A Starting Guide to Podcasting

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podcast-microphone

This week, we have discussed about content marketing and its benefits for your business. One thing you need to know is the fact that “content” comes in many different forms. You have a lot of options to choose, from blog posts, social media updates, visuals, videos, presentation slides and many more.

How about podcasts?

Yes, you read it right. Podcast is one of many clever ways to incorporate ideas and thoughts into the content plans of some of the top forward-thinking websites and blogs.

Podcast is a growing trend that is here to stay. Have you ever thought about starting your own?

Reasons Why People Haven’t Started To Create Their Own Podcasts

Most business owners understand what a podcast is, yet very few of them are actually utilising it well. They said “I have always been podcast averse but never quite able to put my finger on why”.

Here are some common reasons:

  • “My voice is ugly.”
  • “The technical skills needed to record, upload, and store audio files are out of my reach.”
  • “The cost of good quality equipment exceeds my small budget.”
  • “I have no prior experience in public speaking.”

So what can you do about it?

The Advantage Of Podcasts

First of all, let us ask a simple question: When was the last time you listened to a podcast? Here’s the catch: If it’s been awhile for you, chances are that someone you know has listened pretty recently.

Commuting–be it by train, subway, or car—along with the ubiquity of mobile devices has contributed a huge opportunity for the growth of podcasts. People who listen to podcasts via mobile devices grew 10% from 2010 to 2012.

Then there are the strategic reasons, too. Podcasting is a less crowded content channel than blogging, thus it has a deeper engagement. Listeners tend to stay tuned in longer times on podcasts rather than with blog contents. Anther advantage of an audio content like podcast is that people can do multitasking when listening to a podcast. They can listen to a podcast while cooking or driving. The same can’t be done for blog posts or any form of visual content.

Done right, there are many advantages to start your own podcasts – new audiences, less competition and greater engagement to name a few. The good news is, it takes less than you think to get started. Here’s all that’s needed for a beginner to create an amazing podcast.

Things That You Need

To create a good podcast, you will need good equipment. Still, podcasting can be done a bare minimum setup. You can record a podcast with nothing more than your smartphone, yet it will sound like a phone call recorded on a mobile device.

Invest enough to create a quality podcast, see if people like it, then advance from there.

1. Buy a good microphone

Audio quality begins and ends with a microphone. The better microphone you buy, the sharper your podcast will sound. Don’t worry, getting a good-enough microphone will not deplete your budget. USB microphones—like the Snowball by Blue Microphones—start around $60. Most buying advice you’ll read about podcast microphones is to purchase a dynamic microphone that is front-firing with good rejection, meaning it picks up your voice clearly without the unwanted sounds of wherever you’re recording.

You can also pick up a headphone/microphone headset for around $30. This is a great option if you’ll be podcasting with cohosts or with guests (more on this below). If you opt for the standalone mic, you can always grab a separate set of headphones—even some you have lying around—and you might also consider buying or fashioning a microphone stand so that you’re comfortable for your podcast.

2. Create A Good and Engaging Concept

Before you press the record button, there are a couple things to think about for your podcast:

  • Format: What’s my podcast going to look like?
  • Topic: What’s my podcast going to say?

There are a lot of podcast format, such as one-man shows, co-hosts shows, guests, call-ins, etc. Choose the ones that represent you and your company.

3. Stick to 2-3 people on your show

To make the shows more “lively”, you might want to involve two or three hosts. Sure, it’s possible to create a on-man-talking podcast that is interesting enough to stick with, but two or three people chattering to each other is the most common format.

4. Start Recording

When it comes time to do the actual recording, the easiest solution might be a simple recorded Skype call. You can call up your co-host or guests via Skype, and record the call with special Skype recording software. When you’re finished, an editing application can help with the clean up, processing, music, and publication.

For Mac users, you can use:

  • Record calls with Call Recorder for Skype ($15 to $30)
  • Edit with GarageBand ($0)

For PC users, you can use:

  • Record calls with Pamela ($0)
  • Edit with Audacity ($0)

Tips: If you have co-hosts, you might consider each of you recording your end of the conversation and stitching the separate audio files together in post-production. This makes for cleaner audio.

After you’ve finished recording, editing, and producing your podcast, you can upload it to hosting sites like Libsyn, Soundcloud, and TuneIn, or you can aim to get your podcast live on iTunes. Here’s what’s involved in taking your podcast onto iTunes:

  1. Create an RSS feed for your podcasts. If you upload your files to a site like Libsyn, the feed creation is done automatically for you.
  2. Click on “Submit a Podcast” in the iTunes Store. Open iTunes, navigate to the store, click on Podcasts from the top menu, and the “Submit a Podcast” link will be in the right column under Quick Links.
  3. Enter your feed URL and fill out the other information required (Name, Author, Description, etc.)
  4. Click submit.

podcasting-on-itunes

With the help of numerous social media channels, promotion and sharing of your podcast becomes an easy thing to do. If you use Soundcloud, for instance, there is a complete set of built-in sharing options. You can share directly to Twitter, Facebook, and more, and you can embed the audio directly into your blog posts.

Embedding a podcast to your blog content is the perfect way to gain readers’ attention. Many famous blogs sync their podcast to the blog post, adding the audio directly into the body of the post and providing either a full transcript of the podcast or a list of topics and resources covered in the podcast. Plus, a complete transcripts can be helpful for SEO and accessibility too!

Follow this rule for ideal podcasting:

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