We’re all guilty of it . . . you see everyone out and about doing it . . . and you do it more often when you’re alone . . .
That’s right! We look for ways to entertain ourselves through music, radio and educational programs! We are taking in so much information on a daily basis; it’s a challenge to simply be quiet for any length of time!
What if you gave your fans something to listen to rather than reading what your message is to them? They can listen while they are commuting, doing chores, working out and any time that is more convenient for them than when they are in front of their computers.
I tuned into a teleseminar a couple of years ago and heard a blogger talk about how he was able to increase his database by tenfold in a year by offering his followers a choice of how to receive his posts: notification updates through email or audio through their cell phones. An overwhelming majority opted in for the audio notification and what was remarkable was how many of is fans forwarded the audio to their friends. Then rather wait or hope their friends remembered to send the link in the future, they opted into his database personally.
I know it seems complicated if you’ve never done it before, but it is very simple once you familiarize yourself with the routine.
First, you write your article or post and read it through out load to make sure it sounds smooth. Listening does sound different than reading your writing. Then use a program such as Audacity (free), my preferred audio capture program is Sony Vegas Studio or the ever popular Camtasia.
You’ll want to practice with the program until you are comfortable with the process. A 750 – 1,000 word post takes about four to five minutes to record. You don’t have to worry about being perfect because the editing feature makes it easy to delete what you want. When I want to restart a sentence I’ll pause for ten seconds so it shows up clearly on the Audio bar and I can easily spot it to make the correction.
Once I have recorded the post and added a signature line at the end pointing folks back to my website, I render it as an mp3 file which is the most widely used extension for audio programs.
I use Firefox’s FireFTP (file transfer program) to upload the file to my site and you’ll want to install the Blubrry PowerPress plugin on your blog and copy your website name and the file name with a “/” between the two (www.yourwebsite.com/audio.mp3) at the bottom of the page where it says “Podcast Episode” and then Publish your post/page and the new audio.
There are many directories for your podcast. These are the most popular you should be listed with: iTunes, Yahoo! Podcasts, Digg Podcasts, Technorati, and Podzinger.
You’ll want to make sure your material is attention worthy. You don’t want to have mediocre material and have the first impression of your new followers to be less than the best. Be sure your site is easy to navigate and not cluttered. If there is too much going on people have a tendency to leave and never return!
Be sure to use as many tags as you can to help directories drive traffic to your podcast. When someone is looking for information on your topic they can search the keywords and your podcast will pop up for them.
Another technique to market your post/podcast is to guest blog/podcast to other sites which are related to your topic. There isn’t a single topic out there that doesn’t have at least 100,000 results when you search for the concept. You can utilize their loyal followers to gain new followers for your site by guest blogging or submitting your podcast.
People like pictures! That’s all there is to it! So be sure to include pictures whenever possible. There are many sites you can download free pictures (gettyimages and stockfreeimages being the most popular) when you don’t have pictures of your own. Today all phones come with great cameras and an easy method of uploading your pictures to your computer too.
And of course, be sure to post your updates on all your social media pages, especially in the groups since that will give you the most visibility to more people who might not know you personally.
So, now you have one more method of generating more traffic and creating more followers to your site just by adding audio to your posts!
