Saturday, June 23, 2007

Profitable Pod casting - Advanced Ways to Pod casting

With the number of websites increasing at a very fast pace, the nontraditional methods of promoting a website are coming in common use. Many mediums are being used by people to promote their web based businesses. Pod casts are one such medium. Pod casting is something people enjoy to do. The files are zipped in a pod cast and sent by the sender to the recipient. The files may be audio or video in nature. The files may also include any other kind of files as well. For example, many of the young music writers nowadays pod cast their music on the internet. This gives them the much needed break through. Although pod casting is a very commonly used technique on the internet today, but not every one knows how to use it in the best possible way. There are certain steps which can help you in getting the best results through pod casting.

It is something really important that you choose the right kind of equipment to record the files. The music cannot sound good to anyone if it is not recorded carefully. Thus it is important that you make the right choice in this regard. You can search the internet for something which is available at a reasonable price and is good. This will help you in producing a good pod cast. To ensure that you are producing good quality stuff you should check it thoroughly before you send it out to people through the internet. Choosing the right kind of pod casting service is also important.

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

The Advantages of NOT Podcasting

Many online marketers have heard the buzz about podcasting, and it's only natural that they want to find out what it's all about and start their own podcast. What better way to promote your own product by producing the show? It does seem like a reasonable assumption, until the hosts experience burnout.

Hosting a podcast takes a lot of work. You'll need to come up with fresh show ideas, line up people to interview for the show and work around the schedule of those you wish to have as guests. You have to assemble the show into something that sounds professional. To gain listenership, you need to promote and market the show. Finally, you have to release the show on time and consistently. The more often your show is produced, the tighter your schedule is.

Many business podcasters don't take all these into consideration. After a few episodes, they lack vision on the content and lose the desire to keep the show.

Does that mean businesses shouldn't use podcasts? Not at all. There are other ways you can leverage podcasts. The key is to take advantage of the large number of podcasts already out there and to view them as mini internet radio stations.

Advertising on podcasts. Podcasts come in a wide range of topics from learning new languages to business related. No matter who your target market it, you're more than likely to find a podcast that is already speaking to the people you are looking to reach. One great place to find podcasts is to visit iTunes or any podcast directory and do a search for the topic you are looking for. Contact the podcast host and ask them if you can advertise with them if they don't already have an advertising plan set up.

Be a guest. Some podcasts are very influential. To listeners, guests seem important and by virtue of association, you and your company is viewed in a positive light - assuming of course the interview is a positive one. By appearing as a guest on a show, you also get a much longer time to present your product. In addition, guests come across as experts in their field. So this is a great advantage to build recognition.

Be a contributor. Podcasters are always on the look out for good content to help them fill up the time. Contact a podcaster in your niche and offer to be a contributor to their show. Depending on the frequency of publication, tell them you will send over short two or three minute segments filled with quality information. Advertise your product by mentioning your website URL in those segments. They would probably give you a chance since you help make their work easier, for free.

Though this means you will still need to produce your own segment and spend a little time doing so, it's nowhere near like doing your own show. Also, you can dig up your old articles or email newsletters and create audio versions of them. This helps you quickly generate segments.

Syndicate it. While you're already creating segments, why not distribute your segment to other interested podcasters. That way, you get more use out of your hard work and you reach a larger group of people.

Don't create your own podcast before you really spend some time thinking about how you can be contributing to other people's podcasts. By being a guest host or weekly contributor you will be building up your own personal branding without having to spend a lot of time or expense producing your own show.

Sunday, June 10, 2007

The Future of Vodcast

Before, it used to be just broadcast media. But with a very dynamic computer technology, we now have the podcast (subscription to audio content) and the video podcast which can only be experienced on the Internet as well as on other portable multimedia devices like the laptop and iPod.

The video podcast or vodcast, for short, is actually a result of the podcast. The podcast focuses only on the audio aspect while the vodcast combines both audio and video just like the television. A vodcast can be distributed from a web server either as a file or as a stream. If you wish to have a file, you can download complete video podcasts and still play them later even offline. With only a single download, you can watch the video as many times as you want. In a streaming vodcast, on the other hand, you can skip some parts of the file and may not download the entire video podcast. The downside is that during playback, you may encounter pauses due to the slow transfer speeds.

Did you know that vodcasting started in the Netherlands? You see, the need for video services there is greater what with more than 60 percent of the Dutch having broadband Internet. Another reason is that video podcasting was actually discovered and promoted by Dutch streaming experts at vodcast.nl.

Video podcasts are gaining their share of popularity these days. A survery done by the media research firm Nielsen/NetRatings from 2005 to the present revealed that Internet users aged 25 to 34 are those who download more video podcasts. Majority of people who download either audio or video podcasts normally use Safari. The San Jose Mercury News, an authority on technology news, said video podcasts were among the top ten tech trend in 2006 achieving "a level of Internet cult status." Users can subscribe to vlogs to get the latest videos or even the ones they missed and then have them automatically sent to their computer desktop. They can then transfer their video files to a portable player like a video iPod.

Technology experts have argued that video podcasts are still lagging behind audio-only podcasts due to the limitations as to where and how you can watch them. Audio podcasts can be heard via the computer, on a compact disc and an iPod while video podcasts can be viewed only in a computer or a video iPod. However, despite these limitations, video podcasts are seen to be widely used in the future. Apart from just downloading videos, you can even star in your own show or concert in the same way that you can make your own radio show in an audio podcast. The vodcast medium offers a lot of opportunities for creative users. You can use it to share your videos with families and friends, add them to the content of your web site, blog or use them in your projects. You can even make your own newscast, documentary, drama or comedy series or reality show. Make your imagination work and you'll be surprised how easy and exciting it is to make video podcasts.

Friday, June 8, 2007

Make Your Own Podcast - Selecting The Right Format

You may have a great topic for your podcast, and great content, but for a podcast to be its best, you should come up with a specific format for your show and, for the most part, stick to it.

There are many things that make up the format of a podcast. The two that I'll cover in this article are the parts, or segments that make up a podcast, and the style you decide upon.

Segments: If you listen to a radio show you'll often hear news at the top of the hour, then sports, then weather, back into music for a several minutes, then a commercial break, a listener's phone call, back into music, etc.

All of those parts combine to make up the show. And while podcasting gives you the freedom to do whatever you want, whenever you want, most people are more comfortable when they have an idea of what's going on -- in this case, I'm talking about your listeners.

Familiarity allows your listeners to not think about the format and just go with the content. And while you don't have to lock yourself into something really precise, it's a good idea to map out how your show will generally flow.

Here's how one of my latest podcasts is formatted:

Intro: This is prerecorded with some music and tells what the show is called, what it's about, and then introduces the host (me!).

Welcome and Teaser: A little bit of chit-chat from the host, and then a teaser about what topics will be covered in this episode of the podcast.

Current News: A look at the leading news and rumors from the past week including some editorial comments if needed.

Sponsor: If there's a paid sponsor of the show it's mentioned here, otherwise the sponsor position is used to promote a product as an affiliate.

Main Content: This is the "meat and potatoes" of the podcast and will vary depending on your podcast topic.

Online Resource: Tell about a resource online that's related to the main content and that the listeners will find useful or interesting.

Feedback: Answer questions from listeners and solicit feedback using email, recorded comment line, etc.

Outro: Usually prerecorded with some music, this is the final goodbye for this episode.

Every week I create a podcast using those segments. One big advantage for me, the podcast creator, is that I don't have to come up with something new each time -- I already have the format, all I have to do is fill in the blanks with the new content.

Some people don't like the idea of a static format for a podcast -- they feel it conflicts with the idea of a podcast being "by the people, for the people." But a podcast can still be personal while being formatted -- and if you take a look at the top podcasts, almost all of them use a fairly steady format.

The other type of podcast format you need to decide upon is the style you'll use. For example, you could be very casual, or strictly business-like. Or somewhere in between.

Unless you know your audience extremely well, I'd suggest against sounding like you're all business. That's not to say you can't use a podcast for business -- you can! It just means that a podcast, like any other method of communication with your prospects or customers, can be used to build relationships. Being more personable will go a long way towards building that relationship.

You'll also need to decide whether to fly solo or podcast with a partner. When you're podcasting by yourself it's much easier to make decisions -- you don't have to bounce ideas of anyone first. You can also record your podcast when it's most convenient for you - no juggling schedules with someone else.

However, it's usually much easier to create many episodes of a podcast when there are at least two people. And many listeners think a team approach is less boring than a monologue can be.

The decisions on how to format your podcast are, of course, up to you. The good news is that there are no wrong answers. Ultimately it's your podcast and you can make it the way you want -- and if you want to try different formats to see which feel best, you can do that, too.

Just don't let the decisions hold you back -- it's better to get started and do some tweaking as you go than to never get your podcast launched because you're overwhelmed with decisions.