Financial bloggers should consider podcasting as a way to stand out, panelists at a national blogging conference advised last week. The encouragement came during a panel of podcasters at FinCon 2014, a financial bloggers conference held Sept. 17 – 20 in New Orleans.
Plus, Apple’s new iOS that rolled out earlier this month includes an embedded podcast player.
“Now’s a really good time to take this seriously,”said Jared Easley, the panel’s moderator and the co-founder of the Podcast Movement, a national conference for podcasters.
James Kinson, founder of CashCarConvert.com and a panelist, started his site in August 2013. It’s a financial advice blog that helps guide readers through the process of buying an inexpensive vehicle and paying cash for it.
After a few months of writing, he launched a podcast and uploaded episodes to iTunes.
“My visits went up five times” in the first month, he said.
Podcasting: Attract a new audience
It also connected him with a new audience – people who wanted the information in an audio format.
It’s a common situation, Easley said. His friend was blogging, and Easley asked him to make an audio version so he could listen to it while he was driving.
“Just read the blog,” Easley encouraged him.
His friend did that – simply read a blog post he’d written – and put it on iTunes.
“He had seven times more people listen to the audio version of his blog than read his blog,” Easley said. “It’s not adding to your workflow. It’s repurposing your content.”
The panelists – Kinson, Easley, Vernon Ross of “The Social Strategy Podcast” and Rob Berger of Dough Roller – suggested bloggers start out slow. Buy a Audio-Technica ATR 2100 microphone for about $50 and read a post you’ve already written, they said.
Then, upload the file to a service such as iTunes, SoundCloud, Stitcher and Libsyn. Plus, link to it or embed it on your blog.
And when you start having guests on your podcast and doing interviews, Berger suggests transcribing the podcast and turning that into another post.
Berger has been writing about money since 2007, but said the podcast is what really helped him grow his audience.
“There’s a level of intimacy with my readers,” he said. “Podcasting generates more emails than my blogging ever did. Because it’s your voice, they connect with you more.”
The podcast also helps you develop your reputation as an expert in whatever topic you are covering, Ross said.
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Carlie Kollath Wells is a reporter in New Orleans. Contact her at carliekollath@gmail.com.
