- Do you feel like a little fish in the podcasting sea?
Do you feel like a little tiny star
in the podcasting universe?
Do you feel like this tiny sheep in the field?
(laughing)
So you're ready to start your podcast.
But every time you start doing research,
there's so much information out there
that you get confused and overwhelmed?
Don't worry, on today's video,
I will give you the roadmap,
10 simple steps you have to take
in order for you to launch your podcast.
- [Digital Voice] I, I, I, didn't mean.
Oh no. (laughing)
- Hello and welcome back to the Pod Sound School channel.
And if this is your first time here,
we provide you with the tools you need
to plan, produce, promote and launch your podcast.
On today's video,
I will help you to put your anxiety and stress at ease,
by providing you a 10-step roadmap
to launch your podcast.
But before we move on,
don't forget to hit that subscribe button
and the bell button,
to be notified over weekly video releases.
Also, come and join me on my Facebook group
Podcasting for Bosses.
Okay, let's get to ti.
(upbeat music)
Step number one, show planning and research.
On this step, you wanna cross off three things,
picking a topic, picking a title and competitor analysis.
Picking the perfect topic for you
requires you to do two things.
A personal inventory of your skills, knowledge and passions
and audience research.
You wanna know what your audience is searching
and what they are looking for.
And also for topic, you don't wanna be too general,
make sure you niche down.
And if you need more help with finding your topic,
I have this video right here
that will take you through the steps I use with my clients
to find the perfect topic for them.
Picking your title.
A good title is easy to search, easy to pronounce
and easy to spell.
Also, don't forget to check
if your domain name is available.
This is a very important step.
And if you need more help with choosing your title,
I have this video right here
that will take you through the process
of choosing the right title for your podcast.
Before we move on to step number two,
let's do some competitor analysis.
This is a good practice.
You wanna be in the know with what kinda shows
similar to the show you're planning, are out there,
what they're doing right and what they're doing wrong,
and how you can improve
and bring something different to your show.
Number two, create your artwork.
You're gonna need cover art for your podcast.
Think of it as the cover of a book or a magazine.
When your audience is scrolling down
the different podcast directories,
the first thing that they are gonna see
is your cover art.
This cover art needs to bee 3.000 pixels by 3.000 pixels,
or a square format,
you can do it yourself by using Canva or using Photoshop,
or you can hire somebody to do it for you on fiverr.com.
This is where you want to make
important decisions of your branding.
You wanna choose your fonts, colors and images
that identify your brand.
Also, don't forget to create artwork for your social media,
your website and your episodes.
Number three, set up your social media.
Pick one or two social media platforms
and create accounts for your podcast on these platforms.
Make sure you do it at least four weeks
before you launch your podcast.
This will give you time to grow your audience,
to engage and to post and create a buzz
around the launch of your podcast.
Our two favorite social media platforms for podcasters
are Twitter and Instagram.
But whatever platform you choose,
make sure you play by the rules of the platform,
and that you optimize your accounts.
We have a whole playlist, packed full of information
how can you promote your podcast on Twitter and Instagram,
and you can find it right here.
Number four, email marketing.
Having a list of emails of people in your niche audience
is so valuable.
You need to agree with me that we only give our emails
to people, businesses and causes we support.
Imagine having an email list with 10, 20, 50, 100 people
that you can reach out to when you launch your podcast.
There are two things you need to do
in order for you to get your email list going.
First, you need an email service,
and second, you need a call to action.
There are many email marketing services.
The one that we use and that we recommend
is ConvertKit, because it's very user-friendly,
but you can also look into Mailchimp,
Constant Contact and Drip.
Creating a call to action
that you can add to your website or social media
can really help you to grow your email list.
You can do this by creating a newsletter
or a lead magnet or freebie .
Number five, pick your gear setup.
Take it away to Studio Steve.
- Thanks Veronica.
All right, number five, pick your gear setup.
So this can be a little bit tricky and overwhelming
but it really all depends on your budget.
Some people will start podcasting for free,
using their phones, to step above that,
you can achieve great sounds with only $100,
using USB microphones.
And then it goes up into the couple of thousand,
three thousand dollars for your professional setups.
I actually have created freebie called
Studio Steve's podcast gear,
and you can download that here
where I have a lot of gear suggestions,
but this will definitely take a little bit
of research and googling and things
depending on your budget.
But you want to pick gear that is suitable
for your budget and your needs,
and the main pieces of gear that you're concerned with
are a microphone, an audio interface,
and then you'll need to choose your DAW
or a digital audio workstation.
This is the software that we use
to record and edit our podcasts.
The good news is here there's a lot of free options.
On a PC or Mac you can use Audacity,
on a Mac you can use GarageBand,
and of course or favorite is Pro Tools,
because I have a romantic relationship with Pro Tools,
and I happen to have a whole playlist
all about how you can get started with Pro Tools first,
the free version of Pro Tools right here,
so make sure you check that playlist up.
Number six, make some practice recordings.
Okay, so we've chosen our gear,
we've chosen what digital audio workstation
we're gonna use to edit,
now it's time, and this could be a little nerve-wrecking,
to make those first recordings.
This is where it's fun just to goof off, be silly even,
and make some practice recordings
and get familiar with the way your voice sound
in your microphone.
This is also where it becomes a reality
just how much education is involved
in getting efficient at editing a podcast.
And this is where you might wanna consider
outsourcing the editing.
We actually have an editing service
at the Pod Sound School,
and there are many other editing services out there
that you can find online.
Number seven, record your trailer
and your first few episodes.
So with your trailer,
you wanna make sure that it's sparking curiosity,
it's letting people know what your podcast is gonna be about
and it's important here to also remember
to include a call to action
and tell people how they can come find you,
how they can find you on social media
or maybe even consider including
your freebie or your lead magnet in the trailer as well
to collect emails.
When it comes to your first few episodes,
this is where I like to start gathering music,
royalty-free music, and I like to create
a little intro piece that you can have in
what I call an assets folder,
which is where that's always available
when you edit your episodes,
you have this little piece of an intro music
that can be at the beginning of your episode
and then maybe a little piece of outro music
that's at the end of your episode,
and any other royalty-free music
that you might want to mix in and include
with your podcast episodes.
Number eight, pick a podcast web host and website.
So, when it comes to podcast web host
there's a lot of different companies out there
that offer great services.
We actually have a really cool video we just did right here,
that talks about our top five picks of 2019,
so definitely check that out.
This is a very important decision
and it's also a hard decision to get out of
or to change your mind on,
after you've made it.
Many people are confused
of the difference between a website or a podcast web host.
A podcast web host is just the place
that holds those MP3 files that we've made,
so that they can be shared with all the podcast directories.
Now, you can also do this using your website,
but we wouldn't recommend this route.
We think it's always best to start with the web host,
and then if it's not in your budget
to have a website at first, later you can have a website
and simply use an embed player from your podcast web host
and embed that embed player onto your website.
Number nine, upload your trailer to your podcast host.
This is where we wanna upload only the trailer
to our podcast host,
and then our podcast host will help us
to distribute what's called an RSS feed
to all of the podcast directories.
It actually isn't as complicated as it sounds,
so don't worry.
This is a really important practice
because all of the podcast directories
take a different amount of time to approve your show.
iTunes or Apple podcasts for example
can take up to three weeks.
So it's hard to plan your launch date
if you don't know when your podcast
is actually gonna be available on the different directories.
This is why it's good to start with a trailer.
And finally, number 10, launch strategy.
So many podcasters in hindsight
wish they would have spent more time
on their launch strategy.
This is very important.
You wanna pick a date, and stick to the date
and promote, promote, promote like crazy
about that day that you'll be launching.
Ask people to head over to those podcast directories
and subscriber and follow you on those directories
and build as much hype and as much buzz as you can,
and like we mentioned, if you have collected emails,
start preparing your email marketing campaign
that you'll be sending out to people,
maybe even a couple days before you launch
and then of course on your launch date.
And there you go Podskis,
I hope you found that helpful.
- Was that overwhelming?
Remember to take one step at a time.
- Yes, you don't have to do it all at once,
just start as we said, with step one,
walk through until you're at step ten,
and you will have a successful podcast.
We believe in you
and make sure that you come find us on social media.
You can find me on Twitter @podsoundschool.
- And you can find me on Instagram @podsoundschool as well.
- Mm-hmm, and if you have any questions or concerns,
you can leave them in the comments below,
and please let us know what you've come up with
as far as your podcast name,
and when your podcast will be launching,
we'd love to help in any way we can.
- Yes.
And before you go, two things.
Remember to subscribe and remember to
(speaks foreign language).
- Happy casting. - Happy casting.