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Section :: Features
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Podcasting Secrets - FeedBurner

A free service to syndicate your podcast...
Sunday 27 August 2006.
 

One of the simplest ways of turning your Blog into a podcast is by using FeedBurner – a free service that sucks in an RSS feed and spits it out in a ‘podcastable’ format. But how does it work and why shouldn’t you just let your Blog software create its own podcast feed? These are just a couple of the questions we put to FeedBurner’s Rick Klau…

bitwise: Can you explain what FeedBurner is? I mean, let’s say I have a Blog and I upload some audio files to it. Now I subscribe to FeedBurner and, so, what actually happens…

Rick Klau: FeedBurner offers more than just great services for podcasters. At the very highest level, we offer services to help content producers of all kinds promote, distribute and track all manner of syndicated content on the Web. We specifically help podcasters make their content "subscribable" so they can build a loyal fan base, track downloads within the feed, understand how many people are subscribing and what they like best, as well as optimize distribution to top destinations like iTunes, including details like album art and categorization. In short, we help our customers get more value out of the text, audio and video content they create by offering publicity, measurement and optimization tools.

bitwise: Lots of Blog and CMS software including some of the most popular such as Drupal and WordPress provide automatic support for podcasting. Is there any advantage to people with podcasts hosted on those systems of using FeedBurner instead?

Rick Klau: I actually use both WordPress and Drupal on a couple sites I manage, and I use FeedBurner to manage all of my feeds. The real advantage of using FeedBurner is the comprehensive suite of free enhancement services we offer and our ability to optimize delivery to more than 2,500 different feed readers and podcatchers.

When specifications change (which they often do), the individual podcasting using FeedBurner doesn’t have to worry about recoding XML files to make sure her podcast is still listed in iTunes correctly - we handle that, seamlessly. Because we manage nearly 400,000 feeds, we not only have insight into the polling behavior of all of these end clients so that we can represent the truest sense of a podcaster’s audience and subscriber interaction with her content, but we can also offer services that leverage the greater feed-driven community. For example, our popular FeedFlare service lets publishers include links that display how their content is being consumed across the web such as the number of Technorati links to an episode or the number of comments. Our open API makes the service fully customizable.

Finally, if you choose to switch your CMS or Blog application, your feed URL doesn’t change - so your subscribers will continue to receive your content regardless of which application was used to create it.

bitwise: Does FeedBurner work with just any Blog/CMS software? Or do I need to choose with care? And what if I just want to create a web site in good old HTML and upload audio clips to it? Can I turn that into a podcast too?

Rick Klau: In order for audio or video content to be considered a podcast, it must first be published in a syndicated format (e.g. RSS, Atom, etc.). This is an automatic benefit of using a blogging platform like TypePad or WordPress. Once content has been published you can create a podcast feed in RSS, Atom or any syndicated format either on a Blog, podcast or otherwise, In order to turn a regular old web site into a podcast, one would need to provide. Luckily, FeedBurner makes this process easy.

bitwise: Just when we are getting used to audio podcasting, I see that some people are moving over to video. Isn’t this just a way for people to recycle their home movies. Or is there more to it than that?

Rick Klau: Of the nearly 400,000 feeds FeedBurner manages, about 6,000 of these are video feeds. This number continues to ramp upward. We’re seeing a wide range of content that runs the gamut from highly professional video production to short clips designed for a smaller audience like a group of friends or family. Established brands are now producing videocasts - National Lampoon recently launched the TOGA! Video Podcast to share their entertaining take on the latest movies, animations and more.

bitwise: Now, I notice that you say that FeedBurner can help me make some money from my podcasts? How does this work? Is it possible to make an income from their podcasts or are we talking about pocket money?

Rick Klau: Monetizing podcast/videocast feeds is a popular request from our customers. The good news is that we are working to extend the FeedBurner Ad Network to include rich media (audio and video) feeds. There are still more services we want to roll out that improve the distribution and tracking podcasts and, at that time, we’ll be in the best position to monetize podcasts and help podcasters be successful. One such service will allow podcasters to improve the discovery process of finding podcasts similar to theirs. By banding together, these niche groups will benefit from being part of a larger community, uncovering audience using cross-promotion efforts. More on that in the coming months!

bitwise: If I want to make a successful podcast, what are the main things I need to do? And what are the pitfalls to avoid?

Rick Klau: The main thing to do in order to make a successful podcast is to cover topics of which you have great passion and expertise. The second thing, of almost equal importance, is to use FeedBurner. As far as pitfalls go, a very common one to avoid is relying on web stats as a true measure of unique visitors to your podcast feed. One of the reasons FeedBurner got into the business of feedburning is because tracking syndicated content can be a challenging task. There are more than 2,500 different news readers/aggregators on the market today and each of these poll for new content differently which can result in hits to a web server that may not be representative of unique visitors.

bitwise: Do you listen to many podcasts? What are your favourites?

Rick Klau: Naturally, we like the FeedBurner podcast because our new customer-produced format puts our podcasting community front and center and the variety of content is guaranteed to cover a lot of topics. We recently relaunched the program with the always entertaining David Lawrence as guest host and followed with CreativeXpert and Outsider Radio. Other podcasts I listen to (or watch, as the case may be) pretty regularly are Sound Opinions, Ask a Ninja, Doug Kaye’s IT Conversations, Ze Frank’s The Show, Croncast and NPR’s Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me.

bitwise: In your opinion, what is the basic set of equipment and software I would need to make a successful podcast?

Rick Klau: You’ll need a decent microphone and audio recording software to make your podcast a reality. Microphones run the gamut from $5 to $500, As far as software, we recommend Audacity, free audio-editing software that runs on Windows and Mac. Another option for Mac is Apple’s GarageBand. After production is complete, you need to make the audio or video available for download on the web. There are a number of services that will host your podcasts (which may occupy a lot of server space) for free or cheap. Finally, you need to published the content on the Web and use FeedBurner’s SmartCast service to automatically convert it to a podcast and ensure the enclosure are coded correctly for distribution. Podcasts are typically published with a blogging tool like Blogger, TypePad, or MovableType. If you already use one of these services, creating your podcast is as simple as linking to your audio files and using SmartCast. We publish all of this information in a Quickstart guide.

bitwise: Over the past few years we’ve seen the rise of Blogs and now of podcasts. What is the next big thing?

Rick Klau: One of the most interesting trends we’re beginning to see is the blurring of lines between content publishers and marketers. Now that the content creation tools are readily available, and the syndication format is pushing "subscribable" content into the mainstream, just about anyone can derive value from new media. Publishers and podcasters who are looking to expand their reach online and attract subscribers are advertising using new methods. Meanwhile, traditional advertisers, retailers and the largest corporations in the world are becoming publishers and podcasters. We’re also going to see the entire universe of feed-driven content get more sophisticated along with media plans as the focus on driving drive interest and dollars toward quality content continues.

Feedburner: http://www.feedburner.com/


Rick Klau is Vice President of Publisher Services at FeedBurner. He has published a number of books and columns covering the topics of technology, law, ecommerce and online security and is member of the Editorial board for Podcasting magazine. Rick earned AB Degrees in International Affairs and French from Lafayette College, a JD from the University of Richmond School of Law and a Baccalaureate Degree from l’Université de Bourgogne.
Rick has a Blog at: http://www.rklau.com/tins/
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