Podcast Freq

Having a blog is a great way of helping people find your podcast. Today The Podcast Sisters have issued their 3rd show which looks at “How you can increase the traffic you get to your blog”. They give tips that have worked for them and have helped to grow not only their readers but also a sense of community around their podcast shows.

Remember your blog is like your shop window for your podcast product so you want to grab the attention of those “passers by”.

I want to incorporate into this blog ideas from other podcasters and why they love podcasting. This is what Krishna De said, Krishna is a wonderful podcaster from Ireland and one of The Podcast Sisters.

“I have been podcasting for almost two years now, here are my thoughts on why I continue to podcast rather than podfading (where a podcaster stops podcasting).

In fact rather than podfading, I have several new podcast series in development.

So why do I love podcasting?

Well my first reason is that we can podcast at the speed of sound.

I personally don’t know of a faster way to be able to share my expertise and insights other than by speaking - no matter how efficient we are at typing, I suspect few of us can type as fast as we speak.

Yes we should accompany our business or corporate podcast with writing a blog for many reasons including:

1. providing a summary (often called show notes) of what our podcast listener can look forward to hearing in that podcast episode
2. including key words (the words we want to be found in in the search engines) as the search engine robots can not yet check audio content for key words.

So if you are looking to express your expertise to your listeners, I highly recommend podcasting.”

If you want to post why you love podcasting then send me an e-mail at anna@theengagingbrand.com

I am a podcast freq…why? Well, I have never come across such a great tool that is

F=Free to anyone who wants to join the evolution. The idea of free can downgrade a product, not with podcasting as the value it creates is huge both for the podcaster and the listener.
R= On the ‘Run‘. I spend a lot of time travelling, I used to resent this downtime, time that I found wasteful - maybe walking between tube stations, waiting for a plane etc…Times when I couldn’t read easily, or log on to my computer. Now that downtime is filled with productive time and saves time when I get home. I don’t need to read as much, watch TV etc I have more family time.
E= Enthusiasm. Because the podcasters are producing content on their passion (generally!) their enthusiasm is contagious. Podcasting is free from many of the broadcast rules that can dilute creativity, ideas, the conversation…..it is a tool that can motivate and inspire people through the passion of the host.
Q= Quality of the content. I listen to almost 100 podcasts and each one delivers to me something of value - entertainment, news, development, inspiration. If it doesn’t I delete the subscription…therefore quality will win through. I choose the quality, I choose what I feel is great content. It is tailored to my style, my needs…wonderful.

That is why I am a Podcast Freq!

I started my first podcast on my own, mainly because I didn’t know anyone who wanted to co-host and also because it was an experiment. The podcast - The Engaging Brand - has gone from strength to strength and although I still do not have a co host I interview so therefore I am not on my own. The reason that I enjoy guests is that they offer different opinions, different outlooks and hopefully that expands my thinking and that of the listeners.

I enjoy the fact that I am in sole control of content and that I can invite whoever I want to the show, I like the fact that I can continue to experiment. However, I now do 2 shows ( The Podcast Sisters and Middle Age Shed) with co hosts and I love the fact that there are other people involved. I love the fact that there are other people to come up with ideas, people who keep me motivated, inspired and who share the workload.

Here are some questions that I would ask myself in the future before deciding whether to fly solo or to co host.

1) Are you someone that works better solo or with someone else?
2) Do you need other skills to bring to the show?
3) Is the show instructional or would it benefit from discussion?
4) Would a co host help spread the workload and prevent the risk of podfading?
5) Do you want total control? Do you have a colleague that you want to podcast with and that you trust will help you develop the show?

For the shows that I produce there are different goals. Middle Age Shed is a journey to lose weight, co hosting brings humour and increases the motivation to lose 56lbs. The Podcast Sisters is a discussion podcast and is much better for having different opinions and different backgrounds. The Engaging Brand is my own exploration of how to motivate, inspire and engage people at work, it is a personal journey of giving something back to the corporate world.

For you to make the right choice think about your time commitment, your motivation and your goals.

Mobile phone manufacturers are adding features all the time and the ability to download podcasts will increase the potential audience even more. So are you ready with your podcast to capture this potentially HUGE audience. Podcasting News has a list of resources for mobilecasting, worth checking out.

Calling all non geeks! We have just published the second show of The Podcast Sisters which is a discussion on blogs and how blogging has helped us both personally and professionally. If you want to listen then you can subscribe at The Podcast Sisters - The Podcast for the Non Geek

Remember 98% of podcasters have a blog, for me the blog is integral for several reasons

1) Helps people find your podcast when searching for keywords.
2) It is the shop window of your work.
3) It allows people to comment and interact with you.
4) It can be used to host the show.

Hope the show sells the need to blog as well as podcast to you all!

Quick research update
iTunes remains my greatest source of listeners as with many podcasters. Nielsen has just announced a 48% increase from 20.1m to 29.7m (Q1 06 to Q1 07), I am hoping that will help build an increase the awareness of podcasting and increase the traffic available to us for marketing our shows.

Jupiter research has issued some research about the internet

“75% of users 18 to 25 are reading or writing user-generated content, and few of them are passive participants. 34% of those over age 55 are participating in UGC as well. Additionally, active users of UGC haven’t abandoned off-line media for online, but they are learning to balance the two”

As we explore how we can grow our podcast audiences it is imperative that we understand that the internet and social media are popular across the genreations. It is so easy to think of it as popular because of the newer generations, but that is far from the truth.

Over at 901am they review a survey of iTunes listenership

“An analysis of the iTunes podcasting audience revealed that males represented a significantly larger share (63 percent) of the audience than females (37 percent). In addition, 18-24 year olds represented a substantial share of the audience (29 percent) and were more than twice as likely as the average Internet user to download podcasts. People between the ages of 35-54 represented about half of the podcasting audience and were also more likely than average to download podcasts.

“The comScore study reveals significant advertising opportunities among several consumer segments,” said Nick Tabbal, comScore senior vice president of media and entertainment solutions. “While the conventional wisdom says that only young, tech-savvy consumers are downloading and listening to podcasts, there is also a sizable market among 35-54 year olds, indicating that the audience is broader than previously thought.”

More news to show that podcasting spans the generations.

Here are my 8 top tips
1) ASK! It sounds strange but many people do not ask for comments.
2) Provide email and audio links to allow people to get their ideas to you
3) Hold a contest with a small prize
4) Ask a specific question and ask for views
5) Hold a survey or a poll on your blog
6) Encourage people to send in a promo for their show
7) Use social networking tools such as linkedin, mybloglog, twitter, ning
Provide show notes that encourage debate

Feel free to add your own to our list!

As I have mentioned before, a few of us female bloggers and podcasters have got together to start recording a new show - The Podcast Sisters. It is a show aimed at women who want to learn more about Web 2.0 but in reality it is for anyone who wants to know and even more importantly how to use the technology to promote your business/personal brand.

The topics coming up include:- blogging, podcasting, second life, twitter, social networks, personal branding and loads more. The “sisters” will be a rotating mix of people - on the first show was Krishna De, Heather Gorringe and Anna Farmery but we are hoping to invite many of our friends on to talk about how they have used podcasting etc to grow or promote their business.

If you either want to come on the show or want us to cover a topic then email the podcast.sisters@googlemail.com

At the beginning of the year, a fellow podcaster Heather Gorringe (Wiggly WIgglers Podcast) and I started a podcast about our journey to lose weight. We aimed to lose 84lbs. This podcast was not about growing an audience or anything like that,it was about making a our aim public and giving us the accountability to lose our weight. The podcast Middle Age Shed has been great - we have now lost 65lbs of our target and the key aspects are
- That it is out there - on the web, a public declaration that we cannot back down from!
- That this was a podcast I started with someone I didn’t know, didn’t live near, we just knew each other from our blogs and yet has developed into a friendship
- The community that has built around it is fantastic. The show is very honest, it is about our struggle - we are not natural dieters. The honesty, is the one thing that every listener comments upon.
- That our goal is in reach and we both feel that we don’t want to stop the show because it helps us to focus on our lifestyles.

Podcasting can be about selling, it can be about business but it can also be a very personal journey. For me that is what is great about the medium. This show illustrates that people love human frailty, they love connecting with the emotions, they love helping each other. Where before I enjoyed podcasting and using it in the business world - now from this show I realise that I need podcasting for my own development.

If you want to hear about our journey then we have just done an interview on Tom Marquette’s Blubrry Users show.

Podcasting grew for many reasons - time shift element, new format, access to global people and products, ease of production etc

I have one slight worry- well actually two that I believe could hinder progress in its growth. These are not worries that cannot be resolved, worries that may well disappear but nagging thoughts that if as independents we don’t move our podcast content, style and interfaces forward, there are things COULD hurt us in the medium term. I for one will fight tooth and nail to keep the essence of podcasting, to keep the independent spirit alive and well! And always remember if you feel you are too small to cause pain…just think of a mosquito!

1) As corporates enter the fray,
- They can dominate the charts because of their large customer base which makes finding the raw gems more difficult.
- Theirpodcast will be in some way about marketing, cloaked in providing value to the customer I am not saying that they don’t, there are some great corporate podcasts that do) but we need to ensure that listeners do not feel that podcasting is another “billboard”…it is an “audio voucher” of value from which they may chose to buy into the brand in the future.
- Does in the end the small or independent podcaster get swallowed up eventually like radio?

I think the market is huge and there is enough space for all of us, however we need to keep evolving so these fears do not become reality. Maybe, there will be a time when directories are split between corporate and independent/small? To help keep the raw talent at the fore?

2) As we progress and evolve from “amateurs” I hope the essence of why we started to podcast isn’t lost. We must not lose the freedom it brought, the open access, the low cost, the content, the fact that the listener is the ultimate judge. Podcasting is a tool, a medium for content. It is not the product that is great it is the uses that it is put towards. We need to ensure we don’t become internally focused, focused on the tool not the uses of the tool.

After admitting my nagging worries, I am an optimist! I believe there are enough genuine enthusiasts out there that will continue to take podcasting forward, to keep podcasting evolving into powerful communication medium of the 21st century.

I was honoured today to speak to Leesa Barnes in a round table discussion with some great European podcasters - Karin Hogh, Alex Bellinger, Krishna De, to name a few, on how people are podcasting for profit. Leesa is busy writing a book which we are all eagerly awaiting to understand how people are making money from podcasting!

For me there are 3 main ways to think about making money from podcasting

1) Providing services to podcasting - directories, production, coaching etc
2) Monetarising your podcast - through affiliate links, advertising etc
3) Using the podcast as an advertising or marketing tool to sell your other services.

You need to be clear about which area you fit into and then plan how you are going to achieve that aim. I also like to see podcasting as not only driving sales but also reducing costs. Costs in terms of advertising, development, communication etc Profit is a function of the two.

Here are some books that I have read and that I would recommend to any podcaster to help you understand the power of conversations and Web 2.0.

The Cluetrain Manifesto
Promoting Your Podcast: The Ultimate Guide to Building an Audience of Raving Fans
The World Is Flat: The Globalized World in the Twenty-first Century
The Wisdom of Crowds
Corporate Conversations: A Guide to Crafting Effective and Appropriate Internal Communications