He claims there is a selection of podcasts that enhance his professional growth. He has chosen to listen to several podcasts that focus to some extent on small business issues and I thought I’d share his thoughts and choices with you today.

Step 1: The most popular way to do this is by using Apple’s free iTunes program.

Go to the iTunes Store section of the program and search for the names of these podcasts. You can download and listen to them for free. My friend has created his own business radio station.

Wall Street Journal on Small Business has detailed coverage of current events affecting entrepreneurs. Some consider it slightly conservative (so is the WSJ as a whole, but they are good anyways), but he said that generally the advice offered to businesses is sound.

Small Business Trends, offers up a vast collection of ideas and perspectives on management, coupled with a strong technology bent. If you’re interested in how to integrate the changing technology into the day to day activities of your business, this podcast is a must-listen podcast. Many of the contributors also work with OpenForum.

Automate My Small Business gives its listeners advice on techniques for automating specific aspects of their businesses, from daily marketing queries to office management tasks. My friend said that he thinks he got the best workable ideas from this podcast that directly helped his businesses.

Marketplace is considered a one-stop-shop for business news and advice. What is it then?? A re-airing of Marketplace, a radio program from American Public Media broadcast on many NPR stations across the United States.

Step 2: However, search for audio programming at iTunes U (again, search for these in the iTunes Store).

There are audio collections (not podcasts per se) of lectures from business schools. Some of these make for very good listening as you’re working or driving.

Step 3: A few great business podcasts:

Building a Business – Oxford University:
What it really takes to get a small business – or a large one – off the ground and rolling forward. Oxford is famous for a reason; well worth listening to.

Yale Entrepreneurial Institute:
This program was started by Yale students and graduates to help Yale students start scalable businesses. Brilliant! Note: this is clearly aimed for businesses that can grow long term.

Small Business Management – Southern Institute of Technology:
A series of discussions with businesspeople (from both large and small businesses) on what it really takes to make a small business work.

You can use any audio programs much like a radio station. You could burn CDs of them or take an MP3 player full of these programs with you wherever you are, letting the ideas float into your mind. Learning is essential for any entrepreneur.

Step 1 Keep it short

Ensure the running time is not too long. The advisable time for a podcast is 5-8 minutes. Shorter podcast/webcast encourages user to give it a try. Time can be increased as the audience grows. In addition, the attention span of most audiences is 10 minutes before they become despondent.

Step 2 Include anecdotes

Include short stories to make it live and attract the users’ attention. Use animations when recording to ensure that it done with energy and passion. This will attract the users’ attention. Alos try to mimick the events in the real world to make it better and keep the audience engaged.

Step 3 Present an attractive personality

Users will not be listening to just information included on the podcast only, but also impression personality will make them use the webcast/podcast more and more. Therefore as a creator, ensure that you make it as attractive as possible. For example, when someone had a deep tone or shouts you feel turned off by the podcast or webcast. On the other hand, if the voice is light and pleasant it makes you want to listen more. In like manner, making a good presentation on a webcast and smiling when appropriate and being cheerful shows the audience that you are delightful and comeptent about the subject matter.

Step 4 Go straight to subject

A good podcast makes the message available at the first sight. It shouldn’t make the user go through many steps before arriving at the intended message. You should also publicize to make sure that you provide the user with a direct link to download the facility. Pod catcher software should be used to make it available when needed by the user.

Step 5 Use best microphone to record

Do this to prevent the User from the strain of trying to listen to the podcast word by word. For this reason, the developer should make sure to use a USB microphone if available. This makes background sound much audible than ordinary microphone. People need to hear what you are saying clearly to be moved by it.

Remember, you only get one chance to make a great impression. Please visit stepsto.com for more great business advice.

Step 1 Know the basics of podcasting

So, what do you actually mean by the terms podcasts and webcasts? What is their utility and how can they help you in your online business? In terms of podcasts, these are digital media files; could be either audio or video files. These files can be downloaded through web syndication. This particular delivery related aspect marks the difference between podcasts and other downloadable files. Applications such as pod catchers are capable of identifying podcasts and can download them to make them available for the user’s offline use purposes.

Step 2 Know the basics of webcasting

Webcasts on the other hand use the streaming media technology to distribute media file over the web. The webcast that you are distributing can be live as well. The idea is to take one content source but distribute the content to many users and viewers simultaneously.

Step 3 Maximize exposure of your business

You can make use of the podcasts and webcasts to promote your business and give it maximum exposure. Just make sure that the files are made professionally and the content of the files are appealing to the listeners or viewers to make them take interest in your business and products.

It’s that simple. Remember, there are many ways to promote your business.