Recording Your First Episode

03.05.2017 |

Episode #5 of the course How to make your own podcast by Adam Ashton

 

G’day! Today’s the day! It’s time to get out of your comfort zone and record your very first episode of your very own podcast!

 

Episodes

Come up with a few ideas for episodes. Gary Vaynerchuk says that if you’re passionate about your topic, you should be able to come up with 50 different ideas. That’s probably a good starting point! Come up with at least 10 great ideas that you could talk about right now by yourself, without relying on interview guests. Consider interviews as a bonus.

 

Name and artwork

Now that you’ve got a bit of an idea of what your show will look like, think of a name. Unless you’re already well-known and have a following, it’s probably best not to go with your own name. As much as I like the sound of it, “The Adam Ashton Show” might not be so appealing to everyone else. Think about your theme. Think about what you want your audience to get out of it. Look at a bunch of other podcasts to get ideas. I’d also suggest buying the domain name (the website URL, as in whatyouwilllearn.com), so do a quick search to see if your ideas are available.

For the artwork, you need to consider a few things. First, to be accepted by iTunes, it needs to be between 1400×1400 pixels and 3000×3000 pixels. It should be high-quality. You also need to realize that most people are listening on their phones, so they’ll only see a small thumbnail. So, don’t put lots and lots of dense writing on there and don’t put lots of detail, just make it pretty simple.

 

Time to record!

As we’ve discussed over the past few days, here’s what you’ll need:

● Recording software

● A microphone

● A plan or a script

If it’s just you, as I suggest you should do for your first episode, have a few ideas of what you will talk about.

It’s good to write a script, but don’t feel as though you have to hit it precisely word for word, and try not to sound like you’re robotically reading from a script either! A good happy medium is to dot out your major talking points, so if you do get stuck, you can move onto the next point on your list.

This will probably feel uncomfortable at first. And that’s a good thing! Feeling uncomfortable but pushing through it anyway is a great way to grow and develop. You’re doing something new and building new skills and confidence. You’ll probably get nervous as soon as you hit record, but you can always redo it or edit it later. My advice is to try and do it as best you can so that you have to do as little editing as possible and it sounds natural.

 

Episode zero

My advice would be to make an “Episode Zero.” This is your introductory episode, around 3-5 minutes long. This is where you can tell people what your show is going to be about, why you’re doing it, what you hope to achieve, and what the listener will get out of it. I think this is a good way to emphasize your “why” and your objectives, and it’s also a good way for listeners to get a feel for your show and decide if it’s something they want to listen to.

Good luck!
Adam Ashton

 

Recommended book

Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway by Susan Jeffers

 

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