Media Outreach

An important feature that many church websites are offering these days is the ability to create and maintain a Podcast.

But what exactly is a Podcast?

The term “PODCAST” is actually an amalgamation of the acronym ‘POD’ – meaning “Portable On Demand” – and the word “broadcast”, though it mainly refers to a method of distributing audio files online through an online “broadcast” available via subscription.

• Users can subscribe to a podcast using a program like Apple’s iTunes, and by doing so, they receive new audio files automatically every time one is added to the podcast by the podcast’s creator.
• This means that if you subscribe to a site’s podcast, you’ll automatically download new audio each time a new file is added to the podcast, much like a new episode.
• Because of this, it’s very important that you do not create a new podcast for every new mp3 “episode” that is created, since that negates the purpose of subscribing to a particular podcast feed; the user must continue manually re-subscribing to new feeds in order to continue receiving new audio.
• You want to make this as easy as possible to potential listeners, so creating a single podcast that will be continually updated with new “episodes” is the best practice in this regard.
• Podcasts can often be categorized by ongoing topics of interest, such as a church’s weekly Sunday sermons or even a radio program’s daily recorded broadcast.
• The frequency of a podcast’s episodes is up to its creator, but it’s important to regularly add more audio to a podcast, so your listeners won’t lose interest.

Now, as you add more and more audio to your podcast feed, subscribers will continue to automatically download each new audio file you release on that podcast.

Another thing many podcast creators like to do is have their podcast available through the online iTunes Store podcast directory.  To do this you’ll need 3 things:

1. A podcast with at least one episode plugged into it.
2. A copy of iTunes.  This can be downloaded from the Apple.com website.
3. A valid “Apple ID”, which can be set up through iTunes.

Begin by visiting your podcast page on your site.  If you have Sermon Connect, you can click on the “VIEW FEED URL” button next to your podcast, and you will be able to copy the URL for the podcast feed.  It’s very important that you obtain this URL, as it’s the only way the iTunes store can index your podcast, which we will be covering in a moment.

Now, open iTunes and click on “iTunes Store” in the left menu.  This will open the iTunes Store homepage, right inside of iTunes.  Now, inside the iTunes Store navigation to the left, click on “PODCASTS”.  When the main podcast page loads, scrolling down a little will reveal the “SUBMIT A PODCAST” button.  Just click on that button and follow the steps, using the podcast feed URL you copied earlier.  Your podcast should be available through the iTunes Store podcast directory within 24 hours!

As you can see, podcasts can be incredibly useful tools for allowing listeners stay connected to a church while they are unable able to attend, they can be used as online “classes” teaching a variety of topics, and as previously mentioned, they can even be used as an online radio program with interviews and music.

Whatever the purpose of your podcast is, you can be sure it has the potential to connect with listeners all over the world!