This article will help you move from a state of confusion regarding what you need to actually start a podcast to a state of clarity. It’s full of actionable tips and advice, focused towards the essentials so you can have your own podcast in no time!
Podcasts have been all the rave now for the last few years.
Entrepreneur Magazine already wrote about it back in 2016 on how podcasts can prove to be an amazing marketing tool and add on to the content strategy of ANY business.
I’m a big Podcast nerd myself and listen to several ones religiously.
A few months ago, I’ve decided to start my own podcast – the BoldVoices Podcast . The show’s focus is on inspiring you to own your voice in life plus business. And, to provide you with actionable steps on how to do so.
Now, ever since starting and launching my podcast it has been soaring up the ranks on iTunes. I’ve gotten question after question from fellow business owners on the practicalities of ‘starting your own podcast’.
So, this article is all about that and is filled with actionable steps!
Not only that, I’ve actually also recorded an Instagram IGTV (instagram video) on this a little while ago. If you’d like to check out the video in addition to this post, you can do that here:
After getting several requests and follow up questions, I decided to put the 10 steps into a blog post as well, plus answer any and all additional questions I got.
So, without further ado, here they are:
Step 1 = Decide on a name & a niche.
First things first. What do you want to podcast about? What’s going to be the center theme of your podcast?
Also, in which category does this theme fit when you go research podcast categories?
Then, you want to make sure to have a name in mind. At the beginning, it’s great to have a strong name around the theme of your podcast or even super clearly what your podcast is about. You can always change the name later on if you feel the need to do so.
Which brings me to a question I get asked a lot if you should title the podcast with your own name, aka ‘The fill-in-the-blank show’?
The short answer to that is that if you already have a loyal following of a fairly good size (we’re talking tens of thousands of followers), I say go for it.
But if you’re just starting out to brand yourself – or, you are planning to focus the ‘brand of the podcast’ on something other than your own name, you want to probably go with a more generic name.
In the end, it’s totally your call but don’t get stuck on this step, okay? We’ve got nine more to go :).
Step 2 = Get the correct mic 🎙
Podcasting is all about that audio. I mean, heck, it’s an audio only consumption medium.
As such, the main thing you want to focus on is recording a good quality episode from the get go. There’s not much an audio engineer can do with a poorly recorded file.
Unless your podcast is titled something with ‘Life Advice From My Car’ (by the way, this is a horrible title – don’t take it lol!), you want to have good audio.
Think about it! If you listen to a podcast or even an audio book with all sorts of background noise, you’re probably going to get a headache soon because you need to concentrate more to listen to the content.
Make it easy for your listener. Get a great microphone!
My favorite, budget-friendly microphone – and that I use to record my own podcast – is this one:
Step 3 = Record content
Yep, now you want to get down and start recording those words that have been vibrating inside your chest for months!
It’s super exciting once you get to this step.
I recommend you simply block out a morning or afternoon of about three hours on your calendar, grab some ice water and a coffee or tea and start recording.
It’s great to have about 3-5 episodes finished and under your belt before you launch your podcast so that you can schedule the release of them out for a few weeks.
This, in turn, gives you time to plan your next, surely awesome, episodes.
Step 4 = Use headphones for interviews 🎧
I’ve made that mistake during my first interview but neither me or my guest used headphones. What happened is that you were able to hear an echoing sound on the recording after. No good, my friend.
So, from now on, I’ve added a little note in my Podcasting Calendar for guests to be prepared to have headphones ready for an interview and to use them.
Whichever headphones you’re most comfortable with, will do.
It also is a great way to totally focus on the recording and not get distracted by outside noises coming from, for example, your snoring dog Amy.
Step 5 = Do the editing of your episodes (or hire a freelancer to help you with it)
Personally and due to time reasons since I run my marketing agency, FunnelGal, full time, I outsource the editing of my podcast episodes to a super talented freelancer who works on Fiverr.
For those of you interested in outsourcing, the prices can vary a LOT.
However and if you’re just starting out and your podcast is still on the way to becoming a chart dropping badass, the average price you want to pay for is about $60 per 60 minute of episode editing.
So, in short, if you’re recording an interview and it’s 60 minutes long, you are looking at paying your audio engineer/ podcast editor about $60 to get the finished file back.
If you’re planning on releasing at least 1 new episode per week (which is recommended!), you’re looking at an investment of $240 to outsource this new marketing stream.
If you are more into DYI-ing it and you’ve got some free time at your hands, Camtasia is the most popular software out there to edit your podcast recordings.
Step 6 = Choose podcast intro/outro + music
If you’re listening to a lot of podcasts like myself, you love when a podcast has a great short intro and outro.
Ideally, you want the intro to set the tone of the overall podcast and what’s about to come. It should give the listener a vibe of your podcast.
The outro is a great way to ask your listeners to maybe share this episode on social media if they enjoyed it or, to ask them what their main takeaway was, etc.
The outro can also serve as a way to funnel your podcast listeners further into a funnel and turn them into your email list subscribers if you offer a special towards the end.
There are many ideas to play with. So, have fun with it!
Oh and in regards to where to find cool music to add to your podcast intro, I personally love finding tracks on AudioJungle.
Step 7 = Pick podcast hosting service
There are quite a few podcast hosting services out there. They all work the same, essentially.
Picking a hosting service should be probably the fastest of all these steps.
To make things easy for you, the most popular one and the one I use is LibSyn (also known as Liberated Syndication).
To register your podcast, simply click here and pick a plan (note: it’s super affordable and starts at $5/month): https://signup.libsyn.com/
After you registered, don’t forget to upload your first 2-3 finished episodes you recorded prior, remember? Awesome.
Step 8 = Register podcast on iTunes connect
You’re almost there! You can almost launch *yay*!
Now, we want to go ahead and register your podcast on iTunes. Your podcast needs to be submitted and approved first by iTunes before it’s actually live and downloadable.
To do so, simply click on the following link. It will take you there directly.
Step 9 = Also, register on Stitcher, Spotify, Googleplay, Tunein
It’s the same when it comes to your content marketing as for your financial investments… the key word here is: DIVERSIFICATION.
After all and depending on where you are located at, there’s probably an influx of people using Apple products (and iTunes) or not.
You want to essentially cover all your bases and make sure to register your podcast on as many, different channels as possible.
The coolest thing?
Whenever you upload an episode to LibSyn (your new hosting service), it will actually send out a bat signal and publish the uploaded episode once you click ‘LIVE’ on all previously chosen channels.
That way you don’t have to go to every broadcasting platform but your host will do the work for you. Pretty sweet deal, right?
Step 10 = Once approved, promote your new podcast to your email list and on social media.
Your podcast is only as valuable as it has people actually listening to it. The more peeps from your ideal audience are downloading and listening to your Podcast, the better!
How do you get the word out there that you’ve got a podcast that is going live on XYZ date?
Simple. You actually tell people about it :).
Yep, you read that right.
Now is no time to be shy. Let people in on the progress of you thinking about starting a podcast to actually launching it and episodes you’re currently recording, etc.
Pull back the curtains! And post updates all over on your active social media channels as well as send out emails to your list.
Et voila! You’re going to have your first few loyal listeners soon :).
Finally and if you’re interested in learning more about how to market your podcast so that it can rank higher in the charts, check out this related article:
Oh and be sure to share this article if you’ve found it helpful <3.
Let’s do this!
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