How to create and distribute your first podcast

If you have a computer, a microphone and a headphone, and something to say then you can rollout your podcast. The first step is to write and record your material. Give thought to your target audience so that you can determine the context to suit your audience. This is because you do not know the coverage of your message as soon as it hits the web.

Next you need to record to your computer which means plugging microphone into the microphone jack and using sound recording software. Audacity (http://audacity.sourceforge.net/) is a popular choice for both PC and Mac but there are dozens of simple sound recording utilities available. Look at this site to see some of the best known podcasting tools:

www.podcasting news.com/topics/Podcasting.Software.html

Usually all podcast audio is in the MP3 format but before you can convert to that you should save your previous output at maximum quality so that you have a decent original to work from if you want to edit or change it at a latter date. Then you can use you software to convert (sometimes called ‘export as’ or save as) to, MP3 format for broadcasting.

It is advisable to suse the minimum bit rate that provides good results. Here are some suggested settings:

48 - 56k Mono - sermons, audio books, talk radio

64k+ Stereo - music, music & talk combinations

128k Stereo - good quality music

Make sure you save it with a .mp3 file extension

You don’t need any programming knowledge to podcast, but for people to download your podcast and check for updates you need to create an RSS (stand for Really Simple Syndication) feed. This is a text file hat points to your file and describes them. It is often seen as an orange button on websites with RSS or XML marked on it- it shows that there is an RSS feed to the content of that site. The easiest way to set up your RSS is to use podcasting or blogging software that will create the file for you.

Upload the podcast to your website, including the RSS link to it, and don’t forget let people know about it through one of these podcast portals (www.podcastpickle,com and www.podcastallley,com).

© 2010, Benjamin S C Ugoji Benjamin S C Ugoji