Podcast Freq

I want to share how podcasting can help you personally. I have always been a fit person, played loads of sports - golf, tennis, mixed cricket, football, you name it I have played it, even rugby union! Playing sport I kept fit, but then about 5 years ago I broke my nose and have had 6 operations to try and fix my breathing problem…to no avail. Result being major weight gain.

So what has this got to do with podcasting? Well, I am passionate about podcasting and NOT slimming so I have joined up with another podcaster and we are doing a show on our journey from 2 fat ladies to model like slimmies! That is the power of podcasting!

I don’t know whether it will work, but podcasting is making a public record of intent. It allows you to have a banter with someone, it also brings the project alive and fun to the whole thing. It is about connecting, sharing, helping others..not for monetary reward, in fact it will cost us to do it, but then again you would have to pay to go to weightwatchers….

How can you use podcasting to inspire yourself, or listen to podcasts to feel inspired? What have you a passion for that you love to talk about, and want to share with others? Podcasting does not have to be your day job, podcasting is about helping you bring value to others and yourself.

First of all, I cannot beleive the technology available. Just think I can speak to someone the other side of the world for free, record it and post it as a podcast. Sometimes we forget about the progress that has been made in the last few years. BUT recording can be a nightmare and I have had a fair few scary moments I can tell you. Here are the things that I wish I had know before…..

1) Close all other programs down so that you computer can concentrate on the recording.

2) If you are using Skype and the connection is bad, then ask the person if you can ring them back and try again. Explain you want to ensure that they sound as good as possible.

3) Always record your voice on audacity as a back up, even when using something like Hot Recorder. Sometimes for no apparent reason your voice does not record.

4) Be aware of the mute button if you use a headset microphone…often you can be talking away oblivious to the fact your arm caught it and the other person cannot hear a thing!

5) Always save the file as a WAV not a MP3 file…this way to do not compress the file before editing and resaving (and recompressing) as a MP3.

6) For the best recording get the person at the other end to record in audacity and then send the file to you. You then align the tracks and you have a much better sound quality.

Hope these tips help you NOT to make the same mistakes that I have made !

For any women podcasters in the UK - a fellow blogger and podcaster, Heather Gorringe and I have started a blog to form a community in the UK. The purpose of the blog - and podcasts will follow soon - is to provide support and inspiration for women in the UK. Why women? Well we feel that in the UK it is quite male-centric and we want to encourage women to get to know about all the technology out there.

We are not geeks…we have learned purely through experience and made every mistake under the sun! We want to increase the learning curves of other potential bloggers and podcasters so that they can achieve the same enjoyment as we do. So if you are female and want to join the community then go over to WomeninPodcasting blog and add a comment. The blog is new and you can be at the start of the journey with us….in fact if you want to be a guest author just let me know by e-mail at anna@theengagingbrand.com.

Podcasting is about social connection, it is about bringing technology to the masses, it is about individualised content and we want to ensure that everyone who wants to have a go…has a go.

We will be arranging some meet ups in the next few weeks, so if you are interested let us know. So if you like a community and blog announced in beta!

If you podcast you should have a blog - if you don’t then I would suggest that next on you list is blogger, typepad or wordpress!

But if you have a blog as a way of promoting your podcast then it is important to keep track of how your blog is ranked within the search directories. Why? well you want to drive traffic from search.

To check your ranking go to go.rank.com or digitalpoint.com both of which will track your blog over time. I also use technorati. If you can see that over time your ranking is rising then you are doing something right - that is not to say that you cannot improve and rise quicker! - but if you see a decline then you need to rethink your layout or your content. You may also see peaks and troughs….see if you can see changes that you made that may have affected your ranking.

I like to see my blog as a shop window for potential subscibers to the podcast. If people are coming to your blog they are interested in your subject and therefore a potential “buyer” for your podcast.

I have a fear for 2007 that I really do hope does not come true. Podcasting was all about bringing the ability of braodcasting to the masses, it is about niche areas, “amateur” set ups, ordinary people living an extraordinary dream. What I think would be sad, would be if the corporations and the big names dominate the directories. This way it becomes a self fulfulling prophecy of success as it gets harder for new or smaller podcasts to be found, to grow. I don’t subscibe to any larger ones with a couple of exceptions…I like to find the gems out there…the raw, unadultered passion for their subject. So how do we ensure that the essence of podcasting remains..accessibility to producing, and accessibility to new podcasts. So how can we do it?

1) Subscribe to one new podcast a week and support the smaller podcasters.

2) Blog about the great ones you find.

3) When giving an MP3 player, mobile as a present preload with some smaller great podcasts.

4) Ring in with comments to the smaller players so they don’t pod fade.

5) Digg them, or vote at Podcast Alley…the larger ones will always be top - why not vote for some of the smaller ones?

Seth Godin said small is the next big……and I firmly believe in that. I love the smaller shows because you can tell that they don’t do it for the money, don’t do it for celebrity just pure passion for their subject.

Finally, I am not against the bigger ones, not against celebrity…not at all, podcasting need stars. I have so much respect for them. I just want to ensure that as consumers we don’t lose the sight of the gems out there.

Podcasting is fantastic, it has opened up a world of possibilities, friendships and new learnings for me. One downside….you become hooked and it can take a lot of time.

Podcasting is social, it is about connecting with the host. The host gives a huge amount of time to preparation, producing etc and as your fascination grows with podcasting it is important to ensure that the time invested does not take away from other important parts of your life. Here are some ideas that I have found that helps to keep the balance.

1) Prerecord as much as possible. If you have a standard introduction, ending, admin, adverts, how people can get in touch etc…then record once and then drop them into the show each week.
2) Use downtime to map out your show. Travelling is a great source of time for me. If I am driving then I record into a voice recorder, if on the train etc then I use a molekin notebook.
3) Work out the time you do have available which does not take away from your family, children and friends then stick to it!
4) Concentrate on quality rather than quantity. One great show a week is much better than poor daily ones.
5) If you have children or a partner interested in technology can you incorporate them into the show so that it becomes a family hobby.
6) Don’t be afraid to cut back if you lose the life/work balance. Family and work is important and they should not suffer. Talk to the listeners and explain the reduction to once a week, once a fortnight until you have more time.
7) Encourage listener participation. The more listener feedback the more the dialogue is created and reduces the amount of input from you.
What about asking a listener to volunteer to do the show notes, or help with the editing?
9) Allow a few gaffes in the audio…don’t over edit. Listeners enjoy the human side and a few mistakes.
10) Look out for new tools like the levelator that will help reduce the time invested….each month people are coming up with tools to help us lowly podcasters.

Finally have fun, when something is fun you are more efficient and the time goes quickly!

I am a member of the Blubrry network with my Engaging Brand podcast. Blubrry is a refreshing twist on directories as it has more of a community feel for both listeners and podcasters. It is designed by podcasters - CEO Todd Cochrane runs the hugely popular Geek News Central. No one has asked me to write about them, I just find them great for building an audience

So why did I join and what do I find different about them?

1) They find revenue streams for you, but you only opt in if you want to.
2) The site allows you to put your branding on your podcast - not just album art.
3) It is a one click subscribe option for listeners.
4) It has social networking aspect built into the site.
5) Advertising revenue is 70% to podcasters and 30% to Blubrry.
6) It has a flash player code that you can build into your site so that people can play your cast easily.
7) They produce really good podcasts to go along with the site to help you understand the power of the Blubrry community.

They also run a podcast that interviews members of the community as a way of advertising your podcast. This is especially great if you are new or are trying to build your name in the podcasting world.

Great stuff and how I believe directories will develop in the future.

I have been looking into some of the history of podcasting, and thought I would share some facts that I didn’t know about

1) The MP3 file was developed by Dieter Sietzer and Karlheinz Brandenburg at a company called Fraunhofer- Gesellscaft and the University of Erlangen.
2) The MP part refers to MPEG which stands for Moving Picture Experts Group which was established in 1988 for standards of digital encoding.
3) The first iPod was released in Oct 2001 but the first viable MP3 player was launched in 1998.
4) Dannie Gregoire from Louisville, Kentucky is widely credited with term podcast.
5) RSS was originally designed by Netscape back in 1999, with David Winer adding features and in 2002 RSS 2.0 was proposed.

To talk about history is strange as it is such a new medium, but that made me think. Each time we create a podcast we are creating a little piece of podcasting history and also a piece of our own history. Can you imagine looking back in years to come on your work, and how your ideas have changed/developed?