WordSpreadsQuickly.com

I created a free podcasting account over at GCast, a free provider of hosted podcasts. You can hear my review of GCast.com by playing my podcast review.

GCast.com is part of the Web 2.0 revolution, a place where people can write and post as well as voice their thoughts, songs, and opinions. Here’s the About Us information from the site:

Gcast is run by the same people that run GarageBand.com. Our goal with GarageBand is to redefine how music is discovered and promoted. Our goal with Gcast is to make personal broadcasting simple. In pursuing these goals we hope to democratize both music and media.

There are other sites offering free media distribution, but I like how GCast.com has simplied the process.

If you’re a fan of Ray Ozzie, you’ll most likely start nodding in agreement when you read one of his key tenets in his memo on Internet Services Disruption: “The effectiveness of a new delivery and adoption model.” This key tenet is important to word of mouth marketing practices and GCast’s new free podcast hosting service because of the changing adoption patterns of individuals who try, buy, and share their experiences online and off.

I call this model less benefits-based and more experimentation-based. I believe in 2006, we see the trend take off as advertisers begin offering site visitors and customers the opportunity to actively take part in a business by providing audio experiences with open channels communication to the advertisers as well as to community members. This new opportunity will come with great responsibilities, however, the rewards of being able to arm customers with the power to spread their experiences to others will

Here’s what resonated from Ozzie’s new business model – The Internet Services Disruption:

“Products must now embrace a “discover, learn, try, buy, recommend cycle –sometimes with one of those phases being free, another ad-supported, and yet another being subscription-based.”

The model Ozzie’s outlines reveals a flaw in the long standing relationship continuum model. I’m having challenges posting images today so just add that to list of action items and do it next year.

So, how do you promote discovery in your business? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

In the meantime, I hope you’ll consider giving GCast.com a try.

In term of my review …

I give GCast.com high scores overall for user and graphical interface design as well as strong ties to direct response messaging. The registration process is so simple and it only took 4 minutes to activate and record a message – that includes the two-minutes to actually record a message!!

There are a few minor tweaks I suggest including:

1. Include the word FREE in the main link to the sign up page from the homepage
2. Once individuals have confirmed a registration, I would modify the order of content on the http://www.gcast.com/vxml/signup by moving the copy at the top of the page to the bottom. Why? During my first experience with the process, I immediately tried to start recording a podcast before I had entered in my telephone number and digital pin. You need to individuals to activate by entering in two additional pieces of data and clicking on finished. My expectation following my registration confirmation was that I was ready to record. When I was asked for my 10 digit phone number you almost lost me.
3. Related to this page is how to tailor the information for individuals who are returning.
4. A minor upgrade related to recording is telling individuals upfront on the phone recording page that they only have 120 seconds to record a message.
5. A link to talk to business development team members. Cause I believe you’re going to be getting a bunch of advertisers who’ll want to have a private-labeled page.
6. I would recommend checking on email compatibility. I wasn’t able to view the content of the confirmation email using my web-based email reader.