Open-ended questions are always great conversation starters. With that in mind, let’s begin with one: “What’s your favorite movie?” No doubt as soon as you think of the answer, scenes from it begin to play in your mind’s eye.

Now, keep thinking about your favorite movie. Only instead of just picturing it, try to remember listening to it. Next, think about a very exciting or action-packed scene from it. If you’re like most people, you’re probably almost watching and listening to it again in the theatre as you think about it.

Next question: How do you know for sure that the scene you’ve picked is an exciting or action-packed one? And no, the answer I’m looking for isn’t the action on the screen.

Still stumped? The answer is in the clue I gave you earlier: think about listening to the movie. If your answer is the movie’s soundtrack or background music, you’re absolutely right! The musical transitions let you know what’s happening, or give you a clue about what’s going to happen.

Well, believe it or not, you can use the same pattern for each episode of your podcast. After all, while it isn’t a movie, your podcast is still a production. And, just like a movie’s musical score, you can use music to transition from one segment to another.

There are a couple of reasons for doing this. The first, and most obvious one is that it will make your podcast sound much more professional. Remember, when it comes to marketing, image (even an audio one) is everything.

A second reason is that it helps with the overall flow of the program. In the same way different types of music are used with specific segments of a game show, incorporating a specific type of music bed for each main segment of your podcast will help the listener to follow along.

The third and also fairly obvious main reason for using music beds in your podcast is that it provides a background for your voice. Unless you are a great speaker and your voice is very pleasant to listen to, most people will not want to listen to a podcast that consists of only your voice. The one exception to this is if you are providing “gotta have it” specific, unique content for a “starving audience.”

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There’s a well-known but often little-heeded saying that goes something like this: “If you fail to plan, then you plan to fail.” Ever wonder what it would like to build a forty-story building without a blueprint?
It would never be completed because no one would know everything that would be necessary to get the job done.

 

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While there is no comparison between the value of a major construction project and creating a podcast, neither project will succeed unless a plan has been created to guide the process from start to finish. So, although it won’t be as elaborate as a construction blueprint, your podcast will need to follow a plan in order to be successful.

If you think about a typical broadcast, you can see that it consists of a number of “building blocks.” There is the introduction, the opening comments, perhaps a guest appearance, discussion on one or more topics, maybe a special feature, then closing comments with the broadcast coming to a close. Why should your podcast be any different?

This is a process commonly referred to as “storyboarding.” You simply “map out” what you want to do, and in the order that you want to do it. This in turn becomes the “frame” or format for your production. Once you’ve determined what your podcast will consist of and the order it will occur, you can go back and include specific details for each segment if you choose.

Now, once you’ve determined the elements of your show, decide on an intro and outro—and theme music for each—and then use it with each show. This will add both professionalism and familiarity to your podcast. Your favorite radio or TV program has these features; your podcast should too.

Next, you need to prepare a “clock” for your show. Each segment should be given a specific time frame that will be the same for every show. Talk shows and news programs do this all the time.

Take the time and thought necessary to assemble these building blocks for your podcast. If you do, you could be well on your way to creating a super successful podcast.

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We all have heard of the term ‘book marking.’ How many of us know about ‘social bookmarking?’ We use the Web for different purposes. Many of us look for particular information that is connected to our relevant field of study or expertise. Sometimes we choose to save such useful information, which we might refer to at a later time.

 

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It was a general habit for people to organize their bookmarks of online resources in different folders in the web browser. To save us from the difficulty of finding our huge collection of references social bookmarking is used these days. In social bookmarking, people create a web of resources and links without much difficulty and retrieve information just the same way as we did before the introduction of social bookmarking. Social bookmarking makes it a lot easier for users to organize information and categorize resources.
Social bookmarking is simply bookmarking websites about particular topics that people like. When a user visits a website and likes it, he bookmarks it through one of the social bookmarking websites. Just like any other website, when a large number of users use a particular social bookmarking website, that site gets to be a high-ranking social bookmarking website. Social bookmarking websites are popular among bloggers who would blog about your website and this means a lot of new traffic and more valuable backlinks. This is a good way for Internet marketing.
As the name suggests, it also enables users to socialize with others who may have the same kind of interests, in the same topics or subjects they have tagged and bookmarked for themselves.

In social bookmarking, socialization is possible in the following ways:
Users could see the creators of each bookmark on a specific topic in a particular Web page of a website.
A user is allowed access to another user’s bookmarked references or resources.

All users are allowed to see all other users who have used a particular tag or keyword that allows them to search for relevant resources about the same topic.
Thus social bookmarking helps in exchanging informative resources by allowing access to each other’s resources or references. This kind of socialization through social bookmarking has paved way for online marketing for a number of online businesses. Do you see the effectiveness of using social bookmarking as a marketing tool? People use social bookmarking to boost their site’s traffic, which in turn would improve their ranking in search engines.

Though social bookmarking is fairly new in the Internet arena, millions of people are already using them. With its networking possibilities, it is attracting a large number of webmasters who utilize it to bring them quality visitors. Digg, del.icio.us, zlitt.com etc. are some of the well-known social bookmarking websites. You could sign up free for these services when you register and start blogging for free.
It would be wise to bookmark your websites in as many social bookmarking websites as possible for backlinks and traffic to your web business.

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Quick! Tell me what comes to mind when you hear: “DUM Dee DUM! DUM!” Was your answer “Dragnet”? Or how about this one: “Duh Da-Da-Da DUH DUH, Duh Da-Da-Da DUH” Are you thinking graduation and “Pomp and Circumstance”? Right again! Okay, how about this one: ”Doo De Doo Doo, Doo De Doo Doo” Did you say, “Twilight Zone”? Wow, you’re three for three!

 

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Hold on! What in the world does this little exercise in “Audio Trivia” have to do with Podcasting? Well, believe it or not, the answer is everything. These odd little tunes are easily recognizable by most anyone familiar with American culture. Why? It’s because each tune has a specific association that is practically universal within the culture.

Now, just imagine for a moment with me if you will, what if a certain tune or musical “signature” was specifically associated with your podcast? In much the same way that “the golden arches” are associated with McDonald’s® restaurants, a catchy opening or closing tune could become the means for “branding” your podcast.

Listen, everyone from Rush Limbaugh to Oprah Winfrey to national news networks uses a theme for their programs. When you hear the opening theme for these programs, there is no question as to what you’re about to hear; the theme music lets you know. And that’s one reason why they use theme music.
The other main reason you already know: it’s another way to brand the program and the host.

So, what are you waiting for? Start finding some royalty-free music beds with a sound that musically describes the name and subject matter of your podcast. If it’s electronically or digitally oriented, choose something using a synthesizer or electronic jazz. Or, if you can afford it (or have a good friend who’s a musician) have original theme music created for your podcast. A “killer” music theme for your podcast is definitely a key ingredient to help make it a lasting success.

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