New to the world of podcasting? You may be questioning, properly, what is a podcast? And the way do they work? On this article I’ll cowl what a podcast is, what they’re used for, and the way to get began as a podcast listener or creator. Plus, I’ve a number of free sources for you on this web page that can assist you get began immediately.
What’s a podcast and the way do they work?
A podcast is a digital audio “present” or program you could obtain or stream from the web in your smartphone, laptop, or pill and pay attention when it’s handy for you.
A podcast “episode” is a single occasion of a podcast, very similar to the episode of a TV present.
Right here’s an instance—an episode of our very personal SPI Podcast, which has been working since 2010:
For stunning, easy-to-embed podcast gamers just like the above, look no additional than Fusebox — the official podcast participant of SPI! [Note: I am a compensated affiliate for Fusebox.]
Podcasts are an especially common type of media that’s rising rapidly. The primary podcasts had been produced by people, however now they’re additionally made by firms, information shops, and different organizations. Podcasting has turn out to be massive enterprise, with firms like Apple, Spotify, iHeartMedia, SiriusXM closely invested in podcasting.
For the listener, podcasts are a flexible medium! The audio-only format of podcasts makes them simple to devour in varied settings, resembling whereas commuting, cooking, touring, or working.
You may consider podcasts as “background” content material, however you too can give them your full consideration when you like.
Talking of content material, podcast matters can cowl an enormous vary, from true crime to enterprise methods to parenting tricks to comedy or children’ content material. When you’ve got a subject in thoughts, there’s most likely a podcast on the market for it! And if there isn’t, that may imply a possibility so that you can begin your individual podcast on that subject!
Podcasts are usually out there both in seasons with a set variety of episodes or in an ongoing collection. Our podcast Flops got here out with an eight-episode season in 2021, whereas different SPI Media exhibits like AskPat 2.0 and The Group Expertise had been launched weekly (till being sunsetted final 12 months). The Good Passive Earnings Podcast remains to be launched each week on an ongoing foundation.
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How podcasts began (a quick historical past of podcasting)
Podcasts have their roots again within the Eighties, however they didn’t take off till the early 2000s. In September 2000, the corporate i2Go launched a digital audio information and leisure service known as MyAudio2Go.com that allowed customers to obtain information, sports activities, leisure, climate, and music in episodic audio format. The next month, tech entrepreneur Tristan Louis proposed attaching sound and video information in RSS feeds (see under). This concept constructed steam over the following few years, and in 2004 the time period “podcasting” emerged to explain this new approach of distributing audio content material. In 2005, Apple added a podcast subscription function to iTunes 4.9 and launched a podcast listing within the iTunes Music Retailer.
Since then, the sky has been the restrict for podcasting, with someplace between 3 and 5 million podcasts on this planet proper now!
What are podcasts used for?
So what’s the purpose or objective of a podcast? What are they good for? An entire lot!
For the listener, a podcast is a good way to study a given subject—and/or be entertained!—in a approach that’s handy to them. Podcasts are free (for essentially the most half) and straightforward to search out, and given their rising recognition, cowl a wider and deeper vary of matters than ever earlier than.
For the podcaster, the makes use of and advantages of a podcast will be monumental. Podcasts are a good way to construct and serve an viewers by entertaining and/or educating listeners on a given subject.
One of many key benefits of a podcast for the podcaster is that you just get to talk on to individuals, utilizing your voice. Your podcast episode could also be heard by hundreds and even thousands and thousands of individuals, however for every listener, it’s simply you and them.
It’s been mentioned that podcasting is one of the simplest ways to scale intimacy and make a direct reference to every of your listeners.
What’s a podcast host and why do you want one? (How an RSS feed works)
Podcasts are made out there to listeners through a Actually Easy Syndication (RSS) feed.
An RSS feed permits content material creators to publish notifications of latest content material resembling weblog posts or, in fact, podcasts.
Right here’s how that works. The podcast creator submits their podcast’s RSS feed to a listing, which makes it out there to listeners through a podcast app or the creator’s web site.
A podcast listener can obtain new installments or episodes of a podcast mechanically by subscribing to the podcast’s RSS feed of their chosen podcast app.
However how do you create your podcast’s RSS feed?
That’s the place a podcast internet hosting platform (or podcast host for brief) is available in.
A podcast host is a service that gives a spot to retailer and distribute your podcast’s audio information through an RSS feed. The podcast host mechanically generates the RSS feed on your podcast, after which submits it to podcast directories, resembling Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, and others.
You may be considering, Do I’ve to make use of a podcast host? Can I host my podcast on my web site? The quick reply is sure—however hear me out.
There are a number of advantages to utilizing a podcast host as a substitute of DIYing it. A podcast host can:
- Present storage on your podcast episode information, and permit them to be downloaded by listeners.
- Automate the creation and syndication of your RSS feed to podcast directories.
- Provide built-in analytics, so you may see how your present is rising and which episodes are the most well-liked.
Sure, you may technically host your podcast’s RSS feed by yourself web site. And sure, most podcast hosts value cash, with these prices usually growing as your present grows.
However for many creators, internet hosting your podcast by yourself web site is far more hassle than it’s price.
You would possibly save a couple of bucks, however in our opinion, the dearth of analytics alone makes internet hosting your podcast in your web site a foul selection.
Fortunately, you’ve got loads of choices to select from in the case of podcast hosts. Our advisable platform is Fusebox, because of its ease of use and useful options. [Note: I am a compensated affiliate for Fusebox.]
Different common internet hosting platforms embody Buzzsprout, Libsyn, Podbean, Anchor, and Blubrry.
It’s comparatively simple to work with a podcast host. You arrange an account on their web site, the place you may enter the small print of your podcast, add episodes, and discover choices for monetizing your present. Some platforms cost a month-to-month price (variable relying on how a lot content material you publish), whereas others are free.
Final however not least, you may be considering, Isn’t a podcast host additionally an individual? Sure! A podcast host can even confer with the one that is the face and voice of a podcast. (As an example, Pat is the host of the SPI Podcast.) Glad we cleared that up. 😉
Forms of podcasts and podcast examples
As a medium for entertaining and sharing data, podcasts can take many alternative types! Listed below are a number of the commonest podcast codecs, together with examples.
- Interview: A number invitations a number of visitors to debate a given subject. This present format requires analysis and outreach to search out visitors for every episode. (The Good Passive Earnings Podcast, Armchair Professional, Recent Air)
- Solo Speaking/Storytelling: Because the title suggests, a single host “runs the present.” The time that will be spent on visitor analysis and outreach for an interview present is as a substitute directed towards analysis and preparation of the present’s content material. (Hardcore Historical past, Revolutions)
- Cohosted: A present with two or extra hosts who can present totally different personalities and views and generally humorous banter. (Stuff You Ought to Know, My Favourite Homicide, Flops, The Group Expertise)
- Roundtable: An expanded model of a co-hosted podcast with extra hosts who interact in conversations and banter round a given subject. (SmartLess, Pod Save America)
- Documentary: Much like a TV documentary, this podcast format usually has a narrator, and may embody interview segments, sound results/music, and even scripted scenes. (Serial, Startup Podcast)
Observe that many podcasts are a hybrid, incorporating parts of a number of codecs. For instance, the New York Occasions’ The Every day is a cohosted podcast that includes interviews.
Who makes podcasts?
Podcasts will be created by nearly anybody, from a person to a small workforce to a big firm!
What’s a podcast producer?
In the case of podcasts, a producer is somebody who works behind the scenes to verify the present is pretty much as good as it may be. They usually put on a number of hats, and their duties might embody discovering visitors, organizing the episode schedule, overseeing the recording and modifying processes, selling the present, and extra.
How one can take heed to a podcast
How simple is it to take heed to a podcast? Fairly darn simple! Right here’s what you’ll want:
- A smartphone, laptop, or pill with an web connection.
- A podcast app
You’ll want an internet-connected system, resembling a smartphone, laptop, or pill to entry podcasts. Because you’re already studying this put up, I’m guessing you’ve acquired this one coated. 😉
Whether or not you’re trying to find a particular podcast or wish to seek for a brand new one, a podcast app will come in useful. Listed below are a number of the hottest ones:
Every of those apps will be downloaded to your system or accessed through the online.
So which one do you have to select? To be trustworthy, there’s not a ton of distinction between them, particularly when you’re simply getting began as a podcast listener.
If you happen to’re a Mac/iOS consumer, then Apple Podcasts is your go-to, and when you use an Android cellphone, then the Google Play Music app is the best choice.
Every app additionally offers a podcast listing you could search to search out new exhibits. Many of those apps may even present personalised suggestions primarily based on the exhibits you take heed to on the app.
If you end up turning into an avid listener of numerous podcasts, you would possibly discover profit from utilizing an app like Pocket Casts, which is designed to filter and set up numerous podcast subscriptions. However for 99 p.c of listeners, most apps will just do fantastic.
When you’ve discovered the podcast you wish to take heed to in your podcast app, you may both stream it or obtain it to your system to pay attention later. Your podcast app also needs to let you “subscribe” to a present so that you’ll be alerted when new episodes are launched.
Some podcast creators additionally make their podcast episodes out there straight on their web site through a web-based podcast participant like Fusebox.
Right here’s an instance of the way to use an embedded internet participant like Fusebox to play a podcast episode proper on a webpage:
How one can begin a podcast
If you happen to’re taken with the way to begin a podcast, you’re in the correct place! At SPI, we’ve got a ton of sources for first-time podcasters (and extra superior podcasters too, however let’s not get forward of ourselves…).
In an effort to begin a podcast, you want a couple of key elements:
That’s not all, although, and if you need the complete scoop, try our “How one can Begin a Podcast STEP-BY-STEP” information.
It consists of the lowdown on issues like:
- Selecting a podcast subject you may decide to
- Writing a compelling podcast description
- Selecting a podcast internet hosting service
- Recording your episodes
- And rather more
The “How one can Begin a Podcast STEP-BY-STEP” information makes beginning your podcast simple and doable with the intention to construct your viewers—and even begin and scale a enterprise with the assistance of your new present.
You can too try our video information to beginning your podcast!
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Our free podcasting tutorial
What’s a podcast FAQ
Listed below are some generally requested questions on podcasts, and our solutions!
Why are podcasts known as podcasts?
The phrase “podcast” is a portmanteau (mixed phrase) of “iPod,” Apple’s unique transportable music participant, and “broadcast.” Some individuals have additionally recommended “transportable on demand” as a “backronym” for the phrase “podcast.”
Podcasts vs. radio: What’s the distinction?
Are podcasts the identical as radio exhibits? Whereas podcasts and radio share lots of similarities, since they’re each audio codecs, podcasts are extra versatile in lots of methods. You may consider podcasts as the following “evolution” of the radio present.
Listed below are a number of the key variations between podcasts and radio:
- Podcasts are often edited, whereas radio is usually reside.
- Podcasts will be streamed or downloaded on demand, whereas radio exhibits usually have to be listened to reside. Radio stations are more and more making their beforehand aired exhibits out there on-line, however most radio content material have to be accessed when it goes reside.
- Most radio content material is aimed toward a broad viewers, whereas podcast content material will be extraordinarily area of interest.
- Most radio exhibits must fill a particular time block, whereas podcast episodes will be any size.
- Radio exhibits usually have greater manufacturing prices, in order that they include ads to assist offset these prices. Whereas podcast promoting is a rising business, many podcasts don’t embody advertisements as a result of the fee barrier to entry for podcasting is a lot decrease than for radio.
Are podcasts free to take heed to?
Probably the greatest issues about podcasts is that they’re often free to obtain and take heed to. Sure, you’ll want a tool to take heed to them and an web connection to obtain them, however the content material itself is mostly freed from cost.
Lately, some podcasters have begun creating extra paid content material for his or her subscribers. These paid podcasts have gotten more and more common, though free podcasts are nonetheless much more frequent.
What’s a podcast community?
A podcast community is a group of podcasts beneath the umbrella of a single firm, which produces, distributes, and/or makes these podcasts out there to advertisers. Podcast networks can present publicity and income for podcast house owners and are an amazing choice to contemplate as soon as your podcast has grown a bit.
Some podcast networks are targeted on a single theme, whereas others settle for podcasts throughout a spread of matters. The largest podcast networks embody iHeartRadio, Wondery, PodcastOne, HubSpot Podcast Community, and Audacy.
What’s a video podcast?
Video podcasts are an more and more common type of podcasting. Because the title suggests, they incorporate video and audio, permitting listeners to see and listen to your content material. Including video to your podcast is usually extra work, however it might probably assist expose your present to a wider viewers via platforms like YouTube and TikTok.
What gear do it’s essential to begin a podcast?
As talked about above in “How one can Begin a Podcast,” a microphone is an important piece of kit you’ll want to start out your individual present. Nevertheless, there are a couple of different items of tech to contemplate:
- A desktop microphone stand
- A increase arm and shock mount to scale back undesirable vibrations
- A pop filter to scale back plosives (harsh sounds from sure syllables) in your recordings
- Software program for recording and modifying, resembling GarageBand or Audacity
- Sound dampening supplies to scale back room echo
Do podcasters generate profits from their exhibits?
They undoubtedly can, and plenty of of them do!
The most typical approach podcasts generate profits is thru promoting or sponsorships. You can too use internet online affiliate marketing to advertise merchandise in your present and earn a fee when somebody purchases them utilizing your hyperlink.
Our Amp’d Up Podcasting course — out there completely to our neighborhood members — is designed to assist podcasters develop and higher monetize their exhibits whereas additionally decreasing manufacturing time.
A free guidelines for beginning your podcast
Be sure to don’t miss a step! The Podcast Cheat Sheet offers you all of the steps it’s essential to begin your present.
Are you prepared to start out your podcasting journey?
I hope this primer on podcasts was useful! Perhaps you’re impressed to go discover a new present to subscribe to, and even turn out to be a podcaster your self!
Earlier than you leap, nonetheless, it’s essential to weigh the professionals and cons of podcasting.
Execs and cons of beginning a podcast
The advantages of getting a podcast will be quite a few. A podcast may also help you:
- Develop your model or enterprise
- Meet new individuals
- Develop new revenue streams
- Develop your viewers
On the identical time, podcasting might not be for everybody. It takes time, power, dedication, and sources to start out and keep a podcast. To achieve success, it’s essential to produce a high-quality present and publish it frequently.
Extra sources for the aspiring podcaster (or simply the pod-curious)
If the thought of beginning a podcast remains to be thrilling to you, nice! We’ve acquired a number of useful sources when you’re able to continue to learn about podcasts and what they’ll do that can assist you develop your corporation and join together with your viewers.
If you happen to’re taken with beginning your individual podcast, our How one can Begin a Podcast Information offers you sensible subsequent steps.
However when you’re prepared to start out your podcast in essentially the most streamlined approach doable, our Energy-Up Podcasting® 2.0 course is for you. It’s a step-by-step information to launching a profitable podcast that will get discovered and grows your on-line model. You may take the course as a part of the SPI Group — membership will get you all our programs and the assist of a vibrant studying neighborhood to information and inspire you in direction of podcasting success.
You can too discover The Good Passive Earnings Podcast and skim extra about podcasting on the weblog.
Able to be taught podcasting the good approach?
The SPI Group has the sources you want.
