Podcasting - What You Don''t Know Could Hurt Your Business
If you've been online recently, I'm sure you've heard about
podcasting. You might be wondering "What's in it for me?"
Or perhaps "Why should I care about that?" There are many
valid reasons for you to get informed about this hot new
technology. Think of a podcast as a way to deliver audio content to a
very large worldwide audience. The easiest analogy is to
think of this technology as giving you the power to create
your own online radio program. First, the name is a little misleading. It comes from 'iPod'
and "broadcasting". It doesn't mean you need an iPod to get
involved. You can listen right on your computer. Podcasting is made possible by RSS (a type of XML computer
code). But have no fear! You don't need to know programming
at all. RSS is simply a delivery system that allows people
to subscribe and stay up to date any time you add a new
podcast show. Having an iPod or similar digital MP3 Audio player is not
required. You can download audio files to your device and
take the audio shows with you. Or you can simply stream the
audio and listen to the podcast show on your computer. There is a lot of free podcast audio for you to listen to
online. Do a search for "podcast" or "MP3" and you'll see
what I mean. What's out there? Music, interviews, seminars, educational
shows, technology shows, news, sports...the list of topics
is amazing. Some people say that podcasting it's going to
replace radio and TV. Not True. However, podcasting is changing the face of online
audio and traditional radio. Podcasters already number in
the thousands. The number of businesses and individuals
making podcasts is growing at a rapid pace. So where can you find these podcasts? Check out any of these
sites: http://www.podblaze.com
http://www.podcastalley.com
http://www.podcastbunker.com Or search for more of these directories with Google, Yahoo,
and other search engines and directories. What about making your own podcast for your own business or
website? That's not exactly rocket science. Get some sound
recording software (Audacity or WavePad, for example) and a
microphone. Then record some MP3 files yourself. All that's left is to get them up on the web somewhere and
have them formatted into RSS. Some blogging software and
services allow you to attach audio to a blog post. There's
even free programs you can use. For example, you could open a Producer account at: http://www.podblaze.com You can start with the free account, which lets you store up
to 40MB of MP3 files on their server. It's enough for about
four half-hour shows. That's an easy and risk-free way to try out podcasting. They
also have paid accounts for people who want to do more than
experiment with this new media. Now why would you want to podcast? I can think of many good
reasons. Here's a few: Put some recordings of your band up
and maybe you'll get a recording contract. Sweet! If you did a teleseminar, make it available to the world.
Position yourself as an expert and people will take you more
seriously. Maybe you know about news items that the local and national
media won't pick up. Podcasting gives your story a chance to
be heard. Maybe you just want to share something personal
with the world. Whatever your reason for wanting to put your music or voice
on the web, podcasting is an easy and inexpensive way to do
it. So pick up that microphone and record your thoughts. I'm
waiting to hear it. Steve Humphrey is an author, programmer & Certified Guerilla
Marketer. His new web site makes podcasting technology easy
enough for anyone to use. Find, create & listen to podcasts:
http://www.podblaze.com
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