First of all you should know that a podcast is a series of media files that are audio or video recorded and released on to the internet. These can either be downloaded for the iPod, and other media devices, including the personal computer. Podcast are a delightful and simple way to get the words out that you are trying to get to your targeted audience. By creating a podcast you will be informing others of information that you would like to share. Whether this information is for a blog, a business, or your own personal opinions; it is able to be downloaded and listened to anywhere and everywhere by those whom are interested. Before you decide to podcast there are a few things you should consider.

Your Product or Opinions:
Depending on your product or the reason you are going to be having a podcast is a very important thing to consider. Are you trying to sell a product of yours? Are you trying to get your company well known for its many services? Or are you simply trying to get your opinions out there about social situations, and other things? No matter what you are trying to do with your podcast, you should be sure that you have chosen your theme for the first podcast and stick with that theme throughout the rest of your podcast.

Reaching Your Target Audience:
Who is your Target Audience? Who exactly are you trying to get your message to? This is a very important thing to consider when you are deciding to create a podcast. By knowing who your target audience is, you will be able to increasingly reach your customers or listeners. The more you can relate to them, the more often they will continue listen. By being yourself and adding your own spin on your podcast, you will be personalizing more with your listeners. This will help you reach them in a way almost as if you were physically there talking to them, compared to text.

An Inexpensive Way To Get You Out There:
If for some reason you cannot seem to afford some advertising, or another way to get your product or services out there. Podcasting is a low cost way to get it done. All that one would need in order to even begin a podcast is a simple microphone and a simple recording program. This is very cost efficient and will hardly cost you any thing, if you already have a built in microphone in your laptop. Once you have recorded your informational podcast simply find a site that will host it and place it on your website or blog to begin.

Over all these are three basic reasons that you should start podcasting. By giving yourself a podcast, you are giving yourself potential to so many new clients and listeners. Have yourself be heard, and get yourself out there. Before you have made your decision to start your podcast, be sure it.

Fred Meek is a professional Austin SEO consultant in Austin Texas. For more information go to Austin Search Engine Optimization.

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Are you selling information or learning content products over the internet? Or are you perhaps using a website to gain leads for your bricks and mortar consulting? Or maybe you're doing a mix and providing coaching or consulting programs through conference calls and collaboration tools.

Whatever you are doing, if it involves being an expert or providing a service, you should start podcasting.

Why?

That's a pretty strong statement after all. There has to be something to back up that statement. There has to be some solid reasoning behind such a statement.

And there is. In this article I'm going to deal with only four of the reasons that you should start podcasting. There are more reasons but these are the most important -- at least to my mind.

1. Podcasting builds credibility.

Podcasting is a repeating learning content product. It's the teleseminar equivalent of articles. But with repetition built in to reinforce the effect. Each week your customer will hear you -- not an outsourced freelance writer but you -- explain something around your product. This constant barrage of quality information will convince your audience that you can be trusted. And trust is one of the major buying criteria.

2. Podcasting builds a reputation.

For the same reason a podcast will help to build your reputation. In fact, it's just the opposite side of the equation. Not only can you be trusted but you can be trusted because you know what you are talking about. The constant repetition of quality information reinforces the fact that you know your subject.

3. Podcasting builds relationships.

Podcasting is a very personal media. Perhaps not as personal as video is but certainly much more personal than writing. It takes a gifted writer to express passion in their writing. To let your audience inside your head enough to feel what you are feeling. But we do it all day long with our voice and our body. That's why people we are close to often mistake what we are saying in our letters but seldom in conversation. (Okay, no communication is perfect. Even body language can sometimes lie. But in general it's still true). The personal nature of podcasting allows your audience to believe they know and like you. And that's the second major buying criteria.

4. Podcasting generates targeted traffic.

There are many ways of generating traffic to your opt-in or sales page. But many of them generate barely qualified traffic. Their conversion rates are unbelievably low. And that wasted traffic -- people who aren't really interested in you and your product -- costs you money. You are better off getting less traffic but increasing your conversion rate. That's the point of targeted traffic techniques such as podcasting. After all, anyone visiting you from the podcast already knows who you are, what you are selling and why they are interested. Chances are they already know they are going to buy when they show up to your site.

Do you want to learn how to create information products (learning content)? Check out my new free eBook "7 Myths and Seven Tricks in Nine Steps": http://www.learningcreators.com/myths.htm.

Do you want to read more free information like this? Go to my blog: http://www.learningcreators.com/blog/.

Glen Ford is an accomplished consultant, trainer and writer. He has far too many years experience as a trainer and facilitator to willingly admit.

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In my last article we looked at what a podcast is, basically a pre-recorded, online, radio show that is distributed via RSS to all those who subscribe to the feed. OK, so it may sound like a neat concept. I've always wanted to do a radio show, but is this really for churches? Should your church podcast and, if so, why?

Church Resource Podcasting

Podcast For Your Members:

If your church is like my church, you never have perfect attendance from all your church members, except maybe on Christmas and Easter. Sure some members are just lazy or not all that interested, but some, if not most, miss church for legitimate reasons. Maybe they are sick. Maybe they had a family emergency. Maybe they're traveling. Your church also probably has some members physically unable to make it to church each week. For those who are interested, they may very well wish they could have been there and would love to be able to participate in the service or at least listen to the sermon. Podcasting will let them.

Not Just Sermons:

Podcasting can also give you a way to engage your congregation. Sermon podcasting is a great place to start, but you can go beyond sermons to short bible lessons, announcements, a youth group podcast, and others. Podcasting can help make church a 7 day a week activity instead of just a Sunday and possibly Wednesday activity.

Podcast For Your Church's Budget:

You may already provide CD's of sermons for people who miss the service. That's great, but I'd suggest that podcasting has three great advantages over CD's.

1.Podcasts are accessible from anywhere as long as you have a computer and an Internet connection. If a member is traveling, they don't have to wait to listen to the podcast. This is especially nice because usually people have time and would love to listen to something while traveling.

2.Podcasts are free. How much does your church spend on CD's? Now imagine if you can get 25% of the people who get CD's to start using the podcasts instead. That could save your church a couple hundred dollars over a year.

3.Podcasts are quick. If you reproduce CD's, it probably takes a significant amount of time. For most churches each CD burned takes from 2-5 minutes. If you burn 100 CD's, that will take 3-9 hours just for the reproducing. With podcasting you just make a digital copy on your computer and upload it for the podcast. Not including any editing time (which you would have to do for a CD as well) you could be done in a just a couple minutes instead of a couple hours.

Church Marketing Podcasting

Podcast For Other Christians:

Many Christians are looking for additional resources for their spiritual walk. I mentioned in my last post that iTunes allows churches to post their podcasts on iTunes for free. This makes your podcast accessible to anyone, including Christians who do not attend your church. By making your sermons and other podcasts available to everyone, these non-member Christians will be able to listen to your podcasts as part of their daily walk with the Lord. These people may just walk through your church doors one day.

Podcast for Non-Christians:

There are people all over the world going through struggles, searching for an answer. You have that answer. Podcasting on sites like iTunes can let your church minister to these people. You can do this with sermons that deal with specific issue, Bible lessons about certain topics, or Q and A podcasts addressing various questions people may have. Podcasting about coping with marriage issues or addictions can a good way to reach out to the non-believing world desperately wanting answers and help. Podcasting about pop issues and subjects is another way to reach people. Some people aren't looking for help, but are looking for information and opinions about various current events and people.

Help Them Find You:

If you want non-church members to find your podcasts, the first thing you need to do is make your podcast available online through various sources. The two key places you should make your podcast available is your church website and iTunes. Facebook is another good place where your members can let people know about recent podcasts. The second thing you need to do is use titles and descriptions which include words and phrases people search for. That may mean that you need to "de-christianize" the title of a sermon to use words and phrases used by the rest of the world. Regardless, the key is to think about the words and phrases people may use to search about the topic of the podcast and then incorporate those words and phrases into the title. You should also use your Church's name as the author/artist. That way people will see your church's name and, if/when they decide to visit, they will know where to go.

Podcasting can be a great outreach and/or inreach tool for the church. The average American has an 80 minute commute. They want something to help pass the time. Podcasting can also help keep people company (listening to someone speak to them) and start to build a relationship. If you listen to talk radio, as I do, after a while you start to feel as though you know the people you listen to. By podcasting, people can start to form a relationship with your church. That may lead to some of those people visiting and joining your church. Even if they never step foot in your church, you may still have a life changing impact on their lives for Christ. And isn't that what we are trying to do?

Kurt Steinbrueck is the author of the Church Marketing Online blog. He has been providing Christian SEO services for church marketing solutions. You can find the original version of this article at http://churchmarketingonline.com/2009/04/why-should-your-church-podcast/

Podcasting is just a tool that is doing very well right now. Podcasting is the online (on the Internet) distribution of audio or video files, like radio broadcastings and music videos, to listen to on mobile devices and computers. It is possible to download free podcasts online to listen to on your mobile device but the big difference between radio on demand and podcast broadcasting is the possibility of an automatic feed to your mobile device or computer. Podcasting is still malleable as it is an emerging technology. It will be interesting to see how it plays out over the next 12 months as it hits the mainstream.

Podcasting is a strong business tool. Podcasting is an evolutionary technology which would continue to gain popularity because of the convenience it lends to users. Forward thinking technologies like podcasting give more flexibility and ease of usage to the users. Podcasting is a way to automatically transfer files from server to client. The files can be in several formats, images, text, PDF, almost any type which makes this type of broadcasting very flexible.

Podcasting is actually relatively simple. In another article I will be including information on how to create a podcast using the telephone. Podcasting is a disruptive technology that is revolutionizing business communication. As such, it is a proven innovation that creates customers. Podcasting is cost effective, simple to do and can reach a worldwide audience. This means that students can achieve high quality exposure using school or library resources.

Podcasting is not limited to iPods. You can listen to a Podcast on any computer or any MP3 player.

Podcasting is a cutting edge technology which if implemented effectively will enrich our day to day lives. Podcasting is like the unexplored country, this means that anyone with something to say, has an opportunity to say it, whether they have political views or success tip for people. The result is you're going to get podcasts which provide real value and podcast which waste your time and podcast which can potentially offend. Podcasting is spreading like wildfire, and now is your opportunity to start reaching out to people today.

Podcasting is the mechanism in the same way that blogging is. Some blogs are as professionally done and well thought out as any book or magazine article and some are dashed off like a Twitter entry. Podcasting is generally inexpensive to implement. Investment in a good quality microphone will ensure that the recording is audible. Podcasting is extremely beneficial in the business environment for a variety of reasons. To begin with, the users can subscribe to whatever may interest the user.

Podcasting is a new trend, and there are a lot of people who haven't heard of it or don't know exactly what it is. Basically, podcasting is like blogging, but with audio. Podcasting is a new technique, and it's also something that people have been doing a lot of thinking about of late. It was our opinion that if it was financially/technically feasible for us to podcast our sessions, and see what comes of that, then we really had to do it to maintain our credibility as Web 2.0 boosters. Podcasting is a viable and interesting new method of communication. Use podcasting to boost your company to the forefront of your industry.

Podcast Marketing is the method of creating and publishing audio and video programs via the Internet. It allows companies or marketer's users, clients, and customers to subscribe to a feed of new information about products and services. Podcasters may indeed revitalize the art of radio itself. And they're hitting it in all four of radio's vanguards: Sound design, talent, revenue, and distribution.

How do you create wealth in this slowing economy? Eugene Rivera has the marketing techniques to build a recession proof business. Discover how to apply these techniques to make your business soar to new heights. Get more information now before it's too late at http://www.truewebsuccessreviews.com.

A podcast, in case you're not entirely sure, is little more than an audio file posted on either a website or a blog. In some ways, it's like a radio program on a topic of your choice, except that it's ready to be listened to whenever you are. In other ways, it may be more comparable to downloading music, except that it's usually free and offers businesses a unique resource. Another comparison still might be a book on tape, except there's no cassette or trip to the bookstore. However you want to look at it, what a podcast can do for your business is present relative information for customers and employees in any number of audio forms, including lectures, interviews, talk shows, meetings, sermons - anything that works for your business.

Explore a podcasting directory such as iBizRadio for a short amount of time and you will find that there are innumerable ways businesses and individuals are already utilizing this young technology. Some companies offer tours, others offer training via podcast. Schools provide news and parenting tips while hospitals showcase health programs.

In addition to the variety of formats possible for your particular niche, podcasting also offers a new dimension of information diffusion that can make it easier for your business to establish a deeper connection to its customers than ever before. Teleconference calls, audio newsletters, and lectures delivered via podcast are only a few of the ways businesses are already managing to use podcasting to strengthen and simplify their relationships with their customers. Because the podcast is available at any time, customers are able to listen as they wish on their computer or MP3 player, or even burn it to a CD to listen to in their car or while on a jog. In this form, your message becomes both portable and time-shifted. Even better, customers can subscribe and get your podcast updates downloaded to their computer automatically, with no additional work from you. While podcasting is a powerful and fresh tool for business, it is also very easy to understand and use, and the software is almost always free. Many podcasters work with nothing more than their computer and a microphone. Low-cost delivery audio messages can be targeted to and tailored for your audience at little or no cost to your business. With the growth of podcasting technology (keep in mind the more than 50 million ipods sold and counting), the potential pool of customers is already enormous, and expanding.

Though the technology as it applies to business is in its infancy, some businesses are already beginning to share and compare what is and isn't working for business podcasting. If podcasting is something you're considering for your business, you may want to think about a few things: Depending on the format, keep the audio length and your customer's attention span in mind. Even as much as 15 minutes might be too long for some podcast formats or topics (or customers). As always in business, being concise and targeted is likely to pay off best.
Advertising over a podcast may or may not work - the jury's still out. One thing most in the podcasting industry agree on is that the technology is still new enough that businesses should remain cautious about inserting ads into podcasts. In radio an ad is acceptable, but for a download it's usually not. A re-invention or new form of advertising to suit podcasting may take place at some point, but it hasn't happened yet.
One way to make sure your podcast is easy to find is to make sure you're using the keywords or categories your customers will use, so give your podcast's tagging some thought.
Make sure your podcasts are easy to subscribe to and listen to by offering customers links to listen right away and to subscribe. Apple itunes 4.9 allows podcast listings in a directory almost tailored for marketers, as well as a customer-friendly subscription service.
For more topic ideas and tips on podcasting, TMA E-Marketing specializes in helping businesses podcast along with promoting, crafting, and marketing your message.
Though podcasting has only been around a short time, more than 6 million people have downloaded a podcast. Don't kid yourself: this technology is applicable to much more than leisurely interests and music. Podcasting is just waiting to be discovered and explored by business. But don't let time-shifted radio pass you by, the time to get on board with podcasting is now.

Christian Del Monte: Director of Operations for TMA E-Marketing has a B.S. degree in Marketing from Minnesota State University, Mankato. In addition, Christian has over 10 years in personal sales experience and has directed the operations for TMA for the last 4 years.

He has directed and worked on Internet marketing projects for mid to large-scale clients including several fortune 500 companies. Christian continues to head up the operations for TMA as well as lead research and development on vertical search markets and business blogging.

Podcasting is just a tool that is doing very well right now. Podcasting is the online (on the Internet) distribution of audio or video files, like radio broadcastings and music videos, to listen to on mobile devices and computers. It is possible to download free podcasts online to listen to on your mobile device but the big difference between radio on demand and podcast broadcasting is the possibility of an automatic feed to your mobile device or computer. Podcasting is still malleable as it is an emerging technology. It will be interesting to see how it plays out over the next 12 months as it hits the mainstream.

Podcasting is a strong business tool. Podcasting is an evolutionary technology which would continue to gain popularity because of the convenience it lends to users. Forward thinking technologies like podcasting give more flexibility and ease of usage to the users. Podcasting is a way to automatically transfer files from server to client. The files can be in several formats, images, text, PDF, almost any type which makes this type of broadcasting very flexible.

Podcasting is actually relatively simple. In another article I will be including information on how to create a podcast using the telephone. Podcasting is a disruptive technology that is revolutionizing business communication. As such, it is a proven innovation that creates customers. Podcasting is cost effective, simple to do and can reach a worldwide audience. This means that students can achieve high quality exposure using school or library resources.

Podcasting is not limited to iPods. You can listen to a Podcast on any computer or any MP3 player.

Podcasting is a cutting edge technology which if implemented effectively will enrich our day to day lives. Podcasting is like the unexplored country, this means that anyone with something to say, has an opportunity to say it, whether they have political views or success tip for people. The result is you're going to get podcasts which provide real value and podcast which waste your time and podcast which can potentially offend. Podcasting is spreading like wildfire, and now is your opportunity to start reaching out to people today.

Podcasting is the mechanism in the same way that blogging is. Some blogs are as professionally done and well thought out as any book or magazine article and some are dashed off like a Twitter entry. Podcasting is generally inexpensive to implement. Investment in a good quality microphone will ensure that the recording is audible. Podcasting is extremely beneficial in the business environment for a variety of reasons. To begin with, the users can subscribe to whatever may interest the user.

Podcasting is a new trend, and there are a lot of people who haven't heard of it or don't know exactly what it is. Basically, podcasting is like blogging, but with audio. Podcasting is a new technique, and it's also something that people have been doing a lot of thinking about of late. It was our opinion that if it was financially/technically feasible for us to podcast our sessions, and see what comes of that, then we really had to do it to maintain our credibility as Web 2.0 boosters. Podcasting is a viable and interesting new method of communication. Use podcasting to boost your company to the forefront of your industry.

Podcast Marketing is the method of creating and publishing audio and video programs via the Internet. It allows companies or marketer's users, clients, and customers to subscribe to a feed of new information about products and services. Podcasters may indeed revitalize the art of radio itself. And they're hitting it in all four of radio's vanguards: Sound design, talent, revenue, and distribution.

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