Creating your own podcast is no different from maintaining a blog or some other form of regular broadcast online. And somehow, everyone has the same apprehensions and fears whenever they plan to venture into sharing anything online on a regular basis.
What should I talk about? What if I run out of things to say? What if nobody listens to me? How much time do I have to devote to make this work? Is it worth it? Can I make money out of this?
These are the usual questions they ask before they even make that first step into podcasting. Most of the time though, these are just questions of confidence of whether one could it pull it off in making a podcast. Here are some tips to get you started in making that first step forward to be a podcaster.
Have a theme – identify your interests and take it from there. Is it something you are passionate about or you could talk about endlessly? From here, you can also draw out the identity of the podcast and maybe your identity as host as well.
Choose a topic – now that you have a basic foundation where you will base your podcasts from, create a specific topic for an episode so as not to make the broadcast disorganized.
Prepare a script or an outline – after having a plan, the next step is to organize. From the topic for that episode, one can discern subtopics related to the main idea then have those thoughts in order so that the transition from one discussion to another would be smooth. To add spice to your podcasts, you can also invite guests. That way, your episodes would not be drab and predictable.
Put up a schedule – as part of organizing your podcast, determine your schedule. Will your podcast be daily, weekly, or whenever you feel like posting something? This also helps you determine how much time you can devote with your podcast and as much as possible, stick with it.
Procure the necessary equipment – have the following ready: microphone, audio recorder, podcast manager or host website, and a computer. A good modulated voice would not hurt. Additionally, familiarize yourself with your software to streamline your tasks.
Record – have an initial run to test if everything is working. If in case there are background noises that can be obviously heard, just continue recording or have the noise stop then fix everything in editing.
Edit and save – clean up your file at this stage and save your file in the proper format.
Create an RSS podcast feed – the easiest way to do this is put up a blog. Make sure that the feed is valid.
Upload and publish – when you have everything set up and you feel good with your recording, upload the file and publish your blog.
Publicize your podcast/website – finally, spread the word. Subscribing in list-in directories would help.
In essence, all those fears of whether one could make a podcast can be alleviated through careful planning and thorough preparation. With that done, just go ahead and do it.