As a business owner or professional, you'll be looking for ways for effective and cost-effective ways to expand your business. Podcasting is an excellent way to promote your business or provide added value for your clients. They can help you build your list of actively interested followers and enhance your professional reputation and authority within your field.

In this article, I'll be showing you how you can make a professional level podcast in ten simple steps without needing to be a computer wizard.

Let's begin with a brief explanation of a podcast.

A podcast is simply a digital media audio file (called an MP3 file) or video file that is available on the internet for downloading and playback on a mobile device such as an iPod or other MP3 player, laptop, tablet or desktop computer. This flexibility allows the listener to listen to a podcast wherever they choose - at home, whilst travelling, or at work. Knowing this, you can create content that's appropriate to the different environments or aspects of a listener's life-style.

There are many programs available that will help you create a podcast but for our example we are going to use the most popular, that is soundcard.com. Once you've gained familiarity with the process, look around at other options that appeal to you.

So let's get started!

Step 1: First you'll need to check that your audio and/or video file is in MP3 format. If the file isn't in MP3 format then use a file converter. All you need to do is use specific software which allows you to convert and encode sound files on PC and Mac. It's very quick and easy to do so don't be put off if this is what you need to do.

Use your search engine to run a search on something like "file converting mp3" and a list of free or commercial software providers will lead you to the right choice for you. Within a few minutes of starting, you'll be able to turn your content into an appropriate file type.

If your audio/video file is all ready to go then move onto step 2.

Step 2: Set up a FREE account at soundcloud.com

Soundcloud's free account has storage limits, but once you reach your limit, you can upgrade for a small fee. Setting up an account is a quick and simple process with clear instructions to take you through each step. It took less than 5 minutes to set up my account and complete my profile.

As you're creating podcasts for professional and business reasons, create a username which reflects your brand correctly and include your photo or company logo image for your profile. It's best as with all things social media, to up a different account for more personal material...

Once your account is active, upload your MP3 (that is, follow instructions that allow the file to be copied from the computer onto their server). Once the MP3 is uploaded make certain that you make the file public, downloadable, and that you adjusted the settings so that you have activated it for widgets.

So far, so good... now for step three

Step 3: If you don't have a blog already you can go to a site like blogger.com and setup a free blog/podcast account. Once you have activated your account you're ready to start posting. Now we need to link your audio file to your blog so that it appears as a new post.

Step 4: If you're using blogger, to start posting click on "Start Posting", then click "Settings", and then click "Formatting". Once under the formatting tab look for the "Show Link Field" make sure this field is set to "Yes" and save the settings.

Step 5: Now click on the "Posting" tab to return to the blog, and then click on "Add a new post". Once under "Add a new post" give the post a title and then paste in the URL link for the podcast from soundcloud in the "Link" box.

Here you can also write a description of the podcast in the main body of your post - don't forget to use strong keywords to make the most of your search engine optimisation (SEO) potential. When you're finished, click "Publish".

For wordpress, depending on your template, you should be able to see icons by the box where you would type in a new entry. By the icons you should see "upload/insert". Select either audio or video depending on the file you want to add to your blog.

For the final stages, we need to set up the feed for your podcast so that people can subscribe to it. Again, it's a simple process and I've chosen a popular service called feedburner.com to do this.

Step 6: Go to feedburner.com and either setup a new account (if you've Google account use it to log in).

Step 7: Once you've logged in, paste the URL from your blog post into the "Burn A Feed Right This Instant" section, then click "I'm a podcaster", and then click "Next".

Step 8: Now you want to give your feed a title and address, then click "Next". Again, to make the most of this SEO opportunity, ensure you've used the strong and relevant keywords. Once you've submitted this information, it can't be changed so do spend a few minutes thinking about what you type.

Step 9: That's it; your podcast feed is now live and ready for downloading. Well done! But before you're completely finished, there's just one last important step to complete.

Step 10: By ensuring your podcast process is iTunes friendly, you'll allow your audience to select your content from one of the world's largest resources. Indeed, there is an expectation that your podcast will be available through this outlet.

To make that happen, just click "Next" on the Congratulations page. This screen will allow you to choose several options that will make your podcast iTunes friendly - click "Next" when done. This screen will also let you track different stats from your podcast and is worth setting.

Well done, you've set up your podcast in ten steps!

In around half an hour, you provided yourself with the tools you need to share your podcast with a global audience. To add more episodes just simply follow the above steps again, but as there's no need to set up another account, just log in. Don't forget your feed address is the address set in Step 8

Sumi Olson is a sales & marketing professional with over 20 years' experience. If you want to satisfy your publishing or writing aspirations, meet your sales, marketing & management objectives, or achieve your social media & online marketing targets, then Sumi Olson can give you the hands-on tools and knowledge you need.

To get in touch or read more on how she can help you, just connect with her on LinkedIn http://uk.linkedin.com/in/sumiolson or visit http://www.olsonservices.co.uk/.

View the original article here