Hosting Your Show

03.05.2017 |

Episode #6 of the course How to make your own podcast by Adam Ashton

 

Welcome to lesson six. Now that you’ve recorded your first episode, you’re ready to put it out into the world. There are plenty of options and different specific tools you can use, so feel free to do your own research, but I’m going to tell you what I use and show you my process.

 

Step 1: Libsyn Hosting

I pay a monthly subscription for podcast hosting by Liberating Syndication. There are plenty of options, so feel free to do your own research, but I found a lot of recommendations for Libsyn from top podcasters. I would never change because I’m so happy with what they offer. I get absolutely nothing out of recommending Libsyn, but I use them for all of my podcasts and I’d comfortably suggest that you’d be happy doing the same.

Once you have set up your show with the basic details like the name, image, and description, you then add your episodes. Upload your finished audio file, add the title of the episode, write a short description, and perhaps add an image, category, and tags. It’s very straightforward—just fill out the form as you go down. You can schedule the episode to be released at a certain day or time, or just hit “publish” and it will go live instantly!

 

Step 2: iTunes

iTunes is a great hosting platform for podcasts—and I’d recommend everyone hosts their episodes on there. It’s a great way to be found, and it’s important for your credibility that you’re in all of the well-known places. The good news is, as long as you meet the criteria, you can get on!

(Note: I’d recommend having at least three episodes live on Libsyn before you submit your feed to iTunes.)

All you need is a dedicated RSS feed. As I mentioned, I’m no tech whiz, so that doesn’t mean much to me. The good news it, Libsyn automatically does all of that for me. Here’s how you do it:

● Firstly, you need an AppleID (or you can create a new one)

● Head to podcastsconnect.apple.com and log in with your ID

● Hit the ‘+’ sign at the top to submit a new podcast

● Copy your RSS feed URL (for example, ours it http://whatyouwilllearn.libsyn.com/rss)

● Test it! iTunes checks all aspects of your RSS feed (the name, images, descriptions, tags, etc.) to make sure it fits their criteria. The good news is, if something is wrong, they tell you exactly what you need to do to fix it. For example, you may have written the description in the wrong place, or your artwork may not be big enough (remember, it must be at least 1400×1400 pixels). Fix the issues and test it again.

● Hit submit. In a few days you should get a notification to let you know you’ve been successful!

● You’re live in iTunes and on the Apple Podcast app—congrats!

The good news is you only have to do this once. Now, every episode you publish will automatically appear on iTunes as well.

 

Step 3: Other Podcatchers

Other places you should post your show include Stitcher, Google Play, and iHeartRadio. These processes are very similar to submitting to iTunes, so head to these sites and you should find it pretty straightforward. Having your content in more places means more people can find it. You’ve done the hardest part—getting the courage to record your first episodes—so you may as well publish it in all of the different places.

Go for it!
Adam Ashton

 

Recommended book

Eat That Frog!: 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time by Brian Tracy

 

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