The importance of promoting your podcast should never be underestimated. The creation of your podcast is only part of the work involved in being a podcaster. Promoting your podcast is just as important as creating it, and without proper promotion your podcast may just fizzle and die. Many of the tried and true techniques to promoting websites can be converted to promoting your podcast.

I. Podcasts should be submitted to several podcast directories. Podcast directories offer Internet users a wide selection of podcasts all in one place, and will allow more exposure for all podcasts submitted for inclusion. Most directories are separated into several categories, some more detailed than others, and will allow potential listeners to more easily find what they are looking for.

II. Think of the RSS feed as an advertisement. Many people fail to realize the full value of their RSS feeds; so many podcasters make the mistake of not using the full potential of the feed. It's sad to think about how often a podcaster has failed to include a full and detailed summary of the podcast, or how often a podcaster fails to provide even a simple image (some people commonly refer to this as "Album Art"). The item description fields for podcasts are many times lacking relevant information about the podcast. Take the time to properly utilize a podcast's RSS feed. Podcasters should consider writing a 100-150 word podcast summary, and spend equal effort on each and every item description.

III. Never underestimate the value of having graphics for a podcast, and podcast website. As stated earlier, many podcasters forget to include an image (Album Art) in their RSS feeds. Images and logos are very important to "brand" recognition and are extremely important for promotional purposes. Some of the best album arts are those, which are bold, yet simple; some of the best album art may only take less than an hours worth of time. Images should be consistent, the same image which is used on a podcast's website should be used for the feed; this can be easily achieved by some simple resizing and cropping.

IV. Create a community forum, or message board for your podcast. Not only will this help people come back repeatedly to your website for discussion, but it will become an important tool for discovering what your listeners want. There are several free message boards / forum scripts available on the Internet that can be easily and freely installed to any website.

Keeping the preceding thoughts in mind, in combination with traditional Internet promotion techniques and any podcaster should be able to achieve a significantly successful podcast promotion. The success of which could be very important to the podcast's survival.

David is a freelance writer and chief editor for PodcastFerret.com podcast directory, where you can find feeds, download, rate, and comment on podcasts. Add your podcast to PodcastFerret.com today.