Since podcasting is till in its infancy stage (created in 2004), many web users do not know or fully understand what it is. That makes it imperative to tell your audience a podcast is and how it benefits them.
The current definition of a podcast is a series of video or audio content made available download digitally through web syndication. Podcasts are usually episodes in a series of digital media recordings, thus requiring the listeners to repeatedly come back to the website to download the next edition of the podcast.
Podcasts can be a great promotion tool if the proper techniques are applied. Listeners to podcasts want original information brought forth to them in an interesting and intriguing way. Having consistent information is also vital to keeping and increasing listeners to a podcast.
Colorful graphics make podcasts stand out on your website. Rather than a plain hyperlink, take advantage of graphic designs. Studies show users are more interested and click on images more than text links. There are great tools out there to help make your podcast graphics such as Feed for All or Feed for All 2.
Properly promotion a podcast means that there is descriptive, keyword rich content that can be picked up by human readers or the search engine spiders. Keywords will assist your podcast in ranking in different search engines. Having your podcast appear in the search engines can be a great way to promote not only your podcast, but your website as well. You will have increased exposure and a link back to your website, both of which greatly assist in search engine optimization techniques. The more descriptive the content is, the more likely the user is to click and view the podcast. Having a sample of the podcast is a great way for unsure users to get a feel as to what your podcast is about and if it suits their specific needs.
Writing and distributing articles and/ or writing and distributing press releases about your podcasts are a great way to increase exposure. Look for free submission sites to save on your budget. A list of high page rank, free submission sites can be found on previous blog posts.
Podcasts now have directories exclusively for them. Submitting your podcast here can be a great way to increase exposure and promote your podcasts to a wide variety of internet users. There are tens of thousands of directories that will happily accept your podcast for free or for a small fee. This is very good for website and podcast promotion.
In essence, promoting podcasts is basically the same as promoting websites. The same methods and techniques apply to the promotion of both, resulting in more users, increased traffic and ultimately more sales. That is why podcasts can utilize some aspects of search engine optimization.
About Brandon Leibowitz
