To Throw or To Grow?

Podcasts take time to grow. Unless you already have a huge following via some other platform, the chances of your podcast going viral overnight is next to nil. Granted that this is the case for majority of podcasts, how do you know if the lack of listeners is just part of growing pains or if it’s really time to give up on that podcast and start afresh?

One thing you should realize is that podcasts are unlikely to attract an audience on its own. It should be part of your overall marketing strategy. Even if the podcast itself is the “main product” you are trying to sell, you should use other marketing strategies to get the word out. This means blogging about it, using social media, and other everything else in your bad of marketing tricks to grow your podcast.

If you find that despite putting your best efforts produces little or no results, then it might be time to go back on the drawing board with the podcasts itself. Get honest feedback to find out why people are not listening to your podcasts. Could it be the content itself, technical problems, the way you present the content? Find out what you can do to improve your podcasts. However, if the content itself is the problem, then you might indeed have to throw out the whole idea and think up a whole new concept. While this can be pretty painful, especially if you feel like you’ve put in much to the podcast, you should always be open-minded about ending and starting new projects. After all, you can only learn from failed ones.

Don’t be afraid to throw out podcasts that do not produce results, at least if you want to end up successful in podcasting.

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Pauses Matter

We all know that dead air is a big NO when it comes to podcasts. Yet it seems that one of the most common mistakes podcasters make is still in giving too little attention to pauses.

I am obviously not referring to the much too long pauses that lead to noticeable dead air, after all since they are noticeable, people DO take notice of them and keep them in mind when doing post-recording processing. What I am talking about it the little pauses that people usually do not notice during recording, but can be more glaring to listeners. This includes the little uhmms, and short pauses between sentences. These pauses may not seem much, but if you do it often enough it can get irritating. Since such pauses happen without you really thinking about it, it is really important that you be on the watch out for it while editing your podcast. As I have mentioned before, this means isolating each recorded track to be able to give it full attention.

The problem with pauses is not only in the having too many, but having too few. If you are a fast talker, like me, then probably your problem is not pausing too much, but in forgetting to pause at all. It takes a conscious effort on my part to pause after each sentence so that my words don’t get garbled. Since you’re probably used to your speaking speed, it would be a smart to ask someone to listen when you do the editing so they can tell you if it is understandable to them.

 

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Podcast Promotion through Podcasting Blogs

Anyone who’s into podcasting knows just how important promotion is. Personally, there’s nothing like zero impressions on a podcast episode I’m truly excited about to dampen my spirits.

While it would be great if we can all get featured on the iTunes store, which virtually means that you no longer really need to sweat the promotion bit, the unfortunate reality is that most of our podcasts would just end up among the many that will never get the chance to ever be featured. That means that you just need to find other ways to promote your podcasts.

I have already written about distributing your podcasts using other podcast distribution sites. That is one good way to increase visibility for your podcast. If you are done with that though, I would suggest promoting your podcast via a podcast-related blog.

Your podcasting blog contain the actual podcast for download, or just the podcast transcript. You can also just summarize the content of each podcast instead of publishing the entire transcript, and use the blog like a news blog for all your different podcasts. Once you have your podcast blog set up, you then need to promote your blog, which you can do through social media, SEO, directory submissions, and the usual promotion strategies.

promote your blog

If you are looking for good web portals to submit your blog details to, you might want to try Blog Search Engine. Subscribing to the basic package ($14.99) will get your podcast blog reviewed and will earn you a back link. You can also sign up for upgraded packages which will help you promote your blog further by getting you more back links from the different blogs in their blog network, and featuring your blog on their homepage.

5 Basic Steps To Create Great Podcast Interviews

A podcast interview is an audio file which is distributed over internet for free. The podcast interviews are available in three different categories inspired beginner, intermediate and third one is the advanced podcast.

If explained in simple words a podcast is a digital audio or video file that is program-driven, downloadable, and episodic, mainly with a host and/or theme. It is convenient to use and is generally used via an automated feed with computer software.

Podcasting is innovative and new in this internet world but gained a huge popularity because of its effective features. Although it is not as popular like online videos so far, few researchers guess that it will exceed the fame of video in coming 5 years.
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Prerequisites for Being Featured on iTunes Store

Being featured on iTunes Store’s Podcasts home page is a big deal. Just a day on the homepage can guarantee you thousands of new listeners.

In case you’re wondering if your podcast has any chance of getting features on the iTunes Store, here’s the list of Podcast “must haves” straight from Apple’s mouth.

To be featured by iTunes, podcasts must have:

  1. An attractive, original image that does not include the iPod or other Apple-branded content (Must also adhere to Apple’s image specs).
  2. A robust and accurate description for the podcast and all related episodes.
  3. A valid author listed.
  4. Proper language, category, and explicit tagging.

Don’t be mislead by the too easy to follow list though, because the above list is merely a list of the prerequisites for being featured on iTunes. However, while the list guarantees you nothing, you still need to pay close attention to it since not satisfying any of the above prerequisites will guarantee that you DON’T get features on iTunes store.

As for getting an edge over other podcasts and trying to catch Apple’s attention to be featured on the homepage, it takes a lot more creativity and work than being meticulous with your descriptions and tags. You need fresh, regularly updated content that is either unusually interesting or plain unusual. In short, you need edgy content to get an edge.

And in case paying Apple to be featured on the homepage crosses your mind, forget about it because its their policy not to accept such payments.

 

Source: Apple.com – Making a Podcast
Image Credit: Apple

5 Reasons Every Blogger Should Have a Podcast

If you’ve been blogging for several years, you know that you need to continually keep your blog up-to-date and fresh as possible. One of the most recent trends in blogs in the past few years is the addition of podcasts. Many bloggers fervently advocate adding these new features to your blogs, but why should you seriously consider doing so? Read below to find out the top five reasons your blog should add a podcast.

Increased Exposure

Even though you have visitors to your blog, a great podcast can do wonders for driving traffic and increasing your blog’s exposure. With podcasting, you’re focusing on a very niche market, and the one’s who are visiting your site over and over again will create a brand loyalty and pass on your podcast and blog to other targeted visitors. Plus, you can put your podcasts out on the Internet and not just on your site, which can help branch your reach out further. More →

8 Excellent Production Tips To Create Professional Podcast

With the impending technology, internet is proving to be the best mode of communication throughout the world. Internet has transformed the communication from radio show to media. There is a particular name given to the term internet broadcasting, it is called as podcasting. Podcasting is a new form of radio journalism and it came into existence in the year 2004.

However, many people are still unaware of the podcasting and its benefits. People still don’t know how to create a good podcast and how to listen to one. If you are one among such people, don’t you worry, you are at right place. This blogpost will clarify all your doubts about the podcasting and will also let you know about a few professional podcasting tips.

Actually podcast is not much different from a webcast, it is a show that is broadcast through internet and is broken into small episodes. The podcasts are generally similar to the radio programs which deliver the information on a regular basis. A podcast could be a comedy show, gospel or even a special music broadcast.
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