Podcaster Tips

Aside from iTunes, another way to increase listenership of your podcast is to include your show in Zune Marketplace. Zune has regained its reputation and is now rapidly becoming popular among many people in and out the United States. And like iTunes, Zune now warmly welcomes podcasts into its marketplace.

So how you can get your podcast into the Zune Marketplace? Well, it is relatively easy and you can do it even if you do not have Zune! Just head on the Zune website, create your Zune account, download the Zune software and install it on your PC.

After this you are now set to submit a request through Suggest a Podcast link.  It is believed that you can hasten your request if you will subscribe to your show or ask few friends to subscribe to your podcast through the Zune Marketplace even if your show is not yet listed.

For more information, you may want to read the full explanation over the Larstan Flipper.

I found a great link of free resources from Leesa Barnes’ website that can help you in your podcasting journey as well as in monetizing your podcast. This is worth sharing as everything we need to podcast and the tips to earn from our podcasts are here:

So let’s start on the tools and services that podcasters need to get their podcast going. For podcast website, Leesa mentioned that she is using Wordpress; Podpress  to publish her podcasts; and FeedBurner for RSS Feed.  Then for arranging or editing audio files, you can try Audacity for free.

And when you plan to interview guests or listeners without meeting them face to face, you may want to try Skype or Free Conference  when you want record some interviews over the phone. Though according to Leesa, the quality of recorded audio from Skype is better than the Free Conference.

Then to help you in monetizing your podcast, Leesa is offering a weekly eZine about tips on how to boost sales and make money with a podcast. She is also giving away free chapters  from her book entitled Podcasting for Profit. Another freebie she mentioned is the free MP3 download where you could learn the keys in creating a profitable podcast. Lastly, if you want to grow your audience, be sure to add your podcast in various podcast directories.

If you are wondering about the podcasting setup of famous podcasters, how it looks and what equipment they are using, I guess you will be very interested to see the podcasting setup of Adam Curry, the pioneer in podcasting and tagged to be the father of podcasting.

Adam Curry shared his podcasting setup on his Flickr account, the one he is using for producing / recording  his Daily Source Code podcast. And here is where Adam hold his recording, very cozy isn’t it?

But if you cannot afford to have cozy place like that, no need to worry because you can still produce professional podcasts using an isolated, quiet place in your home. Some even use their dressing room or bathroom in producing their shows. The thing is to choose a comfortable and peaceful place where you can safely set a table for your computer and other podcasting tool.

If you are still looking around how to monetize your podcast or perhaps you want to learn more about monetizing your show, then check out this new site that is all about monetizing podcasts. The Podcast Monetizer  is sort of a project that allows independent podcasters to create automated membership-based infrastructure that will help them monetize their podcasts.

This project is headed by Don McAllister of ScreenCastsOnline, a membership based video podcast that provides both “free” and “pay for” premium content. The Podcast Monetizer will teach you how to integrate this system into your show and of course, it will teach you the process and steps of implementing and managing automated systems for membership service.

Some aspects of the automated membership-based infrastructure are the Automatic Membership Subscription & Management; Automatic Mailing List Integration; Integration of PayPal and other Payment Gateways; Shopping Cart Integration; Website Customization based on Membership; Creation and Management of Multiple Secure RSS feeds; Running coupon promotions; Affiliate schemes and Member Forums.

So if you want to know more about the Podcast Monetizer program, check out this out and see for yourself how this program could help you in monetizing your podcast.

If you want a podcasting tool that will help you publish video podcast or any other video content with ease and convenience, why not check out the SnapKast podcasting tool? SnapKast is a quick epublishing tool that allows anyone with a Microsoft PC to create and publish video contents that are viewable or playable in YouTube, iTune, iPods, Zune, mobile phones and various portable media player.

SnapKast is a good choice of podcasting tool for those who want to podcast or publish lectures, presentations, tutorials, and any MP3 audio or MPEG 4 video content. You can even convert your PowerPoint presentations into podcast using SnapKast.

SnapKast podcasting software is being retailed at $79.99 but you can download a free demo so that you could check if this is the podcasting tool that you need. For the features of Snapkast podcasting tool, please read here.

Every podcaster values the importance of knowing how many times his or her podcast episodes have been downloaded and did you know that you can enjoy a free and reliable statistic tracking service for your podcast through Blubrry?

Yes, this is true with Blubrry Podcast Statistics that allows its users to view important podcast statistics such as total download requests, unique download requests client requests like iTunes or Juice Receiver, platform requests like Windows or Mac and even country level geographic data.

You can also manage the statistics of your multiple podcasts under just one Blubrry user account. All these can be enjoyed by simply becoming a Blubrry community member, by listing up your podcast in Blubrry and by completing an advertising survey.

So if you want to track the performance of your podcast but do not want to pay for a costly statistic tracking service, check out the Blubrry Podcast Statistics!

I can’t help but to share a post from Paul Colligan about the 7 Things We Can (And Should) Learn from The Totally Rad Show. This is indeed a nice insight for podcasters who are looking for ways to strengthen their audience loyalty.

According to him, he learned these from the hosts of “The Totally Rad Show”. I will just mention them below in brief but I insist you to read Colligan’s full write-up:

• If done right, you can definitely create a show and not just a series of 1-off videos
• The right combo of technology can outdo an old media million dollar budget every time
• If you want to keep an audience, respect your audience
• Serve your niche, not everybody’s niche
• Passion is as important as production
• If you aren’t having fun, start something you can have fun with
• You audience can be a tremendous part of your content

By considering the ideas above, you are already half-way in creating engaging podcast episodes that can surely appreciated by your targeted audience. Podcast choices nowadays are way better than two or three years before because the quality of production and show content dramatically improved. In fact, the pleasure value of listening/viewing to podcasts to traditional movie/radio shows is no longer different.

You probably knew or heard about Dummies books like DOS for Dummies, Linux for Dummies, HTML for Dummies, Parenting for Dummies, Sex for Dummies, Hacking for Dummies, etc. These are actually series of instructional books that present a particular topic in a non-intimidating way.

And since podcasting is such a popular topic for the past three years, there is also a book about this topic: Podcasting for Dummies and Expert Podcasting for Dummies which can be also bought from Amazon at lower price. Both books are easy to read and provide accurate information that is not too complicated to understand.

Reading Podcasting for Dummies will definitely allow you to learn and become an expert in podcasting without putting any strain on your mind as all topics you need to know to set up, publish and manage a podcast are simplified.

On the other hand, if you are looking for a practical book that provides timely information about producing professional-level podcasts without so many technicalities and hard to understand terms, the Expert Podcasting for Dummies might be the book that you are looking for.

Researching and exploring the web to learn about podcasting is really easy as there are so many information, tutorials and free video podcasting video all around. Just enter the term podcasting on Google, Yahoo or any other search engine and viola! The websites that could help you learn will flash on your screen.

However, if you tend to be easily confused with so many information and tutorials that are available to you, I recommend one site that can present the things you need to know about podcasting: the PodcastFaq.  This is relatively a new resource website about podcasting and in my own opinion, the site is beneficial to any podcasting novice.

PodcastFaq is just like a compilation of the necessary information that you need to know when you want to understand podcasting or when you want to start your own show. The site is easy to navigate and it also has some section that allows you to ask or exchange ideas with people who are interested in new media. So if you want a neat  and concise resource for podcasting, check out PodcastFaq and I am sure that you will not get lost.

If you are new in podcasting and you can learn best through visual approach, one of the most recommended method to learn how to podcast is watching a video about it. I featured several videos about podcasting here  and here that are created by well-known media broadcasters but I found out that there are also podcasting tutorials that are available from YouTube!

So if you are excited on how to learn podcasting and you love watching videos, check out YouTube videos about podcasting. Some of the nice ones that I found are What is Podcasting, Podcasting 101 Video Lesson, The Basic of Podcasting, Podcasting Gear Setup by Rosary Army Catholic podcast, How I Podcast  and Audacity Tutorial for Podcasting.

There are actually more videos in YouTube about podcasting. Just use the search function and you’re in it.  You can even watch and learn how you can make your YouTube subscriptions be downloaded just like podcasts through iTunes so that you can watch your subscribed YouTube videos anytime on your portable players.