You Can Do It! Podcasting Tips For Beginners

Podcasts.

They're everywhere. And there's a reason why.

By generating subscribers through an RSS feed, Podcasts can build trust and generate loyalty with your potential customer universe.

The cornerstone of successful podcasting is to provide regular content that your customer base finds useful and relevant.  If you have a hair salon, provide your customers with tips on great hair care and styles, how to prevent dry hair in the winter, moisturize in the summer, create a 'celebrity style' look, etc. Give them useful, interesting information and they in turn will reward you with their loyalty and their business.

Here are ten quick tips to get you started with your first Podcast:

1. Provide relevant information - something insightful so that your potential customer will want to buy from you.

2. Be an authority on the subject. Don't choose a topic that you know little about or you will not be able to provide your customer insightful information.

3. Remember your target audience when deciding upon a topic to podcast. The topic should be relevant and tailored specifically to that audience.

4. Think about the type of podcast you will use. Do you want a simple audio file, or to upload a video?

5. Do some research before you begin - look at the podcasts available in podcast directories such as podcast.com and podcastalley.com. These will give you ideas as to what constitutes a good, engaging or popular podcast.

6. Commit to producing regular podcasts (weekly, daily, what your schedule allows, but regular is key). You are more likely to build subscribers if your content is updated regularly.

7. Get the software you need to create the podcast you desire. There is free software available on the net through audacity.sorceforge.net. Macintosh users will have a copy of GarageBand loaded on their computer.

8. Jazz up your podcast with music or sound audio files, but make sure that you're not using someone else's property. For a collection of royalty-free music for your podcast, check out royaltyfreemusic.com.

9. Use an "album" photo for your podcast.  It's important to have an interesting image for users to peruse while browsing through various title tracks. Be sure that the photo matches your podcast.

10. Be sure to create an RSS feed (Real Simple Syndication), so that users may be able to subscribe to your podcasts. If you decide to go with podcast hosting, your RSS feed will be created for you through ClickCaster or MyPodcast, but if you choose to host your own, you will need to create an RSS feed through Feedburner. Signing up for any of these services is free and takes just a few minutes. Feedburner is owned by Google, so signing up for that service only requires a Google account.

More on Video and Audio Podcasting to come!