Podcasts - Different Types of Formats

So you've decided to produce a podcast. Good for you! They're a great way to build traffic. And an excellent way to build your reputation as an industry expert.

So have you decided what format you're going to use?

Now let's get something straight right off the bat. I'm not talking about the format of your audio files. That's a matter of choosing between MP3, WAV and WMA (hint, go with MP3). What I'm talking about is the format of the presentation. Think of it as the format of the content delivery.

In this article I'm going to discuss four different formats which you can use for your podcasts. Now while you are going to want to pick a primary format there is nothing saying you can't change the format either occasionally for specials or after a period of time in order to keep the show fresh.

So what are the four most common formats?

The first is the short course. Think of it as a regularly occurring teleseminar. You present the teleseminar. Record it and post it as a podcast. The primary difference between the two forms of learning content is that a teleseminar is usually one to one and half hours in length. Sometimes they'll go longer but they aren't normally any shorter. Podcasts, on the other hand, tend to top out around the one hour range. But other than the length both teleseminars and podcasts are the same. The same techniques and rules apply to both media.

The second format I'm going to talk about is the interview. This consists of having an industry expert (or maybe just someone with an interesting viewpoint) appear on the podcast with the host. The host proceeds to ask the guest questions to explore the guest's opinions and views. The host engages the guest in a discussion about the topic which hopefully will interest the listeners.

The third format is the audio blog. This is probably the shortest format and the most flexible. It also has the least relationship to radio broadcast of any of the formats. Basically it consists of an audio version of a blog entry. Short, hopefully pithy and hopefully interesting to the audience. One day it might contain an article teaching a tool. The next could be an opinion piece (aka a bitch session) on a news item. The next could be a book review. And the next? Well whatever you feel like writing in your blog.

The fourth and final format I'm going to discuss is the column format. Have you seen the interview shows on the television? You know the one where there's a male host and a female host with a stream of guests -- roughly one every seven to fifteen minutes? Or the self-help shows where there's a series of segments - say a review spot followed by a how to use spot, followed by an "in the news" segment? Those are video versions of the column. This is simply the audio version. The podcast is separated into a number of segments with a different topic in each segment. Of course, there should be an overriding theme or topic but each column stands alone.

How to Begin Podcasting the Right Way   The Art of Podcasting   How To Pick A Great Name For Your Podcast   

How to Put Podcasts on Your Website With HTML

It's fun to plan podcasts. It's a learning experience to design them. It's great to record podcasts. It's joyful to edit them and watch them change from a raw recording to a professional product.

But at some point the rubber has to hit the road. That podcast you spent so much time creating needs to be put up on your website.

Now there are many ways to get a podcast on to a website. The easiest of course is to use a podcast publisher. These websites perform the same function as YouTube does for videos. They bring together the creators and producers of podcasts with the consumers of podcasts. Each of these publishers has their own process for submitting and then embedding podcasts. So I'm not going to deal with them.

Equally, many people use WordPress or other content managers to maintain their websites. Putting podcasts on WordPress websites is worthy of an article all by itself.

Instead I'm going to focus in this article on how to put podcasts on your website when it is a basic html site. I'm also going to presume that you aren't going to just turn the file over to a webmaster to install. You are either going to do it yourself or you need to know how it is going to be done.

First off you need to realize that a podcast is just an MP3 file. Theoretically it can be any type of audio file but the MP3 format is currently the best and most flexible for the purpose. And like any other file it needs to be uploaded to the website in order to use the web to distribute it. You can use an FTP client for this purpose. Or you can use one of many FTP in hiding techniques. These are generally part of your web editing tool and go by the name of upload or post or publish.

Once you have the MP3 file uploaded you are ready to use it.

If you were to simply put the http: location on the website as an "a" type basic link, the process would work. However, it wouldn't be a podcast. In that case, what would happen is the file would be downloaded to the audience member's computer and a media player such as Windows Media Play or QuickTime or Real Player would launch outside of the browser.

In fact you may want to provide that capability to allow your audience to upload the podcast to their MP3 players.

Instead you should use the embed command with the src or source file being the location of the file. This will cause the audience member's MP3 software to launch within the browser. You also have the ability to modify the size of the player so that only a control will show.

How to Begin Podcasting the Right Way   The Art of Podcasting   How To Pick A Great Name For Your Podcast   

Internet Marketing - How To Make And Use Podcasts

When recording a podcast, you should know that it can be challenging. You need a good and clear microphone, a good subject to talk about for 30 to 60 minutes, and a way to distribute your podcast all over the internet. If you're brand new to using podcasts, then I think today's lesson will be of some use for you.

The first thing that you should know is that podcasting is very easy to do. You can create a podcast, and use it to bring tons of new traffic back to your website on a daily basis. You should know that the best way to conduct your podcasts is to record them yourself. Don't use one of those cheap "text to speech" software out there. I assure you that this will do no good for your business.

Take some time out for your business so that you can record the podcast yourself. It won't take long, and it will improve the chances of having someone come back to listen to your podcasts again. The more good information you deliver, the more people will return for more, and the more your popularity will grow with your podcast fan base.

After you have recorded your podcast, you will want to do some marketing for it. The first place you should submit your podcast to is iTunes. iTunes is the number 1 podcast directory on the internet, and it gets a lot of visitors to their site each and everyday. People come to this site everyday to download new podcasts that they can use to improve their lives, or just to hear some information and music that is enjoyable.

Make sure you get a good microphone to record your podcast with. It's something that you will want to do if you want to have the utmost success with your podcast today. You don't want to record over a low quality webcam that has a lot of noise and static in the background. This is just bad for business.

Instead, purchase a high quality microphone, and use a good program that's out there that will allow you to record your lengthy podcasts simply and easily. But of course, if you don't want to do the podcast yourself... you can always outsource it to someone else. The drawback is that you will have to pay someone to do it for you, but if you're a busy business owner who wants to get more exposure for your website, this can be a good option for you - especially if you're getting it done for a low price.

Podcasts are a great way to market your website or blog online. You should consider taking them and using them to earn more money in your business today. Make sure you convert your podcasts into MP3 format, so that they can be a small file, but still have a lot of quality in it that makes it easy to listen to.

If you wanted to make recordings and earn the money in your business that you have been looking for, you will want to incorporate podcasting into your business right away so that you can have the best chances of success as possible when it comes to promoting your website online.

Take these tips and use them to earn more money in your business today.

Good luck with creating podcasts in your business simply and easily.

How to Begin Podcasting the Right Way   The Art of Podcasting   How To Pick A Great Name For Your Podcast   

Internet Marketing - The Best Ways To Get Your Podcasts Made

Recording a podcast can be challenging. You need the right kind of equipment to really deliver high quality podcasts, and you can't settle for anything cheap. Making the podcast is the easy part, but selecting the right equipment to demo it on... that's the hard part - and that's what today's lesson will focus on.

As you already know, podcasting is a great way to market your business online. It's almost as famous as video marketing, but isn't quite there yet. When making your podcasts, you have 2 options. Option number 1 is to deliver the podcast yourself. Option number 2 is to use a "text to speech" program that can read your podcast text for you.

Now admittedly, using the text-to-speech software is something that I don't recommend. Most of the cheap software out there have horrible speakers, and they make the podcast sound ridiculous. So if you have 5 to 10 minutes to spare out of your day, create the podcast and record it using your voice.

You can find these "autobot" software all over the internet. I've tried the best of them, but none of them seems to be a clear winner for me. Now some people won't mind the software to speak for you - they just want the information. But for most people... the software is an annoyance.

I forgot to mention option number 3: hire someone to do it for you. If you don't have time to create the podcast yourself, outsource it and have someone else do it for you. The person you select should be someone who sounds natural and sounds like a professional on the podcast.

You could probably go on a website called "fiverr.com", and setup a listing that says something like, "I will pay you $5 to speak my podcast". You'll get a ton of hits when you run this ad on this website, and you should test a lot of them out so that you can get the right person to do all of your podcast work for you.

Now the material that you will need when creating your podcast is simply a microphone and a computer. After you create the podcast, it will more than likely come out in a WAV form. This is a huge file that is of high quality, but the file size of it is just too big. So to make it smaller, you will have to convert it to an MP3 file.

The easiest way to do this is with a software called "audacity". This is an incredible piece of software once you know how to use it. It can take your large file, and turn it to MP3 in about 3 minutes - and the quality of it is still pretty good. Checkout this fine piece of software while you're still on the internet. It's free too.

Podcasts are easy, and for some people, it works wonders because it's such a good way to make recordings and get your website recognized for free. It's something that you will want to use now, and later on in your internet marketing career. In fact if you can make one everyday, you'll be setting the foundation of a successful business for many years to come.

Good luck with recording podcasts so that your business can succeed today.

How to Begin Podcasting the Right Way   The Art of Podcasting   How To Pick A Great Name For Your Podcast