As a co-host of the podcast Seriously Fun, a podcast that is still very fresh, I can tell you that the biggest hurdle to getting started is overcoming the fear of how you sound and perform.
I remember back to when we first started talking about starting a podcast: I jumped from website to website, sifting through all the different layers of information, not knowing where to begin. Whether you’re still dreaming up the idea of starting a podcast or you’re ready to take the next step, this beginner’s guide will cover the process from concept to podcast creation.
In this blog, I am going to break it down and cover the four stages of starting a podcast:
Plan: Planning out your podcast and style
Practice: Practice makes progress – but don’t get stuck here
Record: Recording and prepping for release
Publish: Ship it – how and where to distribute
Let’s get into it.
Stage 1: Plan
The planning stage starts with the ideas and inspiration around what you’re going to build, followed by some market research, and lastly, planning out those ideas. Essentially, you’re turning all of those ideas and bits of information you’ve collected into an actionable plan that helps you achieve your milestones and goals.
Idea
This is where you get to dream big and come up with as many ideas as you can. You could even call this the ‘fun’ part because it’s all about envisioning what you want to see come from this podcast. Grab some butcher's paper, a notebook or a whiteboard and draw everything out. Dream up, sideways, down and backwards if that’s what feels right to you. The aim here is to start to visualise what you are going to make and why.
Research
It’s time to do some research. Listen to as many podcasts as you can. Some that are similar, some that are popular, some that aren’t popular at all. Ask your friends and family what podcasts they are listening to and check them out.
This research is going to help you further your ideas, figure out what you don’t like, and you’ll probably find some more inspiration here on what you’re about to start creating.
Some key questions to ask yourself along the way are:
What style of presentation do you like?
What podcast format will fit your style?
Are there any cool podcast segments or ideas that you could amalgamate into your concept that have a proven track record?
Based on current statistics, what age group and market information can you find on your audience base and what they’re into?
Do you know how and what you’re going to record with yet? How long will your episodes go for?
Hot Tip: Check out the podcasting distribution platforms while you’re doing some research, this will give your plan a more robust finish because you’ll be able to forward plan.
Plan
Now that you’ve mapped out your ideas and done some research, it’s time to structure out your podcast into an actionable plan. Figure out how you’re going to track your plan, it could be in an app on your phone, a notebook or you can set yourself up with some task management software. I highly recommend Asana, because it’s free and easy to use. They also have a dedicated Asana Academy training site that helps you to wrap your head around the software from the beginning. There are a few others like Trello and Monday that could suit your style too. You might be thinking, what tasks do I need? Here’s some examples:
Design album art for podcast
Set up calendar to track release schedule
Create social media platforms for podcast
Order podcast microphone
Create Anchor FM account for distribution
There'll be many more tasks that'll come from your action plan. Once all your tasks have been generated, you can easily put together a timeline to see how much time you need before you can start to release podcasts, and then you’ve got your first milestone in sight.
Stage 2: Practice
You’ve got your plan mapped out, you’ll be working away on designing cover art, planning topics and schedules and getting into the nitty gritty of the podcast set up. While you’re doing this, it’s important to start practising. This doesn’t mean you need to be sitting in front of a microphone with your podcast schedule in front of you, as if you're going to publish. In fact, I would suggest practising with topics that you aren’t going to use on the podcast so you don’t burn through material and make it too boring and unauthentic when you do start recording.
Practising can be driving to the shops and instead of listening to the radio, using your voice memos to record yourself talking about what you’re going to buy from the shops and why. I did this more times than I can count when getting ready for Seriously Fun. As much as it was a mega cringe to listen back to those voice memos and hear the sound of my own voice, it enabled me to think about my tone of voice, my delivery, how quickly I needed to talk and so much more.
Thinking about making a podcast can seem really simple. You think about topics and in your head you’re like, "I can talk about this topic for days". But there is something about hitting the record button that causes discomfort and for most, a loss for words. As my business partner Chris always reminds me practice makes improvement so the more practice you can do, the more prepared and confident you’re going to feel when you sit down to record. Learn to embrace the suck from the very beginning so you don’t get stuck in this stage!
Stage 3: Record
You’ve planned, you’ve practised – now it's time to start recording. You may still need to do a few practices in front of the mic, and if you do, that’s okay. Have your podcasting schedule in front of you with all the resources for your first episode, as this will keep you on track and the rambling to a minimum. When you’re recording, it’s all about delivery. Sit up straight, hold your shoulders back and if you’re needing to borrow some confidence try speaking slowly - this will help you appear confident, plus you’ll have clearly articulated speech too, which is a bonus for the listener and when you’re editing.
If you’re anything like me, you say the wrong things or suddenly develop a lisp as soon as that red light is on, so I highly suggest editing as you to remove the obvious trash. This will make it a lot easier to edit and get ready for release.
Once you’ve laid everything out, listen through and make any necessary changes, add in your theme music or sound bites, and export ready for release. Once you’ve recorded a few times, this will become the easiest part of the whole process, just remember the energy: it’s not what you say, but how you say it!
Stage 4: Publish
You’ve planned, practised, recorded and now it’s time to publish. Once you’ve chosen your main distribution channel, like Anchor FM or similar, head to the platforms section and go down the list creating accounts on each podcasting site and linking your account or RSS feed. This is going to help ensure your podcast is available on as many platforms as possible, aiming to increase organic foot traffic.
Hot Tip: Apple Podcasts require you to link an Apple ID, so if you’re not wanting to use your own, or you’re a co-host with others on the podcast, set up a new Apple ID to use for this.
The upload part is nice and simple. If you’ve recorded on external software, you just need to upload your .wav file, pop in your album art, title and description and you are good to go. If you’re recording on the distribution platform, once recorded you’ll be sent to the details page ready to publish. I’d recommend catchy titles, depending on your style and brief descriptions – you don’t want to give away too much, though. You can check out some of our Seriously Fun titles here.
I read the book ‘The Practice’ by Seth Godin recently, and in this book Seth talks persistently about ‘shipping it’ – aka publishing and getting your stuff out there. It can be overwhelming and incredibly daunting to take something you’ve created and publish it for the world to see. When you get scared to hit that final button to release your work, read this - you’re not alone! Take the leap, embrace the suck and ship it!
Congratulations, you just started a podcast! The key now is to stay consistent and persevere until the snowball of listeners happens.
Conclusion
In this article, I spoke about the four stages of starting a podcast: 1) planning out your podcast and style, 2) practicing to get used to your voice and improving your delivery, 3) recording and prepping for release, and 4) publishing your first podcast and where to distribute.
Everything you need to get started in one place. Now it’s time to head to your local stationery shop, grab your supplies and start brainstorming. Don’t forget – dream big, practice makes improvement, and ship it!
Good luck!
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