Well, here you are. You’ve listened to every episode of Should I Start A Podcast, you’ve Googled relentlessly about the pros and cons, you’ve dreamed about it every night (probably) and you keep accidentally treating every conversation like it’s a potential podcast interview. You’ve decided you’re ready, and you’re going to start a podcast. But what’s next? Luckily, we’ve got you covered with our step-by-step guide to podcasting.
Step One – Podcast Planning
Plan the overall goals and aims for your podcast. Who will your listeners be? What problems do they have, and how are you going to solve them? You also need to plan your marketing strategy. These are the steps that occur after your podcast is done, such as promotion across your blog/website/social media pages. In this step, you should also pick a name for your podcast. Make it something catchy, relevant to the topic and easy to spell. But don’t be afraid to get creative!
Step Two – Episode Planning
Create a detailed plan for the first few episodes. This will help you get a feel for your show in terms of how long the episodes should be, the tone that works best (i.e. serious or humorous) and the general outlay of each episode. Will you be interviewing a guest each week? Talking out your own thoughts in a monologue? Chatting with a friend over coffee? All these are viable podcasting ideas, but you need to pick the one that will best suit your purpose. Once these episodes have been tested out, review them. Do they seem natural or forced? Do they achieve the overall aim? If things don’t seem right, try out different episode structures and see what works best.
Step Three – Equipment
Pick your equipment. Podcasting can be a pricey venture, so it’s best to be certain it’s your calling before you go dropping wads of cash on audio equipment. You can absolutely get by with a computer and a microphone, but the more limited your equipment is, the lower your sound quality is going to be. Don’t despair if you don’t have top-of-the-line recording equipment, because when you’re just starting out it’s best to keep things simple.
Step Four – Script and Record
Script and record your first episode. When you think of scripting, the first thing that comes to mind might be something similar to a screenplay, but this style of scripting can come across stilted in audio. You don’t want to sound as though you’re reading lines off a page, but you also don’t want to fill your time slot with awkward silences. Podcasting is a great way to create intimate conversations between you, your guest(s) and your listeners, so the best way to script is in a way that keeps things natural. Write down bullet points of everything you want to cover, and any other prompts you need during the recording.
Step Five – Production and Editing
After recording, you’ll need to produce and edit your audio. For those who aren’t very techy, there are a few different options that will ensure the best outcome. You can outsource the job to a freelancer, or you can produce and edit it yourself. There are many self-taught audio geniuses out there, who says you can’t be one of them?
Step Six – Publishing
Congratulations, you’ve recorded your podcast! The final step is to publish it. For this you’ll need an account with a media hosting service (like Libsyn), where your audio files are hosted. After publishing, you can also begin implementing that marketing strategy you created in Step One. This is one of the most important aspects of a successful podcast, because a clever marketing plan will further your reach, bring in more listeners and allow you to ultimately monetise your podcast.
Author: Ronsley Vaz
Ronsley is the founder & chief day dreamer at AMPLIFY. He is an author, speaker & serial entrepreneur.
He has a Masters’ degree in Software Engineering and an MBA in Psychology and Leadership. He is known as the creator of We Are Podcast – the first Podcasting Conference in the Southern Hemisphere, and the host of The Bond Appetit Podcast and Should I Start a Podcast. He has an audience of over 3 million in 133 countries.