Preparing your first podcast

In a moment you'll get a chance to do your very first podcast. It's easy. It's free. And it should take less than 10 minutes (although your actual podcast will only take about five minutes).

As you read through this book you will discover that content is a vital to finding and keeping subscribers. So before you began your first podcast, start out on the right foot by creating good content. While some podcasts have fancy sounds and a witty host and guests, your initial podcast will just be you but it will still be posted on the Internet, so you want to make a good quality podcast, especially if you fall in love with podcasting and want to continue.

Spend 1 to 2 minutes and brainstorm some topics you are interested in. He doesn't have to be new and brilliant content for your first podcast, it should simply be something you have a passion for.

Select one or two of those topics that catch your eye.

Spend 1 or 2 minutes and brainstorm interesting facts that you know about those topics

Group those facts together under one or two headings.

By now, you probably see the one you want to podcast the most. If not, you'll need to choose one now.

Go online and find a web site that talks about that topic as well that you can review in your podcast.

Write down an upcoming event that is related to your area of interest. For example, if the area you're going to podcast on his genealogy, you might be able to find a local genealogical society which has a genealogy fare coming up. If you can't find anything, think of a past event that you can review.

Develop a brief script on your own, or from the example in the Example box that follows this exercise.

EXAMPLE

“Hello and welcome to our very first podcast at [your web address, which you will get shortly… in the next exercise]. My name is [your name] and today we’re going to be talking about [your topic]. In this podcast we’ll be talking about [heading #1] and [heading #2]. Later, we’ll review a website and talk about an upcoming event.

First, we’re talking about [heading #1]. Did you know that… [talk about the interesting facts you wrote down].

Second, we’re talking about [heading #2]. Did you know that… [talk about the interesting facts you wrote down].

Now is the time in our show where we review a website. Today’s website is [say the web address and the name, if it’s different]. [Briefly describe the website and rate it on how helpful or informative it was as well as how easy it was designed to navigate around].

Finally, we’ve got to mention the [upcoming event]. [Mention who, what, where, when, cost, what to bring, what to expect].

We’ve had a great time on the show today and look forward to having you tune in next time!”

That was easy, wasn’t it? Sure! There’s nothing to it. You probably don’t even need the script, but in cast you do, you have one available. It’s a good idea to work from a script, even if you don’t read it directly, to help you stay focused.

Now you have heard other podcasts and you’ve created your own script. Are you ready? Let’s podcast!

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