Steve Gershik – Focus
- A Podcast is simply an RSS feed with a MP3 enclosure (you could make the file format anything — a WAV, an AAC, etc. but let’s stay simple). You first need to post your MP3 files as a link from a page that has an RSS feed.
- Create a Feedburner (now Google) account. You can go to http://feedburner.google.com to get started.
- Create a new feed. Feedburner is super smart. You create the feed, paste in the page URL of a page with your RSS on it, and it figures out the rest.
- Click on the Optimize tab in the main screen. On the left-hand side of your screen, you’ll see a link called SmartCast, where you can set up your feed details, including what topic and sub-category areas you wanted to be listed in within the iTunes directory. It’ll even let you point to a thumbnail image which will be the icon that pops up in iTunes when people search for your show. Fill out the information on that page and save it.
- Now that you’ve created your feed, you need to submit it to Apple. You can do it through iTunes or use this link – https://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZFinance.woa/wa/publishPodcast
- To make it easy for your readers to subscribe to your Podcast, you can create a link that will go straight to iTunes and start downloading the first episode. Just use this format for your link: itpc://www.yoursite.com/podcast.xml (where the xml file is the name of your feed)
Couple of things to note:
– It can take Apple a few days (or more) to list your Podcast. If you’re using Feedburner, it’ll automagically update your feed with the latest episodes, so you don’t have to submit it to Apple more than once.
– Once you’re live, be sure to ask your listeners to rate the Podcast on iTunes — that’s the easiest way to becoming a Featured show.