How to Create A Podcast with AudioAcrobat

What is a podcast?  Is that where some gentleman is out in the middle of the river casting his pod?  Is it simply an online radio show?  What does all of this mean!?  There are generally lots of questions when it comes to Podcasting, and we here at AudioAcrobat have been helping our members create, broadcast and distribute their Podcasts via the web, within emails, blog posts, on iTunes and over 15 other notable Podcast Directories since 2004 — so take it from us — there are difficult routes, medium-to-difficult routs and the super-simple AudioAcrobat route!  After all, we wouldn’t be using RSS feeds if they didn’t stand for “Really Simple Syndication”.

In today’s posting, we aim to relieve our readers of the pain associated with the oftentimes tedious task of creating the Audio or Video for your Podcast, hosting the file online and syndicating to various Podcast Directories (most notably, iTunes), while offering monetary compensation for turning others on to the amazing tool known simply as AudioAcrobat.

What’chu talkin’ about, Willis?

First, we’d like to pay a bit of respect to the late, great, Gary Coleman (February 8, 1968 – May 28, 2010), as his trademark line from Different Strokes will ultimately decide whether you will choose to include Audio or Video Media Enclosures in your Podcast Feed.  Inherently, all Media Enclosures contained within Podcast Feeds are readily made available to the end user in a downloadable format — so make sure that the content you’re releasing via your Podcast is a product that you wish for people to take possession of in a digital format.

If you already conduct Interviews, produce Radio Shows, record Lectures, Teleconferences, Webinars, Mixtapes or Podcasts, then you will more than likely be choosing to create and operate an Audio-only Podcast.  If you work with a lot of Video … or if you are producing a “How-to” Podcast (there’s currently a *very high* demand for this type of content), you will want to keep your content consistent with quality video productions and releases.

If you’re just getting started, feel free to begin by logging into your account, clicking either the “Audio” or “Video” tab and selecting “Create New Audio/Video“.  If you’ve already created your Audio or Video files to be included in your Podcast, you can upload them by logging into your account by choosing “Upload” after following the steps above.

Life is like a cobweb, not an organization chart.

Ross Perot can be quoted as having said that one, but this American businessman was surely on to something when he sold his company, Perot Systems, to Dell for about $3.9 billion in 2009 …

It certainly depends on your opinion of life and organization when creating your Podcast or Podcasts, but regardless of which route you decide to take, we’ve made all of the tools necessary to get you to where you want to go.

Many of our members will choose to take the traditional route of creating a single Podcast within their account and adding multiple “Posts” or “Episodes“.

Much like how the television show, I Love Lucy, had many episodes, such as “Lucy Does a TV Commercial“, “Lucy and Superman” or “L.A. At Last“, our members are able to distribute, with (1) RSS Feed, all of the “Episodes” for their “Show” to their audience in a simple and effective manner.  Compared to viewing blog posts or news updates through your Internet Browser or Feed Reader (Firefox, Chrome, Google Reader etc.), AudioAcrobat Podcast Feeds will not look much different; except for the Media Enclosure (MP3 for Audio or MOV for Video).

Other members have chosen to create separate Podcasts for one reason or another.

Sometimes there’s a specific informative idea that needs to be shared with the world with future posts being added on an unannounced schedule … which is perfectly OK.

However, if you are looking to effectively build and maintain a bonding relationship with an audience … keeping a regular schedule and making it easy to tune-in will always provide a more appealing and easier way for an audience to engage and stay engaged with you, your personality, your content and your product.

Quick Steps:

1. Login to your AudioAcrobat account
2. Click the blue “Podcasts” tab
3. Click “Create New Podcast”

Expanded Steps:

Login to your AudioAcrobat account

Click the blue “Podcasts” tab

Click “Create New Podcast”

On the following screen, you’ll be prompted to enter the “Name”, “Title” and “Description” of your Podcast.  The “Name” will be configured into the URL of your Podcast Feed, while the “Title” and “Description” will display at the top of your Podcast Feed; which is visible to those viewing your Podcast via Internet Browser, Feed Reader, Podcast Directory as well as software-based Media Players or on Mobile Devices.

Note: It is *very* important that the “Name” or “Title” of a Podcast is not changed once being accepted by Podcast Directories such as iTunes.  If this information is changed, the Podcast Directory is likely to remove the Podcast from their system … forcing a manual re-submission by the Podcast owner/creator.

Next, you’ll want to upload the AlbumArt for your Podcast.  This is usually a logo branding your “Show” as a whole (as opposed to branding an individual Episode).

Note: Album art may be from 170×170 to 300×300 pixels at 72 dpi. AudioAcrobat will automatically scale the image provided to fit within these constraints.

At this time, you will be prompted to specify settings for auto-posting by phone in the “Mobile Podcast Post Title & Description” area.  Misc. information (Website, Copyright, Email, etc.) can be entered into the following fields and enhanced RSS abilities can (and should) be enabled just beneath.

The “Syndication” section will allow you to “Ping” AudioAcrobat’s list of 15+ Podcast Directories (which accept pings; unlike iTunes, which is *much* more likely to accept your Podcast when submitted manually).

At the bottom of the page you’ll find the glorious “Save Changes Now” button, which is truly the key to the lock at the gateway of the universe called, “Podcasting”.

Additionally, this information can be edited at any time by logging into your account, clicking the blue “Podcasts” tab, clicking the “Title” of your Podcast and selecting “Edit Podcast“.

As our members discover the ease of which they can create, host and syndicate Audio and Video based Podcasts, we want to make sure to reward them for spreading the word to their family, friends, associates and audience — and that’s why we want to remind our readers about AudioAcrobat’s built-in Affiliate Program — a program that pays a monthly recurring commission of 33%.

We recommend reading our 1st-ever Blog Post titled, “How One AudioAcrobat Member Made $6000 Without Even Knowing It” for a more in-depth explanation of how to take advantage of this high-paying, income supplementing feature to its fullest potential.