The more I keep doing this show (www.KirubaShow.com), the more I keep learning about podcasting in general.
Here are some of my experiences that you may find useful if you want to get into podcasting.
1) Transcription is Important
Search Engines can’t read audio or video. That’s why you have to make it easy for them to index your podcasts. How do you do that? Transcribe the entire conversation and present them as text.
I realized the power of transcription when I transcribed one of the episodes. My interview with Sam Sethi, CEO of BlogNation, suffered from very poor audio quality. I recorded it over telephone and it wasn’t good. Hence, I was forced to transcribe the entire conversation to make it easy for listeners to follow the conversation.
I was glad I did it. Because the search engine picked up this podcast more than any other podcasts that I did. A search for the CEO’s name in Google gets my podcasts in the top 20 results. For a long time, it was on the first page itself. And you know how valuable it is to be on the first page of Google.
2) Transcription Is Hard.
That one single transcription of a 15 minute podcast took me nearly 3 hours to get it done. Sure, it was because the audio was bad but nevertheless transcription is hard. Maybe if I had used special tools like voice recognition software, it might have been easier. That one single experience in transcription has increased my respect for transcripters.
3) Show Notes Are Important.
Show notes are brief description of what the conversation is about. Typically, you break it into timelines. For guys who don’t want to get into the rigmoral of transcription, show notes can be a substitute. This is something that I will start doing from now onwards, in addition to transcripts.
4) Left and Right Channel Recording Is Not Good.
Let me explain. When you listen to my podcasts using a headphone, you’ll hear me talk on the left ear and the interviewee on the right ear. While this help you mentally visualize two folks sitting in a room and talking, it doesn’t make for pleasant listening. Since, it is the interviewee who usually talks for most part of the podcast, it can be hard on the ear.
What’s the solution? It’s best to record the podcast as stereo with both the left and right channel mixed together.
5) Telephone Recording Quality Is Poor
I have almost given up on using the telephone to record. I earlier bought a telephone tapper, a small instrument that lets you directly record using your computer.
I then bought a telephone with a speaker phone but the quality was disastrous. Wasted my money.
6) Recording Via Gizmo Project and Skype Is Inconvenient.
This was what I was initially using for all my podcast recording. But invariably, everytime, I would have trouble connecting through. Sometimes, the constant wait and disconnections has pissed off a few CEOs.
I haven’t tried out SkypeOut yet. Its the paid option that lets you call landline phones from your computer.
7) Niche Is Good. It’s the Way to Go.
I’m glad I chose a niche area to focus on. My show is about conversations with CEOs of Indian tech industry. I don’t cover any other industry, even though it would have made it really easy for me. This kind of focus is beginning to pay off. The readership of the show has exceeded my expectation by many notches. Almost every day, I keep getting pitches from PR agencies to interview their clients. The biggest tip I can give to aspiring podcasters is focus on a very small area but go in deep.
Finally, Professional Podcasting is Hard.
I won’t sweet coat the truth. Its a lot harder than one would think. It’s a fairly time consuming business. I’m not talking about just recording the audio and hosting it. I’m talking about researching questions, editing, adding music, writing introductions, transcripting, writing show notes and finally promoting the show. It can be a full time work on its own.
I must thank a lot of readers who wrote back with their tips for improvement. If you have listened to any of my shows, I request you to let me know what you liked and what you didn’t. I’m especially all ears for stuff you did not like. You can be brutally honest. Either leave a comment or email me at Kiruba at Kiruba.com.
If you haven’t listened to any of my shows, here’s one that I’d recommend.
Interview with GB Prabhat, Ex-Director of Satyam Computers and now Founder & CEO of Anantara Solution. He recently closed funding of nearly Rs.26 crores. Whilst at Satyam, Prabhat helped net in around Rs.800 crores in annual revenues.
Listen in.
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Email:Kiruba @ Kiruba.com
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my observations of ur podcast of vijay for the proto event
during start of the podcast ur voice was clear and good to hear whereas vijay’s voice was feeble.
as the time went by, it was the other way about, wherein ur voice became feeble and vijay’s voice became clear.
this is my part of feedback for ur noble works
srini
Thanks Srini for the feedback. Will ensure that the audiblity of podcasts is taken care of.
Appreciate it.
Interesting. Did you try any “speech to text” converters?
Wondering if its possible to make transcriptions contextual, by running a ticker right below the image. Just like sub-titles.
This option, could be useful whenever audio gets unclear and for users with hearing disabilities.
Not sure if the ‘speech to text converters’ are that evolved as yet to automate this process.
Good show Kribs.
Hi da Muths,
I haven’t tried voice to text converters. Should give it a spin soon.
That contextual ticker would be very useful for folks who can’t catch the accent or for those with hearing disabilities. I don’t think anything like that exists as of now.
Muths, thanks for your feedback maams. BTW, missed meeting you at BarcampBangalore4.
Speech to text software stuff are failures. It is ok if one person speaks. You have to make the software work for you. it takes lot of time to practice with the software and letting it to recognise you.
Hi Kiruba,
Personally think you are doing a great job! Keep it up!
Just a couple of points:
a) Duration of the podcast: I think my personal sweet spot for listening is around 15-20 mins .Of course we cannot generalize (even an hour is far too less for someone like Jimmy Wales!), but hope you get the idea..would personally like less facts about the interviewee’s company (which i can look up on the web anyways), and more about his views on various trends in technology space and what is the company doing to deal with it.
b) Focused podcasts: I think after 75 episodes, you can do better themed podcasts, instead of randomly choosing executives whom you run into at events.. for e.g. a theme could be social networking in India: You could interview a couple of VCs who have invested in this space, two local SNS companies..some person from a global SNS site, someone who’s been in internet business for long to give us an outsider’s perspective on SNS.
I know I am asking for too much, but I guess I (and a lot others) will pay for it if you could get us something like that..but don’t know how the economics would work out. as internet users have gotten used to getting stuff for free..maybe pricing it low would get more users hooked on..
Right now I view your podcasts as a source of entertainment (primarily), information (to some extent) rather than insights.
So, I think its time again pull up those socks, and step it up a notch
.. I am sure you will do it.. Kudos again
Cheers
Karthik
Hi Kartik,
Thanks for the detailed feedback.
I agree with your point about focused approach and also talking less about the company.
I have noted down these points.
Will definitely pull my socks up and take it one notch up.
Thanks again and very nice feedback.
With appreciations,
Transcription is hard. But Kiruba is harder.
Kiruba rocks.
Great info. You could have shared this with us at bcb4. i know i know…
Your fourth point “Left and Right Channel Recording Is Not Good”…. i remember me pointing this out at your talk on podcasting at bcb3, reading out the sms from my friend who was following my live twitter. Wooo
Good going. Lemme get my accent a little better and i will interview you for my first podcast. If you hadnt encouraged me to do the twitter talk at bcb3 i think i would have never opened my mouth in any of these events. This time it was way better than the twitter talk. You should have been there. Thanx Kiruba.