Hello fellow podcasters. I’m as excited about podcasting, as anyone. With two or three major corporations owning most of the major radio stations across the U.S., there’s not a whole lot of variety out there. Besides that, with syndication and voice-tracking (when one DJ records shifts for several different stations across the country, therefore eliminating jobs at several different stations across the country), there is not a lot of opportunity for new talent to break through.

So now podcasting comes along, and every Talk Show Wannabe (A creative individual without a show on Clear Channel or Infinity Radio) has a level playing field with all the big boys and the rest of us smaller people in the world.

When I did my first Google search for the word “podcast,” earlier this year, there were less than 1.5 million results. Today, August ’05, it’s up to over 16 million. Point is, there are more people flocking to “podcasting” than reality TV shows shot in Vegas (where I currently reside.)

I assume if you are on this site, and reading this article, you are what I call a “Podcast Pioneer.” In other words, you are probably someone who feels the way I do and are ready to burn rubber, as quickly as possible, in this wide open, level playing field.

So as a student of marketing authors Al and Laura Ries, Jack Trout and quality and innovation expert Dr. Deming (any of which you may or may not have ever cared to hear about), here is the number one marketing rule I am keeping in mind as a person who wants to cater to all the millions of new podcasters who will be joining us this next year:

Confusion is the enemy. Since hopping on the podcast directories, search engines, how-to guides and sites offering podcasts, I can tell you pretty confidently…it’s a big, scary, confusing world out there for your average user, many who suffer from A.D.D. (LOL), who don’t want to sit around and try and sift through all the confusion.

Solutions: First of all, have a basic, simple URL that tells the podcast searcher (most users will find you through a search engine or podcast directory) the topic or category or your show.

For example, which link do you think someone will click on in a Google/Directory search:

a) homepage.mac.com/tonywalker23/podcast/podcast.xml

b) TheBiblePodcast.com

Secondly, Don’t try and do too much with your website. I heard a radio station in San Diego promoting their wacky Morning Crew “podcast.” (Not that I cared to hear a dopey podcast of their corny show, but wanted to check out what they had to offer.)

Meanwhile, the radio station web site was so busy, with so many features, and categories, I couldn’t find the damn thing and I’m sure the rest of the world couldn’t either.

Web designers love to put things in categories in this fragmented society. However, it does seem like too many of the podcast web sites I have visited try to do too many things.

Specialize in something and be direct with it. On my website, GotPodcast.com, I plan on offering a podcast list of direct links to the podcast. For example, not that I would listen, but I check out the Rush Limbaugh web site and you have to click about three or four times to get to the podcast feed.

So at GotPodcast.com (coming soon), I’ll specialize as a “podcast only” site, providing one thing and one thing only – direct links to the podcast feed.

Alright everyone, let the good times roll and let’s try and make it as easy as possible for new podcast users to figure it all out and put an end to corporate radio as quickly as possible.

Zuma Dogg

ZumaDogg@PodcastDomainNames.com

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 11th, 2005 at 4:03 pm by Zuma Dogg and is filed under Guest Articles. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.