The WordCamp Report

Live from WordCamp San Francicso 2009

Dave Moyer of WordCast Podcast and founder and producer of the Bitwire Media, a multimedia publishing company, talked about the basics of Podcasting and using podcasting with audio and video to build a community. Most of his presentation was on the production side of producing a podcast.

The first step is Planning. Planning the format, scheduling, length, purpose, goals, creating the general outline.

Podcasting can be flexible and anarchy, but it helps to have a plan. A good plan starts with an outline. You need an intro to establish who you are and what you are about to present in the podcast, then the fun part which is the script or outline and the general content. The greatest part of podcasting is that you can fix it later, most of the time. Ads and breaks in the middle can break up a podcast.

The greatest part of advertising on a podcast is that it isn’t about the numbers. It’s about the audience. If you have a very special niche for your audience interest, advertisers may want that target audience, and the numbers don’t matter. It gets them to their target audience.

Then you end the show and “wrap it up” with the contact information and how to find you.

Production is the next step. What do you need? A computer, something that will record, a microphone, and that’s it. You can move onto the bigger equipment, but simple sometimes works the best.

The software that is essential to the process. Skype makes this possible, allowing connecting internationally to do interviews and have co-hosts from around the world. Audacity is the sound editor of choice for Dave. It’s free and he uses it, even though he has all the other pro software. It is great for editing the sound, putting in ads, music, and whatever you need.

If you need a little music, a little ditty, check out http://penmachine.com, http://freeplaymusic.com, and http://music.podshow.com are great for free music with permission. Use http://soundsnap.com to get all kinds of free sound bites like laugh tracks, bells, whistles, and more. Then use your own creativity. Get interviewed guests to give voice overs, sound bites, and other fun things to put into promos and add fun sound effects.

MTR Podcast Recorder Plugin http://bit.ly/mtrplugin is a simple built in recorder for WordPress.

Publishing used to be complex as podcasters would have to write the XML feed code from scratch. Today, WordPress has built-in enclosers to help publish podcasts. In the custom fields, you can add the file and info, or use a Plugin.

Use Feedburner to automatically process the feed so it will add all the Smartcasting options to add the labels and information to the feed and it will “feed” iTunes and other podcasting networks and services. There are some Plugins that will handle all of this, like PodPress and Blubrry WordPress Plugins.

The Audio Player Plugin http://wpaudioplayer.com/ is a simple and easy to use player so they can play it right on the page and not subscribe and go into the feed to listen.

Dave Moyer talked about Enhancing Presence on the podcast. “Podcasts need to be more than just the little guy standing there, pushing stuff out. You need a presence. You need to be something online. You have to show you more.”

He says that podcasts need to be fun and interactive in order to be successful. The “presence” needs to be part of the show.

You have to be part of the community, join the club. Get people involved, people trust those who trust them to participate. Your job as a podcaster is to become the person they trust. People hate being lectured to and begged to listen. Become a valued member of the community to create that trust.

Go beyond the feed. What do they do after wards? What do they do when they are done listening? Is there a place to go, a place to comment, to connect, to contribute?

Provide voice mail, emails, phone numbers, places to upload MP3 files, and ways for people to interact. Grand Central is now Google Voice http://google.com/voice and http://k7.net is also a good voice mail service. Most will comment, specifically in the episode, and few will email or call, but offer all the options.

Podcast titles are serious podcast listeners. They know how it all works, so you don’t have to play SEO games with post titles. Use a format with the Show Title, Episode Number, then the title, making it something fun and interesting asd few look at the title as much as the description of the content.

Andy Stains Simple Press Forum WordPress Plugins is what WordCast uses for their forum. A forum allows more interaction and a place for fans to give feedback and connect with each other. Feedback is great, first you get it, then you have to use it. They can help you make it better, but use it selectively.

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