RawVoice Blog

Cochrane: Get visual

Bloggers and podcasters, restart your engines! Keep moving ahead or get left behind was the message Todd Cochrane, CEO of RawVoice, shared with about 70 blogging and podcasting enthusiasts Oct. 16 at BlogWorld and New Media Expo. Survival of the fittest, he said, dictates that content creators continue to evolve their media using the The Triple Play: Streaming, Podcasting and Blogging as a Way to Accelerate Your Show’s Growth and Distribution.

In the natural course of things, a content creator might start out simply with a blog . . . and that’s great, Cochrane explained. But the audience growth and monetary potential extends far beyond. Next up? Podcasting. And then? Well, he noted, many podcasters hit a mid-life crisis — sluggish audience growth, if any at all, and audience numbers even dropping off. The cure? Let us see . . .

The past 12 months have seen an evolution in media distribution and growth. By providing video or by streaming shows on television set top boxes such as Roku, Vudu (soon to be found on every television sold by Wal-Mart), Boxee and the soon-to-be-released Google TV, audience numbers have already rocketed.

Um, don't do this! Keep your sites simple.

“Streaming your shows is the gateway to over-the-top TV,” explained Cochrane, host of Geek News Central. Cochrane grew an already large audience by 150 percent in nine months with the “Triple Play.” Cochrane’s growth is common among media producers whose shows are accessible on over-the-top (OTT) boxes. That is, if your show is visual. Among 200 shows seen on Roku during a 90-day period, visual media growth was 23 percent. Audio was only 3 percent. “You need to get intimately familiar with OTT,” he said. When the Blubrry podcasting community was introduced on Roku, Cochrane would have been happy with 25,000 additional views among the community . . . it was more like 250,000. “You’ve got to get busy,” he said. “You have to be on this device.”

A few years back, the notion of citizen media creators being viewed across the glob on television was unfathomable. Not with the big cable companies in control. Now, content accessible on OTT boxes bypasses the need to go through a cable company for distribution. “It’s leveling the playing field with the big boys,” Cochrane stressed. “This is the way we beat the Man. We go over the top.”

Start with blogging, evolve into podcasting, then segue into streaming, he said.

Mandato walks participants through the quick and easy steps.

That transition doesn’t need to be rough.

In fact, in the next BlogWorld and New Media Expo session, RawVoice CIO Angelo Mandato and Creative Director Brian Yuhnke walked bloggers through the process using the PowerPress plugin for WordPress. About 40 people took part, took notes and took home a simple yet spectacular suggestion for moving ahead their media.

In Blogging and Podcasting Sitting in a Tree … Optimizing a WordPress Site for Your Podcast, Mandato and Yuhnke demonstrated the PowerPress plugin for WordPress, a simple means to get audio and video media on your site. The plugin is simple to install, simple to access and makes it simple for your audience to get your cutting-edge shows. And it should be kept simple, they said, noting noisy and overly-busy sites will be a turn off for viewers . . . literally.

To find out more about or view the sessions, go to the BlogWorld website; they’ll be up soon. To find out more about the PowerPress plugin, go to Blubrry.com.

Blogging and Podcasting Sitting in a Tree … Optimizing a WordPress Site for Your Podcast

You embrace your love of podcasting and you’re whetting your lips at the thought of its marriage to blogging. The union has all the allure of a multimedia  fairy tale . . .(dramatic pause) but there’s trouble in paradise. Getting your podcast and your blog to kiss and play nicely can be a complicated affair. Until now! Coming soon, to a session near you, on Oct. 16, 2010, at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas (drum roll) is Blogging and Podcasting Sitting in a Tree … Optimizing a WordPress Site for Your Podcast!

With all the ID3 tags, iTunes formatting, RSS feeds and XML code involved to ensure a properly delivered podcast, setting up a website for distributing media can create issues and even seem (gasp) divisive. . .  Lo! This exciting, alluring RawVoice/Blubrry production, starring Angelo Mandato, chief information officer at RawVoice.com, a seasoned web developer, applications programmer and server administrator, and Brian Yuhnke, creative director at RawVoice.com and an instructional technology and web media coordinator in Denver, examines awesome plugins and some basic design knowledge that can eliminate those barriers! This is precisely the counseling and support you need to gain the skills to conjoin your WordPress blog and podcasting!

As for previews for coming attractions? Here’s what else we’ve got going on for you at BlogWorld and New Media Expo in Vegas!

• Take part Oct. 16 as CEO Todd Cochrane addresses the whole media package of today and years to come in his session The Triple Play: Streaming, Podcasting and Blogging as a Way to Accelerate Your Show’s Growth and Distribution. Seriously, this is a MUST see!
• Visit the RawVoice team members in Booth 516 (we’re right outside the New Media Lounge, how excellent is that?). We’ll be sharing not only what we do but also the latest news about the new media distribution platforms. Come early! We’ll have  presents!

But, back to the future (of digital media, or more thereof!)! Coming 3:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 16, 2010, to a session near you at BlogWorld and New Media Expo, Blogging and Podcasting Sitting in a Tree … Optimizing a WordPress Site for Your Podcast!! Be there!!!!

RawVoice: Are you in this picture?

Advances in digital media are being pitched at you at record speed. You’re taking a swing at all the latest in technology and media and getting a few hits. But are you touching all the bases? On Saturday, Oct. 16, at BlogWorld and New Media Expo, RawVoice CEO Todd Cochrane will address the whole media package of today and seasons to come in his session The Triple Play: Streaming, Podcasting and Blogging as a Way to Accelerate Your Show’s Growth and Distribution.

The past 12 months have seen an evolution in the blogging, podcasting and streaming media space. In this session Cochrane will lay out a game plan to growing your audience and will talk about the new distribution platforms.

“I will share trade secrets and strategies of podcasting that only my six years of experience behind the mic can impart,” he announced. “I will tie this all together and you will walk away understanding the importance of streaming your shows and how that streaming is the gateway to over-the-top TV.” Cochrane, host of Geek News Central, grew an already large audience by 150 percent in nine months with the Triple Play. In this session, he will map out how content distribution channels such as the Roku, Boxee and the upcoming Google TV are changing new media and what you need to do to score.

“This will be the most important session you will want to attend at the show. I don’t say this lightly because some of the things I will reveal are going to make you re-think your media strategy for the next 36 months.”

The media space is changing at a rapid pace, and The Triple Play: Streaming, Podcasting and Blogging as a Way to Accelerate Your Show’s Growth and Distribution will get you dialed in on where it is headed and show you how to stay on the playing field.

In addition to Cochrane’s session, check this out:

• The RawVoice team members will in Booth 516  sharing not only what they do but also the latest news about the new media distribution platforms.
• Join RawVoice CIO Angelo Mandato and Creative Manager Brian Yuhnke at their session Oct. 16 on Blogging and Podcasting Sitting in a Tree … Optimizing a WordPress Site for Your Podcast.

There’s still time to register for BlogWorld and New Media Expo. So step up to the plate and no more balking! This is the event to be at if you are podcaster, blogger and fall into any category of user-generated content. If you want to focus on new media you’ve gotta be here!

Posting a 31 percent revenue gain in a single quarter is nearly unheard of, but we’re RawVoice and we’re used to doing things that were previously unheard of! It’s true, we saw nearly a one-third boost in ad revenue our second quarter of 2010, which ended July 1. The increase reflects new advertising buys on 27 percent more shows within our RawVoice family, including Blubrry and Tech Podcasts Network.

Our CEO Todd Cochrane sums it up like this: “Advertisers are confident in us delivering a healthy return on investment. Advertising with RawVoice enables them to expose their brand to audiences that are consuming media on a variety of devices in the home and on the go.” 

Audience growth has been and will continue to be fueled by the increased quality and quantity of podcasts available within the RawVoice community — Blubrry.com alone has more than 5,500 shows available for advertising. Also attributed to the growth is our expanded media accessibility on multiple platforms, such as Roku, Apple iOS and Google Android-based smart phones.

“Our strategy of multi-platform distribution is exposing new audiences to our content creators on venues that accommodate their lifestyle needs,” says Cochrane, host of Geek News Central. “We are the only advertising medium that can guarantee they are reaching their target audiences,” Cochrane says.

Viewers and listeners in turn gain exposure to great products and services matched to their needs. The end result is that hosts are able to sustain and grow their shows “ultimately resulting in more ad deals for our content creators,” he said.

As Quarter 3 gets under way, we’re confident the advertising and audience growth will continue to the benefit of media creators.

“We are continuing to focus on multi-platform distribution for the shows that are part of the network,” he said. “The show producers are reaching millions of people monthly we want to continue to take the lead in finding ways to help content creators maintain sustainable incomes for their shows.”