Podcasting is huge these days as more and more people begin to load their favorite broadcasts onto their portable devices to listen to while at work or during the morning commute. Creating a podcast is easy once the proper hardware and software have been obtained, but making a good podcast requires more than just clicking a button and starting to rattle off on a favorite topic of the day. Making a podcast that people will want to listen to requires a bit of prior planning and preparation before clicking Record!
Preparing For Your First Podcast Recording Session:
Almost all good podcasts have one thing in common with live radio programs, they have a theme! In this case theme has two connotations. The first of these being that the program has a specific piece of music that is easily recognized by their listeners. That music opens each show and almost never changes. It makes it easy for listeners to determine if they are listening to the correct track and also helps to draw the listener in to the content that is to follow. Select a brief snippet of music that reflects your personality or the general point behind your podcast series. Remember to only play a small portion of the recording to avoid nasty problems with copyright and licensing.
The second theme issue is the overall theme of your show. If the podcast is to be one of a series, all episodes in the series should be on the same general topic otherwise users will not stick with it. For example, a podcast should not focus on gardening one day and switch to auto repair the next. In general these podcasts are for two totally different kinds of users. Few people want to listen to a person jump from topic to topic. Most want to listen to information on a topic that is of interest to them and want all information in the podcast to be on that same general topic.
