What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you think podcast? Is it music? Audio books? Talk shows?  A tool for your business?  Did you know that podcasts can drive just as much (if not more) traffic to your site as any ad or blog post?

So what is podcasting?

It’s an episodic series of audio or video (more about video later) a person can download or listen to. Some podcasts are talk show style, radio style, or simply informational. A podcast provides the opportunity to share your smarts with your audience and establish a connection with them.  They get to experience your voice, enthusiasm, and knowledge —- the whole package.  Keeping up with regular podcast episodes will deepen that connection with your audience and help with brand awareness.

Podcasting is a great way of reaching your audience in a new, easy-to-digest way because they can listen from virtually anywhere, at home, work, on their commute and everywhere in between.

According to one interesting podcasting stat, people are 20 percent more receptive to retaining info and 30 percent more receptive to seeing and retaining info than just reading plain text.

Another podcasting plus is there are many platforms available to put your podcast on. You have the usual standards, such as iTunes and Google Play, but there’s also Spotify, Soundcloud, Pandora, and more, which means your audience can easily find your podcast no matter what device or platform they use.

So how do you get started?  It can be overwhelming at first, so here are a few tips from Lyssa, the resident podcasting VA guru here at AngCo.

  • Invest in a quality microphone. Putting a little bit more into a good microphone will save you time and money when it comes to editing.
  • Plan out your first three to five episodes, and do not launch until they are all ready. Many podcasters think the sooner they can get on episode out, the better.  Launching with three or more episodes will increase your chances of charting in iTunes, as well as encourage your audience to become a subscriber after they binge on your first few episodes, which keeps you on their radar.  You want that, right?
  • About videos, here’s a cool trick.  You can repurpose videos or even Facebook lives, IGTV, etc., into a podcast episode, which is an enormous time saver and a great way to connect with your audience on multiple platforms with the same message.
  • For those who are super busy or just aren’t tech savvy, consider outsourcing the production to save you time and your sanity.  Editing audio to meet broadcast standards will give your podcast a polished sound, and give you the ‘pro’ in professional.

If you’ve thought about podcasting before — because let’s face it, blogging just isn’t your thing —  and you’re not sure how to get started, you’ve come to the right spot.

We’re offering two podcast trainings  A planning and prep call for those who’ve listened to a podcast and thought Wow, I can totally do this, but not sure how to get started.  You’ll get all the important details to get you ready.

The other training is for those who are ready to start or launch their podcast, but haven’t mapped things out and may be wondering if anything’s missing and if they can do it all.  In this training, an action plan will be created to get them rocking.

If you’re interested in either of these, give me a ring at 612-789-0304 or shoot me an email at angie@angco.biz

Yours in the podcasting adventure,

Angie & Team AngCo