Ok, I have been asked lately by many sources what podcasting is so I
have decided to explain it now, and some of the general concepts of
producing and delivering a podcast to your audience or potential
audience.
First, what is a podcast?
A podcast is
a new technology for syndicating audio broadcasts to masses of people.
Now that you are confused. Basically, you make a radio show, usually
talk radio, and give it to the world. Cool, isn't it. Now just
because it is called a podcast doesn't mean that you can only listen
to it on a podcast. Because of how you are getting the file you can
listen to it on anything your computer, any mp3 player, or you can burn
it to a cd.
For further reading on technically what podcasting is go here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podcast
Second, what steps do you have to take to podcast?
Well first we need to break down podcasting into some essential parts that makes everything possible.
Requirements by the Content Producer:
1. Server and plenty of bandwidth
2. Site
3. Audio File
4. RSS Feed
Requirements for the Listener:
1. Podcast aggregator
2. Get feed
Content Producer:
Server and plenty of bandwidth:
Ok, this is probably one of the single most important things, next to
the audio file, that makes a good podcast. First, you need a place to
store the file, which is on the server, then you need a lot bandwidth
incase you have a popular podcast. Bandwidth is important thing to
consider when doing a podcast because it could end up costing you a lot
of money.
Lets
explain bandwidth and how it relates to podcasting. Bandwidth is the
amount of data that is allowed to be transferred from a server or
website to a user. So lets say you have a site you rent space and
bandwidth on, and you have a cap of 100 meg (the meg is almost
irrelevant in the explanation the numbers and math are important.) Ok,
this is fine for a web site that people view pictures and text data on
because they may only use up .02 meg per visit. And after 10 visits
they have used up .20 meg of bandwidth. So for a website only this is
fine not much to worry about. Now if you have a normal podcast that is
25 meg and you post that on your server and 4 people download the
podcast you have just used 100 meg of bandwidth. So the problem is you
just used up all your bandwidth allotment. Now at this point most
hosting companies will let people keep downloading then they will
charge you outrageous amounts of money for going over your allotted
bandwidth consumption. So if you go over and you are charged you can
use a lot of money fast.
Now if you have a server that hosts
your files with unlimited bandwidth things will go a lot easier and you
will not have to worry about losing money. Luckily with the innovation
of podcasting there are now services available to podcasters that
provide unlimited bandwidth, but you have a limit of how much you can
put on the server for users to listen to. The company that is doing
this is called Liberated Syndication at http://www.libsyn.com . They
have plans for you starting at 5 dollars to 35 dollars depending on the
number of shows you do. This is an excellent deal for a lot of people.
The best part about Liberated Syndication is they archive all your
podcasts, as long you stay a paying customer, and they never lose their
address to listen to them. This is a phenomenal move because of how
easy it makes things for non-technical people.
So basically
if you have unlimited bandwidth you save money and can have a very
successful show because you don’t need to worry about how many people
download it.
Site:
The second thing that you need for your podcast is a site to advertise
it on. Usually people have a blog that they use as their front end to
get their show out, or they have a regular website they add it to.
Now
if you don't have a website and you use Liberated Syndication then
you are covered because as part of your subscription you get website
for the podcast so that you don't need to worry about making one up
yourself.
Audio File:
Now comes another important part the file itself the whole reason you
are starting down the path of podcasting. This is self explanatory with
this you just upload it to the server that is going to host the file so
other can download it.
RSS Feed:
Ahh, this is the powerhouse of the whole podcasting experience. This is
what allows all your loyal fans to get you file from now on with little
effort at all. This feed is a file that you put on your site for others
to get and put in a program called an aggregator (will explain in a
little bit) so that they can automatically download the audio file
without having to take the time to go to the site and find the show and
listen to it. This saves the listener time which people are always
happy about so you can have more listeners. I personally listen to
about 25 podcasts because of this there is no way I would go to each
site and check everyday if there was a post of a new show. This feed
allows me to get them with almost not effort.
The Listener:
This is much easier than making a podcast because you only have two simple steps to get a podcast. So lets look at them.
Podcast aggregator:
Now I will explain what in the world this is, what it does, and why you need it.
To
understand what a podcast aggregator is lets look at the word
aggregator. Its root word is aggregate which means “to gather
something in mass†(shortened slightly). So from these we can deduce
that the aggregator is going to get something. Well the aggregator can
get multiple things from audio files to text to programs. In the case
of a podcast aggregator it will get the Audio file that is a podcast.
The aggregator itself is a program that you download, the post popular
being iPodder, and install on your computer to run in the background.
At set intervals it will go to the internet and check to see if there
is a new podcast if so it will automatically download it for you. Why
is this important, well because it saves the user time from having to
check every day or every couple of days for a new podcast. Again this
is what makes podcasting so great the ability to get these shows with
almost no effort.
Get Feed:
The second part of getting a podcast is finding the feed to the podcast
that you want to listen to. This is easy because on most sites that are
a database of podcasts they give you the link to the feed that you
simply copy and past into your aggregator and click ok and you are
done. It is literally that simple go to a site like PodCastAlley and
search around their site for a podcast you like, click on get feed the
load a new page for you with a link. What you do is copy that, go over
to your aggregator and paste that link into a text box that is labeled
feed. That is it.
Summary:
So
as you can see there are many advantages to doing a podcast over just a
regular radio show that people download off of your site. The main
basis for this is you want people, naturally, to listen to you show. So
if you do it in a podcasting format you can get a wide variety of
people to listen to it regularly. You can spread you ideas thoughts or
whatever else around to people all over the world. There are over 5000
people that have embraced this and are now successful at it.
Just
to recap about Liberated Syndication it is an all inclusive service.
They offer unlimited bandwidth, room for your site, and automatically
make your feed for you so that you don't have to learn all the
technical things behind it. Also with the site you are able to do show
notes to kind of cover in text what you covered in the show.
If
money is a concern for you then you have the potential for your podcast
to pay for itself. How can this be you may ask. Well on your site you
just add a link to a tip jar that people can deposit money into, and
just tell them in the show that you would like it if people would
donate money to help with the cost of bandwidth. There are many avenues
that you can explore with podcasting. It can help you grow as a person
to learn more about something and to spread your ideas, similar to what
blogs do, or it can help your business or organization grow because you
are informing them as to what is going on. People love to be a part of
something when its leaders are in contact with them. So are you ready
to podcast?
If you have any questions, concerns, or ideas
about podcasting you can e-mail me at percent20@gmail.com and I will
get back to you as soon as possible. I hope this post has helped you
today. I have defiantly enjoyed making it.
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