Blogging + Podcasting = Marketing to 65 Million Pairs of Ears
©2007 By Debra Simpson www.magicinwords.com
The combination of blogging and podcasting can be a lethal marketing mix.
What is podcasting?
A podcast is an audio recording formatted like a radio show. You can conduct interviews, present your views on certain matters, create your own radio drama, come up with your own brand of entertainment, and you can share whatever you create with people who visit your blog.
Podcasts have become natural extensions of blogs. It’s a way of elevating blogging to the next level. Blogs have a more personal feel compared to other online mediums. And podcasts will give your blog a voice, your voice, for all your readers/listeners to hear.
What Are the Marketing Uses For Podcasts?
There is a huge market for podcasts. There are 28 million owners of portable mp3 players in the US, and 65 million portable mp3 player owners in the world. And sales continue to grow.
People are looking for files to download to their mp3 players so they can listen while on the road. Podcasts offer a great alternative to music files that are widely available.
Podcasts can be used for a variety of marketing purposes. Let’s take a look at some of them:
- Podcasts can become the audio counterpart of e-courses. You can conduct lessons through the audio recordings you can offer via download.
- Podcasts make great manuals for the digital products you are selling.
- Podcasts make great testimonials to increase the credibility of your business and the likelihood of winning the trust of your prospects.
- Podcasts can become hooks to lure in a lot of visitors and leads. Episodic podcasts, for example, will require your listeners to visit your blog regularly, least they miss out on a new chapter of your audio adventures.
- Podcasts can serve as your products. You can sell them as they are. You can offer a subscription to gain access to your audio episodes. Or you can sell the private label rights for the podcasts you have developed.
- You can earn directly from your podcast by allowing some parties to advertise within your episodes. An example of this would be www.fruitcast.com which offers to host your podcasts under the condition that they will include a line or two of advertising material. You’d then be paid every time your podcast is downloaded.
How Can I Make My Own Podcast?
Creating your own podcast is easy. All you need is a recording device and a mike. If you wish to edit your recordings, you can use third party programs that can allow you to integrate music to your prerecorded voice.
You have to make sure that your podcast is recorded in .mp3 file format for it to serve its purpose.
Thereafter, you upload it to a web hosting server. This can be your own web host or any of the file storage websites popular these days.
Marketing your podcast is the next step, of course. But as they say, that’s a story for another day.
About our Guest Author: Debra Simpson, Magic In Words, has been in the publishing industry for over 20 years. She works with small business owners to add “stickiness”; to their website, and create passive income by creating digital, downloadable products. Visit www.magicinwords.com and see how you can make your site more “sticky.”
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