In this month’s SkillBites Show, Doug Foresta shared some valuable tips on podcasting. Doug is a coach and podcasting producer and host. Since 2009, he has interviewed over 700 guests, including New York Times bestselling authors and Academy Award winners.

Doug explained that podcasting provides an opportunity for an author’s followers to hear his or her voice, understand the author’s message and gain a greater sense of connection with the author. The author can thus build a following and create a deeper relationship with his or her followers, which can lead not only to increased book sales, but also to doing more business with those followers.

Doug shared three ways to build a following and a deeper connection with followers:

1. Provide show notes or a list of resources or other benefit to the listeners that they can access by going to a website and providing their contact information.
2. Create a community around the podcast, such as by starting a Facebook page. People like being part of a community or movement.
3. Interview other thought leaders in your area or in areas with a similar market. The interviewer gains credibility when interviewing others, and when the others promote the podcast to their community, the interviewer will gain an increased following.

Podcasts are easy to create, and involve minimal cost. They can be created on any smart phone or tablet, and can be distributed on iTunes, Stitcher Radio or SoundCloud. The cost runs about $40 plus between $5 to $15/month for hosting service. Doug recommended Libsyn for hosting, which provides the RSS feed automatically to iTunes. For a premium service, there is also Audello, which distributes podcasts to iTunes and Stitcher, and makes it easy to share on Google+, Twitter and Facebook. That service is $297.

Podcasts can be audio or audio+video. The latter can be uploaded to YouTube. Audio is much easier to create and more flexible, as people can listen when driving or are otherwise unable to watch. If you do create a video podcast, you can have the audio stripped out, using someone on FIVERR.com or Elance.com.

To make sure you are creating a podcast that is worth listening to, Doug suggested following these three tips:

1. Within the first 30 seconds, explain the value that the listener will obtain, such as saving money or time.
2. Talk with excitement and use exciting words: “we have a terrific program for you today” is more likely to pique someone’s interest than “here with me today is Joe Blow.”
3. Take people from one emotional state to another, such as by providing a story of adversity and then explaining how the characters overcame the adversity to excel, thus going from negative to positive.

Doug offered the SkillBites audience free access to his audio course “How to Get Your Message Out In a Big Way”. Just click here to get your copy. Doug can also be reached at Doug@coachzing.com.