Podcast Planning: Help for the New Podcaster

Whether you’re a hobbyist or the leader of a business, your interest in beginning to podcast couldn’t have come at a better time!

Consider that in the past week alone, nearly nine and a half million people all over the Earth have listened to, or viewed, a podcast. The current estimate of podcast listeners and viewers is about 22 million people, more than XM Radio and Sirius Radio combined! And the future’s only going to get better, because estimates of podcast listeners and viewers go as high as 63 million people in just the next three years! With that, the advertising money podcasting attracts grows as well, from the approximate $80 million last year to $400 million by 2011.

If you’re interested in podcasting as a hobby, consider that you could attract an audience in the thousands for very little money. If you’re representing a business, you could market your message directly to your customers who’ll look to you for information, instead of wasting money with conventional advertising, hoping that a small percentage of those radio listeners, television viewers and print readers might bother to listen to, watch or read your short ad.

But if you’re just getting started, podcasting might seem a little daunting. You’ve heard of the mistakes made by other well-known companies… you’ve listened to the false starts and annoying mistakes others have made when they first got started… and you don’t want to be like them.

I know because when I began producing The WordPress Podcast on a lark, I made many, many beginner mistakes, but I learned from them, and now I’d like to mentor you as you start your own podcasting success story. I can teach you about the basics of podcasting and point out the mistakes I made, so you don’t have to make them yourself.

Probably the biggest lesson I learned is not to simply “jump into” producing a podcast. Doing so leads to mistakes and lost listeners, not to mention burnout and podfading. It’s vitally important that you choose your own particular niche well, and before you record the very first sound to plan for your podcast’s ultimate success.

In the coming episodes I’ll go over in detail how to choose your niche… how to choose a name… how to set up a blog… how to choose the right equipment… how to choose a format… how to find your voice… and all of the subjects you need to start your podcast strong, and grow better with every episode that follows.