How To Start A Podcast

0

So you want to know how to start a podcast and don’t know where to start?

If you’re wondering how to start a podcast, you’re in the right place. If you think audio gear is hard to learn and think that you have to be a mega star in order to have your own podcast that people actually listen to, i’m here to tell you that you are wrong! Hey, who doesn’t love to be right?

I’ve been podcasting for almost four years now and still produce and host some of the top shows in iTunes.  If you look in the health category, you will see two shows that i’m running controls or on the mic on. Those would be the Total Human Optimization Podcast and the Aubrey Marcus Podcast.  They are constantly in the top 20 and will continue to gain ground.

Through those podcasts i’ve also produced episodes with some of the biggest names in podcasting including Joe Rogan, Bryan Callen and Brendan Schaub of Fighter and the Kid, Lewis Howes, Brett McKay of Art of Manliness and many more.

After all that and the journey that i’ve been through, i’m here to tell you that YES, you can start your own podcast with little to no experience in audio.  If you have an idea, the drive to share your knowledge or entertainment, you can start your own podcast.

It Will Take Effort

Now i’m not going to try and discourage you with this part, but it must be said.  It’s an important part of how to start a podcast. If you want a podcast that gets listened to, there’s going to be work involved.  Podcasts don’t just appear on iTunes polished and ready to listen to.  Each show was thought about and in most cases recorded sometimes weeks in advance.  After they were recorded, they were taken into editing to get trimmed, de-noised, leveled, and made into the shining gold that your ears get to hear.

The great thing about all this is that once you get it down and set a foundation, you can run fast and efficiently. Before you know it, all elements of podcasting will be second nature to you.  It is definitely possible.

How To Start A Podcast

How To Start A Podcast

Through the years i’ve been asked by almost every podcast guest that has come through our studios the question, “Orlando, can you tell me how to start a podcast?”.  After giving a quick brief and them leaving with a couple of notes and a head full of questions,  I figured it would be better to be able to offer something basic they could study.

That’s when I created Podcasting Pro Basics. It’s a simple quick-read guide that gets down and to the point of starting your own podcast.  I sold it for about a year and it still sells on Amazon to this day and has helped a bunch of people get their podcast started.  I’m happy though now to offer the book free of charge as a PDF, which you can get HERE.  If you prefer a physical copy, you can get it for $9.99 on Amazon. or here in the Podcasting Pro Shop.

With that, there’s going to be some things you need to think about when starting a podcast.

First Thing To Consider

The first thing you need to figure out is the name and category of your podcast.  This can be a tough thing to figure out right away, but you need to get past this part till you can advance.  Knowing what your podcast title and category will be will help you later on as you formulate the topic of the show and the type of guest you want.

You will also need to figure out how long you want each podcast to be and what day and frequency you want them to come out in. Listeners like to know what they can expect so they can find the right time in their busy lives to listen to your show.

Not only will the subject matter and scheduling be ultra convenient for your listeners, it will also be great to keep you organized and on the right path to podcast success.

To sum this part up, this first steps to getting started is:

  • Choose Podcast Title
  • Pick Your iTunes Category
  • Figure What Length of Time Your Show Will Be
  • Select Your Frequency Release Schedule

Create Your Podcast Cover Image

The cover of your podcast is similar to the cover of a book.  It’s the first thing people will see when your show comes across someones eyes on iTunes. This is one thing that you don’t want to skimp on and make sure you do right.

No, this doesn’t mean you need to be an amazing graphic designer or spend lots of money getting it done.  In fact, some of the best podcasts have incredibly simple podcast cover designs.

If you need help, you can do something like a 99Designs or Fiverr (Fiverr can get you something for as little as $5) to get one made for you at a decent price. Make sure you follow the podcast cover specs of at least 1600×1600 in image size.

Check out my guide on creating podcast cover art.

Get The Right Podcast Equipment

Next you will need to invest in equipment.  The biggest investment in how to start a podcast. When it comes to this part, I always tell everyone that you don’t need to go out and spend a thousand dollars on equipment.  In fact, if it’s just you and most of your interviews will be taking place over skype, you can get setup for $100 or less.

I’ve put together an entire page of my equipment recommendations based on budget and needs, but I will say here you can’t go wrong with my favorite USB microphone the Blue Yeti, which you can grab on Amazon for just over $100 if it’s just you.

Download Podcast Software

If you’re doing mainly Skype i’d download eCamm Call Recorder (Mac) or Pamela (PC) to record your interviews. Alternatively, you can use Google Hangouts as an event and then download the video from your YouTube and pull the audio using a site like KeepVid.

If you’re doing in person interviews or solocasts, i’d recommend the free option of Audacity.  It does an awesome job of recording a podcast and is incredibly easy to learn. Audacity is usually the first thing that people learn when figuring out how to start a podcast.

To edit the podcast, I personally use Adobe Audition.  It has all the plugins you need to really polish up a podcast nice and you can get it on subscription from Amazon for about $20, or just buy it outright.   If you don’t want to spend the money on Adobe Audition, you still can do some decent editing on Audacity or Garage Band if you have a Mac.

Publishing A Podcast

Once you have episodes ready to be heard by the world, you will need a way to get your podcasts onto iTunes, Stitcher, and the number of other listening platforms.

This is the part most people get tripped up on. Luckily its really simple.  All you need is a podcast host!  For a small fee, less than $5/month in most cases, you can upload your MP3s and show information to a podcast host and it will automatically distribute every episode to platforms like iTunes. It’s how the pros do it.

There are two main podcast hosting companies I recommend. One is Libsyn and the other is PodBean. Since I have an affiliation with both, I can get your first month free for you!

Get a FREE MONTH of PodBean podcast hosting through this link or get a FREE MONTH or Libsyn podcast hosting by using code PodcastingPro at their site. If you need help on setting up a Podbean podcast, I made an easy guide you can follow.

Now before you can submit your podcast to iTunes or any other platforms, you need to have at least one episode uploaded to your host. Once you have an episode published and ready to go, then you can submit your show.

To get your podcast into iTunes, you will need to go to Apple’s Podcast Connect site and submit your show.  For Stitcher (the choice of non-apple device users), you will have to submit your show at Stitcher’s website.

You Can Start Your Own Podcast

If you’re ready to start your own podcast, follow these steps to getting started.  Don’t feel discouraged if you feel a little lost, that’s what PodcastingPro is here for!  Make sure you get the FREE pdf book to Starting A Podcast or pick up the print version at Amazon for $3.99.

I’d also advise that if you haven’t already, make sure to buy your show’s website domain name or at the minimum you name.  You want to make sure you own that web property. Through our partnership with Bluehost, you can get your domain name free with hosting through this link.

If you need more info on how to start a website for your podcast, check out my post on Starting A Website.

Good luck on your podcasting journey!

Share.

About Author

Orlando Rios is the author of Podcasting Pro Basics, The Podcast Book and producer/host of the Total Human Optimization Podcast, Aubrey Marcus Podcast, and the Industrial Strength Show. He has over 400 hours of podcast producing & editing experience and over 4 million episode downloads to his name.

Leave A Reply
https://podcastingpro.com/how-to-start-a-podcast/
podcastingpro.com
crawl=CC-MAIN-2017-47
88193
application/http; msgtype=response
sha1:FKX5AP5FEM45CHFNRKP62HOFYSYYLBVR
<urn:uuid:7e52874d-2829-47b4-ac57-56a5defc6226>
2017-11-25T09:35:25Z
162.144.7.155
text/html
sha1:Q4K2CXHLKBO3YSN2PFKN4JKBSZCNEFTS
<urn:uuid:f7414049-1141-4991-8576-295b00defd55>
https://podcastingpro.com/how-to-start-a-podcast/
length
response
<urn:uuid:08d1f570-e825-446f-a4d2-297ae5fa837d>
robots: classic
hostname: ip-10-171-62-138.ec2.internal
software: Nutch 1.6 (CC)
isPartOf: CC-MAIN-2017-47
operator: Common Crawl Admin
description: Wide crawl of the web for November 2017
publisher: Common Crawl
format: WARC File Format 1.0
conformsTo: http://bibnum.bnf.fr/WARC/WARC_ISO_28500_version1_latestdraft.pdf