Today is a bit of a history lesson. We explain how feedburner used to be THE way to get your RSS feed “iTunes Ready.” Now there are plugins like PowerPress which we discussed ina previous episode.
Likewise, “Back in the day” iTunes was a huge deal (and still accounts for 59% of my traffic). Over time they went from making it super easy to subscribe to podcasts ot making it not so easy to subscribe to podcasts. This doesn't mean you ignore iTunes, but it does mean you should ALWAYS have a button for your “Reulgar” RSS feed so people that aren't using iTunes (like on a phone, or some other type of “podcatcher”) can subscribe to your podcast. To see how to subscribe to a podcast manually, see www.learntosubscribe.com
Try Somethng New With Your Podcast
I tried an experiment with my Logical Weight Loss podcast. I recorded it on my Roland R-05 portable recorder. I was worried since it didn't have the “Professional” sound of me in a studio and people might tune out. Instead people LOVE the fact that I'm inspiring them to get off the couch and get moving themselves. They loved the sounds of nature in the background. I asked the question in the podcast, and had quite a number of people replay and tell me they loved it. With this in mind, don't be afraid to try something new in your podcast. If they had hated it, I would've quit and learned a lesson.
Even if you’re kicked out of iTunes (according to rules they’ve clearly defined in their podcast specs), it’s still very easy to make a “Subscribe with iTunes” button. Just take your RSS feed URL and change “http://” to “itpc://” and it’ll instantly subscribe people to your podcast.
Just note that this bypasses the iTunes Store, so this won’t help your iTunes ranking if you are in the iTunes directory.
Also relevant to this is that it’s still possible to link directly to your podcast in iTunes, and even earn affiliate money! Read “How to Make Podcasts Open Directly in iTunes (and Even Make Money!)“