Call Us +1-800-275-5513
All great podcasts start with a great idea. Unfortunately, those great ideas can only go so far without taking the proper steps to make sure they gain a real audience among the “competition.” Lucky for podcasters, listeners are steadily growing in recent years, making the potential for an expanded audience even more possible.
In fact, Edison Research recently reported that one-third (33%) of all Americans 12 years of age or older say that they have listened to at least one podcast, and overall, awareness of podcasts has more than doubled since 2006. Popular shows have certainly helped the rising resurgence of these bits of media — with programs like Serial and This American Life, millions are now getting their fill of stories, information and more via podcast.
With an increase of listeners and overall awareness, there more potential for building an audience. However, highly popular (often funded) programs, as well as veterans online, have the advantage in terms of attracting listeners. By following just a few simple steps when producing and publishing your next podcast, you’ll be able to ensure that your content is discovered in a meaningful way.
Without good recordings of your podcast, you’re basically ensuring that no one will ever listen to it — this is why recording quality audio is a critical first step to gaining more listeners overall. Audacity is one of the most popular and easy programs that we recommend for recording and editing down quality audio, especially for those who are just getting started. Then, you’ll need to convert your recorded podcast audio into an MP3 file using something like the LAME plugin with Audacity.
Finally, it’s a good idea to have the latest version of Windows Media Player, iTunes, or your preferred media player available in order to test the sound quality of your recorded podcast. Without this final step, you could end up with some audible errors that can cause listeners to shut things down (and even never listen again).
After recording the audio for your podcast and editing to fit your specific needs, you’ll need to get in place for proper publishing and dissemination. First, you’ll need to get your podcast up on your own website and/or blog (or think about starting one, if you haven’t already). Posting your content up here is key to include notes, links, tags, etc that will improve your search rankings. Next, create an RSS feed to allow people to automatically subscribe to your new posts without having to check your site.
The next important step is to make sure your podcast is on other aggregate sites. Many websites contain lists of and links to podcast sites, organized by topic, that allow interested persons to subscribe to your podcast. Do your research, submit to lists and contact the authors to ensure you’re placed where you should be!
Transcribing your podcast will make your content more SEO-friendly, as well as allow you to reach a wider audience (including deaf individuals or those who prefer to read). By making a transcription available of the audio, search engine optimization will lead to better indexing, which increases overall search traffic and visitors to your website — essentially, you’ll make it much easier for people to find you.
TranscribeMe’s low-cost transcriptions are ideal for podcasters who want to improve their search rankings and downloads. With a mix of advanced speech technology and expert human transcribers, your transcribed podcasts are always produced at the highest quality, and formatted to perfection.
If trends continue, a new wave of podcast consumers will continue to emerge during the next couple of years, and with proper preparation, syndication and transcription, your podcast will have a much better chance at standing out from the masses.
[maxbutton id=”15″]
+1-800-275-5513