Successful Podcast Hosting – You Can Do It!
So you are ready to start podcasting. You want the world to hear you out. You have something you have to say.
AWESOME!
That is the blessing of a Podcast. With podcasting you can talk about anything under the sun. There is however some protocol to hosting a Podcast. The first thing you need to do is understand what a Podcast is and is not.
Podcasting is not a radio broadcast. You also do not have to have an iPod to have a Podcast prove. Here is what Wikipedia says Podcasting is:
“Podcasting is the method of distributing multimedia files, such as audio program or music videos, over the internet for playback on mobile devices and personal computers. Podcasts are distributed using either the RSS or Atom syndication formats.”
A podcast usually features one type of show, with episodes either sporadically or at specified intervals, such as daily or monthly. Podcast can be heard on a computer or a mobile audio device.
The host of a podcast is called the “Podcaster”. That is you.
As the Podcaster you can create a show that is off the hook (as the kids say) or you can have one that is mediocre at best. The key lies in your delivery.
That is what we will cover here in this book.
At the slay of this book you will find a glossary to serve you in opinion a few of the terms mentioned in this e-book.
Get a Focus
There is one thing you must do before you start podcasting. You have to create a focus. Find a theme for your show. Resolve what you want your indicate to be about.
Will you interview people? If so, what type of people will you interview? Perhaps moms in hobby focused businesses. Or may you want to interview couples with long standing marriages. There are so many topics you can interview on and so many angles for interviews.
A show can also be about your business. If you are an expert in business marketing, you can focus your show around providing marketing tips for your listeners. You can even bring in other experts in the field. If you are a life coach you can focus on items pertinent to your niche market. Maybe you are a teacher. Why not effect a show about the subject you teach? You can give tutoring tips to students and maybe even have them call in to your show and do a live session.
There are people out there looking for experts in your field. All you need to do is develop that definite focus to reel them in.
Podcasting is great because it can do what can’t be done in broadcasting. With a podcast you can gear your exhibit for reaching a small focused and underserved topic of interest. By choosing a specific dwelling of interest to focus on, you can create a podcast that creates is an awesome source of information and enjoyment for your niche crowd.
If you need some ideas go to the various podcast directories and see what others are doing with their podcasts. Just be certain that whatever you choose is something you are angry about and will enjoy speaking on.
Once you have your show conception, you then need to decide how often you will podcast so that you can make a calendar for your shows. Will you do your shows daily, weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly? You must have an idea so you can bag the information needed for a successful show. Organization if KEY.
You need to be sure that once your focus is set, you have a format that works for you. Will you have more than one segment? If so, you need to write the order of your show on paper so that you don’t forget as you record your show.
Here is an example from one of my shows:
Intro music
Welcome
Announcements
Lady Liaison (Life Coach)
Sponsor Ad
Interview with Sister of the Month
Lady Liaison (Devotion)
Sponsor ad
Final Words
Outro Music
We will talk about how to bag your guests in another part of this book.
Now you have your focus and that is great. I suggest that you listen to other podcast on topics similar to get an idea of how you can present your topic.
Now onto Your Equipment!
Your Equipment
As you prepare for the recording of your Podcast, you want to do sure to have the right equipment. Now there is all sort of equipment, some of it is cheap and some of it is higher kill quality. Whatever you choose to use, produce sure it makes your podcast sound like you want it to and that it will not lose your audience.
To podcast all one really needs is a computer, a mic, and editing software like Wave Pad (you can find free editing software). There are many Podcasters who also do their podcast with a good old telephone, using services such as Audio Acrobat.
Now you cannot utilize any phone and think it will sound ok. That will not work. You need a good landline phone. If you choose to use a cordless phone, stay as close to the defective as possible and get a good headset for proper voice projection.
Please do not employ a cell phone because they get for some ravishing bad recordings. Also make sure your guests do not exercise a cell phone as it may ruin the interview if a call is dropped or the interviewee fades in and out due to the area or place they are in. Let your guest know to speak as clearly as possible in an audible, but not too loud voice.
Your phone volume should be state reasonably so that you are not too loud or too low. Test your connections before you recount. Test your sound and your guest sound by doing a 1-2-3 test that should take no more that a cramped. Simply call your recording and test the sound. Play it back to be sure that it sounds good before you begin your recording.
Please test, because you do not want to select that it all sounds ok. There are many Podcasters out there with expansive content, but because of abominable sound quality they lose their audience fast.
Bottom line; use a good phone with good audible capabilities.
If you are going to be using music with your podcast, make sure you have a good set of speakers so that the music does not sound far away. If you have a speaker phone, that may work. Just be sure to test, before your record.
A quick note about music! Make distinct that any music you use is Royalty Free or Podsafe. You cannot go out, consume a CD and then use a song from it on your show. That is illegal and can cause some serious legal ramifications. You can also exercise Creative Commons to seek music for your podcast as well.
Now you have your equipment in hand; it’s time for the environment. Pay attention! This one is important.
Your Environment
It is time to prepare your environment. You have your first guest or perhaps you are doing it with no guest. Whatever your podcast focus, you need to have the proper environment.
When you podcast the atmosphere must be quiet. The background has to be free of television, outside noises, children, dogs, etc. There is nothing worse on a podcast than the sound of screaming children or barking dogs, unless they are a part of your podcast. If you are using a cordless phone try to end as close to the sinister as possible to avoid static and other typical interruptions.
Try to record your demonstrate in an area that is as quiet as possible and if you can, utilize that same room all the time. This will make for consistency in the sound and quality of your podcast.
Your environment should have very little or no echo and no reverberation. You don’t want your recording to sound like you are in a shower
As you are recording, do not touch your phone or adjust your headset, unless it is absolutely necessary. Believe it or not, you can produce a lot of noise by simply touching a phone.
If you are not going to have a guest and will not be using your three way line, please turn off your two-way calling, so that you do not score a loud click. If you do not know the code to turn off your call waiting, call you phone company and they will give it to you.
No you have your equipment and you are in the right environment, time to figure out how to accumulate those guests to come knocking for an interview.
Your Guests
Getting guests on your show is not that hard. Even is you have a “one woman” show, it is respectable to have a guest or two every now and then. So, how do you get the guests?
In order to get good guests, you first need to have your focus, which we discussed earlier I the book. When you have your focus getting the guest is a cinch. You unprejudiced have to know the protocol.
First you want to decide what type of guest you want. Do you want women only or will you include men as well. Maybe your display centers on children. If your focus is women writers you will want to accept women who are authors. If your show is a health related one, you need to find guests who are in the health and wellness fields.
Once you know what type of guests you want, you have to go on a hunt to find them.
First look at your list of family and friends. Do any of them fit the bill for your show? Next go to your networking groups and let them know the type of guests you are seeking. You can also be guest to get a guest. In other words seek those podcast looking for guests and offer to do their show in exchange for them being on yours. There is nothing wrong with a little bartering.
You can also send letters to potential guest inviting them to be a part of your podcast. Ask others to suggest people as possible guests.
Whatever way you choose to get your guest, be professional in your approach.
People esteem to talk about themselves and what they do. You will get responses.
Are you ready to describe? Read on.
The Recording
It is now time to record your show. You have prepared, tested, contacted your guest, if you have any, and are ready to record.
You were given a call in number when you joined this network. Before you call obtain sure that you are in the spot where you will be recording. Don’t walk from one room to the next while you are recording. It will create unnecessary noise.
If you have announcements, create them before you call any guests you may have. If you do this you will need to do two call ins. One for recording your announcements and one for recording with your guests.
If you have a guest let them know that it will take you about 30-45 seconds to call into your recording service and then excuse yourself. Let them know to be as collected as possible so that when you click back over, there will not be any surprising sounds. After calling in wait for the prompt from the voice recording before you click back over.
Now you are recording.
Always be sure to introduce yourself, your podcast, and the topic of your show for that day. If you have guests introduce them as well. Be as brief as possible in your introductions without missing pertinent information.
During the podcast try your best to be a determined as possible. If you form a mistake, by all means apologize, after all we are all human and we do mess up sometimes. If you are interviewing try asking launch ended questions, so that you do not have a boring interview. Engage your guests and your audience. Construct your audience feel as if they are right there with you.
Be yourself! Please don’t put on another persona. Be the incredible you that you are. Let your personality shine through.
Try to maintain your podcast to about 20-30 minutes, especially if it us honest you. A lengthy show can become slow, boring, and bear to edit.
At the slay of your recording be a genuine host. Please and Thank You do go a long way. Thank your guest and your audience for being a part of your show for the day.
End your podcast with a snappy price line. I often say “recede with God and watch you life be Blessed” or something relevant to the show.
Once you are done recording, be sure to disconnect in the proper manner to avoid yet another annoying sound. Thank your guest again and get ready for your podcast to be broadcast.
Your recording will be edited for clarity once you are done and then your podcast will be ready to be heard by your audience.
Depending on which package you purchased, you will be given an html code to use for uploading to your website or blog.
The main thing to remember is that this podcast represents you and all you stand for. Make it count and it will last!
Resources
Music Sites(There may be a fee fervent)
Creative Commons: http://creativecommons.org/
Garage Band: http://www.garageband.com/
Podsafe Music Network: http://music.podshow.com/
Association of Music Podcasting: http://www.musicpodcasting.org/index.html
Incompetech.Com: http://www.incompetech.com
Instant Music Now: http://www.instantmusicnow.com/
Partners in Rhyme: http://www.partnersinrhyme.com/wmcstore/WMCshop.cgi? affl=jvano
Public Domain Music: http://www.pdinfo.com/
Copyright and Fair Use information:
Copyright and Fair Use: http://fairuse.stanford.edu/
Podcast Directories
Podcast.net: http://www.podcast.net/
Podcast Alley: http://www.podcastalley.com/index.php
Blog University: http://www.bloguniverse.com/
Digital Podcast: http://www.digitalpodcast.com/
All Podcast: http://www.allpodcasts.com/
Podcast Bunker: http://www.podcastbunker.com/
Podcasting Station: http://www.podcasting-station.com/index.php
Podcast Pickle: http://www.podcastpickle.com/
Podcasting News: http://www.podcastingnews.com/
Glossary of Terms
multimedia: the use of several different media (e.g. text, audio, graphics, animation, video, and interactivity) to convey information. Multimedia also refers to the use of computer technology to create, store, and experience multimedia content. Multimedia is also a pleonasm as media is the plural of medium, hence it is a double plural.
RSS: family of web feed formats, specified in XML and used for Web syndication. RSS is used by (among other things) news websites, weblogs and podcasting. The abbreviation is variously conventional to refer to the following standards:
- Really Simple Sydication
- Rich Plot Summary
Atom syndication: the name of a specific web feed format. Web feeds, from a user’s perspective, allow Internet users to subscribe to websites that change or add content regularly.
html code:HyperText Markup Language (HTML) is a markup language designed for the creation of web pages with hypertext and other information to be displayed in a web browser.
Blog: web-based publication consisting primarily of periodic articles, most often
in reverse chronological order.
Royalty Free: describes material (typically graphics such as stock photography and icons, but also sound such as music loop samples) that may be used for profit, without paying royalties .
Creative Commons: a non-profit organization devoted to expanding the range of creative work available for others legally to build upon and fraction.
Podsafe: a term created in the podcasting community to refer to any work which, through its licensing, specifically allows the use of the work in podcasting, regardless of restrictions the same work might have in other realms.
All of the above definitions are taken from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page
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Filed under Small Business Cordless Phone Systems by on Jun 20th, 2011. 
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