by Kathleen Gage The Street Smarts Speaker and Author

With the right product or service, traditional radio is a great medium for marketing, but has a very short shelf life. Traditional radio can be costly and limits you to a thirty to sixty second spot.

A great alternative is Internet radio, also known as Web radio. As the name implies, web radio is a broadcasting service transmitted via the Internet. Although some web radio stations correspond with a traditional radio station, many web stations are completely independent and only broadcast on the Internet.

Internet radio is an extremely cost-effective way to market and promote your products and services. Whether your genre is business, women’s issues, spiritual, health, wellness, financial, or dog training, you will find shows of every description looking for guests.

Some web radio programs will charge you a fee to be a guest, but most do not cost anything. If you choose to pay for a guest spot, the fee can be put under the category of advertising costs.

If you are going to invest financially, whether it is $5 or $500, do your homework to find out if the investment will be beneficial. In some cases, the investment will be well worth it. But if you are not careful, you can foolishly spend money and gain little or no return on your investment.

When looking for a Web radio program for your product or services, consider the following:

• What is the station’s market reach?

• Who is the market?

• What are the marketing strategies of the radio program?

• Who are some of the other guests that have been interviewed?

• How experienced is the host?

Although it may seem like you can get incredible reach with web radio (and in many cases you can), you can waste a lot of time and money following false promises.

Since there are free services on the Internet that allow virtually anyone to start a web based radio program, practice due diligence to make sure you are investing time and money wisely. There are some online services available where someone can literally start a station in a matter of minutes. The challenge with this is you have lots of “rookies” claiming to be well-positioned in the market place. So again, do your homework!

On the other hand, if you are dealing with a professional host and station, there are ample benefits. A well-positioned show and station can gain you instant access to a global market for practically no cost. You can quickly become a recognized expert in a very short period of time through the power of web radio.

Although it does take time to find great places to be interviewed, it can be well worth the time invested especially if you are what is considered a perfect guest.

Great guests are more difficult to find than most people realize. If you are a star guest, chances are you will be invited back again and again. You may also be referred to other web radio hosts. Imagine what this can do to increase your market reach and lower your cost per lead conversion rate!

Treat any radio interview as a great opportunity - because it is! If you are using web radio as an integral part of your marketing mix, invest in the services of a good media coach. Your coach will be able to help you polish your message in a very professional and engaging manner.

Once you have secured an interview, make it easy for the host to work with you. Provide the information the host needs as soon as possible. Prepare a short bio and a selection of questions to the host. This gives them an idea of what to ask. Make sure that you can be clearly heard while being broadcast; don’t use a cell phone or headset during the interview.

In most cases, you will be interviewed to inform, educate, entertain or inspire, not to sell something. Speak clearly, avoid industry jargon, shut out background noise and most of all, have fun!

If you have not included web radio in your overall marketing, it may be time to rethink this. With new stations popping up every day, show hosts are always on the lookout for great stories and people to feature. Why not you?

Kathleen Gage is a bestselling author, keynote speaker and Internet Marketing mentor who works with organizations who want to increase their market position, sales and level of achievement. She is the creator of The Directory of Internet Radio Shows.

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