Podcasts are a fine art. Keeping someone engaged for an extended period of time is never easy, so careful tasking and planning will set you on the way to creating that captivating podcast. It won’t be long before the UK will be listening to more podcasts than music downloads, according to a recent survey from Rajar, so if you’ve always wanted to know how to create that long lasting conversation by starting a podcast, then read on!
Getting started
It is easy to get your foot in the door and surprisingly quick to set one up. Here are the key areas you need to think about.
Find and explore your topic area
If you’re thinking about creating a podcast, you more than likely have some sort of idea about what you’d like to talk about. This could be your business, your interests, current events etc. It’s important to keep your core topics the same, as that’s what your listeners will be there for. Once you know what you’re going to be talking about, you can do some research on other podcasts in the general category you are looking to move into to work out what they do well, don’t do well and also what you can do to stand out from the rest of the pack. For more content in your niche, you can search on social media platforms for what people are talking about, or research articles on your chosen area.
Choosing a name
You need a short and catchy name that will be the first thing that people see and could possibly be the reason somebody chooses to listen, or to move past it and search for something else.
Create artwork for your content
This will appear in many places, including thumbnails and any possible advertising and will be the first and possibly only thing people can see about your show, so it will need to be not only eye-catching, but should represent your brand, with the possibility of striking curiosity and increasing visibility.
Hardware and software
You’ll need a computer or laptop to be able to run podcast software, and a microphone. That’s it. There are a few different recording softwares that are available, with the main ones being GarageBand on Mac and Audacity, which are both free, as well as Logic Pro, which offers more features, for the one-off price of £139.99. Once recorded, all you need to do now is to upload.
Where to upload podcasts
It’s your choice where you want to upload your podcast to. There are many different options. The mainstream platforms include Spotify, iTunes, and YouTube, however to do this, you need to be using a podcast hosting site. These include ACAST, Buzzsprout and PodBeam, however there are many podcast specific sites that can be ideal for certain circumstances. Most of these sites have a free version as well as tiered payment options. It would be best for you to work out exactly what cost to feature ratio you are looking for.
Decide how often you are going to upload
You need to find the balance between regular content and not overdoing it. There is always going to be some sort of demand, but the process could be taxing and you may run out of content to talk about. It could end up being a waste of time, not only creating it, but listening to it as well.
So, why not give it a go?
There are a number of reasons that starting one could be beneficial to you.
Overall, when starting a new podcast, the biggest thing to remember is to not expect perfect results right from the start. It will take time to build everything up to where you would like it to be, however the first few podcasts will act as perfect case studies to work out exactly what needs to be changed or enhanced, to further propel your content and delivery for the future. Backtracks states that ‘In the UK, on average 6.5 million adults or 12% of the adult population use a podcast per week,’ and in an ever-growing industry, this number is only going to keep rising. Now is the perfect time to get on board and broaden your horizon.
We’ll be covering more Podcast topics shortly in our Podcast series so stay tuned and subscribe.
