Not editing enough is pretty apparent when you listen to these kinds of podcasts. The quality is really raw and there the whole podcast is not all over the place. The podcaster would usually just ramble without any rhyme or reason. There is no attempt to tighten up the episode by excising the unnecessary bits.

A sloppy podcast is a sure way to discourage listeners from following your episodes faithfully. It’s as bad as overdoing your podcasts with fancy effects.Learn to keep a balance by editing your podcasts in just the right amount.

These podcasters act like children in a brand new sandbox, trying out all of the nifty effects that come with the software. They’ll use special audio effects without thinking if it’s really appropriate. What they do not realize that going overboard with the unnecessary effects will usually leave listeners with a auditory overload. They’ll be too distracted by everything else that’s happening that they’ll forget the meat of the podcast, which is the content.

When using editing software, try to be minimal. Always ask yourself if you really need that fancy effect and if it would enhance the content. If it doesn’t, then don’t use it.

One of the biggest and most common mistake that amateur podcasters make is being too general in their topics. Amateur podcasters usually forget that they are in a competition to gain the attention of an audience hungry for new and exciting information — and they have to compete with other forms of media as well. To gain an audience, their podcasts need to stand out and this means thinking of ways to make their topics not only exciting but also more precise. Instead of talking about Chinese cuisine, talk about the interesting delicacies of Cantonese cooking. Creating your niche is a great way of developing a loyal audience.

The best way to ensure that you gain an audience and ensure that it grows is by marketing your podcast. Let’s face it. Great content can only bring you so far. You will need the magic of marketing to help make your podcast a success.

The best way to make your podcast successful is by creating an image for it – and the best way to do it is by using some handy marketing tools that will give a recognizable face to your podcast.

For example, you can use the power of a slogan to bring recall to your podcasts. Using a simple but memorable slogan will help people remember your podcast. Listeners will zero in on your slogan and whenever they hear it or words associated with it, they will be reminded immediately of your podcast.

Of course, a slogan will not be effective if you are sloppy with your work. Make sure that your podcasts show a level of professionalism that will impress listeners. It can be as simple as making sure that the grammar in your podcasts are correct. Always remember that a sloppily written piece — whether it’s a podcast or an article — will always look and sound sloppy if it was poorly written.

Look around the room where you record your podcasts. Most likely you will identify things inside the room that produce noise that can be picked up by your microphone. For example, the air conditioner emits a hum that can be an annoying background noise. Turn it off when recording and just turn it back on when you’ve finished recording your take.

Refrigerators are another appliance that produce noise. Make sure that the room that you record in doesn’t have one inside. The hum of some refrigerators are not particularly loud but it can still be heard by people who have sensitive ears so give them a break and don’t record near a refrigerator.

That’s why, when you make your podcasts, you should always listen to your audience and meet their expectations. You should be consistent in making your podcasts and I don’t mean just in your schedule. Meeting a regular schedule is a big help but consistency in quality is also very important. You should maintain a level of excellence that shows you care about the podcast, which translates to showing your audience that you care about them. Consistency in content is also crucial. Be sure that the topics you discuss are something that your audience will like or within the general goals of your podcast. It is okay to experiment because it shows that you are always looking for ways to interest your audience but don’t veer too much from your formula because it will alienate your core audience.

You should have a good plan for archiving your podcasts so that your listeners can go back to their favorite podcasts anytime. Archiving your podcasts will also give new listeners a chance to go back to podcasts they have missed.

Archiving is also a great way for podcasters to get additional benefits from the content that they produce. Aside from the aforementioned way of enticing new listeners and giving established listeners a way to go back to favorite episodes, the additional content will give heft to the podcaster’s site in case he has one. This will be a great way of driving more traffic to the web site.

One of the things that you should do is to answer some questions yourself. How long do you plan to hold the interview? Are you going to let the interview play out or are you going to edit it? How will you edit it? You should also be ready to give your interviewee information — like who the audience will be and what are the expectations for the interview. You should also provide this information in the pitch letter that you will send your potential interviewee.

There are interviewees who may ask for some of the questions beforehand. This is a perfectly safe request for most “friendly” interviews.  A good tip is to start off the interview with a killer question — one that immediately grabs hold of the audience’s interest. After a couple of intriguing questions you can ease back and ask background questions afterwards.

If you want to record your phone interviews with an exceptional level of quality you should get a handset tap. For example, a great gadget is the QuickTap manufactured by JK Audio. The $60 device will fit in between the phone base and the handset. It has an analog audio input that can be used to attach to a computer. Of course, the limitation of the QuickTap is that it will only work on a traditionally wired phone setup.

Of course, there are other devices available in various stores that will allow you to record phone conversations. Just look at the features and check which ones you will need.

You can still use the phone interview if you like by recording your phone call. Unfortunately, phone call interviews can be hard because you have to be constantly vigilant to keep your interview focused. After this you have to edit the conversation to reduce the amount of gaps.

One of the simplest ways of recording is to just record the speakerphone using your mic. It may sound crude but surprisingly, the quality can be quite good. Take note to mute the speaker of your computer in order to reduce or eliminate feedback.