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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