Create your own podcast!
Get yourself heard: Learn to express yourself through podcasting
By Jennifer O'Connor
When the parents of two young children decided they wanted to connect with other people who cared about children’s books, they created a podcast.
Just One More Book!! features Andrea Ross and Mark Blevis reviewing books at a favourite coffee shop and interviewing authors and illustrators. “I just love meeting people who are passionate about what I’m passionate about,” says Ross.
Getting started
Want to tell the world about your interests? The first thing to do, says Maggie Fox, one of the founders of Social Media Group, an agency that helps companies create podcasts and deal with other social media, is to listen to podcasts. Directories that can help you find topics that align with your interests include Podcast Alley, Blubrry and Odeo.
What keeps listeners interested? What makes them tune out? Fox provides some general tips.
- Interview. Other voices add interest and credibility to your podcast.
- Keep it short. Remember that the average story on the nightly news is at most four minutes long.
- Stick to a regular schedule.
Tips and tools
You’ll need a few basic tools to put your podcast together. If your computer doesn’t have a built-in microphone, you’ll have to buy one or get a USB headset. You’ll also need a recorder/editor such as Windows Sound Recorder and an MP3 encoder. Windows Sound Recorder comes with all versions of Windows and allows you to record sound as a digital media file.
To begin, click Start > All Programs > Accessories > Sound Recorder > Start Recording. To save, click File name, type a file name for the recorded sound, and then click Save to save the recorded sound as an audio file.
Podcasts must be saved as MP3 files. To find a program that can convert one file type to an MP3, simply search the web for “MP3 converter.” Audacity is one program that automatically saves files as MP3s and can be downloaded for free.
You may also want to consider Skype, a free download that allows you to record phone conversations over the Internet with the help of third-party software such as Callburner. Before you start, remember you are legally obligated to inform interviewees the call is being recorded.
A service such as Mevio ensures your “podsafe music” won’t infringe on copyright. Podcast producers can just log in and download tunes that artists/labels have submitted specifically for use on shows.
Publishing your podcast
You’ve done the interviews and stitched together your program. Now you’re ready to publish. The first thing you need is a hosting service.
One well-known podcast hosting service is Liberated Syndication (Libsyn), says Fox. There is a small monthly fee. Using Libsyn is as simple as signing in, writing your show notes (Libsyn offers a blog engine), browsing for your MP3 file, and uploading. Your podcast is then automatically sent to iTunes and other directories. Other services include PodshowCreator and Hipcast. You can also use your Internet provider to host the podcast and create an RSS feed, which you’ll need to syndicate.
“No matter how you end up hosting your podcast, it should be on a blog page because it’s easier to promote that way,” explains Fox. Blogs make your podcast more search engine friendly and allow listeners to comment, she says.
You can also promote your podcast on your Windows Live Space so friends and family know when to tune in.
Another way to make your podcast stand out is with tagging. (Tags are keywords that make it easier for people to find you.) Tags should change with every podcast.
Finding the right words for the show notes is one of Ross’s most time-consuming tasks. If they’re doing a book review, Ross and Blevis spend about 15 minutes recording and no more than half-an-hour editing and uploading. Podcasts with research and interviews can take hours.
Blevis hosts two other podcasts, Canadian Podcast Buffet, a show about podcasts and podcasting, and Electric Sky, a CBC-influenced interview and documentary program. Blevis and Ross are also among the co-organizers of the Podcasters across Borders Conference, Canada’s first podcasting conference.
The annual gathering brings together members of the Canadian, American, British and Argentine podcasting communities, though the conference is open to anyone in the world. Topics include everything from audio production techniques to podcast promotion and podcasting in an educational setting.
When it comes to podcasts, other than having something to talk about and being comfortable with the sound of your voice, says Blevis, “there really are very few barriers to entry.”
