I’m often asked about the tools and software* that I use to power Digital Marketing Radio – so here’s an over view of the 5 key tools and services that I use to power this actual show…

1) Website hosting – Traffic Planet Hosting

As far as I’m concerned, every online brand needs their own website. Even if your primary activity is focused on running an app, having a YouTube channel or even on a Facebook page, if you have your own website then this makes you more credible, authoritative and it reduces your reliance on third parties.

Traffic Planet Hosting
Traffic Planet Hosting

Of course it’s possible to use a shared hosting provider like HostGator for less than $5 a month. I’ve often used HostGator in the past, and they’re very good for a cheap shared host. But if you’re serious about your business website reliability and performance, you use WordPress and you value outstanding support, look no further than Traffic Planet Hosting.

2) Website coding framework – Genesis from StudioPress

WordPress has been around for a long time now. It started off as simple blogging software, but over the past few years it’s morphed into the most popular website content management system in the world.

One of the reasons why WordPress is so popular is that it can quickly and easily enable the design and publishing of very different looking websites thanks to the Themes and Plugins that you can add. (Essentially WordPress is the core code, themes are site templates and plugins are small software programs that add additional, bespoke functionality.)

Genesis from StudioPress
Genesis from StudioPress

After you have decided to use WordPress, and you’ve selected your new host, your most important next step in my opinion is to select Genesis as your Theme Framework. A Theme Framework isn’t just a design – it makes WordPress a better CMS for business. It will also help your site load quickly, perform reliably and ensure that good SEO is ‘baked in’ from the beginning.

3) WordPress child theme – SoundCast from Appendipity Themes

One of the great things about Genesis is that you can quickly and easily change its look and feel while retaining its core code efficiency. To accomplish this, Genesis supports child themes like SoundCast from Appendipity Themes.

Appendipity Themes
Appendipity Themes

Appendipity Themes specialise in designing Genesis child themes for podcasters – in fact, they’re great themes for anyone who plans to produce and publish their own audio show.

4) A quality, dynamic microphone – I use an Elecro-Voice RE20

When I published my first podcast back in 2006, I just used a simple headset microphone. Podcasting was in its infancy, and it was just a thrill to publish and listen to user-generated audio on the web.

Fast forward a few years and there are many more online audio publishers – and even more podcast listeners. That means that listeners are more discerning now – and that means that audio quality is paramount now.

Elecro-Voice RE20 microphone
Elecro-Voice RE20 microphone

Although condenser microphones offer warm, rich quality, they also tend to suck in a lot of background noise. Unless you’re recording is an optimal studio environment (with no background noise) then you’re much better off going with a decent dynamic microphone – my choice is the Electro-Voice RE20.

If you’re budget can’t quite stretch to an RE20, an Audio-Technica ATR2100 is a fabulous budget alternative.

5) A quality, external audio recorder – I use the Zoom H5 Digital Audio Recorder

There are 2 significant issues that I’ve found with recording directly into a computer – firstly, because you’re likely to have lots of programs running at the same time, this can make your recording software a little unreliable. There could be a possibility that your computer recording software could crash, and you could lose an important recording.

Secondly, as well as being less reliable, recording your audio on your own computer could produce inferior quality audio. The running of another program could cause a small hissing noise in the back of a recording.

Zoom H5 Digital Audio Recorder
Zoom H5 Digital Audio Recorder

Every since I started Digital Marketing Radio I’ve been using an external digital audio recorder – namely the Zoom H5. It’s a fantastic piece of kit. If the reliability of your recording is essential and the quality of your audio is also very important, then I highly recommend getting an  external digital audio recorder like the Zoom H5.

Obviously there are MANY more tools and services that I use on a regular basis when I record and publish on Digital Marketing Radio, but I hope that this answers some of your queries and gives you a little direction if you wish to start your own show!

* Note, when I recommend tools and software, I sometimes use affiliate links. This means that if you choose to purchase a product as a result of clicking through from one of my links, I may make a commission from the sale. However, it is always my desire to only recommend products and services that I wholeheartedly believe in. If you find the content on Digital Marketing Radio to be useful, please try to make the purchase through one of my affiliate links 🙂

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