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Saturday, December 1, 2012

Top Reasons to Use Podcasts to Generate Sales

If you have a product or service to sell, you can sell it the old fashioned way or you can jump right into the future of the way people generate sales with less effort and no geographic limitations.

But what exactly is a Podcast?

A Podcast is a recorded event that is then distributed electronically. The event can be:

1. A sales presentation 2. A training session 3. An interview 4. The audio section of a webinar 5. A recorded seminar

What are the benefits of a podcast? Well, once you have your podcast, you can use it to sell for you over and over for years into the future, because once you have your podcast you can:

1. Place it on a CD or DVD and distribute it 2. Place it on your web site and provide a link to it 3. Offer it at not cost to others to join your mailing list 4. Encourage people to download it to their IPOD or mp3 player 5. Invite people all over the world into your web based conference room and play the recording for your audience. While you are in your conference room you can also show off your web site, products and services at no cost by simply showing off your web site sales page or Power Point (TM)presentation. Then you can take the prospect along with you to your sales or sign up page and complete the transaction on the spot.

In summary, your Podcasts can help tell your story, build your credibility, generate sales and even train your customers, employees, and salespeople simply by directing them to your Podcast, all at zero cost.

Be sure to investigate this new marketing tool and you will start to see it as one of your "Must have marketing tools too!"

Six Benefits of Podcasting The Benefits of Starting a Podcast Podcast Transcription: Converting the Spoken to the Written How to Begin Podcasting the Right Way How To Pick A Great Name For Your Podcast The Art of Podcasting

Earn Cash Make Money Online Start a Podcast - Part 1

The internet offers many freedoms to ordinary people; those freedoms allow you to achieve so much with limited resources. If you have the talent and the technical resources then you can create an interesting podcast that will attract attention and eventually money.

Podcasts give you a lot of freedom on your content and allows you to do whatever you think your audience will be interested in. if you create an interesting successful podcast, be certain that money and advertising deals will follow. So let's take a closer look at the whole thing.

Earn Cash Make Money Online by Starting a Podcast Tip Number 1: assemble a good team

Content is king, and you have to have a team of dedicated and interesting people delivering it to your audience. This is the most important step in the whole process. Don't just get some your friends, if you have no suitable friends that fit the bill, then don't be afraid to place ads online requesting people with previous experience.

Earn Cash Make Money Online by Starting a Podcast Tip Number 2: Choose the theme of your podcast

It is important to focus on one or two themes or topics for your podcast. Don't think that by making it a general podcast more people will be interested in it. It will actually be watered down and not interesting enough. Focus on one thing for example movie reviews and entertainment news. This will help you set the pace and the tone of your programs as well.

Earn Cash Make Money Online by Starting a Podcast Tip Number 3: make the audience participate

After you have gained a following, it is essential to reward your audience for their support and loyalty by making them participate. This can be done in a special section or the typical radio fashion by email of course.

Six Benefits of Podcasting The Benefits of Starting a Podcast Podcast Transcription: Converting the Spoken to the Written How to Begin Podcasting the Right Way

Creating a Podcast Will Boost Your Fans

There are a number of different ways to gain traffic for your internet information and advice business. Some require a great deal of money. Advertising on Google for example. Some require expertise, luck and research. SEO for example. Some require either time or money. Article marketing for example.

There are a number of ways to gain a reputation for expertise in your market. Writing an eBook for example. Or writing articles.

But there are very few ways to do both.

Podcasting is one of those ways.

Not only can creating a podcast gain you traffic, but creating a podcast can also boost your acceptance with your fans.

But why is a podcast so good for building a fan base?

A podcast wins on three different levels. And it's easy to create, just to sweeten the deal. All of which works to make podcasts great for building a reputation and a fan base.

First off, people like podcasts.

In our modern world, commuting is a fact of life. As much as we try most of us end up never being able to work from home. Instead we spend hours stuck in our cars or on a train. Being able to learn something useful is a great way to avoid simply losing those hours.

Podcasts not only provide that chance to learn, but they are easy to use as well. All you have to do is download them to your MP3 player. Then listen while you drive. Or listen while you stare at the scenery flashing by the train window.

Second, podcasts are a personal media.

One of the problems in our modern world is that we all seem to be growing further and further apart from one another. Podcasts are a chance for your audience to spend some time with a friend. A friend who shows up once a week or so without fail.

Unlike some other media, podcasts give your audience a chance to meet you as a person. It gives you a chance to show your passion for your subject. A chance to show that you really care. And your audience will respond.

Finally, podcasts are a chance to show off your knowledge.

You could always teach a free course. But if you do, what you'll find is that many people never bother to listen to your course. Besides a course focuses on only one aspect of your subject. A podcast on the other hand consists of short snippets of information presented over many weeks. It allows you to quickly explore different elements of your subject without having to give away the farm on any one topic. However, it does mean your fans will quickly realize that you know what you are talking about.

Podcast Essentials - How To Record Voice On Your Home Computer

There are many people using the power of their computers to narrate their own websites, audition for commercial work, or do podcasts. They might wish to spread their knowledge, establish their expertise, or just have fun. You may want to do this, but are uncertain exactly how it works. Here are some basics:

Do you need Protools?

No. While Protools in its many variations is ubiquitous, and works extremely well, it is by far the "only" computer-based recording platform. It's unlikely that you would ever tap its full features simply recording voice. What you really want is a method to capture sound and edit, control volume, and export files in a certain format (.mp3,.wav being two of the most common.)

Do you need to spend a lot of money?

No. If you have a computer, you can be recording voice for about $100. You can, and might be well advised to spend more - the sky is almost the limit. There is, however, a point of diminishing returns.

How do you get started?

You probably do want to sound more professional than can come from the microphone which may be built-in to your laptop. That's one reason why there are outboard microphones or gadgets that allow you to plug directly into your computer via USB. Some even come with recording software.

Another way is to use an outboard (separate) microphone preamplifier, which boosts the low output of the microphone to a level which can then be input into most sound cards in most computers. You can then add equalization (bass or high frequencies) within your recording program, if it allows.

A third way is to use what is called a "channel strip" which includes a microphone preamplifier and other built-in options, for example: equalization (fancy tone controls), perhaps a compressor (which turns low sounds up at the same time it turns loud sounds down for a smoother presentation), a limiter (which locks the loudest sound to a predetermined threshold) and maybe a "de-esser" which can be tuned to keep "ss" sounds from being too pronounced or harsh. A channel strip then outputs into the line input of your sound card in your computer.

What most important thing do many miss?

The acoustic environment in which you record will greatly affect the outcome. You might hear the hollowness of the room as the sound bounces off the walls, floor, and ceiling (as an exaggeration, think what it sounds like when you talk in your shower). Happily, there are ways around this, both electronic and physical. As an electronic cure, and sometimes present on a channel strip, you would use a "gate" which turns down the lowest sounds your microphone hears. A too aggressive use will also cut parts of your words out, though. Acoustically, anything which absorbs sound can be positioned around the microphone to keep sound from bouncing around the room and being heard.

Six Benefits of Podcasting The Benefits of Starting a Podcast Podcast Transcription: Converting the Spoken to the Written How to Begin Podcasting the Right Way

Keeping Podcasting Files Small to Keep Speed Up on Your Website

A whole industry has grown out of a problem with podcasts and videocasts. There are major companies that exist solely to provide storage and bandwidth for these tools. They are designed to broadcast podcasts efficiently but they really aren't that different from your own website.

Why is this? What has caused these companies to appear?

The answer is that most people tend to be very wasteful when it comes to the size of their podcast files. Their own websites have a problem with wasted bandwidth and size as a result. These companies exist to overcome this problem by solving the symptom.

But there is a better way.

In this article I'm going to show you two simple ways of keeping your podcasting files small to keep speed up on your website.

But first let's clarify why you want to do this.

There are three basic reasons why you want to minimize the file sizes.

First the amount of storage you will use. Most web hosts limit the size of storage or charge more once you exceed a certain threshold.

Second is the amount of bandwidth you will use. Again most web hosts limit the amount of bandwidth or charge more above a certain threshold.

Finally, the transmission itself takes less time. Therefore you are less likely to run into situations where bandwidth is temporarily being overloaded.

As for the speed of your website, it is affected by four factors. The size of the files you send. The number of people who are accessing your site. The number of other sites being accessed. And the size of the pipelines (bandwidth and processing power) of the host.

So how can you reduce the size of the podcast file?

Most people who are new to the recording of podcasts make one major mistake that affects their file size. They record in stereo. Now stereo is a great format for recording. It gives depth to the record. It imitates your ears and provides a more realistic sound. However, if there is only one non-stereo microphone generating sound it is somewhat irrelevant. And it requires at least twice the amount of storage as a mono recording. So always convert recordings to mono.

The second major mistake is to record a higher quality sound than is actually needed. If the podcast was recorded by phone then a recording of 11,000 kHz, 16 bit is more than sufficient to get the best quality. Similarly, most headset recordings are satisfactory for podcast needs at 22,000 kHz, 16 bit, only music and master recordings have any need for 44,000 kHz, 16 bit recording.

Six Benefits of Podcasting The Benefits of Starting a Podcast Podcast Transcription: Converting the Spoken to the Written How to Begin Podcasting the Right Way The Art of Podcasting How To Pick A Great Name For Your Podcast

Podcasting - 4 Tips to Better Podcasts

If you aren't podcasting yet, or if you think it's not a viable marketing option anymore, then you are missing out on a lot of potential. Podcasting is easy and a very important tool to market your products or information. There are still many sites that offer podcasts to their viewers. Podcasts are still popular because they can be listened to away from a computer. Here are a few tips to help you in creating your first podcast.

1. Preparation - Gather ideas and write up a script. A script will help you immensely. If you don't want to write up a script, an outline can be a great way to keep organized too.

2. Microphone - You can go all out and spend hundreds of dollars or you can use your webcam microphone (if your computer will allow it). If you get a really nice microphone it will show in the quality, however, the webcam microphone will sound really close, close enough that most people won't even care about the difference.

3. Editing Software - You really should get some sort of sound editing software such as Sony Soundforge, or if you're lucky enough to have a Mac you can use Garageband. You only have to do a few easy steps and your podcast is finished.

4. Phone Lines - If you want to be able to record your phone line into your podcast, you will need a machine called an innkeeper. An innkeeper takes an analog phone line and makes it available to be recorded clearly and easily.