7 ways to increase the number of subscribers to your podcast

There are a number of things you can do to increase the number of subscribers to your podcast. Here are just a few of them.

1. Create a dedicated blog, and use the existing methods to market it (take a look at 7 ways to market your blog for suggestions).

2. Add it to iTunes, in the directory where your #1 rival lives. For more information on submitting your podcast to iTunes take a look at Apple's required specs.

3. Cater to dialup users. Whilst you may have a high speed internet connection, many of your potential subscribers are still using dialup. Consider offering low-bitrate or audio-only versions of your podcast.

4. Use theme music. I usually listen to podcasts on an iPod shuffle (to give my eyes a bit of a break), and I suspect I'm not the only one. Starting the podcast with an easily identifiable musical theme is a quick way of ensuring that your listeners have the right podcast playing, the volume is OK and that they can sit back and relax.

5. Keep an eye on your stats, and use them. Using a service such as Feedburner is a great way to help stay on top of things. If the majority of your listeners are downloading your podcasts at a particular time, are grabbing one episode more than the others, are on dialup etc; cater to them.

6. Deliver regularly. By putting your podcast online at the same time each day/week/month you'll encourage people to look for it at that time. There are several ways of doing this automatically (once the podcast itself has been created), so there's no excuse for missing a deadline simply because you're on the road somewhere.

7. Cross promote. Make use of other blogs and podcasts to mention your own. If you have several blogs or podcasts yourself, use them to help each other.