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Archive for the ‘Small Business Podcasts’ Category
Sunday, March 30th, 2008
Podcasts are a handy way to connect with your clients or potential clients, but many small business owners aren´t sure how about starting with podcasts. It´s really a great idea, though and one that visitors to your website will enjoy. In fact, many more people are likely to subscribe to a podcast than to a blog!
To make your podcasts even better, here are a few tips.
5 Podcast Tips
- Keep it short. While some podcasts of an hour do well, the majority of people simply don´t have much time to listen to you, so keep your podcast below 30 min. to attract more listeners.
- Make it useful. No one wants to listen to chitchat on a regular basis, though there is certainly room for this in a business podcast. Offering information and tips that your listeners can use will keep them coming back.
- Speak clearly. If you are normally a fast talker, it might take some practice for you to get to the point where you can speak nice and clearly so everyone can understand you.
- Plan it out. You don´t need an exact script, but having a plan for your podcasts is a good idea to keep you from getting drastically off track.
- Watch the noise level. If you are recording at home, make sure you find a quiet room to do so. Phones ringing, kids yelling and the TV blaring is not only distracting to you, it can lower the quality of the podcast.
Podcasts don´t have to be very complicated. You can simply record a 15 minute one to your computer and put it up for your website visitors to listen to. As long as you keep it short and informative, with a good dose of your own personality, everything should go just fine.
Tags: Podcasts
Posted in Small Business Podcasts | No Comments »
Friday, February 22nd, 2008
Podcasts can provide your customers and website visitors with more value when they visit your site. But not every business is suited to podcasts, right? Well, you could actually turn any business into podcast material, if you know how to spin it!
Let´s say that you are a florist . . . you could easily do podcasts on how to choose the right flowers for special occasions, the meanings of flowers, how to care for your cut flowers, the advantages of live vs. cut, the possibilities are endless. What you need to do is put yourself in the mindset of your customer and then record information they can use to use your services or products better.
The advantage of podcasts is that people tend to subscribe to them (via iTunes or another distribution method), so you have repeated chances to get your marketing message to them, a big advantage, no matter what your industry. However, podcasts shouldn´t be pure advertisements. It´s fine to mention your business or website throughout the podcast, but keep it in context, otherwise give a little “ad” at the end of the episode.
People like newer mediums of communication like video and podcasts, so bring your business up to date by adding in a podcast or two. You can do them on a regular basis, if you like, or just whenever you have something valuable to say. Your visitors and clients will appreciate the additional information.
Tags: business, Podcasts
Posted in Small Business Podcasts | 2 Comments »
Tuesday, January 15th, 2008
Many small businesses don´t think too much about podcasts, focusing instead on their website and SEO. However, while these things are still the most important, a small business podcast can help boost your company. There are several ways to do a small business podcast.
Small Business Podcast Options
Small Business Conference Podcast
The next time you have a brainstorming session or hold a small conference, record it and offer the recording as a podcast to your website visitors. This will give them a reason to visit your site, plus, it offers extra value to anyone who stops by your website. You can even stage a conference specifically for the purpose of giving your clients more information about your product or service.
Regular Informational Podcasts
Offering a weekly or bi-weekly small business podcast that focuses specifically on informing your clients is a good method of gaining more visitors. Make your small business podcast available on other people´s websites and blogs or places like iTunes to gain even more exposure. You´ll find that people who would have never normally found your website will be learning about your business.
Small Business Podcast Interviews
Doing interviews with top people in your industry can be a great way to offer high value content to your clients as well as pulling in more attention. People will link to you if you have an exclusive interview with the biggest name in town!
Small business podcasts let you communicate ideas that wouldn´t convert well to text and are a wonderful manner to create a bond with your clients. Hearing someone´s voice makes for a very different experience than simply reading an article they´ve written. So, if you haven´t thought about it already, why not consider doing a small business podcast and expanding your business reach a little?
Caroline Melberg
Small Business Mavericks
Small Business Mavericks Blog
Tags: clients, podcast, small business, Small Business Podcasts
Posted in Branding, Small Business Podcasts | No Comments »
Wednesday, January 9th, 2008
Back when television made its first appearance, people claimed that radio would die out. It couldn´t hold a candle to a box that showed pictures as well as producing sound. But the radio hung in there and even now, in this age of amazing technology, we listen to the radio online. Podcasts are not radio, exactly, but they certainly offer a great opportunity for small businesses to connect with their clients.
- Give your clients another way to identify with you. A voice is far more personal than just writing.
- Offer a hands-off medium to get your message across. People can be washing dishes or folding laundry while listening to your small business podcast.
- Perfect for non-readers. There are plenty of people who learn better by listening, and you can cater to them with a podcast.
- No skipping ads. If you choose to put ads in your small business podcast, it´s a lot harder to skip over them than it is if you have visual ads on your webpage!
- Quick and easy manner of educating people about your small business. Podcasts are easier for many people to create. You might not be able to write very well, but nearly everyone can talk.
There are plenty of advantages to small business podcasts, but the most valuable is the connection you´ll make with your readers. Through your podcasts, they will get a feel for you as a person and will come to trust you far more than they would by just reading what you write.
Caroline Melberg
Small Business Mavericks
Small Business Mavericks Blog
Tags: clients, Small Business Podcasts
Posted in Small Business Podcasts | No Comments »
Thursday, December 6th, 2007
Yesterday, my husband Steve wrote a post to let our readers know that we’ve created a new podcast on blog post optimization. You can listen to the podcast here.
It really isn’t hard to create a podcast. All you really need is a digital recorder and some audio editing software. Audacity is a good open source brand, which is free. Audacity is compatible with Window, Mac, and Linux. You can also use Audacity to record your message, but to do so you’ll need a microphone. That’s really all you need to create a podcast.
That doesn’t mean it’s easy. You’ll need to learn some audio editing techniques so you can get rid of the heavy breathing, ahs and uhs, and create a professional audio recording. But once you learn it you can become an expert in your niche simply by creating your own podcasts and uploading them to your website. You can have your very own daily or weekly radio show and broadcast it right on your own website! Plus, there are some very creative ways you can market your podcasts to attract more listeners. Go ahead, try it!
Caroline Melberg
Small Business Mavericks
Small Business Maverick Blog
Posted in Small Business Podcasts | No Comments »
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