Mechanics of Podcasting-Where Do I Begin?

These are the most typical questions a person asks, if they know little to nothing about podcasting:

What is podcasting?
How do you podcast
How to create a podcast

These are all good questions, that I will answer for you. This is a tutorial, mixed with information to help you get starting podcasting. However, so that I know everyone is on the same page, let's begin with "what is podcasting" question.

What is podcasting?

What is a podcasting? Podcasting is media that is formatted for audio content which is offered through a RSS feed. A podcast is like a radio show, with the option of its listeners being able to listen at their own convenience on their MP3 player, ipods, or computer.

This medium is open for anyone to use. And if you are a listener, all you will need is a personal computer or an MP3 player. The uses of a podcast is not confined to the typical "radio show" use. It can be used for:

Informational Content-presenting product information in an audio format.
Music
Talk Shows
Instructional information-some prefer to hear, as well as, see their instructions.
Story telling
Commentaries

So where do you begin, if you want to start podcasting?

It does not begin with the content, it begins with the equipment, editing software, and a hosting service before you utter your first word into a microphone. After the initial setup, your cost will be minimal. So let's begin.

Equipment Needed For Your Podcast

After the initial setup for your podcast, the money you will need to outlay will be almost nothing. So what will you need in your initial setup?

1. Microphone - You can record your podcast at your computer. Limitation-no outside mobility.
2. Digital recorder- The digital recorder is a little more costly. Be aware that the sound quality of the microphone on the digital recorder is not the best audio. You can work around this problem if you choose to purchase a digital recorder that has an access port for a microphone. If you're planning on buying a microphone for your digital recorder, be sure it is of good quality, or you will be doing a lot of editing to rid yourself of all the background noise.
3. Phone Recording- There are some services which allow you to record your voice over the phone. Once your recording is done, they will email you the audio as an MP3. Quality is fair.
4. Audio Recording Software - You need auto recording software to record your audio files for podcast. Don't panic you can find audio recording software that is free. I'll go into that below.

Podcasting Software

You can go from free to expensive when it comes to editing software. The free basic editing software offered by Audacity will give you the basic editing needs for your podcast. If you feel you may need more-than you'll have a pay for it. If you are just experimenting with podcasting, you might want to try some of the free software. You can also look at the following companies for your audio recording software needs:

RecordForAll

Easy Recorder

Replay Audio.

TextAloud

MixCraft

Audacity (free)

How To Create Your Podcast

Once you have all the equipment that you need, it's time to do some experimenting. Which means, creating your first podcast.

Place microphone into your computer
Install audio recorder
Install audio recorder software
Create the audio file (You can being speaking, singing or recording music into the file. Save the file to your computer.
Upload the audio file to a podcasting site.

Podcast Hosting

Why get web hosting? If you want people to download your creation, you will need a place to store and share your files with other.

When looking for a web hosting service you will have to make sure that you have enough storage space for your MP3 files, your images and your regular text files. You should have at least 1 gig to start-but make sure that the web hosting service can grow with you.

For a business, you will need a domain name. Which means you will have to purchase a web hosting account to hold your blog or website. A website is self-explanatory, but if you're looking at a blog you have many choices.

Quick Blog from GoDaddy.com - GoDaddy offers Wordpress blogs which can house your podcasting site. It gives you the option of paying from 1-2 mos. (which is great for those who don't know if their podcasting site is going to fly or fail. Less commitment of resources, to up to 36 months. They also break down your needs by Economy, Deluxe, and Ultimate.

You can create a audio or video podcast directly from your published web page with on-Site Player.
No banner advertisements. What is also nice, is that they have a chart that will help you which plan may be right for you based on the type of show, show frequency, show length, estimate file size, and the maximum number of downloads.
With Quick Blogcast you can send your podcast to popular listings like iTunes(r), FeedBurner(r), iPodder and more.

LibSyn - LibSyn offers various plans with monthly price ranging from $5.00 to $75.00 a month depending on the server storage space and whether you want to extend your podcasting to the smartphone.

Blogger - Blogger is a blogging platform that supports podcasting. You can also create a podcast feed with Blogger. Making a podcast using Blogger is fairly simple. Just remember that in the settings page, to be sure to "show link field" and "show Title field" are marked to "Yes".

Blogger is a free starting point, to experiment with podcasting, if you are just getting started.

Things To Know About Blogger

And, with the new Blogger addition, you can also have a domain name. You can create it through the Blogger website. However, they are working with GoDaddy. The price of the domain runs around $10.

When you post, you will see the title, and place the exact location of the url link, be it an MP3, M4V, M4B, or MOV file

To advertiser go to feedburner.com. Why advertise your podcast? But what does feedburner do your you, the creator of the podcast. With the feedburner link you can keep tabs on the number of times your podcast has been linked to, as well as, comments that your listeners may have made about your podcast.

Here's how you can setup feedburner for your podcast once you've created your first podcast on Blogger.

Create a Feed on FeedBurner for a Podcast

1) Once you're on FeedBurner you will see "Ready To Burn Your Feed" there will be a box in which to enter your blog:

Enter your blog address with the complete ending:
name.blogspot.com/atom.xml

2) Select Next

3) Select SmartCast Option

4) Make sure the Feed Title and Feed Url is okay. (You'll find that toward bottom of screen)

5) Select Next

6) You'll be promoted for a password and user-id

7) You should then receive a confirmation

8) Be sure and take note of your FeedBurner url.

9) Now It's time to Publicize your podcast. Here are some of the items you may want to use: 1) Email subscriptions; 2) Pingshot-this will tell certain websites you have updated your podcast; 3) Socialize;

WordPress - Wordpress is a blogging platform that supports podcasting. The PodPress plugin is designed to make podcasting with WordPress easy, and viewing of MP3 files’ ID3 tag information possible.

To set up FeedBurner for your podcasts with WordPress you will need:

1) FD Feedburner PlugIn or Tentblogger Feedburner RSS Redirect. Here is installation instructions for creating your Wordpress Feed.

Bandwidth

If you're going with a web hosting service be aware of the bandwidth. If you are over your bandwidth limit for the month they can shut your site down until you come up with the additional money for the space your traffic consumed.

So if you think that bandwidth is not important, think again. Remember, audio and video files take up a lot of memory. With that being said...

If you are just starting out, you're going to have to do some estimation on bandwidth usage. First, you'll have to determine the average size of your podcast, and then estimate the number of people that you believe will download your podcast.

For example: Let's say you figure 100 people are going to download your podcast, and your audio podcast is 15MB. You would feature the amount of data transfer as follows:

15*100=1500 MB of data transfer for each show.

With 4 shows a month-you would have approximately 6000 MG of data transfer a month.

Once you made your first podcast, you will wonder what took you so long.

Other Methods Of Marketing Discussed

Blogging Basics - Learn about blogging, the different platforms and the methods used to promote your blog.

Video and Webcast Marketing -Video or Webcasts both can get your product or service or website noticed. Learn what you need to get started, as well as, the benefits

Email Marketing-Learn the basics of email marketing. How to construct an email and set up your email program for success.

Article Marketing -Learn how to write an article that will reach your targeted market. And most importantly ways to promote your article.