PodOmatic
Welcome to creating a podcast using PodOmatic, a free podcast hosting and social subscribing program. Please use the information below to help begin setting up your podcast. This is a general overview to acquaint you with one of the two podcasting programs discussed in this program, PodOmatic.
Should you need additional assistance, you can visit PodOmatic's Help page, community forums, or contact the author/instructor of this instructional program.
You are able to click on each of the images below. There are some images that will expand in size to give you a better view at what is being discussed, or you will be brought to the respective page with a designated URL link.
Step One:
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PodOmatic can be used by individuals for personal, educational, or business use. In order to join PodOmatic, you must register. Just like many other programs, a user can select to create podcasts for free or one with cost options. It all depends on how many podcasts you plan on creating in a certain time span.
For purposes of this instructional program, we are only going to focus on the podcast portion and how to embed it into your own website. First, you must go to the homepage, PodOmatic. There are two ways to sign up for an account with PodOmatic. To sign up, you can click "Sign Up" in the top right corner of the screen, or you can click "Sign up for PodOmatic" located next to the log in button. Click either one to begin the process of signing up. |
Step Three:
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Once you select your desired membership, you will be brought to a screen to "Create an account" with the type of account you selected. Enter in your full name, your email address in which you use to sign up, your desired password, and your birthday. Before you can join, you must agree to the Terms of Service. Make sure the box is checked and then click "Join PodOmatic." The only difference between the two accounts when creating an account includes the pro version asks for your credit card information below the creating an account section. |
Step Four:
If you wish, you can add a picture of yourself or your logo to your podcast site. To add a picture, click "Browse" and search for a picture of your liking. You do not have to select a photo to upload if you do not want. To skip this, click "Skip for now" located in the bottom right corner. |
Step Five:
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You have now completed your registration for PodOmatic. Upon completion, you will be brought to your account dashboard. The dashboard is a central location where you can see a birds-eye view of what is going on with your podcast site. You can see everything at-a-glance from updating your status, reviewing your recent activity, viewing your friends, and viewing your pasteboard, or your external video, HTML, and pictures. In addition, your dashboard shows the podcasters you are following, as well as your podcasts, events, and playlists. The dashboard allows you to see an overview of your podcast site, but select specifics that you wish to focus your attention. Finally, the dashboard is where you will manage your account and profile settings. This will be discussed in a later step. |
Step Six:
Creating a podcast is simple and easy to do with PodOmatic. With PodOmatic, you can create a podcast in the browser or you can do it through a different audio recording editor, such as Audacity. Regardless, you can either create your podcast audio in PodOmatic's browser, or by uploading an already created podcast.
To add a new podcast, make sure the "podcast" tab is clicked. Then click "New epsiode." |
Step Seven:
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The first step to creating a new podcast is to write a title and a description of your podcast. What is that you want to call your podcast? What do you want to share with your learners regarding your podcast? This would be a great place to include information about what your learners will hear when they listen to this particular podcast. Each podcast that you create will have its own title and description. When you write your description, you can either use a plain text editor, or you can use a rich text editor. The rich text editor will allow you to bold, italicize, underline, color, and size your font to your needs. While it is not necessary to add information to this section, it is recommended that you add a written description regarding your podcast's topic. Once done adding information, click "Save & Continue." |
Step Eight:
The next step is to select an audio or video clip for your podcast. With PodOmatic, you have a variety of options. You can
Choose the appropriate selection for you. Whichever one you select, you will be taken to a new screen and prompted with additional instructions. If you wish to upload a file, you will be prompted to locate a file from your computer. In order to select a file from your PodOmatic media library, you must have content uploaded. If you select to record using PodOmatic's built in audio recorder, you will taken to a screen to begin recording. If you select to transfer your audio or video file, you will be shown step-by-step instructions on how to transfer audio/video from your desktop using File Transfer Protocol (FTP). It will specifically focus on your operating system, such as Windows, Mac, or Linux. If you wish to record a file from PodOmatic's built-in audio recorder, you will need a microphone to do so. If you use an external podcast audio editor, such as Audacity, you can create your audio using this and then upload your content to your PodOmatic site. If you would like to use Audacity, but do not have it yet, please visit Select an Audio Recording Program, which features the program Audacity. |
Step Nine:
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The next step in creating your podcast is adding a photo for the particular episode. Your picture can be relevant to the particular episode, or it can be a logo that you use throughout your podcast episodes. With PodOmatic, you have a variety of options to select a picture. You can
A photo is not necessary. It is completely up to you and your preferences. If you wish, you can skip this step. You can always come back and edit your podcasts at any time. |
Step Ten:
The fourth step is to add tags. Tags are keywords or terms that helps describe an item, as well as allows it to be found by searching or browsing. Tags within your podcast(s) allow followers or other users to search for podcasts that contain certain words. If you include key words in your tags, users will search these key words and your podcast will come up. This is important, especially for your learners. Your learners can search for one of your podcasts by using specific keywords that you used in your tags. For example, a podcast might be about lesson one lecture notes. You can put lectureone in your tags. Keep in mind, only space words if you wish for the tags to be separate key indicators. If i put lecture one, my podcast would come up if anyone searched the terms lecture or one. |
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Step Eleven:
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Before your podcast is published, you will have a chance to review it. You will be able to review the publication settings as well as the content. Under publication settings, you will be able to view the chapters, quality/format, streaming, and publication date. In addition, you will be given the chance to automatically update your followers once your podcast is published. When it comes to content settings, you will be able to read the written text you wrote when you edited the title/overview. While you cannot edit it here, you are able to click the "Title/Overview" tab to make changes. In addition, you can review the photo, tags, and media file that you used for this particular podcast. If any changes need to be made, you will have to select the corresponding tab to make the changes. Once everything looks just the way you want it, you can click "Save & Continue." Your podcast will begin publishing to the World Wide Web through your PodOmatic website. To add another podcast, follow the same aforementioned steps. |
Step Twelve:
After you click "Save & Continue," you can check to see how your podcast is doing as it publishes. Once it is published, you can then promote your podcast to friends, family, learners, etc.
To check to see if your podcast has been published, click the blue link that says, "click this link to see if your episode has been published." If it has been published, you will be taken to another screen that states your episode is published. You can then promote your podcast by emailing contacts, publishing it to your Facebook, Twitter, or Myspace account, embed a player into an existing webpage, or by viewing the current episode page. |
Step Thirteen:
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To embed a podcast player into your already existing website, click "Embed a player on your web page." You will then be taken to a separate page titled, "Embed a Player on Your Web Page." Here, you can select the color you wish your player to be as well as the size. If you want your podcast(s) to start playing automatically, you can do so by clicking "yes" at the bottom. After you are done customizing the color and the size, select the "Embed Code" and copy it. You must follow your websites instructions on how to embed items into your website. Paste the into your website in the appropriate manner so it appears when your website is published. You have now added your podcast(s) to an external website in which you use! See below how the podcast has been added to this website! You can also visit the direct webpage at My PodOmatic Website. |
Step Fourteen:
To manage your profile, click the "home" button to return to your dashboard. Once at your dashboard, click "Edit Profile." In the public settings area, you will be able to edit your basic information, picture, personal details, and privacy settings. You can also edit your audio player to appear on your profile page or begin automatically. In the privacy section, you can make your information public, or you can hide your personal details and limit it to those following you. In addition, you can manage and view your total usage and monthly bandwidth, which is located in the right margin. If need be, you can update your basic PodOmatic account to a Pro PodOmatic account. Make sure to click "Save" each time you make a change to any of the settings. |
Step Fifteen:
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In addition to managing your profile, you can also edit your PodOmatic account. Here, you can edit your account information as well as your email notifications. Under Email Notifications, you can manage when you receive emails regarding someone else, someone you are following, your new podcast episode that you just created, and PodOmatic in general. The Account Info section allows you to manage your email address and password, as well as your postal zip code and account level. You can also see the last time you logged in to your PodOmatic account and search filters. Again, you can manage your account in this section when it comes to purchasing a Pro PodOmatic account. Just as with editing your profile, you can manage and view your total usage and monthly bandwidth, which is located in the right margin. If need be, you can update your basic PodOmatic account to a Pro PodOmatic account. |
You now can add podcasts to your website. If you need to, you can increase your data amount by selecting a premium account. It all depends on how many podcasts you wish to include. Regardless, get creative and have fun creating your podcast(s)! Customize your podcasts to meet your needs as well as the needs of your learners! |
Now that you have completed how to begin creating a Podcast using
PodOmatic, please participate in the "Podcast Program" Evaluation survey
on the next
page to provide comments on how this site can better meet your needs.
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