Women in Podcasting

Is the world ready for The Podcast Sisters?

Well as you read about recently, Anna and I met up recently in Dublin. It would have been great to have had more time, but Dublin traffic conspired against us. It actually took Anna less time to reach Dublin airport flying in from the UK than it did for me to drive there!

As you can imagine we had alot to talk about. It was just too bad that Heather was not able to join us.

Anyway the seeds of our new venture together were sown - "The Podcast Sisters".

It is a new business podcast that Anna, Heather and I will be starting together - actually we are meeting tomorrow for the first time.

Our goal is to provide provide inspiration and guidance for women in Europe on how to engage with the internet to progress their personal and professional goals.

We will be sharing knowledge and tips all from blogs to podcasts, from websites to wiki's.

However "The Podcast Sisters" is for you, so do let us know what you would like us to cover to accelerate your online success.

I'm sure it will be entertaining listening knowing Anna and Heather - you can be sure that there will be times that our different experiences and backgrounds will show through as we share our personal success and all that we have learnt in our foray into this wonderful online world.

So watch out for "The Podcast Sisters Podcast" coming to a CD/iPod/MP3 player/your Mac/your PC very soon.

5 Ways Podcasting has helped my business

I have just posted about the 5 ways on my podcasting blog - if you want to check it out here are my podcasting thoughts!

Why I love podcasting part 2: podcasts are sales tools

Continuing my short series on the top 5 reasons I love podcasting, my second reason is that my podcasts act as members of my unpaid sales team 24/7 and 365 days a year.

Let me give you an example.

Last week I had a new member join my Biz Growth community and when I asked them how they had found out about me and the services I offer. I was really suprised to find that they had heard a podcast I had recorded over 18 months ago - in fact the podcast was not one of my own but one where I was an invited guest on another podcast show.

They had downloaded a series of podcasts and had heard my podcast interview and then decided to join my community as they were interested in knowing more about my area of expertise.

It is great to be an invited guest on a radio show but most often, once that radio show has been recorded, you are not likely to be heard again as few radio shows are re-broadcast.

However a podcast will be available forever - unless of course the podcast host takes down the interview from their website or blog.

So if you too are interested in extending your reach and recruiting a highly effective sales force who you don't even have to pay, then why not start podcasting.

And remember in my example, it was not even my podcast that someone had been listening to.

So if you are wondering how to get started in podcasting quickly and easily and without having to know any of the technology, why not research podcasters who speak to people in a similar field to you or who reach an audience that you would like to connect with as approach them about being a guest on their podcast show.

And of you missed the first in the series of why I love podcasting, you can read all about my first reason - speaking at the speed of sound - here.

Don't forget you can add your questions here if you want to know more about podcasting - we're here to support you getting up and running or for those that are already podcasting we would love to help you take your podcast to the next level - including how to profit from your podcast.

Thinking - I agree with Krishna

Krishna De posted about how podcasting helps her because of the speed of delivery. I think it is such a great point. I would also add that

a) I find podcasting "makes" me build thinking time into my day. We can often be so busy that thinking time gets eroded, I find podcasting ensures that I build time into my working week to develop ideas and develop my thinking. The benefit is that both personally and also my business grows at a quicker pace - as I am thinking more about the future.

b) Podcasting then brings replies from listeners that expand the thoughts and add to your ideas. This helps your own personal development and the development of your work. I interview on The Engaging Brand about motivating employees and I learn so much from producing the show, ideas that I may well never thought about without holding the interviews.

The irony is that listening to Krishna helps me in my own business!

Why I love podcasting: speaking at the speed of sound

As I have been podcasting for almost two years now, I thought I would take time to review why I continue to podcast rather than podfading (where a podcaster stops podcasting).

In fact rather than podfading, I have several new podcast series in development.

So why do I love podcasting?

Well my first reason is that we can podcast at the speed of sound.

I personally don't know of a faster way to be able to share my expertise and insights other than by speaking - no matter how efficient we are at typing, I suspect few of us can type as fast as we speak.

Yes we should accompany our business or corporate podcast with writing a blog for many reasons including:

1. providing a summary (often called show notes) of what our podcast listener can look forward to hearing in that podcast episode
2. including key words (the words we want to be found in in the search engines) as the search engine robots can not yet check audio content for key words.

So if you are looking to express your expertise to your listeners, I highly recommend podcasting.

And if you are not sure where or how to start, do post your questions here as the Women in Podcasting team of authors are here to help you on your podcasting journey.

You Don't Have to Be a Podcaster to Get Involved

There's no getting around the fact that we need more women in podcasting. Women like Heidi Miller, Anna Farmery, Donna Papacosta, Heather Gorringe, and Penny Haynes are producing great podcasts, but only 13.8% of podcasters around the world are female. The lack of female podcasters is particularly surprising in fields like Public Relations, which are dominated by women. I'm not sure what's causing the gender imbalance, because all the male podcasters I know welcome women into the podosphere with great enthusiasm.

"Welcome," in fact, might not be a strong enough word. I've had guys attempt to drag me bodily into producing my own podcast.

There are worse things one could be dragged into. But just as not everyone can be a political activist, not everyone can be a podcaster. I have compelling personal reasons for not undertaking the kind of commitment which producing a podcast represents (or any other equivalent commitment, for that matter). And besides, I just don't find recording fun. I don't know why, but speaking into a microphone when I'm all by myself is hard, even though I enjoy public speaking and am perfectly comfortable getting up in front of hundreds of people.

Just because you're not a podcaster doesn't mean you can't get involved in podcasting, though. I'm a podcast evangelist. Heck, I'm a podcast junkie. I think podcasting is the greatest invention since the digital scale. I've always been a fan of spoken-word audio. I used to belong to an audiobook-rental store. Now I have thousands of podcasts to choose from (and about 70 subscriptions in my podcatcher): a free education on any subject I want.

I've made a name for myself in the podosphere by commenting on other people's podcasts. Try it. Respond to something you hear on a podcast that gets your mind going. You'll make friends, and you'll increase your profile. Commenting is marketing. When you type a comment on a show's blog (like this one), it links back to your website. If you call a listener comment line and leave a voice message, be sure to mention your business name or URL—or both, if you can do it quickly, clearly, and not too obtrusively. If you say things that other listeners are interested in, people will remember your name.

A podcast without listeners is an empty thing. You can make a real contribution to podcasting as a whole by listening and getting involved. Ask questions. Answer them. Join the conversation. Unlike creating your own podcast, it doesn't take much time, and you don't have to plan it out in advance. You can just pick up the phone or fire off an e-mail message. (Do make sure to tell the podcaster how to pronounce your name, if it's a difficult one like mine.)

And never be afraid to tell a male podcaster that he's suffering from an overdose of testosterone.

A-Z of Podcasting

Over at my non geek blog Podcast Freq I am doing a series called A to Z of podcasting. I thought I would tell you about it because it will give you an A-Z of tips, links, ideas for podcasting. It might help any of you who are just entering or thinking about the podcasting world.

Women and the Internet

Janet Parkinson sent me an article that shows that women are captivated by the internet. The key findings are

• Women are spending more time online than ever
• 70% say they could not live without it
• 86% shop on the internet
• 68% research on line before purchasing
• IPC says that "The popularity of the internet is a trend no-one in the media and marketing industry can afford to ignore"

Women are a huge influence on the web, they are using the internet and now we need to see the power of user generated content rather than just purchasing.

New Guest Author Joins Us

I was delighted to talk to Janet Parkinson of Talking Voices. She has a wonderful passion for podcasting and how we can get more women involved especially in the UK. She is attending the Corporate Podcasting Summit next week so I am hoping that we can meet up and discuss how we can promote the world of Podcasting to women.

Janet is  Co-founder of Podcast User Magazine, the popular  on-line magazine. Janet is part of the editorial and marketing teams where she specialises in international podcasts. Her in-depth knowledge comes with a determinedly non-geek approach to technology, which I love.

Anyway welcome Janet and lets see if we can grow this community!

Podcasting Evolution

In 2005 the word podcasting was voted the word of the year by the New Oxford Dictionary. That is a huge accolade, so why was it so lauded? Well, look at podcasting and the true power of it

It connects YOU to a one on one converstion on a regular basis via RSS

It opens you to a world of friends…I now have friends in Canada, USA, Netherlands, Denmark, UK and many more

It is accessible to everyone with a PC

It is a global connection tool that you can start for virtually nothing

Now that is why I would encourage you to join the evolution...