I look forward to writing this post each year, but I  have to admit some of the data results cannot be expressed properly on this blog. On one hand I want to applaud podcast host that get it, but for a great many others I wish I could simply scream and shake them by the shoulders and say wake the hell up.

The results make it apparent that the reason many of your shows are not growing, is because a percentage of have set yourselves up for failure. Many have failed to do the basics on their websites to make it easy for listeners to consume the content.

We examined Podcasters sites that received more than 10 nominations during the 2009 Podcast Awards Nomination Period. A total of 2381 sites were reviewed.

NOTE: The below information has nothing to do with how the podcast awards voting slate is derived. This is a seperate effort I undertake each year to get a sampling of what is happening in the podcasting space and on podcasters sites.

If you quote these numbers in your own blog post please provide a link back to the source data as I have went to considerable expense to provide these numbers free to the podcasting community. My personal company Podcast Connect paid for this.

Base Review consisted of 2381 Sites:

21% Had Invalid Podcast RSS Feeds.
59% Had Feeds with Errors but where Valid.
51% Had an RSS Icon on their default landing page that was a Blog Feed only.
21% Had an RSS Icon on their default landing page that was Podcast Ready.
23% Had a Podcast RSS Feeds Buried on a SubPage in their Website
44% Of Sites had a Podcast RSS feed we could subscribe to!
81% Had a Visible iTunes Subscription Icon on their default landing Page.
93% Had a Visible iTunes Subscription Icon someplace in their website.
6% Had a Visible Zune Marketplace Icon on their websites. (See Note Below)
43% Had a Visible e-mail contact address on their website.
14% Had a Newsletter sign-up page.
11% Had a call in number for listeners to comment on their shows.
88% of the sites had good unique website branding.
59% Had less than one paragraph of show notes for their past 5 podcast.
51% Had a physical download Link on their websites.
71% Were Creating Audio Only.
9% Were Creating Video Only.
20% Were Creating Audio and Video.
23% Number of Podcasters Blogging as well as Podcast content.
19% Where creating Audio, Video & Blog Posts
66% Of total Nominations were Shows creating Audio, Video and Blog Posts
3% of Sites where mobile phone ready (iPhone, Android, Palm Pre)
37% Did not have their show listed on Blubrry.com
51% Did not have their show listed on PodcastAlley.com
14% Did not have their show listed on Podcast.com
41% Had a Twitter Link on their website
53% Had a Facebook Link on their website

While I think the data points paint an obvious picture let me lay out a few of the obvious points.

Source RawVoice: Do podcasters realize the Zune has been responsible for 17% overall increase in unique podcast listeners over the past two years? I question why podcasters would ignore a huge segment of potential listeners by not carrying a Zune subscribe icon on their website.

There are 100′s of devices that cannot sync to iTunes, and by not having a Podcast RSS feed visible on the main page of their websites, that they are simply not reaching those listeners. This includes the millions of people who have smart phones.

Why do we continue to see such jacked up RSS feeds?

Five years into podcasting and podcasters still do not understand that RSS is the lifeblood of their podcasts. It blows me away that it is impossible to find Podcast RSS feeds on popular podcasters sites. I find it striking that I can find links to people’s Facebook pages, but have a hard time finding a link to subscribe to their shows.

Smartly some podcasters are learning that they cannot rely on Audio or Video alone that they have to a variety of media. Audio, Video, Blogging

Show Notes: Some Podcasters are finally waking up and finding out that Google can be their friend and that by writing comprehensive show notes results in more traffic to their websites.

I will let you do your own interpretation of Part 1 of my report, but I am convinced the success of my personal show is largely to do with content creators not doing the basics to be found, seen, heard and subscribed to.

Part 2 will be a comprehensive look at how podcast networks are playing a key role for podcasters.

I do want to extend a big thank you to the team in the Philippines that did this work.

Todd…

My team at RawVoice has been working really hard on a charity event and concert. Here is our final promotional video clip prior to the event. If your going to Podcamp NYC we hope you come out to the concert on Saturday night.

Click To Play

I am eagerly anticipating a April 1st start date for a number of new Podcast Advertising Campaigns. Currently we have open ended deals for any podcasters that want them and some special offers that we will be making available in a couple of weeks to a large number of the Podcasters on both PodcasterNews.com and Blubrry.com suffice to say anyone that wants to earn money on their shows can do so immediately.
We have a large number of vendors that we are in talks with at the same time so even though we have a 1200 plus podcasters that can sign up for ad deals we will likely have excess inventory. This is always a good position to be in. So if your show needs a sponsor you need to sign up today at Blubrry.com

Hitachi has agreed to sponsor the Geek News Central Podcast and the SlashdotReview Podcast at the 2007 Consumer Electronics show.

Host Andy McCaskey of Slashdot Review and Host Todd Cochrane of Geek News Central will be bringing technology buffs worldwide out takes from the 2007 event with short summary videocast produced daily sponsored by Hitachi.

Andy and Todd will be scouring the convention floor to find you innovative new products with on-site interviews, which will be released as special edition podcast each night of the show.

Andy and Todd coverage of the 2006 CES was unique in that they brought CES coverage to multiple hundreds of thousands of listeners world wide. Subscribers of both shows should look forward to not only Audio Podcast but comprehensive Video reports.

The goal this year is to not only cover the major events but to talk to small vendors who normally do not get much press coverage as we did last year. It should be an exciting event and we look forward to bringing you both video and audio podcasts.

Both the Geek News Central Podcast and SlashdotReview Podcasts are members of the Tech Podcast Network and combined postings of their shows will be found on various outlets with TechPodcasts.com having links to all produced media.

Geek News Central Podcast the show that brought GoDaddy.com into the Podcast Advertising space has agreed to renew the contract with the Geek News Central Podcast for another 6 months taking the site and show sponsorship out to a full two years.
The relationship is a strong one as the host of the Geek News Central podcast growing audience continues to utilize GoDaddy world class hosting services and register domains using one of the extraordinary discount codes like “Todd” which gives buyers a 10% overall discount on products and services.
Check out the Geek News Central Podcast and see why this long running sponsorship continues to foster a good ROI for GoDaddy

The Podcast Connect team will be honoring the 2006 People’s choice Podcast Award winners this coming Friday night starting at 5pm at the Ontario Airport Marriott in conjunction with Podcast Expo. We will be recording the event in High Def and will have DVD’s available shortly after the event along with a Video Podcast. See PodcastAwards.com for details

The Podcast from PRWEB is online this is a interview I did on the announcement of the award winners. [PRWEB Podcast Page] [Press Release that Accompanies the Podcast] [Download the Podcast Here]

Podcast Connect was one of the first podcast consulting companies, and we represent nearly 500 independent podcasters, and over 20 major corporations. We work with motivated individuals that go the extra mile to make sure their podcast are listened to and their sites seen.
We are the administrative arm of the Tech Podcast Network and the founder of Podcast Connect is the CEO of RawVoice Inc a seperate company that manages and runs sites like Blubrry.com, PodcasterNews.com, PodcastPromos.com.
We also are the creators and managers of the People’s Choice Podcast Awards
We are always looking for talent to represent and live by the motto, Podcasters do the Work, Podcaster Get Paid
Todd Cochrane
808-741-4923

Ok the list is up at PodcastAwards.com voting starts on Friday, congratulations to all that made the final cut! More tomorrow!