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A simple google search on “How to start a podcast” will reveal lots of results concerning the topic. This points to the fact that podcasts are increasingly becoming popular these days. Thanks to streaming platforms like iTunes, Tidal, Spotify, and other audio streaming platforms, podcasts are all over. Due to its popularity and effectiveness, lots of businesses and brands are taking advantage of this tool to increase their customer base and initiate profitable strategies.
The ideal way that a business owner or a brand influencer can develop a close connection with their listeners or potential customers is through a podcast.
One massive benefit of a podcast is that you tend to get the full attention of your audience.
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This is a more efficient method for brand engagement than a bunch of written words in a white background on a website or a blog.
A podcast will help you to add a human touch to the relationship which you have with your customers.
Some statistics to know about podcasts
The efficiency of a podcast can best explain with the use of verified statistics.
Based on a reliable study, approximately 42 million people in the United States listened to a podcast every week in 2017.
Furthermore, it got reported that this number has kept on increasing year-on-year.
Moreover, statistics have it that about 112 million people in the United States have each listened to a podcast before.
With these fantastic statistics, there is no better time to begin a podcast channel to promote your business.
It is important to state that podcasts aren’t just popular in the United States alone; they are a global phenomenon.
However, they are massively popular in the US, because of its connection to the iPod/iPhone.
What is a podcast?
A podcast is a form of audio or video broadcast that contains vital and insightful information about a particular topic.
While podcasts are predominantly audio files, there are also video podcasts.
The preference for one of the two has to do more with the suitability and effectiveness.
Many business brands choose video podcasts over their audio counterparts to connect with their audience through sound and images.
It is important to note that podcasts where initially audiobooks, music, religious prayers, meditational tips, motivational words, etc.
Podcasts are now being used in the commercial sense to promote businesses, brands, and other things.
Commercially podcasts are used to provide information about a specific topic such as sports, travel, or business.
If you have a podcast channel, you have a place (usually online) where people can access your podcast files.
Podcasts can be on Spotify, iTunes, and other audio streaming platforms.
At other times, they can host on the official websites of the podcast creator(s).
Video podcasts are mainly the conversion of audio podcasts into video and uploaded on YouTube.
Video podcasts can also upload on official websites.
Anyone in any location can use podcasts.
Because of their flexible formats and system of distribution, podcasts are considerably versatile.
This way, they can quickly get to your audience whether you choose the video or audio format.
People can listen to your podcasts from their homes, the gym, the workplaces (your boss will never know), their cars, or a plane.
However, if you do want to grow your audience at an aggressive rate, it is recommended that you have multiple platforms to distribute your podcast.
Some of the best platforms to submit your podcasts are Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, IHeart Radio, Spotify, Podchaser, Stitcher, Castbox, PocketCasts, TuneIn, Overcast, Castro, Vimeo, YouTube, and Alexa.
Podcasts can use to reach your potential customer, since the number of people that listen to podcasts increases every year.
People are so fond of the communication system that a study verified that people who listen to podcast episodes spend approximately five hours every week listening to these podcasts.
Therefore, why wouldn’t a podcast be a suitable medium to get your business out there?
As an increasing amount of people listen to podcasts, more entrepreneurs are beginning to see how massively it can impact a business.
This has led to a huge demand for the requirements needed to start a podcast.
This post will reveal to you the best way to start a podcast.
The origin of the podcasts.
The podcast was a word that became popular with the increasing popularity of iTunes.
It was derived from the word “iPod,” which, upon its release, caused an increase in the creation of audio presentations in the “spoken word” format known as “podcasts” or “poddies.”
Based on Apple’s innovation, people began using both words “iPod/Podcast” as popular ways of describing files that are produced purely as audio.
However, with mainstream usage, the word “podcasts” is currently used to describe any regular sound or video file created by a host regularly to a selected group of people or an audience.
One more benefit of a podcast is to build your reputation from the start and put yourself in a position where people regard you as a voice of authority in that niche.
A podcast can help drive massive traffic to your online retail store or can be used to focus people’s attention on a specific subject.
One of the most significant benefits of the podcast is that they create a dynamic medium with which you can deliver your dose of inspiration to your audience daily.
To start a podcast, you need just minimal setup.
This set up does not involve any technical knowledge or money.
If you want to know how to start a successful podcast, this guide has all the information you shall need to start a podcast.
For those who have no idea how to start a podcast, create their podcasts, or need more information on the subject, you will find this guide on podcasts pretty useful.
Tips and tricks on how to start a podcast
Due to the level of saturation of the podcasting industry, you may be thinking that you are a little too late to begin your podcasts.
However, this is fine.
It is never too late to start creating a personal relationship with your audience or promoting your brand through podcasting.
Despite the crowded nature of the industry, there is still enough space for everyone.
Of course, the market is quite crowded with lots of competition.
However, if you carefully plan and thoughtfully structure your episodes, this will go a long way toward running a successful podcast.
The following are some excellent hosting tips for your podcasts that will help you start your podcast series.
In planning your podcast, you faced challenging questions like “How do I set up a podcast?” or “For whom am I setting up a podcast?” When creating a podcast, there is generally a confusion whether you should have an audience or not.
And even when you have an audience, what should your podcasts focus on.
The following tips will help you know some critical things about how to start a podcast.
Find a niche for your podcast
The first thing that you should consider when creating a podcast is to find a suitable niche for your podcast.
You could already have a business that you intend to grow with the podcasts.
Your business area will then become your niche.
For instance, if your business deals with sports products, you may choose your niche as Sports or Sports equipment/merchandise.
Or maybe you sell health and wellness products; then your niche should be health and wellness.
However, numerous other people decide to begin their podcasts channels without any business.
These types of people aim to use this podcasting tool as their business.
This is where choosing a niche becomes essential.
A niche will keep your podcasts limited to one subject matter only.
Choosing a niche will certainly help you streamline the contents of your podcast.
This way, you become an authority on a selected niche.
For example, the average apple podcast has a specific niche.
This makes it easier for your podcast to viewed by subscribers looking to consume your podcasts’ contents.
Rather than trying to touch on a wide range of topics with your podcast, it would help immensely to select a niche.
You choose a niche so that your consumers can find you using a simple keyword relevant to that niche.
These are the consumers of your podcast episodes; therefore, you want to make sure that you capture them and keep them hooked with your podcast channel.
Know your reason(s) for starting a podcast
Before deciding to start a podcast, you should ask yourself, “Why do I want to start a podcast.”
Are you trying to make money from podcasting?
Are you an entrepreneur looking to increase your brand awareness through podcasting?
Or you could decide to start a podcast to express your passion for a specific hobby such as blockbuster film, coding and programming, music, sports, and so on.
There are several reasons why people decide to begin a podcast.
People are aware of the efficiency of podcasting and have made a smart decision to utilize its advantages.
A podcast is an ideal way of building authority on a niche.
It also helps you to provide your target audience and customers with useful and engaging content.
Some of the people decide to create their podcasts out of their hobbies.
This could be something that you have lots of passion for.
Whatever your reason for beginning a podcast is, you will have to remind yourself about this continually.
This way, you keep yourself motivated, even when you find it quite challenging to create more episodes.
Decide on your podcasting audience
When planning your podcast, you have to decide who your audience or the target demographics for your podcast.
It is essential to determine the audience of your podcasting series.
If you do not know your audience and your reason for creating the podcasts, you do not have a chance to grow your audience.
If you are approaching podcasting from selling fitness and health products, you could create your podcast around exercise and fitness and health, wellness, and dieting.
Then this way, your potential audience will be those people looking to eat healthily, shed off extra body fat, build their bodies, or those who love to exercise.
If you are creating a podcast based on a particular sport or a sports club, your audience could be fans of that sports or fans of a specific club.
For instance, if I like Juventus, I might create a podcast that centers on the club, Cristiano Ronaldo, and other great players.
This way, my potential audience will be residents of Torino (Juventus is in Torino, Italy), fans of football, Juventus fans, and personal admirers of Cristiano Ronaldo.
This way, I could quickly grow my audience because I picked them from four different categories.
Furthermore, when creating content for your podcasts, you have to keep every episode in line with what most of your audience will like to see.
All episodes of your podcast should keep to issues and matters related to your niche.
When creating a podcast, you should ask yourself if this is what your audience wants.
It would be best to create something that your audience will find valuable when they tune into your podcast series.
You do not start a podcast about Indian foods and begin discussing the benefits of cryptocurrency the next day.
You must stick to one niche/subject matter.
Starting your podcast with an audience
Most people who set out to begin a podcast often ask themselves if they should start their podcasting programs with or without an audience.
Some people have some audience before they begin their podcast episodes.
People who have brands or businesses already have an existing audience before starting their podcast series.
The same thing goes for authors, former athletes, or musicians.
These people already have a growing fan base, which they subsequently turn into an audience for their podcast series.
When you have a fanbase that you have created around another passion, this is an opportunity to help you create a strong fan base or an audience for your podcast.
This will work perfectly well if your audience finds your new podcasting venture relevant.
One perfect example of this is Michelle Obama
Who already has an audience as the former first lady of the United States of America.
She plans on beginning an apple podcast platform where she would be discussing various subject matters.
Now guess who her audience will be, a wide range of people drawn from friends, family, ex-colleagues, politicians, former school mates, and admirers of Barack Obama.
This is an affluent audience drawn from different walks of life spanning a broad range of demographics.
Soon whether her apple podcast platform becomes relevant to her current audience remains seen, but she has an audience to begin her apple podcast series.
Starting a podcast with an audience has its advantages.
You could ask your audience about some of their most passionate topics about your niche.
You could ask them about their pain points or their most challenging experience around your niche.
The answers they give will use to create useful and engaging content for your podcast episodes.
Furthermore, you may decide to know more about your audience; you could want to know about their location, location, and favorite podcast programs.
Starting a podcast without an audience
It is normal to want to start a podcast without having a fanbase or audience as a lot of people who decide to start their podcasting series fall in this category.
If several things will stop you from beginning your podcast, not having an audience should never be one of these reasons.
Most podcasters I know (hey, even YouTube experts do it) talk into space.
However, if you religiously follow the instructions outlined in this post, this can be done effortlessly.
You just need to have the passion and the strength to execute it.
You can begin your podcasts series by talking into space.
However, you have to make it seem as though you are talking to someone out there (Of course, you are).
Do this for as long as you can, and you will find your audience.
It is a matter of faking it until you make it.
Most people who subscribe to podcasts do not care whether or not they have once listened to you.
They tend to press the play button if they feel that you have something of value to offer.
This is the primary reason why you should always make your initial podcast episodes as charming and captivating as possible.
Sometimes, they are deciding factors whether you get to keep your audience or not.
Make your podcasts episodes worth your audience’s time
There are different ways that you can make every one of your podcast episodes worth your audience’s time.
Whether you decide to help people shed off those extra body fat (as a personal trainer), or presenting an informative interview with a successful entrepreneur, you provide value for your audience by keeping them informed and entertained.
You should never forget the fun part of your podcast.
If you create informative and entertaining podcast contents, you are well on your way to creating a successful podcast platform.
Your podcast will be successful because, not only do you make it worth your audience’s time, you also give them different reasons to subscribe and keep coming back to your platform for more content.
It would be best if you considered this very early on when planning for your podcasts.
Let your audience have a preview of every podcast
Though some people may like this act, turning on the microphone and just rambling off about the topic of the day can be pretty annoying.
If you plan to create numerous podcast episodes, you need to set clear expectations for the listeners by having a unique and uniform format for your podcast episodes.
It would be best if you also provided some sort of preview to your podcasts before you view this in advance.
One great way to run a successful podcast and maintain the podcast is to create unique content regularly.
Every one of your podcast entries should focus on a new topic of discussion or subject matter.
What are the elements of a successful podcast?
Whether you are planning a Spotify or an apple podcast, your podcast should have every ideal element of a successful podcast.
Did you stumble across somebody’s podcasts online, and you loved it?
This is because podcasters tend to incorporate the basic and optimal features required by a standard podcasting platform.
When hosting your podcasts, you should observe the standard length and posting frequency for all podcasts.
How frequently should you create your podcasts?
Some people would be quick to follow a weekly or monthly posting schedule.
Depending on the number of visitors that you want to reach out to, you may have to create your podcasts more often than necessary to keep your targeted audience engaged.
For the best results, the ideal frequency that you should publish your podcast is every week.
About 44 percent of the best 25 podcasts publish an episode every week.
Alternatively, two podcasts every week is also ideal.
The ideal length of the podcast needed for every episode is about 22 minutes.
Twenty-two minutes is the only amount of your time that you can engage the average listener before losing interest in your podcasts.
Furthermore, the successful podcasts get published either on a Tuesday or a Wednesday.
However, Tuesday is the most popular day that numerous podcasts get published.
Different types of podcasting formats to choose from:
To start the podcast, you have to choose from the various available podcast formats.
The formats, however, depend on the nature of your podcasts.
If you are figuring out how to start a successful podcast, this is one of the critical decisions you will have to make.
The following are the different available formats for potential podcasters to select from.
1) The interview-style podcast
The podcast, which takes the format of an interview, has got to be one of the most popular formats for podcasting.
In this format, you have either just one or two podcasting hosts who interview several guests on every episode.
This type of format is highly popular since you only need little or no logistics to get it off the ground.
In this format, you typically invite a successful or resourceful personality in your chosen niche.
You would then have them talk about their experiences as well as their strategies for success.
There are lots of issues you could discuss with your guest on your podcast episodes.
However, to present a useful podcast episode, you need to prepare adequately.
By preparation
We mean sufficiently researching your podcast guests.
You could get on LinkedIn and pick up some interesting facts about them.
Alternatively, you could ask them to send in some professional information about their work experience.
This professional information can then use to create several insightful questions that you can ask them.
Sure enough, to start a podcast with an interview format, you would have to put your soft skills into use.
These soft skills will help you in convincing your podcast guests to take part in your episodes.
Your soft skills will also come in handy in interviewing your guests.
Furthermore, you will need these soft skills to present your podcast episodes regularly.
Now back on the type of guests, you could interview, you can choose an expert in your podcasting niche and get them to talk about exciting things that your audience will find insightful.
One great way to also get questions to ask your guests is to get your audience to send in some questions they would like to ask the guest.
If your podcast series already has a collection of loyal followers, you could get them to send in some questions that they would ask the guest to provide insightful answers.
This way, you get your audience engaged to your podcasting series, while ensuring they increase.
Several podcasting platforms make use of the interview style to present their podcast episodes.
For example, Jero Jujaarvi of infrapioneer uses his podcast series to interview Civil Engineering professionals worldwide.
This method is convenient because sometimes it is done over video calls or video conferencing.
Additionally, you could study the strategies of Andrew Youderian, who runs eCommerceFuel.
Andrew uses his informative platform to keep his audience engaged by interviewing resourceful, popular, and successful e-commerce experts.
2) The one presenter podcast
If you have no idea how to start a podcasting series, the podcast involving a single host might be the most excellent option.
The one presenter podcast series is technically in the form of a monologue.
By a monologue, you have just one person, you as the host running the show.
Now for this type of podcasting, the challenge lies in the kind of presentation format you follow.
It could be the format that is on your opinions or related to news snippets.
You could decide to use the question and answer format or a different type of podcasting format.
But whatever format you choose, it should be presented by just one individual.
Technically, the one presenter podcast can produce faster because you need just yourself and a few logistics to make this happen.
Furthermore, you should be familiar with the processes involved in recording a podcast and the subject you are discussing on your show.
The one presenter podcast format can become monotonous or tedious if you do not know how to switch things up if you are a boring presenter.
You should never come across to your audience as dull.
If you do this, you will lose them “as fast as a hot knife slices through butter.”
The primary aim of your podcast series is to grow your business or to expand your audience.
To achieve this, you will need more than your professional insights and several technological tools.
You should know how to keep your audience engaged in your show in every episode.
Your audience is the lifeline of your business, so you do not want to lose them.
With so many competitors out there, losing your audience is bad for your business.
One good example of the one presenter format is Pat Flynn, who runs the “Smart Passive Income” podcasting episodes.
Watch how he uses his enchanting character and business insights to make you want to ask for more of his episodes.
Pat uses a combination of professional instruction and inspiration while keeping his listeners informed on the best ways to promote their online businesses and stay several steps ahead of the eCommerce curve as an entrepreneur.
As a professional with colossal business insights, Pat talks about his experiments from a personal perspective.
The result he achieved to help his audience create a business that will help them make lots of passive income.
While there are several amazing one presenter podcasters, Pat Flynn is a fantastic example for podcasting start-ups looking to copy his fantastic recipe for business success.
3) Creating a podcast with multiple hosts
Whether you need to create a Spotify or an apple podcast, the multiple hosts’ podcast is an excellent alternative.
This podcast format involves the use of two hosts or more as presenters on the program.
Creating a podcast episode with multiple hosts provides a slightly more dynamic show than a single presenter.
In this format of the podcast, the pressure is taken off you to become very exciting and engaging.
If you need to start a podcast and do not know how to start with any of the above formats, this format could be the best alternative.
You could get your business partners, or just about any resourceful person to get the show running.
With multiple hosts podcasts, you have different insightful perspectives on one subject matter.
Often than never, your audience will prefer your podcast episodes to include various hosts.
This is a preferable format if you want to enhance your show and grow your business.
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Podcast series, which have multiple hosts, presents discussions on a subject from different people.
This leads to different perspectives and opinions, providing a rich and educative insight on the topic.
The multiple host podcast series
A way of entertaining your listeners if they prefer debates and conversations rather than just running the entire show.
This format keeps the pressure off you as a single presenter to be as exciting as possible and flowing with ideas.
One great example of this type of podcast format is the podcast program known as “The Fizzle Show.”
This show has three friends who act as co-costs.
The friends, Chase Reeves, Corbett Barr, and Caleb Wojcik give out useful business advice that teaches their audience how to grow their businesses into profitable brands.
These are the formats for presenting your podcasting series.
You should know that in podcasting, you can experiment with each one of these formats and never get to limit yourself to a single one.
You have the freedom to mix these formats and match them according to your subject matter.
These will take your audience by surprise because they will never know what to expect from you.
Many eCommerce podcasters use a mixture of the various podcasting styles.
One excellent podcaster that uses a blend of the different podcasting formats is Andrew Youderian, who focuses on the eCommerce niche.
As one of the most excellent eCommerce podcasters, Andrew uses a mixture of solo commentary and insightful interviews to keep his listeners mesmerized and keep them asking for more.
Tips on choosing audio or video format for your podcasting program
One major challenge that podcasting start-ups face is whether to create audio or video podcasts.
There are both pros and cons of the two podcasting formats.
The following comparisons show the contrasts between both formats.
Ease of consumption:
People will tune into your podcasts more based on the ease of use.
For instance, audio podcasts are much easier to listen to for people engaged with other activities.
They should be able to consume your podcasts while engaged in simple home chores, while in the gym, when at work when jogging, or commuting to work.
The odds are your audience is in one of these locations, about 95% of the time.
This makes it easy to reach your audience quickly with audio podcasts.
On the other hand, podcasts similar to YouTube videos are difficult to consume, especially in the workplace where you have other tasks to do.
Available platforms:
The available platforms for submitting your podcasts will help you decide whether you want your podcasts to be in the video format of the audio format.
For audio podcasts, there are different platforms to submit your podcasts.
However, for video podcasts, the dominant platform is only YouTube, which gives you limited options but a great way to promote your podcasts.
Audio podcasts can convert into a YouTube video:
Most new podcasters favor their podcast episodes in the audio format because it can be easily converted to a video later.
With an app such as Headliner, podcasters can easily convert their podcasts to a video format and add this to Vimeo or YouTube.
Distraction:
If you create your podcasts in the format of audio, be ready for your audience always to ditch your podcasts for other more pressing tasks.
Video podcasts like YouTube videos keep your audience engaged both by hearing and seeing.
With an audio format, people who are listening in on a show may become distracted and tune out of your podcast at any slight distraction.
One thing to consider when creating a podcast is the shareability of the different formats.
There are lots of platforms available for audio podcasts.
However, some platforms are meant for only iOS compatible devices and will never play on an Android device and vice versa.
With this, the sharing of podcasts becomes difficult.
With YouTube, people can easily watch your videos from any phone.
Suitability for your guests:
When interviewing guests for your podcasts, they will be more likely to be on your podcast if it were a mere audio recording rather than a video recording.
With a visual podcast, people tend to worry about their appearance.
Lots of people are not relaxed when faced with a camera.
Primarily, you tend to get more information out of guests if they are in a comfortable mood.
Therefore, making your guests feel more comfortable means you have to choose an audio podcast over a video podcast sometimes.
This way, you can get the most out of them.
However, some guests will be happy to be on camera.
Other times, you may come across shy guests who will turn down a video podcast.
How to start your podcast?
Before you make up your mind to start a podcast, you would have made up your mind on your podcast’s primary subject matter/niche.
Most people who create podcasts, already have an existing business before deciding to complement this with a podcast channel.
However, if you do not have a business and you want to begin a podcast, perhaps, the best thing to do before everything else is to decide on your main subject of discussion on each episode.
Deciding on your main topic of discussion is quite different from knowing how to start your podcast.
If your core business function is the selling of phone covers, it is better to start a podcast about tech subjects or new phones than create a podcast on phone covers.
Furthermore
When your target audience is people who have a thing for traveling, you may want to start a podcast based on traveling, tourism, or hospitality.
You could be getting ideas around affordable Airbnb accommodations, best travel destinations, best cheap hotels, and so on.
Another primary influence of the topic of your podcast will be your level of interest in that podcast.
It could something that you are passionate about or something that you have a great deal of expertise on.
Then subsequently, before you proceed to start the podcast, you should check to see if you have enough content in your chosen niche to speak about.
One of the first things recommended here is to create a list for about 8 to 10 episodes.
You could check popular podcast service providers like Spotify and iTunes so see what type of podcasts are trending on the platforms.
Check the popularity of each one of the podcasts.
You could see the number of interested followers that they have on several social media channels.
Additionally, you could also check the number of people that reviewed the podcasts – this is the right way you know whether people are interested in the topic.
What do you need to start a podcast?
Before you set out to record your podcast episodes, there are several essential things that you should get ready for your podcasts.
They are:
Your Podcast Artwork:
When learning how to start a podcast?
One of the critical things that you should know is that you should have an appealing podcast artwork.
With tons of podcasts out there, one of the vital elements that would improve your podcast’s visibility is its fantastic artwork.
You should invest some money into creating am persuasive artwork for your podcast.
Now in creating your podcast artwork, you should choose proper elements to complement your artwork.
Since most podcasts have small thumbnails as their icons, you may want to make the fonts and images to be sufficiently large for people to spot them easily.
There is a size limit for the ideal podcast thumbnail.
You could use 2048 x 2048 as the maximum image size.
While a minimum size of 1400 x 1400 is the least, you can have.
To do this, you can get a graphic designer to produce an appealing cover for your podcast niche.
The Name of the Podcast:
Before you launch to start a podcast, you should try to give your podcast a memorable name.
The name should appeal to your potential listeners (audience) and tell people what your podcast is all about.
For instance, you could have, “The Sports shop podcast.”
It is quite evident that this podcast is entirely on sports and nothing more.
This way, you would know the particular niche when searching for a specific podcast.
Therefore, if you do need to search for a podcast that focuses on the subject matter, only the name will be used to check if whether you prefer this particular podcast.
When creating a name for your podcast episodes, if you add the topic as part of the name, you increase the probability of helping your podcast episodes found if people search with a specific keyword.
One vital trick of making your podcast show up when people search for it with a specific keyword is to use that keyword in your podcast name.
Now, this is the part where you have to get creative.
Suppose your podcast focuses on the profitability of cryptocurrency.
You may want to include the words “profit” and “cryptocurrency” in the name of your podcast.
If this complete, you increase your podcast’s chances of being seen when the words profit and cryptocurrency used to conduct a keyword search.
The name of your host:
The name of your podcast host is your business name, or it could merely be your name.
This is the name of whoever is the host of the podcast, as most businesses could outsource their hosting positions to specialists hosts.
Furthermore, you could do a few things around here to increase the possibility of your podcasts getting found.
For instance, an e-commerce businessman would present his name as thus:
“[Your Name]: Business Specialist.”
If you do not believe this, all you have to do is use the keyword “blogger” to search iTunes.
Go ahead and check the podcast section of the platform and see the results for yourself.
One quick look at the results of this search would demonstrate to you the importance of the addition of keywords in searching for your podcasts.
The description of your Podcast:
One excellent podcast trick is to add as many useful keywords and phrases as you can to describe your podcast.
Doing this will enable people to see your podcast easily.
If you were creating an apple podcast, this tip would be convenient.
Sites like Spotify and iTunes are so competitive that if you do not make your podcast stand out, you will never be seen.
Furthermore, it is essential to know that both iTunes and Spotify act like search engines.
This means that if you submitted your apple podcast to iTunes, most people would only see it if they performed a keyword search.
This trick works the most when you just launched your new podcast.
This is one of the reasons it is always better to understand the elements involved in knowing how to start a podcast.
Creating categories and subcategories for your podcasts:
If you want to create an apple podcast.
You have numerous categories and subcategories.
Whether you are creating podcasts on entrepreneurship, fashion, or sports, there is a category for every subject matter.
At this point, you will need to select the proper category that is appropriate for your subject.
To do the right is best to check any Spotify or apple podcast to see how they have done this for themselves.
Technical requirements:
You need a few logistics to get your podcasting episodes in motion.
You will need a high-definition microphone, an audio recording tool, and a sound recording environment.
It would be best if you avoided a place where there are multiple echoes, as this will distort your audio clarity.
Additionally, if you were creating a video podcast, you may want to get a high definition video recorder and not just your phone.
However, some high-end phones are useful in this regard.
Whatever device you use to record your audios and videos, remember that they have to be of high definition.
How to edit your podcast?
Part of knowing how to start a podcast includes the editing part, which involves cutting off elements or adding components to optimize the podcast’s length.
Whether you are creating a Spotify or an apple podcast, it is best to know how to edit your podcast.
When you edit each recorded podcast file, you ensure that it is standard file size and volume.
You should prevent unnecessarily bulky podcast files.
An editing tool is useful.
This helps you in strategically adding both your introduction and the conclusion.
Furthermore, the podcast editing tool will enable you to remove mistakes, errors, or remove gaps made up of dead air created during the recording of an episode.
Furthermore, you could get excellent audio or video software to help edit your podcast files.
There are lots of software that come in handy in editing both video and audio files.
There are several great settings in which you will want to check with your editing software.
The editing software should be able to enhance both the audio and the visuals of your podcast.
It should also be able to remove or eliminate background noise and pops.
You can either save as an audio or video file the moment you do with editing.
How to submit your podcast files to Spotify and iTunes?
To start a podcast, learning how to submit your Spotify or apple podcast is essential.
The moment you complete the creative editing and hosting of the podcast, you can get your podcast out to directories such as Spotify and iTunes.
The following processes will guide you through submitting your Spotify or Apple podcast successfully.
Submitting your podcast series to iTunes.
- Create an RSS news feed for the podcast with iTunes. The platform has some podcast series hosting services that help users create their feeds.
- Connect by opening up iTunes: This is Apple’s exclusive portal that is reserve for podcasters. You will then be direct to the Podcasts Connect dashboard. Submit your new podcast show in the directory by clicking on the left “plus” sign.
- If you click on the “plus” sign, you shall take to a plain page. On this page, you will need to enter and confirm the address of your RSS feed.
- Check the listing for your podcast after the RSS feed gets verified. Check to see that you are satisfied with the look of everything before you proceed to submission.
Right after you submit, you should get a message of confirmation from iTunes.
The message could inform you of the possibility of a screening procedure.
You will have to wait for either one or two days before you get an email informing you of your approval.
Soon, about three to five days later, if people search with the right keywords, your podcast should begin appearing in the search results for podcasts on the platform.
How to submit your podcasts to Spotify?
It is such great news that podcasters can now get their podcasts submitted on Spotify.
Previously, this was not possible, not until later.
However, to still get your podcasts on the platform, you will have to meet specific criteria.
Spotify has a directory that is looking for certain kind of programs such as:
- Technology oriented topics.
- You should create content that is timeless and continuously relevant.
- Your content should be attractive to millennials.
- You should present your podcast in a story format.
Getting your podcast on Spotify is a simple and straightforward process.
All there is to it is to complete the form and sit back and wait for your feedback.
Remember that this process is a manual procedure, while submission does not always mean that your podcast will appear on the platform with other podcasts.
How much does it cost to start a podcast?
It does not cost anything to begin creating your podcasts.
Most guides on starting your Spotify or apple podcast teach you how to start a podcast for free.
You can create your podcasts and have them set up free of charge.
There are lots of free podcast hosting platforms where you can upload your podcasts.
Additionally, there are various free software for editing podcasts.
You can also upload your podcasts free of charge to platforms like Google Podcasts, Spotify, Apple podcasts, etc.
However, the only time you get to spend some money when setting up your podcast is when you purchase media equipment for your podcast series.
It is recommend that you get a high-quality microphone, recording equipment, and so on.
How can you make money from your podcast?
Apart from keeping you engaged with your audience, you can also generate revenue through your podcast channels.
The generation of revenue is one of the reasons that people start their podcasting channels.
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You can make money through the following ways with your podcasts:
Sponsorships:
You can promote your sponsor during your podcast episodes.
The amount of money that your sponsorships generate depends on the amount of times that your podcasts get downloaded.
For sponsorships, you get paid anything between $18 and $50 for every 1,000 listeners.
Direct financial support:
For direct financial support, you, as a host, ask the audience of your podcasts for some money to sustain the show.
If your audience supports your podcast content, they will readily support you with some money to keep your podcasting show running.
Making money from affiliate sales:
Lots of podcasters make lots of money selling other people’s products.
This is called affiliate marketing.
Instead of making money from downloads, you get to earn commissions from goods that successfully sold.
Selling complementary products:
You can also make lots of money from podcasts if you sell books or products that relate to the program.
Products are suitable for selling include courses, books, merchandise, live events, consulting services, and so on.
How much can you make as a podcaster?
People who have popular podcasting channels earn between $25 and $40 per thousand listeners.
Their advertisers pay them.
In 2019, advertisers’ average rate paid to podcasters was $18 for an ad, which lasted for 30 seconds.
For an advertisement of 60 seconds, they pay about $25.
Some well-known podcast platforms
As of April 2020, some of the most well-known podcast platforms were Buzzsprout, Castos, Podbean, Simplecast, Captivate, and Transistor.
