POWERPRESS – Added 2nd podcast, now page only showing XKL

Please post a link to the page you’re having trouble with and we’ll take a look.

Hi Shawn,

If you go to this link: https://www.geekgirlauthority.com/shows-geek-girl/ and click the icon that says “Booze and Phasers” which is this: https://www.geekgirlauthority.com/category/shows/booze-phasers/ then the code will come up.

I’ve tried to create 2 podcast channels now with the same result – one with the slug “booze-phasers” and one with the slug “booze-and-phasers”

Thanks!

You said you’re using Podcast Channels but the link above is going to a category. Do you also have Category Podcasting enabled? If so, are you using it (or planning on using it) with either this show or another show on your website? Log into your website, go to PowerPress and see if Category Podcasting is checked at the bottom.

Hmmm. This may be the issue.

I do have category podcasting enabled. I have other podcasts on that. I was trying to create a brand new channel so that it would be it’s own title on itunes so I created a Booze and Phasers channel. However, I see now that when I created the wordpress page for the new podcast that it puts it into category? So it does that for every new blog I create whether it has a podcast or not because I have that category podcasting enabled. Is that correct?

Does it have to be one or the other? Can the category podcasting settings be changed?

Thanks for your time, Shawn!

Let’s try something basic here before we get too far into this.

Deactivate the PowerPress plugin. Leave it deactivated for two minutes and then reactivate it. See if that allows for the https://www.geekgirlauthority.com/category/shows/booze-phasers/ URL to work as expected.

Don’t panic! All of the PowerPress settings are stored in your WordPress database and won’t be lost. I’m hoping that doing this will cause PowerPress to let go of that URL and give the podcast feed for that category a different slug.

Commencing Deactivation Protocols.

alright, just deactivated for a few minutes and activated again.

It was worth a try but that wasn’t the solution.

Log into your site and hover over the PowerPress link on the left-hand side of the screen. Click the Podcast Categories link that comes up. Is there a listing there for Booze and Phasers? If so, what is the slug and what is the feed URL? They should both be listed next to the name.

No, there is not.

There was one earlier today but I deleted it…… i had been trying to create a new podcast channel but hit category instead. That was about 4 hours ago.

Are there any other podcasts listed on your website under the Podcast Categories section of PowerPress? If there aren’t, scroll down to the bottom of any PowerPress page, and if the Category Podcasting box is checked, uncheck it and click the Save Changes button. If there are some other podcasts listed in the Podcast Categories section, don’t do this.

Yes, there are.

There are 4. Of which, 2 are current and get new episodes.

(I can always do the work and begin the transition to everything having its own channel, when I started the site 2 years ago, I didn’t know I’d being doing this much podcasting)

I’ll wait for you to advise on the current issue.

Thanks so much Shawn for sticking with me while we try to figure this out.

I’d just leave the existing podcasts that are using category podcasting as they are for now. I’m mostly trying to get a mental image of what’s happening on your site.

From your WordPress dashboard, hover your mouse over Posts and click Categories. There should be a category there for Booze and Phasers under the Shows category with the slug booze-phasers. Try editing the slug to something like booze-phasers-podcast and save the changes. I think maybe the issue we’re hitting here is that one of your podcast channels has the same slug as the WordPress category and that’s why the link is going to the podcast feed instead of the category archive page.

goflashgo, If you are creating multiple formats of your podcasts (e.g. audio, video or audio in mp3, audio in m4a, audio in ogg) then Podcast Channels is an ideal solution. If you want to provide password protected podcast feeds as well, then Podcast channels is a good solution. If you want separate podcasts, category podcasting is the ideal solution.

Mixing Category Podcasting with Podcast Channels can be done, but it is very confusing to manage (as we see in this conversation).

Each podcast category can be customized completely, so if you are trying to create a separate brand you can do so with a category feed (just as well as with a podcast channel).

With all that said, are you still having problems? And if so, which approach do you want to use, category podcasting or podcast channels?

@shawn,

fascinating. Yes. That did change everything. So, now, when you go to the show page and click Booze and Phasers: https://www.geekgirlauthority.com/shows-geek-girl/ – no code comes up. Or when you directly click the show page: https://www.geekgirlauthority.com/category/shows/booze-phasers-podcast/

It makes so much sense to me NOW. Are there any other suggestions or was this the problem?

Questions – would any of this have affected the length of time that iTunes takes to approve?

@angelo, yes it seems that I’m a bit confused on category vs channel. I’m going to fix this problem presently than move forward with my research. Thank you so much for taking the time to reply – I may hit you back up soon once I’ve got this problem covered.

I don’t think the issue with the WordPress slugs would’ve had any affect on the iTunes Store approval process, but iTunes can be mysterious at times. Are you still waiting for their approval? If so, what’s the URL to the PowerPress feed you submitted to them?

I’ll admit that I tend to prefer Podcast Channels over Category Podcasting but I think Category Podcasting is gonna get a real boost in the upcoming PowerPress 7.0. I’m also a big fan of “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” I’m of the impression you’re already using category podcasting so it might be best to just stick with that going forward. Having both category and channel-based feeds on the same site could lead to confusion.