Helpcast – How to Post an Audio Player to Blogger
Hipcast makes it very simple to post an Audio in a Player to blogs like Blogger. Make sure to add your Blog to your Hipcast account to get started.
Step 1: Select Add New Blog.
Step 2: Fill in Service Name and Details.
Type a Name for the Blog in Service Name and select the Blog Service you use from the drop down box. Under Service Details make sure to enter your username and password for the blog. This is visible only to the blog and is used to authenticate with the blog service. Click Save and Update, and Hipcast will add the blog(s) to your Hipcast account.
Step 3: Select an Audio File to add to your Blog.
Click on the Title of the Audio you want to publish to the blog.
Step 4: Edit the description for the Blog Post.
Click on the Edit Description tab, You can change the title of the Audio here, and add a description which will post with your player on the blog.
Step 5: Publish Audio to your Blog.
Click on the Publish Audio tab, Select the Blog you wish to post to, and Click on Publish to Blog. You will see a preview page where you can Adjust your Post Title and Post Body. By default this is the title and description you have assigned to this audio. If you're happy with it, click on Publish.
Step 6: Check out your cool post on your Blog!
The player will be added to your blog with the title and description you added above the player. On Blogger, you can then edit the post and add more to the post.
Helpcast – Posting Media Players On Facebook
Our podcast pages now allow users to easy post media-players directly to your Facebook wall. Note: You can't currently post media that isn't in a podcast to Facebook. You must also be logged in to Facebook to post on your wall.
Step 1: Open your Podcast List.
Log in to Hipcast and open up the podcast section in your sidebar menu.
Step 2: Select Your Podcast.
Pick out the podcast that you want to post an episode from.
Step 3: Navigate to the Podcast Pages tab.
The Podcast Pages tab is the right-most tab in your podcast section.
Step 4: Pick an Episode.
These are for your first or last podcast episodes. You can pick a different episode when you're in the directory.
Step 5: Share it on Facebook.
Click the Facebook button in the share section under the Hipcast media player.
Step 6: Select a Page and Confirm.
Your personal Facebook page is selected by default, but if you have a podcast set up as a page on Facebook, you can select that as well.
Once you post, your episode should show up like this.
When clicked, the thumbnail for your podcast episode will turn into a Hipcast media player.
That's all for Helpcast. If you want to post your episodes on the Hipcast Facebook Page and show them off, feel free! If you need help with anything described above, leave us a comment or contact support.
Podcast Directory (beta)
Now your podcasts are automatically fed to the Hipcast Podcast Directory when you chose automatic syndication for your podcast. We still syndicate to other popular podcast feeds as well. The podcast directory makes your podcast more visible on the web and to Search Engines like Google.
With our on demand streaming, when someone finds your podcast in our Podcast Directory, they can instantly be listening to or viewing your podcast using our players.
The podcast directory is search optimized, so you can start getting more traffic and feedback from your fans. The directory page also shows Featured Podcasts, if you're an Advanced or Corporate Podcaster you can have the option of Featuring your Podcast at the top of our Podcast directory.
Check it out here: Podcast Directory (beta)
Comments or Suggestions?
How are you currently using Hipcast? Are you a blogger, or a podcaster? Do you do both? What are your favorite features, and how can we improve our service? Our developers are constantly working on improving and expanding Hipcast. We'd love to have your input.
Leave a comment on this post or take our quick 5 question survey here: Hipcast Customer Feedback Survey
Helpcast – Podcast Pages (beta)
We've set up a new way to deliver your podcast episodes to your subscribers and potential fans without depending on iTunes or podcast directories.
How to set up your podcast page:
First of all, if you don't have a Facebook account, I strongly recommend you create one since Facebook is an excellent asset for building a following. Also, you will not be able to moderate your comments if you don't have a Facebook page.
The first thing you need to do if you want to have control over your podcast comments section is link your Facebook account with us. You can do that in the "My Account" tab depicted to the left.
Navigate to the section labeled "Facebook Account" and click the "Link Facebook Account" button depicted below. This will take you to a secure Facebook page that asks permission for us to access your account information for our application. If this was successful, you will see your Facebook User ID above the button. You now have moderation privileges for your podcast comments section!
Now that your comments section is set up you can go to your "Podcasts" section depicted left. This will bring up a list of the podcasts you've made.
Select the podcast that you want to make a podcast page for and navigate to the "Podcast Page (BETA)" tab depicted below.
You will see a link to the first and last podcast episode on this page. We didn't include a link to all your podcast episodes because some of your podcasts number in the thousands. You can, however, navigate to any of those individual episode pages through your podcast page, so check it out!
If you ever want to remove the comments section from your podcast, you can click the radio button at the bottom of the page.
We've fully optimized the URLs for your individual podcast episode pages for posting to Facebook, so go out there and post your audio and video on Facebook! Also, feel free to post your podcast to our Facebook page!
Blogger Issues (Resolved)
Google has changed the way that they authorize Blogger (blogspot) accounts. We hope to have a fix for this working today.
We apologize for any inconvenience to Blogger users.
UPDATE: Posting to Blogger should be working now. You may need to update your Blog Settings in Hipcast with a username and password. If you are still having issues, please contact support so we can get this resolved as quickly as possible.
Helpcast – Using the iPhone App
We highly encourage all Hipcast users with iPhones to use our application for two reasons:
- It is easy (and quick) to use
- The iPhone makes very high quality recordings
If you haven't yet downloaded the app, you can find it in the iPhone App Store by searching for Hipcast. You must be on the most recent OS, but you should update anyway because the newest version is probably the fastest and most polished one to date.
Recording:
Once you've downloaded the App, the first screen you see is known as the list view. Select the recorder view at the footer menu.
Begin recording by pressing the Record button.
Press Stop and Save to name your recording. For the sake of this tutorial, the name is my_recording.
List Your Files:
This will take you back to the list view where you can select Phone Audios to view your recordings. There you can see your list of local recordings and preview them. If you don't like the recording, you can always go back and re-record.
Press the blue arrow on the recording you made to go to the File Info view.
Uploading:
This will display the information about your file. You can also change the file name here.
Once you are satisfied with the recording, simply press the upload button, and the file will be uploaded straight to Hipcast. Once this happens you can manipulate the file on our website, or in the App in the Hipcast Audios or Hipcast Videos section of the list. Keep in mind that the file still has to be encoded which could take a moment depending on the length of the file you uploaded.
And you're done...
In the next iPhone tutorial I will cover how to publish your files from the phone to your blogs and podcasts. If this didn't work for you, or you have additional questions, comment on this post and I will attempt to correct the issue.
Hipcast iPhone App Launched!
Got an iPhone or iPad? Click the image below or search Hipcast in your App Store and start Audio Blogging, Video Blogging, and Podcasting without the need for a PC or Laptop! Did I mention the App is completely free? Go get it! (NOTE: You will need a current Hipcast account to use the App to post to your blogs and podcasts.)
HTML5 Players Enabled!
iPad and iPhone users rejoice! Hipcast now shows HTML5 players to non-flash-enabled devices!
This won't affect anyone browsing with a flash-enabled device.
WordPress.com Update
The folks at WordPress.com have decided (after much deliberation) that they will not be allowing the Hipcast player on their servers.
Our players will continue to work on WordPress blogs not hosted through WordPress.com. We've decided to entertain the idea of hosting user blogs on Hipcast to provide an alternative for our customers who fall in this category.
Who wants a Hipcast blog?