- Hey everybody.
This is Roberto Blake
of robertoblake.com
helping you create something awesome today.
Today, I'm going to talk to you about how to start a podcast
in seven simple steps.
This is my simple, seven step process
for creating your own podcast.
A lot of you ask me, "how can you create a podcast?
"How do I get started?
"How do I get it in iTunes?
"What hosting do I need?
"How much is this going to cost me?"
I wanted to make a video
that answers those questions for you
and gives you a process.
I did a really short video on this before,
but I want to go a little bit more in depth.
The first thing you need to do is
have an idea and a format for your podcast.
That means you have to come up with a name for your show,
a title,
and you got to figure out what the show is going to be about
and whether it's going to be you solo,
or with a cohost,
or whether you're gonna do interviews.
So you need to figure out what your podcast
is going to be
and establish some kind of format.
How long do you want this to be?
What are you going to do in terms of topics?
Are you going to have segments?
You really want to create a structure
for your overall show
instead of fly by the seat of your pants.
On the other hand,
some people are really good
at flying by the seat of their pants.
So just figure out what works for you
and establish an idea, concept and format for your show.
In my case,
I open the show with an intro
then I feature and highlight an awesome creator of the day,
I go into the main topic.
I may or may not do a plug for something
whether it's my own thing, a sponsor,
or an affiliate,
and then, I invite you guys to leave comments
and I close out the show.
That's currently my format.
And on rare occasions, I'll do interviews.
So, I'm actually still
refining my format and it's okay to do that
when you're just getting started.
So, that's my tip number one.
My first step
for launching your podcast.
Step number two is going to be actually producing
your episodes for your show.
And what that's going to require
is some podcast gear.
In general, you're going to need audio equipment.
I recommend having a decent microphone, a pop filter,
and some headphones.
Possibly an audio mixer.
But you don't really need one.
Just depends on what you want to do with your set up.
And you need some type of audio editing software.
I will do a separate video about all this
and make tons of gear recommendations,
but my entire set up, both the cheap version
and the expensive version
is in the description below.
If push came to shove though,
you can just get a pair of eatbuds
and you can use your iPhone
and you can use the Voice Memo feature
and that would be good enough
just to get started.
Or you could record directly to SoundCloud.
All of these are options
and you don't have to make it super complicated
if you just want to get started.
So, that's what you'll need to do.
Then, you'll need to actually produce your shows.
That means you're going to need to
go ahead and record your audio
into your software.
If you need free software,
I recommend a program called Audacity.
You can get that on PC and Mac.
If you're a Mac user, you can use GarageBand.
If you're a PC user, I highly recommend Adobe Audition.
It's what I use.
It's part of the Creative Cloud.
So, those are your audio software.
You're going to want to record into those
or on your smartphone
and I would recommend having five or 10 episodes
of your podcast already done, edited and produced
before you launch the show.
That way,
once you go ahead and you decide distributing in iTunes,
you already have some stuff out there.
You can go ahead and promote it.
I would put the first four or five episodes out.
This will help you get reviews and recommendations
that's going to get you into New and Noteworthy,
and give your podcast so much more reach.
You want to do that as quickly as possible.
So go ahead and have five shows
before you get this up in iTunes
and go ahead and generate some traction around it.
Then, maybe have a few more episodes.
Three to five more episodes
that are just sitting in reserve,
so you can release those every week
and not feel like you're getting behind.
This will give you momentum.
This will make it easy to be consistent.
So, that's step number two.
Go ahead and actually produce your show.
Step number three,
add metadata to your podcast.
This is really important
because a lot of people underestimate
how important metadata is in all of their content.
This is the stuff that makes your
projects searchable.
If you're doing a video on YouTube,
this is the title, the description and tags.
When it comes to a podcast,
you have something very similar
and in your audio software,
this is usually something that you can go ahead
and edit yourself
or once it's on your desktop,
you can go ahead and edit it in the properties.
Sometimes, depending on where you're uploading it
like SoundCloud,
you can go ahead and edit the information there,
or once your hosting this on your WordPress site,
you can edit it using the
the Power
podcast plugin from Blubrry.
I think that's what it's called.
I think it's called something like the Powercast plugin.
I'll link it down below.
But I just call it the Blubrry plugin
because that's what I know it as
from back in the day.
And it's going to help you
fill out information about your podcast.
It's going to be able to say
that you're the producer and the host of the podcast.
It's going to let you give titles
and it's going to also let you name the show
and give a brief description.
And I also use the description
to put show notes in
and that for me is very helpful
so those are things you can do.
Really pay attention to the metadata of your podcast
because it's going to help it show up in Google Search,
it's going to help it show up in iTunes
and the other places.
It's just really important.
Step number four,
create the artwork and assets for your podcast.
This is going to be huge
because that artwork
is going to help make your podcast stand out
and look different.
You can hire someone to do this
or you can do it yourself.
Maybe you keep it simple.
Maybe you use your face.
Maybe you put together a very simple
piece of text artwork.
Just find someway to make it unique and interesting.
I personally recommend hiring an artist or a designer
to put this together for you.
The dimensions you need for iTunes
is this needs to be 1400 by 1400 pixels.
And that's going to be the square
that shows up to
represent your podcast in terms of an image.
I also recommend though,
getting some general artwork assets made for this
in terms of banners for SoundCloud
and for other places that take wide format banners.
Maybe you put together some assets
because you want to put together
a Facebook page for your podcast
or some other social media.
These things can all be really important
and for the website that your podcast is going to be on.
Which you're going to need.
You still might want some of these graphical assets.
So go ahead and put together something like that
or hire someone to do it for you.
Number five,
you're going to need web hosting
and media hosting.
Most people assume that they can just get a website
and start uploading their podcast files there
and technically you could,
but it works better if you have a media host
because if a lot of people start listening
and downloading from iTunes,
this could crash your website
if the files are hosted there.
Which is why you want a separate media host.
Think of it in the same way
as why we upload videos to YouTube
instead of to our own website and .com.
A lot of people wanted to do that
but they realized it was causing problems for their website.
It's the same thing with podcasts
especially if they get a little bit long,
like interviews.
So you'll want a media hosting company.
I recommend Libsyn.
I also recommend SoundCloud.
There are also some free options.
There is a free tier of Spreaker.
I'm going to link down to my web hosting recommendations
and media hosting recommendations below.
But in addition to having your media host,
something like Libsyn or SoundCloud or Spreaker
or whoever you want to use,
you're going to need a website
to actually have for your podcast.
In my case, I have createsomethingawesometoday.com
which is another way of distributing the podcast
another way of it being found in search,
but it also gives me more control over everything
including the metadata,
and it's an easy way for me to distribute
to iTunes, SoundCloud, Stitcher Radio, TuneIn
all those things
because you need an RSS feed to distribute.
I'll get to that in the next step.
But this is why you need both a web hosting company
and a media hosting company.
It's also going to give you more opportunities
to monetize your podcast
in terms of advertisements, sponsors, affiliate links,
or selling your own product or service.
So, I know it's another expense.
It doesn't have to be too expensive,
but I recommend having both.
Web hosting companies I recommend
if you're a podcaster are Bluehost
and you also could consider HostGator.
I'll link to those in the description below for you guys.
All the resources that I'm talking about here
will be linked
whether it's gear or services
or other assets that you need.
Distributing your podcast in iTunes.
To distribute your podcast in iTunes,
you're going to need to submit it.
I highly recommend that by the time you do this
you have five episodes that are already produced
and in the can.
The easiest way to distribute your podcast through iTunes
is to go ahead and use the Blubrry WordPress plugin
on your website
and use that
to distribute your podcast.
You're going to link your media of hosting files
over to this
and it's going to be able to get those
every time that you upload a new one.
It's gonna go ahead and pull that
into what's called an RSS feed
which is Really Simple Syndication
and that's going to update to iTunes.
There may be a delay on this by a few hours,
a few minutes, it just depends.
And you'll see that.
iTunes does have to approve your podcast
and you're going to have to give them some information
that allows for that.
But once you're distributing to iTunes,
it's the best way to get your podcast discovered
and downloaded.
The other reason that I recommend the Blubrry plugin
for WordPress
is it will give you detailed information
regarding your statistics when it comes to your podcast.
This is going to be really helpful
when it's time to get sponsors and to make deals.
So, you're going to want those things.
I would also say that you should distribute it
beyond iTunes.
You should put it in the Google Play store,
you should put it in Tunein,
you should put it in Stitcher Radio.
Let people choose where they want
to consume your podcast.
One of the other things I would recommend
about potentially hosting with Libsyn
is if you pay a little bit more,
they give you your own app
and you can use your own app
and get people do download it
and get them really engaged with your podcast.
And so this can be another way to get distribution.
It could be another asset for you.
So, don't just look at budget solutions
when it comes to the hosting and the distribution side,
really think about the long game
or remember that you could always
change these things down the road
if your finances allow for it.
So, that's going to be important to keep in mind here.
Distribution is going to be make or break for your podcast.
Number seven,
get reviews, get ratings
and promote your podcast.
I highly recommend that you use social media
to engage people your podcast
ask for feedback
and that you also encourage people to review your podcast
and leave ratings.
This is going to be especially helpful
when it comes to getting traction in iTunes
and you want to do this within the first two weeks
that you're in iTunes
as much as possible, to break into New and Noteworthy.
When I was putting out
the Create Something Awesome Today podcast,
this was something I focused on heavily.
So, that's why I insist that you do as many episodes
before you launch as possible
just because it's going to really help you
with that momentum early on
and you'll have more episodes to promote.
If you just decide to release one episode
and then you keep doing it week after week
then you're going to close that two week window.
You're not going to have enough there.
That's why I think you start with five to 10
and then you start releasing
multiple episodes a week to start your podcast at launch,
and then you can go to a weekly format or schedule
once you have that momentum in place.
So just keep that in mind
and that's going to play a huge role here.
I would recommend in the first few episodes
that very early in those episodes
within the first three or five minutes
that you go ahead and ask people
to give you feedback,
number one
and also encourage them to review and to rate in iTunes
or you can do that the closing of your podcast.
A lot of people who listen to podcast
tend to listen to the very end
as long as its not an extraordinarily long show,
so I think that you can do it at the end
and get away with that
if your show is maybe no more than 15 minutes.
So, these are things that are going to help you
early on
and in the long run
with your podcast.
I hope this helps.
Those are my seven steps
for launching your podcast.
I'm going to give you a bonus tip.
A bonus step if you will.
Number eight,
have a business and monetization strategy
for how you make money in your podcast.
Having a website means that you can do affiliate links,
it also means you can do Google Banner advertisements
and depending on where you're distributing,
I use SoundCloud a lot
but I also use other places.
If you're doing your show notes
and you put affiliate links
to the gear you're using for your podcast
or books that you recommend,
et cetera,
that's a huge opportunity to make some money
on your podcast
prior to getting sponsors,
I also recommend that if you have your own product
or service or email list,
you link out to that as well.
And that you promote those things in your show.
This is going to put you in a position
to where you're making money.
Also, you can use Patreon
to ask people to support your show.
Especially since it doesn't have ads
automatically in the way that a YouTube video does.
I've actually shifted my Patreon strategy from YouTube
to focusing exclusively
on the Create Something Awesome Today podcast.
So, that is a model that I think will help you
especially early on when you're just getting started.
Well, I hope this works for you guys
in terms of a complete guide
to initially launching your podcast.
If you have questions,
leave those in the comments section down below.
Links to everything I mentioned here,
tons of resources will be linked up for you guys
in the description,
so make sure you're checking that out.
That supports the channel,
that supports my podcast.
If you want to check out
the Create Something Awesome Today podcast
you can check it out by just doing a search in iTunes,
Stitcher, SoundCloud, Google Play
and it's right there for you
or you can go to SoundCloud.com/robertoblake2
just like this YouTube channel
or you can go to robertoblake.com/itunes
to check out the Create Something Awesome Today podcast
in iTunes.
Like this video if you like it.
Don't forget to subscribe.
Check out the other awesome stuff on the channel.
As always you guys,
thanks so very much for watching.
And don't forget,
Create Something Awesome Today.
Take care.