In a recent networking situation a small business owner asked me an interesting question.

"Have I missed the boat with Podcasting?"

She went on to explain that some felt that the podcasting wave had crested and anyone who was going to be anybody in the world of podcasting were already doing it and anyone else that tried to join in now would just be lost in the crowd.

I blinked through several moments of silence while I gave that some thought. There is so much in her words that can spark a great conversation. What is meant by "anyone who was going to be anybody" for starters?

Okay, leaving all that behind - her question can be answered easily enough.

No, you have not missed the boat with podcasting.

Podcasting is still a young media. We haven't fully tapped its potential. There will be many more beautiful-young, cranky-old and quirky-offensive podcasting stars born in the months and years to come. We'll read about them on blogs and forums and see their faces in the iTunes Music Store Directory. It is truly not too late for someone to become somebody in the world of podcasting.

Sure, only a tiny percentage of podcasters will make it to the big time. But does that mean that everyone else is wasting their time? Not at all, in fact most people who should be looking into podcasting can be looking at it from a fresh perspective and not even think of podcasting as the chance to be the next big media sensation.

Podcasting is simply making media content available via RSS - and when you think of it that way, you realize that you should be podcasting in one way or another sooner or later.

Here are three reasons why.

1. Your Market Wants It

Your market wants to choose how they will consume your content. If you are writing articles for your website or for distribution, there are many in your target market who would prefer to listen to that article than stop to read it.

I multitask. I would like to keep an eye on new articles being written by more of my favorite people - but I don't have all day to sit and read. I do however have two ears and can easily give one over to listening to an audio feed of articles that I have chosen to monitor.

2. Competitors Want It

Other website owners, newsletter editors and podcasters who reach your desired market would enjoy having more audio and video content to choose for inclusion on their projects. Someday we will be visiting Audio Directories and Video Directories to find media content for inclusion in our podcast or blog the same way that we visit Article Directories today.

You may never host a podcast that reaches 100,000 people - but if you create segments of content that other podcasters can grab and use (giving you appropriate credit) you may just end up reaching 100,000 people after all.

3. You Want It

You want to be making the best use possible of the internet and that means embracing all available technologies. You don't have to launch a podcast 'radio show'. You can simply be podcasting the content you already have. Think about your seminar audios, articles, special reports, ebooks, etc.

If you do love the radio show format, go ahead and do that. But also consider how you can implement podcasting into your business in other ways as well.

Using audio and offer an RSS feed for your content is extremely simple. You can use an all in one solution like Audio Acrobat which allows you to create audios by computer microphone, telephone or by uploading your own recording files; and then lets you create a quick and easy podcast feed of your content.

Now that you have a fresh new view of podcasting, what are you waiting for?

Kelly McCausey owns Mom’s Radio Network (http://www.momsradionetwork.com), a casual network of podcast programs of interest to Moms. Learn more about podcasting at Shoestring Radio [http://www.shoestringradio.com]