Creating, distributing and promoting your podcast to attain online viewers is relatively easy. Podcasting is becoming more common as many bloggers are turning to Internet radio shows to get their message or music out. It takes 5-10 minutes to create and get a podcast online. All you need is some recording tools, Internet access, and an interesting subject to talk about!
Steps of creating a podcast
1. Determine the type of your podcast
Establish the content type and write the topic down on a paper. Select a topic from the categories available such as health, news, comedy, politics, music, and sports. Listen to popular podcasts to get the content and the style of writing. Draft up the podcast outline to prevent the awkward pauses during the actual recording.
2. Choose equipment you will use to podcast
Most podcast are recorded using microphone, mixer, or a computer. Different podcast starter packages are available online that are purchased at cheap prices. For starters affordable voice recording and dynamic-type of microphone ensures the podcast produced is of good quality. You can also a smartphone or tablet to record your podcast. But, voice recording podcast software and a microphone will be needed.
3. Pick suitable software
Free software packages are available online but a user can choose to purchase podcast software, such as adobe Audition. Some microphones and mixers come with free podcast software. iPodcast Producer is super friendly and it supports the recording and uploading process; the final product is built-in FTP client. Audacity, free software, is available for Windows, Linux, and Mac versions. You can also apply for monthly subscription on adobe Cloud platform that offers adobe site at lower cost.
4. Record your audio podcast
Recording the audio represents the biggest step to podcast creation. Show passion and talk in a consistent about your subject. Read the scripts prepared earlier and thank the listeners for listening to your show. Before the actual recording, test the software by making few audio samples to ensure a perfect podcast is created. Check the volume controls to make sure all the equipment are functioning well.
5. Save the recorded audio file to the computer desktop
Make sure the file is in MP3 format, and bit rate of about 128 kbps. But, music podcast can have about 192 kbps or more. Open the file into sound editor and edit the extra background noise and long episodes of silence. Save a backup file to ensure you retain the content if something goes wrong during the uploading process.
6. Give the file an album art
Name the audio file including the date of recording. Edit the ID3 tags of your MP3 file to enable the audience find and catalogue your podcasts.
7. Create RSS podcast feed
The process enables your feed to meet industry standards; use complete serve and solution such as Cast mate, Libsyn, or Podomatic. You can also start a blog with your podcast title to attract more viewers.
8. Upload your podcast
Best Sites to Host Podcast
With the increasing podcasting popularity, everyone owns podcast today thus difficult to find a podcast host. The podcast size determines the best host and sometimes it is tricky to establish the best podcast host. I will outline the best podcast hosting options:
Sound cloud- allows sharing and music upload to all individuals. However, sound cloud mostly focuses on musicians and offers excellent services for musical podcast.
Archive.org- is the most popular podcast host site. Archive.org can host any type of media file uploaded. However, the site is slow and once the media is uploaded, it is impossible to replace it.
Amazon S3- the podcast host site changes for hosting services. Amazon S3 offers quality hosting services at lower changes compared to other paid hosting services.
Ourmedia.org-offers free podcast hosting services and do not limit the file bandwidth. The organization allows massive number of audience to listen to your podcast. Upload process is fast but the content is scanned for inappropriate content and if detected the upload is canceled.
Podmatic- offers free podcast services and has easiest user interface applications. Persons with free accounts, get 15 GB bandwidth every month and 500 MB overall storage.
Starting a podcast using a website or programs is simple. You can record your audio on YouTube and make a movie on windows using free software. Insert graphics, and then select the best social media link, save the podcast as WMV; then upload!
