Podcasting is a fantastic way to get your content out in a new medium. Having more options for your readers is always a plus, and it can be a fun thing to do, too. Talking directly to your readers can sometimes be much easier than writing. If you like to talk and have a nice voice, podcasting is the way to go. Here’s how to get started:

• Download Audacity. It’s an awesome free audio editing tool that has many options, but still remains simple if all you want to do is record.
• Get a decent microphone. It’s a good idea to do some research on the microphone you’re about to purchase, because the quality may not exactly be ideal for podcast. Imagine this; you want people to be able to tolerate your voice for as long as possible. Don’t make it hard on your listeners! Of course, you don’t necessarily have to shell out a lot of cash to get a good one; there are many cheap alternatives if you know where to look.
• Grab a friend. Having two people star in a podcast make the show feel more alive. If you’re planning on doing a one-man-show, you’d have to be pretty damn good.
• Download Skype. If the person you’re planning to co-host with doesn’t live near you, use Skype to make VoIP phone calls. It’s a nice application that gives you free calls to other Skype users.
• Be prepared to grab some guests. Having contacts in the industry helps a lot. You don’t just want to talk to yourself or your co-host, you want to actually have a feature that will attract people. Start e-mailing potential guests and get them involved.

Now that you have all of the basics, you can get started on your very first podcast!

I found something really cool today that you I know for sure bloggers like you are going to love. It’s called Odiogo. What it does is that it converts your whole blog into a podcast ready for anybody to listen, download, and/or subscribe. What’s really cool about Odiogo is that it’s actually a high-quality tool that makes text-to-speech sound as realistic as possible. Well, it’s not that realistic, but the way it works is just unbelievable. It sounds like an actual person talking, and not a robot that reads everything word for word.

Try It Out

Before you use it for your blog, go ahead and visit this going green website called Green Experience. Then click any post that you would like to read. But stop! Don’t read the post! Instead, click the button at the first line that says “Listen Now”. Then just listen as the Odiogo player reads to you the whole post. Looks cool doesn’t it?

Getting Started

Using Odiogo is pretty simple, as it is compatible with all blog platforms that publish RSS feeds like Typepad, Blogger, Moveable Type, and WordPress. Just go to the Odiogo homepage, submit your blog/RSS information and email, then all the information will be sent to you, which includes the link to your Odiogo podcast page (click here to see the SlyVisions podcast page). Oh, and did I mention that Odiogo integrates your blog podcast on iTunes? That’s right. Your blog can be subscribed through by your readers as a podcast on right iTunes! Now don’t tell me that’s not cool.

One last thing. If you’re site is hosted with WordPress, you can download the Odiogo plugin that is included with the email so that your readers can listen to the podcast version of each post right on your blog. It’s just like how you saw it from the Green Experience. The only thing I don’t like about this plugin is that it puts an Odiogo player on every post of your blog. For the readers, seeing this “Listen Now” button on every blog post would get really annoying. Meanwhile, for bloggers like me, it would simply just add too much clutter on the blog. A good idea would be to test it out on your blog for a few days and ask your readers to see how the like it. If they don’t mind seeing the button everywhere, keep it. If it annoys the hell out of them, then it’s time for it to go.

Anyway, don’t forget to subscribe to my iTunes podcast!  Click here to subscribe.