Many beginner podcasters think that since podcasting is distributed by subscriptions, and since they are doing it on their own time and effort, then they can make podcasts whenever they want to without adhering to a regular release schedule. But this is the wrong attitude. You need to get a regular schedule going in order to increase your followers and also develop loyalty.

By keeping a regular schedule, your listeners will know when to expect your show, they will anticipate when it will arrive and the regularity will make them more ardent supporters. Imagine if your TV show gets broadcast whenever the producers want to do it, you wouldn’t know when it is on and most probably, in frustration you’ll just drop it from your list of shows to watch. The same thing can happen to your podcast if you don’t follow a schedule. Granted, a subscription pushes your content to your followers, but it’s still not uncommon for this thing to happen.

A schedule will also give you the opportunity to tease your audience with what’s in store for your next episodes. This will whet the appetite of your listeners and if the topic is really exciting, your followers can even start telling about your show to their friends.

To give yourself a proper handle on your schedule, you will need to look at how your show is produced. Check the time spent on the pre-production and production work itself. Also take into account how often you get your material if it’s sourced from research or from other sources. From there you can make an educated assessment of the ideal schedule for your podcast.

Talking is an art and hosting a podcast is an extension of that art. To make an effective podcast there are some things that you should remember when recording.

One of the most common pitfalls of beginner podcasters is talking too quickly. You should watch how you pace your talk when you do your podcast. Talking at a fast pace usually happens when you’ve done a run through of your material a few times. The familiarity with what you’re going to say may result in you trying to “breeze” through the whole show. Slow down. Give yourself the opportunity to actually take a breath and check how fast you’re going.

You will also have a tendency to speed up when you are tense. The whole podcasting setup with the microphone, headphones and hearing yourself talk is quite a strange experience that not everyone will be immediately used to. Try to do relaxation exercises before recording. Avoid caffeine which can make you more tense. You will also usually get tense when you put such high expectations on your performance. Remember that practice makes perfect and it is the rare person who takes to podcasting like duck to water. Take comfort in the fact that there is also a learning curve here and that you will continually improve as long as you take note of what aspects you should improve on.

You may have gotten the best possible microphone to help you improve your podcast but it will just be a waste of money if you don’t practice good microphone technique when recording your podcasts.

Probably the cardinal rule of audio recording is position. By properly positioning yourself to the mic you can achieve better clarity with the recording. The general rule is to have a hand’s width distance between your mouth and the microphone. In order to make this easy, you can actually use your hand to determine the proper distance. Place your thumb to your lips and your pinky finger on the mic, this is the ideal space. The distance is quite enough to get some bass from the proximity effect generated by the mic but still not close enough that you’re practically millimeters away from the mic.

Positioning relative to the microphone will also help in making clearer recordings. Try to place the mic slightly above your head off to either the left or right at a 45 degree angle. The elevation will help in cutting down mouth noise and the angling will lessen the so-called plosives, which are the bursts of air you produce when pronouncing consonants like “p” or “b”. Placing the mic directly would mean it will directly catch those powerful bursts that result in popping noises. One way to eliminate plosives is by putting a small screen in between you and microphone. You can even make these screens, called popstoppers, on your own.

One thing that distinguishes a really good podcast from the one that is ho-hum is how smoothly the podcast flows in terms of how the people talk. Nothing’s stilted, there are no awkward pauses, no unsure lulls in the conversation and no grasping for what will happen next.

How do you ensure that what you’ll make a podcast where you sound sure of yourself? Simple. Make the right preparations.

The secret to an effective podcast is preparation. Don’t go recording your podcast with just a general outline in your head. All of the great podcasters prepare notes for their show way before they start recording. The notes give them a roadmap of how the show will go. They can easily look at what topics to discuss and the information they want to impart for each topic. One thing that you should is that being a podcaster will not come naturally to a lot of people. Most of you will really have to work to make yourselves good podcasters and preparation is one tool you can use to improve your performance.

When it comes to notes, a general outline of information is usually better than actually preparing a script. Using a script is a sure way your podcast will sound stiff. You will find it hard to resist just reading the script and because you’re reading it, the natural cadence of speech will be lost.

One more of the fundamental tips is to keep your distance from the mic which most people forget for with proper distance (which by the way you get only with experience with your setup) from the mic for whatever cost you may have spent on a mic use it wrong and you get trash. Mic filters, wind screens and many other stuff will get you respectable audio yet if you are still in the learning curve, try this trick, make a distance cue, say a pencil with the tip coated with some fluorescent paint to make it stand out and focus on the proper distance using it as a guide till you get it to sink in. More →

If you hope to maximize your distribution of a certain product it does but for overall general web-based podcasts, MP3 or AAC would do. Most audio editing software come with their own file conversion systems. Like iTunes, you can easily rip cd’s into either AAC or MP3, but all this comes with some audio know-how and how digital audio works. One new comer to the audio conversion tools is Blaze Media Pro which converts, rips, creates cd’s and even has the ability to format audio or video podcasts into 3GP which is growing in popularity as mobile computing grows in popularity. 3G More →

There are many tips on the many self-proclaimed podcast experts who would recommend a ton of stuff but as a beginner or oldie in the podcasting world, you have to abide by some basics that would make your podcasts enjoyable and of course popular. Video podcasts are all the norm and people love then as much as regular podcasts due to more information brought in by the visual nature of such podcasts. There are a lot of people who make video podcasts who fail More →