The upcoming release of Windows Phone 8.1 looks to be a major rework of the OS that runs Windows-enabled mobile phones. While the release date for Windows Phone 8.1 has not yet been announced, developer previews of the operating system have been available for a couple months. Those with access to this preview version of Windows Phone 8.1 have noted that the OS comes with a podcast aggregator app as a standard feature. This is good news for podcast listeners and producers, as it’ll create an easy way for Windows Phone users to subscribe to podcasts. If you want to ensure that your podcast will be easy to add to this new aggregator, you’ll need to follow one simple guideline: Be sure your podcast’s RSS feed is discoverable by Microsoft’s search engine, Bing.

The new Windows Phone 8.1 Podcasts app won’t be powered by a built-in directory like most other podcast aggregators. Instead, when a user wants to add a new show, they’ll enter either a show title or a subject of interest into the Windows Phone Podcasts app’s search box. From there, the app will do a Bing search for the show title or subject. And from those results, it’ll help the user get subscribed to new shows. For this reason, the search engine must be able to easily locate your podcast’s RSS feed. And while it may seem like an obvious requirement to have your show’s RSS feed linked from your main podcast website, there are still a lot of podcasters who (for whatever reason) don’t do this.

If you’re confused about how to determine the location of your podcast’s RSS feed, take a look at this list (swap out “example.com” for the URL of your podcast’s website):

• * WordPress users: By default, all WordPress sites generate an “all entries” feed located at example.com/feed/ If you’re using a podcasting plugin such as PowerPress, your podcast feed may be something other than the default WordPress feed. Double check the plugin’s settings to know for sure.
• * Feedburner users: Log in to your Feedburner account and find the name of the feed for your podcast. Usually, it’s something like feeds.feedburner.com/ExamplePodcast.
• * LibSyn users: LibSyn RSS feeds are located at example.libsyn.com/rss
• * If your show is listed on iTunes: Subscribe to your show using the iTunes desktop client and then right-click on the show title. Select “Copy Podcast URL” from the popup menu and then copy it from there.

This is only a partial list of ways to find your podcast’s RSS feed. If none of these options are applicable to you, check with your podcast hosting provider for further assistance.

Once you have the location of your RSS feed, be sure to add a prominent link to the feed from somewhere within your website. Perhaps towards the top of a sidebar next to a nice RSS chiclet. This will not only make your RSS feed findable by the Windows Phone Podcasts app, it’ll also make it possible for anyone who wants to subscribe directly to your show to do just that.

Posted by Shawn Thorpe