they need to do to be able to get on it? 532 00:21:50,440 --> 00:21:52,960 You go to podlottery.com, you register the account. 533 00:21:52,960 --> 00:21:55,800 The two things that they ask you for is to validate that you're the podcast host you 534 00:21:55,800 --> 00:21:56,800 say you are. 535 00:21:56,800 --> 00:22:00,000 So they'll just email you a quick little code to make sure that that's you. 536 00:22:00,000 --> 00:22:03,320 And then the second thing they'll do is ask you for your podcast reviewer name. 537 00:22:03,320 --> 00:22:06,560 So that's your name in iTunes or an Apple of like what it says when you leave a review, 538 00:22:06,560 --> 00:22:07,560 right? 539 00:22:07,560 --> 00:22:09,560 To make sure that we can actually validate that you're leaving review. 540 00:22:09,560 --> 00:22:11,400 Those are the two things that ask for and pass that it's free. 541 00:22:11,400 --> 00:22:13,200 You can play every day if you want. 542 00:22:13,200 --> 00:22:14,200 Really? 543 00:22:14,200 --> 00:22:15,200 It's free. 544 00:22:15,200 --> 00:22:16,200 Yeah. 545 00:22:16,200 --> 00:22:17,200 Yeah. 546 00:22:17,200 --> 00:22:18,200 Yeah. 547 00:22:18,200 --> 00:22:19,200 Yeah. 548 00:22:19,200 --> 00:22:20,200 Again, it was just something fun. 549 00:22:20,200 --> 00:22:21,200 Like I actually, you know, it's funny. 550 00:22:21,200 --> 00:22:22,200 Here's my accountability. 551 00:22:22,200 --> 00:22:23,200 Ashley, it has the word lottery in it and it works like a lottery. 552 00:22:23,200 --> 00:22:27,760 It is illegal in the United States to charge for anything that's a lottery or sweepstakes 553 00:22:27,760 --> 00:22:28,760 of any kind. 554 00:22:28,760 --> 00:22:30,680 That government has the monopoly on that. 555 00:22:30,680 --> 00:22:32,160 So that's why the government runs all of them. 556 00:22:32,160 --> 00:22:35,520 So I told my lawyer, he's like, do not do this. 557 00:22:35,520 --> 00:22:36,520 He's like, unless you're not going to charge. 558 00:22:36,520 --> 00:22:37,520 I'm like, I'm not going to charge. 559 00:22:37,520 --> 00:22:38,520 He goes, good. 560 00:22:38,520 --> 00:22:39,520 If you, if you charge for it, you're going to jail. 561 00:22:39,520 --> 00:22:40,520 I was like, cool. 562 00:22:40,520 --> 00:22:41,520 That's perfect accountability. 563 00:22:41,520 --> 00:22:42,520 I was never playing on charging anyway. 564 00:22:42,520 --> 00:22:43,520 It's just for fun. 565 00:22:43,520 --> 00:22:44,520 So it worked out really great. 566 00:22:44,520 --> 00:22:45,520 That's awesome. 567 00:22:45,520 --> 00:22:47,240 So, I mean, that's actually a really neat idea. 568 00:22:47,240 --> 00:22:49,160 I didn't even know that it was free. 569 00:22:49,160 --> 00:22:52,520 So that's even, even more reason that people should sign up for it. 570 00:22:52,520 --> 00:22:53,520 Yeah. 571 00:22:53,520 --> 00:22:54,520 Yeah. 572 00:22:54,520 --> 00:22:55,520 And it's been fun. 573 00:22:55,520 --> 00:22:57,320 You know, at the end of the day, I'm a podcaster myself, an indie podcaster and getting reviews 574 00:22:57,320 --> 00:22:58,680 matters for me as well. 575 00:22:58,680 --> 00:23:02,120 And so it's been a really fun community building thing. 576 00:23:02,120 --> 00:23:04,680 And also you pick the categories you want. 577 00:23:04,680 --> 00:23:07,880 So like I only, true crime scares the mess out of me, Ashley. 578 00:23:07,880 --> 00:23:09,000 I'm just going to be real. 579 00:23:09,000 --> 00:23:11,600 So I don't want to review any true crime podcasts because I have to listen to them. 580 00:23:11,600 --> 00:23:16,920 So I, I focus in like, uh, in anything that's like mindset related entrepreneurship, business 581 00:23:16,920 --> 00:23:17,920 marketing, right? 582 00:23:17,920 --> 00:23:20,440 And I have found shows that become shows I listened to through this. 583 00:23:20,440 --> 00:23:23,160 So I'm not only getting to leave them a review and a rating, but I'm also like, this is a 584 00:23:23,160 --> 00:23:24,160 cool show. 585 00:23:24,160 --> 00:23:25,160 I like this. 586 00:23:25,160 --> 00:23:26,160 I'm going to, I'm going to keep this one going. 587 00:23:26,160 --> 00:23:27,160 I'm going to subscribe to this one. 588 00:23:27,160 --> 00:23:28,160 Right? 589 00:23:28,160 --> 00:23:30,680 So that's been kind of the bonus fun is it's built a little bit of a community and I love 590 00:23:30,680 --> 00:23:31,680 that. 591 00:23:31,680 --> 00:23:32,680 That's like my favorite thing ever. 592 00:23:32,680 --> 00:23:36,240 Well, because you said the niches that I'm all about, what are your favorite podcasts? 593 00:23:36,240 --> 00:23:38,560 Putting you on the spot. 594 00:23:38,560 --> 00:23:40,520 I have so many favorite podcasts. 595 00:23:40,520 --> 00:23:44,320 I've been really enjoying, uh, the James Altucher show. 596 00:23:44,320 --> 00:23:45,320 Okay. 597 00:23:45,320 --> 00:23:47,560 He's a six, just so unique. 598 00:23:47,560 --> 00:23:49,320 I call him the most interesting entrepreneur in the world. 599 00:23:49,320 --> 00:23:50,960 Like a play on the most interesting man in the world. 600 00:23:50,960 --> 00:23:53,560 The guy's just like totally unique, totally different. 601 00:23:53,560 --> 00:23:57,800 Uh, and the other one is the Jordan Harbinger show is the one I've been listening to a lot. 602 00:23:57,800 --> 00:23:59,320 He's just such a good podcast host. 603 00:23:59,320 --> 00:24:01,400 Like it blows my mind how good he is. 604 00:24:01,400 --> 00:24:04,920 Um, those are my two that I'm kind of like really all about right now. 605 00:24:04,920 --> 00:24:06,080 And then I always look up topics. 606 00:24:06,080 --> 00:24:09,720 So I like kind of go deep into like the podcasting world by looking up, I want 10 episodes on 607 00:24:09,720 --> 00:24:10,840 this and I'll go find them. 608 00:24:10,840 --> 00:24:13,960 But those are the two like shows I'm currently into. 609 00:24:13,960 --> 00:24:17,920 I love that you said James Altucher because, um, his book, choose yourself is one of the 610 00:24:17,920 --> 00:24:20,920 reasons that I decided I was going to stay freelance instead of trying to get a full 611 00:24:20,920 --> 00:24:21,920 time job. 612 00:24:21,920 --> 00:24:25,440 Uh, just reading about how he was voluntarily homeless basically. 613 00:24:25,440 --> 00:24:31,120 And um, all the stuff that he went through just, it's wild that you in this day and age 614 00:24:31,120 --> 00:24:34,360 can like pull a Jack Reacher and be homeless on purpose. 615 00:24:34,360 --> 00:24:37,920 And so that's just what, that's what drew me to him. 616 00:24:37,920 --> 00:24:38,920 And so yeah, big band. 617 00:24:38,920 --> 00:24:41,440 So very, very excited that you mentioned him. 618 00:24:41,440 --> 00:24:42,440 So cool. 619 00:24:42,440 --> 00:24:43,440 I love that. 620 00:24:43,440 --> 00:24:44,920 New episodes anymore. 621 00:24:44,920 --> 00:24:47,000 I don't, I'm, I'm like, I'm a backlog guy. 622 00:24:47,000 --> 00:24:48,000 I'm never real time. 623 00:24:48,000 --> 00:24:49,000 I love them. 624 00:24:49,000 --> 00:24:52,920 People are like, I haven't, they're like, you're listening to what episode? 625 00:24:52,920 --> 00:24:54,840 Like episode 50, like dude, I'm an episode 400. 626 00:24:54,840 --> 00:24:57,340 I'm like, I know I'm, I'm like, wait, I'm not there. 627 00:24:57,340 --> 00:24:58,340 Like leave me alone. 628 00:24:58,340 --> 00:24:59,340 Right? 629 00:24:59,340 --> 00:25:00,340 I'll get there eventually. 630 00:25:00,340 --> 00:25:01,340 If you stop, I'll catch up. 631 00:25:01,340 --> 00:25:02,340 So. 632 00:25:02,340 --> 00:25:06,160 And fun fact, one of the reasons I actually like to go to the backlog sometimes is I like 633 00:25:06,160 --> 00:25:09,000 to see where someone started versus where they are now. 634 00:25:09,000 --> 00:25:10,160 It's the journey, right? 635 00:25:10,160 --> 00:25:13,520 Like when you listen to something, it's like, okay, I'm going to skip your 20 year journey 636 00:25:13,520 --> 00:25:14,520 and just get to where you are now. 637 00:25:14,520 --> 00:25:15,520 I'm like, wow, this person is so impressive. 638 00:25:15,520 --> 00:25:19,520 I prefer to hear, wow, you got some work to do to hearing the transformation happen. 639 00:25:19,520 --> 00:25:22,400 I, I'm, I think you and I are really similar, Ashley. 640 00:25:22,400 --> 00:25:23,400 We're best friends, I think. 641 00:25:23,400 --> 00:25:24,400 Yeah. 642 00:25:24,400 --> 00:25:25,400 Did we, did we just become best friends? 643 00:25:25,400 --> 00:25:27,400 We were a bit at Zine and Nesta Brothers. 644 00:25:27,400 --> 00:25:28,400 Good quote. 645 00:25:28,400 --> 00:25:29,400 Yes. 646 00:25:29,400 --> 00:25:30,400 And yes, the answer is yes. 647 00:25:30,400 --> 00:25:31,400 Awesome. 648 00:25:31,400 --> 00:25:32,400 Awesome. 649 00:25:32,400 --> 00:25:33,400 I'm very excited. 650 00:25:33,400 --> 00:25:34,400 I could always use more bloggy friends. 651 00:25:34,400 --> 00:25:35,400 Oh wait, wrong show. 652 00:25:35,400 --> 00:25:36,400 Nice. 653 00:25:36,400 --> 00:25:41,880 So, um, is there anything else that you want to share that I, that I haven't brought up 654 00:25:41,880 --> 00:25:42,880 yet? 655 00:25:42,880 --> 00:25:45,400 Because I want to make sure that you get everything in here that you want to talk about. 656 00:25:45,400 --> 00:25:46,400 Yeah. 657 00:25:46,400 --> 00:25:50,320 The last thing I'll mention is just around why all this really matters. 658 00:25:50,320 --> 00:25:55,240 And to me, everything that we do as independent podcasters has to be to serve the person who's 659 00:25:55,240 --> 00:25:57,200 going to be listening. 660 00:25:57,200 --> 00:25:59,960 Sure we can work on our cover art, our abilities as hosts. 661 00:25:59,960 --> 00:26:00,960 That's super important, right? 662 00:26:00,960 --> 00:26:03,400 Like we can come up with a better title description. 663 00:26:03,400 --> 00:26:04,800 We can get better mics and all that. 664 00:26:04,800 --> 00:26:09,920 At the end of the day, the only thing that really matters is are we serving the person 665 00:26:09,920 --> 00:26:11,040 on the other side of the mic? 666 00:26:11,040 --> 00:26:12,720 Are we serving that person who's listening? 667 00:26:12,720 --> 00:26:18,120 At the end of the day, I think there's no better medium for really providing potential 668 00:26:18,120 --> 00:26:20,600 transformation in people's lives than podcasting. 669 00:26:20,600 --> 00:26:22,140 So it's all about that. 670 00:26:22,140 --> 00:26:26,000 And if having more reviews makes that an easier decision for them to enter your world, then 671 00:26:26,000 --> 00:26:27,000 so be it. 672 00:26:27,000 --> 00:26:28,000 Let's work on that. 673 00:26:28,000 --> 00:26:29,000 Let's do that. 674 00:26:29,000 --> 00:26:32,880 Let's focus on what really matters, which is changing that person's life who's listening 675 00:26:32,880 --> 00:26:33,880 to you. 676 00:26:33,880 --> 00:26:36,240 Oh God, that is so good. 677 00:26:36,240 --> 00:26:41,360 It really is because the big thing is so many people, whenever they come into this medium, 678 00:26:41,360 --> 00:26:44,920 they realize how much work it is and then they start to freak out and then they're like, 679 00:26:44,920 --> 00:26:45,920 well, is it even worth it? 680 00:26:45,920 --> 00:26:48,480 Shouldn't I just start making a bunch of money and all those things? 681 00:26:48,480 --> 00:26:52,840 But when you push all that aside and just remember the person who's got their headphones 682 00:26:52,840 --> 00:26:57,580 on and is listening to you, that's when the magic happens. 683 00:26:57,580 --> 00:27:02,360 And so I hope that people listening today heard something that kind of lit them up and 684 00:27:02,360 --> 00:27:06,480 got them excited, not only about podcasting, but about taking the chance to ask people 685 00:27:06,480 --> 00:27:13,040 to leave them for reviews, because, you know, building this community and building something 686 00:27:13,040 --> 00:27:15,800 around an idea, it's just magical. 687 00:27:15,800 --> 00:27:18,640 Yeah, that's my Disney moment. 688 00:27:18,640 --> 00:27:19,640 I love it. 689 00:27:19,640 --> 00:27:20,640 What a great way to end that. 690 00:27:20,640 --> 00:27:24,240 Well, Alex, I want to thank you so much for being on the show today. 691 00:27:24,240 --> 00:27:27,560 You've shared a lot of amazing information with us and I hope that people will actually 692 00:27:27,560 --> 00:27:28,760 take that and start using it. 693 00:27:28,760 --> 00:27:31,000 I know I certainly will because I need some reviews. 694 00:27:31,000 --> 00:27:33,840 Spoiler alert, I have none, but I will work on that now. 695 00:27:33,840 --> 00:27:34,840 You're going to get one now. 696 00:27:34,840 --> 00:27:35,840 I believe in you, Ashley. 697 00:27:35,840 --> 00:27:36,840 You're going to make it happen. 698 00:27:36,840 --> 00:27:37,840 I'll leave you one. 699 00:27:37,840 --> 00:27:38,840 Draw me a link and I'll leave you one. 700 00:27:38,840 --> 00:27:39,840 I love it. 701 00:27:39,840 --> 00:27:40,840 I love it. 702 00:27:40,840 --> 00:27:41,840 And I will definitely be signing up for Pod Lottery. 703 00:27:41,840 --> 00:27:42,840 Since it's free. 704 00:27:42,840 --> 00:27:54,160 Well, my fellow podcasters, we hope you enjoyed the insights, tips, and ideas that we've shared 705 00:27:54,160 --> 00:27:55,160 in this episode. 706 00:27:55,160 --> 00:28:01,080 To learn more about launching and growing your own show, head over to rss.com backslash 707 00:28:01,080 --> 00:28:02,080 blog. 708 00:28:02,080 --> 00:28:06,400 And if you're ready to launch a podcast of your own, you can get started for free with 709 00:28:06,400 --> 00:28:08,400 your first episode on us. 710 00:28:08,400 --> 00:28:25,880 Thanks for tuning in.