Category: Podcast

Intro To Podcasting : Part 3

Paul

Amber MacArthur and Leo Laporte Image via Wikipedia

This is where it gets interesting!

Have you ever wanted to know why celebrities like Leo Laporte dedicate 5 mins to talk about a certain product.   This is what everyone would call Word of Mouth Advertising.   If you have not read my other two articles this would be a very good time to review them:

As you can see there is a lot to talk about and not very much time to talk about each and everyone.   This tutorial is more or less going to be the outline for those of you who would want to monetize your podcasts and bring in even more revenue.   It isn’t easy making money but you have to consider the impact of the recommending a product or service and how your audience will take it.

Making Money from your Podcast!

Like I was talking about you don’t have to be approached by any company.   You can make money just by asking readers to go to a special URL.   These URL are quite easy to do and can be done using a .htaccess file on the domain of your choice.  Some ideas about making easy URL redirection links are:

There is some debate whether this is moral or not.   I can not say because I even know that your aren’t trying to hide it just make it easier for the listeners to go to a site through your affiliate link.   I am sure someone out there will remind me that this has been abused in the past.   I would argue just because of it being used wrongly in the past doesn’t mean every site or podcast is doing it maliciously.   I will say that it is far easier to say a simple URL then to have a complicated URL for podcast listeners to remember.

You don’t need paid sponsors!

When I say that I mean it, if you already have accounts with affiliates like Amazon or Hostgator then you can star making money.   This is essential a free way to make without having to find sponsors to pay.   You do however have to be careful which ones you recommend and advertise on your podcast.  Some important things to consider is:

  • The length of the podcast

  • No more than1 affiliate per 30 mins

  • Recommend products you use all the time

  • Always do research on your product or service before hand

In my final tutorial we will discuss the pro’s and cons of Paid versus Free podcast hosting and which one fits you and why.   These are all hard questions that you will need to answer before you can actually start to podcast.   Until then . . .

Paul Sylvester

 

 

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Intro to Podcasting Part 2

Paul1 Reply

Station building and one of the towers of Mota... Image via Wikipedia

What is old is New Again!

In my previous post about podcasting, I talked about What is Podcasting and why you would want to podcast. These are some important questions that you must first want to answer before you start podcasting. It is one of the most terrifying things anyone could do but the most enjoyable after you do start podcasting. You can become an expert in your own right but just because you are podcasting doesn’t mean you know everything or to ignore the little guy.  You can learn at lot from other podcasters in your field or area.  It isn’t that you need to be afraid of the other guys but you should at least be working together and bringing other followers to your podcast.

How to Podcast!

Everyone who ever wanted  to podcast should do their research.   I happen to have done some research on the subject and also was part of several different podcasts.   Some of my most memorable podcasts were:

As you can see these are just a few of the podcasts that I was part of.   I really enjoyed them and I wanted to help those who wanted to start your own podcast.   The setup that Mike Smith has is something that only grows from the passion and dedication of his love of community.  It however is not the bare bones to say the least.   He has bought this equipment one piece at a time and you should really start off small and work your way to big.   So what are bare essentials?  It is just these things:

That is the Bare minium you will need to start podcasting.   It however isn’t going to be expensive but it will be time consuming.   So as you can tell some of this is going to be optional but others are required to podcast.   Most of this is just what you feel is needed for your podcast.  If your looking for an in depth article you can check out the how to podcast tutorials.   They give you some excellent advice on what it is required of you to podcast.

The Purpose of Podcast!

It isn’t hard to understand why anyone would podcast but if you are curious as to the purpose of podcasting, well I will explain it to you.   Before we had computers we had radio stations and before we had radio stations we had a campfire.   As you can see, we are always want to connect to other people through spoken words because it makes it more personable and real to us.   We all want to be a part of a community to learn something new, so that is where podcasting comes into play.   We can be driving our car and listen to a podcast like an audio book, and not be around a computer.   It seems more and more people are doing this while driving, and less and less listening to the radio.   I must say a good podcast keeps me driving for hours without having to turn the station.

Are you going to be a podcaster or are a podcaster.   I’d love to here your experiences.   Feel free to leave a comment and tell others how you got into the business of podcasting!

Paul Sylvester


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Intro to Podcasting Part 1

Paul2 Replies

Watamu (16) Image by malczyk via Flickr

So you want to start your own podcast?

I’ve helped several different organizations set up there own podcast, so I thought we would go into detail about the process.   I am going to lay it out to everyone who might be interested and discuss the finer points on how you’d start and what you will need.   Although, this will not be a complete tutorial, I did figure we could at least talk you through it and help someone who might be wanting to start your own podcast.

Starting a podcast can be a challenge, but yet really fun.   In the tutorial we will discuss aspects of:

  • What is podcasting?

  • Why Podcast?

  • How to Podcast?

  • Purpose of Podcasting?

  • Making money from Podcasting?

  • Examples of Podcasts?

  • Content Delivery, Free VS Paid!

As you can see there will be several different aspects that we will be delving into and even discussing them in length.   I will say this will be one of those times I am going to learn with you on this because I will be researching this as I post it.   So you can have all the information with you and learn something.

Podcasting 101

You’ve probably heard the term podcasts, or even have some podcast that you listen to already but if you don’t, I will explain it to those who might need to understand it.

A podcast (or non-streamed webcast) is a series of digital media files (either audio or video) that are released episodically and often downloaded through web syndication. The word replaced webcast in common vernacular due to the fame of the iPod and its role in the rising popularity and innovation of web feeds.

Via Wikipedia

Anyone can podcast and you could be the next big podcast.  It just depends on what your goal is and what your aiming for.    I will say that podcasting seems to be more and more out there than it was 10 years ago.

Why Podcast?

This has been asked over and over through the years. It varies from person to person. I will give you the general answers because it will be hot topic to anyone. Although some would say why not, here are in my mind the most common answers:

  • To Make even more Money

  • Connect to even more people around the world

  • easier than blogging

  • Your Personality

Like I said these are in my mind the most common reasons and are not all the possible answers that someone in the podcasting field might not have another reason. As you can see these are just generalized and should be used as reference and nothing more.

In the next part we will discuss the fundamentals of podcasting, what you will need and why you’ll need it. Hope you’ll stay tuned into this fun little subject!

Paul Sylvester

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To podcast or Not to podcast? That is the question!

Paul

US Navy 100514-N-7227H-012 Rear Adm. Craig Fal... Image via Wikipedia

I did love doing the Miketechshow Listener Round Table!

I kind of wish Mike would do more Listener Round tables.  Talking about the tech of the day and having those how to podcasts are something that really excites me.    I loved the discussions we had about our experiences and stuff.   I loved the creativity of the podcasts, and I would love to restart those podcasts.   I just have some problems with this.

First Problem: Extra Guests!

As you can see this would be the most crucial part of the whole problem.   Having guests who would want to come on board on a usual period.   I haven’t decided if i will do this but if i did, It would probably start off being a monthly podcast and then we’d go from there.

Second Problem: Intro Music and Album Art!

I have never been good with making intro music like Mike does on his podcast.   If I did decide to do this then I’d want to have everything set before I do start having a podcast.  I already have a good Podcasting headset which is the Plantronics .Audio 655 USB Multimedia Headset which is a very good headset to do a podcast with.   I even did most of the podcasts with this head set.   I absolutely love this little headset to use on any podcast.   That at least is not a problem for me right  now.

Third and Final Problem:  Editing!

Although I can edit them using Audicity, I do not have a good understanding just yet and also where I would host the file for you to download.   I can always host it on a free service but I think it is important for the listeners to be able to download them to listen.   Although I have looked around, I have found some great free services but I would like to not do free because most of them require an audio advertisement that i get no money for.   If I am going to do some kind of advertisement, then I would like to have the money to help support the blog or podcasting, so I can buy more stuff to make the podcast even better!

What do you think?   Do you want to do a listener round table like we used to or not??   You answer will determine what I do next!

Paul Sylvester

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Deciding the need for a Full backup or backing up your important files

Paul

This weekend I talked about Backups on the [intlink id=”3455″ type=”post”]Mike Tech Show listener Round table[/intlink], and I heard from one or two people saying you can’t do a full backup with Allwaysync, and to a point that is true but I really don’t need a full back and some have said the program is only good for Synchronization and not backup.

I could debate that last point because what is a backup?  Wikipedia defines it as “backup refers to making copies of data so that these additional copies may be used to restore the original after a data loss event”.   So backing up and Synchronizing are essentially the same thing.  Some users will argue that it is getting every file on your hard drive but I don’t think so.   I however will tell you that Most files on your hard drive don’t need to be copied.   Due to the fact that if you get a complete backup of your windows directory you will most ly end up where you left off, Viruses or some file that corrupt.   I don’t make copies of the windows for that one reason, I have all OEM systems and don’t need to worry about the Windows because when I do a system restore, I get my system back to the Factory default.

With Vista you have some data that is never put in Windows system, like your email settings and other such important date.  This is usually put in the Application Data directory, which is usally “[DRIVE]\USERS\[USERNAME]\AppData” . To get to the directory in Vista just type “%APPDATA%” in the Vista search bar and hit enter.  So I tell Allwaysync to copy everything in that directory including subdirectories.  This is where my configuration files are put for each and every program I install or run!!

People will also argue that you need to compress the data or use a Proprietary software to backup your hard drive, although this can be useful.  The more complicated the process the more chance there is for failure.  My dad always told me to keep it simple.  The simplest is usually the best in my opinion.  If I were to need to backup data, I do not need any program to get to it.   This is how I like it, plus if the drive starts to go bad you have more time to move the data off the backup drive because of moving parts and the magnetic properties could change the compress file just one bit and you would not be able to access the programs inside of it.

I also have a 500 gig external backup drive for use with keeping my data backed up, which my two laptops only use 380 if I back up all of my hard drive space but in my case my data drive is usually just used a safegaurd if I did need to do a restore on the road.  I’d still have my important programs ready to re-install and restoring my configuration files.  I wouldn’t be in the dark if I had to restore on the road.  This is how I keep my important safe.  I use:

  • [intlink id=”3059″ type=”post”]My A600 Broad Band Sd Card[/intlink] — Passwords and such on it

  • My External hard drive —  Important Software and important files

  • Mozy Free 2 Gig – I use this also to put my Passwords and my configuration files here.  It’s free but you can pay 4.95 a month for unlimited.  I like it and it works really well.

  • My spouses computer – We keep our important passwords on each other computer just in case we are on the road with one laptop we can always have access to the passwords for each of our accounts.

This has worked for me for quite some time but this isn’t for everyone, some require the compression on the hard drive and that is fine but I don’t.  I hope this clears it up on what I said on the Mike Tech show.  I did however make a mistake.  This software is not bit by bit coping it is however a file by file copy.   That was my fault and no others.  I’m only human.  Hope you understand.