After years of working and producing products together, it is with great pleasure that I announce that Mary Motz (also known as @provirtual) of ProVirtual Solutions and I have launched a new podcast called Online Biz Insiders!

The Online Biz Insiders podcast is in response to the many questions that Mary and I receive from clients, colleagues and friends.   With our consulting backgrounds in website/blogsite design and customization, as well as digital media and content/internet marketing, we felt we had plenty of expertise to share with our audience.

We host our podcasts weekly, and each episode is 10-30 minutes in length.  There is no cost to download our podcast episodes, we simply want to share our “secrets” with our listeners.  We love to share new technologies, resources and tips and tricks for small business owners to help them run their businesses more efficiently.

What is a podcast?  According to Wikipedia, a podcast can be described as, ” a series of digital media files (either audio or video) that are released episodically and often downloaded through web syndication.”   I like to explain a podcast in this manner.  A podcast is like an “audio blog”.  Like a blog, whenever we add a new episode (or post) to our podcast feed (or via iTunes), subscribers to our podcast are updated automatically.

In addition to our podcast feed, we have created a separate blog to post images and links discussed during our shows.  Some of our show topics include Task Management, using Google Alerts for reputation management (and other research), and Data Backup Options.

So navigate over to Online Biz Insiders and subscribe to our feed or blog.  You can even get updates via iTunes or email (see the “Get Updates by Email” box on our home page).  We tweet at @onlinebizinsidr!   Our podcast is produced by Wilson Media Services, the company I run with my husband, David.  Our podcast theme music was composed by none other than my son, Ben.

Are you considering starting a podcast?  I’d love to talk with you about it.  Contact me now to discuss further.

I have friends that are huge blog followers.  They love to read, but don’t like to listen.

Then there are the video watchers.  Watchers prefer the video tutorials, video blog posts, and entertainment value of video.  From a business standpoint, what a great medium for building rapport with your audience!  Not only will watchers learn about your area of expertise, but they get to see AND hear you while learning.

Understanding these preferences is a must to your Content Marketing.

What do I mean by Content Marketing?   For me, content marketing is using the many methods of digital media – eBooks, audio, video and blogs – in your marketing mix.   I don’t mean creating new content from scratch everytime you want touch for your audience with marketing.  My point is to re-purpose your content into other medium.

For instance, say you wrote a special report or eBook on a subject in your area of expertise.  You could use your eBook as a script and record an audio version of it.   That audio could become an audio book, or be separated in to audio posts for your blog, or become a 5-part audio series you offer as a product on your website.   Because these files are digital, you can post them in several different places – like your blog, your social nets, your eNewsletter – to gain even more exposure.

This month, I published an eBook titled, “4 Steps to EASY Content Marketing” which is available at my website.   I wanted to share some of my expertise so that entrepreneurs would understand content marketing and how easy it is to re-purpose your content.  I’d love to send you a free copy.  Simply sign up for my mailing list.

Do you love downloading eBooks?   Or, downloading audio or video to your iPod and then hitting the treadmill?  Or, do you keep it simple and read a few blogs everyday?  I’d love to hear about your preferences if you comment below.

If you happen to have a podcast without a blog as its counterpart, you’re missing out on an easy-to-grab opportunity to increase your listeners!

One Benefits the Other
By having both a podcast and a blog, you have more opportunities to generate followers. For example, adding your podcast to various promotion directories and lists will not only accomplish the main goal of getting exposure for your podcast, but will also result in more readers for your blog. This is an excellent way of creating a stable stream of content for your audience to enjoy – you may not have a new podcast out until later in the week, but your followers still have a reason to visit your blog site today.

More Opportunities for Collaboration
Similar to having a guest host on your podcast, you can invite other bloggers or podcasters to write a guest post on your blog site. You even have the option to do interviews with your guests on your actual podcast, resulting in maximum exposure (and thus incentive) for the guest blogger. This situation can also be reversed, with you being the guest poster and potentially an interviewee as well. The goal is that your audience will be introduced to the guest, and vice versa. For you, the obvious benefit is the opportunity to reach out to more audiences.

More Traffic
When adding a blog to your existing podcast website, you have the extra benefit of potentially gaining a significant increase in traffic. Ultimately, this would lead to more listeners, making your podcast more attractive to advertisers. Blogging, over time, will inevitably land your site in good search engine rankings. And, whether or not you are focusing on getting ranked for particular keyword combinations, your traffic will naturally increase. As long as you have a search engine optimized blog to support your podcast, you will undoubtedly have an easier time gathering a targeted listener base than your competitors.

More Options for Your Audience
Adding a blog component to your existing podcast will give your listeners another platform to connect with you or your brand. Some listeners might not be inclined to contact you directly or call into your show (if you have that as a feature), but may feel more comfortable posting a comment directly on your blog when you post about something that interests them.

Your blog can tie-in many features with your podcast to positively increase your audience’s overall experience. Great things to post could include show overviews, which might contain images, videos or other information referenced during the podcast. You could even go the extra step and include full show transcripts (which will have a positive effect on your organic search engine traffic as well).

These are just a few of the reasons why you should support your podcast with a blog. Just ask yourself what other features you could provide your listeners. When you have their best interests at heart, success will always follow.

Listen to the audio version of this post here: Podcasting and Blogging – Nov 2010

According to the FAQ page on their site, the purpose of PodCamp Philly is to:

• Share information
• Build & develop relationships
• Grow the new media community

My main interest in PodCamp was to learn more about podcasting.  My colleague, Mary Motz, and I will be starting a podcast called Online Biz Insiders this month, and I wanted to get a best practices view for managing it.  Plus, my husband and I have enough audio equipment in our home to fill the basement, so why not pull stuff out of storage and use it on a daily basis?

The first session we attended was called, “Recording Podcasts with Skype,” by a DC-based podcaster named Charley Hays (@charleyhays).    Charley does a lot of interviewing  for his Cross Driven Radio podcast, and doesn’t use a ton of equipment to do so.   For the simplest podcasts he suggests using a Skype headset, or a mic and headphones; Skype to bring in the audio from the folks he’s interviewing; and Windows-based Pamela digital recorder to record.   His typical set-up however, uses an audio mixer, so that he can bring in intro music from his iPod, his mic, the interviewee on Skype, and have control over the audio levels.  Then he takes an effects send out of the mixer into his portable digital recorder.  With this method, he usually does do some post-production work to the edit the recording to his liking.

“Digesting Food Culture Podcasts,” by Nicole Taylor (@foodculturist).  Nicole lives in Brooklyn and hosts her Hot Grease podcast via the Heritage Radio Network, that talks about food culture and sustainable living.  She reviewed the Top Food Podcasts, and the 2010 Food Trends (Southern Food or Niche Food, Food Trucks, Urban Agriculture, Recession Meals and Food Politics), as well as the Hot Five – the 5 Things on Fire in Food.  The Hot Five were 5 foodie podcasters – some audio only, some video only – to follow.  My husband and I love food and found Nicole’s presentation interesting, but boy, did it make us hungry!

I knew that PodCamp Philly was the unConference for me, when my husband, who is usually skeptical of new media, starting brainstorming podcast ideas with me at lunch.  (Awesome! ;-))

The first afternoon session we attended was presented by Ray Ortega (@podcasthelper and @producepicker), called, “Live Podcast to Hard Drive Recording.”  Ray demonstrated how he produces the SpyderCricket podcast with Jay and Kate (@spydercricket).  It was great to see Jay and Kate in action, and they were excited to have a live studio audience at PodCamp Philly.  As Jay and Kate spoke, Ray would walk out to the audience and describe how he setup the equipment and sends the recording directly to his digital recorder, and does no post-production editing.  The SpyderCricket podcast episode lasted about 15 minutes – ending with Jay and Kate playing a song by The 88.  Ray was adamant to explain that they had followed the proper protocols in getting permission to play the music for the podcasts.  As I look at my notes from this session, I see about 10 resources I need to research.

For the 2pm session, I attended the “SEO for your blog or website,” by Bill Rowland (@billrowland) and Bill Sebold from True Action Media.  This was one session for which I had the least amount of knowledge (or at least I thought I did) and knew it was one of the most important for me to attend.  Here are the 5 points from the preso:

1. Use keywords from Analytics to optimize your site.

2. Use keyword-rich title tags.

3. Google <hearts> content.

4. You don’t *need* to blog for SEO.

5. Use Google AdWords keyword tools.

Finally, the last presentation I attended was called, “Podcast Promo Workshop,” with Alan Chaess (@chaess).   While I thought the presentation would discuss marketing efforts for promoting your podcast, I was pleasantly surprised to learn about *how* to record the promo recordings for a podcast.  Alan talked about the process he uses for requesting podcast promos or show ID promos from others.  And, the highlight of the presentation for me?  *I* got to record a promo for PodCamp Philly!  Wahoo!   Alan was patient to coach me in my script and pacing for the recording.  It took me a few takes to get it just right, then Alan showed off his Audacity editing prowess to mix in some promo music, adjusting the levels until he was satisfied.

My take-aways from PodCamp Philly?  I felt completely welcomed and it wasn’t all “geek-speak.”    With the love my husband and I have for audio production, we are setting up a podcasting studio in our home (hey, I said we have the equipment – why now use it?).  I was bummed we were only able to attend one day of #pcphilly2010.  Thank you to the organizers and volunteers – you did an amazing job and we’ll be sure to return next year!

More and more companies and small businesses are choosing to hold Virtual Events rather than the more expensive offline events and conferences. In fact, “Virtual Meetings and Events [will] replace 2.1 million airline seats by 2012” (Gartner, Feb. 2009). 76% of businesses say they have already begun using or plan to start using Virtual Events in 2009, while 70% of Corporate Event Organizers predict a reduction in live events in 2010 and forecast significant growth in virtual conferences and webinars.

Why my interest in virtual events? Part of the interest stems back to my training in college where I majored in Sound Recording Technology. I’ve always had a love of technology and gadgets – but not everyone shares my views. Even with the myriad of easy-to-use-tools for virtual events available, some entrepreneurs and online professionals would rather concentrate on delivering their content, and not worry about the technology. And that is the gap that our Virtual Event Specialist services fill!

I plan to launch a new division of my business called Virtual Events Team in 2010. Here is an example of my work.

For the webinar: Webinar: Turning Contacts into Sales and Social Media 101 for Small Business
Or listen/download the podcast version here:

By the way, Mary and I are teaming up to help solopreneurs implement this type of digital media into their marketing exposure.