You are Not making a commercial.
Creating
a podcast masquerading as nothing more than an advertisement
for your business is self serving. The listener will see right
through that and will most likely stop listening. Podcasts are
meant to be information intensive and you should be supplying
content that is rich and relevant. Let the listener decide if
you are knowledgeable about a subject and they might come knocking
at your door for your services.
Be Relaxed.
The most effective podcasts
I have heard are where they're having a good time, and it really
shows.
Keep it Interesting.
Create short segments
that are diverse. Appropriate music and sound effects between
segments aid production values and help keep moving things along.
MTV is our generation, whether you agree or not. Audiences like
it varied. Fast. And with substance.
Be organized. Don't ramble.
Flipping on
a mic and babbling for an hour is the biggest mistake a podcaster
can make. Take the time and prepare a script or at least a rough
outline of what you'll be talking about. If your podcast is
an interview, prepare your questions in advance. Your guest
should be forwarded a copy, that way they can be confident and
coherent. You don't have to stick to it verbatim, but it should
help keep your podcast from becoming chaotic and wasting the
listeners time. If you are not interviewing, write out an agenda
taking note points of what is to be discussed, this will ensure
the podcast moves along quickly.
Stuff, stuff, stuff.
Stuff as much good information
as possible into your podcast. People's minds move faster than
your mouth. Pack your podcast full of quality content. Move
at a quick pace.
If you've got quality content, podcast regularly.
Quality is much better than quantity. Listening to an excellent
podcast every three months, is much more appealing than a mediocre
weekly segment. When the listener commits to a podcast by pushing
'Play', you have both their attention and their trust. Be wise.
Treat them with respect. Develop your audience. Let them know
you.
Use professionally recorded audio.
Seriously
folks, I can't stress this enough. If the audio sounds like
it's at the end of a tunnel it can ruin a podcast. Using your
computer with it's built-in mic just won't cut it. Care must
be taken to record broadcast quality audio that needs to be
seamlessly edited, and processed. Use the services of a professional
recording studio with quality mics, preamps and processors.
After all, this is their expertise.
When doing interviews, know your subject.
Do your homework. Be prepared.
Stale topics.
Do something fresh. With so
many interview subjects , approaches and topics, it's a challenge
to find fresh subject matter and ideas.
Be natural.
Be yourself.
Be prepared to '86' a show.
A bad show should
not be aired. Whatever the reason.
Background music and musical cues.
Music
can be a bonus to a podcast. Decide when to use it. Judiciously.
Identify yourself.
Date. Issue Number. Topic.
Guest, etc... at the start of the show. If you have a
list of email addresses, links, and so on, save it till the
end of the show. Get on with the podcast.
Market that sucker.
Publish your podcast
on as many sites as possible. Make it easy to subscribe. Promote
yourself.
