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The New Podcast Pickle Toolbar
2007-06-22 18:55:00
About 3 months ago we added a user’s tool bar to The Pickle . It replaced the user’s control panel. The idea was to make it easier for podcasters to access. After a month or so we kept getting questions on where to access items, so we made it green. We hoped that would make it more visible. I guess that did not work people still keep emailing with the same questions. I thought I would just tell you about it, and see if that helps. The tool bar is located on almost every page on The Pickle ( it is not on the forums, and a few odd pages, but will be soon) It is a green horizontal bar, located right under the top row of ads. You must of logged in to use it, but you can even log in by clicking on the bar itself.  Once logged in, the tool bar says it’s your tool bar.  Here are all the things you can do with the tool bar so far. Log out Edit your account information Edit and view your profile Check your mail Send mail to your fans Edit and view all your podcasts See your Pickle St...
More About: Podcast , Toolbar

Deleting All The Favorite Votes At The Pickle
2007-06-20 18:09:00
I know this is a sore subject for some, but it is that time again. On July 2nd we will remove all of the Favor ite votes on Podcast Pickle . In case you are not familiar with this bi-yearly event, let me explain. Twice a year, on January 1st and July 1st we remove all the favorites votes at Podcast Pickle. This is our way of cleaning out the top 100 and the highest rated in the specific genres. If we failed to do this a new show would never stand a chance of being in the top 100. The new shows would be competing against all the shows that have been on the site for years getting votes. This year we have decided to add a twist. We are throwing the Hall Of Fame shows back in the mix. Our goal is to make it as easy as possible to add back your favorites. Here are directions on the easiest way to add them back after the clean up. Complete # 1-3 no later than noon (Central Standard Time) July 2nd 1. Go to your profile page. To reach your profile page go to your podcast page, a...
More About: Votes

Coming Soon - My Survey
2007-06-18 20:47:00
I have been forming some questions in my mind about iTunes, podcast listeners, and podcasting that I want answers to. I plan on asking 1,000 people to participate and take my survey. Do you think that is enough people to make any real conclusions? I will conduct a one on one survey, asking the survey questions in person. If anyone wants to participate in giving out the survey in their area of the world let me know. We could expand it to a larger survey group. Just email me at podcastpickle@gmail.com if you are interested. Here are my questions so far. 1. Have you ever heard of the term podcast? 2. Do you really know what a podcast is? 3. Have you ever listened to a podcast? 4. Can you name at least 1 podcast? 5. Which do you own?     A. An iPod?     B. Another mp3 device?     C. I don’t own any type of mp3 device 6. Have you ever do...
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You Asked For It, You Got It
2007-06-12 21:56:00
People have been asking us to add a review system on The Pickle. It has taken a while, but we have finally are making head way. I will try and explain what we have in place for you so far. I think you will agree we are on the right track. The first thing we have done is build a My Reviews section on the profile pages. Now you can find all of the reviews made by an individual in one place. If you like a certain person’s reviews you know where to find all of their reviews. We have created a new page called Latest Reviews. This page displays all reviews as they are made. Each review also shows the name of the reviewer, and how many reviews they have made so far. If you click on the reviewer’s name, it will take you their profile where you can find all of their reviews. Another new feature is the Top 20 reviewers. Since we are tracking the quantity of reviews people make, why not let everyone know who is doing their part. You will find the top reviewers listed at the top of the La...

Understanding Our Favorites System At Podcast Pickle
2007-06-08 20:04:00
I don’t care if you ask people to add you to their Podcast Pick le favorites list not. That is not the reason behind this post. People email all the time asking questions that pertain to our favorites system. Because of that I have decided to explain in full everything that is affected by someone adding a podcast to their list of favorites. To start with you must know where and how you add a favorite to your list. If you go to any podcast page on Podcast Pickle you should see the album art for that podcast. Under that image are the words favorite podcast and a small box. If you click on the box a check mark will appear. That’s it, that’s all you do. You don’t even have to click enter. That podcast is now on your favorites list. Click for an image. Now to tell you everything that is affected by adding a check mark to that box. 1. That podcast is added to your Favorite s Player. If you listen to podcasts on your computer, you will find this a great tool. Click ...
More About: System , Favorites

A Change In Policy At The Pickle
2007-06-05 19:52:00
If you have ever submitted a podcast to our website PodcastPick le.com you know that the minute you submit your podcast it goes live.  We have always allowed anyone and everyone to add their shows.  It did not matter how many previous episodes you had aired. If you submitted it, it went live immediately.  The episode title could have been Test, Podcast Test, or Testing 1 2 3.  Some people made new podcast pages for each and every episode.  That has been cool with us in the past.  In fact, until now it did not matter how current your cast was or what condition your cast was in, you were still allowed on our site.  As you may know we recently had to remove over 6,000 podcasts.  Most of these podcasts were dead, and had less than five episodes.  It took weeks of time to accomplish this clean up.  We had to manually go through the website looking at every show, one show at a time.  This was the only way to do a complete job of house cleaning.  Because we do not want the same ...
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A Tip For New Podcasters
2007-06-01 18:48:00
You want to start a podcast, but you have no idea where to begin. How about start with the name, but even more than the name start with the domain name. Whether you are starting a new podcast, blog, or business your domain name is a major concern for marketing purposes. Did you ever wonder why there are so many new companies and products with such odd names? Take Wii, Zune, or even Skype for examples. Do these manufactures create new words so they can market their products with a one word domain? If these large corporations name their new products in a manner just to have a one word domain, does this tell us something? Yes it tells us the importance of a domain name in your total marketing plan. I am not telling you to make up a word, but I am saying before you decide on the final name check and see if the domain name that corresponds to your endeavor is available. There is a very popular podcast called Grammar Girl. However, if you go to grammargirl.com it is owned by an interne...
More About: Caste , Caster , Aster

New Media in Second Life Is About To Grow
2007-05-30 16:55:00
A few weeks ago I received a phone call, asking if I was interested in taking on partners for my Second Life Project Podcast Island. The call was from the partners involved with Soho Island in Second Life . Soho Island is an artist’s community, in case you are not familiar with it. I have never had any partners before. In all my previous endeavors I felt partners may cause conflict. After talking to them I changed my mind. So I named an amount, and they said ok. I am happy to announce the formation of the Second Life Media Investment Group. Our goal is to help grow the new media movement into Second Life. In addition to Podcast Island, and Soho Island we will start adding new islands in the very near future. People in Second Life will notice very little differences in the existing islands. I still run and fully manage Podcast Island and Soho Island is still run and managed by the former management. The only difference is that we both have equity in each others islands. As w...
More About: New Media , Econ

I Am The King
2007-05-28 17:55:00
 You may ask what am I, Gary Leland, the king of?  Well, I have recently decided to crown myself as King of The Podfaders.  I do believe I have more podcasts that have podfaded than anyone else on the planet.  You may be curious if I am worthy of this newly claimed title.   Here is my evidence.  This is a list of all the podcasts I have been involved with.  Cast 1. Fastpitch Illustrated - This was my very first podcast. It started on January 8th 2005; I believe this was the first podcast put out by a company just to promote the sponsoring company. It was a promotional podcast for SoftballJunk.com. After 6 episodes it ended.  Cast 2. Sport Podcasts Interviews – This cast started on February 25th 2005.  After 3 episodes it ended.  Cast 3 Podcast Pickle Show – This cast started on June 8th 2005. It lasted 59 episodes before it ended.  Cast 4. The Podcast Island Podcast – This cast was started on August 4th 2006. It lasted 7 episodes then ended.  Cast 5. SciFiPods - T...
More About: The King

Shownotes Today In Podcasting Episode 39
2007-05-25 21:43:00
You win! As much as I hate to write show notes I am going to start. I admit I am just plain lazy on some things and writing show notes is one of those things. From now on I will try to post the show notes on my blog the day the show comes out. This week’s show was hosted by Rob Walch from Podcast 411 , Dave Jackson from School Of Podcasting , Shelly Brisbin from Blogger and Podcaster Magazine, and Me Gary Leland from Podcast Pickle Links talked about are as follows (The order may not be 100% correct) Podcamp San Antonio Wizard Media’s New Stats Odeo Is Purchased Amazon Offers Podcast Podcasting Hits Male Audiences Wallstrips Purchase 10 Predictions Feedburner Deal Podshow & Dvorak Laws Of Podcasting Rob’s three digit number for the week is 256. If you are not aware of how the three digit pick of the week works, you simply put that number in the search engine on Podcast Pickle to find out what the mystery show is. The email address for Today In Podcasting Is tip911@gma...
More About: Episode , Casting , Episode 3

Cleaning Up The Pickle
2007-05-25 17:00:00
I don’t know what got into me, or what made me decide to clean out the directory but for some reason I did, and boy did it need it.  Last week I started looking at the Podcast Pick le website one page at a time. I started on cast page number one, and worked my way one page at a time through them all. I am going to share with you a few things I noticed while doing this.  When I started we had over 13,000 podcasts listed on the site.  After finishing the clean-up only 7,000 podcasts remain. Why the giant drop?  What caused me to delete so many shows?  Of the 6,000 podcasts deleted approximately 10% were completely dead. These casts had no working feed at all.  Another 10% of the deleted podcasts were foreign language casts. We found such a high percentage of dead casts in this category we finally decided to delete all foreign casts.  I believe so many of these casts are dead because the foreign language podcasters are not coming back to the site to edit their cast pages when t...
More About: Cleaning , Pickle

Podcamp San Antonio, Texas
2007-05-21 16:42:00
This past weekend I headed southbound I-35 to San Antonio , for Texas ’s premier of Podcamp. I must say it was a complete success. I enjoyed everything about it. I began the weekend just right by ordering an ice cold drink at the Naked Iguana on the river front, and the weekend kept getting better from there. When it comes to networking, you could not choose a better location. Having possibly the world’s best margaritas may not have hurt either.  The actual conference started Saturday morning.  It took place at an old train station which was converted into a large meeting hall.  The site was perfect for this event.  What made it even better was that the entire event was also streaming on the internet. This camp even attracted members of the press.  They did a superb job on the whole thing; they even included a very tasty lunch.  What I personally enjoyed the most was the size. With over sixty people in attendance, this event used only one stage in one large meeting room. Th...
More About: Toni

My Take On Twitter
2007-05-14 17:40:00
Ok, I know by now you have heard of Twitter . If not, wake up and check it out. I have given up on attempting to explain what Twitter is. When I was first told about Twitter, I personally did not get its purpose. I did not understand the point of it. A friend of mine told me about Twitter and was very convincing that I join, so I gave in. In approximately one month I have acquired 350 Twitter followers. I use Twitter everyday. In fact, I have it set as one of my start up pages in FireFox. When I turn on my computer in the morning I say hello to everyone on Twitter. I post on Twitter multiple times throughout the day. I don’t know if the term has been coined or not, but I think I may be a “Twitterholic”. I must admit compared to some I am only in the beginning stages. Many people have much more severe cases of “Twitterholism” than me. I know numerous people who are active on Twitter all day. Personally, I am luckier than many “Twitterholics”. I have learned how to...

Need An Answering System, Which Is Better K-7 Or Kall8?
2007-05-10 16:09:00
I know there are more options than the two I have listed, but these seem to be on the top of most podcasters lists. I am just going to give you a short rundown on both of them. You decide which is better for you.  You may ask why use an answering system at all? Many podcasters have found it a great way to get additional content to play on their shows. Many listeners want to be involved with their favorite podcasts. What easier way to get involved and perhaps promote your own show, than leaving a comment on another podcasters show.  The number one feature about K7 is that it is free. Your comments are recorded as MP3s for easy download. It will store 20 messages for 7 days. The number one drawback of K7 is the fact they close your account, if you do not receive a call for 30 days. This happened to me. Now my old K7 number is on all my older podcasts, yet it is no longer my number. Believe me; this can cause a major hassle down the road. I was not happy when I lost my number.  Kall...
More About: System , Better , Need , Bett , Stem

My First Product Review: The Tune Talk From Belkin
2007-05-08 17:14:00
I enjoy reading blogs that give advice, or save me money. I will try and help you, whenever I use a new podcast related product. I bought a TuneTalk last week with my own money, so this should be an unbiased review. I paid $69.95, the suggested retail price from my local computer store. For this review I will use the TuneTalk with an 80 Gig Video iPod. While opening the package I accidentally dropped the Tune Talk on the ground. Upon hitting the ground it split into two pieces. Even thought I was able to snap the two pieces back together, it gave me a feeling of being cheaply made. It was easy to use. All I had to do was plug it into my iPod. As soon as I did it was ready. I had basically one option, an auto gain switch. You turn it on when speaking in normal situations. Then turn it off when speaking in a loud or noisy situation. To record you simply select record. It was simple and easy to use. Now let’s get to the meat of the story. How did the recordings play back? I was...
More About: Product Review , Review , Product , First

Do You Listen To Podcasts On Your Computer?
2007-05-04 19:23:00
If the answer to that yes, then you will love the newest feature from PodcastPickle.com We have just created a free Personal Podcast Player, that only loads and plays the podcasts you add to it. It is designed to work with the Podcast Pickle Website. Anytime you mark a podcast as one of your favorites, it is automatically added to your personalized player. Below you will see an example. Your favorite podcasts are listed on your left. When you click on a podcast, the episodes appear on the right. Simply click on an episode and it plays. To find your own personalized player, simply log on to PodcastPickle.com. On the very top right of Podcast Pickle you will see a users box. Inside the users box you will see Favs Player. Click on the words Favs Player Remember for your personal player to come preloaded with any podcasts, you must choose which podcasts you want in it. To add a podcast simply locate your favorite podcast on the podcast pickle web site. On your favorite podcast page, ...
More About: Podcasts , Computer , Listen , Casts

Things Every New Podcaster Should Know
2007-05-02 17:26:00
I asked the Picklers, “What are the top 10 things all new podcasters should know?” I received many answers. Here are the top ten. 1. Just do it! Stop worrying about making it perfect. Start your podcast now. 2. Five places to add your podcast feed (I covered this in a previous blog post) 3. Levalator, this is a great tool. Believe me it is your friend. 4. Always listen to your show before you publish it. There’s always that one thing you missed in editing. 5. Make a promo and ask fellow podcasters to play it, by posting it in different forums and such. 6. Use a blog to drive traffic to your podcast. 7. Create graphical ads for all the standard sizes (144×144, 100×100, 82×34, 468×60, Etc. Make these easy for people to find on your website. 8. “Content is King” is a cliché, but there’s truth to it. 9. Add show notes. Many people are annoyed with a podcast that talks about a really great website, but doe...
More About: Know , Ever , Things , Should , Caste

The New & Improved Podcast Players From PodcastPickle.com
2007-04-30 16:51:00
I offer to the podcast community the newest project from Podcast Pick le.com.  Free podcast players for use on your website. The players come in two sizes. One size is for blog sidebars, the other is for placement in the main body of the website.  The newest versions of the player allow you to choose the colors that will coordinate best with your website, or blog. The player also displays your cover artwork for your podcast. It works on your My Space page as well as your website.  To see our new players go to PodcastPickle.com and choose the style that works for you. I hope you enjoy our newest free offering for you the podcaster. Tell us your thoughts on our newest players. You may even want to tell your friends. I hope you enjoy it.
More About: Players , Improve , Rove

The Today In iPhone Podcast Previews Tomorrow
2007-04-27 20:02:00
Thats right, you read it here first. The Today In iPhone Podcast produced by Rob Walch previews tomorrow. Rob has been known for giving you the 411 on Podcasting, with his popular show Podcast411. Now Rob will start giving the 411 on the iPhone too with his new twice a week podcast. When Rob told me his intent to start this podcast, my first question was why an iPhone Podcast. Rob’s reply was “the iPhone is a device that does lots of things. This podcast will help people learn about those capabilities - the good and the bad. Plus give advice on switching from your current cellular carrier if you want the iPhone. It will be a place where listeners will get to ask questions, share tech tips and hacks. For those that do not have the time to scan all the iPhone blogs - this is the place where we will recap the latest postings”. I do know one thing that is certain. If Rob is doing this podcast it will be accurate, helpful, and most important a nonbiased view of the iPhone...
More About: Iphone , Cast , View

Five Places Every New Podcaster Should Register Their Podcast
2007-04-25 19:14:00
Lately I find myself being invited to speak about podcasting. I decided to create a new topic to discuss. It is titled Ten Things Ever y New Podcast er Should Know. One of the ten things is the topic of this blog. I asked the question in the forums at PodcastPickle.com what they thought were the five top websites to register a new podcast. The following is what the Picklers came up with. This list is in no certain order. iTunes - You have to agree with this pick with millions and millions of iPods and all of them have a selection in the genres for podcast. There is no doubt this is one of the five. Podcast Alley- Probably the first podcast directory on the net. Podcast Alley has an active forum, and is another great place to list your podcast. PodcastPickle.com - No surprise here.This deserves to be on the list because of the active forum community and great extra features available to podcasters. Digg.com - A new arrival on the podcast scene. This site is a great news source and...
More About: Places , Cast , Place

I Call It Like I See It
2007-04-23 17:10:00
In case you’ve never noticed, to say I have a few websites may be an understatement. At last count I had 38 including this blog. I seem to have a problem staying with one site per genre. Take my sports websites as an example. I made so many e-commerce sites for sports related products. I had to make a landing page for all my sports related websites. So I created SportsJunk.com as a way to see, or find all my sports sites. This has not changed with my entry into podcasting. I seem to be up to 11 sites that are related to podcasting in some shape, or form. I guess old habits die hard. I felt it was time to do the same thing I did for my sports sites. That is to make a landing page of some kind. I find myself promoting the Podcast Pickle brand so much, that I thought I would just get the domain PodcastPickle.net. That would be the landing page. The Podcast Pickle network if you will. When I bought the Podcast Pickle domain, I bought all the variations I could think of. I bought Po...
More About: Call , Like

People Keep Asking Me, What Is Podcast Island?
2007-04-19 16:07:00
People keep asking me about Podcast Island , so I will use this opportunity to explain. The first thing you need to know is Podcast Island is a place located in a virtual reality world which is interactive. It is not even real. It only exists in a computer somewhere. There is a virtual world called Second Life. For those of you not familiar with Second Life I will attempt to explain. It is called a game by some, and other say it is a business platform. I say it is both. It is a game, where you can make money, where you can fly, where do can do almost anything you can think of. That includes gambling, and yes even sexual relations. It may be hard to understand, but people even get married in this virtual reality. If you can think of it you can make it, or do it in this world! Now back to Podcast Island. Almost a year ago I decided to venture into Second Life. My goal was to make a virtual podcast directory. First I bought a virtual island. They use a currency called Lindens th...
More About: People , What , Hat

I am actually starting a blog. Who would of thought?
2007-04-18 01:14:00
Okay, so blogging is an old concept, old news, everyone is doing it. Yes, everyone except for me. You must understand I just subscribed to my first blog ever, about 3 weeks ago. I host a podcast called Today In Podcasting. My 3 co hosts Rob Walch from Podcast 411, Dave Jackson from School Of Podcasting, and Paul Colligan from PaulColligan.com all have blogs. They probably have blogged for a long time. About three weeks ago on an episode we were recording, Paul was talking about an article on his blog. That was the moment everything changed. That is when I said to myself I am going to start reading a blog. The next day I setup Google Reader and subscribed to Paul’s blog. The first blog I have ever subscribed to in my 52 years of living. Within a few days I added Rob Walch’s Blog then another, and another. Now you know the beginning of my journey in the world of blogging. That step started me reading blogs, and also helped me familiarize myself with the concept of blogging. I...
More About: Start , Star , Thought , Tart