If you're looking for ways to promote your business on the Internet, you may have already tried some of the most common techniques such as Search Engine Optimization, Pay Per Click ads, banners and squeeze pages on Traffic Exchanges, article publishing, blogging and so on. These are the techniques that are most commonly discussed on Internet marketing forums.
Occasionally, video marketing via YouTube is mentioned, but it is not often that someone suggests that you start your own
free podcast.
The perception seems to be that it is difficult to do, yet today it has never been easier to set up your own podcast and create a series of 5-15 minute audio recordings that you can post on Itunes and also on your website.
Once you have a podcast on Itunes people will be able to find your programmes, listen to them and if they like them, they will subscribe to your podcast. They will receive your podcasts via iTunes each time you upload a new recording. In short, creating a podcast and getting it onto iTunes is a great way to get your business in front of hundreds of potential customers.
The beauty of it is that it is easy to do! Here's how to set up your own podcast in a few easy steps:
1. Create Your Podcast
Use the sound recording software on your computer to create your podcast content. If you use Windows you can record on Sound Recorder; if you have a Mac you can use Garageband.
Simply choose a topic relating to your business, such as one of your products or services, and talk about the need that it fills or the problem that it solves for your prospective customers, focusing on a specific point in each podcast. If you already write articles to promote your website, then you could simply adapt your articles and create each podcast around an article - just hit the record button and read the article out loud. Add an few introductory and closing comments and mention your website address each time. That's it!
2. Hosting Services For Podcasters
Open an account with a podcast host and you will be able to store your podcasts on it. This makes more sense than hosting your podcasts on your website as audio files require quite a lot of storage space and as your audience grows you will need a lot of bandwidth; podcast hosting sites are specifically designed to handle those issues for you.
You can start off with a free or low cost account and then upgrade as the need arises. Popular podcast hosting services include Libsyn, Podbean, HipCast, GoDaddy, OurMedia, Odeo Studio. Personally, I use Podbean.com and started off with a free account which is easy to set up and use.
3. Get Your Podcast on iTunes
Once you have set up your podcast hosting account and uploaded a recording or two, you will be ready to get your show on iTunes.
This is also easy to do. Here's how:
- Open iTunes and click on iTunes Store. When the store opens you will see a bar at the top of the browser with "Podcasts" in the middle of the bar.
- Click on "Podcasts" and on the new page you will see a "Podcasts - PODCAST QUICK LINKS" menu column on the right hand side.
- Click on "Submit a Podcast" and you'll be taken to a new page with a field called "Podcast Feed URL".
- The podcast feed will be in the admin area of your podcasting host site. If you use Podbean you will find it under "My Profile". Just copy and paste the feed into the "Podcast Feed URL" on iTunes.
- Click "Continue" to initiate the submission process.
Provided there are no unforeseen hitches iTunes will soon start showing your podcast and you can now consider yourself to be "in business"!
It is that easy.
David Hurley hosts a
free podcast about how to set up and run an Internet business. Click the link to check out David's Internet business podcast - free.
