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Free Talk Live => General => Topic started by: AL the Inconspicuous on December 15, 2009, 04:19:13 AM

Title: Let's beat TheYoungTurks.com
Post by: AL the Inconspicuous on December 15, 2009, 04:19:13 AM

As y'all know, FTL's four-year PodcastAwards.com (http://podcastawards.com/) Best Political Podcast winning streak was interrupted this year by a very close loss to a podcast from TheYoungTurks.com (http://www.TheYoungTurks.com/).  While you wouldn't find that show in the Talkers Magazine "Heavy 100 (http://bbs.freetalklive.com/index.php?topic=27537.0)", you will find them alongside FTL in "Frontier Fifty (http://talkers.com/online/?p=542)", and their competition on the Internet still needs to be taken very seriously.  While we won't get a chance to correct that travesty for another 49 weeks, the purpose of this thread is to suggest other ideas through which we can squeeze an inch over them commie turks in the meantime.

• Their Alexa.com's rankings (http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/theyoungturks.com) are a bit better than FTL's (http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/freetalklive.com) - they're ranked the #35,242 most popular site in U.S., while we're #50,402.  A more actionable statistic is that they have 582 major sites linking in, while FTL has 326.  Let's try to beat them in this benchmark ASAP - try to use every opportunity to add a link to FTL's site / forum from your sites, as well as your posts / signatures on other forums and blogs.  Another way we could make FTL's site more linkable is by improving its wiki (http://wiki.freetalklive.com/), so where I normally hyperlink to Wikipedia for definitions of various concepts I could use FTL's wiki instead.  Having more sites linking in would also improve FTL's Google rankings, thus driving ever more traffic to this site.

• I've only spent a couple of seconds looking at their show, but it seems like they have a very nice and presentable set which they use to produce high-quality daily video content in addition to audio, which attracts a whole new audience because they are better able to leverage video sharing sites like YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/TheYoungTurks).  I don't expect the whole show to move to a well-lit set where FTL hosts sit like television anchors with high-def screens behind them any time soon, but perhaps a few intermediate steps in that direction can be taken in the meantime.  FTL's YouTube content is minuscule in comparison, with the official channel (http://www.youtube.com/user/FreeTalkLive) not having been updated in years!  If we want to compete with the turks its is absolutely essential for FTL's hosts and some of its video-savvy fans (not me) to produce at least a few minutes of video content on a regular basis, distribute it on a YouTube channel, and promote it as official (ex. video.freetalklive.com).  That channel can then also leverage the best of the videos being produced by other FSP-related efforts.

• It's very important that FTL continues to win monthly contests with Podcast Alley, for which I have this new idea: cross-promoting that vote with another monthly promotion!  FTL would advertise something like monthly.freetalklive.com, which takes a user to a split-screen with two frames.  One frame is the Podcast Alley "enter your e-mail" screen, same as the current "vote" sub-domain name (http://vote.freetalklive.com/), and the other frame is another form where the user actually has a chance to win something, like a monthly give-away from one of FTL's sponsors.  If that's successful (and permitted by the rules of all parties involved), FTL can then consider adding a "weekly" or even a "daily" sub-domain with similar split-screens between incentives and voting competitions with some of Podcast Alley's competitors.  And, finally, one of FTL's sponsors might agree to do a big "yearly" give-away to coincide with next year's Podcast Awards!

Please post feedback and other ideas, and let's go get 'em!    :D

Title: Re: Let's beat TheYoungTurks.com
Post by: TimeLady Victorious on December 15, 2009, 04:51:05 PM

I liked Young Turks back when my only real entertainment was listening to terrestrial talk radio w/o the Internet.

I command my minions to destroy them.

Title: Re: Let's beat TheYoungTurks.com
Post by: anarchir on December 15, 2009, 05:27:04 PM

Oh yeah I just watched a bit on youtube, and I've seen them before. They are way more positive than FTL.

Title: Re: Let's beat TheYoungTurks.com
Post by: anarchir on December 15, 2009, 05:29:01 PM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BsDB9h9-1ss
[youtube=425,350]BsDB9h9-1ss[/youtube]
Stupid youtube embed not working.

Announcing their win.

Title: Re: Let's beat TheYoungTurks.com
Post by: BobRobertson on December 15, 2009, 05:55:10 PM

Quote from: anarchir on December 15, 2009, 05:29:01 PM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BsDB9h9-1ss

Blah.

Title: Re: Let's beat TheYoungTurks.com
Post by: anarchir on December 15, 2009, 11:12:37 PM

Quote from: BobRobertson on December 15, 2009, 05:55:10 PM

Quote from: anarchir on December 15, 2009, 05:29:01 PM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BsDB9h9-1ss

Blah.

Oh yeah, forgot to mention to stop watching after the "FTW" part. It gets slow and lame.

Title: Re: Let's beat TheYoungTurks.com
Post by: Skooma on December 16, 2009, 03:04:17 PM

Who the fuck are they? I've never heard of them.


My reaction (http://www.khaaan.com/)

Title: Re: Let's beat TheYoungTurks.com
Post by: Alex Libman on August 01, 2010, 01:16:17 AM

Quote from: AL the Inconspicuous on December 15, 2009, 04:19:13 AM

Their Alexa.com's rankings (http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/theyoungturks.com) are a bit better than FTL's (http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/freetalklive.com) - they're ranked the #35,242 most popular site in U.S., while we're #50,402.  A more actionable statistic is that they have 582 major sites linking in, while FTL has 326.

Let's try to beat them in this benchmark ASAP - try to use every opportunity to add a link to FTL's site / forum from your sites, as well as your posts / signatures on other forums and blogs.  Another way we could make FTL's site more linkable is by improving its wiki (http://wiki.freetalklive.com/), so where I normally hyperlink to Wikipedia for definitions of various concepts I could use FTL's wiki instead.  Having more sites linking in would also improve FTL's Google rankings, thus driving ever more traffic to this site.

Status update:

TheYoungTurks.com (http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/theyoungturks.com) -	77,174	total rank,	28,786	in US,	582	sites linking in.
FreeTalkLive.com (http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/freetalklive.com) -	155,106		48,569		326

That's messed up!  How could the "sites linking in" number not have changed when I myself link to threads on this BBS from other sites all the time?!  I was hoping to be able to come back to this thread and track the popularity changes over time, but it seems that Alexa.com isn't the best way to do it.  Compete.com shows different numbers completely. (http://siteanalytics.compete.com/FreeTalkLive.com+TheYoungTurks.com/)

Title: Re: Let's beat TheYoungTurks.com
Post by: The Green Bastard on August 01, 2010, 11:06:57 AM

I would recommend putting a little more effort in to the studio cam's presentation and make archives in a video podcast format. It would be nice to have multiple cameras and an operator switching angles depending on who is speaking.

I think FTL would be popular in a video format similar to what you see on CNET's video podcasts.

[youtube=425,350]<object width="640" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/QoVwQ4XgV5o&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/QoVwQ4XgV5o&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object>[/youtube]

I wouldn't think it would take too much investment in time or money to upgrade the "webcam in Ian's dining room" look the studio cam has now.

 Once presentable, make the "episodes" available on popular video podcast sites and applications.

Step 1, "Get cute chicks as co-hosts from time to time"
...

Step 3, "Profit!"