Podcast How To Guide

I launched on September 22nd, to four straight days of crickets, AKA no downloads. Thank you so much for sharing your amazing journey on EOFire. I would be honored if you would share with your audience. Here are the links if you decide to do so. Then things really started to take off. A step by step guide to launching your Podcast. I kindly replied by asking for a week to consider the opportunity, and then I immediately got on the phone with a friend and fellow Podcaster who had been in the industry for a while to ask for some unbiased advice.

During our conversation, I found out what sponsors had come to expect from sponsorships and podcast hosts.

On Entrepreneurs On Fire, we no longer have Pre-rolls on the podcast, but when we did, it was right after the intro music. Click here to listen to a sample. You can adjust this as often as monthly I adjust quarterly. This is the only way I deal with sponsors. If a sponsor wants to partner with Entrepreneurs On Fire, I will send them a proposal example template at the end of this article , and they can accept, reject, or negotiate.

Podcasting: What do I need to know?

This strategy has allowed me to stay in control of my evergreen content, meaning if I ever want that URL to direct somewhere new, I can do so without having to change any of my calls to action for it. I will say once again: However, my opinion on this matter is as follows:. Podcast sponsorships work so well because it is YOU, the host, that is promoting the product or service, and your listeners trust you. Your goal is to provide so much value and high-quality content that your listeners not only keep coming back for more, but they tell their friends and family about it.

Your goal is to provide great content, increase your listener base, and by default, increase the amount each sponsor pays you per sponsorship. I was approached by a Pay-Day loan company that offered me double my going rate to sponsor Entrepreneurs On Fire. I do not believe in Pay-Day loans for many reasons — especially as a recommendation for Fire Nation — so my answer was simple: Not even close to worth it… no dollar amount would be. Show the same care for your audience, and you will be better serving yourself, your sponsor, and most importantly, your listener.

My first recommendation to each podcaster who is interested in going the sponsorship route is to sit down. Sit down and think about the LEAST amount of money it would take for you to dilute your podcast with a sponsorship. When you bring on a sponsor, no matter how relevant, and no matter how awesome, you are on some level diluting the message of your podcast. Anything less — nope, not ready yet. If you know your number, you will be in a MUCH better position come negotiation time with your sponsors.

Is your Podcast about raising children? Bean and Cabelas are already lining up! Do they have sponsors? If so, a well-crafted email to that sponsor could yield a partnership. It has for me on numerous occasions. The secret is out! Podcast hosts have a captive audience. We have engaged listeners. We have followers that know, like, and trust us, and when we put our stamp of approval on a product or service, that means a lot to our listeners — and sponsors know it! Think of the podcasts you listen to regularly. I have a link to a well-crafted email template to the end of this post that I have used to successfully approach many sponsors.

You communication with every sponsor should be well thought out, well researched, and unique to you and your show. Let your sponsors know what your download numbers are and what it will cost for them to sponsor an episode. They can take it or leave it, and you will be better off regardless of the decision they make — stick to your guns.

But your podcast is not your business. Your podcast is a tool that can help you grow your business. This has been quite the journey walking through this guide with you! By now, you should have a pretty solid idea as to whether or not podcasting is right for you. Approaching a Sponsor for the First Time. Your Interview is Live.

If it took you a few sittings to get through How to Podcast: Can I send you emails with helpful info about products and resources? If you click 'Yes' below, you're giving me express consent to send these types of emails - yay! You can opt-out anytime. Occasionally we would like to send you news, updates, resources, and promos about products, courses, and services. By checking the "Yes" box below and submitting your email address, you're giving us express consent to send you these types of emails.

As promised, I'll send you emails with helpful products and resources. Clicking yes below gives me express consent to send these types of emails. Updated December 1st, Ready to create, grow, and monetize a Podcast?

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Topic Avatar Equipment Software The 8-step process 1. What should my podcast topic be? This is the 1 question I receive. First, get your mindset right. Podcasting is a marathon, not a sprint. When you choose the right topic, podcasting is not work but FUN. Your Avatar is your ONE perfect listener. Your goal is to serve a loyal base of listeners at an incredibly high level. Should you create an animated video of your avatar? A pen, paper, and 2, words will do.

Podcast software How do I record and edit my podcast? What if they decline to do so? Directly into your software Audition, Audacity, or Garageband. This content uses functionality that is not supported by your current browser. Consider upgrading your browser. How do I make a podcast? Please turn on JavaScript.

Media requires JavaScript to play. Transcript PDF 55 Kb. What are the editorial issues? Podcasts allow you to be: How do I develop an audience? An example of a seasonal podcast is our very own Podcraft Podcast , where season 1 was all about being a beginner podcaster. Next, season 2 was about podcasting equipment, season 3 was about building a podcast website, and so on.

If your content is appropriate for it, you can even turn each season into a course or an ebook further down the line, so there are many benefits to seasonal podcasting. One pitfall however is that you might lose momentum and the interest of your audience during your breaks. Just like choosing a name for your podcast, choosing good, searchable, descriptive titles for your episodes is important. The whole point of a podcast is that people listen to it, so give them a reason to click on one of your episodes.

Make it clear to people what they will get from listening to your show. These are popular because they work. You just need to make sure that you are delivering in the episode what you promised in the title. The extra benefit of this is that iTunes allows searching by episode name.

BBC Academy - Podcasting: What do I need to know?

So you can show up not only for the terms in your podcast title, but for the keywords in your episode names. That gives you a whole extra level of reach if you name them well. Need more help with titles, lengths and ALL the details? If you want us to coach you through, jump into the Podcast Host Academy and we and the community can help you out.

How to Start a Podcast in 8 Chapters

Next up in how to start to a podcast, we need to take a look at the format of your episodes. So what are the common types of podcast show formats? The podcast is also exclusively yours, so you can make calls on sponsorship and monetization. Perhaps the most intimidating style of show for the beginner podcaster. Some co-hosted podcasts have great chemistry between the presenters. This can create a great listening experience. Not only do you need to set aside time to record, but that time must also be suitable for your co-host. And what happens if your co-host loses interest or becomes unavailable in the future?

Talking to your heroes. On top of this, your guests will have their own audiences who may listen to the interview and end up subscribing to your show. If done right, you can really grow an audience this way. You also need to rely on technology like Skype to work properly throughout each call. The bare minimum you need to record a podcast is a computer with a built in microphone and access to the internet.

As a general rule, though, the more limited and lower cost your setup and equipment, the more limited the sound quality of your show will be. That said, simple USB microphone setups can give great results if you choose the right mic. Plus, you are much better to get started and see whether you enjoy it before forking out big sums of money on audio equipment. With that in mind, a simple headset mic like the Senheisser PC8 can be a perfect starting point. If you want to take a step up from there, you can look towards a better USB mic. Two of them, plus the SC6 splitter, makes for a really light, simple interview setup.

Be wary of complicating things too much, though. More complications means more things that can break. When you plug your USB microphone into your computer, you will need some software to actually record and edit the audio. My personal favourite is Adobe Audition , which is available through a paid subscription.

In this article I compare Adobe Audition with Audacity. We also have Alitu , our podcast maker software, which can automate the whole editing and publishing process. This is popular audio software with podcasters too, although recent versions have really cut down the features it offers. That approach can work. The intimate nature of podcasting is far more suited to being a conversation, as opposed to a sermon.

So try to wean yourself off a fully scripted show with bullet points of everything you want to cover. This will become easier over time with practice, until eventually writing a full script will seem unnecessary. Also, the way you open and close your episodes is really important too! This is probably the most difficult thing to conquer when learning how to start a podcast. Instead, focus on talking to a single person.

We talked about who your podcast is for earlier on, your listener persona. Some people go as far as creating jobs, hobbies, likes, dislikes, family, friends, etc. The point here is that holding a conversation with them, rather than yourself or the microphone, will sound much more natural and engaging. This means that everyone who listens feels like you are talking directly to them. And this leads to building and strengthening relationships over time.

The most common way of doing this is to use Skype and record the call. Need more help setting up your equipment, or the techniques around recording great content? All in the academy! Check it out to get started. There are many websites that have music you can legally use on your podcast. This type of music will usually be referred to as royalty free, stock, or library music. Usually you can pay a one off fee for a song which entitles you to use it on your show, or you can now get subscriptions that give you access to a huge library.

There are also varying levels of creative commons licenses. Some are very liberal, whilst others ban you from using that music for commercial purposes. Always check the source site and make sure you have permission to use a particular piece of music. There are a few good places to get podcast music.

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• Need Help Launching Your Podcast?.
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For this we use two sources. First, Jamendo , where you can get some great royalty free music for a one-off purchase.