Just Jump Into Podcasting With These 5 Steps

I want to start off by saying this; you can Podcast, right now, with pretty much everything you have at your fingertips. This isn't a white paper on what a Podcast is, because if you didn't know what a Podcast was you probably wouldn't be reading this.

Why should you listen to me? Because I produce a Podcast and I know that you can do it with practically nothing.

1. You'll need a computer with some type of microphone, or a laptop with a built in mic. This is probably the only place where I would suggest using one of those gamer headsets with built in mic's, they rock, have good sound and are cheap. You may already have one so you can move down the list. If you don't, consider investing in one. Even if you decide a month from now that Podcasting isn't for you, you still have a cool headset. Personally, I use the Logitech USB 350. It has great sound quality.

2. You need a topic. Once you have a topic you can begin creating your Podcast. There are probably thousands of people out there who similar interests as you and can share them through your Podcast.

3. Decide how long your Podcast will be. The amount of time to spend Podcasting may be different for your topic. But personally, anything that runs over 45 minutes loses appeal and most of the time I never make it to the end. Now that's just me and I'm probably in the minority. For starters make it short. Maybe 10 or 15 minutes then build from there. You'll discover a lot of great ideas along the way and that will add to your shows length and quality.

4. You need host your Podcast somewhere so people can download it. There are so many directories out there I would try them all. It can't hurt to expose your Podcasts in multiple places. There are free services and there are pay services. Since you're just starting out and aren't sure if you will do this long term, try one of the free services I'll recommend at the end of my post.

5. Blog about your Podcast. Tell people about it. Create business cards with your Podcasts web address on it and hand them out. Comment on other people's Podcast posts and leave your Podcasts web address. It's that easy.

Sure, this sounds real simple and the simple fact of the matter is it can be. Podcasts, just like any other endeavor require work, research, dedication and consistency. It doesn't need to cost much if anything to create a Podcast. It does require that you work on improving it if you want to increase your listeners.

We're not going for the highest HD quality sound you can produce. We're talking quick to market. This will get you there.

Tools: Audacity is pretty much all you will need for either the PC or the Mac. If you have a Mac and have iLife '06 or '08, use GarageBand.

Hardware: Headset with mic. Stand alone mic. Built in laptop mic. Again the Logitech USB 350 is a great mic.

Services: Podcasting.net, Podcast Pickle, TalkShoe and Pod-O-Matic.

If you're in Salt Lake City on October 18th, I encourage you to attend the Utah New Media Conference to learn more about Podcasting and Videocasting.

What are your ideas to make Podcasting easier?

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How Flickr Did it Right

There are hundreds, maybe even thousands of sites that will let you upload your photos and cerate online photos albums. But in my opinion, Flickr has done it right.

Several factors went into my decision to go with Flickr over say PicasaWeb or any of the others, and that was price and the API. The price for a Pro account is so cheap, something just above $2 a month, for unlimited uploads, is insane. No one comes close. The cheapest of PicasaWeb Pro accounts costs $20 a year for only 6GB of space. Some might ask, why would you need more than 6GB or even 10GB. My answer is because Flickr gives me UNLIMITED for $25 a year, and that's just better.

I've started uploading all my photos to Flickr, and creating Sets to distinguish photos for an event. Flickr also has Tagging down. You can have pretty much an unlimited number of tags for a photos or sets or groups. This makes it easy to search for one of your photos or any number of public photos.

The interface on Flickr is easy and clean. It's not cluttered by crazy ads, and that's surprising seeing how it's a Yahoo! property and I don't think Yahoo! knows how to keep in your face ads at bay. It's the reason I hate their web based email client, too many in your face ads. But the navigation on Flickr is clean and easy, and you can modify it to look anyway your want. I hope Yahoo! keeps their hands off Flickr.

If you don't use Flickr I would encourage you to look at it. They have a free account and a Pro account. I have the Pro account and its been worth every penny. Flickr is stable, has an API and several options for managing photos from your desktop. The only thing I wish Flickr had was a better mobile management tool.

Thanks Chris.

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Props to my Peeps

This weeks prop goes out to my Son J. I've had a car in the shop for some repairs and he acted as chauffeur several times over the past week. He just had surgery on his hand, and  hasn't been feeling very well but has helped when he could. Thanks J for all you have done.

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BlogRush is pushing the envelope

Whether or not you use or even like BlogRush, I'm getting a noticeable increase in the amount of traffic my blog has been getting ever since I signed up. There have been some problems with cheaters, as happens with services like this, but it seems to be drawing readers to my blog which I really like. BlogRush is attempting to improve the service and minimize abusers.

In order to use BlogRush you have to install a plug-in on your blog. At first I didn't like that, and pretty much I still don't, but that's what's required so its on my blog. I hope they come up with something not as obtrusive as this large graphic box they have now. It would be cool to just have the headlines. It would fit into my blog a lot nicer than this big huge monstrosity, and probably load much faster.

At the moment it seem to be living up to the hype. I'm not into all the backlash that has taken place. If I can increase the number of reader by a few hundred I'm all good.

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Facebook application development and living in Utah

Jesse Stay asked if he was the only Facebook developer in Utah. And one of the comments he got on his blog asked "why is that important?" The statement was framed around the notion that anyone anywhere can develop applications, why is geographical locations important.

From my perspective its mostly for support and networking. When I am looking to refer work to someone I naturally look to my close local associates first. It's just natural. If no one there can help then I look to my extended network. I've just always done this. I hope my network in return does that for me.

But after having a short conversation with Jesse about writing Facebook application it appears the number of people actually doing it is small. Sure there are a lot of applications available on Facebook, but honestly, there are a lot of duplicate "I can do better" applications.

So yeah Jesse, I live Utah and I develop Facebook applications.

If you're looking for someone to write an application that integrates with Facebook, you can contact me here.

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