When starting any endeavor, all of us begin as “newbies.” It’s a fact of life and there really isn’t anything you can do about it, except learn from other people’s mistakes and plan your moves carefully. Podcasting exploded in recent years, perhaps due to the availability of inexpensive equipment and faster Internet speeds, and for a while it seemed everyone was doing it. But with the rise in quantity, quality went the opposite direction – the Net flooded with mediocre or poor quality podcasts. Now, many of these podcasts have dropped off the face of the earth, due to lack of audience perhaps. We looked around the world wide web and compared good and bad podcasts, and compiled a list for how to make a podcast without the newbie mistakes. Enjoy! 
1) Reading from a script – it’s good to have a script, especially if you’re doing a prerecorded, fictional show. However, a good podcast should be more like talk radio – unscripted and free flowing. Of course, you shouldn’t go the other direction and completely do a show on the flow – an outline is what you need at the very least, to establish the direction of the show.
2) Too long / too short – the exact time really depends on the type of show you have or the purpose of your podcast. If you plan to have a panel discussion or interviews etc, then an hour show is a good length. If your show is about tips, reviews, daily news, then 20 to 30 minutes should be enough. Here’s a quick tip: most people listen to their ipods on the way to work. According to Gallup’s 2007 Work and Education survey, the average person’s commute is about 46 minutes. If you want to capture this audience, then you’ll want your podcast to fit in this timeline.
3) No follow-up or tie-ins – your podcast should be a component of your web marketing campaign, rather than being a stand-alone being. You should tie it in with your website, have some sort of call to action at the end and provide your audience key information through an episode guide or notes. For example, if you were to discuss a certain website, it would be frustrating for your listeners to have to scramble for a paper and pen while you read the URL of the website.
4) Irregular Episodes – let’s face it, it’s unlikely you’re being paid to podcast, so you may tell yourself some days that you’re too tired, lazy or busy to record on episode. Guess what? That doesn’t really work for your audience who may be anticipating a new episode on a regular basis. Having infrequent episodes can turn people off, plus they will stop visiting your site regularly to download your episode or participate in your post episode discussion.
5) Quality – as mentioned earlier, good equipment is now fairly inexpensive. You don’t have to invest in the latest microphone or sound mixer, but if podcasting is something you’ll be doing often, you want good quality hardware which will last you a while. The quality of the audio is also something you’ll have to consider – no one wants to listen to static-filled audio – it’ll just give them a headache and turn them off from your show. There are also many good quality recording software which are available for free or cheap, so shop around before you hit that record button! (I have a freebie link on my Facebook Fan Page on the Free for you Tab)
So you don’t have to podcast from scratch! Learn from the mistakes of others and you’ll start producing some good podcast shows which will attract audiences.
If you enjoyed, “Make a Podcast without the Newbie Mistakes” please share it with your friends through the links below.
Let’s Network