How to start a podcast: The ultimate guide to podcasting

Thinking of starting a podcast but not sure how to begin? We’ve got you covered with this full guide to producing your first podcast episode. Learn what equipment you need, how to plan your first episode, and tips for promoting your podcast.
How to start a podcast: The ultimate guide to podcasting

Podcasting is an industry that keeps growing at a startling rate. In just two years, the number of podcasts available globally reached 1,500,000 active shows and more than 34 million podcast episodes.

It’s become a sweet spot for content creators, advertisers, and marketers. In 2018, brands spent $479 million on podcast ads. By 2021, estimated podcast advertising revenue is about $1 billion.

Not sure if creating podcasts is worth the trouble? Or perhaps you’re wondering how to start your own podcast? We've got you covered! In this guide you'll learn:

  • What a podcast is and whether it’s worth creating
  • How to start a podcast
  • What equipment you’ll need
  • How to record and edit your podcast
  • How to promote a podcast

Let’s dive in.

What is a podcast?

A podcast is a pre-recorded audio show focused on a specific topic, like business or travel, that can either be streamed online or downloaded for listening. A typical podcast has multiple episodes you can access anytime from dedicated platforms like Apple Podcasts, Google Play, SoundCloud, Spotify, or Stitcher.

Podcasting became popular with the launch of the first iPod at the beginning of the 2000s. Back then, podcasts functioned by uploading pre-recorded audio files to audio devices or attaching them to RSS feeds. The word “podcast” emerged later as a combination of two words — “iPod” and “broadcast.” For a time, it was also called audio blogging.

Audible was one of the pioneers of downloadable radio programs and audio books. They sold subscriptions to recordings of popular American talk shows and audio versions of the New York Times and Wall Street Journal.

Podcasts were a breakthrough that gave listeners the ability to choose when and where to listen to their favorite programs. For program creators, it became easier to make their shows available to new audiences.

Is creating a podcast worth it?

Yes and no. Whether creating a podcast is worth it depends on your goals, the value of your content, and your readiness to invest time and resources. The podcast format has definitely reached a new level today, and its popularity keeps increasing for several reasons.

Podcasts are easy to consume

As people get busier and have less time to grasp information, they multitask. Podcasts became a time-saver and an easy format to consume content. People can listen to podcasts while driving or commuting on public transport, working out, or just winding down at home after a busy day.

Audience connections are genuine

Podcast listeners are usually dedicated to the shows they subscribe to — they listen to an average of seven different shows per week and spend more than seven hours per week tuning into podcasts. That’s more than an hour a day for each listener, sometimes more than a person would spend on social media.

Your brand loyalty gets stronger

Making a podcast helps you build a better connection with an audience and a community of fans. Podcast subscribers not only wait for new episode releases but also get eager to support your mission and brand. Around 54% of podcast listeners tend to purchase from a brand after hearing its ads or hearing it mentioned on a podcast.

Monetization opportunities are huge

Podcasts present good opportunities for ad placements with different options for monetization — sponsored ads, paid partnerships, or upselling premium content. It’s an untapped but promising area for advertisers, as the audiences are extremely loyal and have high paying potential — an average of a $250,000 annual household income per listener.

Podcast setup is simple

Podcasts are relatively simple to begin with little overhead or technical experience. You can start making a podcast with just your smartphone and a computer. For slightly better quality, the basic foundation of a podcast setup includes:

  • A good podcasting microphone to avoid background noise and poor sound quality
  • Recording and editing software to capture the sound and make sound edits
  • A computer to use the software for recording, editing, and publishing podcasts

Learn more about podcasting equipment options and which one is good to start with.

What do you need to start a podcast?

Once you decide to start a podcast, there’s some prep work involved. You might think your podcasting process will start with grabbing a microphone, talking, and recording. Not so fast! You’d better settle some basic issues as early as possible so you are clear on what you’re doing:

1. Identify your podcast goals

As with anything else, goal-setting in podcasting is important. Clear goals help you define the format and content of your episodes, target audience, and promotional tactics. Some goal examples for podcasting might include:

  • To generate additional traffic and leads to your existing website
  • To start a podcast as a business to generate revenue
  • To build a personal brand as a thought leader in your industry
  • To share an important message and build a community
  • To have fun and entertain an audience

Goals serve as a good benchmark to measure your progress and analyze what you’ve managed to achieve during a certain period of time. They also help you know which milestones to aim for next.

2. Define your niche

Your niche will depend on two factors: your expertise and your passion. For example, if you decide to create a podcast on startups, some potential topics for your podcast could be:

  • B2B startups
  • Growth hacking
  • Founders’ success stories

Before sticking with any idea, check the demand for it. You can go to the Apple Podcasts recommendations and search for similar podcasts in the same categories. Pay attention to their ratings, reviews, and followers on social media. If you see ten to fifteen similar podcasts and good feedback, it means there’s high demand and competition around your topic.

3. Choose a name

Your podcast name should be descriptive, precise, and catchy. Avoid getting too wordy or too clever; just make sure your name appeals to your audience and is easy to search and pronounce. Use a keyword that clearly describes what your podcast is about or your brand’s name to let people recognize you immediately. Examples of excellent podcast titles include:

  • Entrepreneurs on Fire
  • StartUp Podcast
  • Achieve Your Goals with Hal Elrod

4. Decide on a format and length

Your podcast’s format will depend on your topic and information density. Whereas talk shows are easy to consume and don’t require too much concentration from listeners, psychological or historical topics are harder to digest without paying full attention. Different podcasting formats are good for different purposes:

  • Solo podcasts: for sharing your own expertise
  • Interviews: for learning from other industry experts
  • Multiple hosts: for having a more dynamic conversation
  • Case studies: for focusing on a specific story and details
  • News recap: for summarizing the news within an industry
  • Educational: for teaching your audience a skill

Figuring out your podcast format will help you define the optimal length for your show — just enough to address the key message without boring your listeners.

As you decide on a length, note that around 20 to 45 minutes is an ideal duration for a podcast. If you have one hour of valuable content, there’s no need to chop it down, however, as long as you’ve got real value to share. Also, you can always divide the episode in half and create two episodes.

5. Add a cover design and music

Your cover should be catchy and grasp the attention of potential listeners. Take a look at the covers that catch your eye on Apple Podcasts and see what you like about them:

  • Easy to read
  • Has the name of the podcast on it
  • Has a single illustration or topic-related element

After some analysis, try designing the cover yourself. Design tools like Canva offer customizable templates for a faster kick-off and allow you to compile any illustration you need without any design skills.

If you don’t have time to explore such tools, consider outsourcing your cover image from a graphic designer on Upwork or Fiverr. It’s a one-time investment, but professional design pays off.

The same goes for intro and outro music or transitions. You can find some free music pieces on Free Music Archive or Audiosocket. Paying a small amount for professional theme music from AudioJungle, however, will make your podcast more impressive.

6. Find a podcast hosting provider

To upload and store your podcast episodes, you need to pick a reliable hosting provider. Podcast hosting options differ in:

  • Price plans: the prices go up if you need more storage space
  • Difficulty to use: some podcast hosts are more intuitive than others
  • RSS feed: a possibility to pass your episodes to the necessary podcast directories, like Apple Podcasts or Spotify

Some of the most popular podcast hosts are SoundCloud, Podbean, Podomatic, and Libsyn.

7. Set up your schedule

Understanding how much time you’re ready to invest in podcasting helps you shape your schedule. Obviously, the more frequent you are, the better. It’s important to stick to the schedule you set up and launch episodes on a regular basis. That way, listeners will develop a habit of including your podcasts in their daily routines, and you’ll notice the consistent growth of your show.

What are good podcast examples to check out?

At this point, you have some basic tips on how to start a podcast. Now you can look up some successful podcasts and see how they picked names, formats, lengths, and frequency. You’ll find a few podcast examples below so you can see how topics and niches affect formats and episode schedules.

How do you record and edit a podcast?

Once you’ve researched and planned, it’s time to record your very first episode! For this, you’ll need a recording and editing tool. The tool you choose will depend on the number of speakers in your podcast.

Solo podcasting

If you’re the only host of the podcast, any USB microphone plugged into your computer will be enough for recording. Also, don’t forget about audio recording software such as Audacity for Windows or GarageBand for macOS. Make sure your microphone is the default input device for your recording software and that it’s turned on. After that’s done, press the Record button in your audio software and start speaking. You can also use "voice memos" if you've got an iPhone or QuickTime Player on a Mac.

Multiple speakers on the spot

If you’re recording your podcast with other people locally, you’ll need everyone to have their own microphone. Your audio recording software must support multiple inputs at a time. Tools like VoiceMeeter (free) or Virtual Audio Cable (paid) let you do so.

Multiple speakers remotely

For remote podcast recording, you’ll need a tool that will both connect you with other speakers and record your conversation. Each speaker will be recorded on separate tracks, and later the tracks will be merged in post-production. You can choose Skype and use the MP3 Skype Recorder, or record a Zoom Meeting.

Do you need a video for podcasting?

Creating a podcast can go far beyond the traditional audio format. Adding video to the mix can help you engage with your audience better and reach more people via video broadcasting platforms. Broadcasting your podcast also requires a simple setup. You don’t need to film anything — just set up a camera and let it record while you’re doing your podcast. Turn your podcast into a live show and stream it seamlessly to different platforms such as Facebook, YouTube, or LinkedIn.

By using Restream Studio you can quickly go live directly from your browser without any third-party apps. Restream Studio lets you:

  • Invite guests to your live streams with just one link.
  • Live stream to multiple platforms to increase your reach.
  • Customize your live streams with your own logo and overlays.

Check out this interview with top marketer Neil Patel, live streamed as a special edition of Restream’s live show. We turned a regular talk show into a live show in a matter of a few clicks by using Restream Studio. Live streaming your podcast like this lets you invite and introduce guests to the listeners, encourage more chats and questions from the audience, and multistream to get more people to learn about your show.

You can also use Restream to produce your podcast. How do you use a live streaming service to make a podcast episode? Restream Studio, our browser-based live streaming studio, has a split-track recording feature, so you can easily use a recording you make with our live streaming studio to edit together a polished podcast. If you’re not planning to live stream as you record your podcast, you can simply switch off your connected channels in Restream, and you won’t be live anywhere while you’re recording the podcast.

Learn more: How to make a podcast with Restream

How to edit a podcast

Editing your podcast recording is necessary before publishing it, as you don’t want the different volume levels, background pops, noise, mistakes, gaps, or loud breathing you might’ve accidentally created during your session.

To start editing an episode, make sure to save your recording as an audio file. MP3 is the most commonly used format for saving audio files, as it’s compressible and playable on most devices. Another format that gives you better sound quality while compressing audio to a smaller file size is FLAC. The only issue with FLAC is that it isn’t supported by a lot of devices.

You can use tools like Audacity or GarageBand to normalize your audio and make the flow smooth. Apart from fixing sound quality, remember to spice up your episode by adding intros and outros, sound effects, and background music where necessary. Once you finish the editing, save it as an MP3 file with a 44.1 Mhz sample rate and 128 kbps bitrate.

As with any part of the podcasting process, whenever you feel like it’ll take too much time, hire freelance podcast editors and let them edit your episodes for you.

How do you promote a podcast?

You’ve finished editing your first podcast episode, and now it’s time to think of how people will find your freshly baked show. You can use the following tactics before, during, and after your official launch.

Pre-launch promotion tips

1. Record three podcast episodes before launch

Backing up at least three episodes gives you time to focus on the launch and promotion of your podcast without sacrificing content quality. After the launch, you will most likely be busy reaching out for feedback and building your initial listener base. What also might happen is that new listeners will start exploring your podcast for more content, and chances are that they will quit listening if they don't find enough.

2. Make your description catchy

After new listeners check out the podcast’s name and cover, they’ll look at the description to decide if it’s worth listening to. A catchy description will bring you more listeners. Also, including relevant keywords in your description will allow search engines (Google) or directories (Apple Podcasts) to suggest your podcast more often.

3. Submit your podcast to top directories

Publishing your podcast means submitting it to various directories, such as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, and other popular spots. Directories allow listeners to discover, subscribe to, and download your podcast. Make an RSS feed for your podcast on a hosting service and submit it to every podcast directory. You only have to submit it once, and later your RSS feed will automatically send new episodes to each directory.

Launch day promotion tips

4. Pre-build a small base of listeners

Building a small base of listeners before the day of your launch will help your podcast get rolling. You should let your followers on Instagram and Facebook know your podcast is coming and you’d like their help with it when it’s launched. Ask them to leave reviews or give feedback.

5. Leverage niche communities

You’re in a good place if you’ve got a community for your brand or show that is waiting for your podcast to go live. No worries if you don’t have one, though. You can join existing groups on Facebook or LinkedIn. Find niche communities where people have similar interests and tell them about your podcast launch day. Relevant discussions on Reddit or Quora might also work if you post your answers to the questions. Make sure you’re adding value to these communities and discussions, not just blindly pitching your podcast.

6. Encourage your listeners to subscribe, leave reviews, and share

It sounds obvious, but sometimes both hosts and listeners forget that subscriptions and reviews help increase rankings in Apple Podcasts and other directories. Be open, and ask your listeners to help you grow and make your podcast more reachable for people like them. The best moment to include such a call-to-action is at the beginning and end of an episode. Make sure you sound authentic and not too pushy when asking for reviews.

Post-launch promotion tips

7. Transcribe and repurpose your episode

Podcast transcription sounds like a waste of time, but it’s a great way to boost your SEO and help people find you. Services like Descript provide a smart transcription of your podcast that allows you to edit the transcript text and podcast at the same time. Squeeze the most out of a podcast transcription and repurpose it: create blog articles, post on social media, or send as a newsletter. Also, you can reach out to relevant blogs or media and pitch your transcript to them. Offer them different formats of partnership: promoting their content or services on your podcast, sharing your podcast transcript with their readers, or even co-creating a piece of content together.

Read more: Repurpose your live videos and attract new audiences

8. Collaborate with other podcasters

Other podcasters already have an audience similar to yours. It’s worth trying to connect with them and ask to do a cross-promotion: mentioning or even guest hosting each other is a win-win! It’s better to try connecting to shows with audiences of the same size as yours, as you have more chances to get a response. You can also find podcast creator groups on Facebook, where you can get not only cross-promotion opportunities but also peer support and new connections.

9. Expand to your guest’s audience

Inviting guests not only makes your content engaging but also opens the door to reach the guest's loyal audience. They’ll be happy to listen to your podcast featuring the guest and more likely to subscribe. Remember to make it easy for guests to share your podcast by creating quote images or wrap-ups of the episode. Tag guests as soon as your episode is published so they can share it with their followers.

10. Post episodes on social media

Sharing your podcast on social media doesn't mean just dropping your episodes to your page as soon as they’re published. The key is to share useful, quality content on your social pages. Post consistently and interact with your listeners. Create some behind-the-scenes Stories for Instagram, share creative slides or infographics on LinkedIn, or live stream your podcast recording on Facebook. To make your podcast promotion consistent, schedule pre-recorded lives. It’s extremely easy to live stream with pre-recorded video if you have a good scheduling tool.

With Restream Events you can schedule your podcast, streaming it live at the most appropriate time for your audience. It also allows you to distribute live videos across all your social channels at once. Your planned videos in Restream Events will stream live automatically at their planned times, on your selected platforms,  and you can focus on creating another great episode of your podcast!

Final thoughts

If you’ve got valuable content to share, podcasting is a perfect choice to do so. The audio format is easy to consume and offers opportunities to connect with the audience, build brand loyalty, and monetize. Podcast setup is not complicated either. All you need is a USB microphone, audio recording software, and your computer.

To review:

  • Clarify your podcast’s goals and niche, name, format, length, and frequency.
  • Pick up your audio recording and editing software and start talking.
  • Edit your podcast to perfection.
  • Promote your podcast: submit your podcast to directories, ask your listeners to subscribe and leave a review, collaborate with other podcasters, invite guests, promote on social media, and live stream for a bigger reach.
  • A good idea is already enough to start a podcast. If you’ve got the idea, there’s no better advice than to start doing your first episode, and you’ll learn what you need to on the way. Follow our tips on how to start a podcast, and you are all set to go!

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