A Layman's Guide To Podcasting

The internet has definitely evolved to the point where just about anyone can find an audience online

. In years gone by, being heard was reserved to the celebrities of the day. Aside from them, it was near impossible to get your thoughts and ideas into the public domain. No longer. Today, you have a wide variety of choices to get your message out. You can start a blog. You can post a video. Or you can start a podcast series.

Much of this technology has been fueled by the introduction of RSS tools. For those that don't know, RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication and that's exactly what it is. It an option where someone can subscribe to the content you're churning out and any time you post something new, they automatically get notified. In other words, it's a tool that allows you to build an audience online without any of the obstacles that existed years ago.

Podcasting is one of the most interesting vehicles for getting your word out. No only is it extremely easy to do but it allows your listeners to actually listen to your voice and get to know your style, your content and your delivery. For me, podcasting has changed my career and I'm absolutely thrilled today's technology allows me to communicate my ideas through such an effective medium.

There are only a small handful of things you need to start recording your own podcast and this article will focus on three of them. In my own case, I posted my first podcast on the same day that I first learned the definition of the word. In other words, on the morning of January 19th 2006, I didn't know what a podcast was and by that same evening, my first podcast was available on iTunes. Hopefully, that gives you some indication of how easy it truly is.

The first thing you'll need is a microphone with a pop filter. A pop filter is one of those large foam-rubber bubbles that covers the top of your microphone and it filters out the P's, D's and B's. If you don't use of these pop filters, those letters tend to pop into the microphone and then they pop into the ear of whoever is listening later. So go to your local Best Buy or Circuit City and spend $50 on a microphone with a pop filter.

The next thing you'll have to do is open an RSS account. There are plenty of providers out there and I suggest putting the words RSS hosting into a Google search. Personally, I use Liberated Syndication and have always been happy with their service. They're one of the few hosting companies that do NOT charge for bandwidth and their basic plan starts at just $5 per month. My podcasts have now been downloaded over 17,000 times and I have used the $5 account since the beginning.

Last, you'll need to get some recording software. If you're on a Mac, you'll probably be using Garage Band. But if you're using a PC, I recommend Audacity. It's free and extremely simple to use. Just put Audacity into a Google search and it'll come right up. Download the file and install it. The whole process will take about 5 minutes and you'll be ready to record your first podcast.

I'll be publishing a second article about podcasting tomorrow. It will deal with the actual execution part of the process. What's the fastest way to make your first recording? How do you get it registered with iTunes? Where else should you get it registered? Those questions will be answered in the subsequent article so check my author profile to find it along with a variety of other articles.

A Layman's Guide To Podcasting

By: Jennifer Seaton

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