Comments on: The power of podcasting: building your brand while entertaining (and educating) your audience.

By: Leonor

Leonor — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 05:16:08 +0000

I started Podcasting about a year ago and it is more exciting than blogging. I love podcasting maybe because i love music so much and radio programs when i was still a kid.

By: Heidi

Heidi — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 18:39:39 +0000

Dave,
That's a good question. I bet someone has done some research. I'll have to add it to my list of things to Google. My guess is that the optimal length depends on the topic and the target audience. Similar to my thoughts on copywriting, I think one just needs to use as many (or few) words as necessary to convey the information.

That said, there are user preferences. I've had conversations with people who like 15 minute podcasts because they can listen to them on a short commute or walk and they learn a little something in a short amount of time.

I, on the other hand, prefer longer podcasts of 45-60 min. (This American Life and This Week in Tech both fall in this range.) This is partly because I want to hear more in-depth or broadly focused discussions that require more time. But it's also because I want to stick the earbuds in and go about my business without having to select a new podcast every 10-15 minutes.

I also prefer novels to short stories (though I sometimes write the latter) for the same reason. I guess I just want to focus on the one subject for awhile instead of making my brain hop from topic to topic. (Probably because my brain gets too much of the latter on Twitter and Google Reader and sometimes wants to take a break.)

So for now, my best guess would be that optimal length varies.

By: dave

dave — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 18:03:51 +0000

I wonder if someone has looked to see if there is a podcast length that is the most effective? Is 15 minutes the optimal length? 20 minutes? 1 hour? I would think that everyone who listens to the podcast listens at least to the first few minutes. As length increases so does the chance of a distraction. With each distraction there is a chance the listener doesn't return. There has to be some sweet spot. The length of an average commute maybe. dave’s last blog post..links for 2009-04-09

By: Reports from the Asylum » Bookmarks for March 20th through March 30th

Reports from the Asylum » Bookmarks for March 20th through March 30th — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 23:02:45 +0000

[...] The power of podcasting: building your brand while entertaining (and educating) your audience. | Web... - [...]

By: Andrew Hedges

Andrew Hedges — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 21:47:32 +0000

Very thorough and encouraging discussion of podcasting. Thanks for this! You're right, Cantores Cleveland seems like a perfect fit for podcasting. In my experience, groups like this either aren't aware of podcasting as a channel (though this is becoming less common), or they just don't have the resources to commit to producing podcasts at regular intervals. It reminds me of monthly newsletters we used to put out when I worked in student affairs. We had great intentions, the first couple of issues were awesome, then people got busy and the next issue either never got produced or was half the length of the previous ones. If your organization is committed and has the resources, podcasts are an excellent way to build brand and gain fans. If not, it's probably best not to start something you can't finish.

By: Creative Advertising

Creative Advertising — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 18:58:25 +0000

which makes podcasting a great way to reach wide audiences and make a name for yourself. Creative Advertising

By: Peter A. Mello, Sea-Fever blog

Peter A. Mello, Sea-Fever blog — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 17:53:54 +0000

Heidi, Thanks for this thorough podcasting post and for mentioning the Messing About In Ships podcast (http://messingaboutinships.com). As a listener, you will recall that MAIS started with my partner Captain John Konrad of gCaptain.com on a ship at sea in the Gulf of Mexico and me at home in New England. Our inspiration is our mutual passion for all things maritime. For the past few months John has been ashore but he's soon on his way to the Far East on an assignment to build and deliver a large ship. It should keep him busy and provide us lots of interesting material for the show. We pretty much follow the format that you laid out above. We use Skype and Pamela to record our discussions and Audacity (http://audacity.sourceforge.net/), which is free, to edit the clips. We mostly use music from http://music.podshow.com and we put it all together with Castblaster, which unfortunately seems no longer available to buy. My guess is that an hour show takes us about 4 hours to put together, maybe longer in the beginning. Hope this helps any of your readers thinking of getting into podcasting. It can be fun! Fair Winds, Peter @petermello

By: David

David — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 12:57:17 +0000

Great post, and good link to boagworld. I am another reader who would like to read a more detailed guide to podcasting from the clarity of your pen.

By: Heidi

Heidi — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 01:09:33 +0000

A reader wrote this evening asking how to get started with podcasting. I'll try to write a more detailed guide in the future, but for now here is a brief overview that should help most people get started with podcasting on the most basic level. These instructions assume that you have a blog and are relatively familiar with it's features.

If you have a blog, add a new category for podcasts and set-up an RSS feed specifically for that category.
Place a link to the Podcast Feed somewhere prominent on your site. You may also want to create a page of instructions for listening to the podcast.
Check that the RSS feed is capable of supporting podcasts. (Many newer blogs are already podcast enabled, but if yours is not you may have to edit the xml file in older versions of Movable Type, or add a plug-in such as Podpress to Wordpress blogs. If using Podpress make sure to edit your Podpress settings as appropriate to your Podcast.)
Record your podcast, edit the audio and save it as a .mp3 file. (Audacity works well for this.) DO NOT include any blank spaces in the file name.
Add informational metadata to your .mp3 file. (You can add much of this by importing your .mp3 file into iTunes, choosing "Get info" and adding the data.) Read the iTunes Podcasting Specs to learn more about metadata and adding podcasts to iTunes.
Make a new blog entry featuring the title of your podcast episode and write a brief description about the podcast and the episode. Save, but don't yet publish.
Upload the .mp3 file from your iTunes library (to ensure that you use the version to which you added metadata) to your blog and include a link to the .mp3 file in your blog entry. Be sure to include only 1 audio file per blog post.
Publish your blog entry. Visitors may now play the file directly directly in your blog entry or may subscribe to the feed using iTunes or their preferred podcatcher. Your podcast does not need to be listed in the iTunes store for this to work, but submitting it will help you market the podcast.
Test your links to make sure they play on the Web and that when you subscribe to the podcast it downloads and plays.

Congrats, if the above worked out, you are now a podcaster! There are far more nuances involved in making the best podcast to suit your needs, but the above will get you up and running. Have fun!