Businesses, in particular, podcast as part of their marketing, PR, or investor relations programs.
Yet a surprising number of podcasts are hard to find, hard to listen to, or hard to identify once you've put them on your MP3 player.
Here at the Podcast Asylum, we call the two most common barriers podcasters erect between themselves and listeners Podcastus Inhopsitus (the unfriendly podcast) and Podcastus Incognitus (the unidentified podcast).
Let's take them one at a time.
Podcastus Inhospitus This is the podcast that's difficult to find, difficult to listen to, difficult to subscribe to, and difficult to comment on-or any combination of the above.
Common causes of this condition include:
- Not using a podcast blog to post show notes and provide space for listeners tocomment.
- Not providing a direct link from the show blog or website to the podcastsubscription feed.
- Not providing any instructions about how to subscribe either on the website or within the intro and outro on the recording.
- Not providing a "click to play" option on the show blog for those who prefer to listen at their computers.
- Using a proprietary audio file format which only works on certain portable media players.
- Not having a listener comment line and comment e-mail address, or not telling listeners about them in every single show.
- Not responding to listener comments when you do get them.
I would never have found out about it if another podcaster hadn't mentioned it when interviewing the guilty show's host.
The podcast is only available through iTunes, is published in Apple's proprietary AAC format, has no show blog, no click-to-play option, and no comment line.
The podcaster only occasionally invites listeners to contribute opinions, without giving clear directions about how to do so.
She might as well be putting up a barbed wire fence around her podcast.
Have a Podcast Blog Search engines can't find anything in the iTunes Music Store, which is where its podcast listings reside.
That means your podcast won't turn up in response to a search on the subject that you're talking about in that episode.
If you already have a blog, you can include your podcast show notes and click-to-play link there, instead of creating a new blog, though having a separate show blog makes it easier for listeners to find the episodes they want.
Having a domain name for the show blog which is the same as your show name also makes it easier for people to find you if they hear someone else mention your show.
Besides, blogs are inexpensive and easy to set up.
Having a show blog also makes it easy for listeners to comment, and for you to know which episode their comments refer to.
Your blog will let you know every time a comment comes in.
Feed Me Sure, iTunes is the 800-lb gorilla when it comes to podcatchers and podcast directories, and if your show gets featured in iTunes, people will subscribe.
But not everyone uses iTunes to download podcasts.
And since you (or your webmaster) have to create a feed for iTunes to use, you might as well put a link to it on your website.
Teach People to Subscribe Not everyone you want to reach with your show know how to subscribe to podcasts.
Even those familiar with the iTunes store may need some guidance.
Make sure you explain that subscription is free (unless it isn't).
There's a handy video with complete instructions at LearnToSubscribe.
com.
In addition to posting subscription links on your show blog, make sure you include subscription instructions in every show.
(You can just tell them the URL of your show blog and say "Follow the directions under 'Subscribe'.
") Always Include a Click-to-Play OptionAs many as 60% of people who listen to podcasts listen directly from their computers.
For many people, clicking on a "play" button that looks like what they see on their stereos is easier than downloading a file and then transferring it onto an MP3 player.
There are several options for embedding Flash-based MP3 players right into your show blog, including the brilliant PodPress plugin for WordPress blogs and the free MirPod player, which works on any website.
(You can see a sample of the PodPress player on the Reports from the Asylum blog.
) You might need a little help from your webmaster to set this up, but it's definitely worth doing.
PodPress collects statistics on the number of people who download or play the show from that link, too.
Use the MP3 Format It's true that MP3 doesn't have the best compression or the best audio quality.
And it doesn't let you use advanced features like bookmarking or let you "enhance" your podcast with illustrations.
But MP3 audio files have been around for at least a decade, and you can play them on anything.
Even if you want to release an enhanced version of your show, you should make a plain MP3 version of each episode to make it easy for everyone to listen.
Encourage Listener Comments If you want to hear from your listeners, tell them so.
In fact, repeating your listener comment phone number or e-mail address after every topic you discuss can substantially increase your response rate.
(You can get a free listener comment line from K7.
net, or an inexpensive toll-free comment line from Kall8.
com.
) A special e-mail address for listener comments also makes it easy to know which messages are about your podcast and which relate to another aspect of your business.
Many podcasters use Gmail accounts for this, in part because there's room to store large attachments like MP3 audio comments from listeners.
When you do get comments, respond to them promptly.
You can read or play them on your show, send an e-mail, or post on the blog.
Including listener comments on your show encourages people to "tune in" to hear themselves and builds loyalty to your show.
If you follow these guidelines, you'll have a listener-friendly podcast, and that means more listeners! Part 2 of this article examines the proper treatment of Podcastus Incognitus.
© 2007 Sallie Goetsch