Regardless of the size of your business, or whether your company is public, private, a government agency, or a non-profit... there is little doubt that you should consider podcasting. Podcasting is a 21st century medium, and has proven that it is far more than just a passing fad.

What is podcasting?

Podcasting is a relatively new communication medium. Podcasting's increasing popularity and low cost of entry makes it a great communication and promotional channel for companies to experiment with.

Podcasting is online audio content, and sometimes video content, that is delivered via an RSS feed. You are probably asking yourself "what is that, and why should I care?" Like it or not, our world is becoming portable. The one thing you cannot buy is time; therefore, people are doing everything they can to maximize the time that they have. For example, commuting time, which was once wasted, can now become productive time via podcasting. Time spent waiting in a doctor's office was once unproductive, but can now be used as "catch up" time for all sorts of things, including listening to podcasts. Technology and portability have come together to provide a solution to improving communication and productivity.

It is no surprise that businesses have adopted podcasting at a rapid rate. As podcasting has evolved, many businesses are using it as a marketing method as well as a communication channel. Podcasting is a relatively inexpensive medium to implement, and the potential of an expanded audience will appeal greatly to businesses that always seem to be struggling to get their message out.

Miscommunication and lack of communication have been long-time problems, and the source of an interminable amount of frustration for businesses, both large and small. The desire to become portable and to utilize time, balanced with the need to build and expand communication, has catapulted podcasting to the forefront of businesses, regardless of their size. Podcasts are effective at resolving both issues of portability and improved communication.

If your business struggles with consistent communication, take a look at podcasting as a possible solution.

About the Author:
Sharon Housley manages marketing for FeedForAll http://www.feedforall.com software for creating, editing, publishing RSS feeds and podcasts. In addition Sharon manages marketing for RecordForAll http://www.recordforall.com audio recording and editing software.

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10 Tips for Podcasting
As podcasts increase in popularity, listeners have more choices. So while you might be ahead of the competition, you should still be thinking about ways that you can make your podcast unique and stand out from similarly themed podcasts.

1. Plan Accordingly.
When making the decision and commitment to podcast, it is important to think beyond the moment. Before starting, think about the time the podcast production will take. How will podcasting fit into a current schedule? How frequently will you podcast? How will hosting of podcasting files be handled? If the podcast is excessively popular, how will fees be generated to pay for hosting? What is the common theme that threads all podcasts in a series together? Think not only of a broad theme, but also various episodic themes that fit into a broader theme. What will make you distinct or different from others podcasting about similar content? By approaching podcasting with a little forethought, you will set yourself up for success.

2. Original Content.
Just like any media company, in order to attract and maintain an audience, you will need to provide original content, or at the very least, present the content in an original way. Think about a long term strategy that will help your show distinguish itself from others.

3. Get to The Point.
Jibber Jabber is fun, but not to the point of excluding quality content. Listeners in today's society don't have time for incessant rambling. If you have a point to make, make it in a reasonable amount of time. Minimize the fluff and focus on quality content.

4. Do Your Homework.
Not only is faulty information a liability, but incorrect information will hurt a broadcasters long term reputation--just like a journalist's credibility is paramount to their success. It is important that the information that you provide is accurate. While being a shock jock might have short-term appeal to listeners, most will remain loyal to a source that has properly vetted all of their information.

5. Consistency.
The best content is consistent content. Podcasts should contain compelling content with episodic titles, that are united in common broad theme. The format of the podcast should be consistent, persistent and stable. Each show should be about the same length and contain a common format.

6. Timeless Content.
Content that is timeless has a long shelf life. Broadcasters will benefit more from content that is timeless and can be effectively archived. "How to" content that solves problems will often have long term appeal and listening life. When choosing topics, consider the long term effects of a specific piece and determine whether it will fit with the broad theme of the show.

7. Articulate Words.
The quality of the audio content does matter. Think of the last time you heard a good song, on a poorly tuned radio station; regardless of how much you like the song, most of us would move the dial along. Listeners will not want to strain to hear a podcast; pay particular attention to articulation. Another important item worth noting is that Podcasts have global reach and often global appeal. Minimizing an accent will often extend the podcast's listening audience.

8. Optimize Podcasts.
Podcast titles should be optimized to incorporate data that relates to the contents of the podcast. Think about the themes when selecting a podcast channel title and description. Use critical and related keywords and phrases that relate to a common theme. The text in the feed is important for both feed optimization and for attracting listeners. Many of the podcast directories index the contents of podcasts using the information contained in the channel and item's, titles and descriptions. Use these text fields to effectively capture the interest of listeners.

9. Listener Expectations.
Invariably listeners will come to expect certain things from broadcasters. In order to maintain a listening audience, it is important that broadcasts are consistent and satisfy the expectations of listeners. While it is okay to experiment, straying to far from what a listener expects will often disappoint.

10. Archive.
Many new listeners will want to review previous broadcasts. Consider ways to make older shows available through archives. Archives allow broadcasters another channel to benefit from the content. Maintaining archives of older podcasts might bring in new listeners and satisfy listeners who just can't get enough. Podcasts require effort, but by following basic guidelines and thinking things through, podcasts can be instrumental in increasing web traffic and communications within a community.

About the Author:
Sharon Housley manages marketing for FeedForAll http://www.feedforall.com software for creating, editing, publishing RSS feeds and podcasts. In addition Sharon manages marketing for NotePage http://www.notepage.net a wireless text messaging software company.

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It has been known that people are turning out to be attracted towards pod-casting for the different benefits it delivers. Even publishers and marketers from all over the planet are enthusiastic to know how to earn capital with the help of this content channel. Podcast Marketing is a less known sales technique that people today have been making use of to market their services and products on the web. In order to learn how pod-cast can help with advertising and marketing, you need to understand its significance and effectiveness.

In order to fully grasp the possibilities pod-casting presents, we will need to understand what it can give as a internet marketing result. Some of the parameters of pod-casting comprise of power of voice that has been delivered straight to the consumers, employees, partners and prospects. It can be said that the content material that has been presented in the form of voice has far more impact on individuals as compared to the matter in text formats. This is because of the reason that we can demonstrate our emotions and express our feelings a good deal more through vocal inflection. This is a tactic that can be used in advertising and marketing, for sure. Especially if you include experienced vocal talent, speakers or salesmen involved in generating the podcast.

If you are a business owner, you need to be aware of the fact that making money from pod-casting is not doable from sales ads and/or content sales; you will have to really understand how pod-cast can help with advertising and marketing. It comes with the opportunity to increase and enhance the marketing communications through the help of emotions having been directly communicated to the potential paying customers.

Here are just a couple of possibilities that can be discovered with Podcast Marketing:

? Press Releases: This is considered to be one of the most effective ways to talk to your potential customers.
? Educational Podcast through which you sell your services or products to the listener

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Optimize Video Podcasts
It does not matter what you call them: vodcasts, vidcasts, videocasting, or video podcasting... there are a few behind-the-scenes actions you can take to help attract more attention to your video productions. Just like websites, it does not matter how amazing the content is if interested people are unable to find it.

Use the following suggestions to help increase the exposure your videos receive...

1. Use Keywords

In Video File Name Insert keywords in the name of the video file. When determining what keywords to use, do not simply rely on intuition; do research, just as you would for a website, to see what relevant terms people are searching on.

2. Create Video Feed

Create an RSS feed of all videos in a collection. Each feed item should contain a different video in the enclosure field. Optimize the feed using related keywords. For additional help, there is a Videocasting Feed Creation Tutorial available at http://www.feedforall.com/videocasting-tutorial.htm .

3. Increase Exposure

Host your videos on YouTube, and embed the video into your website, which will increase the video count on YouTube. The more popular a video seems to be, the more exposure it will receive.

4. Video Name And Description

In the video name and description fields, use keywords that relate to the content of the video. Create a compelling yet relevant title and description that will encourage people to click-through.

5. Google Video Sitemap

Create a video sitemap for the search engines. For details on what to include in such sitemaps, Google has provided specifications in their Google Webmaster Central Blog at http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2007/12/introducing-video-sitemaps.html .

6. Meta Data

Include meta data in the video file. The newer video search engines will often rely on meta data to produce relevant results. Many video editing products will allow you to edit and customize the meta data associated with the video file, and you should use this the same way you would use the meta data for a webpage.

7. Optimize Landing Page

Optimize the landing page on the website, embed the video in a webpage on your website, and then use standard SEO techniques to optimize that webpage for the search engines. Use keywords that relate to the video on the page that contains the video.

8. Transcripts

Provide a text transcript of the video, both on the landing page and in the RSS feed for the video.

9. Embed URL In Video

Brand the video with your logo in the initial video splash screen, and include your website address on the bottom of the video to increase your brand exposure.

10. Leave Them Wanting More

The video should be a teaser and leave the audience wanting more. Engage the audience, but try to encourage the viewer to visit the website or view other videos to learn more.

11. Submit YouTube Feed

YouTube creates an RSS feed for every user account that is created. In addition to manually creating an RSS feed, you can also use the YouTube feed to promote your videos. The formatting details for the YouTube video feeds can be found at http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/username/uploads (replace "username" in the url with your own YouTube account username).

12. Anchor Text

When linking to the video, use anchor text that contains keywords which relate to the video.

13.Video Submission

Submit the video to all the video websites and video podcast websites. Here are a couple of resource sites to get you started...

Podcast & Video Submissions - http://www.podcasting-tools.com/submit-podcasts.htm
140 Places to Submit Your Video List - http://www.stephanmiller.com/my-link-lists/140-place-to-submit-your-video-list/

14. Tag Video

Tag the video on the video networks with relevant keywords, making it is easier for people to find when they search on those keywords.

15. Track Views

Track and review the number of views that a video receives. If you find that a substantial number of viewers are abandoning the video before completion, the chances are good that the video is too long and could benefit from trimming.

16. Social Bookmarking

Use social bookmarking to draw additional attention to videos. This will also help with the number of incoming links, which in turn will help improve search engine ranking.

Videos are the latest marketing channel. In order to make the most of it, optimize the video and increase the exposure it receives.

About the Author:
Sharon Housley manages marketing for FeedForAll http://www.feedforall.com software for creating, editing, publishing RSS feeds and podcasts. In addition Sharon manages marketing for RecordForAll http://www.recordforall.com audio recording and editing software.

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Do you know what kind of podcast material you will need to make your podcast? Believe it or not, you really don't need a lot of podcast material. All you need is a recording device and something to transfer your audio file onto the computer, and you are good to go. In this article, we will take a look at some podcast material options that you have to make a podcast.

When I make my podcasts now, I don't use a microphone or anything. I don't even use my own voice. I use something called Natural Reader to record my podcast. Natural Reader offers very real and life like voices that sound just like a real person. This isn't like a lot of the "autobot" programs that you see on the market today. Natural Reader is a cool piece of software and I think you should include it alongside in your podcast material suite.

But if you don't want to use a program like Natural Reader and you want to use your own voice, you should know that you're making a good decision. Even though I use robots to speak my content for me, nothing beats a real live person that people can interact with. When I first started off with podcasting, I used to take my YouTube videos and extract the audio from them to make podcasts. This was a technique that I used to knock out 2 birds with 1 stone.

The podcast material you need to make your podcast includes a microphone and a computer. Some computers come pre-made with a built in microphone so all you need is a computer and you're good to go. There are software programs out there that allows you to turn your podcast into MP3 format for easy distribution on the internet.

More than likely when you make your podcast on your computer, your computer will turn it into a large.WAV file. This is a high quality file type that takes up a lot of space on your hard drive. When you convert it into an MP3 file, the MP3 is a compressed format that doesn't sound as good as the WAV file. Nevertheless, the result of the MP3 will still be good enough to distribute on the internet.

You can purchase a microphone from your local Walmart. I can remember when I first got started out, my microphone was my web cam. I used a web cam to record my YouTube videos. The quality of the video wasn't so good, but the audio was outstanding. I had a program that could extract the audio from the video file and turn it into WAV format. I had a separate program on my hard drive that would take my WAV file and convert it into MP3 format.

I hope I'm not sounding too technical here because making a podcast is extremely easy to do. If you have the podcast material in hand, then you're in business. All that's left to do is to start recording your podcast and to get it up into the podcast directories. Be sure to get it included into iTunes.

Use these tips to make your podcast and getting it distributed online.

Good luck with getting podcast material and making your podcast.

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In only a few short years, podcasting has become an essential part of creating a solid corporate image on the Internet. From major New York publishers to solo entrepreneurs, businesses are using the power of this new format to get their messages heard by millions of potential customers. Unfortunately, the medium has its limitations, three of which are outlined below. A smart podcaster can surmount these problems, and the solution may be as simple as investing in podcast transcription services.

Undiscoverable Content
When content is easily indexed by Internet search engines, it is considered "discoverable." This means users can find the content through simple keyword searches, making it more likely to draw visitors. Unfortunately, search engines are not optimized to index audio and video content. Podcast transcription allows podcasters to place a text version of their podcast alongside the audio version, which allows search engines to index the content and drive targeted visitors to the site.

Inaccessible Content
In audio form, a podcast is inaccessible to visitors with hearing impairments. A podcaster can spend a great deal of time creating the best content possible and still miss the opportunity to connect with customers because they literally cannot hear what's contained in the podcast. By using a podcast transcription service, a content-creator can eliminate this issue and show sales prospects and other site visitors that his/her company is sensitive to all their customers' needs.

Unsearchable Archives
A successful podcast series may run for hundreds of episodes. In this situation, the podcaster's show archive becomes an invaluable reference tool for checking past content, ensuring message continuity and recycling material by expanding upon a past discussion in a new show. Unfortunately, it does not take long before an audio archive becomes unmanageable. Without an easy method to pinpoint desired content, the successful podcaster may have to wade through hours of material to find what he or she needs. Podcast transcription makes archives immeasurably more useful. A podcaster simply performs a keyword search. The needed content is pinpointed effortlessly.

With all of these benefits, it is easy to see why using a podcast transcription service after every episode should be considered a best practice in the podcasting industry.

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The term "podcast" was initially used to reference an RSS feed that contained audio files in the item's enclosure field. The meaning of podcasting has since expanded, and now refers to RSS feeds that contain all types of media, including audio and video, in the item's enclosure field. For the non-technical folks, podcasting is simply a means of syndicating and distributing rich-media files via the Internet. The content contained in a podcast can vary significantly, from a song, to a educational lecture, to a political debate, to just about anything else. One great thing about podcasting is the wide variety of content formats it can contain. And unlike radio or television broadcasts, the recipient can listen or view at their leisure, choosing for themselves when and where they wish to listen or view a podcast.

How To Create A Podcast

While it may sound complex, the software and technology available today can make the process of creating a podcast quite simple...

1. Record The Content

The easiest way to create an podcast/RSS feed is to use software designed specifically for that purpose. There are a variety of audio and video applications available that make recording and editing rich-media files quite simple.

2. Create The Podcast Feed

Again, the easiest way to do this is to use dedicated software. There are applications available, such as FeedForAll ( http://www.feedforall.com ), that will walk you through the process of creating a podcast feed. Or if you prefer, you can manually create the RSS feed following the steps at "Make RSS Feeds" ( http://www.make-rss-feeds.com ). There is also a tutorial at http://www.feedforall.com/podcasting-tutorial.htm .

3. Publish The Feed

After the RSS feed is created, put it on your website, using an FTP client that is built into your podcast software or another FTP transfer tool, making it available for others to receive.

Podcast Promotion

Once you have the podcast created and uploaded to a website host, the next step is to let your website visitors know that it's available. In order to signal to website visitors that an RSS feed containing content related to the website is available, you should include a colorful graphic on the website. It has become a standard that nearly all websites having RSS feeds available will use colorful graphics such as flags as indicators that RSS feeds are available for specific content. The flags were initially bright orange rectangles, but as the popularity has grown, some webmasters have bent the rules a bit. Use an icon that works well within your website design, and link the graphic to the podcast feed.

Another way of letting your visitors know that your podcast feed is available is to take advantage of the RSS "aggregators" in use by your visitors. Aggregators are used by people who subscribe to various RSS feeds, providing them with a consolidated view of the content from multiple RSS feeds in a single browser display. They will automatically detect an RSS feed on a website if you add a small bit of code in the header field of an HTML page:

[link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="RSS" href=http://www.yourdomain.com/rss.xml]

In the above example code, be sure to replace "http://www.yourdomain.com/rss.xml" with the actual URL to your specific RSS feed, and also replace the "[" and "]" square brackets with "<" less-than and ">" greater-than symbols.

In order to increase exposure of your podcast, it should be submitted to the various Podcast search engines and directories. This can be done manually. Just as you would submit the URL of a website or web page to a search engine, you will need to submit the link of the actual feed located on your website to the Podcast directories. There is a large list of Podcast directories at http://www.podcasting-tools.com/submit-podcasts.htm .

About the Author:
Sharon Housley manages marketing for FeedForAll http://www.feedforall.com software for creating, editing, publishing RSS feeds and podcasts. In addition Sharon manages marketing for RecordForAll http://www.recordforall.com audio recording and editing software.

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Why can't you just create the core of a podcast? Why do you need an introduction? Why do you need a recap?

The introduction for your podcast and the recap are more than just a tradition. They are an important part of your podcast. They are necessary.

In this article I'm going to explain the importance of an introduction and a recap.

There are three elements that your audience will use to judge any learning content including that provided in a podcast. The first is content. The second is organization. And the third is delivery.

Having an organized argument which builds from an interesting statement of the issue to a logical summation of the argument is important. Your audience expects it of you. It's one of the most important elements in their decision to believe that you know what you are talking about. After all, if you can't organize your thoughts then you obviously don't understand the material very well.

But it goes beyond that simple definition of quality. There is a definite cognitive purpose to having an introduction, body and recap. In training we describe the rule as "Tell them what you are going to tell them. Tell them. Then tell them what you have told them." In essence people need to hear the message three times before they will treat it as important. You'll see triplets and their big brother quads used throughout a professional presentation.

An introduction fills four basic needs. The first is to tell them what they are going to hear. In this way, you are filling the audiences' cognitive needs. The second is similar in that it awakens people and gives them advance notice that they are going to hear something of importance. The third is that it fulfills the requirement for a starting point or hypothesis for your argument. Finally, it is a hook. That is it must attract the audience and speak to their innate curiosity in order to create an urge to listen to the rest of the podcast.

Similarly the recap fulfills three needs. The first is to fulfill the audiences' cognitive needs by telling them what they heard. The second is that it brings closure to the argument. A final conclusion. And finally as a result it also brings fulfillment. Your audience knows that the end has been reached and they can then relax.

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What is Podcasting
Podcasting is quickly becoming a buzz word among the techie crowd. So what is podcasting, anyway? Podcasting is online audio content that is delivered via an RSS feed. Many people liken podcasting to radio on demand. However, in reality, podcasting gives far more options in terms of content and programming than radio does. In addition, with Podcasting, listeners can determine the time and the place, meaning they decide what programming they want to receive and when they want to listen to it.

Listeners can retain audio archives to listen to at their leisure. While blogs have turned many bloggers into journalists, podcasting has the potential to turn podcasters into radio personalities.

Podcasting can be used for:

1. Self-Guided Walking Tours - Informational content.

2. Music - Band promotional clips and interviews.

3. Talk Shows - Industry or organizational news, investor news, sportscasts, news coverage and commentaries.

4. Training - Instructional informational materials.

5. Story - Story telling for children or the visually-impaired.

Podcasting is the syndication of audio files using RSS. Podcasting works the same as a standard RSS feed reader or news aggregator, the only difference is that the feed you subscribe to contains an audio file in it. Instead of reading content in your RSS feed reader or aggregator, you can listen to the contents of your feed using a reader or aggregator that supports podcasting, or you can listen to them on an iPod or similar device. While podcasting was named for the iPod, you do not have to have an iPod to listen to a podcast. Podcasts can be displayed on websites with clickable links to audio files and many of the standard RSS readers, like FeedDemon's latest beta, have begun supporting audio enclosures.

The audio file that makes the feed a podcast rather than a standard RSS feed is contained in the 'enclosure' tag. The easiest way to think of this is as an e-mail attachment.

Although the "enclosure" tag is not new to RSS feeds and has been included in the RSS v2.0 specification for about four years, podcasting has only really been around since August of 2004.

Webmasters are finding creative ways to provide media-rich content. The syndication aspect and potential increase in audience size are an attractive lure. Listeners benefit from podcasting because, like RSS, podcasting is a means to publish content that ultimately gives the recipient the control over the information they want to see or hear.

Podcasting Resources -

Podcasting Tools - http://www.podcasting-tools.com
Podcast Alley - http://www.podcastalley.com
PodcastBunker - http://www.podcastbunker.com
Podcasting News - http://www.podcastingnews.com

It will be interesting to see how this publishing medium develops. Currently, only the technical crowd has endorsed podcasting as a new audio medium, but the potential is real and the process is not overly complex. With a little time I think this field will develop and prosper.

About the Author:
Sharon Housley manages marketing for FeedForAll http://www.feedforall.com software for creating, editing, publishing RSS feeds and podcasts. In addition Sharon manages marketing for NotePage http://www.notepage.net a wireless text messaging software company.

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Thanks to the mp3 technology and the expansion of the news media on the internet, many people are turning to podcasts to download onto their mp3 players to enjoy. Many radio shows offer their previous day's shows on podcast format, and have taken it to another level of pre-recorded entertainment. As with most forms of entertainment, there is money to be made in advertising, both buying and selling.

There are many ways to make money in podcasting. You can charge for each podcast you distribute, for as little as $.99/download, or you can sell advertising space on the podcast itself. Sometimes podcasts have a quick advertising message before the podcast begins, in the middle, or at the end. You can also sell advertising space within your podcast in old radio show style, by announcing the advertising yourself. Advertising can also be placed on the webpage that offers the portal to download the podcasts.

If your podcasts gain a following, you can also offer a paid subscription service so people can pay one flat rate and download all of the podcasts without any additional fees out of their pocket. You can also place a virtual "tip jar" on your webpage, encouraging those who like the content to make a small donation to you.

There are plenty of ways to earn money from podcasting, as long as the material is something that people want to hear or talk about. If not, you may lose sponsors and advertisers quicker than you think, and very few people may listen to what you have to offer. A knack for broadcasting and marketing will certainly help you on your way to having success in the field of podcasting.

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No matter the type of business you are in, you should consider podcasting. You can set up a professional podcast for only a couple of hundred dollars, and even get a good return on your investment.

First off, podcasts are previously-recorded audio that is made available to the public. They vary in length, ranging from only a few minutes to an hour long. Podcasts also vary in how often they are broadcasted, from every day to once a week or longer.

A podcast can contain content about any subject. They can use a similar form to radio shows and feature guests, music, news, etc., or just feature information about a specific topic.

Podcasts For Businesses

There are many reasons why you should look at podcasting for your business:

Your business may have social networking accounts, but there may be an audience that can be targeted more suitably with a podcast. There are also many customers who would love to hear about your business more often.

Podcasts are a great chance to talk about your business, your customers, or anything you have in mind. It gives you a way to connect to your customers in a way you have not previously been able to.

Setting up a podcast only has an initial investment of a few hundred dollars, if you already have a computer. The equipment required includes a microphone and audio editing software, and the only cost involved is the time spent to make it.

Because many podcasts have sponsors, podcasting also becomes a great revenue opportunity. Contacting advertisers and inquiring whether they would be interested in sponsoring your podcast is one way. Another way to monetize a podcast is by charging people to download it.

Tips For Successful Podcasts

If you have decided that podcasting is right for your business, here are a few tips:

Do not charge people to download them. Although this option is available, people will be much more likely to listen to it if it is free. There are many other opportunities to monetize your podcasts.

Updating regularly will keep listeners listening. You should not go any longer than one week without recording a new episode.

Have consistent lengths. While it is tolerable to occasionally have one that is longer or shorter, choose a length (somewhere between 15 minutes and one hour) so your listeners won't become surprised by the change.

Feature unique content by giving out coupon codes, special offers, and business promotions. This also gives listeners an incentive to tell their friends about your podcast.

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If you travel a lot and have a laptop, then you may want to consider starting your own travel podcast show. There are some who cannot travel, but who still enjoy hearing about places they have never been. You can create a series of podcasts that tell about your travels, where you ate, how you liked the food and all sorts of topics. You can even mention the way people act in the areas that you travel too, and make comments in your podcast that could help future tourists.

If you spend a lot of time on the beach, then why not record your podcast on the beach one day. The background noise would be a lovely addition to your travel podcast, and could prove to be very relaxing for some of your listeners. If you're traveling to the mountains, then record one of your podcasts beside a waterfall. What about if you're visiting a large city? Why not stop by a restaurant that has tables outside, and record your podcast with it picking up the city noises like car horns and sirens. Normally you would not want this sort of noise in your podcasts, but if they are about traveling then it would be ok to include noises from the city that you are in.

When you visit upscale restaurants, see if the owner would like to be interviewed for your podcast for that week. You could talk about how well you liked the food, how you felt about the pricing and provide the interview so that your listeners can get to know a bit about the owner. This type of podcast would be helpful in assisting others who may wish to visit the same town in the future. They will then know of a good place to enjoy their dinner.

You could also conduct interviews of local business owners, people who live in the area and maybe even an officer from the local police department. An interview with an officer as a podcast can provide helpful information about the cities crime rate that would be helpful to those that are considering a move there.

If you do not want to create podcasts like these, then you can simply record at night once you return to your hotel. Create podcasts about general feelings that you have about the town while they are still fresh in your memory. If you notice something appealing to you, then include it in your podcast no matter how trivial it may seem. The Mime on the sidewalk may have touched a sweet memory for you, and if so, share this with your listeners.

Above all, enjoy your vacation or business trip while making podcasting a second task. If you're too busy having fun then there is no need to interrupt your fun to work on your podcast. The podcast can be recorded later, or you can jot down notes later that will help refresh your memory if you can't record the podcast for a week or so. Enjoy yourself, and have fun podcasting as you can.

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Podcasting is a great way to get your marketing message out to the world. If you didn't already know, podcasting is all about creating an audio file and uploading it to the major podcast directories. By far iTunes is the number directory to submit to, so you will want to focus the majority of your energies here.

Setting up your podcast RSS feed for people to subscribe to is easy. What you will want to do is set up a free blog at Blogger.com and setup a free account at Feedburner.com. Feedburner is a free service that you can use to host the RSS feed in your account. When you sign up with Blogger, you are automatically assigned an RSS feed, but this RSS feed is in Atom format. I believe that Feedburner hosts their RSS feed in XML format - and it manages it better than the Atom format.

If you're new to podcasting, then you will be pleased to know that podcasting can be done in a snap. I used to easily create my podcasts when I used to make my YouTube videos with a web cam. I couldn't afford a camcorder at the time so I used a web cam to do my YouTube videos. Then I would take the video and extract the audio from it and create a podcast.

I did what I suggested above and setup a blog at Blogger and an RSS feed at Feedburner and started distributing my content online. I would submit my podcasts to iTunes and to the other major podcast directories on the net. Luckily, iTunes is free to submit to and doesn't require a fee to get listed in.

Although I initially used my YouTube videos to create my podcast, I eventually went and created some content from scratch. By this I mean that I recorded some podcasts from scratch. I had a computer that didn't have a built-in microphone in there, so I had to use my web cam as a recording device. A lot of the newer computers these days have microphones however, so purchasing a separate microphone may not be needed.

Podcasting is all about speaking your ideas. If you're stuck on ideas to talk about, think about your niche and what it is that you do for a living. To start, you may want to consider writing out on a sheet of paper what it is that you want to speak out and express. This will give you a great starting point of things to talk about.

I know for me, speaking off the top of my head is bad for business. I always have to write things out so that it's easier for me to know what I'm talking about. When I just start talking, my ideas aren't cohesive and I always seem to stumble over my words. If you're the same way, consider writing out what you want to talk about first, and then proceed with recording your podcast.

As I mentioned before, podcasting is a great way to get the word out about your business and to increase your sales and profits. Be sure to start using it today to further enhance your sales and profitability.

Good luck with using podcasting in your business.

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Podcastingis a novel and potentially powerful mode of advertisement. It is basically an audio broadcast that subscribers can download from websites and listen to at their convenience through desktops, laptops, iPods, and MP3 players. It provides information on products and services, presenting content on a regular basis to help keep customers abreast of the latest in the market. The length of a podcast could range from a few minutes to an hour.

Benefits Of Podcasting

Creates a Positive Recall Value:

The quality of the speaker in the podcast can influence the listener significantly. Staying alive in the customer's mind is a very challenging task. A podcast has the advantages of audio effects and manages to hold customers' attention more effectively than the published text. The spoken word appeals to the subscriber's senses in a way the written word may fail to do.

Podcasts act as important sources through which subscribers gain information on new products, technologies and services. The manner in which information is presented can also influence the customer positively enough to drive sales. Additionally, registering in a podcast directory will help customers find you when required.

Direct Access to the Customer's Mind:

There are many people who dislike reading texts and messages. A podcast can successfully sidestep this issue by reading the information out loud to the subscriber, keeping them informed and interested.

With a very low initial investment (it could be as low as a few hundred dollars to own a podcast), you can reach a wide market base. Once you have garnered a sizeable subscriber base, you may even consider selling advertising space for revenue. So, it also presents another avenue to earn revenues.

Advertising Supplementary Products:

Regularly updating your podcasts keeps customers interested in all that you have to offer. This will ensure that the subscribers regularly tune in to your site and give you an opportunity to introduce a new line or add to your existing line.

Increases Traffic to Your Site Through Networking Sites:

A high-quality podcast is bound to be forwarded, especially with the abundance of social networking sites; the speed with which information can be spread is remarkable. This will generate interest in the company's products and services, increase subscriptions, and in time, sales as well.

One of the best features of a podcast is that it can be accessed anytime, anywhere. Customers have access through their computers and laptops as well as through iPods and cell phones. So, while traveling on the train to work or jogging in the park, subscribers can listen to the podcasts and gain information on your services.

How To Run A Successful Podcast

Ensure that you keep the podcasts free for subscribers to download, especially at the beginning. Over time, if you manage to attract a regular audience and prove the usefulness of your content, then you may start charging a fee. But, till you make a name for yourself, it would be wise to keep it free.

In today's electronic world, podcasting is a very essential marketing strategy that will help you enter new markets. New technologies always fascinate customers. Businesses in all fields, from music to manufacturing industries, would do well to exploit this means of reaching out to the public.

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A Podcast is a series of audio (or video) files containing episodes on a specific topic. Think about your favorite "how-to" TV show. One of my favorites is Myth Busters. Myth Busters is the name of the series and would be the Podcast name. Each week there is a new episode of the series where they cover a specific topic under the general topic of myth busting. However, this is where the similarity stops.

A Podcast and episodes of Podcasts differ greatly from a typical TV series because you must sit down at the designated time each week to watch a TV series. If you miss an episode you have to wait for reruns during the off-season. A Podcast is perfect for our on-demand society. A Podcast is essentially a radio show on demand, time-shifted to fit your listeners schedule. Your listeners can hear a Podcast anywhere and anytime they want; in the gym, out running, driving a car, or sitting on an airplane.

Each episode is stored on a personal computer, smartphone, or iPod, ready to listen to when your listener wants to listen. Yes, just like your TiVo or DVR works with your TV shows. This is the very concept of a Podcast. Capture a previous series or capture each episode as it becomes available. Then listen to it at your convenience.

Just like creating a TV series, you can create each episode just prior to publishing it or you can create multiple episodes and schedule their release. A Podcast accommodates both your schedule and your listeners schedule.

Your listeners will appreciate the convenience and will anticipate the next episode. One word of advice-although cliff hanger's work great for a TV series, they may not be as effective in a business Podcast. But, then, you never know!

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So you've decided to produce a podcast. Good for you! They're a great way to build traffic. And an excellent way to build your reputation as an industry expert.

So have you decided what format you're going to use?

Now let's get something straight right off the bat. I'm not talking about the format of your audio files. That's a matter of choosing between MP3, WAV and WMA (hint, go with MP3). What I'm talking about is the format of the presentation. Think of it as the format of the content delivery.

In this article I'm going to discuss four different formats which you can use for your podcasts. Now while you are going to want to pick a primary format there is nothing saying you can't change the format either occasionally for specials or after a period of time in order to keep the show fresh.

So what are the four most common formats?

The first is the short course. Think of it as a regularly occurring teleseminar. You present the teleseminar. Record it and post it as a podcast. The primary difference between the two forms of learning content is that a teleseminar is usually one to one and half hours in length. Sometimes they'll go longer but they aren't normally any shorter. Podcasts, on the other hand, tend to top out around the one hour range. But other than the length both teleseminars and podcasts are the same. The same techniques and rules apply to both media.

The second format I'm going to talk about is the interview. This consists of having an industry expert (or maybe just someone with an interesting viewpoint) appear on the podcast with the host. The host proceeds to ask the guest questions to explore the guest's opinions and views. The host engages the guest in a discussion about the topic which hopefully will interest the listeners.

The third format is the audio blog. This is probably the shortest format and the most flexible. It also has the least relationship to radio broadcast of any of the formats. Basically it consists of an audio version of a blog entry. Short, hopefully pithy and hopefully interesting to the audience. One day it might contain an article teaching a tool. The next could be an opinion piece (aka a bitch session) on a news item. The next could be a book review. And the next? Well whatever you feel like writing in your blog.

The fourth and final format I'm going to discuss is the column format. Have you seen the interview shows on the television? You know the one where there's a male host and a female host with a stream of guests -- roughly one every seven to fifteen minutes? Or the self-help shows where there's a series of segments - say a review spot followed by a how to use spot, followed by an "in the news" segment? Those are video versions of the column. This is simply the audio version. The podcast is separated into a number of segments with a different topic in each segment. Of course, there should be an overriding theme or topic but each column stands alone.

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I don't know why but every so often, some one will try to promote their product by saying it's going to replace something. That the old is an obsolete tech and will go the way of the dinosaurs.

Podcasts are like that. In many ways they've grown out of radio broadcasting. And every once in a while someone will get on their high horse and claim that radio will be killed by podcasting.

Ain't gonna happen!

Claims like that really only show the lack of understanding of what a podcast is and where it fits. It ignores the audience. And it ignores the subject or topic of the broadcast. Now keep in mind I'm talking about podcasting here. Not just making recordings of earlier broadcasts available over the internet.

Modern radio is an entertainment media. Its focus -- no matter the format -- is on keeping the audience entertained. That's why it tends towards snappy, high energy DJ's and announcers. That's why it focuses on controversial talk radio. It is intended to keep people engaged on an emotional level. Not on an intellectual level.

Podcasts on the other hand have become an educational media. In fact, with only a few early hiccups they always have been. People who are customers for podcasts are looking to fill their time with something useful. That's why they go to the trouble of downloading the podcast. Satellite radio, regular radio even web-radio is much easier to listen to. It takes less effort. Why go to the effort of downloading entertainment when "live" is much easier.

That's also why music is the preferred format for radio. Whether it's rock, pop, folk, classical or country. Or mixed. Most of the modern radio is music. Yes, there is talk radio. Yes, there is sports broadcasting. Yes, there is news. But the vast majority of the airwaves -- literal, satellite or virtual -- is taken up with music.

But the preferred format -- almost literally the exclusive format -- for podcasts is education. It may be lecture, seminar, interview, or audio magazine. But the content is almost always educational.

Podcasting and radio serve two different markets. One focused on entertainment and music. Mindless amusement if you prefer. The other is focused on improving the mind and filling otherwise wasted time with something useful. Confusing the two will result in a podcast that just doesn't satisfy its market. A podcast that will ultimately fail.

Now, who turned down my radio?

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One of the most popular ways to make money online is by means of blogging. Good writing skills can open up to a number of work from home ideas to earn money from home without stressful effort but the time it takes to actually see the income flow could be lengthy. You need to be patient as your traffic gradually develops as a result of your efforts and you need to monitor the traffic so you can compare with the sales or opt-ins that you make. If you want to speed up this process, you can tackle other work from home ideas such as podcasting.

About Podcasting

Podcasting is very similar to writing in terms of planning. What differs is the way you deliver and present the content to your audience. While it is good to have consistent articles flowing through your blog, podcasts add some entertainment and persuasion value that could increase conversion rates if you do them correctly. You can browse the net for other blogs that have podcasts just to hear the unique voices that all have their attraction qualities. Podcasts can support the theme and personality of your site. It can also serve as a refreshment to loyal visitors that do not want to read too many articles or one huge article. Listeners can do other things while the podcast is playing in the background. Podcasts are also more accessible as many portable devices and smartphones support audio streaming.

Podcasting Ideas

When it comes to marketing, the objective is quite similar where you need to get as many listeners and subscribers as possible so your advertisements yield more revenue. You can even use these work from home ideas to save some space since you do not have to put as much text. The space can be used for bigger ads or larger amounts of smaller ads for increased income potential. For indexing purposes, you may add a link that contains the transcript.

Since podcasting requires more effort, it may not hurt to add a donation link to your blog or podcast page if you see that the visitors like what you do. This is a great way to gain some income to add to you revenue as long as you do not aggressively charge visitors to access certain content. Many webmasters provide podcasts for free so you should as well. Visitors will keep coming back if they feel that you as the webmaster want to give them the best experience possible.

Even if you have other work from home ideas that are working out for you, try to build on your podcasting features even more by upgrading your hosting package so you have more bandwidth or check out the online services that are dedicated for podcasting. More bandwidth means more listeners which will multiply your income. Spending what you earned from your advertising is the best way to go if you do not want to put your personal money at risk.

Once your blog is thriving, check on it often and make sure your contact information is up to date because you might receive offerings from bigger companies that wish to sponsor your podcast. As long as you do not place too many advertisements and keep thinking of fresh work from home ideas, your blog should remain as an enjoyable experience thanks to the content and podcast and your revenues should be better stabilized as time passes.

I'm a successful caterer of 23 years but building a part time internet marketing business from scratch. I'm currently making regular sales online with a number of systems I'm perfecting. One of these systems is Affiliate marketing and Affiliate Blueprint is what I've used daily. I'm also passes my knowledge on for free on my personal blog Work from Home Ideas.

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So you've decided to create a podcast. You're all set to star in your own show. There's only one problem. You've heard about regular broadcasts and you're wondering what is involved in producing a podcast. After all, regular broadcasts have producers so shouldn't podcasts?

Don't worry. Producing a podcast isn't as difficult as it seems at first glance.

First off let's answer the question of what is producing. And then we'll get into the tasks involved.

So what is producing a podcast? Simply put anything that isn't on air is considered producing. All the technical and management functions are part of the production aspects. Even the selection of talent would be considered production. Although with a podcast of course the talent is sort of a given!

So what are the tasks involved?

There are six basic tasks involved in producing a podcast.

1. You need to start with a target audience in mind. Everything you do has to be done to attract and retain your target audience. In order to do that you need to develop a profile of the audience you want to attract.

2. You need to determine the format of the podcast. There are several possible formats of podcast from interview to columns to a single class. Each of the formats has its advantages and its disadvantages. You need to pick the one that suits your customer best and requires the least amount of effort on your part.

3. You need to write the podcast script. Depending on the format this may in fact involve many different scripts. However, on the other hand it may also involve a level of scripting that is essentially the same as the script design.

4. You need to record the audio. There's two parts to this. The physical recording of the audio is definitely a production task. The actual audio being recorded is typically considered part of the performance rather than the production. The separation is arbitrary really. Both pieces need to come together to produce a podcast.

5. You need to edit and package the audio. This is really two different tasks that are performed at the same time. Editing the audio involves removing errors and dead air in order to give a polished podcast. During that process music and bridge audio is typically added to give the podcast a professional sound.

6. You need to distribute and market the podcast. The final task in the production of a podcast is getting it into the hands of your audience. This consists of two different but related tasks. The second is marketing which is simply making the audience aware of the podcast. The first is distribution which can take many forms. Some of which are indistinguishable from marketing efforts.

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Every once in a while someone will come up to me and say something along the lines of "I want to have a podcast but I don't know where to start."

My response is usually "Great. Who's your audience and what are you going to say?"

And usually the response is something like a blank look and "Well, I figured I'd talk about... since that's what I'm selling." At which point I have to stop them and explain that they are ahead of themselves.

You've got to start with your audience.

You see that's one of the biggest mistakes that new internet marketers (especially information marketers) make -- they start with their product. But information marketing needs to be a niche marketing endeavor. And the word niche refers not to your product but to your customer.

When creating learning content (aka an information product) -- and a podcast is a form of learning content -- you always need to start with the audience.

Why?

Because your audience is going to be buying your podcast. They may not be paying for it with dollars (although that would be nice). But they will be paying with their most valuable asset -- their time. And you need to provide them with value for their time. Or they aren't going to be interested in downloading or listening. And they shouldn't be.

You also need to be able to motivate your audience. You need to convince them not only to download your podcast but also to listen to it. You need to convince them that this is a must have, must listen podcast. You need to convince them that not only is it valuable to them but it's absolutely necessary for them.

The way to motivate your audience to listen is by picking topics based on what motivates them. It sounds simple. And it is. You need to identify what their biggest and most immediate problem is. You need to identify what they are afraid may happen. And you need to identify what they are hoping will happen. And you need to identify what is at the front of their minds at the moment. What has their immediate interest.

But of course, that's not all you need to do.

You also need to solve, avoid or achieve. That's right you need to solve their problem with your topic. Or you need to show them how to avoid the pain that they are afraid of. Or you need to show them how to achieve their dreams.

But to do that means you need to know them.

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Podcasting is a powerful way of giving your network a more personal connection. Why should you be using podcasts in your business? Well there are a number of reasons; I'm going to give you six.

1. Relationship marketing

The most important reason for doing podcasting is because it's about relationship marketing. Business is still about creating strong, long-term relationships with your prospects, your customers and your clients. And podcasting is a very effective way of doing that.

Like an e-mail newsletter, because you're publishing it regularly, it's a great way to keep in touch while delivering value to the people in your network, the people who are important to you. You deliver value and you get to promote yourself as well. My rule is always 80/20: That is, at least 80% value in every message that you send out and at most 20% self promotion.

2. Prospecting

That leads to the second point, which is about prospecting.

If somebody visits your Web site and they are not in a position to buy yet, you would like to stay in relationship with them. You can do that with an e-mail newsletter, and you can also do that with a podcast. Invite them to subscribe to your podcast and then you get to stay in touch with them. You keep delivering value to them so that when they're ready to buy, yours is the first name that come to mind.

3. Personal connection

The third reason is that it is audio rather than text, which creates a more personal connection. Your listeners hear your voice - your real voice, not the imaginary voice they hear when they read what you've written. Some writers are good at projecting their voice in their writing, but many aren't. A podcast solves that problem, because people really do hear you.

The personal connection really does make a difference. You engage more with your audience and with your subscribers. Don't under-estimate its power.

4. Leading edge technology

The fourth reason for publishing a podcast is because it is (relatively) new technology.

If you're seen as an expert, it's important to be using the latest technology. So if you're a speaker, a trainer, a consultant, a coach, or an author, this is another way of delivering your message. And because it is leading edge, it helps position you in the marketplace as well.

5. Portable devices

The next reason is the iPod - and, more recently, iPhones and other smart phones.

You don't require an iPod to be able to do podcasting, and your listeners don't need an iPod to be able to listen to podcasts. However, the people who do have iPods are able to take their material that they download off their computer and listen to it elsewhere. Podcasting allows you to deliver your message to people not just in their normal work environment, but at the gym, when they're driving, when they're riding a bike, and in other non-work environments.

6. An uncluttered space

The final benefit of podcasting is that although it's very popular, it's still relatively new. So there's an uncluttered space.

In the early days of the Web, there were very few e-mail newsletters. You could go to any Web site that asked for any e-mail address and anybody would give their e-mail address to that Web site. Now, of course, it's the other way around. You have to really work hard to get subscribers to your e-mail newsletter because there is so much spam.

But podcasting is at the stage that e-mail newsletters were a decade ago. You could go to Web sites with podcasts and people will subscribe to podcasts. There are thousands of podcasts on the Internet, so there are certainly far more then any one person would ever subscribe to. However, it's nowhere near as competitive as other things are like e-mail newsletters. So it's still a fairly uncluttered space. You can get a clear competitive advantage by being in that space because you'll still be one of the few.

Gihan Perera is an Internet coach for speakers, trainers, consultants and other experts. He's the author of "Get Active: Web Sites for Speakers, Trainers, Coaches and Consultants" and "Fast, Flat and Free: What You Need to Know to Stay Ahead in a Connected World". Visit http://gihanperera.com/ and get your complimentary copies now.

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Podcasting is basically information presented in an audio format that can be downloaded and listened to at one's convenience. There are a number of reasons why you could become a podcaster: You might want to share your passion, for example music or movies, with a larger audience; you might want to advertise your business; or you could take up podcasting as a business.

The Work

Creating a podcast is a relatively simple task. You need a microphone plugged into your computer and audio recording software. You just have to record an audio file and save it on your computer in an.mp3 format. The last step is to upload the file on a podcasting site. You will also need to know how to create RSS files and upload them.

Before you start recording your podcast, make notes on the topic you want to talk about. Content is still king and listeners get bored easily if they feel you have nothing interesting to say. Play around with ideas for settings. You don't necessarily have to record podcasts in the same place every time. The length of a podcast is important. If used to market a product, it should be about 5 minutes long. Once you start podcasting, be regular. For example, recording a podcast twice a month is reasonable and practical.

Start Up Cost

You can start a podcasting business with less than $100. The start up cost depends on the type of equipment you purchase. Here is the basic equipment you'll need to start podcasting:

Microphone: You will need to get a durable and flexible microphone. There are many varieties available and the price differs according to type.Mixer: Small mixers with four units will suit almost every podcast recording. Again, there are many varieties of mixers, and you have to pick one that is best for you.Soundcard: It is important for high quality sound.Audio software: It is one of the most basic elements of podcasting. With the right software, you will be able to record the podcast, save, and edit it. Sound can also be manipulated for greater effect.

How to Market It

Market your podcast to a target audience. Participate in forums and add a link to your podcast under your signature. Think about investing in banner ads. Some of the smaller community sites sell these ads for a very reasonable price. You can also charge people to listen to your podcast. But with all the free podcasts available, this could be a difficult proposition. You could make submissions of your podcast to podcast directories. Send your podcast URL to different search engines. To do this successfully, keywords play an important role. You could also contact webmasters of sites that deal with topics similar to yours and exchange links. Apart from marketing your podcast online, you could also send a press release to your local newspaper, television, and radio stations informing them about your podcast.

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Are you trying to find ways to reach a bigger audience with your podcast? Maybe you've already got a great listening audience and you're looking for ways to repurpose your podcast into other forms of content? Podcast transcripts are the easy solution and a logical next step.

There are so many benefits to having your podcast transcribed after the episode has aired. These are just a few of the ways transcripts will help you....

Search engine optimization love - You can take your transcript and add it to your website or blog, feeding the search engines loads of good content to crawl and bring new traffic, new readers, and new listeners to your site.

Free stuff to give away - Offer your podcast transcripts to your newsletter subscribers as an extra bonus for subscribing.

Easily create new products to offer for sale (or give away for free) - If you've done a series of podcasts on a particular topic you can take the transcripts and with a bit of editing you'll have a brand new ebook or ecourse ready to sell in no time at all.

Reach people you might not have before - Not everyone is able to listen in, so offering transcripts of your podcast episodes allows those folks to get the information your sharing in a way that is right for them.

Instant articles and blog posts - A podcast transcript can easily be broken down into bite sized pieces and used as articles for article marketing or blog posts to schedule for your blog. Additionally, all of this content can point people to your podcast for more information, there's that search engine love again.

Make a brandable report fast - If you use a PDF brander with affiliate links your podcast transcripts can be used by your listeners and guests to make extra commissions on their favorite products.

Something extra for your guests - Speaking of podcast guests, offering them a transcript of the episode they were on is a great perk to include when asking them to join you on the air.

Make a video - Your podcast and transcript can be combined into a Power Point presentation or slide show style video quickly and easily.

Those are just a few of the things you can do to benefit from a podcast transcription. It's a great way to repurpose content you've already created and use it to reach a wider audience and even improve your search engine rankings.

Teleseminars Transcribed offers accurate and reasonably priced transcription services including podcast transcripts. We currently serve Internet marketers, work at home folks, bloggers, podcasters and others who need transcription services. Additionally we offer e-cover design services and other customized services to your transcript for a complete ready to go product package. We can create a custom package to meet your needs today.

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So you're thinking about starting a podcast, are you? Good for you! You really won't go wrong by starting podcasting. You'll find that you'll be very happy with that decision and probably sooner that you think. But why?

What are the benefits of starting a podcast? Why should you start one?

In this article I'm going to share just four of the reasons - four of the benefits. But there are a lot more than just this.

1. You can sell your podcasts as a product. Most podcasts aren't sold. And there are a number of reasons why you might not want to. However, you can still make money from your podcasts. For example, there is no reason that they can't be combined into a set of CDs (or MP3s if you want the online equivalent) and sold as a collection of podcasts. Or even edited together into a short course on a common topic.

2. Podcasts help you to build a reputation. Because they are focused on you presenting knowledge, the content itself is an excellent way to build your recognition as an expert. But there's more than that. Podcasts are repeating media. Each week there is a new chance for you to show off your knowledge. A new chance for you to establish yourself as an expert. Because of this repeating over and over and over podcasts are an excellent tool to help you establish yourself as an expert. In fact, unless you are singularly incompetent it's almost inevitable that you'll be perceived as an expert in your field.

3. Podcasts help you to build traffic. One of the advantages of a podcast is that it is repeating. Every week people will return searching for your podcast. Why? Because they know that there is new, useful content that they want to experience. So rather than a single visit you are constantly adding new listeners to your existing listeners.

4. Podcasts take up less time and effort than other marketing tools. Videos are complex. Not only do you need to get the content and the audio correct but you also need to get the video correct. Producing a single 10 minute video can take up to two days. Writing articles is simple. But you need lots of them. In fact, you need so many of them that you really can't afford to do them yourself. But podcasts are simple. A complete month's worth of podcasts can be taken from concept to recorded podcast in less than two days of work.

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Podcasting is an extremely powerful tool that should be in every information marketer's toolkit. It can help build your reputation while it attracts traffic to your site. It can provide information to your customers while it helps to position your products.

But it can be frightening. And every once in a while I'll get questions from people who want to run a podcast but are afraid.

One of the most common questions is "What's the best advice for podcasting?" And I must admit to being hard pressed to pick a single piece of advice as the best. There is so much advice possible and so much of it is good and important. However, here are the top five in my opinion from bottom to top.

5. Fix it in the edit room. All too often new podcasters think they have to be perfect. But it just isn't so. In fact, the audience will relate to you better if you make the occasional flub. In fact, the hardest job for the editor isn't fixing your mistakes. It's deciding what mistakes to leave in. As for the rest of your mistakes, remember that your podcast isn't live. It's recorded. That means the audio editor (remember him?) can correct your mistakes. The result could be (but shouldn't be) a perfect podcast. No matter how many mistakes you made!

4. Record podcasts in a batch. Podcasts are a repeating product. You are going to need many of them. It's far more efficient to record them in a batch than it is to record them one at a time. For example if you are producing a podcast once per week, recording one podcast per week is inefficient. You would be better off recording a month's worth of podcasts on one day.

3. Stand up and walk around when you are recording. It sounds odd but there is a good reason for it. Standing up changes your lungs. Simply put you get more air and therefore you can speak better. Walking helps you to put more energy into your speaking. And that passion and energy will be heard by your audience.

2. Smile. If stand up and walk sounded odd, this advice will sound downright silly. But it's true. Your audience can hear you smile. And a smile changes your attitude as well. So always smile when recording your podcast.

And the best advice of all is... (drum roll please!)

1. Be prepared. If you were ever a Scout you heard this phrase time and time again. But it applies to podcasters every bit as much as it does to campers in bear country. But rather than bringing coffee cups and can openers (ever tried to open a can with a sharp stick?) instead you need to plan. You need to plan the audience you want to attract. You need to plan your format to meet their needs. You need to design (aka script) your podcast's columns.

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What is a Podcast and how can it help me get people to my website?

A podcast is basically a recording of you talking to yourself or another person about your specific topic that your website is centered on. I think of a podcast like a shorter version on an audio book. It is informative, it tells me what I want it too but it is much shorter.

How can this help you and your website? Well, first you have to make a podcast. To do this you need a microphone and some recording software. There is some good free recording software if you go to Google and type in "free recording software" you will find several really good ones to pick from.

Once you have your microphone and your free recording software you are ready to go. You can record anything you like about the subject that your site is focused on. So, just start recording and start talking about your subject. Take things off the top of your head about the subject and talk like you would talk to your best friend.

When you are starting to make podcasts make sure that you speak on a subject that you know well if you choose a subject that you are unsure of you are very likely to have pauses and say "err" or "aaggghhhh" of other very embarrassing situations. Practice makes this easier but speaking about a topic you understand will make the process more fluid.

You do not need to be stiff and boring with the information. Play with it, make it fun and crack some jokes if appropriate as well. Granted, if it does not fit the subject then keep the humour to yourself. But you can still be interesting to listen too without being boring.

Have you ever seen on TV infomercials Anthony Robbins the self-help guru? He's been doing them for at least the last 20 or 30 years. Well, he talks the way you want to sound on your recordings. He is just dripping with sincerity, passion and conviction for his subject.

He sounds totally believable and you should as well. This guy makes other people want to listen to him. Do you think if he was boring and monotone people would listen to him? This guy is exciting and his voice is all over the place.

So, go ahead and give it a try. After all, people can't see you so be as wild and crazy as you like and sound like you actually have something to say to the people.

This is going to get more and more people to listen to you and get them to your website because they like what you have to say. So, get out there and spread your message because no one is going to do it for you.

Just make sure you have a good microphone and some free recording software and you will be good to go. Do not underestimate the power of a good microphone, make sure you use digital and not analogue, the difference has to be heard to be believed!

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There are many companies and businesses, including health and wellness practitioners, that use the strategy of teleseminars very successfully. But, that's just the point. So many companies are already using this solid strategy, how can you make your company stand out among the rest? Updating the traditional teleseminar format to become a podcast allows you to make use of many modern technological advances. In today's tough business market, you really must do anything you can to gain an advantage!

Podcasting is simply the use of the Internet to transmit your teleseminar, rather than the old fashioned standard use of the telephone. Adding in the visual component will make your teleseminar far more meaningful and memorable. Participants love to "put a face with the name." People who conduct most of their business over the Internet often find themselves craving any kind of personal connection. And, believe it or not, seeing your face on a screen often is enough! Keep in mind that podcasting doesn't have to be just a video image of you sitting there presenting your information. This type of presentation allows you to incorporate screen shots, video clips, photos and any other type of visual support you can dream of. It can be a very dynamic way to project your message and promote your product or service! For the best success with your podcast teleseminar, consider the following important tips:

Remember that image does count, especially for health and wellness practitioners-you want your audience to believe that what you tell them will get them on the right path toward health and wellness! Using podcasting for a teleseminar adds a visual component to your image that wasn't an issue with the audio-only type of presentation. Be professional, and be sure that the environment that is around you and visible to others is also professional-appearing. This means that if you conduct your successful Internet business while sitting in your boxers on your living room couch, you will need to spruce things up a bit for this occasion.Prepare what you are going to say ahead of time. Nobody wants to hear you ramble on and on. Have an outline, and follow it, but don't simply read from a script. If your podcast or teleseminar does not allow for direct user interaction, encourage your listeners to email you with questions or comments, and develop a regular "series" for your site! Answer last week's questions today.Keep it short, and stick to the designated time frame. Be respectful of your listeners' time-they have set aside a certain time to pay attention to you and have other things to do, too!Use good equipment, like a good quality video camera and a good quality microphone. Make it easy for people to listen!Include frequent references, both verbal and visual, to your site's URL. Make this piece of information one of the most important "take home" messages from your teleseminar, podcast or presentation.

Using the Internet to promote your health and wellness products and services is getting easier by the day-if you know the right techniques and strategies to use!

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There isn't much literature on the history of podcasting but you should know that this new technology hasn't been around for a long time. Podcasting is a relatively new concept and this form of marketing is still relatively new to marketers. I first got my introduction to podcasts when I was making a blog for my website.

When I made my blog, I had no idea about podcasts. I didn't even bother trying to figure out the history of podcasting because I was convinced that it was a passing internet marketing fad that would soon dissipate away - but I was wrong. Podcasting is still strong and is still an excellent way to get your message across to people.

In fact, podcasting is so huge, that even financial expert Suze Orman uses it to promote her business. For every episode that she has, she extracts the audio and places it on iTunes for people to download for free. This is what I love about podcasts. I can load them into my MP3 player and get awesome content for free.

There are all kinds of podcasts out there on the market today, but most of them share the same premise. Podcasts are all about giving out good information to people in a niche, and having them subscribe to your podcast's RSS feed to receive updates when new podcasts are created.

You can get a podcast RSS feed from a free service such as Feedburner.com. When you first sign up to Feedburner, it will ask you if you're using your feed as part of a podcast. You will want to check the box for this field to indicate that you are. This is the easiest way to get started with a podcast RSS feed. After you got your feed, it's time to start promoting it to the world.

One thing that you will want to do is to submit your feed and content to iTunes. iTunes is the largest podcast directory on the net today. This is how I know about Suze Orman's podcast - it's listed in iTunes and it's listed there for free. I highly recommend that you start listing your podcast here for free now.

Another way to promote your podcasts is to include a short blurb about it on every page of your website. This will be a new technique to do since not a lot of people know about the history of podcasting, but for those that do, they will have instant access to your materials all for free.

Another way to get the word out about your podcast is via referrals. Start within your own email list and let them know that they can download your content for free from iTunes. Offer them a gift or incentive of some kind for referring others to your podcast. The free gift could be a complimentary MP3 that isn't available on iTunes.

I can remember when I first got started out online, I offered ebooks for sale and my bonus product was 36 more ebooks. This isn't exactly an awesome bonus, but it worked effectively for getting me sales.

The history of podcasting is a history that doesn't have much past, but you should know that you can take advantage of this growing trend. A lot of people listen to podcasts on a daily basis, and you can capitalize on this growing opportunity by offering podcasts of your own.

Be sure to start incorporating podcasting into your daily marketing routine today.

Good luck with using podcasts to market your internet business.

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No one is perfect, not you, not the most professional broadcaster on the planet. No one. That's why editing exists. To polish your product by removing the weak points. To make your product perfect even if you aren't.

And it doesn't take a lot of money.

In fact you can download the tools you need for free. Yep, for free. There are a lot of articles on the net trying to sell you free audio editing programs. As if that weren't a bit of a contradiction in terms -- sell and free!

Audio editing is a fairly straightforward and mature tool. And most of the software will do the job sufficiently well. To find a program do a Google search using "free audio editing software" as your search term. Personally, I use WavePad (free) and sometimes Nero (not free) however, Audicity is also well thought of and is open source.

In this article rather than talk about the tools, I'm going to concentrate on the four tasks that you will need to do to spruce up a podcast.

1. The first thing you will need to do with an audio editor is to fix your own mistakes. When you are recording your podcast you may have a tendency to try to do everything perfectly the first time. Trust me -- you're not superman! Relax. You are going to make mistakes. Get over it. The editor is the person who is responsible for creating a perfect podcast. Your responsibility when recording is to give him enough material to do his (or her) job.

Mistakes generally fit into four groups. The first is dead air. Especially if you are working on a point level script you will have periods where you can't think of the right word. So you say nothing. Which works when you're on stage but doesn't work when you're only on audio.

The second mistake is what I call the lightly tripping tongue. That's when you try to say one word, get it mixed up with another and end up saying something entirely unrelated to either. Usually well garbled, I normally blame this on rented lips but feel free to blame it on a lack of coffee or any other excuse you wish.

The third mistake is related to our society's lack of vocal censorship. I'm talking about the occasional use of inappropriate language of course. Even the occasional swear word is inappropriate for a podcast unless you are very intentional in its use!

The fourth is results from not using a professional recording studio. I'm talking about the occasional poor sound quality. If you are constantly fixing the sound quality then you need to identify where and why the quality is being disrupted. However, if only occurs infrequently you may prefer to leave it to the editor to fix.

2. The second thing you can use audio editing software to do is change the size and characteristics of the audio file. Most of us record the original in a far higher quality than we really need. And the size of the file reflects that. Audio editing software can allow us to reformat the audio track into a more appropriate size, quality and format.

3. In movies and television, music is an extremely important and powerful tool used to create mood and emphasize elements of the content. The same thing applies in a podcast. You can use audio editing software to add music to help your podcast create the appropriate mood.

4. In a movie or on television there are two parts that always appear -- the beginning credits and the ending credits. Audio also has variations of these. Sometimes called packaging these chunks of editing help your audience to prepare for the show or to absorb what has been said. In any case, they definitely give your podcast a polished, professional sound.

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