The Quick and Dirty Guide to Podcasting
For a long time I was going to write an in depth series of posts about how to podcast. It was going to be awesome I’m sure, and it would help you learn how to make your own podcast.
But… I’ve been busy, and there is a lot of resources out there, some free, some paid for. And I thought of instead of doing huge posts which take forever to write, I would do a brief overview, as I like empowering people to find their own solutions as I recently found out.
So if you have somehow found this post by doing a search on how to start a podcast in New Zealand, well done you. Let’s get into it.
The basics of a podcast are:
- Have something to talk about
- Record the audio
- Publish the audio
OK, that’s it.
Of course there is more to it, so let me break it down a little bit more for you.
Have something to talk about
This might seem pretty obvious, but depending on what website you read the stats for new podcasts state that not many make it past 5 episodes.
If you talk about what you are interested in or passionate about, then it’s easy. Don’t try and talk about something thinking you will make money and be rich, that won’t work.
Record the Podcast
Don’t over think this, or go crazy with gear. Just record it using a phone, or whatever you have laying around that can record and create digital files.
Alternatively get a copy of the great free audio recording software Audacity and plug in a USB microphone and hit record. You’ll need to read up on how to edit and export the audacity files as MP3 or Wav files but it’s super easy. Read about it here.
Publish your podcast
First off you don’t need a website to publish a podcast, it sure is nice to have one, but not needed, in fact I know some people that don’t.
But what you will need is some sort of hosting for your podcast. Podcasting hosting to be exact, which is different to website hosting.
There are a few podcast hosts that spring to mind you should check out:
They all work in similar ways.
Part of the publishing process involves getting the link the podcast host creates for your show and submitting it to Apple iTunes.
The general rule of thumb is to make sure you have 4 or 5 episodes published before submitting your podcast to Apple. Oh yeah, you’ll also need some sort of image/logo for your podcast as well.
Once submitted, your podcast will appear in podcast apps and you are free to promote your podcast wherever you want.
Summary
That is podcasting in a nutshell. It’s not really hard, and doesn’t cost too much to get started. You just have to make sure you have the content, and you are doing it for the right reasons.
Want to talk podcasts
Want to talk more about podcasts, or have some deep burning question you need to know and can’t be bothered Googling it? Leave a comment below, or get in touch via the contact page.
