The Podcasting Series: Part One: The Introduction
What is podcasting?
The word “podcasting” makes the process sound more mysterious than it actually is. A podcast is nothing more than an audio file you record and then place on the internet, where people can play them directly from your website or download them to listen to later.
That’s it.
Why should you care?
More and more people are turning to podcasting on their blogs, and with good reason. Podcasting is still in its infancy (as is blogging, really), but it’s already a very popular and rapidly-growing medium. Podnova had just over 22,000 podcast feeds…today, they have over 390,000.
That’s a one-year growth rate of over 1600%.
If you haven’t considered providing a podcast, you should. However, as with all things, you should do it properly to get the results you want.
What results do you mean?
I’ll use my own results as an example. On my blog LagORama, I occasionally put a very short-form podcast up, just for fun. However, the first time I posted one to my blog after I had installed Google Analytics for my blog, I noticed something interesting in my traffic graph.
I posted the podcast on January 9th, late at night. The sharp upward spike in my blog traffic stretches from the ninth to the tenth.
Keep in mind, I did very little to promote this podcast above and beyond the promotional efforts I make for each blog post (as is usually the case). Also keep in mind, I did nothing different that day than any of the others represented on that graph.
The only possible reason for the spike was the podcast, as was evidenced by the download stats for the file, which was a number that reflected a several hundred percent increase over my average daily traffic.
Okay, I’m sold. I’m gonna start podcasting now!
Not so fast, Kemosabe. If you plan to podcast to help your home business site or blog, you should know how to make it effective for you. I’ll be covering this advice over the next week or two, so check back often, and feel free to ask me any questions you may have in the comments section below.
37 Responses to “The Podcasting Series: Part One: The Introduction”
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Podcasting is definitely something every small business should consider doing (along with blogging, of course). It’s a great way for home businesses to position themselves as experts in their industries, especially since not many companies are doing it yet. What’s more, large companies are so slow to transition into technologies like this and so slow to see the value of it that SMB’s and SOHO’s can really get a leg up. Of course, it all comes down to whether or not there are enough tools available to make podcasting easy to do. That remains to be seen.
Manizesto,
The tools are definitely available, and it’s easier than you might think…at least, from a technical perspective. Stick around for the rest of the series, and I’ll lead you through it. :)
“A podcast is nothing more than an audio file you record and then place on the internet, where people can play them directly from your website or download them to listen to later.
That’s it.”
Almost, but not quite. You’ve missed off the whole ‘subscription via RSS’ side to podcasting, which is what *really* makes it interesting. It’s this ability to deliver audio files to subscribers automatically via RSS which seperates a podcast from, say, an audio stream or mp3 download.
They key is the RSS feed. The automatic delivery si great. The other great thing (unlike radio) is the time shifting capability. I’m listening to podcasts that were published 2 weeks ago. The content is great, and it makes no difference.
As a business, I have a client who is using it to generate QUALITY leads. The listener listens to your podcast and gets to know you (24/7 I might add) and then later call you and at this point they already trust you. (Hear this in episode #120 at http://schoolofpodcasting.libsyn.com/index.php?post_id=296312 )
I know a marketing guy who put out a marketing podcast. His podcast got him directly to the CEOs of companies (that he would never had a shot of seeing). He has since quit podcasting (his podcast brought him too many clients).
Dave Jackson
http://www.schoolofpodcasting.com
http://www.personalpodcastcoach.com
@Ricky: Yes, that’s the other necessary component of podcasting. However, this series is being written as an introduction to podcasting for people who have absolutely no idea what it entails. RSS subscriptions are coming up…first, I’m going over the basics of how to actually make a quality podcast.
@Dave: Yes, podcasting can be incredibly effective…if it’s done correctly. That’s the process I’m going to try to outline here…how to make a quality podcast. (Fantastic success stories there, by the way, and proof that podcasting is something every business should consider.) Dave knows his stuff!
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