A podcast is a great way to deliver information, but you need a way to
- Make a new blog post for each episode. At minimum, re-post the show description you embed in the MP3 (you do that right?). Even better, add as much information (and as many tags) as you can. The ideal situation is a summary of the show’s contents broken down by when in the episode they appear, followed by a full transcript of the entire show (if you go this far, place the transcript after the blog’s “more” tag so it only appears if people view the entire post).
- If at all possible, add a picture to each blog post — and don’t take it yourself. Do a search for Creative Commons licensed images, or look for appropriately-licensed photos on Flickr. Tell the image’s creator that you used it, even if the license doesn’t require it — they may be flattered enough to tell others. Whenever you use a photo, add a comment to the image on Flickr (or wherever it came from) letting other viewers know that you used it. This will let new people know about your show indirectly, and look good for the photographer.
- Name your blog and show appropriately: Either give the blog the same name as the show/podcast, or make a category on your blog that matches the name of the show. Ideally, you would have the URL, name of the show, and name of the blog be the same.
- Put prominent links to your RSS feed and your iTunes store URL (found by right-clicking the image in your iTunes listing) in the sidebar of your blog, and consider putting them at the end of each post as well.
- Embed individual episode players in each episode’s post. In addition, provide direct links to the MP3 download for each episode in that episode’s blog post.
- Optionally, put a direct link to your podcast’s RSS feed, but replace “http://” with “itpc://” this will immediately subscribe anyone who clicks it to your show in iTunes, rather than just bring them to your iTunes listing.
- Add links to your social networking profiles (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.) in the sidebar. This will get you more friends and followers — AKA people you can easily tell about your future episodes.
- Use a service like Feedburner to provide an email-based subscription to your RSS feed. This will appeal to less tech-savvy members of the audience.
- Make sure your blog allows easy sharing of your posts to Facebook, Twitter, and other social media sites. You want people to be able to click a button and re-post an episode easily. If your blog doesn’t currently support this, look for a plugin that adds it — they’re everywhere.
- If you have the technical ability, make a 30-second audio promo for your show, and ask others to play it. Include a link to the MP3 of you promo on your site, and encourage visitors to share it.
- Always make sure that comments are enabled on every post on your blog. You want people to be able to discuss the episodes where they find them. If people comment, reply promptly — you want your audience to feel like you care about them.