New: Our WordPress magazine to listen to – as an audio feature

You can now listen to the most popular articles from our WordPress magazine wp unboxed. Are you travelling? Or would you prefer to listen to a WordPress podcast instead of reading for half an hour? Then use our knowledge about WordPress as an audio contribution. We’ll also tell you why the audio track is becoming increasingly important for your marketing.

We have already integrated the first audio contributions. You can now listen directly to the following WordPress and WooCommerce tutorials:

• Yoast vs Rank Math: WordPress SEO plugins in comparison
• Page Builder: Curse or blessing for the WordPress world?
• 13 advantages of managed WordPress hosting
• Working remotely: Advantages & disadvantages for employees and companies
• Making WooCommerce legally compliant: Requirements for Germany and Europe
• Will we still need web designers in the future?

You can find the audio player right at the beginning of each article. Here is an example of the comparison of Yoast SEO and Rank Math for WordPress:

How do you like the result? Can you imagine listening to our blog posts about WordPress in the future instead of reading them? We look forward to your comment at the end of this post.

WordPress news on Spotify, SoundCloud, iTunes & Co.

We are always happy when you read or listen directly to our magazine wp unboxed. Subscribe to our newsletter to stay up to date. You can also stream our audio contributions on the following channels:

• Spotify
• SoundCloud
• Apple Podcasts or iTunes and
• Google Podcasts

There you can also subscribe to them directly as an audio track.

Cooperation with narando

Audio contributions and podcasts are much more complex to realise. After all, you not only need the complete text contribution to record it. But also at the same time:

• A suitable speaker in the team, with a pleasant and lively voice
• The time required for speaking, correcting and editing
• The technical equipment
• If necessary, a quiet room for the recordings

Do you publish your own podcast? Then you know how much work it all takes. That’s why we decided to partner with narando. The start-up from Melle in Lower Saxony delivers high-quality audio content for companies.

The narando team takes care of the entire production. All you have to do is choose a suitable voice to breathe life into your audio contributions. “Real” voice actors provide the necessary authenticity.

From a content marketing perspective, this point is extremely important. After all, the voice has to fit your company and your target group – just like your text content. This includes selecting the right protagonists for each format and story.

Audio contribution and podcast: The advantages

The needs of online target groups are becoming increasingly diverse. The following personas can be roughly differentiated when it comes to general access to media:

• Visitors with an affinity for text and reading
• Image and video affine
• Listening affinity

Of course, there are overlaps between these groups. But these are sometimes much smaller than you might think. For example, some people enjoy listening to a podcast, blogcast or audio post, while others are not interested in the soundtrack at all.

If you also embed the posts in your blog as an integrated YouTube video, this effect can be easily measured. About half of your visitors scroll through the text – and leave the video on the left. The reverse is true for the other half. That’s why you should always measure how well which medium is accepted on your website.

There are other reasons why you should keep a close eye on podcasts & co:

• On the road and travelling: The number of commuters is constantly increasing – at least before corona. Many of them have a button in their ear. But even when working from home, the opportunity to listen to programmes on the side is increasing.
• Voice search as a trend: the listening boxes from Amazon, Google, Apple & Co. are changing our media behaviour permanently. If voice search becomes the standard in some areas, the market for audio content will also grow.
• Limited space for visual content: At the same time, the displays on which content and content marketing can still be accommodated are getting smaller and smaller – see the Apple Watch.

In many of these cases, audio and similar formats are the only way to reach certain parts of your target groups. In addition, the audio track supports accessibility in the digital space.

Podcast & Co.: Calculate correctly

In general, it makes sense to provide as many formats as possible on your website and in your blog – for example, a tutorial as text, PDF, video and audio. Of course, only in the following cases:

• Despite the variety, you can ensure good quality for each format
• Do you or your team have the necessary time or
• You have the financial means to outsource the production for one or more channels to a service provider

Because an orphaned channel on YouTube or a podcast series that quickly falls asleep again? That doesn’t make a good impression in a professional context. Read Jan Tissler’s articles on measuring content success and effective project planning.

Further sources

Do you want to address additional target groups with the soundtrack? Or make yourself more independent of pure Google text SEO? Here are the most important guides and sources to help you get started:

• What you need to know to get started with your podcast and WordPress
• Start podcast: The technology
• WordPress plugins for podcasters & bloggers
• WordPress Audio Block in Gutenberg: Insert audio files
• Content strategy: planning across all channels
• Blogcast: The content marketing format of the future?
• The best WordPress podcasts at a glance

Do you know of any other good tutorials and tips for budding podcasters? The comments are open.