Publishing Podcasts to iTunes & Other Platforms Using Cincopa

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Jason Christenson
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Publishing Podcasts to iTunes & Other Platforms Using Cincopa

What is a Podcast?

A Podcast, also known as a webcast, is a broadcast of audio or video content via the internet. The term Podcast has overtaken the term webcast due to the popularity of Apple's iPod devices and their use to listen to and watch webcasts. Podcasts are often syndicated and released on a regular schedule, similar to that of a television series. Popular Podcasts include authors such as international news networks, technology companies and experts, comedians, talk shows, and much more.  

Why Should I Use Podcasts?

As a Podcast subscriber, Podcasts are a excellent source of information, entertainment and knowledge. Podcasts can listened to or watched and stored on hundreds of different kinds of devices. As a Podcast author, a Podcast provides an easy to use, widely available and enormously popular medium that you can use to reach your customers. Podcasts are relatively simple to create with a minimal amount of equipment and time. Chance are that you have all the equipment you need to begin creating a podcast right now! A server is required to host your Podcast files - most people don't have that nor do they want to worry about the bandwidth that serving Podcasts would take. With the world-class CDN that Cincopa provides, you don't need to worry about a server, Cincopa takes care of that and makes distributing your Podcasts is extremely easy!!

So, now that you know what a Podcast is and why you'd want to create one, let's get to it!

 

How to Create a Podcast

To create a Podcast, you will need a computer with a basic microphone and recording software. If you don't have a microphone, you can get one online or at a local electronics retailer. This tutorial will demonstrate how to create a Podcast with the recording software Audacity, which is a free download for PC and Mac users. 

Before getting started:

Other things you might want to do before starting:

  • Have a Podcast topic
  • Write and/or rehearse a script of the Podcast

Ready? OK, let's get started!

  • Start Audacity. When you are ready to start recording, click the Record button. Once you hit the record button, Audacity will begin recording immediately. 

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  • When you have completed your recording, click the Stop button.

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It's a good idea to listen to what you just recorded to make sure it sounds the way you want to. Use the Play button in Audacity to listen back to what you've just recorded. If you are happy with your recording, move on to the next step. If not, go back and take another shot at recording the Podcast. 

Now that you've gotten your Podcast recorded, it's time to export it into MP3 format. 

  • Choose Export from the File menu in Audacity.

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  • Save the Podcast file in a place you can find easily. Give the file a name and choose MP3 in the Save as type drop down box. Once you have those set, click the Save button. 

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Note: The file name you choose will appear in iTunes as the title of the Podcast episode - choose it carefully. You cannot change the file name once you upload your file to your Cincopa gallery without deleting the file and uploading a new, renamed copy. The image below shows the relationship between the file name and the episode title in iTunes. The file name for episode 1 "Video 1 - Creating a Gallery.mp4" shows in iTunes as "Video 1 - Creating a Cincopa Gallery" (minus the .mp4 file extension).

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  • After you click the Save button, the Edit Metadata window will appear. Fill out the fields as little or as much as you want. Metadata will help others find your content in iTunes. After you've entered in the Metadata, click OK and Audacity will finish saving your Podcast file. 

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That's it, you've recorded a Podcast! The next step is to put the Podcast on Cincopa to distribute to the masses.  

How to Publish a Podcast on iTunes using Cincopa

Publishing your Podcast on iTunes using Cincopa is quick and easy. To publish your Podcast on iTunes using Cincopa, here's what you'll need:

  • A Cincopa Pro Account 
  • A recorded Podcast saved as an MP3 (see above) 
  • An image for cover art for your Podcast
  • iTunes software installed on your computer 
  • An iTunes account (if you don't have an iTunes account, learn how to get one here)

 NOTE:  In order to succeed you must have latest iTunes software installed and cover art must have dimensions between 1400*1400 to 3000*3000

 

Let's publish! Follow the steps below to publish your Podcast using Cincopa.

  • Log in to your Cincopa Account. 
  • Click Create a New Gallery.

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  • Click on 'Music' from Media Types menu and select 'Podcast Feed for iTunes, Android and more'

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  • Fill out the desired fields in the Advanced Settings section of the Customize skin page. 

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  • The Premium settings map out to information fields in iTunes once your podcast is approved and available. The image below shows the relationship (click the image for a full size version). Filling out these fields completely and with accurate information is extremely important as it will increase your search visibility in iTunes.
  • Red box - Title setting in Premium Settings
  • Green box - Summary setting in Premium Settings
  • Orange box - Language and copyright date in Premium Settings ( the category is set when you submit the podcast)
  • Blue box - Author setting in Premium Settings
  • Yellow box - Link setting in Premium Settings

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  • After choosing the skin and filling out any of the desired Premium Settings, click Use these Settings at the top right side of the screen. This will take you to the Select Items for Your Gallery page. 

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  • Upload your cover art image file first, then upload your Podcast MP3. It is required that your image file be the first file in the Podcast gallery. You can upload your files using the Web Multiple File Uploader or the Basic Uploader (click the links for directions). 

 NOTE: Cover art must have dimensions between 1400*1400 to 3000*3000

  • After you've uploaded your files, set the title and descriptions. When you are done, click the Next button. 

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  • Support was added to override dates and other vars. To accomplish this you need to fill in string in reference id field  for each audio file uploaded in your podcast, here's an example:

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NOTE:   This is the right format for dates and you should stick to it in order to work. 

It is also possible to override itunes:explicit by adding it to the string, value can only be yes or clean - example of setting both :

 

pubDate=Thu, 26 Mar 2015 20:59:16 GMT&duration=00:02:43

 

  • On the Embed Gallery page copy iTunes link. 

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Now you've got the iTunes shortcut, it's time to submit your feed to iTunes for approval. Submitting your feed to iTunes, once it is approved, will allow iTunes users to find your feed using iTunes. Your feed can also be accessed via the direct URL you just obtained in the step above using iTunes or any other podcast listening software. 

  • Start iTunes 
  • Along the left side of the iTunes window click iTunes Store.

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  • Once the iTunes Store loads in iTunes, click Podcasts along the top of the iTunes window.

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  • On the right side of the Podcasts section underneath Podcasts, click Submit a Podcast. 

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  • Submit Podcast to the iTunes Directory pop-up opens, paste iTunes link copied from CIncopa podacst. 

  http://www.cincopa.com/media-platform/runtime/itunes/feed.aspx?fid=XXXXXXXXXXXX

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  • Click the Continue button and follow the on-screen instructions to complete the submission process. 

 

That's it! Congratulations, you've created and submitted a podcast on iTunes!

 

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How to Publish Podcasts to Other Platforms

  • To publish your podcast other platforms, use the appropriate icon on the gallery preview screen (below). Right click the appropriate icon and copy the URL (link). 

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Using Custom Album Cover Art

You can customize the album cover art for your Podcast by setting "Album Cover Art" setting in the Premium Settings to custom and inserting an image file as the first file in your Podcast gallery.

  • The album artwork appears in iTunes as shown below.

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  • The "Album Covert Art" setting in the Premium Settings is shown below.

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Note: The album cover art will only show in the iTunes page shown above. Each individual Podcast episode has it's cover automatically selected by iTunes by taking a static  shot from within your Podcast video.

 

Promoting and SEO

Entering complete and accurate skin settings (see this image from above), captions and descriptions for your Podcast episodes will greatly increase the chances your Podcast will be found using the iTunes search feature.

  • Captions and descriptions are shown below:

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  • The caption and description should contain keywords that the iTunes search feature can index to locate your Podcast. The description appears in the description column in iTunes as shown below:

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  • The caption as well as the description show when the user clicks the ibut.jpgbutton in a pop-up window as shown below:

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Note: You can change the caption and/or description at any time by editing it in your gallery. It may take 24-48 hours to update in iTunes, however.

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