It’s not often that I get to talk about a “first” or in reporters’ terminology “a scoop!” Yet, here it is for the first time in print. The world’s first Personalized Business Talk Internet Radio Station.

What is it? It is the first Internet talk radio station dedicated to business and technology that can be personalized by you and, best of all, it’s free.

Now you can:

• Schedule your own programs
• Learn from some of the best minds in business and technology on the topics that interest you most
• Start and stop when you want and pick up from where you left off
• Get all of the above Free!

At last, business and technology talk Internet radio that allows you to schedule who you listen to, what you listen to, and when you listen to it. After years of development, it’s finally become a reality on www.ibizradio.com/radio.html.

For years, iBizRadio.com has been the number one business podcast directory in the world. Simply look up “business podcast directory” in Google and you will find it is number one in the world! It has edged out every other big name directory with its focus on business. Want to learn more and get started? Simply watch the iBizRadio video that will walk you through it in minutes.

You can choose from dozens of business categories, from Advertising and Marketing to Entrepreneurship. You literally can listen and learn 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Each program is taken from the highly popular iBizRadio directory and has been “human edited” to assure quality standards.

Need to know about financial services and don’t have time to read a book. Simply choose Financial Services from iBizRadio’s Personalized Business Talk Internet radio categories. You will have a wealth of information at your finger tips to quickly learn what you need to know.

Need the information on the go? Every program is available in the iBizRadio directory and can be downloaded as a podcast to your smart phone or iPod. The possibilities to listen and learn the business and technology information you want, when you want, and from whom you want are close to endless.

Here’s another really big plus! Want to add great content to your Website. You can add iBizRadio’s Personalized Business & Technology Talk Internet Radio Station to your Website free. Is it almost impossible to believe? Well, here’s the link to do it: http://www.ibizradio.com/radio.html. Let’s face it. People are getting tired of content they need to read. We have found that when given the alternative, most people would rather listen and learn than read Websites. Be our guest and give it a try. We’d love to get your feedback.

iBizRadio is the Internet’s first podcast directory & search engine solely dedicated to business podcasts. iBizRadio is also a news gathering and publication company. It is owned and operated by TMA E-Marketing, one of the largest privately held Internet marketing agencies in the United States.

Part 1:  What are business podcasts?

Podcasts have become one of the fastest growing media of all time. According to eMarketer.com, February 2009, almost 22 million U.S. Internet users are listening to podcasts. eMarketer.com is forecasting the number of U.S. listeners to nearly double by 2013. For those of you that are new to podcasting let me explain what podcasting is and why it has become so popular.

Podcast Basics
In general, podcasting is the method of distributing multimedia files, such as audio programs or music videos, over the Internet for playback on mobile devices and personal computers. In the recent past, a “mobile” device meant owning an iPod or a laptop computer. Today, almost every “smart” mobile phone being sold is capable of downloading podcasts for future playback.   

So what does this all have to do with business?  In a word:  Everything!  Podcasting gives businesses a new and highly effective way to communicate with their target market. By using podcasts, a business can provide their target market (i.e. the listeners/viewers) the convenience to listen to or view the “show” when they want, where they want, and how they want. Let’s just look at few of the ways businesses can use podcasts.

Sponsorship – First, a business can sponsor a popular podcast, similar to a sponsored ‘old-time’ radio show. For example, this could be a pre-roll commercial (i.e. before the podcast starts), or be mentioned by the podcaster during the podcast (i.e. a testimonial), or a post-roll commercial (i.e. at the end of the podcast). These types of commercials have been the bread-and-butter of terrestrial radio since its inception and easily translate to podcasts, which is often described as “time shifted radio”.

Podfomercial^SM – Another way businesses can use podcasts is by providing content and essentially creating a podfomercial^SM (i.e. podcast infomercial). This is the format used on our weekly podcast Internet radio program, Radiospectives (www.radiospectives.com). Our methodology is a simple one. We interview some of the nation’s top business and community leaders, subject-matter experts, and people in the news who bring you into their circle of expertise and give you the inside scoop on the important topics in business today. This is win-win!  The listener gets valuable business information and insight. The interviewees get valuable exposure. For those of you that haven’t visited Radiospectives, let me invite you to do so. It will not only give you a good feel for this type of business promotion, but I also think you will find the content highly resourceful. The Radiospectives 2009 podcast schedule is currently focusing on businesses surviving and thriving in a tough economy, going green, and using Internet Web 2.0 technologies to get a leg-up on the competition.

Business can also use podcasts to document corporate events, such as a stockholders meeting or a grand opening. In fact, they can be used for any type of business communication, internally or externally.

Now that we’ve covered what podcasts are, their amazing popularity, and some of the ways businesses can use them, let’s address the real question. Will a business get a return on investment using podcasts?   I’ll address this question in our next post, Part 2:  How can businesses monetize podcasts?  Stay tuned!