Podcasting for Beginners Broadcasting your voice on the internet! Brought to you by the Fulton County Public Library October 9 th /11 th 2012 Some information courteousy of:

What is Podcasting? Podcasting is online audio content that is delivered via an RSS feed. Many people liken podcasting to radio on demand. However, in reality, podcasting gives far more options in terms of content and programming than radio does. In addition, with Podcasting, listeners can determine the time and the place, meaning they decide what programming they want to receive and when they want to listen to it. Listeners can retain audio archives to listen to at their leisure. While blogs have turned many bloggers into journalists, podcasting has the potential to turn podcasters into radio personalities. Podcasting can be used for: 1.Self-Guided Walking Tours - Informational content. 2.Music - Band promotional clips and interviews. 3. Talk Shows - News, sportscasts, news coverage and commentaries. 4. Training - Instructional informational materials. 5. Story - Story telling for children or the visually-impaired.

How Do I Podcast? To podcast, you really only need to do 4 things: Plan – Come up with a topic, format, and location for recording Produce – Create the sound files to be uploaded Publish – Get your file(s) on the internet Promote – Find listeners for your podcasts

Plan - Topic To start from, try to think of what your podcast will be about. It can be about anything at all, really, but you should really ask yourself a few questions to help you come up with ideas: What hobbies do you have? What do you love to talk about? What things would you do whether or not you got paid? What are your areas of expertise? What do people ask you for help with on a regular basis? If you choose a topic that is fun for YOU, you will have fun with your podcast, no matter how long you end up doing it for! Remember, the goal of a podcast should be to have fun!

Plan - Format Will you be doing the podcast solo or will you have other hosts? What segments do you want to do (e.g. tip of the day, reviews, breaking news, interviews etc.)? How long will your podcast be? How often will you release new shows? Will you just be talking or will you play music as well? Maybe you will buck the norm and come up with something completely different? SIDENOTE: If you plan to use music in your podcast that is not your own, you need to get permission to use it. It's not legal to use copyright material in your podcast without permission. At the very least, your show should have the following: Intro/Welcome Announcements Content of Podcast Final comments Outro/Goodbye

Plan - Location Have a place setup (probably wherever your computer is) with your podcasting gear ready to go when you are. Choose a spot that is quiet and free from distraction. Make sure the room doesn't have too many echoes or too much reverberation when you record. Try recording in your closet. Your clothes will make a great audience as well as dampen the sound. Of course, your family might wonder why you disappear into the closet so much. Find a quiet room where you can record in private. Shut the door. Let your family, roommates or whoever else is around know that you will be recording. Be aware of the noise going on outside. Turn off fans, A/C, & extra computers that generate noise. Does your chair squeak when you shift in it? This will get picked up by the mic. You may want to buy some WD-40.

Plan – How To Effectively Record Be sure to talk as closely to the mic as you can (without distorting the sound) to make sure your voice is above the noise being picked up by the mic. Do a test recording to make sure the surrounding noise isn't too loud or distracting. Record 30 seconds or so and listen to it. Here are some ideas of what other podcasters use to record on the go: iRiver or Creative MP3 Players: These are MP3 player brands that often come with a built-in microphone. Your Digital Camcorder: The sound is relatively good and it even records in stereo. Your Laptop: For recording at a meeting or other such location, a laptop is a great way to go. Just use a microphone and some headphones. It’s a good idea to get permission before you record in a meeting or other public venue, or before recording someone else’s voice.

Produce – Podcasting Gear & Software You will need: A computer A microphone Headphones Audacity (free audio editor) Self-confidence (a little can go a long way!)

Publish – Creating an mp3 Audacity will help you to record and save your voice to an mp3 computer file, so that you can upload it to your podcasting website. You will want to listen to it first, to ensure it meets your standards. If it does not sound the way you want it to, you may wish to re-record it, or edit it in Audacity, to cut out any mistakes. Remember, you may not get it right the first time, so feel free to practice a lot! When you save your mp3, you will want to name it something meaningful, so that people who download it will be able to tell what it is. Include things such as the date of the podcast, the NAME of the podcast, and the topic of that installment, for easy future browsing. Making it easy for the next person can only make them want to come back!

Publish – The Basic Steps The Basic Steps of Publishing Your Podcast To publish your podcast to the internet, you usually need to do the following: Register a Web Address – also called a domain name Find/Buy Web Hosting – to store your blog/site and your audio files on the internet Start a Blog - this is your web site for posting your show notes, links, etc. Create an RSS Feed – this is the feed that your listeners subscribe to so they can automatically download new episodes of your podcast

Publish – The easy way You can also do things the FREE way, which, while limiting your options, also allows you to try podcasting out without spending any money. You can use Google’s free Blogger service as your website’s host.Blogger To create an RSS feed that is podcast-enabled, Feedburner is a free service that adds a lot great features to your feed including subscriber stats. Blogger by itself uses what is called an Atom feed. This is the wrong kind of feed format. Feedburner converts the feed to a podcast- ready RSS format.Feedburner Finally, for storing your podcast files online, you can use SoundCloud. This is a non-profit service that allows you to store media files for free. You just register an account and start posting. SoundCloud provides a way to upload your files to their site through your web browser. Once you upload a podcast file to SoundCloud, you will be provided with a link to that you can use in your blog and feed. Your listeners will download the MP3 from SoundCloud through your site and/or feed. You are limited to 100 downloads of the sound file by SoundCloud, so if your podcast becomes VERY popular, you may want to invest in a paid service to host your sound files.

Publish – Show Notes Show notes provide an outline of the content in an episode of your podcast. They are usually posted as an entry in your blog. You can post the link to your file from SoundCloud on the same page as your Show Notes, for the convenience of the listener! Notes should contain a captivating Title, a Summary of the episode, some keywords to help your fans find particular content, and any pertinent web links to help them out.

Promote – Get Listeners Of course, by now, the real question in your heads is likely “How do I get people to listen to my podcast?”. The answer is simpler than you might think: TELL PEOPLE! Tell family who might be interested, tell friends who share your passion for your5 podcast’s topic…heck, tell Facebook Friends about it! Once you have a few podcasts under your belt, you could browse the internet for Web Forums about your topic. Many forums have a place to post interesting links. Post a link to your podcast blog, and let the ones who are interested come to you! You can track how many people have listened with the Download Count on your SoundCloud page.

Questions? Contact Us! New Basics Classes Fulton & Aubbee Branch- 1st & 3rd 10 & 12:30,respectively… Akron PL- 1st & 3rd 10 a.m. Kewanna PL- 2nd & 4th 10 a.m. 10/9 & 10/11– 6 p.m. & 11 a.m., respectively Social Media: Podcasting for Beginners