Podcasting Avoid costly mistakes

Here is another great way to get your name "out there" and get people visiting your website. 

Podcasting! 

Podcasting is audio (and / or video) that you create on your computer (or via other means and then load on your computer) that you then share with other people to listen and / or see. 

There are a large number Podcasting sites that allow you to upload your audio or video presentation, and then attach a description and information about the presentation. Once this is done, people who visit these podcast sites can "take" your podcast, and hopefully, if it is interesting enough to them, they will subscribe to your "feed" (similar to a mailing list, but for audio / video) and then be automatically notified when you release a new sound or video. 

Now generally "feed" is not controlled by you (as opposed to a general mailing list), but rather controlled by the podcast directory and a podcast "reader" which is software (often free) that you can use to automatically verify whether new content available to your chosen "feeds" and then get loaded automatically. 

You can then view or listen to the downloaded presentation at your leisure, a copy to your iPod, etc. It is really quite cool. 

One of the biggest names in Podcasting is iTunes. You have undoubtedly heard of iTunes and was wondering what it is. iTunes is software provided by Apple (Mac people), which you can download for free, and will manage all your podcast feeds, music and video collection on your computer, and even allows you to buy music (and podcasts ) via the iTunes store. 

Apple versions of iTunes for both Windows and Mac, and it is completely free to download. 

Now iTunes is big business, tens of thousands of people download stuff daily from it, so it's probably the first site you might want to try to get your podcast listed on. 

Many people claim to be experts in the field of targeted website traffic. We suggest you do some careful research yourself first before jumping in. 

But I get ahead of me, first things first, lets discuss what you can put into the audio / video. 

If your like me and have a great face for radio, do not despair. You do not necessarily have to produce video content, audio is perfectly acceptable to many subscribers as it is something you can do (listen to) anywhere (though with the video iPods available these days, it is also applicable to video). 

First and foremost you presentation must add value to your listeners / viewers. A hard sell presentation would not be worth much to listeners / viewers (at least enough not to those who first experience with you, via audio / video), but rather, the quality relevant content that will appeal to listeners with an interest in your niche market. 

Remember that it is very likely that when you upload a presentation for inclusion in iTunes, it will be reviewed manually by a human, and if it's just a hyped up call to action to buy something chances are they might not approve it recording. And although they have approved it, listeners will be turned off when they hear it, especially if you have not built a relationship with them. 

We suggest an interview is a good idea for a podcast. To compose a set of questions and answers to common problems, you "loose" on your website and have some one interview you. Save the audio file and then upload to iTunes! 

Another idea (when you get a couple finished podcasts) is an overview of your product or services, but again not a hard sell, but a detailed list of what you can do or case studies on how you have helped other clients previously. 

Just remember it will be interesting to listen to, so be sure to target your customers' needs and to solve problems that your potential customers may be facing. 

You can find iTunes will have a series of podcasts before adding you to their library, so it would be a good idea to make 2 or 3 podcasts where possible and then submit them to be included as a group. 

If you plan to host your podcasts themselves, be very careful and consider whether you have a second bandwidth to do it, especially if your feeds get picked up by lots of people. 

Because of the nature of podcasts (audio or video) files can end up being huge, so it is very important that you schedule this in advance as you can find when you are successful and have a reasonable number of people who listen to your podcasts that you will put your server in meltdown and be running out of quota. This could mean that your ISP shut down your website! 

Do not be a victim of it, plan to get bigger from day 1, and assume you will be successful and make the right steps in place, so you have enough bandwidth when things are going. 

Either put all your effort in getting listed on iTunes and other major podcast sites, or if your going to do it yourself, invest in a reasonable podcast hosting company that specializes in Podcasts. 

A decent alternative to iTunes for hosting your iTunes (especially if your having trouble getting iTunes to actually accept your podcasts are a company called liberated Syndication. we would suggest you check their website out, they are one of the best out there and give great value for money and in some cases it is free. 

Remember all podcasters have to start somewhere, and some of the larger has actually paid advertising now (where sponsors pay podcaster for an advertisement to be placed in the podcast). This may end up to be a really nice little money wage earner for you and provide great value to your listeners.