Have you ever considered creating audio podcasts (voice readings of your blog) for your blog? I have, but the time it would take to record and post them kept me from preparing them myself, and I wasn’t willing to incur the cost of a commercial podcasting service. Then I saw a post by one of my favorite SEO experts, Ann Smarty, on using the free service from Odiogo for podcasting. The voice is quite natural sounding, for the most part. Some of the inflections are not “human” sounding, but it really is quite respectable – especially since it is free.

Simple Steps to Podcasting

There are really only three steps to using Odiogo for podcasting.

1. Sign up for an account with Odiogo
2. Add the widget or plugin for your blog (if you use an unsupported blog platform – but lots are supported – you may have to paste the provided code into your template)
3. Enjoy listening via your web browser or portable device.

Ann Smarty’s post shows the screenshots of your subscription page (which includes advertising), or ours is here. You can see our subscription button in the right sidebar.

Adding Odiogo to WordPress Blogs

Once you have signed up for the Odiogo account, here are the simple steps to add the Odiogo “Play” button to your hosted WordPress account:

1. In the Plugins section of the Control Panel, click Add New
2. Search for Odiogo
3. Click to install the plugin
4. If you want to add a Subscribe button for the Odiogo podcasts, go to the Appearance menu and select Widgets, then drag the Odiogo Subscription button to the area where you want it to appear, change its name if you like, and save it.
5. View your blog and you should see the Play button beneath the title of your blog posts, and the Subscribe button in the area where you placed it.

Adding Odiogo to Blogger Blogs

Adding the Odiogo podcast buttons to a Blogger blog is even easier. You should be logged in to your Blogger account when you sign up for Odiogo.

1. During the sign up process, there will be a button to add the widget to your Blogger blog. Click it.
2. If you want to edit any of the fields, click and edit them.
3. Drag the Subscribe widget to a different location, if you like.
4. Click the button to add the widget.
5. View the blog to see the new Play button beneath the title, and (unless you made changes) the Subscribe button in the area you placed it.

Note that if you click the Play button, besides playing the podcast, you have the opportunity to download the post to an iPod, MP3 player, etc.

Very nice, Odiogo!