Intentional growth requires regular evaluation and adjustment. That applies to so many areas of life and business, and your podcast is no different. I've put together five things I suggest you evaluate about your podcast every year so that you can make the changes necessary to keep growing your podcast.

Please share this episode from your podcast app or https://theaudacitytopodcast.com/evaluateyearly

• Why You Should Put Podcasting P.R.O.F.I.T. First [episode 388] :https://theaudacitytopodcast.com/why-you-should-put-podcasting-profit-first/

1. Your podcasting goals and PROFIT

2. Your episode structure and flow

• How Long Should Your Episode Closing Be? https://theaudacitytopodcast.com/how-long-should-your-episode-closing-be-episode-396/

3. Your podcasting workflow

• Magai, the powerful AI toolbox I use (affiliate link): https://theaudacitytopodcast.com/magai

4. A podcast trailer

• 15 Regrets from 15 Years of Professional Podcasting [episode 394]: https://theaudacitytopodcast.com/15-regrets-from-15-years-of-professional-podcasting-episode-394/

5. Your podcast description

• Magai,: https://theaudacitytopodcast.com/magai

value4value Community Corner

• 150§ and 64§ from Randy Black
• 356§ from Bryan Entzminger
• A couple of 5-star ratings on my episodes in Goodpods from "Barnabas"

If you love the Audacity to Podcast, would you consider giving back in value what you feel the show is worth to you? https://theaudacitytopodcast.com/giveback

Start and grow your own podcast for passion and PROFIT! Learn more and follow at https://theaudacitytopodcast.com/

Supercharge your audience engagement and grow your podcast! https://podgagement.com/

Send questions and feedback

• Call (903) 231-2221
• Email [email protected]
• Send a message or voicemail through https://podcastfeedback.com/audacity
• Mailing address: The Audacity to Podcast, PO Box 739, Burlington, KY 41005

How long should your episode closing be? While your episode openings should be as short as possible, the length of your episode closings can be a bit more dynamic. The answer is actually a little different this time: as simple as possible.

Please share this episode from your podcast app or https://theaudacitytopodcast.com/simpleclosing

Answer: as simple as possible

Spread out your calls to action

Give your audience a reason to stay until the end

Lead with value, leave with value™

value4value community corner

• 406§ from Bryan Entzminger

———

Start and grow your own podcast for passion and PROFIT! Learn more and follow at https://theaudacitytopodcast.com/

Supercharge your audience engagement and grow your podcast! https://podgagement.com/

FEEDBACK Call (903) 231-2221 Email [email protected] Send a message or voicemail through https://podcastfeedback.com/audacity

MAILING ADDRESS The Audacity to Podcast PO Box 739 Burlington, KY 41005

What is the first thing your audience hears when they play your latest episode? Are you providing value in your opening, or just keeping your audience from what they came to hear? Although the terms "intro"/"introduction" and "opening" are often used interchangeably, I'm going to be more specific to call the "opening" everything your audience hears before your episode's unique content.

Please share this episode from your podcast app or https://theaudacitytopodcast.com/shortopening

Answer: as short as possible

What about audio branding?

What about welcoming your new audience?

• When to Use Trailer, Full, and Bonus Episode Types [episode 353]: https://theaudacitytopodcast.com/when-to-use-trailer-full-and-bonus-episode-types/

Consider your most important audience: the one you already have

Bonus tip: use a unique cold open

———

Start and grow your own podcast for passion and PROFIT! Learn more and follow at https://theaudacitytopodcast.com/

Supercharge your audience engagement and grow your podcast! https://podgagement.com/

FEEDBACK Call (903) 231-2221 Email [email protected] Send a message or voicemail through https://podcastfeedback.com/audacity

MAILING ADDRESS The Audacity to Podcast PO Box 739 Burlington, KY 41005

As The Audacity to Podcast celebrates 15 years of professional podcasting, I invite you to take a critical look back at the biggest mistakes I've made and things I wish I did differently with my show. My hope is that this will inspire you to either fix these things early for yourself, or avoid them altogether!

Please share this episode from your podcast app or https://theaudacitytopodcast.com/15regrets

(As an affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases through some of these following links. But I recommend things I truly believe in, regardless of earnings.)

1. Hiatuses

2. Not building an email list sooner

• 13 Ways to Use an Email List for Your Podcast" [episode 198]: https://theaudacitytopodcast.com/13-ways-to-use-an-email-list-for-your-podcast-tap198/

1. Not promoting my episodes via email

2. Pursuing the wrong business

3. Not creating enough training products

• SEO for Podcasters course: https://theaudacitytopodcast.com/store/seo-for-podcasters/ • Zoom H6 for Podcasters course: https://theaudacitytopodcast.com/store/zoom-h6-for-podcasters/

1. Waiting too long to register my trademark

• Gordon Firemark: https://gfiremark.com

1. Trying to do things cheaply

• ID3 Editor: https://theaudacitytopodcast.com/id3editor • Podgagement: https://podgagement.com/

1. Not publishing more through other channels, including video

• Hollyland Lark M2S microphone: https://geni.us/6oS4OH

1. Not reaching out to press about significant things

2. Accepting sponsors

3. Not creating value for value opportunities for you, my audience

• More about Podcasting 2.0 micropayments and value4value [episode 371]: https://theaudacitytopodcast.com/are-podcasting-2-0-micropayments-worth-it/ • Support the show if The Audacity to Podcast provides value to you: https://theaudacitytopodcast.com/giveback • Get a modern Podcasting 2.0 podcast app: https://podcasting2.org/apps

1. Working solo for too long

• Virtual Freedom by Chris Ducker: https://geni.us/rIloRAJ • Buy Back Your Time by Dan Martell: https://geni.us/yiGzM • Podgagement (formerly "My Podcast Reviews"): https://podgagement.com/ • Entrepeneur definition on Urban Dictionary: https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=entrepodneur

1. Using a cute and expensive domain

2. Getting involved with the wrong people

3. Not focusing more on relationships

———

Start and grow your own podcast for passion and PROFIT! Learn more and follow at https://theaudacitytopodcast.com/

Supercharge your audience engagement and grow your podcast! https://podgagement.com/

FEEDBACK Call (903) 231-2221 Email [email protected] Send a message or voicemail through https://podcastfeedback.com/audacity

MAILING ADDRESS The Audacity to Podcast PO Box 739 Burlington, KY 41005

Whether by choice or beyond your control, your podcast might have to go on a hiatus—and it could so long that the podcast seems dead! How do you come back from that and get back into your rhythm? It will take some work, but here are my recommendations (and what I'm practicing myself, too!).

Please share this episode from your podcast app or https://theaudacitytopodcast.com/revive

1. Review your podcasting goals (your "why")
2. Treat your podcast return like a launch
3. Use a podcast trailer to promote the return
4. Lower your expectations
5. Don't apologize or explain in your regular episodes
6. Make and follow a plan to keep going

———

Start and grow your own podcast for passion and PROFIT! Learn more and follow at https://theaudacitytopodcast.com/

Supercharge your podcast engagement with Podgagement! https://podgagement.com/

FEEDBACK Call (903) 231-2221 Email [email protected] Send a voice message from https://podcastfeedback.com/audacity

MAILING ADDRESS The Audacity to Podcast PO Box 739 Burlington, KY 41005

Redirects come in multiple types. When misused, they can cause some major problems, as even happened to me recently. Here are some warnings to watch for whenever you use redirects.

Check out my past episode and article, “Redirects and How to Use Them in Podcasting” to learn more about how redirects work and the different options there are.

(As an affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases through some—but not all—of the following links. But I recommend things I truly believe in, regardless of earnings.)

Caution #1: 301 redirects are “permanent” and cached

In podcasting, we throw around the term “301 redirect” or “permanent redirect” often without realizing what that actually means: it is (or at least it's assumed to be) permanent!

I often use the physical mail or US Post Office metaphor when explaining redirects. Think of a permanent redirect as a “change of address” notice sent back to everyone who mails you something.

A 301 redirect is permanent and is essentially telling apps, “This thing has moved to over there. Please stop looking here and always look there instead. So don't look at me again.”

This is great when you actually made a permanent move—or at least intend for it to be permanent. Like when you permanently move homes and change your address!

But if you ever change your mind or—even worse—make a mistake in the redirect, that redirect will be followed and the old URL will stop being checked. So if you make a “/feedback” page that 301-permanently redirects somewhere else, then even if you change where “/feedback” goes, any app that previously loaded “/feedback” will bypass it altogether and go straight to the destination it has saved in its cache.

That cache is sometimes cleared, but you should assume it never will be! (However, this doesn't apply for anyone visiting your redirect for the first time.)

So if you get your 301 permanent redirect wrong and you don't fix it immediately—like within a few minutes—the best thing to do is to also redirect that incorrect destination to the correct one. And, unfortunately, that's not always possible. Thus, I recommend that, if possible, you make your redirect a 307 or 302 temporary redirect first, test it over a few days, and then change it to a 301 permanent redirect.

Caution #2: Your redirect destinations might change or disappear

Contrary to the Stanley cup craze of spring 2024, my favorite water thermos has been a Contigo Ashland Chill Autospout Water Bottle with Flip Straw, Stainless Steel Thermal Drinking Bottle,Leakproof,Grey, BLue, 590 ml (I earn from qualifying purchases through that link) that I've had since 2019. But I recently lost it—I think at a mall while my son and I were waiting for my broken-down car to be towed.

I thought I could simply re-order it for close to the original $10 price I paid, but no! That specific bottle has a new version I don't like as much, and the original bottle was listed for $45 when I needed it!

Here's what makes this relevant to redirects. The first place I went to re-order that water bottle was my Amazon order history. When I clicked on the product link, my heart was initially crushed because Contigo Autospout Straw Ashland Chill Vacuum-Insulated Stainless Steel Water Bottle, 20 oz., Monaco says, “Currently unavailable”!

Imagine if I had redirected to that product page with a 301 permanent redirect! Anyone clicking through my link might have their hopes dashed just like I did!

This is why I highly recommend that any redirect to any URL you don't control should be a 307 temporary redirect (a 302 redirect is also temporary and works fine, but use a 307 if you have the choice). If I had been smartly promoting that water bottle with something like a “/waterbottle” redirect, I could easily change its destination when the product URL changes, or point back to a page on my own site with a note about the product.

That's easy to do with temporary redirects because they don't get cached. So even if you used my redirect yesterday, then I changed it last night, and you use the same redirect URL today, you would be taken to the correct destination.

I love that Pretty Links Pro has recently added a new feature to monitor all the redirects you create and alert you when any of them point to a broken URL! And that could be really important for both your audience and any kind of affiliate income you hoped to make.

Caution #3: Most redirects bypass content

This is both a caution and a blessing. However your redirect is placed (and I'm not referring to the <itunes:new-feed-url> RSS tag), the redirect will be followed before any of that URL's content is loaded.

So if you redirect an old podcast RSS feed URL to a new one, anything you put in that old feed will be completely ignored.

That's a caution because it means your audience won't get anything you put in that feed, especially not any announcement of the feed change (if that's even necessary). This is why you should put the <itunes:new-feed-url> tag in your new feed if you ever change podcast feed URLs. And yes, the tag should actually point to itself as a sort of confirmation that this feed is the new feed URL.

But it's also a blessing because it means you don't actually need an RSS feed to exist at that address once you're redirecting it. In fact, you can have nothing at that address except the redirect! (That's how nearly all redirection tools do it. You don't have to create pages or posts to redirect, you simply create the redirect.)

So if you want or need to give some information before the redirect, then create a page at that URL you share, and then have the redirect linked from the page.

For example, that's what I've been building for a lot of podcasting tools I frequently recommend. Consider Captivate, for example. If you visit theaudacitytopodcast.com/captivate, you're no longer immediately redirected to Captivate, but you instead land on my page that briefly explains why I recommend Captivate. And then you can click on the button to use my affiliate link to visit Captivate. Fun fact: that button is still a redirect: theaudacitytopodcast.com/go/captivate

Caution #4: You might someday rename your redirect

I've previously shared why you should stop saying brand names in your podcast, unless absolutely necessary. Maybe you heard or read that and decided to change your “/patreon” redirecting URL to a generic “/support” URL (or you had a similar situation).

While that's great that you did that, it still breaks all your past calls to action that used the “/patreon” URL!

For this reason, if you ever want to someday rename your redirect—regardless of whether you've only typed it in your notes or you've also spoken it in your podcast—I recommend that you make a new redirect and point both the new and old redirects to the correct location (and take this chance to ensure they're both 307 or 302 temporary redirects!).

Alternatively, you could actually point one redirect to the other. So instead of always having to change the destination for multiple redirects, you only change the last one. But just don't get crazy with this! I recommend making no more than 2 layers of a redirect. So that could look like this:

“/patreon” (original URL) ➜ “/support” new URL ➜ “final” destination

I put “final” in quotation marks, because it's possible even that URL gets redirected, as happens with many affiliate URLs that bounce through multiple trackers before landing on the actual final destination.

Caution #5: Correcting URLs you said in old episodes is practically impossible

If you do rename a redirect, like switching from “/patreon” to “/support,” don't even think about editing the audio or video with all your past calls to action!

This is why it's important to get it right in the first place and make a future-friendly generic URL you can change whenever you want without breaking past calls to action.

But if you didn't plan ahead like that (and I've made that mistake countless times, too!), make sure all your old calls to action still work. That could be either with a redirect, or a note and the correct link on the resulting destination. So even if you said a “patreon.com” URL in your podcast, you might be able to leave that page up but with a prominent note that your support options have moved and with a link to that new location. (But make sure that link is also a redirect, in case you ever change things again!)

Caution #6: Reusing things you redirected from is a bad idea (my 2024 redirect mistake)

I need to illustrate this point with a story from my own recent mistake.

Several years ago, Blubrry launched Podcast Mirror, a free and much better podcast-focused alternative to FeedBurner.

But with all the features coming from Podcasting 2.0, and the dragging feet of many outdated podcasting tools and hosting providers, Blubrry decided to add more features to Podcast Mirror, which could let you add Podcasting 2.0 features to a feed that didn't already have them. Just like how Feedburner could be used to turn a normal blog feed into a valid podcast feed. (Funny side note: I was actually thinking of launching my own service like this as soon as I learned about Podcasting 2.0, and I even registered a great domain for it, but I never got around to building that product.)

These upgrades were great, but it also meant that Blubrry would stop offering a basic Podcast Mirror service for free—not even their plain feed mirror service. This upgrade to Podcast Mirror went into effect during my few-month podcast hiatus while I doubled down on launching Podgagement in the second half of 2023. So when I published a new episode in January 2024—NEWSFLASH—my feed wouldn't update anymore because I hadn't upgraded to a paid Podcast Mirror subscription! (To be blunt, I think this was a horrible betrayal of trust from Blubrry. But at least all podcasters could easily redirect away from Podcast Mirror.)

Having a tight cashflow, I decided to redirect my Podcast Mirror feed to a FeedBurner feed—doing nothing but simply mirroring or “proxying” my feed for performance reasons. But I very quickly discovered that FeedBurner no longer offers a ping service or a manual refresh button, leaving me with no way to trigger an update of my RSS feed. Consequently, my episodes were not going out to podcast apps for several hours!

Crazy me—I decided to try building my own feed proxy service. But after more than 4 hours into it, I realized I'd wasted more time (and “time is money”) trying to “DIY” it and thus lost more potential income than if I'd just paid the reasonable yearly fee Blubrry now charges for Podcast Mirror!

So I emailed Blubrry on my digital hands and knees, begging them to take me back. We worked out a deal and I'm back on Podcast Mirror now. Hooray!

But here was my big mistake: I insisted on having my original feed URL again.

Why was that bad? Because here's what the 301 permanent redirects looked like:

Podcast Mirror ➜ FeedBurner ➜ Podcast Mirror (same URL).

Do you see the problem? If anything had cached Podcast Mirror's 301 redirect on my feed, it would enter what's called a “redirect loop.” I suspect that is why I saw a big drop in downloads per episode after I changed the redirect. (And this was in February 2024, so it had nothing to do with the over-hyped iOS 17 update!)

I actually made it even a little worse by momentarily redirecting to my PowerPress feed—but a URL that bypasses any redirects from PowerPress. And this made it difficult to actually re-redirect when I wanted to!

In all of this, my feed URL didn't actually matter. Do you even know what my podcast feed URL is? I could have easily added a “2” or “-audio” or anything else to the URL when I rejoined Podcast Mirror and it would have been fine.

So the moral of this long story is that if you ever think you should redirect back to something that was already 301-permanently redirecting, DON'T! Instead, make a new URL as your final destination.

Quick resources for making redirects

I want to end this with a couple of tips for making redirects that won't cause problems in the future.

301 permanent versus 307/302 temporary

With these cautions in mind, my general advice is to choose 307 (or 302) temporary redirects for any destination you don't control. Start with affiliate links, your donation or membership page, your online community, and such.

And for any destination you do control, or you are absolutely certain will not change in the foreseeable future, you can use a 301 permanent redirect.

WordPress plugins for making redirects

If you're looking to make redirects on WordPress, my favorite plugins are Pretty Links Pro and Redirection. I actually use both of them!

Pretty Links Pro (paid) is much easier to use and has a lot of helpful feature, like automatic keyword-linking, shorter link-creation workflows for pages and posts, smart redirects, and more.

The Redirection plugin (free) is more advanced, even allowing regular expressions. And, maybe the handiest feature here, is that you can enable it to monitor your pages and posts to redirect any of those URLs you change. For example, many of my old episode webpages still include the “tap###” code I used to use in my titles. I've already removed those from the titles, but if I change those URLs, the Redirection plugin would automatically redirect that webpage's old URL to the new one.

Other ways to make redirects

If you're not using WordPress, or you want to manage your redirects away from WordPress, look at what your domain or website tools offer, or consider Cloudflare's options.

Some podcast-hosting providers or easier website-builders (such as Podpage) offer their own redirects you can create and manage within your dashboard. This would work from only the domain you set to work with that website.

The options from your domain registrar, your hosting provider, or Cloudflare generally all work before loading anything from your website. So the redirects might continue to function even if your website is down. And these can work without any website at all.

Lastly, there are plenty of third-party URL-shorteners and redirect tools you can use, but some might charge if you want to customize the URL or use your own domain. And even if you can use your own domain, it usually has to be a subdomain or a completely different domain from your normal website.

Please click here to learn more about redirects and how to use them!

Community corner

• 7,777§ boostagram from Steve Webb on “11 Tips for Sharing URLs in Your Podcast,” saying, “Another great episode with useful, actionable content. Thanks Daniel!”
• 1,000§ boostagram from Andy Lehman on “11 Tips for Sharing URLs in Your Podcast,” saying, “I tried clicking on your links for this episode in the chapters and it crashed Castamatic. I wonder if it has to do with the anchors.”
• Streaming sats from Dave Jackson, Guy Martin (Dwev), and Bryan Entzminger

Supercharge your podcast engagement and grow your podcast!

Do you ever feel like your podcast is stuck? Like you're pouring your heart into your podcast but it seems like no one is listening?

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Ask your questions or share your feedback

• Comment on the show notes
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Disclosure

This post may contain links to products or services with which I have an affiliate relationship. I may receive compensation from your actions through such links. However, I don't let that corrupt my perspective and I don't recommend only affiliates.

There comes a point in every podcast when it's necessary to say a URL. If for nothing else, at least your podcast's own home on the Internet. (And you should have a domain for your podcast!)

Please share this episode from your podcast app or https://theaudacitytopodcast.com/sharingurls

1. Speak as few URLs as possible (per episode)

• Pretty Links Pro: https://theaudacitytopodcast.com/go/prettylinkpro

2. Defer to your chapters or episode notes

• Check out Knick Knack News for a great example of actionable episode notes: https://knickknacknews.com/
• Captivate: https://theaudacitytopodcast.com/captivate
• Buzzsprout: https://theaudacitytopodcast.com/buzzsprout
• Blubrry: https://theaudacitytopodcast.com/blubrry
• I'm pushing hard for Podcasting 2.0 to turn our current podcast chapters into “super chapters”: https://github.com/Podcastindex-org/podcast-namespace/discussions/469

3. Never say "https://" or "www."

4. Simplify your URLs

• Remove the third-party brand name completely and make it a generic URL: https://theaudacitytopodcast.com/stop-saying-brand-names-in-your-podcast-do-these-5-things-instead/
• Patreon: https://theaudacitytopodcast.com/patreon

5. Make friendly URLs that make sense

• Episode numbers didn't actually matter: https://theaudacitytopodcast.com/are-podcast-episode-numbers-really-necessary-in-podcasting-show-notes-tap175/

6. Say "slash" not "forward slash" or "backslash"

7. Slow down and speak clearly

• Podcast transcripts: https://theaudacitytopodcast.com/how-to-use-podcast-transcripts/

8. Clarify or avoid ambiguity

9. Be careful with top-level domains that aren't .com

• That Story Show: http://thatstoryshow.com/

10. Beware case-sensitivity

11. Always test your URLs before you share them

Community corner

———

Start and grow your own podcast for passion and PROFIT! Learn more and follow at https://theaudacitytopodcast.com/

Know, engage, and grow your audience with the power of podcast reviews! https://mypodcastreviews.com/

FEEDBACK Call (903) 231-2221 Email [email protected] Send a voice message from https://theaudacitytopodcast.com/

MAILING ADDRESS The Audacity to Podcast PO Box 739 Burlington, KY 41005

“Artificial intelligence” (“AI”) has made huge leaps in abilities within a very short time. It was only a few years ago that I felt on the cutting edge teaching how to use AI tools like Jasper (originally called “Conversion.ai” and “Jarvis”), even before ChatGPT was released.

Now, AI has become so prominent, that it's almost surprising if a software company of any size is not offering some kind of AI-based solution.

While inflation has skyrocketed the prices of almost everything, the cost for accessing AI has significantly dropped. When I first started using AI, a good plan with access to only one central AI system cost $99 per month. But now, you can use a tool like Magai to use a whole bunch of different language- and image-based AI tools starting at only $19 per month!

(As an affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases through these links. But I recommend things I truly believe in, regardless of earnings.)

All this potential means we need to quote the line from Spider-Man, “With great power comes great responsibility.”

And thus why I want to share these warnings with you, to advocate for responsible use of generative AI, large language models (LLMs), machine learning, or whatever you want to call it.

This warnings apply to any kind of content-creation, not only podcasting!

(And in case you're wondering, I did not use AI to create any of this content, but I might be using some AI to transcribe or help me market this content.)

Aside: most warnings apply to generative AI, but not repurposing or enhancement AI

Before I get into my list of warnings about using AI, I want to clarify that these are focused using AI to essentially create something from nothing. I still think AI can be a great assistant on your content. For example, processing audio or video, clipping excerpts, suggesting marketing approaches, improving how things communicate, repurposing, and more. All of those things start with your intelligence, and then the AI works from that.

But I see most of these warnings as applying solely to generative AI, or when you start with nothing but a prompt.

Now, on to the warnings!

1. Undisclosed use of generative AI can get you in trouble

YouTube, social networks, and lots of other websites and platforms are starting to require you to disclose whenever you're putting out content generated by AI. And I think this is a good thing to do as it helps the potential audience know what kind of quality to expect.

Even for things like podcast transcripts, it's good to disclose whether AI was used to transcribe the audio. As I mentioned in my previous episode about using podcast transcripts, someone on your podcast might say, “I love two li'l puppies,” but the AI might transcribe it as, “I love to kill puppies.” Sometimes, even omitting a single word can drastically alter the meaning. For example, imagine accidentally omitting the “not” in a sentence like, “I'm not guilty.”

This doesn't necessarily mean you must disclose every time you use AI in any capacity (like you need to disclose whenever you're compensated for anything you talk about), but you should be aware of the requirements of platforms and seek to always be above reproach.

And if you're concerned about how it might affect your reputation if you disclose every time you use AI, then here's a radical thought: maybe don't use AI! (More on this in #11.)

2. AI often “hallucinates” facts and citations

ChatGPT, Claude, Grok, Gemini, and all the text-based AIs we know are also called “large language models” (or “LLMs”). And I think that's a much better term, too, because they're not actually intelligent; they are simply good with language.

This is why you'll often see LLMs write something that grammatically makes sense, but is conceptually nonsense.

In other words, LLMs know how to write sentences.

For example, I sometimes like to ask AI, “Who is Daniel J. Lewis?” Not because of any kind of ego complex, but because I'm an interesting test subject for LLMs since I am partially a public figure, but I also have a name very close to a celebrity: Daniel Day Lewis. Thus, the responses LLMs give me often conflate the two of us (a mistake I wish my bank would make!). I've seen responses that both describe me as a podcasting-industry expert and highlight my roles in There Will Be Blood and The Last of the Mohicans. (And I'm not helping any LLMs scraping my content by just now writing those things together!)

So for anything an AI or LLM writes for you, I urge you to fact-check it! I've even seen some responses completely make up citations that don't exist!

3. AI lacks humanity

From the moment of conception, you have always been a unique being of tremendous value and potential with unique DNA, unique experiences, unique thoughts, unique emotions, and more. Like a snowflake, there will never be someone—or something—exactly like you! Not even an AI trained on all of your content!

AI is not an actual intelligence and I believe it never will be. And AI will never be human.

But you are. You can feel, express, and empathize through emotion. You can question, explore, change your mind, and change others' minds. You can create things of great beauty and originality with no outside prompting.

And it's because of this that I think AI can never replace you. While it might have better skills than you in some areas, it will never beat the quality and personableness that you can offer.

4. AI-created images can be humiliating

AI image models have produced some hilarious or nightmarish results and lots of things that are physically impossible! Like with how AI can hallucinate facts and citations, it can also make images that look real, until you actually pay attention to the details.

I think this teaser for Despicable Me 4 accurately explains it:

Or The Babylon Bee‘s explanation of ChatGPT:

Lest you think this is only outdated models producing bad content, here are some things I've actually seen from current-generation AI image models:

• Backwards hands
• Limbs that seamlessly merge into the surroundings
• Misspelled text that you might not notice unless you try to actually read it
• Device parts that disappear into nowhere
• Placements that are physically impossible
• Broken, slanted, or curvy lines that absolutely should be straight
• Incorrect size ratios

Watch out for these things! For any image you generate (or that someone else gives you that they might have generated with AI), look at it very carefully to ensure everything about it makes sense and isn't simply a pretty—but embarrassing—combination of pixels.

For this reason, you might actually want your image AI to make artwork that is obviously not photorealistic.

5. AI is biased because it was fed biased content and programmed by biased people

The following is not to push a particular political or moral direction, but just to expose some facts! Most LLMs lean a particular political and moral direction because they were trained with content that leaned that direction. Thus, even if not intentional, the outputs will often have that same leaning.

Imagine it this way. If the majority of content on the Internet—especially the most popular sites—said that 2 + 2 = 5, then LLMs trained from Internet content would also propagate that fallacy.

Furthermore, many of the companies behind these AIs or LLMs also lean the same political and moral direction as the majority of the Internet, and so they will favor content from the same echo chamber and sometimes even intentionally train the AI to push that agenda.

Look at the shamefully bad images of people that Google Gemini was originally generating, even going so far as to render Nazis as Asians or blacks instead of whites, because of “diversity, inclusion, and equity!”

And that's why there's a market for LLMs that lean the opposite direction.

Even taking out the political and moral leanings, I see LLMs regularly put out “mythinformation”—even in the podcasting space, like saying that podcast ratings and reviews affect your rankings in Apple Podcasts. That's not true! But it's been said so many times on the the Internet, that LLMs think it's true!

6. Content from AI always needs editing

It's because of warnings #2–#5 that I come to this one: edit, edit, edit!

I'd love to hear your opinion on this, too. But I'm starting to think it reflects worse on someone when they put out bad AI-created content than if they put out authentic content with typos or small mistakes. Do you agree?

For example, you might accidentally write about “George Wishington,” but an AI might say that George Washington fought in World War II! In this case, your typo is a human error and your meaning could probably still be understood by your context. But if you put out something that an AI hallucinated, then people have to wonder if you're actually that misinformed (AKA “stupid”).

7. AI-generated content raises copyright concerns

In the United States of America, and some other countries, anything you create is considered immediately and automatically protected by copyright, and thus you reserve all rights to it. (That's why it's really not necessary anymore to write “All rights reserved,” at least most of the time.)

But you also share or forfeit some of your rights when you consent to using some tools or publishing through some platforms. For example, most places have clauses in their terms of service that allow them to use the content you provide (in whatever form it is) in their own marketing materials. This could be as simple as your podcast cover art visible with 999 others on a grid image for an app's homepage. Or it could mean you granted the platform a license to clip your content in an advertisement for their platform.

While most of these terms of service have been safe (despite some fear-mongering), some places are starting to update their terms of service—requiring your consent—and giving themselves a license to use your content to train their AI tools. Even if your content has a registered copyright, you are still granting other places licenses to use your copyrighted content.

However, it's being uncovered that many LLMs were trained on copyrighted material without any license from the copyright holders.

And if you use an LLM to generate new content from nothing, you might potentially be infringing on someone else's intellectual property rights. And you would be held liable for that. Just like if you hire a cheap “designer” to make your podcast cover art and they steal images from a Google image search, you would be liable for that theft.

Some might argue that this isn't very different from going out, reading all the content yourself, and writing your own conglomeration of your newfound knowledge. But even then, you can be guilty of plagiarism by putting forth something as your idea, when it was actually someone else's.

And the more niche the subject, the less information there was to train the AI, and thus the higher chance of it outright copying other information, or making up something factually incorrect (see #2).

This is probably never a problem when you're using AI on your already-created content.

8. AI might already be “stealing” your intellectual property

I've had my own original content and images plagiarized or directly stolen before. But AI is only making it easier for that to happen and harder for me to catch it.

For example, I often talk about my Podcasting P.R.O.F.I.T. Paradigm: popularity, relationships, opportunities, fun, income, or tangibles (and why you should put podcasting PROFIT first). If someone used an AI to talk about podcasting profit and replaced only one of those words, it's still theft, but it wouldn't be as easy to spot.

And because LLMs have been trained on a large percentage of the Internet, it's very possible your own content has already been scraped and used in the training. But you might never know.

Many places are proposing legislation that would require AI companies to disclose their sources, allow people to have their content removed or exempted, or only use properly licensed content for training the AI models. (This is why some AI companies have taken an interest in purchasing publishing companies that own the rights to large amounts of content.) And I think you should have this protection over your content even without having to do the technical processes of blocking all the AI user agents from scraping your website (or transcribing your audio or video content).

And all it takes for social-media sites to do the same is a simple and non-obvious change to their terms of service, which most of us click “I have read and agree” without actually reading what we're agreeing to. For example, Reddit, Zoom, and X-Twitter have used (or continue to use) content on their platforms to train their own AI models—and we've probably given them the rights to do so.

Also watch out for terms of service that allow the AI to train itself from whatever you input into the AI. That's the case for ChatGPT, but supposedly not for any use of OpenAI's GPT models (what powers ChatGPT) through an API (such as what Magai uses).

9. Claiming “fair use” might require a higher standard

I think anyone using AI might face a more difficult time trying to use “fair use” as a legal defense, especially if they haven't properly disclosed their use of AI, like I talked about in warning #1.

One of my favorite things to test on an image-generating AI is giving it the prompt, “Harrison Ford as a pirate.” That's simple innocent fun that I will probably never publish for the public.

But imagine if I used AI to make a realistic photo of Harrison Ford using or endorsing my products. Or maybe using a voice or video AI to make Harrison Ford say something he didn't say.

Indeed, I've seen some intentionally hilarious results with AI. And those kinds of things are often allowed when they don't cause harm and are obviously parodies (this is not legal advice; it's only an observation).

But AI lets things easily get far more complicated. Copying or making a derivative have some clear limitations. But generating something that seems real and uses someone else's likeness or intellectual property might be in a whole different category.

Thus, while I cannot give you legal advice as to what you're allowed to do, I can urge you to not do anything that might get you in trouble! So maybe pretend there isn't even such a thing as “fair use” when it comes to how you use AI to create stuff for you.

10. Affiliate-marketing with AI might get you in trouble

AIs, LLMs, or whatever you want to call them are very good at creating a lot of content very quickly. And that is very alluring to people who want content only for the purpose of promoting their affiliate links. I even saw that years ago when I was among the early users of what's now called Jasper. I would see people frequently ask about what kinds of inputs could be used to get an AI to write a full “review” of an affiliate product.

But remember that thing about how large language models are good at writing sentences? They're not actually good at testing products, sharing experiences, and offering opinions. Thus, using AI to write a “review” could lead to misleading information.

For probably this reason and more, some places will probably start to forbid using AI to create content for promoting their products through affiliate links.

For example—and I haven't heard anyone talking about this!—the Amazon Associates Operating Agreement was updated on March 1, 2024, with the following addition:

Revised the language in Section 5 of the Participation Requirements to clarify that Program Content and Special Links should not be used in connection with generative AI.

“Associates Operating Agreement – What’s Changed,” March 1, 2024, accessed April 14, 2024.

That initially seems like it's forbidding the use of generative AI to promote your Amazon affiliate links. However, the actual points in the operating agreement seem to restrict using AI on the Amazon site content, and especially for training the AI.

2.(e) You will not, without our express prior written approval, access or use PA API or Data Feeds for the purpose of aggregating, analyzing, extracting, or repurposing any Product Advertising Content or in connection with any software or other application intended for use by persons or entities that offer products on an Amazon Site, or in the direct training or fine-tuning of a machine learning model.

…

5. Distribution of Special Links Through Software and Devices

You will not use any Program Content or Special Link, or otherwise link to an Amazon Site, on or in connection with: (a) any client-side software application (e.g., a browser plug-in, helper object, toolbar, extension, component, or any other application executable or installable by an end user) on any device, including computers, mobile phones, tablets, or other handheld devices (other than Approved Mobile Applications); or (b) any television set-top box (e.g., digital video recorders, cable or satellite boxes, streaming video players, blu-ray players, or dvd players) or Internet-enabled television (e.g., GoogleTV, Sony Bravia, Panasonic Viera Cast, or Vizio Internet Apps). You will not, without or [sic?] express prior written approval, use, or allow any third party to use, any Special Links or Program Content to develop machine learning models or related technology.

“Associates Program Policies,” accessed April 14, 2024. Emphasis added.

That first part is clearly forbidding using the Amazon API with an AI model to programmatically create content for you. However, it seems to still allow you to use AI to create your content about the product itself, and even use your affiliate links in that content.

But I still think you shouldn't!

I, for one, would love to see a stop to all the AI-generated worthless “reviews” on YouTube and other places. For example, the following video or probably anything from “The Smart Kitchen” on YouTube:

As an owner of a couple of affiliate programs myself, I know that I would not want anyone promoting my products with AI generated content. In fact, I'm going to update my affiliate terms to explicitly forbid that! I want real people with real experiences promoting my products! (For a good example, Danny Brown did this very nicely when he authentically promoted my Podgagement service in his recent episode of One Minute Podcast Tips about two ways for podcasters to get feedback from their audiences.)

11. Relying on AI can cost your authority and influence

Lastly, but certainly not least, I urge you to consider the intangible cost of relying on any kind of AI as you podcast or create any other content.

I've said for many years that what I love about podcasting is that it allows you to communicate with your own voice, so people can hear your authentic emotions and they can hear how well you communicate your thoughts, even if you do some editing.

Imagine if you used AI to create and communicate all “your” content, and then you're put on a stage in front of a live audience and you have done no preparation. Aside from any stage-fright, could you actually communicate your message authentically, understandably, and memorably?

Several years ago, I was invited to speak in person about podcasting to a Cincinnati business group. And for the first time ever in my life, I completely forgot about it! I remembered only because about about an hour before I was supposed to speak, the organizer sent me a kind message just to say how excited she was to have me and I think to give me a heads up about parking.

The event was about 45 minutes away, so I had only enough time to throw some stuff in my car, and think about my presentation on the way up.

Now imagine if AI was my crutch and most of my content had been created, organized, or even optimized by AI.

Instead, I was able to speak for half an hour and confidently and thoroughly answer 15 minutes of questions, all with no notes except a 5-word outline in my head. And I think I nailed it!

I could do that because I know my stuff! And I don't share this to brag about me or try to make you think I'm amazing, but to point out what a catastrophe that could have been if I was merely a fraud using ChatGPT.

So don't let AI cost your authority and influence.

Certainly, artificial intelligence can be a really powerful tool to help you do many things or save lots of time, but don't trade your value for AI.

Supercharge your podcast engagement and grow your podcast!

Do you ever feel like your podcast is stuck? Like you're pouring your heart into your podcast but it seems like no one is listening?

Try Podgagement to help you supercharge your podcast endgagement!

Get speakable pages to simplify engaging with your audience, accept voicemail feedback (with automatic transcripts), see and share your ratings and reviews from nearly 200 places, follow your podcast rankings across nearly 34,000 global charts, discover networking opportunities, and more!

Ask your questions or share your feedback

• Comment on the show notes
• Leave a voicemail at (903) 231-2221
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• Subscribe on YouTube for Podcasting Videos by The Audacity to Podcast
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Disclosure

This post may contain links to products or services with which I have an affiliate relationship. I may receive compensation from your actions through such links. However, I don't let that corrupt my perspective and I don't recommend only affiliates.

Inside jokes can offer fun potential for your podcast, but also some potential costs. Here are some brief things for you to consider as you engage with your podcast audience.

Please share this episode from your podcast app or https://theaudacitytopodcast.com/insidejokes

Where inside jokes come from

What about the new listeners?

Turn inside jokes into swag

Community Corner

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Start and grow your own podcast for passion and PROFIT! Learn more and follow at https://theaudacitytopodcast.com/

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MAILING ADDRESS The Audacity to Podcast PO Box 739 Burlington, KY 41005

Monetization is not the only profit you can get from podcasting! And you shouldn't be the only one to profit, either! Nonetheless, here is why I think you should put P.R.O.F.I.T. first in every aspect of your podcast.

The order of podcasting cornerstones

Before we focus on podcasting P.R.O.F.I.T., I want to revisit how I've taught the 5 podcasting cornerstones for several years:

1. Content—What your podcast is about
2. Presentation—How you share your content
3. Production—The technical side to reduce distractions and increase understanding
4. Promotion—How you market and grow your podcast
5. P.R.O.F.I.T.—How you and your audience benefit from your podcast.

Despite the fact that these cornerstones have always had an alliteration problem with no suitable solution, I realized it had an even bigger problem while I was preparing to teach podcasting at the National Religious Broadcasters convention. The problem was the order: P.R.O.F.I.T. should not be last! It should actually be first!

But stick with me and don't click away because you think this doesn't apply to you! Before I can explain why P.R.O.F.I.T. should be first, I want you to understand what it is, and why I keep writing it like an over-obvious acronym (it's actually an acrostic).

The Podcast P.R.O.F.I.T. Paradigm™

Several years ago, I was inspired by a typo I let go to press in an advertisement for my now temporarily retired Podcaster's Society™. As a result of that typo, I wanted profit to stand for something! Not only in the metaphorical sense, but also literally as an acrostic.

Now, it's my Podcast P.R.O.F.I.T. Paradigm, which is a list of whys you can benefit from your podcast:

• Popularity—growing a following, being an influencer, becoming known
• Relationships—gaining friendships, building community, and finding your “tribe”
• Opportunities—opening doors for things like public speaking, travel, testing products before they're released, and such
• Fun—simply having a good time, with or without laughter
• Income—yes, earning money!
• Tangibles—getting things you get to use or keep, which is especially profitable when they're relevant to your podcast topic!

While most people think “profit” means “money,” I challenge you to change your thinking and look at the much bigger ways you can profit from your podcast—especially if you don't even want to monetize your podcast.

The other paradigm shift is that your podcast should not only give you P.R.O.F.I.T., but also offer it to your audience! I'll explain that more in a moment.

P.R.O.F.I.T. is for all podcasters, not only professionals

Lest you think P.R.O.F.I.T. is only for people who podcast for business purposes or to try earning a living, money is only one part of the Podcast P.R.O.F.I.T. Paradigm: the I for income. The other ways could complement income, but there's nothing wrong with podcasting simply for the fun of it!

When I hosted a clean-comedy podcast, the P.R.O.F.I.T. we were after was primarily to laugh and help others laugh, too! Along the way, we also formed relationships, were given fun tangibles from our audience, and we even made a little money on the side.

And if you are podcasting to build a business, don't neglect the other aspects of P.R.O.F.I.T.! It's okay to have fun with professional subjects! And always look for ways to position yourself for opportunities and more!

Your podcast P.R.O.F.I.T. should power your decisions

Why should P.R.O.F.I.T. come first? Because it's actually more important than your content. Consider the cornerstones in this way:

• Content is what attracts an audience
• Presentation is what keeps the audience
• Production is what makes your podcast stick
• Promotion is what brings an audience to you
• P.R.O.F.I.T. is the impact your podcast makes

Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action. And “why” is another way to think of P.R.O.F.I.T. with these two questions:

• Why are you doing this podcast?
• Why should anyone listen or watch?

When you start with P.R.O.F.I.T. in mind, then you can pick the right content to share. And the other cornerstones build from there. After you know your “why” and your content, then you can decide on the best way to present it. Then, the best way to produce that. Then you'll have things and methods to promote it.

But when you don't start with P.R.O.F.I.T., you won't know what content to share, and you won't know the best way to communicate it, and you certainly won't know how to produce it, and—frankly—you wouldn't offer much value worth promoting.

Here's a series of questions that follows the Podcast P.R.O.F.I.T. Paradigm to help you podcast the best way:

1. Why do you want to podcast? What value will your podcast give your audience?
2. What content best enables your P.R.O.F.I.T. goals?
3. What's the best way to present that content that moves you toward to your P.R.O.F.I.T. goals?
4. What's the best way to produce this that leads you and your audience in the right direction?
5. Whom should you promote your podcast to and what are the best ways to reach them?

Remember P.R.O.F.I.T. for your audience

I've heard some people say, “Podcast for yourself. If you're having fun, that's all that matters.” And I've also heard other people say, “You're podcasting for your audience, so focus on their needs first.”

While these might seem contrary, they're actually complementary and simply different sides of the same P.R.O.F.I.T. coin: both you and your audience need to get value from your podcast in order for your podcast, yourself, and your audience to improve and grow.

But the problem I see most often is that podcasters forget to focus on what value they offer their audience. Instead, they often fixate on the value they want from their audience, or on how they can essentially sell their audience to get value from someone else (like an advertiser).

As Jesus said, “Give and it will be given to you” (Luke 6:38).

Some podcasters also obsess over the production aspects of podcasting, without investing the same time and money into improving the more weight-bearing cornerstones.

It's fine if your podcast makes you popular, but how are you helping your audience to be popular, too?

It's great when you foster or form new relationships because of your podcast, but how are you helping your audience foster or form new relationships, too?

It's great when your podcast opens opportunities for you, but what opportunities do you help your audience find and pursue?

“It's fun to have fun,” as The Cat in the Hat said, but is your audience having fun, too?

Earning income is definitely rewarding! But how are you helping your audience earn more, spend less, save more, or be smarter with what they have?

And it can be exciting to get new tangibles, but what tangible benefits are you helping your audience gain, too?

Podcasting P.R.O.F.I.T. in one word: why?

“Start with Why” indeed!

Why are you podcasting?

Why should your audience keep consuming your episodes?

It's all in what P.R.O.F.I.T. (popularity, relationships, opportunities, fun, income, or tangibles) you pursue and offer!

Community corner:

I just made things easier for me and you with Podgagement! Now, we can easily copy all the text of a review with only two clicks! And you can copy it in plain text, markdown, HTML, or an iframe embed!

• 5-star review “Why and How Your Podcast Needs Loudness Normalization” by Marshy76 from November 23, 2022 on Apple Podcasts in the United States: “An excellent guide on the importance of Lufs with important links to related software in aiding one to create a well tuned podcast, which I incorporated into my latest “Mister Radio” podcast episode. Thanks for this excellent presentation! But, as I mentioned in my unedited review couldn't this also be done simply by listening and adjusting levels as one is recording, like I used to do when working the board in radio? Now I've got to check out my various DAWS to see if they have something to check my LUFS, besides the cans on my ears! And I did find a meter in Logic!” (I pasted that podcast review with only two clicks and a Cmd-V, thanks to Podgagement!)
• Thanks to Allen C. Paul, Jason Pickel, Rich Bennett, D.R., and Julio Fernandez for all the great ratings on Goodpods (all discovered for me by Podgagement!)
• Thanks for more streaming sats from Dave Jackson, Allen C. Paul, and Dwev! I believe that totals to 1,716§, which is currently worth about $1.15.

If The Audacity to Podcast gives value to you, I would be so grateful if you put that in a number to give back, either through a one-time gift or streaming sats back. You can do both with a modern podcast app like you can get from Podcasting2.org/apps!

Supercharge your podcast engagement and grow your podcast!

Do you ever feel like your podcast is stuck? Like you're pouring your heart into your podcast but it seems like no one is listening?

Try Podgagement to help you supercharge your podcast endgagement!

Get speakable pages to simplify engaging with your audience, accept voicemail feedback (with automatic transcripts), see and share your ratings and reviews from nearly 200 places, follow your podcast rankings across nearly 34,000 global charts, discover networking opportunities, and more!

Ask your questions or share your feedback

• Comment on the show notes
• Leave a voicemail at (903) 231-2221
• Email [email protected] (audio files welcome)

Follow The Audacity to Podcast

• Apple Podcasts, Spotify, other Android apps, or in your favorite podcast app.
• Subscribe on YouTube for Podcasting Videos by The Audacity to Podcast
• Follow @theDanielJLewis on X-Twitter

Disclosure

This post may contain links to products or services with which I have an affiliate relationship. I may receive compensation from your actions through such links. However, I don't let that corrupt my perspective and I don't recommend only affiliates.

Apple provides a portal for you to submit and manage your own podcast in Apple Podcasts. It's called Podcasts Connect. Plus, countless other podcast apps and podcasting tools rely on Apple's data through their free API. Whether your podcast has been in Apple Podcasts for years, or you're just starting out, I suggest you check these 8 things right away!

Please share this episode from your podcast app or https://theaudacitytopodcast.com/checkapple

1. Check that you have agreed to Apple's terms of service

• podcastsconnect.apple.com: https://podcastsconnect.apple.com/
• There might be additional new terms you must agree to, or you might need to provide legal or financial information: https://podcasters.apple.com/support/883-agreements

2. Check that your podcast is in your Apple Podcasts Connect account

• Contact Apple through this form: https://podcastsconnect.apple.com/contact-us?content_type=podcasts&topic=missing-podcast-s&locale=en
• This is crucial to do with all your podcasts, especially any duplicate podcast listings you might have: https://theaudacitytopodcast.com/how-to-fix-duplicate-listings-in-apple-podcasts-or-other-podcast-apps/

3. Check that your podcast information is correctly loaded in Apple Podcasts Connect

• Cast Feed Validator: https://www.castfeedvalidator.com/
• Podbase Podcast Validator: https://podba.se/validate/
• TrueFans Podcast Validator: https://validator.truefans.fm/

4. Check the optional Apple Podcasts information fields

5. Check your Apple Podcasts distribution availability (affects other apps)

6. Switch the transcript default to use your provided transcripts

• using Podcasting 2.0 transcripts: https://theaudacitytopodcast.com/how-to-use-podcast-transcripts/

7. Check your Apple Podcasts ratings and reviews

• There is also a “Ratings and Reviews” page that lets you see your Apple Podcasts (and only Apple Podcasts) ratings and reviews: https://podgagement.com/how-to-check-all-your-podcast-reviews-and-ratings-in-apple-podcasts/
• You should use Podgagement to engage your audience and grow your podcast: https://podgagement.com/
• See your ratings and reviews from Apple Podcasts: https://podgagement.com/how-to-check-all-your-podcast-reviews-and-ratings-in-apple-podcasts/

8. Check your Apple Podcasts analytics

———

Start and grow your own podcast for passion and PROFIT! Learn more and follow at https://theaudacitytopodcast.com/

Know, engage, and grow your audience with the power of podcast reviews! https://mypodcastreviews.com/

FEEDBACK Call (903) 231-2221 Email [email protected] Send a voice message from https://theaudacitytopodcast.com/

MAILING ADDRESS The Audacity to Podcast PO Box 739 Burlington, KY 41005