Stick with me through this article and I hope you will gain some new perspective on the Geek here at Geek News Central
I have looked at the number of people downloading my show and had speculated that if each one of them donated a dollar a month I could quit my day job, and be on this thing full time. Doesn’t seem like a lot but according to our survey a number of you listen to a half dozen podcast every week so asking someone to fork out 20 bucks a month to their favorite podcasters is easier said then done.
Advertising here on the site is paying some hosting bills and may get us into a position to move to a real dedicated server but it’s not their yet but hey some people have boats I have a weblog and a podcast.
But I have been seriously thinking on how I am going to reach my goal of being able to Blog/Podcast full time 27 months from now. In todays dollars to replace my current income that will be tough.
But Doc Searls has a great idea that if the podcatcher designers get on board, their could be a way for those of you downloading the show to easily throw a few bucks at your favorite podcaster through your podcatcher client. Personally I would pay a dollar or two to the top 25 shows I like to listen to each month, because I realize that creating a great shows takes a lot of work.
Occasionally someone will surprise me and slip me a 10 spot on the paypal account, which I usually dump back into the site for something cool. I really appreciate those that do that it means that they found something on the site that was worthwhile and hopefully saved them a few dollars or headaches in return.
I get comments all the time from people blasting me when I don’t post on the weblog for a few days. I pull the plug from time to time for a few days to re-charge after three years of almost continuous posting you have to step away once in a while as life just gets in the way.
Obviously their are a few podcasters that are going to do very well and some that are going to have to work hard to breakout, but whats cool is like weblog posting the only limitation we all have is how creative we can get and how well we can connect with our listeners.
I had to laugh the other day because as I was negotiating a advertising deal and the person said in a e-mail to me “your not a Dawn and Drew and your not Adam Curry” well duh no kidding I am not them nor are they like me, we are all different and even as much as I appreciate what Dave, Adam, Dawn, Drew, Michael and the rest of them have done for podcasting, I’m Todd the Geek from Geek News Central.
I developed the Geek News Central Podcast for me to talk to the readers of this website and those that find our cast and in turn maybe get turned on to what is published on the site. I term the podcast tech for the common man. The e-mail I get every day is from hard working people like me that love tech but are struggling to keep up with all the changes in the world.
Getting back to the advertising negotiations, It did not mater to this person that we had compiled verifiable listenership, have a very good handle on demographics, have rock solid statistics that we can prove and backup. I laid this out in a systematic easy to read format in our soon to be publicly released media kit and I was basically insulted and told that I wasn’t famous enough to be asking the advert rates that we proposed.
I am not out to get rich and I am not out to try to ask for a rate that is not going to return investment to the advertiser, but I am also not a fool and not going to be taken advantage of. But it did not mater that we could guarantee a unique listenership of about 8000 people each podcast. I explained to the party that we want to make sure the listener gets something out of the ad, like a discount or for me to have some giveaways this just did not register at all. The product was good and a few giveaways would have brought a significant amount of side publicity.
But to say I am not famous enough was funny, it actually made me laugh am I famous? People like Bill Gates and Steve Jobs are famous. I am but a dad with a wonderful wife and 4 kids, a home, a dog, and car payments. I have been fortunate to be able to work with some amazing technology over the past 20 years much of which I will never be able to talk about (NDA). At home I’m your typical geek that has 20 projects going at once and loves to dig up information on the net that I think is cool or worth writing about thats it.
My kids think I am a rock star and they tell all the kids at school that my dad is a podcaster and guess what, thats all that really matters in the long run.
Meanwhile we are going to keep on having fun podcasting and posting to this weblog. I’ll figure something in the remaining 27 months, if the weblog and podcast gig doesn’t replace the paycheck I am just going to find a new job and keep on doing what I’m doing now, and that is having fun! [Doc Searls]