Free Website Content
Podcast Promotion
Podcast Promotion
Podcasting is a great new medium, but creating a podcast
is only half of the work. Promoting a podcast is equally
critical to it's success.
1. Educate the Public.
It is important to remember that podcasting is a relatively
new technology and not everyone understands or knows
what podcasting is. It is particularly important to
educate users if your audience is not technical. Not
only is it important to explain what a podcast is, but
it is equally important to explain how your podcast
will help listeners. Instruction on how users can listen
to podcasts should also be included.
Understanding Podcasting - http://www.podcasting-tools.com/podcasting-articles.htm
2. Graphic
Add a graphic to your website to let website visitors
know that a podcast is available for your content. Colorful
graphics have become the signature to alert listeners
that podcasts and RSS feeds are available. The podcast
flags were initially bright orange rectangles but as
the popularity has grown, webmasters have bent the rules
a bit.
A free online RSS graphic tool is available that allows
users to quickly customize buttons by selecting the
text and the color scheme of the button enabling webmasters
to coordinate their podcast flag to match their website
color scheme. Graphics experience is not required. Simply
select alternative colors and insert text to personalize
the feed graphics.
Online Graphics Tool - http://www.feedforall.com/public/rss-graphic-tool.htm
or choose ready made graphics fom: http://www.feedforall.com/podcasting-graphics.htm
.
3. Descriptive Content
Be sure the podcast RSS feed contains enough information
related to the contents of the podcasts to grab the
interest of listeners. The description should be keyword
rich. A link to the audio file should be included in
the description field. The audio file link is a great
way for listeners to sample a podcast.
4. Press Release
Send a press release about the podcast. In addition
to distributing the press release to editors, be sure
to submit the release to free online press release directories.
Submit Press Release - http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com/pressreleases.html
(scroll to submit release)
5. Podcast Directories
Submit podcasts to the podcast directories. Podcast
directories contain podcasts that cover a wide variety
of topics. Inclusion in the podcast search engines and
directories will tap a whole new audience.
Submit to Podcasting Directories - http://www.podcasting-tools.com/submit-podcasts.htm
6. Consistent Theme / Interesting Content
The last thing you want to do is to turn off listeners
who have subscribed. Provide consistently formatted
and consistently themed audio files. Interesting content
that is consistently presented will gradually increase
your listening base.
7. Create a Community
Encourage feedback and dialogue with listeners. Listen
to the feedback of listeners and test their suggestions.
Remember the podcast is for them not you.
Podcast promotion should be approached with the same
tactics as website promotion. Identifying and informing
your audience will increase communication and dialogue.
About the Author:
Sharon Housley manages marketing for FeedForAll http://www.feedforall.com
software for creating, editing, publishing RSS feeds
and podcasts. In addition Sharon manages marketing for
NotePage http://www.notepage.net
a wireless text messaging software company.
**********************************************************
This article may be used freely in opt-in
publications and websites, provided that the resource
box is included and the links are active. A courtesy
copy of the issue or a link to any online posting would
be greatly appreciated send an email to sharon@notepage.net
.
Additional articles available for publication available
at http://www.small-business-software.net/free-website-content.htm
**********************************************************
|
