RGMP 6: Post an interview (or podcast) on your blog

This is the sixth post in a series titled “Reporter’s Guide to Multimedia Proficiency.” In the fifth post, I explained why you should seek out and listen to online audio. Today I will show you how to post audio on your blog. Like this:

Woo-hoo, can you do that? Yes, you can.

You’ll need an MP3 file that you have created (do not violate copyright laws by using recorded music).
Upload the MP3 file to a Web host (more about that below, never fear).
Create a new blog post and embed the MP3 in a player. (a.) If your blog is at WordPress.com, here are the simple instructions for how to do it. (b.) If you have a self-hosted WordPress blog, install this WP plug-in. (c.) If your blog is somewhere else, see this tutorial. (Sorry, I can’t help with that.)

We covered how to record, edit, and export an MP3 audio file in the previous posts (see the list at the bottom of this post for links to those).

As for hosting, well, you could store your MP3 files at WordPress.com if you paid for the privilege. But instead, for your first effort, you can upload the file to a free server. All you need is the exact URL of the MP3 file after it is online — on the Web server.

If you have no idea what I’m talking about, you could get started at WebNG, a free Web hosting service. Here are the details about the free service. After you sign up for an account and log in, you should go to the WebNG “File Manager.” (There is a button.) From there, you can upload your file directly (it’s all done on the Web page). The URL of your file will be something like this:

http://yourusername.webng.com/nameofaudiofile.mp3

After you have uploaded the MP3 to the host, and you have the URL, you can write your blog post and embed the audio player in the post (as explained above in No. 3 — a, b, or c).

Previous posts in this series:

RGMP 1: Read blogs and use RSS
RGMP 2: Start a blog
RGMP 3: Buy an audio recorder and learn to use it
RGMP 4: Start editing audio
RGMP 5: Listen to podcasts

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 17, 2009, at 8:18 am and is filed under audio, blogging, education, examples, interviews, journalism, journalists, multimedia, online, podcasting, teaching, training. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.