Convert RSS Feeds to Podcasts and become a podcaster. I was always wondering about increasing the accessibility of my blog to readers by tapping the new concept of podcasting which lets you hear my posts. But becoming a podcaster was not easy, until now…
I really do not wish to spend time creating mp3 files, uploading them, linking them, you download them and hear the audio through web based podcatchers (like Odeo or Podnova) or desktop podcatchers. Instead I wanted a simple way to convert my feeds into a podcast feed, which can be easily podcasted and heard using podcatchers.
Here is a quick and easy way to start podcasting in a few minutes…
1. First go to Feed2Podcast – which lets you instantly turn your blog’s RSS feed into a Podcast. It requires a simple registration, followed by some quick details and you have a new podcast feed in minutes which you can display on your site. They provide neat buttons and xml links which you can easily use to let readers hear you posts. So here you can hear my feed podcast using their Feed2podcast player. They have many more features in works like Worpdress plugins, new user panel etc. Since they convert text to speech, you can choose from a male or female voice. They check for updates every 3 hours, but you can force updates from the control panel. Well that is pretty much it. You are a podcaster now. Proceed further to enhance your podcasting experience.
2. Go a step further and source it to a feedburner feed. Feedburner is a free professional feed management tool, which provides many resources to create, manage, publicize, distribute and publish your podcasts. Now I can manage my title, descriptions, images, summary, publicize chicklets and subscribe buttons etc…
You can easily click on any of the icons and subscribe to web-based podcatchers like Odeo / Podnova or get it with with desktop podcatchers, add to iTunes / Yahoo! Music Engine and many other podcatching resources. You can click on play now beside each post and hear individual posts. Well each post is followed by a small advertisment for feeds2podcast, but I do not mind as it is because of them that this whole rss feed to podcast creation is possible.
3. Now you need to ping some podcast tracking services to let them know that you have updated your podcast. Feedshark lets you ping, submit, and promote your podcast for free. Just fill in the data about your blog, scroll and select all the services that accept podcasts and you are done. Blog and ping!
4. You can then submit your podcast to various podcast directories and podcast search engines and get more targetted website traffic. And if you are wondering where to start, here is huge list of podcast search engines and directories.
And you thought podcasting was difficult!