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.

Best Podcast Format - ads or no ads, second voice, intro music, etc?

Came across another female podcaster to share with all you Women in Podcasting today...  Suzanne Falter-Barns and the Get Known Now Unplugged podcast. Sadly - she seems to have stalled after episode 3 (bit like I did then!), but perhaps this post* will encourage her to relaunch it (bit like I'm doing then!!) :o)

Suzanne's podcast features Insider Strategies That Make You A Household Name. I've only listened to one so far, and it was really great.  Aside from content, what I find interesting are the many different podcast formats people come up with... and is there a perfect podcast format?

Suzanne's opted for a little intro music and then a guy introducing her as 'host'. She does her thing and then there's an 'interlude' where the guy pipes up again and advertises her program. Then its back to Suzanne for the second half.  In theory I'd have thought an ad in the middle of a podcast would be dreadful, but it sounds absolutely fine and actually, creates a professional air to the 'cast.  It's also got me thinking about whether my new podcast format is working hard enough for me.  I reckon that if the content is valuable/interesting enough, a 10-20sec ad is totally acceptable.

What do you reckon? Are ad breaks good or bad? Does a second voice add anything? Is music ideal? Is there a perfect podcast format, or is it a case of horses for courses? Click 'comment' below and share yours.

* Probably not, because she's not allowing trackbacks so I can't ping her and let her know I've posted here. TIP: Even if you don't know how to do them, ALWAYS allow 'trackbacks'!

How long should a podcast be?

I listened to a radio expert at Podcastcon this year who suggested that a podcast should never ever go over the half hour mark. This was met by the podcasting crowd with a certain degree of scepticism.
A major benefit of podcasting is that your broadcast can be as long or as short as you make it. Its not tied to booking a studio, or how much time is allocated you in the radio schedule, - you are free to make whatever programme length you like, when you like.
From my experience when listening to many podcasts its not the length of the show that matters as much as the quality of the content.
I tune into shows that are usually 10 minutes and ones that are usually 90 minutes long. What I do think is helpful is that generally the format is reasonably regular. We keep the Wiggly podcast to 25 minutes or so most weeks, but if we have exceptional content we may extend the show to 35 minutes. This is handy as your listeners will often tend to do the same things while listening to your show - maybe commute to work on the train or tube. (Many of our listeners tune in when having a bath... Now they would get pretty cold on a hour and a half show!)
Having said all that, its usually good to have a surprise or two just to keep that interest and intrigue going for your show. Some of the most popular bits of our show have been the outtakes, - which we tag on to the end of the show (after a silence of about 2 seconds). That way the listener is just about to switch off and there is a really funny laugh right at the end...
So, whatever show length you choose, keep it tight! If in doubt that the content is valuable - finish earlier rather than later!
Happy Podcasting to you!

Got a question - ask online

We believe in being as open to supporting women who want to podcast and blog as possible. So we have added a new tool - when we are onlline you can now IM us....look over to the right and you will see a text box called Meebo Me. So if you are on the blog and want to find out more then just send me a text message.

Podcasting and market research....

Anna and I are making a series of podcasts which follows our journey to  thinner, healthier and fitter bodies. This has been a great learning experience for me.

Podcasting is pretty inexpensive to try, probably in our case comparable with what we would have spent joining a dieting club, travelling to it each week and eating the "special food", whether that be the muesli bars or the crispbreads!

As they say the proof is in the eating, and so far on week three I have lost nearly 5 pounds and Anna has lost over a stone in weight!! The key to this success seems to be announcing the diet as public, and keeping communicating. Podcasting does both these!

If you have a topic that you are passionate about that might make a great podcast, my advice would be "just do it!" Try it out, see how it goes and learn as you go along. Market research is fine for an existing market, but podcasting and new technology is moving at such a rate that by the time you have completed your months of research you will probably be out of date...(and someone else will probably have done your podcast!!!)

Recording Skype Conversations

A large part of my podcast, The Engaging Brand is interviewing. Most of these are conducted over Skype and therefore I have looked for various packages. I posted about this on my other blog Podcast Freq which is a non geek look at the art of podcasting. I thought I would share with you what I posted as it is one of the most asked questions that I receive from people who ask for advice.

Today I came across another free piece of software (as long as you keep the conversation under 30 minutes) and that software is Pretty May. I am delighted with the audio quality, which records at 48khz and it also brings in each conversation in a separate audio track to help post editing.

My mainstay audio recording is Hot Recorder. I have to say this has worked really well and I have no issues other than the recording rate. This program records at 12khz which means that the audio quality is reduced. When I increased the quality, I had more issues with the program and therefore kept it at the medium quality.

Another program that comes highly recommended is Skylook. A couple of other podcsaters swear by this package and because it is built for Skype it is very stable and good quality. The downside for this package is the cost - which I believe is $100.

If you are trying to make podcasting your living then it may well be worth investing in Skylook or Pamela another similar package. Of course, recording each part of the conversation on the individual PC’s remains the strongest way, but not all interviewees can record the chat. If you just want a good package then I don’t believe you can go wrong with Hot Recorder or Pretty May.

If you want any support with this process then just e-mail me at anna@theengagingbrand.com