It’s finally here … Mobile Podcaster. Since January 2011 I’ve been podcasting on from my iPad and publishing to WordPress and iTunes without ever touching my blog or a computer. It’s a really awesome system. I’m really proud of it and it’s now available for you too, so if you’re interested check out Mobile Podcaster.
The process I’ve outlined below with Audioboo is also perfectly good, but Audioboo is limited to 5 minutes, so keep that in mind.
The iPad serves many purposes, but for me it’s about marketing and finding new and different ways to leverage mobile technology to grow my business and engage my market online. New media has been especially interesting and I’ve confirmed the iPad is great for recording audio to create podcast episodes which can translate into new WordPress blog posts.
Audio and Video Description of Recording and Creating a Podcast on my iPad with Audioboo
Posting audio directly to WordPress from my iPhone has been a project of mine for a few weeks and I have a very good solution now that you might try.
Audio is a great format to communicate with your readers for several reasons:
- audio blog posts are much faster to produce
- audio blog posts do not require extensive editing
- you can easily set up a separate RSS feed for audio posts and let readers subscribe via iTunes (see my sidebar)
- audio blog posts can be created while driving – much like talking on the phone
- audio blog posts are great for interviewing people
- audio blog posts are a great way to differentiate your blog and add variety
My solution satisfies the following criteria:
- post audio to WordPress from my iPhone without logging into WordPress
- blog posts must contain a flash audio player that is user friendly for desktop users
- blog posts must contain a direct link to the raw mp3 file so that audio is mobile friendly
- audio posts must publish automatically without any further editing or logging into WordPress
- Any social networking notifications stem from my blog and direct users to my site, not some 3rd party site.
Installation and Setup
Here are the steps to post audio directly to WordPress from your iPhone:
- Install the AudioBoo app on your iPhone (Audiobook is limited to 5 minutes. For longer recordings, check out Mobile Podcaster)
- Install WP-o-Matic plugin on your WordPress blog
- Install Podcasting plugin on your WordPress blog
AudioBoo
No custom settings are required. Just set up an account, go to My Boos, and copy the RSS feed address from the Address Bar.
WP-o-Matic
- Set up a new Campaign
- In the Basic tab, give your campaign a name, activate it, and provide a slug. I use “audio.”
- In the Feed tab insert the RSS feed address from AudioBoo
- In the Categories tab, indicate your preferred category. I use “podcast.”
- Leave Rewrite tab blank
- In the Option tab create a custom post template with the code below.
- Set Frequency at no less than 1 per hour to determine when new feeds should be checked.
- Select Published when you’re ready to go live. Choose Private or Draft while testing.
- For Max Items, I select one(1) since I do not want more than one audio post per day. You could do more if you like. - In the Tools tab, do nothing.
Podcasting Plugin
The only option I recommend you modify is the Player Width under Audio Player Options so that it fits horizontally within your post appropriately. I use 480px on my site for example.
How to Use
- Open the AudioBoo app on your iPhone
- Record your audio, give it a title, and publish
- Your MP3 will now appear as a new post, based on the frequency you selected in WP-o-Matic Options.
- After post has published you may add text to the post. If you want the ability to add text prior to publishing, change the WP-o-Matic Options back to “Draft,” but this defeats the purpose for me – the ability to publish audio to my blog without logging into WordPress at all.
What do you think? Does this work for you? There are other solutions – what are you using?
