Do you want to learn Podcasting? Well, we have got you covered.

The podcasting industry is growing at a fast rate. It is because of its increasing popularity throughout the world. In the United States, there are 51% of podcast listeners in a month, with a minimum family income of $75,000 per year.

Podcasting is a personal way of delivering content that provides the perfect opportunity for reaching your targeted audience.

In this thorough guide, we have covered the basics of Podcasting. It will assist you in developing an in-depth understanding of Podcasting and how you can start your Podcast.

Steps to starting your Podcast

If you are a novice and do not have the know-how to launch your Podcast, don’t worry. Here, you will find a step-wise guide to launch your Podcast. One very crucial thing to keep in mind while starting your Podcast is to be patient. You cannot rush through the steps and expect to be successful.

Take your time and gather all the essential things mentioned below, and only then should you start your Podcast.

1. Come up with an innovative name for your Podcast
2. Find your Niche
3. Develop a cover picture for your Podcast
4. Develop the intro and outro music
5. Get all the necessary equipment
6. Find a suitable environment
7. Record the Podcast
8. Invest in a Podcast Hosting
9. Upload your Podcast
10. Publish the Podcast on different platforms: Google Podcast & iTunes
11. Find ways to promote the Podcast.

A Few Matters to Keep in Mind before getting started

Before starting your Podcast, you need to know what you want to share in it. Podcasting is a highly competitive platform. Therefore, it is not technical like Blogging and is entirely based on what you share and how you share it. Although it is a fast-growing field, not many people think of beginning their own Podcast. So, if you are thinking of starting your Podcast, it will give you a chance to do something different.

Podcast listeners from high-income backgrounds are consistently rising by the day. So it is also a very effective way of promoting products and services to a targeted audience as they will trust your recommendation.

So keep these three factors in mind before starting your Podcast:

Educate, Inform and Entertain

You might have a lot of knowledge on the niche you select for your Podcast. But if you deliver all the information in a boring manner, your audience will never listen to you. Your presentation should be of a good educator as well as an entertainer.

When you record a podcast, try to imagine yourself in the listener’s position and then think about how you would like the Podcast to be. Your aim should be to hold the interests of the listeners throughout the Podcast. So, remember to make your Podcast informative, engaging, and entertaining, and bam! You are ready to commence on your Podcast journey.

Basics of Podcasting

So, we will start by discussing the things that you should keep ready before recording your Podcast:

1. Podcast name

A good Podcast name should always be continued by a tagline. It helps in engaging the audience right from the beginning. It also increases the curiosity of the audience about the content of the Podcast. For instance, if your Podcast is about Supernatural stories, the name and tagline can go like Supernatural tales Podcast – The Horrors of the night.

Secondly, there are three kinds of Podcast names that you can choose from.

• Personal Podcast names – If your Podcast is about yourself or relates to you somehow, you can name your Podcast after yourself. For instance, if the Podcast is about your brand.
• Creative Podcast names – If you are someone who wants to showcase their creativity in front of their listeners, start from the Podcast name. A creative Podcast name holds the attention of the listeners right from the start.
• Descriptive Podcast name – When your Podcast is about a particular niche, a descriptive name will help your listeners understand what to expect from it. It helps in finding a target audience with interests in that niche.

Ultimately, you can conduct a small survey with people from your targeted age group and interests. It will help you realize how much your audience will relate to your selected podcast name.

2. Podcast Subtitle

A podcast subtitle will help your audience understand the context of your Podcast. It should therefore be crisp, short, and to the point.

3. Cover design for your Podcast

The cover design of your Podcast plays a significant role in determining the growth and brand value of your Podcast. There are two covers for which you will need graphic designs: Channel Cover Art and Episode Cover Art.

You will need channel art for every new podcast show you upload. However, if you have no idea about design covers, you can simply follow our lead:

Try to understand a little about colour psychology. Human beings associate colours with certain feelings. So you should pick a colour for your channel that is appropriate to your target audience.

iTunes has specific requirements for Art covers:

• The artwork needs to be of a minimum of 1400 x 1400 pixels and a max of 3000 x 3000 pixels.
• dpi has to be 72
• File format can be PNG or JPEG but should consist of the file extensions.
• Should be in RGB colourspace

4. Intro and Outro for Podcast

Adding an Intro and Outro to your Podcast adds a flavour of uniqueness to your Podcast. It is an integral part of the Podcast as it helps in introducing and concluding the Podcast.

There are many services that offer to prepare the intro and outro for your Podcast.

5. Proper Podcasting Equipment and software

It is significant to ensure that all equipment and requirements of recording the Podcast are met. The quality of the Podcast depends on it. The primary requirements for recording the Podcast are:

• A soundproof place
• Good quality microphone
• Recording and editing software
• Hosting

A soundproof place – There should be no distractions or other sounds when you record your Podcast.

Microphone – A Good microphone ensures the voice quality of the Podcast. One of the best mics for Podcasting is Blue Yeti. It has multi-purpose use. It can be used for solo, guest recordings, as well as group recordings.

Recording Software – Recording software enables you to plug in the mic and start recording. There are many Podcast recording software in the market. Some of the best ones are:

• Auphonic: This app is perfect for podcast recordings. It is supported on iOS ad Android. It has inbuilt features to determine the amount of noise in the room. It also enables the user to make changes in the setup. It also allows both recording and editing of the Podcast.
• Camtasia: Camtasia is quite famous for podcast recordings for its user-friendly interface. This software is supported in both Mac and Windows and offers paid service.
• Garageband: Garageband is supported on most devices. It offers free services and is highly user-friendly for both recording and editing videos.

Hosting – After recording the Podcast, the next important step is to host it on a podcast hosting service. It is with the help of the hosting service that your Podcast will get an RSS URL. It is crucial to publish the Podcast on different platforms like iTunes, Google Podcasts, etc.

There are many Podcast Hosting services available online. Some of the best ones are:

• BuzzSprout
• Podbean
• Anchor
• Audioboom
• Soundcloud

6. Recording and Editing your First Podcast

Recording – By now, you know about all the things that are important for recording your Podcast. So when you start recording your Podcast, make sure you are ready with the following:

• Topic Ideas: Keep a minimum of 10 ready ideas for podcasts. Also, When you launch your first Podcast, you should have the next three shows ready to maintain consistency.
• Welcome message: Your Podcast needs to begin with an introduction about you and why they should listen to your Podcast.
• Script for every topic: Every podcast topic should be ready with an outline of the narrative and the main agenda of the Podcast.
• Recording Schedule: Maintain a recording schedule for your podcasts. Many users record one Podcast daily, although you can also record multiple podcasts to maintain the consistency of your show.

Editing – Editing your Podcast might seem a bit difficult in the beginning, but it gets easier with practice. Also, you can hire a professional podcast editor to edit your podcasts.

7. Reaching the target audience

Podcast uploading is the final step for your podcasts to reach out to your target audience.

When you upload your Podcast to the podcast submission sites for the first time (iTunes, Google Podcasts, Sticher, and Soundcloud), you need to upload the RSS feed. Afterwards, you just have to upload the Podcast to the host, and it will get automatically uploaded to the sites.

8. Podcast Promotion

After the Podcast gets uploaded on different podcast platforms like Google Podcasts and iTunes, it is in the open. Now, the only thing left is for you to promote your Podcast and let everybody know about it.

* Social Media Marketing platforms are among the best platforms for promoting podcasts. So, you can share the link to your Podcast on all of these social media platforms so that you can reach out to your target audience:
Facebook
Instagram
Twitter
Pinterest
YouTube

* If you have a blog with a high search engine ranking, you can also blog about your Podcast.
* Investing in paid advertisements can also help in reaching out to the target audience.

A Few Additional tips

These steps are sufficient for getting your Podcast started. But here are a few additional things that you should keep in mind if you are a beginner in Podcasting:

1. Chart out a plan for publishing your podcasts
2. Always keep a backup podcast ready
3. Never forget to mention the website link in the intro and the outro
4. Publish the Podcast on YouTube by converting it to a video
5. Promote your podcasts by inviting popular names in the podcast industry as guests to your shows.

Final Takeaway:

In conclusion, it can be concluded that if you follow the aforementioned steps, your Podcast is bound to be a success. All you have to do is be reliable and creative. Initially, your podcasts might not be as successful as you want them to be, but you cannot give up. If your content is really good, the listeners will keep on returning for more. This will also generate a new audience.

 

FAQs

1. How to start a Podcast without paying?

Ans. There are many online platforms that let you publish your podcasts for free. For instance, there is Anchor.fm which is a free podcast publishing platform. Also, it is perfect for beginners.

2. What are the best tools for starting a podcast?

Ans. There are many tools that are suitable for beginners to use in Podcasting. A few of them are:

• BuzzSprout – It is a Podcasting host. It is suitable for new as well as experienced podcasters. BuzzSprout offers various plans: free as well as paid. Also, their services include the WordPress plugin and several guides, which are very helpful for beginners who are new to Podcasting.
• Blue Yeti – It is a tool for recording audios for Podcasting. It is a highly efficient tool as it ensures the high quality of the recordings.
• Headliner – It is a tool that helps in the promotion of podcasts. It helps in making videos of the podcasts. This way, the podcasts can be popularized on YouTube as well on other sites.

3. Is my phone suitable for recording podcasts?

Ans. Of course, Nowadays mobile phones come with highly developed audio recording systems. This has made it easier to record podcasts from phones. Also, there is an app known as Anchor.fm which is perfect for recording podcasts via phone. To use this app, you need to connect your phone with a microphone.