Publicizing Your Podcast
| How about publicizing your podcast? The first step is to add a podcast button to your Web page. <html> <head> <title>My Hamster Page</title> </head> <body> <center> <h1>Welcome to my hamster page!</h1> <img src="/books/1/255/1/html/2/hamster.jpg"> <br> Yes, it's true, everyone loves hamsters. <br> How could you not? <br> I write a lot on hamsters, <br> would you like to subscribe <br> to my super hamster RSS feed? <br> (What's RSS? Click <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rss"> here</a> for more info.) <br> Just use the XML button below to subscribe. <br> <a href="http://rssmaniac.com/hamster.xml"> <img src="/books/1/255/1/html/2/xml.gif" height="11" width="24" border = "0"></a> <a href="http://rssmaniac.com/hamster.mp3"> <img src="/books/1/255/1/html/2/pod.gif" height="11" width="24" border = "0"></a> </center> </body> </html> Figure 8.27. A podcast button has been added to the hamster page. You can use autodiscovery for podcasts, just as you can for RSS feeds. Just make sure that you use the right MIME type. For MP3 podcasts, that's "audio/mpeg". <html> <head> <link rel="alternate" type="audio/mpeg" title="podcast" href="http://rssmaniac.com/hamster.mp3"> <title>My Hamster Page</title> </head> <body> <center> <h1>Welcome to my hamster page!</h1> <img src="/books/1/255/1/html/2/hamster.jpg"> <br> Yes, it's true, everyone loves hamsters. <br> How could you not? <br> I write a lot on hamsters, <br> would you like to subscribe <br> to my super hamster RSS feed? <br> (What's RSS? Click <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rss"> here</a> for more info.) <br> Just use the XML button below to subscribe. <br> <a href="http://rssmaniac.com/hamster.xml"> <img src="/books/1/255/1/html/2/xml.gif" height="11" width="24" border = "0"></a> <a href="http://rssmaniac.com/hamster.mp3"> <img src="/books/1/255/1/html/2/pod.gif" height="11" width="24" border = "0"></a> </center> </body> </html> Using Podcast DirectoriesThere are also many podcast directories where you can submit your podcast. Here's a starter list of URLs of podcast directories to which you can add your podcast:
Using AdsAnother way to drive traffic to your Web site is to use online ads. One of the most effective ways to advertise online is on the search engines, where your ad appears when someone searches for one of the keywords you've associated with your site. Here are two good sites for placing search engine ads:
Connecting to a Bigger SiteFinally, you can publicize your site and RSS feed by connecting your site to a larger one that already has a lot of traffic. Doing so can funnel thousands of readers your way. For example, you could write a blog for an online newspaper that gets a lot of traffic. You might also offer to write an online column for a major site that's connected to your interests. |
