People are on the move. Audio books are popular with commuters and IPods are replacing CDs. Sales and business courses in MP3 formats. And bloggers can no longer feel comfortable that their message will reach their audiences, because audiences are on the move.

While audio books may only represent 1.5% of book sales (Nielsen stats ) it is growing 150% per year. Podasting is still dwarfed by Blogging, with Blogs now number in the hundreds of millions, and Podcasts only registering int he hundreds of thousands, yet again, a recent survey indicates Podcasting is growing triple digit in bandwidth (Persona stats — see resources below).

Wireless devices may deliver blogs to handhelds, but most content should also make a move to audio and podcasts to take advantage of the fastest growing area of free content delivery. The Podcast.

Podcasting is free. Free software and services are widely available. Podcasting is no longer "early adopter" phase. Podcasting is almost certainly the blog of the future as people lead more and more mobile lives.

The Advantages of Podcasting

• Podcasts build relationships. People hear voices. It's personal, credible, interesting.

• Podcasts are mobile. Audiences can take you with them.

• Podcasts are everywhere. A computer and internet is all that is required.

• Podcasts are popular in the same way “radio talk” is popular.

How-To Podcast — A Quick Study

1. Find or register a domain to host your blog, including the actual host. This can be your blog, depending on your server, although you’ll need plenty of storage for audio archiving. For free and easy, try Blogger.

2. Start a blog. Often it’s best to create a new blog for your podcasts where the blog posts will announce schedules and provide links.

3. Create an RSS feed. This is normally part of most blog hosting sites. RSS allows subscribers to automatically download your next “show.”

4. Usually, most computers have free software for creating a basic podcast. See resources below.

5. Have fun, but plan your content in the same way you would your blog. Remember, the podcast is to talk radio, what the blog is to the magazine feature. Be credible and professional.

6. Good content builds audiences.

7. Provide content to the free content providers, such as Apple’s ITunes.

Resources

    • General Tips and How-Tos
    • Free Podcasting software
    • Blogger Hosting
    • ITunes
    • Persona Research