Encouraging people to be guests on your podcast

[gofthick]

So, how'd you do it? Seeing they have Skype.

[starcom]

Ask people, and they will come.

I have a page on my website that people invites people to apply to be "the guest".

Since August of 2005, all the guests have been from the audience.

Check out my website at http://www.youaretheguest.com/index.html to see how I do it.

Good luck!

bg

[kinkysex]

most of my guests volunteer. However, I have approached a people from time to time. I explain what my show is and ask them nicely. :lol:

[EclecticMix]

I think that a lot has to do with the size of your audience and what you expect of your guest.

When I started One Minute How-To I did a LOT of work trying to find guests for my show. I had to cut back on its frequency, from three times a week to two, because of this difficulty.

I had two things going against me. The first was that I had no audience. If I had a popular podcast then everyone would want to be on it, but that was not the case, so I was hoping to take someone's time without guarantee that they would be heard by a lot of people.

The other thing going against me was that I require that the guest do some up-front work. Everyone can explain how to do something, but it takes a bit of work to figure out how to do it within 60 seconds - about 10 sentences. So in addition to taking up their time, they also had a challenge ahead of them.

Since I always allow the guest time to talk about their podcast, website, or whatever else they wish, I hoped that since podcasters are always trying to get heard so that they can extend their audience, I would be able to get podcasters as guests. I sent a message to Yahoo Groups, which yielded one response. I sent a message here, which got no responses. I sent a message to Podcast Pickle, which only got one response.

Of course, I don't give up so easily, so I worked hard to find people I could convince to come on the show.

Then I got lucky. I survived the nomination process at the Podcast Peer Awards and ended up as a finalist in the Best Short Podcast category. I used that gravitas to go back to people and asked again. This time I got a much better response. Since winning the award, people at least know that I am serious with the show and are more willing to seriously consider being on the show.

After 67 shows I still do not have a good grasp as to the size of my audience, as the stats I have received have always been suspect, to say the least. I am leaving that network and heading off on my own, so soon I will have a better idea what to say when asked about this.

Bottom line is that the first several dozen shows are going to be difficult. However, it is your task to do all of the hard work and expect it to remain hard for a long time. If you are willing to commit to that then you could well have a successful show.

What is your show about? Can anyone be a guest, or does it require certain knowledge? Are you willing to accommodate someone else's hours (you may be in the U.S. and they may be in Australia)?

You will need to do a lot of asking, and be ready to have a quick explanation as to what the show is about, and what the guest is expected to do (I recommend it taking no longer than 60 seconds <g>). If you are accommodating then you could have your best success.

Cheers -

george

P.S. I have yet to turn down being a guest on anyone's show.. <g>