Can Podcasting Hurt You in Search Engine Rankings?

Can Podcasting Hurt You in Search Engine Rankings?

The short answer to this is yes and no.

Search Engine Rankings are a function of Page Optimization and Site Popularity and are centered on your webpage’s content and how the words on your page match up with what a person types into a search engine ’search’.

For example, if you have a webpage about the pros and cons of certain types of cat food, you most likely have text on your page about dry cat food, wet cat food, raw meat, etc. When a search engine spider scans you page, it will index on the predominant terms on your page – ‘wet cat food’, ‘dry cat food’, etc. It will then match up its index results to customer’s search phrase.

What does this have to do with Podcasting?

Let’s think about this logically. What is a podcast? It is nothing more than an audio file that people access on the internet. In a 30 minute podcast, you can have tens of thousands of words in a spoken audio form – which a search engine CAN’T access. Do you see the problem now? The search engine can only index written content.

What to do?

There are a couple ways to tackle this problem. The first and easiest way is to write a summary about the content of the podcast, highlighting the key themes and phrases that seem to describe it best. This is what most podcaster’s do.

There is another option, however. You can transcribe (or have it transcribed for you) your podcast audio and place the text on a page on your site. Now, think of this – tens of thousands of words of pure, rich content on your site. The search engines will go bonkers with delight.

Most people don’t have the time to transcribe their material and so that’s why podcasting transcription services have sprung up. If you Google the term “podcast transcription”, you will find a myriad of companies out there that do this for a fee.

Whether you want to start out by doing this yourself to save some money or you want to hire it out, transcribing your podcast is golden way to add great, rich content ‘food’ for the search engines.

For other great articles about podcasting, blogging and other internet marketing themes, please visit http://AskStanBeck.com

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Publicity Secrets for Podcasts

Podcasts are a great marketing tool. It helps build noise for your website—with every new segment, you have something to announce or promote, and the fresh content can help increase traffic and you websites’ “stickiness”.

However, many podcast publicity efforts fizzle. Marketing does not come naturally to many webmasters, who would rather make the website changes than trumpet them on news sites or mass mediums like newspapers or radio. The good news is that you don’t need a degree in public relations to make the most of your podcast efforts. Here are some tips to remember.

Craft your press release around a newsworthy angle. Saying “hey, look, I have a podcast” won’t get you any significant PR attention, since anyone can make a podcast (and thousands of people do each day). How do you define newsworthy? Well, for an editor, that means it 1) delivers a new or fresh piece of information that is significant to the readers, and 2) showcases the opinion or help of an expert who readers would like to hear from.

Let’s say you have a parenting podcast about, say, colic. When you make your press release, your first paragraph should build on how colic affects millions of babies, results in sleepless nights, and that many of the “home remedies” offered by friends don’t really work. This sends the message that you are tackling an important problem that can affect many readers.

Then, deliver your promise. Does your colic podcast feature a new and improved breakthrough that not many people have heard of? Or does it have interviews of parents who review existing solutions and tell readers what works or what does not? Does it sit down with a renowned paediatrician who draws from years of experience to “debunk” colic myths? Or does it look at new colic relief products released in the last year, and compare the pros and cons of each?

These colic products are sure to be announced or featured in parenting blogs, websites, magazines and shows because they have a newsworthy angle. There is input from an expert, a promise of a fresh perspective on an age-old (and often tired) topic, and a real benefit to those who listen to the podcast. Banner this in your press releases and you will get the kind of visibility you want.

What kind of podcasts don’t work, and what press releases are destined to languish on the desks of news editors? Those that offer generic information that anyone can get off a book. (And, when you think about, it were probably taken from the book). Remember, people have dozens of sources for parenting advice, and they won’t waste their time downloading a no-brainer list of colic solutions that they probably had tried already. So before making a podcast, ask yourself if you are tackling an issue or topic that will excite or interest your market.

Another common mistake is to forget the element of credibility. Just because it’s easy to make a podcast doesn’t mean that you should make one ‘on the fly”—work on it, try to secure a good interview or the opinion of an expert, and double check your facts. Not only will it pique the interest of an editor, but it will let your podcasts in a sea of “wanna be’” and help develop your website’s reputation as a source of important content.

Visit Podcastblaster for more podcasting tips, podcast software and an extensive podcast directory which makes finding podcasts easy.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Philip_Nicosia

Viral Video Podcasting 1-2-3, or How to Make a Google Video

Video Podcasting, or viral videos are all the buzz in promotion these days. If you aren’t fond of keeping a written blog, and you never got past the technical obstructions to audio podcasting, you may be in for a pleasant surprise with video podcasting. It’s surprisingly simple to make appealing videos, host them for free on popular video sites, and drive prequalified traffic to your site or business.

The shoestring budget version of making videos

1. Use the free Windows Movie Maker that ships with Windows XP. That takes care of your basic editing needs including video effects, transitions, adding titles and credits, narration or other audio track, and exporting to a .wmv file type. Obviously if you find that your videos become extremely popular, you will want to target the MP3 file type for getting the full ipod revolution affect.Open Windows Movie Maker and you have a task toolbar that includes importing video, audio or images. Even if you have no video clips, you can do a lot with still photos. Consider first importing your site logo and using a video effect such as zoom in to imitate camera movement.

   With a digital camera, you can shoot a series of still photos and import them to make a stop motion video. If your digital camera has video capture capabilities, take full advantage of it.

2. For branding purposes, you may want to purchase some stock music or a stock music loop for commercial use. There are sites that offer free loops for personal and non-commercial use. The right background music can add a lot to your video and branding efforts. Just click on Import Audio in the Windows Movie Maker task menu and then switch the view of your workspace to timeline. Drag the audio file to where ever you like, as many times as you like (repeat a loop for a continuous background).
3. Click on “Save to my computer” and choose a video quality. While many times the “playback on computer” is fine, you may want to see if your video looks better in high quality. The file size will be larger, though.

That’s it, you’re ready to upload!

Upload to Yahoo Video, YouTube.com, AOL Video, Google Video, and any other video hosting sites you prefer.

Optional: Want to get fancy? Start a blog and use the embed features from Google Video or YouTube to embed your videos into your blog. Use an RSS to HTML converter such as CARP to pull your blog entries onto any site you like to promote your video blog.

You can use this method with an extremely small investment of time and money. You can produce viral videos, video tutorials, video product reviews, just about any marketing method you can think of. Be sure to feature your brand logo, and in sites that allow a link, such as Google Video, add your site link for viewers to find your site.

Robin Brown has been making video tutorials for Singer sewing machines with this method. She enjoys using her digital camera and was intriqued with the idea of marketing through Google Video. A search for how to make videos for Google turned up the trick of using Windows Movie Maker, a free program already bundled with Windows XP.

Visit http://www.sewsing.com/singersewingblog/ for video tutorials on using a mechanical Singer sewing machine. You can see the blog listings pulled by CARP on the index page of http://www.SewSing.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Robin_A._Brown

Podcast Listing Mistakes Every Podcast Producer Makes (And How to Avoid Them)

You’ve published your podcast and you smugly admire it in the many podcatchers you’ve submitted it to.

Despite all your hard work, you’re probably missing out on a ton of interview requests from journalists, authors and other podcasters simply because your podcast listing is confusing and hard to understand.

The way you list your podcast depends in large part on what fields the podcatcher provides. However, you can control this information in the way you edit your ID3 tag when you create a new podcast each week.

Stop missing out on interviews that could bring a ton of new subscribers to your podcast. Instead, follow these tips to ensure that it’s easy for journalists, authors and other podcasters to find your podcasts so you never miss an interview opportunity again.

1. Lead your podcast title with the episode number. Some podcasters will remove older episodes from their server to make way for new ones. If you’re one of those podcasters who do this, most podcatchers will no longer list the removed podcasts in their directories. That means that to the interviewer, instead of seeing a long list of your podcasts, they may only see 5 or 10. The interviewer may make the assumption that you’re new to podcasting and will move on to another podcaster. By including the episode number in your podcast title, you alert the interviewer that you’re an old hag at this podcasting thing.
2. Artist name should be yours, not your company’s. It’s very difficult to understand who WantAPodcastNow.com is. Instead, use your first and last name in the artist field when editing the ID3 tag. When entering your details in a podcatcher, include your first name and last name in the creator/host/producer field. That way, people can find you quickly using the search tool in a podcatcher’s search engine.
3. Make the album name your email address. Nothing is more frustration for an interviewer than having to click through dozens of pages just to find an email address. Make it easy for the interviewer to contact you by using the album field in the ID3 tag for your email address. The interviewer will be grateful for this convenience, plus you lessen your chance of losing that ounce of free publicity.
4. Keep your description short and sweet, please. In some podcatchers, only the first 10-words are visible to a podcast listener. Therefore, make these first 10-words count. You should liken it to your 30-second elevator pitch and use language that will entice the person to subscribe to your podcast. Put your copywriting skills to work.
5. Ensure that your podcast is listed in the right category. Just because one category gets more traffic than another, it doesn’t mean you list your podcast there. Your goal is make it easy for subscribers – but more importantly interviewers – to find you based on your expertise you portray in your podcast and they can only do so if it is in the right place. Choose the right genre in your ID3 tag, and then choose the right categories when you list your podcast in podcatchers.
6. Add a photo. Interviewers will judge your podcast by its virtual cover, so include a professionally designed, thumbnail-sized photo with your podcast listing. The interviewer will get the impression that you’ll be an ideal candidate based on that image alone.

© 2006 Leesa R. Barnes. All Rights Reserved Worldwide.

An Internet maverick with a solid technology background, Leesa Barnes helps businesses use podcasting to drive search engine traffic to their website and build profitable relationships with their customers. She is co-author of Jump Start Your Podcast and she comments on podcast optimization techniques in her blog called Podonomics. Visit http://www.leesabarnes.com and sign up to receive a free ecourse called 5 Ways a Podcast Can Boost Your Business.

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How To Start Your Own Podcast For Free

Clearly if you’ve been thinking about podcasting these days, you’ll notice right away that there are a TON of solutions out there on the web to help you begin podcasting. There are lots of companies which offer great solutions for podcasters…so be encouraged—there are many ways to go about doing this, and it’s really all up to you.

Here’s an easy, and free way of podcasting:

1. Set up an account with blogger.com. It’s a really simple step by step process. You’ll see once you get there.
2. Now set up an account with audioblogger.com. It will be connected to your blogger.com account. You will be using AudioBlogger to phone in and leave your recorded posts at your Blogger account. Therefore, you now have what’s called an “audioblog”! And for those of you who are familiar with blogging, this is a really quick and dynamic way of communicating on the web. Add to blogging “audio” and you now have “audioblogging”.

1. The next element in your audioblogging would be converting this to a language understood by podcast “readers” and aggregators. This would be the language “XML”, which, of course, we won’t get into in this tutorial. All you need to do now in order to convert your audio blog posts into a podcast is to open an account with Feedburner.com

1. In Feedburner you’ll be asked to burn a feed…you will enter the website address of your Blogger account, and Feedburner will automatically burn a feed for your blog. Your feed is what podcast displayers, aggregators, and such will use to download your podcast
2. So now that you have a feed for your podcast, you can announce your Podcast feed to friends, family, and the entire world! Simply give them the feed URL address which Feedburner created for you, and keep on audioblogging!

Demetria Zinga, M.S. is a web designer, internet marketing strategist, video & podcast consultant, & digital media trainer. Let Coach Demetria’s business technology training take your business to the next level today, by visiting http://www.faith-media.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Demetria_Zinga