At Wired Journalists we’ve started a series of tutorials to help journalists get wired and learn new skills.

Many of these tutorials will be of interest to beat bloggers. The first tutorial is how to quickly, easily and cheaply start a podcast. Podcasting is a lot easier to do than many people think and can be a great way for a beat reporter to diversify content (and advertiser love them too).

Some of the top podcasts like Buzz Out Loud employ beat blogging to help report. If you think writing a few stories a day is tough, try producing a daily 40-minute podcast on tech. Buzz Out Loud relies heavily on its user community to help send in tips. They are great at two-way communication through a variety of mediums.

Eric Page, another Leadeboard winner, used podcasts and weekly chats to help diversify his beat reporting for the Quad-City Times. 

Please let us know of what kinds of tutorials you are interested in. Relevant tutorials, like podcasting, will show up at BeatBlogging.Org.