Photo by stevegarfield.

After the recent report that podcasting is on the rise in terms of both a larger listening audience and ad dollars spent on the medium, there's been significantly more chatter about how to start a podcast.

First and foremost, podcasting is about the content, not the technology. It's easy to get overwhelmed with technical details and special equipment, but it's really not that complicated.

Today, we're going to break it down into three simple steps; production, distribution and monetization.

PRODUCTION

Planning topics to discuss, possible guest interviews, and your show's length in advance will go a long way when producing a professional sounding podcast. Since you'll be recording your project in an almost live fashion, you will have the flexibility of going back and re-editing sections prior to committing your show as "podcast-ready".

Since nearly everyone has heard a radio program, you should expect that your listeners have grown accustomed to hearing material produced in a certain way. Here is a suggested framework for mapping out your production.

For best results, each podcast episode should be recorded at the same location using the same microphone and microphone positioning. This will create a consistent sound for your podcast episodes from week to week.

The best way to start your mix is think ahead with the end goal in mind. You most likely have a vision of what you want your finished podcast to sound like. Your goal is to maintain that sound from the beginning to the end of your podcast.

Balanced the volume levels of the voice-over(s), music and sound effects. You are now ready to export your podcast recording into an MP3, then upload the file to your web host for distribution.

DISTRIBUTION

Hosting

The purpose of web hosting is that you need somewhere to store your MP3 files, making them available to the world wide web. Look for a web host that will provide you with sufficient disk space for at least a years worth of podcasts. This would be 500MB of web server space.

A few good options include Libsyn and even WordPress has a podcasting solution now.

You can read more about podcast hosting options here.

Syndication

Inclusion in iTunes is a must as it's currently considered the default place to look for finding new podcasts. The Zune marketplace is growing quickly and Odeo is set to make a come back with it's relaunch within the next few months.

A service like Feedburner, which is owned by Google, is a smart way to ensure that your podcast RSS feed is formatted correctly for all the pod-catching software.

MONETIZATION

Once you've developed an audience and are getting some traction in terms of number of downloads per show, you can explore monetizing your podcast.

There are two primary ways that podcasters generate revenue from their podcasts, and they are ads and subscriptions.

Ads

Everyone loves free content and the no-cost element makes consuming to your podcast easy for new listeners and encourages word-of-mouth activity that's not typical of its paid counter part.

The ads could be audio ads embedded at either the beginning or end of your podcast, or ads known as inserstitials where the host of the podcast promotes a specific podcast.

Leo Laporte, host of This Week in Tech is currently running a campaign for Audible that is really more of a segment. Guests on the show share their favorite audiobooks and then they settle on the audiobook of the week. Naturally, it's very informal and comes across in the form of a book recommendation, rather than a sales pitch which is extremely effective.

Subscriptions

For more sought-after audio content such as training material, subscriptions are a great way for podcasters to monetize their programs.

The Project Management Prep Cast is a series of 80+ shows that prepare project managers to take an exam. It shares exactly what they need to know without all the irrelevant material. In short, this podcast is a time saver and maximizes the listening experience for project managers.

Similarly other training material can be packaged and sold a e-courses for distance learning, an approach to education that's been on the rise in the past decade.

Summary

Now that you've released your podcasts and are gaining a listenership, you can now take steps to measure and evaluate your success and take your podcast to the next level by expanding your audience.

There are plenty of great Internet marketing resources out there. Ebooks are great, as well as Internet marketing podcasts.

And, if you haven't yet, download the FREE Small Business Podcasting Kit.

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This past weekend I was in Calgary, Canada's fastest growing city and current hot spot for the young and wealthy. Wealthy from the booming oil and gas industry that's known as the oil sands. You see, Calgary in many ways is the new business capital of Western Canada, and as we know that in business, time is money.

In my visits with friends and the opportunity to network with new people, I find it amazing how little time there to make a positive impression.

If you recall a few months ago, Voices.com ran the 60 Second Pitch contest in an effort to hone your business networking skills.

Only recently did I realize that an equally good skill is to be able to communicate exactly what you do in 5 to 10 seconds.

In those 5 seconds (likely just enough for a single sentence) your only goal is inspire a follow-up question from the person you're speaking with.

As an example, I was often asked, "Dave, where are you working now?" I'd reply by saying something like "I run this great Internet company, Voices.com", which would lead them into asking "what does Voices.com do?"

See how easy that was?

In your travels have you found an easy way to say what you do in 5 seconds or less?

Share your one-liners below.

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I never stopped believing in the power of podcasting. Not only does audio does work in ways that video can't, but it's far more memorable. Just think, you can probably remember a favorite song from high school, a jingle from a decade ago or even a one-liner from a commercial that seemed to just stick.

In 2000, Fortune magazine said "Voice" was going to be one of the major trends of this decade. While most companies were building telecom applications, we built a marketplace for voice talent.

With the advent of podcasting and the mass adoption of the iPod, the voice industry has seen a surge in growth.

.: 13% of the US population have listened to a podcast (up from 11% in 2006)

.: Today, Techcrunch is reporting that eMarketer estimates that there was a 285% increase in size of the US podcast audience in 2007, a growth to 18.5 million.

In fact, I authored "24 Sources of Podcast Statistics, Podcasting Market Research and Broadcasting Industry Analysis", an extensive report that gives you a snapshot of the market including podcast usage, the podcasting audience, podcast demographics and the advertising market.

Just look at the Amazon / Audible deal and you'll see that there is indeed a massive industry that simply doesn't get the limelight it deserves.

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A webinar is a type of web conference, that tends to be mostly one-way, from the speaker to the audience with limited audience interaction, such as in a Webcast, which is transmission of information in one direction only, like watching a concert on the internet.

A webinar however, can be very collaborative, and include polling and question & answer sessions to allow full participation between the audience and the presenter. A webinar is 'live' in the sense that information is conveyed according to an agenda, with a starting and ending time. In most cases, the presenter may speak over a standard telephone line, pointing out information being presented on screen, and the audience can respond over their own telephones, preferably a speakerphone.

As you might have guessed, webinars have a lot of moving pieces, however with a little forethought, your next webinar will be successful by following these helpful tips.

Tips for Success

• Turn off any streaming media applications that may take up bandwidth and resource-intensive applications that may be taxing processor ability.

• Arrive a 15 minutes early to greet the attendees as they arrive and start the Webinar on time. It also helps to have a welcome presentation running during this time. Your presence in these opening minutes can help establish the tone and direction of the Webinar.

• Call in to the Webinar from a location where there is little background noise.

• Turn off system prompts and sounds for when attendees join or leave a Webinar.

• Avoid using cellular and cordless phones because of static and use the phone handset or a headset instead of speakerphones because of background noise, tunnel effect and sentence clipping.

• Turn off your call waiting. The beep of a new call on another line is heard by everyone on the teleconference.

• Avoid putting your phone on hold during a teleconference. Your hold music will play into the conference call and make it impossible for the other attendees to continue the Webinar.

• Introduce yourself when you begin speaking and ask your panelists to also identify themselves before speaking. Not everyone in the Webinar may know everyone else’s
voice.

• If you find you are having a sound quality issue, hang up and dial back in. Sometimes these problems clear themselves up when the bad connection is terminated.

Webinar Service Providers

There are a few web conferencing technologies on the market that have incorporated the use of VoIP audio technology, to allow for a truly web-driven presentation, removing the need for any external devices, such as a telephone.

WebEx

GoToMeeting

FreeConference

Have Some of Your Own Tips To Share?

Have you conducted a webinar? If so, can you add to the list of tips? Let us know by adding your comments below.

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The continued growth of online video and social networking may force advertising firms and their big business counterparts to allocate more dollars to online marketing endeavors.

The Web's emergence is forcing ad executives to succumb to marketers' demands that agencies reinvent how ads are created, and forgo their TV-centric approach.

Suzanne Vranica from the Wall Street Journal reports that "clients are even calling for changes in the way ad firms are structured. But until now, few advertisers have spent more than 5% to 10% of their marketing budgets online. With the growth of online video and social networking, ad experts expect that percentage to jump significantly this year."

Low-cost, high return marketing activities such as blogging or podcasting, opportunities abound for the small to medium sized business to make 2008 the year where they cover significant ground in establishing an online presence and extending their brand recognition.

Have you added blogging, podcasting, video and social networking to your online marketing initiatives for 2008?

Let us know by adding your comments below.

Image Source: reverendsam on Flickr

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Monetizing a podcast first starts with creating a brand, reaching loyal listeners, and producing great content that will attract advertisers and generate an income from your audience.

STEP 1: Generate Valuable Content and Grow Your Audience

Is it your intention to make money from your podcast? It is possible, and we are going to show you how by providing you with tools and ideas that will help to you to create revenue streams to grow your podcast and podcasting business. Some of the key ways to create revenue streams are: receiving micropayments, selling valuable products or services that are an extension of your podcast, and gaining advertisers. Creating a brand, reaching loyal listeners, and producing great content will attract advertisers and generate an income from your audience.

STEP 2: Explore Subscriptions and Micropayments

Micropayments, a pay-per-listen model, requires users to pay for content each time that they want to download your podcast. Receiving micropayments is the most common revenue generator for podcasters. In asking for a micropayment, you are validating that the content within your podcast is worth what you are charging, particularly if your podcast is educational, provides insider information that you have written, and is unique to other content available on the web.

Here are a few companies that will help you to accept micropayments for your content.

PayPal Podcast Subscriptions

PayPal is an online intermediary that accepts customer payments on your behalf, then deposits the payments into your personal or business bank account.

PayPal allows you to accept all major forms of payment. You get features comparable to merchant accounts and gateways ? at a lower cost. Accept credit cards, bank transfers, debit cards, and more. A simple integration into your shopping cart allows your customers to pay securely and easily.

PayPal is affordable for businesses of all sizes. Fees are applied only when you accept a payment?if you don't receive money, you don't pay a penny.

- No monthly fees
- No setup fees
- No gateway fees
- Anti-fraud systems at no extra cost

This is an easy, quick way to start accepting credit cards online. Add PayPal if you already accept credit cards online, and connect with PayPal's 78 million accounts.

PayPal's fees at time of writing are as follow:
Monthly Sales Volume = $0.00 CAD-$3,000.00 CAD
PayPal Fees per transaction 3.9% + $0.30 USD

Amazon's Honor System

Web sites use the Amazon Honor System to collect voluntary payments from their users and to accept payment for digital content. In many cases, the Honor System is the only way a Web site can economically collect small payments. In others, the Honor System allows the Web site to raise money for continued operations without resorting to intrusive banner advertisements.

STEP 3 : Offer Advertising

Open your podcast up to advertisers that sell complimentary products.

Since your podcast covers a specific topic, it is likely that your audience consists of individuals with a heightened level of interest in the subject matter that you are discussing. When good content and a large audience for that content is combined, the opportunity for generating revenue from your podcast through corporate advertising will arise. If you can grow your audience and show that you have X many listeners, and X many subscribers, you can then approach companies and present a brief proposal about how you can advertise their company?s products and services on your podcast.

Advertising for Niche Markets

Find merchants who want to be a part of your podcast.

When looking for niche market advertisers, review the theme and concept of your podcast. What is it that you are knowledgeable about and what do you promote on your show? Are there any related fields that you could endorse? For instance, if you are a doctor with a health show, you might consider finding advertisers from the pharmaceutical industry and promote a pain reliever such as Tylenol or a natural remedy such as Lakota.

Advertising in Geographical Areas

Focus on one area and target local businesses.

Advertising works well not only for niche markets but also for podcasts that promote a specific geographical region such as Yellowstone National Park. There may be a camping equipment supply company wanting to reach that audience. With your podcast, you are now providing a means to reach their target market.

Do you have a podcast?

Add a link to your podcast in the comments below. Be sure to give a description of the show and if you are considering monetizing your podcast.

Technorati tags: iTunes | Voices.com | Podshow | Podtech | podcasting | podcast | Techmeme

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In an effort to kick-start their Audio Ads program, Google is offering current Adwords advertisers the opportunity to receive a customized proposal for businesses considering advertising on the radio. Despite these noble efforts, does Google really think they are going to win in audio?

Special Offer

As part of their latest effort to move remnant ad inventory, Google is offering an introductory offer; spend $1000, and receive $2000 towards your next radio advertising campaign.

Audio Ads Proposal

Here are the details:

- Complete and submit this request form telling us about your business and advertising goals.
- An AdWords specialist will customize a radio campaign proposal aligned with your business goals, usually within ten business days. Be sure to list contact information so we can email the proposal to you.
- Review the proposal and run an Audio Ads campaign by December 31, 2007, spending at least $1,000 on that campaign.
- If you are eligible*, you'll receive $2,000 towards future campaigns!

Sign up and receive a Google Audio Ads proposal here.

Voices.com Provides Voice Talent for Google Audio Ads

The truth is the search giant is going head to head with Voices.com, a web service that specializes in connecting buyers and sellers of audio production and voice over services, in the realm of audio advertisements. While Voices.com may be the smaller of the two companies, it’s by no means a featherweight where the production and acquisition of audio recordings is concerned and, by the way, is also home to over 15,000 voice talent.

Facts

Google's Creative Ad Marketplace hosts only 67 voice talent.

Voices.com hosts 16,804 voice talent.

As of October 10, 2007.

Recommendations for Audio Ads Advertisers

While Google offers the ad delivery platform, the commercial script writing, voice-over recording and production is best done by sourcing talent from an online marketplace. In addition to knowledgeable staff, Voices.com offers supporting documentation, a production rate card [PDF], as well as the willingness to help you out by speaking to you one on one.

Question

Have you advertised with Google Audio Ads? What's been your experience? Were you happy with the turnaround time and fees for the ad creation?

Share your experience by leaving a comment below.

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Take a listen to Apple’s commercials for its new iPhone and see if you can pick out which celebrity from hit TV show The Office is providing the voice-over.

For those who are just learning about the much-hyped Apple product, the iPhone combines three amazing products — a revolutionary mobile phone, a widescreen iPod with touch controls, and a breakthrough Internet communications device with desktop-class email, web browsing, maps, and searching — into one small and lightweight handheld device.

Last week Apple began running a series of new television commercials to help educate the mainstream.

The crew at OfficeTally.com posted that John Krasinski is the new voice of Apple.

As mentioned in the comments at Gravitational Pull, this isn’t the first time that there’s been an "Apple/The Office crossover". The Office is often featured in Apple product demonstrations including the unveiling of the Apple iPhone earlier this year. Marc notes that "The Office is the most downloaded show through iTunes."

As a nice side effect, the TV ads have really kicked the Apple buzz machine into high gear. The Apple iPhone is set to launch on June 29.

Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris - © WireImage.com - Image courtesy WireImage.com

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Just when Google may have thought they had mass radio ad liquidation in the bag, eBay has entered the fray with a competing service of their own.

Learn more about what the implications may be for Google Audio Ads with the introduction of powerhouse eBay and their brand new remnant radio air time marketplace.

Earlier this year, it seemed like everyone was talking about Google Audio Ads, and to a degree, many people still are.

However...

Enter eBay, a veteran in the field of business to business and e-commerce, with the newest addition to the eBay fold, the eBay Media Marketplace, putting a new spin on their auction formula to include bidding for remnant air time on broadcast radio stations.

That's fine and all, but other than the fact that Google has just released their service to customers and prospects alike and eBay's is in development, just how do these two services differ?

The Google Audio Ads platform is reliant on recruiting professional audio producers through their Creative Ad Marketplace whereas eBay has recently established a partnership with Bid4Spots, a remnant air time service provider, who already has connections to voice over and audio producers through their affiliation with Voices.com.

Recently, CEO Dave Newmark of Bid4Spots gave an interview with Mediaweek.com and shared the following insight:

“This deal it intended to pump a lot more advertising dollars into our system,” said Dave Newmark, chairman and CEO of Bid4Spots, who founded the company two years ago. About 230 agencies and 2,000 direct advertisers have used Bid4Spots, usually to supplement buys and bulk up rating points, Newmark said. He continued “Ad agencies should study all three approaches carefully because they do different things,” Newmark said. “Our model is you get a lot and pay very little for it.”

What do you think of eBay's imminent entrance on the scene?

Do they have what it takes to compete with Google?

Looking forward to your comments,

David

Image © eBay.com

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Within our industry, each site shares similar goals, audiences and desired actions. By staying focused on our goals, we can best serve the needs of the various stakeholders that we interact with.

Aaron Wall created an interesting post called How Many Stakeholders Does Your Site Have? It's an article that every enterpreneur and Internet marketer should read.

Aaron states that the Common Stakeholders of Every Site are:

content creators
customers
suppliers
site members
bloggers
mainstream media
topical experts
other high authority link sources or publicity sources
search engines

For me, it help put into perspective the fact that our efforts at Voices.com reach beyond our customers and suppliers. There are co-creators in our content, such as the readers and commenters on the VOX Daily blog to the listeners and audio correspondents on our podcast, VOX Talk.

We are also responsible to maintain the integrity of the website so that each new visitor feels welcome and knows that they are joining an online community.

The idea of integrity can also apply to the website design. How so?

A well-designed website ( from color schemes, font sizes and navigation ) will ensure that visitors have an enjoyable experience. Secondly, other webmasters will be more eager to link to Voices.com. Hey, we're always up for trading links.

Finally, with all of the above in place, the search engines will not only discover new material on the website, but rank the pages according to their relevance.

To date, we've been extremely fortunate with dozens of #1 rankings and hundreds of Top 10 placements on Google, Yahoo!, MSN and Ask.

If you're a business-owner or Internet marketer, remember your stakeholders and you'll be rewarded for it.

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In a report issued by Merrill Lynch, lead broadcast analyst Jessica Reif Cohen said a CBS/Google deal would likely be "wide-ranging" and would include both advertising and content elements.

"Although no deal was announced, we believe that the companies continue to negotiate terms of an agreement," wrote Cohen, referring to CBS chief Leslie Moonves keynote Tuesday at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

The sticking points could revolve around control of advertising sales and the size of a revenue guarantee that Google would pay to CBS for being able to monetize its television content through YouTube and other Google sites.

With respect to the advertising sales arrangement, Merrill Lynch speculated that it would primarily be focused on CBS' radio inventory and would not likely include any network or local TV station time.

As I've covered earlier, Google has recently stepped up efforts to expand its presence in offline media, especially radio and print media.

It's estimated that a Google deal to sell 10% of CBS Radio's advertising inventory would generate approximately $200 million in revenues and that the upside for CBS would be two-fold:

First, attracting new small business advertisers to its platforms alla Google's experience with search, and second, creating a more efficient sales model that reduces the friction/cost of selling advertising.

Naturally, Madison Avenue is protesting the development stating that a potential Google deal is initiating the commoditization of advertising time and related pricing pressure.

Does Madison Avenue have a case? Leave your thoughts below.
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Technorati tags: google | google audio ads | audio ads | audio adsense

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The Radio Ad Effectiveness Lab (RAEL) is possibly the most exciting initiative undertaken by the Radio industry in recent years. Conceived and launched in 2001, RAEL’s goal is to further the industry’s understanding of how Radio advertising works and to measure its effectiveness, thereby increasing advertiser/agency confidence in Radio as an advertising medium.

The most unique aspect of RAEL is the Research Committee. It is composed of Radio, agency, and advertising executives, assuring that the new research projects have valuable implications for Radio’s best customers. An impressive list of national advertisers and agencies has participated in determining the direction of RAEL’s research projects, and the actual design of the new studies.

RAEL is a major industry commitment to a long-term and objective research program. But before doing any new research, RAEL conducted a review of everything that had been published in the past. Therefore, one of RAEL’s first activities was to assemble all relevant past published research on Radio effectiveness from the last 20 years.

Their efforts uncovered a wide array of interesting and useful studies, and RAEL decided to share what they’d learned in the “RAEL Research Compendium.” A published series of on-going White Papers summarizes findings from the Compendium.

In addition, RAEL has been fortunate to have access to occasional pieces of proprietary research on Radio effectiveness conducted privately by specific advertisers. Those advertisers have been willing to share many of the details of those studies with RAEL and have agreed to limited publication of those results.

RAEL has also published “The Guide to Radio Advertising Testing Services” that lists companies with experience in testing Radio creative.

Learn more about The Radio Ad Effectiveness Lab

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Industry watch dog Radio Ink, has come out with some new statistics to show the growing trend in radio advertising this year.

National radio advertising sales grew 2 percent from January to September, according to Radio Ink, an industry publication, but local ad sales during the period fell 1 percent. Next year, radio ad revenues are expected to rise 2 percent.

Here Are Radio's Revenue Figures, Dating Back To July 2001

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Google Inc.'s budding radio advertisement business, known as Google Audio, appears to have ground to a halt. According to Market Watch, Google doesn't have access to enough radio airtime for would-be advertisers to thoroughly test out the initiative.

But help may be on the way for this supposed problem. Several news reports Monday claimed that Google is deep into negotiations to buy a large swath of airtime from CBS Radio.

By doing so, Google could stave off the domino-like effect of the airtime shortage, which may mean delays introducing Google Audio to a much broader audience, RBC Capital Markets analyst Jordan Rohan said Monday.

Until Google can strike a deal with CBS, or some other radio giant, "there will be no significant impact until mid-2007" on Google's bottom line, or the radio industry in general, Rohan said in his research note.

"We believe a critical mass of advertisers is interested in testing the platform," Rohan said, based on his interviews with his own sources. "However, there is simply not enough radio inventory in the Google Audio system (yet) to enable buyers to run campaigns."

A Google spokesman, in an email, said "participating advertisers have access to a wide range of inventory including more than 700 stations spanning more than 200 metro areas. We will continue to make available more stations and inventory to an increasing number of advertisers next year."

Google has hand-selected 20 companies to being testing the capabilities of its newly-integrated technology from dMarc Broadcasting, which has invented an automated way of creating a radio ad and getting it aired on radio stations.

Source: MarketWatch

Technorati tags: google | google audio ads | audio ads | cbs

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This morning, I discovered an important clarification to the upcoming Google Audio Ads platform. Google's advertising system, formerly known as dMarc Broadcasting, will initially be selling remnant air time.

The fact is that Google Audio Ads sells 100 percent remnant ads, in other words, ads that are placed less than one week before air time.

Who else is in this market?

There are a handful of outfits, including SWMX, the current industry leading ad-selling platform.

SWMX is a radio and television advertising company that has relationships with over 1,500 radio stations and sells only 30 percent remnant ads and 70 percent upfront. While Google sells exclusively remnant ads, SWMX is able to offer prime ad placement upfront, meaning that the ads are purchased a week before they air, thereby making the price tag of those ads more expensive.

Google may face significant competition in radio advertising sales from SWMX that has access to more partner stations and a larger advertising inventory and lower set-up costs, according to a recent Bear Stearns research note.

However...

Google does have several competitive advantages, that I'd like to highlight.

First, they focus on the user. Google's current customer-base is in the hundreds of thousands (estimated) and are ripe for the picking. Given that the Audio Ads uses a similar graphical interface and delivers the same experience to the advertiser, Google should receive a good response with a relatively low learning curve.

Secondly, Google has massive reach. When they are ready, they can place their own ads, educating advertisers about the benefits of the Google Audio Ads program and how they can profit from it.

I remember in the early days of AdWords that they included $100.00 advertising credits in popular business magazines such as Business 2.0 and Fast Company that encouraged potential advertisers to login to the Google system. A repeat strategy will prove successful if executed with the same degree of precision and simplicity.

Finally, the third competitive advantage is cost-savings. This low-cost form of radio advertising will deliver a better ROI (return on investment).

For those businesses who already do radio advertising, this is a great solution, and for those who wish they could advertise on the radio but don't know where to start, Google Audio Ads is the solution.

Where will advertisers have their commercials produced? Well, Voices.com of course.

Next time, we'll explore how advertisers can use the tools available at Voices.com to produce professional recorded audio ads.

Technorati tags: google | google audio ads | audio ads | audio adsense

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Have you seen the Google Audio Ads PowerPoint presentation? Get an insiders look at how Google Audio Ads will work for advertisers. Here's Google's pitch.

Earlier today, we wrote about Google Audio Ads. Here's a follow up post to show you how it works!

The following PowerPoint slides explain how Google Audio Ads work, and what you can expect from Google in the very near future.

.: How Google Brings Advertisers and Radio Stations Together

From the slide, you can see that Google has positioned the Audio Ads system to serve both top-level advertisers, as well as the advertising agencies themselves. The graphic also shows 75% of the transactions coming from the agencies, and only 25% from independent advertisers. This is likely because advertising agencies already have media planning and media buying personnel, not to mention existing relationships with local and regional radio stations.

It also appears that only the advertising agencies will have the opportunity to target specific radio stations and broadcasting networks.

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.: How Google Delivers Ads to Radio

1. Station inventory management system and studio log.

2. Google links electronically with stations to search for inventory that fits advertiser criteria.

3. Inventory is paired with Advertiser requests, to be called "Google Avails".

4. Google delivers automated order to radio station and reserves the ad inventory.

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.: Google Audio's Current Footprint

* 800+ stations
* 4200 stations targeted
* 87% US coverage
* Coverage in 19 of the top 25 markets

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.: Will Google Audio Ads Succeed?

So far, I'm a fan of Google Audio Ads. The concept is simple is should prove to be a winner in the marketplace.

However, I see a few potential stumbling blocks that may need to be overcome to for Google Audio Ads to gain mass advertiser acceptance.

Questions for Google Audio Ads Team

* Does Google buy blocks of advertising so that advertisers can choose from a variety of stations and tim slots or is the ad inventory just unwanted (unfilled) air time?
* If two advertisers want to buy the same spot ( inventory ) does that trigger a bidding war?
* What format are the ads in? MP3, WAV or AIFF?
* Since audio files are significantly larger than text files, is Google going to host the audio files too? Is there a limit on file size, or amount of storage per account?
* Where are the voices coming from and is Google going to maintain editorial control?

.: What's Next?

Subscribe to this blog via email for more info on Google Audio Ads.

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Note: PowerPoint slides courtesy of Donna Bogatin at Digital Micro-Markets

Technorati tags: google | google audio ads | audio ads | audio adsense

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There's something about radio, and Google's going to profit from it.

Reuters recently reported that web search leader Google Inc. is hiring scores of radio sales people and is spending heavily in a bid to expand its position in the $20 billion radio industry.

Google spokesperson Michael Mayzel was quoted as saying that the company will begin a public test of Google Audio Ads by the end of this year...

How will this work?

Advertisers will be able to go online and sign up for targeted radio ads using the same AdWords system they use to buy sponsored web listings.

This is no surprise to us here at Voices.com. We watch Google's movements and document them too :)

Remember when Google acquired dMarc Broadcasting Inc. in January?

dMarc connects advertisers to radio stations through an automated advertising system. Essentially, we could see this as Google's infrastructure for their new ad selling platform.

Google CEO Eric Schmidt has revealed that the investment in radio advertising could grow the company personnel to include the hiring of up to 1,000 new Google employees. These employees would serve as salespeople, engineers, and operation staff.

Reuters disclosed that Google, one of the fastest growing Silicon Valley Internet companies, employed an impressive 9,378 employees in September.

While Google's aspirations to rule the world of audio ads climb, broadcast giant Clear Channel, the biggest radio station operator in the US, is rumored to be in the market to sell stakes in their company if not the company as a whole.

Remember, these are just rumors, but the fact remains that if Google wants something badly enough, the company will remove any obstacles in its way to get it.

As we've seen with their recent purchase of YouTube, money is not an object.

Why are we reporting so closely on this subject?

Simple.

Voices.com stands to be the supplier of voice-overs and audio production for the Google Audio Ads.

As the largest voice marketplace online, it makes perfect sense that when people buy audio ads through Google on the Internet that they would find their voices and have production completed over the Internet as well.

What do you think of the imminent Google Audio Ads? Would you purchase audio ads online through Google?

Leave a comment with your thoughts.

Best,

David

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Technorati tags: google | google audio ads | audio ads | audio adsense

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Recently I've come across a few new start-ups that have acquired simple domain names in an effort to explain to their users what they do, while being memorable at the same time. Hearing these stories validates our investment in Voices.com as one of the best business decisions we've made to date.

While many new Internet-based companies, now known as "Web 2.0" websites, use made-up, funny and some times ridiculous names, I've noticed a trend of companies opting for the traditional single word domain names.

Choosing a dictionary word for a domain name is harder than it sounds. That's great if you can imagine the perfect word that represents your new idea or start-up, however actually obtaining that name is another task altogether.

On a recent podcast, I heard one of the founders of Like.com sharing his story. Like.com is a visual search engine. For nearly 10 years, we've been searching for pictures using words. Like's big idea is to search pictures with pictures by using a "likeness" technology. Personally, I believe it's a great idea and I'm confident it will be a hit with the marketplace, given enough time for people to discover them.

From my understanding, their team sent emails, placed calls, left voicemail messages all without any luck. They went as far as visiting the home of the then owner of Like.com and decided to leave an expensive bottle of wine as a gesture of good faith. As the story goes, they got a call the next day.

Similar to Like.com, the team at Voices.com made a conscious decision that Voices.com was the best name for a variety of reasons we have discussed before.

It shows that given the right people, ambition and the willingness of the seller, any name is ripe for the picking. Choose carefully, then proceed with caution and I'm sure you'll have great success with your next Internet venture.

Do you have a story about a "dictionary word" domain that was recently acquired?

If so, leave a comment below.

Best,

David

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I've read blog posts by other entrepreneurs and industry critics raising a question. Does the world need another blog? I'd like to refine that question. Does the world need another web 2.0 blog? My short answer is "yes", and here's why.

The Biz, is a different kind of blog. This isn't a commentary on the happenings of the web, nor will I include product reviews or endorse other services.

So what will The Biz be about?

In short, my vision for The Biz will be a blog written by an entrepreneur for entrepreneurs. We'll discuss the various aspects involved with building a web 2.0 company.

In the Business Management category, I'll address business issues relating to strategy, business models and day-to-day operations, while at the same time keeping everything in perspective. Even when it seems as though the sky is falling, I often say, "Listen, it's not as bad as it seems", and it usually never is.

Development is an area that's close to my heart, as it pertains to the development of the web-service itself. Some people may call this product development, but I've learned to approach the development from the notion that we are building a service, and hopefully one that our customers can't live without.

With a product in place, we'll focus our attention on Sales & Marketing, and the most common approaches to generating revenue from web-services, as well as exploring a few unconventional practices too.

Once customers start signing up for your new web-service, you'll need to allocate some time and resources to managing those customers, as well as fielding Service & Support issues. This includes how to create FAQ's, how to address technical support issues, how best to receive feedback, and then what to do about the numerous suggestions that are bound to start rolling in.

After getting your company off the ground, you'll need to consider the prospects of either hiring qualified professionals to round out your team, or seek out partners to help your business grow. All of these posts will fall under the area of Human Resources.

Just like any business plan, this blog will cover the basics on Finance, an often skipped over section that at first glance may not seem interesting, but rest assured, I'll do my best to make creating, analyzing and presenting financial data as enjoyable as possible.

To round out the blog, the over-arching theme is Web 2.0. What is Web 2.0? Well, that will be the discussion of tomorrow's post.

If you have specific questions, post your comments below.

All the best,

David

Technorati Tags: web20, web 2.0, web_2.0, ceo, blog

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