Are you looking for a new way to bring content to your customers? Have you considered podcasting?
Podcasting is a way of bringing new content and maybe even old content to your customers in a new way. According to a survey by Podcast Insights, 51% of the US population has listened to a podcast and 80% of listeners listen to all of most of each podcast that is published and will listen to an average of 7 shows per week. So America is listening to podcasts and the trend continues to rise.
Buy why start podcasting?
Like I mentioned earlier, it’s a different way to get new content out but podcasts have low competition. In an article by the Search Engine Journal, there are around 80 million Facebook business pages, there’s only 700,000 podcasts airing. This number shrinks when you search by topics. With the number of podcasts so low, people searching for a certain topic will run across your podcast easier. This will allow your podcast to stand out more.
Podcasting can also increase your visibility with search engines. When you post a podcast to your website, this is more content that search engines can index. Like we talked about in an earlier blog post, the more content search engines can find, the more likely your site will move up the rankings.
Also, if you put a player on your site to let customers listen on the site, this can keep them on your site longer which will help in how search engines rank your site. If someone stays on your site for an extended period of time, this will decrease what is called a bounce rate which is a positive impact on your rankings.
Podcasting also fits into people’s lives easier. Listening to a podcast on a smartphone has increased 157% since 2014 and 22% of people listening to a podcast, listen while they are driving in a vehicle. According to the US Census Bureau, the average commute time in the United States is 25.4 minutes. This is a time where you have a captive audience. Listeners also listen while doing other activities, like working out at a gym or mowing the grass.
Equipment
Now that you want to start podcasting, what do you need to buy? Well, it’s not as expensive as you think. Speaker Scott Harvey started his podcast a little over a year ago and was able to purchase his equipment for just under $100. He purchased an Audio-Technica ATR2100-USB microphone and a Neewer Adjustable Recording Microphone Suspension Boom Scissor Arm to hold the mic. To edit the podcast, you will need a software package on your computer. If you are on a PC, then you can use Audacity. This software is free and you can download it for Windows, Mac or Linux. If you are on a Mac, you can also download Garageband.
Scott also mentions that he watched a video course by Pat Flynn that covers how to record and edit a podcast. The videos are free on his website along with a blog post that covers it in detail.
Once you have created your first episode, you need to decide on how to publish it. You will need a place to save the files that will generate a special file that websites like iTunes and Google Podcast can find it and make it available to your listeners. Besides your own WordPress website, you can use sites like PodBean, Libsyn or anchor.fm. All of these options will allow you to upload your podcast file to and help you submit it to iTunes, Google and other services that people use to listen to podcasts.
If you want to talk with us to get more information on starting your own podcast, please feel free to contact us and we will be more than happy to help you get started.
