Podcasting

What Is Podcasting?

Podcasting is the delivery of pre-recorded audio (usually in MP3 format) or video files that are automatically delivered to your targeted audiences’ computers or other electronic devices such as MP3 players, video iPods, video mobile phones, video PDAs and so on, (i.e. ipods) via RSS Feeds (Really Simple Syndication technology).

Why Is Podcasting Important?

According to Derek Gehl and Scott Paton, of The Internet Marketing Center, “Podcasting has taken off as an extremely powerful marketing tool as it gives any company, business, or individual the ability to use audio and video to instantly reach out and communicate with a worldwide audience.”

With the guys at The Internet Market Center always being on the cutting-edge of technology and leading the marketing industry for well over 11 years now, I strongly encourage you to pay attention when they share information, because they test all of their methods and base their teachings upon solid market research.

How Can Podcasting Help You Grow Your Home-Based Business?

Podcasting offers many of the same benefits as blogging.

The main distinction between the two is blogging content is usually delivered in text format and podcasting in MP3 audio and video.

The reason I say the benefits are the same is because the common element is the content you are delivering and it doesn’t matter what form of communication your message is in to your target audience, whether it be in text, audio, or video, you just want to get your point across.

Keep in mind each person in your targeted audience will have their own personal preference for how they would like to receive your message.

Tip: Once you have a following or audience, you should survey them to ask how they prefer to receive your content and then make sure you deliver it to them in that format.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not telling you not to incorporate the other formats, because you don’t want to alienate or limit your market reach.

Here are some of the benefits to including podcasting to your marketing mix:

1. Allows you to build stronger relationships with your prospects and clients in a non-threatening way by giving you the ability to communicate directly to them by providing valuable content that appeals to their wants and needs, thus establishing you as their most trusted expert, while simultaneously building a strong community of followers.

2. Allows you to have your own voice in cyber space and really add more of a human touch than even blogging, because audio and video allows you to add more impact to your messages, due to your subscriber base being able to pick up on the passion you have for your home-based business, products, services, and your commitment to help them solve their problems or realize an opportunity.

3. Generates more traffic to your website, because others will link to you if you provide great information, thus sending you their visitors.

This allows those other sites that link to your website to provide more value for their visitors because of your great podcast content.

4. Generate traffic to your website through the search engines based on relevant content, which is based upon the keywords (hopefully your keywords) then your site will show up high in the search results. This will provide you with the best kind of traffic, free and organic.

5. Allows your podcast subscribers to automatically receive your messages on their mobile devices, such as, iPods, video ipods, video PDAs, and other electronic devices.

How powerful is that?

With your target audience being hit with advertisements 24-hours per day, 365 days per year…

Podcasting is a great leverage tool you should implement into your marketing campaign to help give you an edge and to cut through all that marketing noise in order for you to get to your targeted audience.

6. Podcasting allow you to take your products and/or services to a global audience in a very subtle way because you’d be providing great useful content to your listeners and viewers instead of some blatant sales pitch.

Who do you think? They will trust, someone who puts up their sales letter that’s designed to get in their pockets that provides information they can benefit from, even before they make a purchase?

All the above will eventually lead to an explosion of profits, loyalty, authority, and respect in your industry.

Those are only a handful of the benefits that podcasting can provide your home-based Online business.

Are There Any Dangers or Challenges Associated With The Use Podcast Marketing?

Not to sound like a broken record, but just like blogging the downside of podcasting is the enormous amount of time it takes to maintain it in terms of keeping a constant flow of high-quality content and promotion.

The minute you stop providing useful high-quality content for your visitors, that will be the day you’ll start to lose them, and most likely they will never return.

Here are a few tips to help you manage your podcasting schedule:

• Rule number one is to research and get to know what your targeted audience wants.
• Set aside a few hours per month to record your podcasts.
• If you have a business partner, ask them to record sessions.
• Interview industry experts as a way to add fresh content.
• Subscribe to Google Alerts (http://www.google.com/alerts) free service to generate podcast ideas.
• Listen and/or view other podcast to get ideas on how to structure yours.
• Write and practice your scripts in advance to maintain professionalism and to avoid stumbling during your actual recordings.
• Create a Podcasting posting schedule so you’ll know in advance what topics you want to record.

What Tools And Resources Must Be Used To Implement Podcasting?

You want believe how little equipment you’ll need to create your own audio and video podcast.

Are you ready for this?

Here it goes…

To create an audio podcast, all you need are the following:

1. Free or lost cost Audio Editing Software Check out http://audacity.sourceforge.net.

To create a video podcast, all you need are the following:

3. Digital Video Camera – To create video podcast
4. Editing software – Roxio www.roxio.com
5. Place to store your files – http://www.ourmedia.org
6. Podcast Directories to submit your podcasts to:

• FeedBurner – www.feedburner.com
• Yahoo Podcasts – http://podcasts.yahoo.com
• ITunes – www.apple.com/itunes
• Podcast Alley - www.podcastalley.com

Podcast Help Sites:

• FeedBurner – www.realnetworks.com/resources
• Yahoo Podcasts –

www.webreference.com/multimedia/video.html

Podcast Reader:

• FeedBurner – www.podfeeder.com/ 

NOTE: You can always use Google to search for free tutorials on how to create podcast.