simple rundown:
1. find your show ID number within iTunes
2. enter the itunes ping url including your unique ID (https://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZFinance.woa/wa/pingPodcast?id=YOUR SHOW ID NUMBER HERE), into your browser
3. receive confirm and smile (smile suggested but not required).
detailed tutorial:
Ex.1 Right Click on Your Album Art for Your Show's URL
Recently I helped another podcaster get their podcast listed in the iTunes store. She forwarded me the email of the confirmation a week later (typically it takes a week to get approved) and I noticed something in her confirmation that I didn’t remember seeing in my own confirm email, a URL specifically for notifying iTunes that you have a new episode posted to the web (i.e. pinging itunes).
Typically, iTunes will go out and check your feed at least once every 24 hours in order to see if you posted anything new. But perhaps you want to tell iTunes to go out and get your newest episode that you just posted to the web instead of waiting for iTunes to do it on its own. Well this tip is a great way to do that.
The first thing you’ll need to do is find out what your show ID number is. This number is the number you’ll see at the end of your iTunes URL. If you still have your confirmation email, it should be listed in there. However, a very easy way to find this number is to go to your show’s page within iTunes and right click on your show’s album art (see example 1).
Here is the link for my show in itunes: http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=312884767
Your link* will look the same except for the numbers (shown in bold) at the end of the URL. The number shown here is the ID number for The Podcasters Studio (feel free to share it):)
You’ll then simply take the ID number for your show and place it on the end of this web address: https://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZFinance.woa/wa/pingPodcast?id=YOUR SHOW ID NUMBER HERE
Ex. 2 - The page you will see if you have correctly pinged itunes
Simply type or copy and paste this URL into your browser** with your own unique show ID on the end and if entered correctly, you’ll receive a confirmation page (see example 2) showing you that your show on iTunes has been notified of your most recent post (i.e. Pinged).
