You Want to Be A Podcaster? Think You Have What it Takes?
So You Want to Be A Podcaster?
You think you have what it takes to compete in this exploding underground-industry?
Have you checked all of this off your list?:
- A Great Idea for a New Podcast!(The Concept!)
- A Killer Script (No, this is not the same as a great concept)
- Recording Software (that will save your Podcast as an MP3)
- A Microphone
- A Webpage (and somewhere with lots of bandwidth to host it!)
- An Rss Feed
- A Well Laid Out Plan on How to Market Your New Podcast
So how did you do?
Were you able to check everything off the list above? Because you can't even produce a Podcast without half of the items listed above. And without the other half nobody will want to listen to the Podcast that you do produce anyway. And without a good marketing plan? Well, keep your fingers crossed that your family and friends like the sound of your voice because it is unlikely that many other people will ever hear your Great New Podcast.
Don't shoot the messenger. It is a dog eat dog world out there and too many businesses compete for the same audience. What's that you say? We are not talking about businesses? Only a Free, Donation Based, Underground, Podcast? Well, that may be true, but the world of podcasting has grown (and still is growing!) exponentially over the past year and that means that there are a large number of 'Casters out there who are competing for the same listener base that you are. And don't forget that the business world knows a good thing when it sees it and have been jumping on the Podcasting bandwagon with relish over the past few months.
But that's okay. Because there are valuable lessons to be learned from the business world. They know how to put together a classy Podcast. They know how to advertise. They know how to market. They know how to network. And you can scoff the corporations that are invading the tranquil Podcasting Nirvana all you want, but the fact remains... If you want to get your new Podcast out to the masses, you had better bone up on some Marketing Basics or get lost in the flood.
Well, you are in luck. It just so happens that in another life, some of
PodCast Empires contributers are top-notch marketers and they have been very kind to agree to develop a comprehensive How-To section here at
Podcast Empire, designed to teach you what you need to know to get your name heard in the busy world of Podcasting.
So, the writing is on the wall... or in the Blog anyway...
Starting tommorrow, we will be starting a second blog that is oriented towards Podcasters directly. We will be supplying you with more information to help you create, promote, and market your Podcast.
This Blog will remain as is, we will continue offering fresh Podcasting news that you won't be able to find in many other places!
Thank you everybody for your feedback and comments. While we are still one of the new kids on the block and only have a small following so far, you are an earnest and loyal group of Podcast enthusiasts (Podatics!) and your comments have helped to fuel this change.
The Creators of PodCast Empire would like to thank you!
Michael Valiant
Canadian Podcasting Pundits Unite!
If you are a podcast fanatic (Podnatic? I think I just coined a new term! Yeah me!)...
So, if you are Podnatic, and enjoy political commentary, and happen to be Canadian (or at least curious about Canadian Politics), then we have the podcast for you.
CPAC has announced that Revue Politique, PrimeTime Politics, and the House of Commons' Question Period will become available as podcasts, making Canadian politics more accessible to all you Podnatic Pundits out there.
This is a great use of the medium as Canada's Political Station joins the like of the BBC and the USA's NPR. Kudos go to CPAC.
You will be able to access CPAC's episodes on Podcast Empire shortly.
Michael V
Need a Job?
No, we are not hiring at PodCastEmpire just yet, but you can download a podcast from
ZDnet and listen to an interview with the CEO of
SimplyHired, a new meta-search job-finding site that has already listed over 4 million jobs (according to their website).
Listen to the PodCast, Visit the site, Get Hired! Sure beats pounding the pavement!
Micahel V
An Interesting Thought On Podcasting
I have begun to wonder if there is a problem with Podcasting lately.
There are plenty of reasons why Podcasting has exploded over the past year with, by some accounts, over 100,000 available podcasts already online (
www.PodcastEmpire.com has over 1,000 and is growing fast!). But there is one popular area where it seems Podcasting has not quite caught on.
Not only that, but I am talking about a segment of the population which traditionally embraces new technologies...
University and College kids.
When I started University in the early 90's, the Internet was still in it's infancy, a place my sister thought only fish went (Inter-net - HaHa), but for us young academia's who had broken our teeth in the world of the online BBS (That would be Bulletin Board Systems, an Internet Precursor, for those not in the 'know'), everything was new and the possibilities were endless.
We leapt on every new trend to hit the Net, and kept each other notified with the help of our trusty Pinemail (text based email client - no IM's back then!). There were few things online that the average university student didn't embrace...
Flash forward ten plus years, we have been bombarded by Blogs for years now, and the University crowd accounts for their fair share of content. But for some reason, Podcasting is different. The populace at large seems to be able to tell me more about podcasting than any of the University folk I know.
Why?!?
Why are co-ed Dorms across the continent not rife with after-hour Pirate radio stations? Why are all of these 20-somethings walking around with an Ipod in one hand, and an MP3 enabled phone in the other, not listening to Podshows?
I don't get it. Where it is usually this group of people who thrive on, and push new technologies in to the mainstream (or at least carry them along as they themselves become mainstream), it seems that the university folk seem to have missed the boat this time around.
There must be a logical reason for it...
Could it be that University has become more erudite since I graduate, and the students haven't time for more trivial pursuits like creating or listening to podcast shows? Not likely...
Could this younger generation of people be more 'institutionalized' than those who came before them? Willing to throw their easy-won money away on CD's and pay-to-download music services?
Could it just be that an older generation is pushing this podcast wave while dreaming of the good old days when they listened to pirate radio stations on their hamm radios?
I don't know, but I am curious...
When will Podcasting catch on with the bar-set crowd?
Michael V
podcastempire@gmail.com
