Intro to Podcasting

August 18, 2006

We all know that Apple’s release of the Ipod has caused a cultural shift on the internet from reading to listening. The popularity of the Ipod has been almost unbelievable. A lot of other companies have followed suit with their own MP3 players, but the Ipod continues to be the player of choice, the de facto standard of the field. I recently got an Ipod Nano for Christmas. The unit is very easy to use and I can see why people like them. But, I tell you, if my CD collection and downloaded music was all I had to listen to, I would not care for it as much. But, podcasts are MP3 shows which are created by others and freely available on the internet. I can download a podcast to the Ipod and listen to it. In my case, I am interested in tech shows and shows on internet development and marketing. And there is no shortage of them. It is like listening to talk radio on a topic which interests me.

I ran a recent survey on PCMech to get visitor feedback on some new things. One of those things was a podcast show. Surprisingly, several people did not know what I was talking about and had to actually go Google the word podcast to see what it was. So, for the sake of those, I will provide a description. A podcast is simply an MP3 file which is created by somebody and uploaded to the internet for other’s to listen to. The word is a merge between IPOD and BROADCAST. A podcast is not an MP3 of some musical band, in most cases. It is usually a talk radio style show where one or more people are speaking on a topic of some kind.

Why Does it Matter to Me?

I am not talking about podcasts simply because they are cool to listen to. If you have a website and are looking to promote your business, a podcast can be a great way to promote the business. Weeks ago, I discussed the blog and it’s promotional value to a website. A podcast is really the same kind of thing - a blog in audio form. I also wrote a few weeks ago about communicating to your visitors and the importance of being real to them. Well, when your site visitors or potential customers actually HEAR your voice, you are a lot more real to them then you would be if they were just reading about the website. It puts a real voice behind your site. In short, audio can really up the response level on your website.

Should I Make a Podcast?

If you really want to provide a value-added resource to your website, promote your business, and have the time to do it, then you should seriously consider it. You do need to realize, though, that creating a podcast is a lot of work. We all get used to writing for the web and it is a lot easier. Actually speaking and making it sound good is a lot more work. You don’t have the time to think about what to say, and you don’t want to sit there and record yourself with all of your “uummm”s and “uuhhh”s. You will likely want to write a script to begin with, then base the podcast off of that. Also, you don’t want your podcast to sound too unprofessional. The most popular podcasts are the ones which sound pretty well-produced, including intro music, smooth transition, good audio quality, etc.

Before getting started with any podcast, you need to put thought into what you will discuss and how you will approach it. To make a podcast truly work, it needs to be regular. Just like a blog, if users do not see routine updates (in this case, new shows), they will lose interest and leave. So, put some planning into it and make sure you can discuss what you want to discuss in adequate detail and often enough to justify a podcast.

How To Create a Podcast

I can go over this in more detail as soon as we get our new webmaster website launched, but I’ll give you a rundown here. In short, you will need a good microphone for your PC and a sound editing program. Make sure your microphone is not super-cheap. You want a microphone that captures your voice well and offers some kind of noise reduction. For your editing software, there are a lot of options out there. I would recommend you check out Audacity, a free, open source sound editor which is really pretty good. Many podcasts will combine input from more than one person. You will be able to use a program like Audacity to combine audio tracks from multiple sources and make them sound like one, unified show. If the contributors to the show are spread across geographic regions, you can use a internet telephony service like Skype to converse over the internet. Audacity will record any audio which is input to the computer, and that includes input from Skype.

Before you begin, sit down and decide what your topic is going to be for your episode and create a script for it. Now, you do not want to create a word-for-word script for your show. If you simply read your writing on a podcast, the tendency is that you will sound robotic and people will know that you’re reading. So, it is better to create an outline of what you want to talk about, know the subject well, and then speak off the cuff when you are recording. It sounds a lot more natural that way.

When you’re ready to record, you open up Audacity (or the program you chose) and start recording. Speaking for Audacity, the program will break up each recording into tracks. And you will have a timeline at the top. If, when recording, you mess up, you can either delete the track and start over or you can start recording again at the point of your screw-up. When you are done, you compile the whole thing into an MP3 (Audacity will require a free plug-in to do this).

It is best to make the show sound as good as possible. This means editing our long pauses and reducing microphone noise like breathing and moving around. You might also want to use some theme song with which to introduce the show, end off the show, and something to act as transition between segments. All of this can give your show a more professional feel.

Distribution

Usually, podcasters will distribute their MP3 podcasts by way of an RSS feed. The shows will reside on the server, but the RSS feed is a way for outside sources to find your MP3s and it points to the URLs where to download the shows. You can use this form to generate your first feed, or read the technical specs. You can also check out other podcast sites and look at the XML of their feeds. By using an RSS feed, you allow others to subscribe to your podcast and automatically download your show in their program of choice, such as Apple Itunes. You can also allow people to listen to your show right on your website. You can always link to the MP3 file and allow people to download it. But, another option is to provide a streaming feed of the show. In other words, allow them to start listening to the show as it downloads rather than making them download the whole thing first. A popular and easy way to do this is by using a Flash MP3 player, such as Wimpy Player.

Copyright

When creating podcasts, pay special attention to copyright. This will only come into play on any audio you use which you do not create yourself. For example, using any musical tracks as intros subjects you to copyright considerations. It would be illegal for you to use any audio you did not create in your show without permission from the creator of that audio. So, do not rip music from your CD collection for your podcast because it would be a copyright violation. If you have a way to get copyright permission, you would be OK with that. Another option is to use royalty-free audio. You can check out sites like ProductionTrax or UniqueTracks.

Listen to Others

Aside from creating your own, podcasts can be a great way to learn. Besides, if you are interested in creating your own, it is good to listen to others and see what they are doing. The easiest way to get podcasts I have found is Apple Itunes. It is free and it has a section where you can set up your RSS feeds and download shows from sources which you choose. They have a podcast library, too, which you can search to find shows on the topics you are interested in. Yahoo just released a new podcast service as well, which looks quite cool. There are also podcast directories out there, including Podcast.Net and Podcast Directory.

Marketing