Podcasts are a great (and free!) way to stay up to date on current issues that many of today's businessmen and entrepreneurs face. You can download these to your iPod and listen to them throughout the day whether at work, in the car, or on the treadmill. There are a number of podcasts to choose from, below is a list of favorites that are relevant to both aspiring and proven entrepreneurs. Most importantly, these podcasts are updated frequently.

Startup Nation - These podcasts include information and insights that every beginner entrepreneur will appreciate and enjoy. Updated very frequently, a great resource.

Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders - Sponsored by Stanford University, this podcast is updated every Wednesday and includes talks and conversations with some of today's most innovative and successful entrepreneurs and business people. Like the University itself, many of the podcasts are technology based.

Wall Street Journal on Small Business - Excellent podcast updated every Monday and usually less than ten minutes long. Topics usually address management and financial issues small businesses face.

Knowledge @ Wharton - Online research and business analysis by the Wharton School of the University of Penn. Although not updated as frequently as other podcasts (new podcasts added a couple times each month) the topics are always intriguing and include some of today's brightest thinkers, authors, professors and business leaders.

Struggling Entrepreneur - Great resource for entrepreneurs who haven't quite made it yet or who may be knee deep in the startup process seeking insight and inspiration. Topics are somewhat similar to the Startup Nation podcasts.

Harvard Business IdeaCast - Weekly podcasts from one of the world's top Universities (with highest paid alumni). Featured guests include the leading global thinkers, professors, and business managers. Not all topics are directly related to entrepreneurship or even the business world but all are relevant/interesting to any innovator.

NPR: Business Story of the Day - Daily podcasts usually less than 5 minutes in length. Not necessarily a great knowledge resource but rather a quick and entertaining tidbit about a current business happening.

TEDTalks - Podcasts from the TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) conferences from some of the world's most captivating, intellectual, and iconic people on a variety of topics. Again, these podcasts are not directly related to entrepreneurship but a great source for new ideas and innovative thinking.

The Economist - While in business school many professors advised each student to read two publications above all others: the Wall Street Journal and The Economist. Includes audio content on a wide variety of topics including world politics, business, finance, economics, science, technology, culture and the arts.

Social Innovation Conversations - Lectures and interviews regarding the latest ideas in social change. Topics include social entrepreneurship, environmental sustainability, philanthropy, corporate social responsibility, and responsible investing.

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If you have a product or service to sell, you can sell it the old fashioned way or you can jump right into the future of the way people generate sales with less effort and no geographic limitations.

But what exactly is a Podcast?

A Podcast is a recorded event that is then distributed electronically. The event can be:

1. A sales presentation
2. A training session
3. An interview
4. The audio section of a webinar
5. A recorded seminar

What are the benefits of a podcast? Well, once you have your podcast, you can use it to sell for you over and over for years into the future, because once you have your podcast you can:

1. Place it on a CD or DVD and distribute it
2. Place it on your web site and provide a link to it
3. Offer it at not cost to others to join your mailing list
4. Encourage people to download it to their IPOD or mp3 player
5. Invite people all over the world into your web based conference room and play the recording for your audience. While you are in your conference room you can also show off your web site, products and services at no cost by simply showing off your web site sales page or Power Point (TM)presentation. Then you can take the prospect along with you to your sales or sign up page and complete the transaction on the spot.

In summary, your Podcasts can help tell your story, build your credibility, generate sales and even train your customers, employees, and salespeople simply by directing them to your Podcast, all at zero cost.

Be sure to investigate this new marketing tool and you will start to see it as one of your "Must have marketing tools too!"

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Virtual coaching business is big business. If you are a service professional or engage in any kind of consultative expertise from industrial equipment design, to medical practice to marketing consulting, you can create a powerful marketing stream or profit center through podcasting and teleseminars.

Virtual coaching and consulting has grown alongside capabilities in online collaboration and communication. With both coaching and online collaboration growing by leaps and bounds, fast moving entrepreneurs have moved in with innovative business models that leverage both trends.

5 Virtual Coaching & Consulting Business Models

The following sections illustrate how different criteria can be combined or split up to form business designs that appear unique as a whole but share much the same fundamental characteristics. Each model can be enhanced by using teleseminars or podcasting tools.

1. Digital Infopreneur

An infopreneur business model rests on the ability to spot the informational challenges facing a market segment and to aggregate, package and promote an informational bundle that meets the needs of that market segment. A digital infopreneur accelerates the whole cycle by using the online channel as her primary platform for market research, information gathering, product creation and distribution.

Due to the low overhead of doing business mostly on the internet, a digital infopreneur business can often grow very quickly while maintaining significant profit margins. One of my favorite ways to get infopreneurs started is through the use of teleseminars and podcasting systems for lead generation and information product creation.

2. Virtual Counseling

A coaching client of mine was able to convert their marriage counseling business from a local scope to a national and international one. We did this by adding virtual counseling capabilities to their website. More than just sticking up a website and advertising nationally, virtual counseling involves the ability to turn generic counseling needs into a packaged list of situational and service themes.

By carefully segmenting the marketplace for degree of severity, desired counseling time frame and demographics, you can convert your expertise into a powerfully pre-selling content marketing system that attracts just the right people. In addition, you can use free tools like freeconferencecalling.com to give people an organized way to interact with you and receive optional access to recorded sessions.

3. Individualized Skills Coaching

Many executives and business leaders find that they need soft skills coaching for their subordinates. Skills like phone selling, negotiation, customer service, communication and others that are verbally-oriented can be taught by phone.

4. Small Group Coaching

Many business coaches also use teleconference services to run facilitated group coaching, mastermind sessions, strategic visioning sessions and other such team activities. Depending on the context, teleseminars can be an excellent way to transfer new professional knowledge and skills to a small group of people.

5. Recurring Membership Groups

Almost any small business can profit by incorporating recurring revenues in the form of memberships. This could be a loyalty rewards club for your highest referring clients, frequent user programs for the top 10% of your client database, or public-facing profit center established to solve challenges in one narrow problem area.

Teleseminars are a great way to build up your content and deliver it easily and conveniently to a large group of paying subscribers. Even free teleseminar services are often very scalable, allowing groups from 1 to 500 on the same call.

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If you have a podcast, you know that you need to come up with content each time you make a show. Many times at first this is easy since you are new to the podcast and very interested in the topic. At some point in time, you might be a bit stumped as to what to talk about on your next show. Find out some tips that will help you figure out what you can talk about on your next podcast.

You need to stay in touch with the recent news for the subject of your podcast. This is most easily done with feeds. Subscribe to blogs and news feeds on your subject so that you can make notes on what is going on. When you see something interesting, talk about it in your next show. This alone will give you quite a bit of content.

Use Google alerts. This is a free service that you can use as long as you have a Google account. What happens is that whenever anything is mentioned about your subject, you will get an email. This will help you stay up on the latest trends and news items. You can talk about these on your next show.

One of the best ways of knowing what to talk about is to ask your listeners to give you feedback and questions. They are the ones listening and have more of an idea about what they want to hear than you do. Provide easy ways for people to leave feedback. Have an email they can contact, a comment form on a blog, a forum, social networking platforms, or even a telephone number to call. Full shows can be made just from questions from your listeners.

Find forums about the subject of your show. Each week active forums will have topics that become a huge source of conversation. Include this on your next show when you are making your show notes to have some extra content.

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Podcasts can be an effective method of developing traffic, attracting customers and building your credibility. It can turn you from a wanna-be to a true expert in the eyes of your customers and prospects.

But what is a podcast?

The term itself is a contraction of two words - iPod and broadcast. The Apple iPod of course, is an MP3 player. An electronic version of the old tape recorder if you will.

So the term itself would indicate that a podcast is some form of a regular broadcast using MP3 audio format and portable players -- the Apple name being optional. But a podcast is really both more and less than this.

For the purposes of this article I'm going to deal with what a podcast is on four levels.

1. A podcast is an audio file. In theory it is provided in MP3 format. MP3 format is a very capable, yet very compact format used for audio recording. It is also manufacturer independent. However, podcasts can also be provided using either the Windows native format (WMA) or Apple's Quicktime audio. In fact, there are a large number of audio formats available and podcasts can be found in any of them. However, MP3 is the most popular format.

2. It is intended to be retrieved from a website (e.g. iTunes or the creator's website) and downloaded to an MP3 player such as the iPod or one of many other manufacturers products. This recording can then be played back at any time while the audience is busy doing something else. Cars are a frequent location for the playback of these files. Busy commuters can listen to something useful while traveling to and from the office.

3. Content is whatever the podcast creator wishes. Like any radio broadcast. However, typically they tend to be focused on spoken content rather than music. This content can be provided in a number of different forms including teleseminars, interviews and readings.

4. In theory podcasts do not have to be regular. However, in practice they fit into two types. One time podcasts are usually not referred to as podcasts. The repeating podcast is repeated either once per week or once per month or daily. In short, they are meant to be a regularly re-occurring broadcast of opinion, information or news. In practice, audio files which are one-time only are referred to as MP3s. The term podcast is usually restricted to broadcasts which repeat on a regular basis.

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Podcasts are an excellent tool for building your credibility. Podcasts are easy to create and flexible to use. If you're not using them in your information business you are missing out on a powerful, traffic generating tool.

But there are probably a few things you don't know about podcasts.

Here are five things you may not know. Some of them are very old and anyone who is new to podcasts may not know them. Some of them are related to using podcasts and unless you use podcasts you may not know them. And of course, despite the title, some of them you may know. Sorry, but since I don't know what you do know I can't guarantee that you won't know them.

1. The term podcast comes from a contraction of the words iPod and broadcast. An iPod is a type of MP3 player from Apple. Early iPods only played audio. Now of course, video is also available. Podcasting originated with radio broadcasts which were recorded and then posted to a website for downloading. Originally they included information and music broadcasts but with the rise of internet radio, the term podcast has shifted to imply an information broadcast. They also predated the term.

2. Podcasts don't have to be perfect. There are two reasons for this. First, it's a live broadcast. Even the professionals don't get through a full radio broadcast without making mistakes. You will be forgiven. Second, it isn't live. That means you can edit it and make corrections on the editing room floor. Well actually on the computer but the tape ends up on the floor and... No, I am not going to explain what tape is. It's an old way of recording. I'm old. It's old. Don't worry about it! Editing room floor means you can fix it on the computer during the editing process.

3. You can create a podcast by recording a teleseminar and then posting the recording on your website in an MP3 format. What makes it a podcast rather than a recorded teleseminar? A new podcast recording is available on a regular basis a teleseminar can appear whenever you wish to do it. So if you run a regular teleseminar and put it up as a recording -- you're actually podcasting!

4. You can also create a podcast by using the audio track from a video recording. The editor has the ability in most editing programs to pull out the audio track into a separate track. This can then be saved separately. With a small amount of re-editing -- actually repackaging -- you can use this audio track as a podcast.

5. Podcasts make a great product. If you transcribe them they can become the basis for articles for your marketing. If you add audio packaging around them -- and sometimes combine them -- you can sell them as CDs or online products. If you add PowerPoint slides you can use the podcast as the audio track for a video or DVD product.

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Podcasts can be a very powerful tool for improving your credibility. For improving your traffic. For improving your reputation as an expert. For your information marketing business as a whole.

Everyone who is relying on the sale of books, courses, coaching and other courseware should be at least considering podcasting.

But they aren't perfect. And there are things that you can do that will make them even less perfect. Here are six things for you to avoid during a podcast release.

1. Probably the most common root issue is trying too hard to be perfect. Many new podcasters hear more experienced podcasters and believe that they need to be perfect in their delivery and their recording of their material. Nothing could be further from the truth. That's what the editing or polishing process is for. Turning a set of imperfect recordings into one almost perfect recording. Besides, you want people to know you not the perfect you!

2. Podcasts are only useful if they have listeners. I remember a Sunday School song that went "Hide it under a bushel? No! I'm gonna let it shine". Like this little light you need to bring your podcast out from the bushel and let it shine. No one is going to listen to it unless you market it. You need to have a plan in place to get traffic to it. You need to get listeners. Unless you do, the work you've put into your podcast will have been wasted.

3. The other side of the coin is over-marketing. Not everyone is going to be interested in your podcasts. That's fine. Some people don't like podcasts. Some people don't like free information. And if you're selling your podcasts that just means there are more people who don't want to listen. You need to be careful that you don't over market your podcast and drive your customers away. In short, don't bug your email list about the podcast.

4. We all tend to focus on our own lists when marketing. That's natural. These are people that have already said they are interested in our products. But with a podcast, that's a big oops! After all, one of the benefits from podcasts is an increase in traffic. And if you only market to your own customers you're kind of missing the point! So be sure to identify in your marketing plan how you are going to get the word out to people who haven't heard of you before. Don't forget affiliates, search engines and podcast hosts. They are all good sources of potential traffic.

5. Don't overpromise in your podcast. Let's face it we all tend to get a little passionate about our products. We all tend to get into the sales terminology game. The best! The newest! The whatever superlative term you can think of! Be careful of this. Don't overpromise and underdeliver. Be sure your listeners return next week!

6. Don't forget that your podcast isn't a one time thing. For most types of product we create one and then go off on other duties. With a podcast you are releasing an ongoing product. Sort of like a subscription monthly membership program. You need an ongoing marketing program. Don't get so caught up in the release that you forget that you need to continuously market your podcast.

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There is a lot of talk about video marketing and viral videos today. While I have no problem with video, there is far too much emphasis on viral videos. At least as far as marketing your information and training products goes.

You'd be better off with a podcast than a viral video!

Okay, that's a lot more controversial than I usually get. It's almost as bad as my statement that self-help gurus really need to learn how to create products first before they teach it! So I guess I better explain. The first one, not the second... I'll leave the latter to other articles.

So why is a podcast just as good as a viral video?

First off, what's so great about a viral video? And more importantly what is a viral video? To answer the last question first -- a viral video is a video that has gone viral, Duh! Okay, let's explain a little further. To go viral means that the product (video, audio, blog, eBook, whatever) has so touched the audience that they start forwarding it to their friends. Who, in turn, forward it to their friends. Like a virus it spreads out exponentially.

So what's so great about them? The answer is simple. It's seen by a lot of people. Some of whom might click through and check out your site, where you can collect their emails and engage them in a conversation. Hey, you might even be able to sell to them someday!

However, that's also why a viral video isn't as good as a podcast. A viral video is seen by a lot of people -- once! And only once! It's a fad that will in time burn down. Think of the last viral video that you viewed. Who was it by? Unless you just watched it just before you started reading this article, chances are you've already forgotten. Viral videos have no staying power. Without repetition, little is gained by each viewing.

Viral videos focus on quantity over quality. Be seen by a large number of people and at least a few will click through to your site. You hope.

Podcasts on the other hand are repeating products. Not only do they show up but they repeatedly put your name and voice in front of your customer. This repetition improves retention and makes a click through far more likely.

Podcasts also provide repeated exposures to your customer. Bluntly the customer learns to like you long before they bother to click through. As a result your sales percentage and opt-in percentages will both exceed that of a viral video. Podcasts are more than just a traffic tool. They are a sales tool.

Of course, nothing is preventing your podcasts from going viral. Although in reality, it is a lot less likely it will. In which case, you'll see some of the same issues arising. Although because a podcast is repeating by nature, you will see less of a loss in your sales and opt-in percentages.

Finally, there is one big advantage to a podcast. Most videos are limited in length. YouTube only allows a maximum ten minutes of video. But podcasts can be as long (or as short) as you wish! So you can say more, inform more and sell more.

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Podcasting is a recent internet phenomenon which takes its name from Apple's iPod digital audio player. Podcast creators publish sound files online which are then downloaded by interested parties. Podcasting is a media distribution platform. Podcasting is utilized by many, but not quite as many as initially expected. Podcasting is not dead but it's not the whole picture either. Unique users of Apple's iTunes player passed QuickTime in mid-2005, and at current growth rates iTunes passed RealPlayer by mid-2006. Podcasting is one of newest buzzwords that has been catching the attention of hoards of people all over the world. But not everyone exactly know what it is.

Podcasting is RSS that is used to syndicate and distribute audio files. Podcasting contains an audio file in the RSS feed's enclosure tag. Podcasting is not a new idea. It has been around at least since the audio tutorial movement and the Sony Walkman. Podcasting is the syndicated delivery of audio or video files over the Internet for use with mobile, Internet-based media devices. The core of this new concept is syndication: automatic file downloading through live links or "feeds" that update whenever new content is available.

Consumer-controlled content is clearly the future for both audio and video, and podcasting, by whatever name you choose to call it, is the precursor to that vision of the future. But realizing that vision takes visionand persistence.

Software such as Apple's iTunes and Microsoft's Zune software helps users subscribe and manage their podcasts and files. Software like Apple Podcast Producer makes everything click-a-button easy, from high-quality sound recording to cleanly produced videos. You also can use other Mac software like GarageBand and iPhoto to personalize your production.

MP3 is a very compressed audio format that is common on the web. Almost all podcasts are presented as MP3 files; however, it is not strictly required. MP3s can then be played on your computer using programs listed above or saved to you portable MP3 player or mobile devices for listening.

Listeners of podcasts use a wide variety of podcast software to download their favorite podcasts automatically (i.e. One of the more popular podcast programs is Apple's iTunes --and let's dispense a few myths while we are here. Listeners can receive the podcasts on an ordinary Windows Media Player, unlike TalkShoe, a previously-announced live podcasting model using a proprietary player.

Actually Podcasting is nothing new and it has been existing in dormant way for years as a part of RSS standard for content syndication (RSS = list of updated pages of given website in a specific XML format). RSS initially was introduced by Dave Winer from Scripting News and later on developed by a worldwide Internet communities. Actually Cheryl, excluding a video player, all of the functionality you mentioned would work with a video podcast. The formats are generic and would work with different format video feeds.

Radio is not a bragging medium. As we all know, TV killed the radio stars. Radio is produced for a mass audience and is increasingly commoditised into smaller and smaller chunks and market niches - or what the marketeers think are there. Podcasting is not the new radio - like all new technologies it's going through the infancy stages of copying an existing medium to seek validity - photography did this when it started, aping the impressionists and fine art to prove it's worth. Radiowaves also offers a general podcasting service for a subscription fee.

Eugene Rivera is an internet marketing professional. He has been the webmaster of True Web Success for the last 20 years. Learn how to get into Google's back door with their help and get indexed between 3 to 7 days. Get more information at our website http://www.truewebsuccessreviews.com/ and start driving unlimited targeted traffic to your website everyday usually with little or no effort on your part.

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Podcasting is just a tool that is doing very well right now. Podcasting is the online (on the Internet) distribution of audio or video files, like radio broadcastings and music videos, to listen to on mobile devices and computers. It is possible to download free podcasts online to listen to on your mobile device but the big difference between radio on demand and podcast broadcasting is the possibility of an automatic feed to your mobile device or computer. Podcasting is still malleable as it is an emerging technology. It will be interesting to see how it plays out over the next 12 months as it hits the mainstream.

Podcasting is a strong business tool. Podcasting is an evolutionary technology which would continue to gain popularity because of the convenience it lends to users. Forward thinking technologies like podcasting give more flexibility and ease of usage to the users. Podcasting is a way to automatically transfer files from server to client. The files can be in several formats, images, text, PDF, almost any type which makes this type of broadcasting very flexible.

Podcasting is actually relatively simple. In another article I will be including information on how to create a podcast using the telephone. Podcasting is a disruptive technology that is revolutionizing business communication. As such, it is a proven innovation that creates customers. Podcasting is cost effective, simple to do and can reach a worldwide audience. This means that students can achieve high quality exposure using school or library resources.

Podcasting is not limited to iPods. You can listen to a Podcast on any computer or any MP3 player.

Podcasting is a cutting edge technology which if implemented effectively will enrich our day to day lives. Podcasting is like the unexplored country, this means that anyone with something to say, has an opportunity to say it, whether they have political views or success tip for people. The result is you're going to get podcasts which provide real value and podcast which waste your time and podcast which can potentially offend. Podcasting is spreading like wildfire, and now is your opportunity to start reaching out to people today.

Podcasting is the mechanism in the same way that blogging is. Some blogs are as professionally done and well thought out as any book or magazine article and some are dashed off like a Twitter entry. Podcasting is generally inexpensive to implement. Investment in a good quality microphone will ensure that the recording is audible. Podcasting is extremely beneficial in the business environment for a variety of reasons. To begin with, the users can subscribe to whatever may interest the user.

Podcasting is a new trend, and there are a lot of people who haven't heard of it or don't know exactly what it is. Basically, podcasting is like blogging, but with audio. Podcasting is a new technique, and it's also something that people have been doing a lot of thinking about of late. It was our opinion that if it was financially/technically feasible for us to podcast our sessions, and see what comes of that, then we really had to do it to maintain our credibility as Web 2.0 boosters. Podcasting is a viable and interesting new method of communication. Use podcasting to boost your company to the forefront of your industry.

Podcast Marketing is the method of creating and publishing audio and video programs via the Internet. It allows companies or marketer's users, clients, and customers to subscribe to a feed of new information about products and services. Podcasters may indeed revitalize the art of radio itself. And they're hitting it in all four of radio's vanguards: Sound design, talent, revenue, and distribution.

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