This post corresponds to podcast Episode 18: Podcasting Basics with Adam Weiss which is included in our Core Program, accompanied by workbook and video tutorials that show you how to do this on your own.
As mentioned in our last post, it’s easy to record your teleclasses. That means you might have some audio tracks which you could edit and re-publish, so this is a good time for us to talk about podcasting.
Podcasting can be a fun and interesting way for you to share your message and grow your audience. Of course, when I say ‘audience’ I really mean prospects and customers. After all, when people share relevant information and build credibility, our natural instinct is to want to buy from them.
What is it?
A ‘podcast’ is an audio (and/or video) snippet that can be played through a web site, your computer’s media player (like Windows Media Viewer or Quicktime) or an mp3 player such as an iPod. In fact the name “Podcast” stems from the iPod. As you might imagine, podcasts started out as creations for that device in particular – but the technology now applies to a whole range of listening and viewing platforms.
The key to podcasts is distribution: once you’ve recorded your content you can load it into numerous podcasting “readers” (such as iTunes). From there people can easily find and share your information.
Why should you be podcasting?
Podcasting enables you to:
• Automatically build an opt-in, engaged audience who is interested in what you are offering.
• Attract new prospects by sharing valuable insights with them.
• Generate leads.
• Extend your brand (podcasts are easy to share, so your listeners will tell their friends and colleagues about yours).
• Multi-purpose your content. Why keep re-inventing the wheel?
• Improve your Search Engine ranking.
How would you get started?
It’s easy! Here are the basics:
1. Think about content and find some qualified guests if you want to do interviews.
2. Record through your phone, or with your computer and microphone (depending on the kind of service you select and your level of technical expertise).
3. Edit the completed recording (optional), perhaps adding introductory music, etc.
4. Upload the file to your Podcast hosting service.
5. The host will provide a “feed” (a link) that you promote on your site. You can also place your feed into popular reader services such as iTunes.
6. You’re good to go! Your “feed” is subscription based; people will find it, click the link and automatically receive all of your podcasts (including updates any time you add new material).
Tips:
There are two things to consider before you begin:
First, you need to record regularly or people will quickly lose interest. So think ahead a bit and plan your episodes accordingly. Fortunately, podcasting doesn’t take much time. Once everything is set up you can continue podcasting in just twenty minutes per week.
Second, you want to choose a host based on your level of technical expertise. ReadyTalk (a Free Marketing Made Easy contributor) is my favorite for beginners because it is monkey-proof. You literally call a number, record the session, edit it (if you want to) inside of their website then click one box to publish the new episode to your website, iTunes and other readers. Simple. Alternatively you could use a service such a Libsyn or Divshare, but you’ll need to be a bit more technically savvy as there is more manual operation involved with those platforms.
In the Free Marketing Made Easy course we cover Podcasting in depth and show you exactly how to record and distribute through ReadyTalk, so let us know if we can help you out with that. Moving right along, we’re now ready to talk about another content publishing platform, web conferencing.