How to Start Your Own Podcast: Beginners Guide

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

Do you want to start your own podcast on Spotify, iTunes, or other apps? Podcasts have been around for almost 2 decades, and they’re here to stay. People use them to create audio content either with or without video elements. They are now a trend in content marketing. And If you are new to podcasting, you might want to know how to start your own podcast. Check this beginner’s guide created for you.

5 Basic Questions Beginners Ask Before Launching a Podcast

1. Why Do You Want to Make a Podcast?

Before you start your own podcast, it is vital to know the reason why you want to start one. Having a goal or purpose gives you direction and keeps you motivated. Knowing who your podcast is for also makes content planning easier.

In general, people make a podcast for the following reasons:

• Provide a unique marketing avenue
• Establish authority either on a specific subject or industry
• Build a better relationship with your audience

2. Who Is Your Audience?

Knowing the purpose is one thing, but knowing the audience is another. This may sound cliche, but knowing your target audience gives you an idea of what your audience likes to hear or care about.

Ultimately, knowing your audience helps you come up with the right content to engage with them.

3. What Equipment Do You Need to Start a Podcast?

Basically, you need recording and editing equipment to produce a podcast. A smartphone will do, but you can expect the quality will also be like a recorded phone call.

However, if you plan to grow your show, you should consider investing in the following:

• A good computer
• USB microphone
• Recording and editing software

For tips on what equipment to buy, you may read this article Noobie posted last week: Podcast Gear for Beginners and Pros

TIP: A good quality audio starts and ends with a good quality microphone.

4. How to Start Your Own Podcast

Starting a podcast is easy once you identify your purpose and audience. Here are some of the basic steps:

A. Name your podcast

You need to have a name. When choosing a name, you need to consider the 2 things:

• It has to be catchy, direct, short, and memorable.
• It has to be searchable.

You also need to avoid expletive words. Hosting sites will not approve your podcast with any offensive titles. Keyword-stuffed titles to play with the system will not help either.

B. Choose your podcast format

A podcast format refers to the length and style. There is no perfect podcast length. It can be as short as 15 minutes or as long (or longer) than an hour.

It really depends on the content. It boils down to how long do you need to get your message out. You do not need to chop down to 15 minutes 50 minutes worth of valuable and relevant content.

As for the style format, it also depends on you. You may have an interview, scripted, news recap, or educational podcast.

C. Plan, record, and edit your podcast content

Before you can record your podcast, you need to plan every single piece of content.

How do you start your episode? Some podcasters start their show with a teaser, intro music, welcome, commercial, interview (or whatever style in delivering the subject), closing or call to action, then closing. Some would opt to have credits, raise early questions, promote other content, and a musical fade out.

Once done with the recording, it is important to edit. Use editing software to clean up the audio. Some software allows you to add music and publish directly your episodes to your hosting site.

Post-production Tip: For less post-production work, set your audio equipment correctly. Use a pop filter and a good quality microphone too. Make sure you eliminate background before recording.

SEE ALSO: Best Podcasts For Android | Podcast Apps

D. Decide your publishing schedule

Your publishing schedule depends on the time you can stick to regularly. If you can manage one podcast a month, that’s fine. If it is once every other week, that’s cool. And if you can publish every week, that’s gonna be awesome.

E. Choose your podcast hosting

A podcast hosting account (media host) is crucial to publish your content. This media host service lets you store your audio and allow your audience to listen, subscribe, and even download your content.

These media hosts are not your Apple, Google Podcast, Spotify, or other podcast directories. Right now, the top 3 podcast hosts are:

• BuzzSprout
• Blubrry
• Podbean

5. Where Do You Record a Podcast?

You do not need a recording studio to start your own podcast. If you have the means, that’s great.

But all you need is to set up your studio desk or workstation. Once you have your podcast gear and equipment, you can use an L-shaped desk or corner desk in a specific room at home. Then voila, you have your home recording space.

So that’s about it. If you made it this far, you are now ready to launch your podcast. This is a basic walk-through on how to start your own podcast. If there are podcast topics or tips for starting a podcast you want us to talk about, let us know in the comment section below. We’re always excited to hear from you.