Author: Sharon Housley

There are a variety of things you can do to promote your podcast and increase its popularity.

1. Auto-Discovery

Include auto-discovery tags in the HTML header of the web page. Some podcasting and RSS readers will automatically detect that an RSS feed or podcast is available if such auto-discovery tags are included in the web page header tags.

More on Auto-Discovery - http://www.feedforall.com/knowledgebase/a334b.htm

2. Add A Podcast Icon

Add a standard "podcast" icon to the website. The icon should appear "above the fold", meaning that the website visitor should not have to scroll down in order to see it. The standardized orange icons are symbolic of podcasts, and podcast listeners will instantly know that a podcast is available when they see such an icon. The icon should link to the URL of the podcast feed.

3. Submit To Podcast Search Engines And Directories

There is a large and growing number of search engines and directories that are specific to podcasting. Submit your podcast to all the podcasting search engines and podcasting directories.

List of Sites to Submit Podcasts - http://www.podcasting-tools.com/submit-podcasts.htm

4. Use All Means Available For Promotion

Use all of your existing communication channels to let your audience know that a podcast is available. Be sure to include a mention of the podcast in any email signatures, newsletters, and forum posts.

5. Optimize Transcript

Create a show transcript as part of the RSS feed, and include important keywords from the podcast in the show transcript. The show transcript should be optimized for search engines. Use standard search engine optimization techniques. You can also use a PHP Script (RSS2HTML, located at http://www.feedforall.com/free-php-script.htm ) to display the show transcript on your website.

6. Optimize ID3 Tags

Use search engine optimization techniques when optimizing your ID3 tags, so your sound files will be easy to locate via the various audio search engines.

Optimize ID3 Tags - http://www.feedforall.com/audio-file-optimization-tips.htm

If you are spending the time and energy to publish a regular podcast, make sure to give it the exposure it deserves.

Permissions:

Permissions and notification of use not required.

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This article may be used freely in opt-in publications and websites, provided that the resource box is included and the links are active. A courtesy copy of the issue or a link to any online posting would be greatly appreciated send an email to sharon[at]notepage.net.

Additional articles available for publication available at http://www.small-business-software.net/free-website-content.htm

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About the Author:
Sharon Housley manages marketing for FeedForAll http://www.feedforall.com software for creating, editing, publishing RSS feeds and podcasts. In addition Sharon manages marketing for RecordForAll http://www.recordforall.com audio recording and editing software. "