I hope current group members will join us on the new “Fan Page”.  If you’re not a group member, please join us on the new page anyhow!

Here’s a link to the Fan Page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Startup-BizCast-Small-Business-Advice/91944824814

This issue is fixed … no thanks to Feedburner.   I suspect the problem was caused when they migrated my feed from the Feedburner servers to their new home on the Google servers.  Something kicked in, and I had to find the setting to change.  Mind you, I had changed nothing about this feed before or after the migration … other than the migration itself.  Grrrrr.

The good news, now that my pseudo-mea culpa is out of the way, is that we have a new episode coming tomorrow!  Check here, on the RSS feed, or on iTunes tomorrow morning to learn about using Twitter for Small Business!

My apologies!

Thanks for listening!

I’ll be producing a new episode today.  The topic: Suggested New Year’s Small Business Resolutions.  Startup BizCast #77 will be published tomorrow!

If you’re not a Facebook member, check it out.  It’s a lot of fun, and can be a great networking tool.  If you ARE a Facebook member, click the banner above to join the group!

Here is the new Startup BizCast voicemail hotline number:  206-350-7905

If you’ve tried to call recently but weren’t able to get through, PLEASE try again!

If you’re a Facebook member, all you have to do is click the banner above or this link, and then join up to the group.  If you’re not a Facebook member, join up!  It’s fun, and a great way to network!

Just a quick note to let you know there will be no new episode of Startup BizCast released this week, as I’m on vacation!  I’ll be back next week with a brand new show, which is already in the works.

In the meantime, if you haven’t heard every episode of Startup BizCast, check out some of the older shows … they’ll be new to you!

-Steve

There will be no new episode of Startup BizCast this week.  Between summer guest scheduling issues, my busy work and family schedule, and a variety of other things, I made the executive decision to not produce a show this week.  I expect to be back next week with a new show, complete with BizCast Brief and listener feedback.  Stay subscribed so you don’t miss it!  In the meantime, if you haven’t heard any of the 57 episodes I’ve published, go back and listen … they’ll be new to you!

Steve

To help out, either email me via the contact form, comment in this blog post, or use the “Submit Your Advice” form. You can also leave an audio comment (which I will use on the show) by calling (206) 339-4366.  I’ll produce the show once I have enough advice to fill an episode!

Thanks in advance!

So, what did you think?

You’ll find the banner to the left on the front page (and I think just about every page) of SBTV.com. When you click on it, it leads to a page that features every episode of Startup BizCast! Pretty cool to have access to all of the SBTV visitors. Be sure to head on over there and check out their content. They have a wealth of small business news and other information.

Click here to listen to my interview with SBTV co-founder and CEO Susan Wilson Solovic in SB #31.

Do you have a favorite episode of Startup BizCast? If so, let me know and I’ll include a clip from that show! Let me know via comments in this post, or by sending me an email.

A note for those of you who have actually been interviewed on Startup BizCast — please don’t recommend your own show

It would really help me out, and the more the word gets out about this show, the more people will benefit from the great advice my guests provide each week!

The latest episode of Startup BizCast, show 47, was recorded with a new microphone. I’ve been meaning for a while to swap out the mic I had, an AKG, because it seemed to have a bit too much high end. I’ve never been able to properly lower that high end without making the sound too “muddy”. My new microphone, an MXL 990, seems to be a big improvement the first time out. It sounds great and, much less importantly, it looks pretty cool! I can definitely tell the difference in the sound of the show, but I’m hyper-critical about these things.  I’ll probably continue to tweak the low end slightly, but I’m pretty happy with the purchase.

Let me know what you think!

Fire away!

You can listen to the show here.

So, I created a new number. The Startup BizCast Feedback Hotline Number is now (206) 339-4366. This is also the number that will be used for the Startup BizCast Small Business Week Contest, so I’m glad I checked it!

Microsoft officially 425 years behind the times
Channel Register (UK)

Small Business Owners Select Barack Obama as Top Candidate, But GOP as Best Party
Yahoo Finance (via Business Wire)

Small Business Week Information
SBA.gov

Democrat calls for Blackwater probe, alleges tax fraud
Boston Globe

The Top Ten Regs Small Businesses Love to Hate
AllBusiness

Yes. I’m now Twittering.

I set up my account today and plan to use Twitter to send out brief updates on what’s going on with the show. I’ll Twitter about things like interviews scheduled, minor changes to the production schedule or the show format, and things like that. I may also slip in an occasional announcement about EndGame Public Relations. You can access my Twitters by subscribing to my Twitter feed, visiting my Twitter page, or going to the Twitter page I created here on the Startup BizCast blog.

Feel free to add me as a Twitter friend. I haven’t yet figured out how to invite you to do that, so if someone can help me out … I’d appreciate it!

If you’re a listener and/or fan of Startup BizCast, why not show it? There are a number of different places online where your input would help Startup BizCast’s visibility, thus helping more people find the show. Here are just a few ways you can help:

1) Leave a review on iTunes! Click here to access Startup BizCast’s iTunes Store.

2) Digg me!  Click here to Digg Startup BizCast and individual episodes of the show.

3) Click here to vote for the show on Podcast Alley.

4) Subscribe! If you haven’t subscribed via RSS, iTunes, or any of the podcast directories in which Startup BizCast is listed, please do so. This is a benefit for you, since you’ll receive the latest episode delivered to you as SOON as it’s available!

I noticed that only the most recent 10 episodes were showing up in the feed, and thus on iTunes and in podcast directories. I fixed that so that henceforth all episodes will show up on the RSS feed. Podcast directories like Podcast Alley, Blubrry, and Podcast Pickle should update eventually have updated to reflect the change.  However, if you’re subscribed through iTunes and would like easy access to some of the early episodes of Startup BizCast, you’ll need to delete your subscription and then re-subscribe. If you’re happy just getting all of the newest shows every week, you don’t need to do a thing!

Oh, and if you enjoy this program and have a moment while you’re logged into iTunes, please leave a comment!

Thanks for listening!

Week of December 16:
Episode 28 will publish on Wednesday, December 19

Week of December 23:
NO new episode due to Christmas holiday

Week of December 30:
Episode 29 will publish on Wednesday, January 2, but it will be an abbreviated episode

Happy Holidays from Startup BizCast, and may 2008 be a successful one for your business!

Startup BizCast is a free podcast, of course. And, while I did briefly have a sponsor, I’m largely unpaid. I’m not complaining about that fact … believe me. I enjoy producing this podcast and it’s good for my business. But, if you’re a listener of the show and you enjoy it, you might be wondering how you can help me. Even if you’re not wondering that, I have some suggestions, and all but the last one are free!

1) Digg the podcast and the individual episodes. The more times this show is voted for on Digg, the higher it will rank in search results!

2) Link to the Startup BizCast blog. The more links point to this site, the higher it will rank in the search engines, and the more people will be able to find it!

3) Submit feedback, either via voicemail, email, or blog post. Keep me busy!

4) Suggest new topics that you think I should cover. I certainly don’t have the market cornered on good ideas, and I’d love to hear yours.

4) Hire EndGame PR Podcast Production to create a custom podcast for your business! This one might only appeal to a few of you, but if you’ve been thinking that podcasting might help your business, please contact me!

Apologies for the self-indulgent post. Here’s a preview of the next episode, by the way: I plan to provide tips on advice on whether you should form an LLC for your business and, if so, how to do it! Barring any interview scheduling difficulties, the episode should publish on Wednesday, December 12.

Thanks!

-Steve

Over 20 different Podcast shows. Great sound, music and production values. The shows are quick to the point, 15 minutes or less in legth.

Each show has a focus topic but all shows also have a small business news segment to keep listeners up to date on the latest news. Here is a sampling of show topics:

- Alternative Advertising
- Voice over IP for your Small Business
- Your Small Business Elevator Speech
- Small Business Logos

Nice website, all of the latest bookmark and subscribe options, between Podcasts they post a good recommended reading list. Decent show notes and an easy to get to episode list is available as well.

The only criticism that reviewer Steve Rucinski brought up was this blog being a bit too busy on the right sidebar. He may have a point, and I’ll look into simplifying it!

Read the entire review here!

Subscribe to Startup BizCast on Zune

I’ll get that over in the sidebar as soon as I find an icon for it.  I put a one-click subscribe icon in the sidebar to the right as well.

A new listener send me a voice mail that mentioned a problem with episodes 19 and 18 having the same interview but different introductions. I checked the RSS feed and the files, and everything was intact and not corrupted. This apparently was a Podcast Alley problem. The Podcast Alley people tell me they were under attack by some bots, and that attack was causing some trouble with their indexing of podcasts. They partially shut down the site for a while yesterday afternoon, and appear to be back up and running full speed.

A big thanks to Will from Washington D.C. for alerting me to the problem! I’ll be using a portion of his voice mail in my next episode.

-Steve

I’ve known about this issue for a while, but didn’t realize it was causing a problem.   A big thanks to Scott from northern Wisconsin for pointing it out.

Is anyone else having this problem?  If you are, let me know.  I’m trying to get to Podtrac, which is historically not terribly responsive, to try to find a solution.

Something new is coming in this episode, by the way. Starting in episode 15, when time allows, I’ll be doing what I call BizCast Brief. It’s a quick newscast-style rundown of interesting small business news that’s come out in the previous week. I thought it would be a great companion to the Recommended Reading post I do once per week. While I’m on the subject, Recommended Reading, which is posted generally on Mondays or Tuesdays, will move to Wednesdays or Thursdays … since I want to make sure I have links in it that point to the stories I discuss in BizCast Brief. Confusing? Hopefully not!

• Is there some small business problem with which you’ve been wrestling?
• Is there an issue you’re curious about?
• Do you have an idea for an interviewee?
• Are you an expert in a subject that you think small business owners should learn about?

If the answer is “yes” to any or all of the above questions — please contact me! The best way is via voicemail, so I can use your comments in the show. The number to call is 206-984-0860. If you’d rather, you can use the contact form on the Startup BizCast blog to send me an email (http://www.startupbizcast.com/contact-startup-bizcast) or send it direct to info@startupbizcast.com. Finally, you can call me, Steve Mullen … your host … at 804-382-0017.

Thanks for your input and your help making Startup BizCast a better podcast!

Thanks to the folks at Butler, Shine, Stern & Partners, which runs the Emerge site. I’m honored!

Old: Small business advice from small business owners and other experts

New: The small business advice podcast that’s shorter than your coffee break!

You’ll hear the new tagline starting with Startup BizCast #9.

The change reflects my dedication to keeping this podcast from becoming too long. I understand that small business owners are busy, and don’t have time for a 30 or 60 minute show, particularly those who work from home and don’t have a commute during which to listen. I think 15 minutes is the “sweet spot”. Let me know what you think of the change!

Here’s a link to my episode: How To Choose A Name For Your New Business.

A side note — One Minute How-To was just selected as a finalist for the 2007 Podcast Peer Awards in the “Best Short Podcast” category. Congratulations, George! Visit the PPA site to see the full list of finalists. If you are a podcaster, you can participate in the voting of your favorite podcasts in each category of finalists.

Podtrac: I had severe trouble setting up this service. It turns out if you have podpress stats turned on, Podtrac won’t work. After a week and a half trying to get Podtrac to help me figure out what was wrong, it was finally up and running. I like Podtrac’s system well enough, but I’ve noticed two different times since I started with them that they’ve just “taken the day off”. One of the days was this week, on Thursday the 29th. No stats were recorded or reported for any of the episodes on that day. I find it rather hard to believe there wasn’t at least one download of my five episodes plus promos. I also don’t like that Podtrac’s stats are only updated once per day. I’m a stats junkie, so I like logging in and seeing updated numbers. I also don’t much like the color scheme on their measurement page — blue on blue just doesn’t work for me. I do like their tools, though. The podcast player is a good one I think, and their listener survey feature would be nice if I could get anyone to fill it out for me.

Ripple: Ripple was easy to set up and the stats appear to be accurate. You can review your stats via RSS feed, which is a cool feature. The problem I have with them is that, unless I’ve missed it, they don’t have a page where you can compare your downloads by episode by day. That seems to be something huge they’ve left out. One huge advantage they have is that they report nearly real-time stats, updated once an hour throughout the day.

Feedburner: Feedburner’s stats were only really designed to pick up feed downloads, and they seem to do that very well. If you put separate download links in your blog post, you can use the Feedburner enclosure link, which allows them to pick up the stats. But, to do that you have to post the podcast enclosure on your feed, then go get the Feedburner enclosure link, then post it on your blog. That’s really a pain in the rump, if you ask me. Feedburner updates stats throughout the day, but there’s a 24-hour lag on reporting.

Unfortunately, none of these services do everything I want and do it well. I’d really rather use ONE stats service, but it appears that I’ll continue to use a combination of all three. Again, if you know of a service that updates frequently, catches everything, and has a good measurement report setup … I’d love to hear about it!

I explained in one minute (it actually only took me 54 seconds) how to choose a name for your new business. It was a lot of fun!

Look for my episode to run sometime next month. I’ll update you when it’s live!