These days, almost every Internet marketing professional uses a blog as their main base of Internet operations, for the ease of updating their information, an interactive way to keep in touch with their audience and to increase their branding worldwide. Done right, blogs are also a powerful targeted traffic magnet that can bring in prospects then funnel them to the desired product, service or affiliate link.
What many are missing, though, is the added targeted traffic draw of podcasting on their blogs. A podcast is simply an audio version of some information, usually an article or blog post. This additional format is an important accessibility aid as well, for people with poor eyesight and for those who speak the language but aren't cognizant with it in written form.
Preparing a podcast is simple - just read your post into your microphone or headset and record it. For the optimal ratio of file size to quality, try recording it at 44.1 Khz in 16-bit mono and saving it as an MP3. Those suggested settings are somewhat arbitrary though, so if you're not familiar with the technology just record your post or article at your computer's default settings.
For use with a WordPress blog, look through the various podcasting plug-ins in that section of their site. One important concern is whether the plug-in creates a separate RSS feed for your podcasts - if it doesn't, you'll want to set one up manually. If you're setting up the podcast RSS feed yourself, there's a great tutorial for it on the iTunes website - look for the 'Submit Your Feed' link.
And that's the other purpose to using podcasts - listing your RSS feed in directories like iTunes, PodcastAlley and PodcastReady will expose your work - and your site link - to a much wider audience. Millions of people use these directories to download MP3's to their players, their phones and their computers each day, and you want to tap into that upscale market right from the start.
As a side bonus, the plugins will usually also add a player to your blog post itself, giving your visitors the choice of reading the post or listening to it. For those who choose to listen to it, hearing the words in your voice, with your inflection, will help them connect to you as a person, as opposed to an author on yet another Internet marketing blog.
However, it's important to remember it doesn't NEED to be your voice - you can just as easily outsource the reading of your articles to a professional 'voice' - voiceover talent that specialize in that well-known radio type of broadcast voice. Numerous sites offer this service, so a search for 'voiceover talent' should get you started in the right direction.
Overall though, the benefits derived from greater accessibility and the greater potential targeted traffic you can appeal to make podcasting a well-worthwhile addition to your Internet marketing arsenal. Start adding podcasts to your blog today!
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