Podcasts are essential to business due to several advantages such as giving you authoritative presence. A podcast provides a format for sharing your expertise in your industry. Podcasts also create audience connection.
This is true, as hearing the voice of the presenter gives the audience a stronger connection than simply reading the information on a web page. Podcasts are also simple and easy to produce, whether you have a commercial location or a home-based business.
Now let’s get to business. Podcasts are fun, yes. You can pretty much talk about anything under the sun and nobody will bat an eye. However, in terms of growing your business, there are some dos and don’ts that you should follow. The following guidelines should be considered in order to achieve the maximum from your podcast and make it distinct from others.
The Dos
Be Professional
Where you are podcasting from be it your garage or a corporate boardroom is not a factor at all. There is no reason for your podcast not to have a professional sound and feel. Software that can be used to filter noise from the background of your audio clip and increase its clarity is easily available on the internet. Hearers will not bear with bad sound quality. With the wide range of cheap software and hardware offered nowadays, there is no justification for you not to offer good quality audio podcasts.-
Transcription
You should always provide a transcript for your listeners or an option to view detailed notes in the description of your podcast content. This will assist your prospective clients while they listen to your podcast. If you do not wish to waste space on the main page with detailed descriptions, make sure you have alternate pages where these details can be viewed. The link or option must be provided on the main page.
iTunes Support
With new automated gadgets like FeedForAll it is easy to add iTunes in the podcast support system. By adding your podcast to the iTunes media gallery, you will ensure a huge exposure for your product. With the massive audience and distribution that iTunes has, most podcasters who do not target this option are big fools.
Content
Though audio quality is extremely important, the matter should not be neglected in the effort to rectify that. What you need to communicate is equally significant. You must offer content that is detailed, informative, instructive or engaging.
Subscription to your Podcast Feed
In order to remain informed about how your audience will react to your podcast, you must subscribe to your podcast feed.
The Don’ts
Straying
Make sure you don’t stray away from your topic of discussion much. If your podcast deals with cooking it would be inadvisable to make it a raving outburst about your political perspectives. You might interest a few listeners, but since your podcast should ideally deal with cooking as it would claim, most of the visitors would be interested in that. There are innumerable podcasts about political opinions. You will simple lose clients. Focus is indispensable for keeping listeners hooked on.
Rambling
Don’t linger unnecessarily on a single point. No one will tolerate redundancy and rambling. Unfilled silences or unsure “umms” and “errs” will only bore listeners and you will lose them fast. You have to keep the show active. Always use audio editing software to remove dead air or repeats. It will give your podcast a professional feel.
Forgetting Meta-Data
It’s essential to include appropriate keywords and jargon in your podcast feed title and description. This will assist listeners in locating your podcast.
Skimping on Bandwidth
There is nothing more humiliating than networking a large listening audience and then failing to manage the bandwidth loads. Ensure you have a dependable web host that can handle your show’s bandwidth. Bandwidth and accessibility are essential to a podcast’s success.
Ignoring your Audience
Never ignore your listeners. Create an interface where you can communicate with them and vice versa, whether it is a blog, through emails or even a forum. Always heed to what they say, and more importantly, to what they are not saying.
The Final Word
By using good podcasting methods, you will definitely be a success in the field. These simple guidelines will assist you immensely when you start out.
