Have you ever wondered how to start a podcast even if you have zero experience?

This 26,000 word blog post will answer every question you could have about how to start a podcast.

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I tell people over and over, there is no better time to start a podcast than right now. It’s still like the gold rush of bloggers was back in 2007-2010 and there are tons of niches still yet to be claimed but they are getting snatched up quickly.

One of the craziest things about podcasting is that there are still so many people that don’t even know about it yet. I was at my barber (shout out to Sam at Alpharetta Barber Shop) about 2 weeks ago and I was telling him about my podcast and his reply was “a pod what?!”. I proceeded to tell him the concept of a podcast and how he could listen to them on his iPhone. He had no idea that the Apple Podcast app was pre-installed on his phone.

According to Apple, as of June 2018, there were 550,000 podcasts in more than 100 languages. This may seem like a lot, but to put it into perspective, there are over 1.8 billion websites on the internet, of which 200 million of them are actively updated. The 550,000 number mentioned by Apple is just the number of podcasts in the iTunes store. If you scroll the list of podcasts in a given category, you’ll see that many of them have been abandoned.

After looking up more statistics on podcast listenership, it seems that my barber is not in the minority. A survey conducted by Podcast Insights shows that only 25% of the population in the USA listens to a podcast on a monthly basis. You may be thinking, well that’s a really low number, maybe it isn’t a good idea to create a podcast. My response would be this – have you ever talked to someone that listens to podcasts somewhat regularly and have them say they don’t enjoy podcasts? Most of the time, it’s people’s favorite way to consume content – especially news, stories, and interviews. With only 44% of the US population that have listened to a podcast in 2018, there is no better time to start a podcast. I expect this percentage to continue to rise rapidly over the next two years as more large companies create podcasts and begin sponsoring them.

The following content will take you step-by-step, in as much detail as humanly possible, through how to start a podcast and automate the workflow so that you can take advantage of this podcaster gold rush.

It’s Nice To Meet You!

Hey, I’m Ryan Helms! I’m the host of the Hustle To Freedom podcast and Chief Side Hustler here at Grit and Hustle Co. I got started podcasting after launching a successful Kickstarter for The Side Hustle Journal. When the campaign was over and I had time to reflect, I realized that the campaign could have been so much bigger if I had a larger personal network.

Then it hit me – start a podcast. Not only could I finally launch a podcast after a long time of wishing, but I could meet all the amazing people I wanted to surround myself with.

It’s been one of the best decisions of my life and I’m stoked that you are about to get started on your podcast journey as well. I know you’ll be just as happy with the decision as I was. So, let’s not waste anymore time and dive into how to start a podcast now.

The Three Main Types of Podcast

When you set out to create your podcast, the first thing you must figure out is what type of podcast will you have. It’s really no different than if you were a hobbyist writer that decided to publish a book. Would you be writing fiction, non-fiction, biography, autobiography?

This is the same concept with podcasting but I see there being three main types of podcasts.

1. Storytelling
2. Informative
3. 1-on-1 Interviews

Every podcast that you can find will fall into one of those categories and so will yours. To find where you will fit you need to think about your personality and what you are comfortable doing.

If you are an introverted person, the idea of 1-on-1 interviews may give you feelings of a panic attack. So, a storytelling style podcast may fit you more and give you more control of the process.

An extroverted person may be foaming at the mouth for 1-on-1 interviews from the thought of talking to others about a topic they are passionate about.

Maybe you already have a website that covers tech related things and you want to start a podcast that talks about upcoming new software and hardware on an informative podcast.

Whichever you decide, this is the first thing you must figure out.

If one of these styles doesn’t immediately stand out to you, try opening your podcast app searching for a keyword then check out how some of the podcasts in that genre are formatted.

Here is a brief description of each of the three types:

Storytelling: This will typically be a single person, but could be more than one. The podcast host(s) communicate a prewritten script on a specific topic. It could be non-scripted but it would likely need a lot of editing unless you are a super host or don’t care about small screw-ups. The topic could range greatly from fiction to nonfiction and everything in between. Here are some examples of great storytelling podcast.

• This American Life
• 99% Invisible
• Serial

Informative: This could be one or many hosts. Some informative podcast will have strong storytelling elements as well, while others, like podcast covering current news,  are strictly informative. Here are some examples of the great informative podcast.

• The Indicator from Planet Money
• Stuff You Missed in History Class
• The History of Rome

1-on-1 Interviews: While a lot of the information below will be applicable to all podcast types, some of the information will be strongly geared to this type. This type of podcast will always include the host plus one other person. The guest could be someone in the same room as the host or they could be on the other side of the world. For each scenario, there is a different process with different tools to execute the interview. Here are some examples of great 1-on-1 interview podcast.

• Hustle To Freedom
• The Tim Ferriss Show
• The Joe Rogan Experience

Picking a niche topic

If your podcast topic is too broad, then you will struggle to grow your listener audience. The only exception to this is if you already have a large social following before starting.

I mentioned in the beginning that there is still plenty of opportunity in the podcasting space but you’ll quickly see that the general topics are dominated by big companies that focus only on podcasting or have large content budgets. These companies have the resources to put out a podcast with very high quality in all aspects – content, audio, and post-production. For example, if you wanted to start a podcast on the general topic of news, then good luck to you, because NPR dominates this space.

When you get into more niche topics this becomes less of an issue because these podcasting companies typically focus on topics that can get them a large listener audience, because more ears mean more money – quickly. Later we will get into monetizing a podcast and you’ll see the ways a podcast can generate revenue.

We are going to focus on building a podcast in a very niche topic to ensure you have success gaining listeners.

There are 4 layers to the podcast you are about to start and we must get down to the bottom 2 to really claim your space. These layers include the topic, sub-niche, niche in the niche, and the delivery.

If you only focused on the topic, you would have a very broad audience that you are trying to appeal to and by trying to appeal to everyone, you may appeal to no one. You would even be making a mistake by only picking a sub-niche. The trick to growing a podcast (or even a blog) is to find your niche within the niche. Once you have your niche within the niche, you can further differentiate by determining how you will deliver the content.

Let’s dive into this a bit more to look at some examples and figure out your niche within the niche and your own delivery.

We can use my podcast for an example here. I have always been obsessed with business for as long as I can remember (yay for capitalism) so I knew this was the topic that I wanted to focus on for my podcast. But there are soo many great podcasts focusing on the broad topic of general business, I knew that I didn’t stand much of a chance going up against those folks – not impossible, just not great odds.

So then I looked at how can I differentiate myself from just the general topic of business. I took a step back to think about this and look for things that I was both knowledgeable about and also had some results to back up my words. Now, I don’t think you necessarily have to have the results on the topic to back up your content, but it can certainly help. Often times being an expert just means you are one step ahead of the other person. For me, I realized that within the 6 months prior to deciding to start a podcast, I had launched a successful Kickstarter for The Side Hustle Journal and also started a blog that was generating some passive income while growing an audience – email and chatbot subscribers.

Starting a business seemed like the natural progression when looking at the topic of business but this is still far too broad of a topic to cover.

So, I stepped back again and dug a bit deeper. All of my projects and my interest focused on helping people who were working day jobs, start profitable side hustles in their hours outside of their 9 to 5.

That was it, my niche within the niche for the podcast would be side hustles for people with day jobs.

Browsing around quickly showed me that there was really only 1 other person focusing on this specific niche (at least 1 doing it well). There is plenty of space for another person in this space but I didn’t want to recreate the same podcast as that host so I used the last step, Delivery, to differentiate myself.

We had the same audience but he focused on a Storytelling delivery. To make my podcast different and really create my own “blue ocean”, I decided to focus on 1-on-1 interviews as my delivery style.

“In their classic book, Blue Ocean Strategy, W. Chan Kim & Renée Mauborgne coined the terms ’red ocean’ and ‘blue ocean’ to describe the market universe.

Red oceans are all the industries in existence today – the known market space. In red oceans, industry boundaries are defined and accepted, and the competitive rules of the game are known.

Blue oceans, in contrast, denote all the industries not in existence today – the unknown market space, untainted by competition. In blue oceans, demand is created rather than fought over. There is ample opportunity for growth that is both profitable and rapid.

In blue oceans, competition is irrelevant because the rules of the game are waiting to be set. A blue ocean is an analogy to describe the wider, deeper potential to be found in unexplored market space. A blue ocean is vast, deep, and powerful in terms of profitable growth.” – this was taken from the website here.

 

Let’s take a look at some other examples of successful niche podcast

These two podcasts are about as far from each other as possible. Each of them found their niche within a niche and created a delivery that set them apart from the others.

The Sleep With Me podcast is a very unique podcast where the guy has a very soothing, calm voice and he just talks about his day. His audience is people who are going to bed so he doesn’t cover any in-depth content. On the surface, it may sound dumb but that may mean you are not his audience, and that’s ok. You shouldn’t try to please everyone. Because he has a very focused niche and a unique delivery, he has grown a huge audience that he was able to monetize and quit his day job.

The Indicator is another podcast with a specific niche. They cover US economics and focus on stories with quantitative subjects. Each episode revolves around a single number (indicator) and it is run by two guests that go back and forth covering the topic. They don’t just each read their part, they have small talk and joke in between which makes the episodes more enjoyable  – even if the jokes and small talk are also scripted.

You can use the below chart to help find your niche within a niche and formulate your podcast delivery.

Podcast Equipment to Get Started

So, you now have your niche defined for your podcast and you are ready to record an episode. Below is the equipment you need to get in order to record and launch your podcast. The equipment you select will be based on the style of the podcast you are doing.

In-person format

Audio Recorder

• Good: Zoom H1n Handy Recorder – find it here
• Great: Zoom H4N PRO Digital Multitrack Recorder (I have this) – find it here
• Best: Zoom H6 Six-Track Portable Recorder – find it here

Lavalier Microphones

• Good: PowerDeWise Lavalier Microphone (I have this) – find it here
• Great: Movo LV-6 Lavalier Microphone – find it here
• Best: Shure CVL Lavalier Condenser Microphone – find it here

SD Card

• Good: SanDisk 32GB Ultra – find it here
• Great: SanDisk 64GB Ultra – find it here
• Best: SanDisk Extreme Pro 64GB – find it here

Computer (duh)

• Good: Dell XPS 13 9360 13.3″  8GB RAM 128GB SSD – find it here
• Great: Apple 13″ MacBook Pro 16GB RAM, 512GB (I have this) – find it here
• Best: Apple iMac 27″ Desktop 32GB SDRAM 256GB Flash Storage – find it here

Audio Editing & Recording Software

• Good: Garageband – find it here
• Great: Audacity – find it here
• Best: Adobe Audition (this is what I use) – find it here

Online format

Headphones

• Good: Senzer H3 Wired Earbuds In Ear Headphones – find it here
• Great: Sony XB950B1 Extra Bass Wireless Headphones – find it here
• Best: Sony H.ear on Wireless Noise Cancelling Headphone – find it here

Microphone

• Good: Blue Snowball iCE Condenser Microphone – find it here
• Great: Audio-Technica ATR2100-USB Microphone (I have this) – find it here
• Best: Shure SM7B Vocal Dynamic Microphone – find it here

Computer (duh)

• Good: Dell XPS 13 9360 13.3″  8GB RAM 128GB SSD – find it here
• Great: Apple 13″ MacBook Pro 16GB RAM, 512GB (I have this) – find it here
• Best: Apple iMac 27″ Desktop 32GB SDRAM 256GB Flash Storage – find it here

Audio Editing & Recording Software

• Good: Garageband – find it here
• Great: Audacity – find it here
• Best: Adobe Audition (this is what I use) – find it here

Podcast with host only

Headphones

• Good: Senzer H3 Wired Earbuds In Ear Headphones – find it here
• Great: Sony XB950B1 Extra Bass Wireless Headphones – find it here
• Best: Sony H.ear on Wireless Noise Cancelling Headphone – find it here

Microphone

• Good: Blue Snowball iCE Condenser Microphone – find it here
• Great: Audio-Technica ATR2100-USB Microphone (I have this) – find it here
• Best: Shure SM7B Vocal Dynamic Microphone (Interface required) – find it here

Computer (duh)

• Good: Dell XPS 13 9360 13.3″  8GB RAM 128GB SSD – find it here
• Great: Apple 13″ MacBook Pro 16GB RAM, 512GB (I have this) – find it here
• Best: Apple iMac 27″ Desktop 32GB SDRAM 256GB Flash Storage – find it here

Audio Editing & Recording Software

• Good: Garageband – find it here
• Great: Audacity – find it here
• Best: Adobe Audition (this is what I use) – find it here

Extras & nice-to-haves

Microphone Boom

• Good: NEEWER Adjustable Microphone Boom (I have this) – find it here
• Great: AmazonBasics Tripod Microphone Boom – find it here
• Best: RODE PSA1 Studio Microphone Boom – find it here

Microphone Shock Mount (check your mic size)

• Good: Neewer Black Universal Microphone Shock Mount – find it here
• Great: ZRAMO TH106 Black Spider Microphone Shock Mount – find it here
• Best: Koolertron Universal 50MM Microphone Shock Mount – find it here

Sound Deadeners

• Good: Superdense Soundproofing Acoustic Panels – find it here
• Great: 12 Pack- Acoustic Panels Studio Foam Wedges – find it here
• Best: Foamily 6 Pack Acoustic Foam Sound Absorption – find it here

 

The equipment I listed above is what I personally use or equipment that has been recommended to me by other podcasters. You can spend expect to spend between $150 and $600 to get started. I spent less than $400 to get started and this included equipment for both in-person and online interviews. If you need a new computer then you will obviously spend a bit more than this. If you are running a really old computer it may struggle running applications like Zoom and Adobe Audition so you should consider that.

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Internet Speed Minimums

If your podcast format requires you to use Zoom for recording the episodes, then you should ensure your internet speed meets the minimum requirements outlined below. To test your internet speed, you can go to www.fast.com and it will automatically run and tell you the speed of your current connection.

My suggestions for speed minimums to ensure no audio glitches are:

If recording only audio, meaning both participants webcams are off, you will need at least 5+ Mbps download speed. For the best audio quality, I would recommend 20+ Mbps.

If you are also recording or streaming video during the episode, you will need at least 50+ Mbps download speed. For the best quality, I would recommend 100+ Mbps.

Note: Make sure you close out any browser windows that you have open and any applications that sync over the internet. These applications, even when not being used, can consume internet bandwidth and impact your audio quality. Also, ask your guest to do the same and close any browser windows and applications.

How To Get A Podcast Live

Later on we will get into actually recording a podcast episode but for now, let’s take a look at how you will get your podcast out into the wild once you do record and launch. Are you wondering why I am showing you how to publish your podcast before I show you how to actually record and edit your podcast? The reason for this is because you cannot actually connect your podcast to the major distribution platforms such as Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Spotify, etc, without having at least one episode uploaded. Before we dive too deep into this let’s touch on the various podcast distribution platforms you will want your podcast to show up on and also, how a podcast hosting service will help facilitate this.

Major podcast distribution platforms:

• Apple Podcast
• Google Podcast & Google Play Music
• Spotify
• Stitcher
• Player.FM

What is a podcast host?

A podcasting hosting service is a requirement to have your podcast accessible to the largest market of listeners. They provide the platform so that you can upload your audio file and input the key characteristics of your show and each individual episode. (I will show you how to do this later.) This includes the titles of each episode, the artwork, the hostname, keywords for the episode, and the actual audio file.

The important thing the hosting company does though is provide an RSS feed for your podcast. RSS stands for “really simple syndication” and it is the link between your host and platforms such as Apple Podcast. Without an RSS feed your podcast would not be able to be accessed by the main listening channels – Apple Podcast, Spotify, etc. You technically could still have a podcast without a host but you would have to find somewhere to store your audio files and find a way to distribute the content and it wouldn’t be accessible on any of the primary platforms. For example, you could just upload your files to YouTube but then someone would have to go to your YouTube channel every time they want to listen to an episode. This will kill your ability to get new listeners. (I do recommend uploading to YouTube though – more on that later)

Picking a Podcast Host

Now that you know what a podcast hosting service does, you need to actually pick a host. There are tons of options out there to choose from but I’ll just highlight some of the top options and hopefully save you the hours and hours I spent researching the different options.

Host	Simplecast	Blubrry	Libsyn	Soundcloud	Anchor
Cost	$12	$12 - $100	$5 - $60	$16	Free
Storage	Unlimited	100-1,000 MB	50-800 MB	Unlimited	Unlimited
Comments	I use this one Simple, easy to use Great analytics Beautiful embed player	Well known I know users Great reviews	Most well known Trusted w/ little issues Interface is dated	Freemium. Organic audience Company instability	Mobile friendly Record on your phone Growing popularity

Note: Anchor is very popular but you should approach with caution. With most other podcast host, you will own all of your content and you can do whatever you want with it – delete it, move it, etc. However, with Anchor, they own your content. So, if you decide to start on Anchor then later down the road move your podcast to another host, you will need to start a brand new RSS feed and it will show duplicates shows on the various platforms. So, does own your content matter to you?

Why I picked Simplecast

This is the host that I personally use for the Hustle To Freedom podcast. After looking at all the options I chose Simplecast for a few reasons. (I have no affiliation with Simplecast at the time of writing this)

• Like the name says, it’s quick and easy to get up and running and you really don’t need any instructions to figure out how to upload an episode (but I’ll still walk you through it later).
• They have a beautiful embeddable player that you can put on your website. You can choose between a light theme and a dark theme as shown below. Once you pick the theme, they provide the string of code that you can simply paste in your website or blog post. The player expands to the width of the page, so it won’t look as narrow as it does below.

• They offer Unlimited storage space. Several of the other podcast hosting services have tiered pricing based on how much storage you use on a monthly basis. Since I was posting 2 episodes per week, I quickly went into the middle or top pricing tier on some of the services.
• They offer a great analytics dashboard that shows data on:
  • A breakdown of the cities where you are getting downloads. Below is a view of my map.
  • Total downloads: you can choose by date range
  • Downloads per episode: you can see total downloads for each episode on a bar chart
  • Downloads of the past 10 episodes: the downloads on the most recent episodes
  • Top 10 episodes: you top 10 episodes with the most listens
  • Listener location: the city that your listeners are in
  • Listener method: the app or platform they listened on

 

• The pricing is very reasonable at $12 per month.

I’m sure the other podcast hosts I mentioned above are also great platforms but for the reasons I listed above, I decided to go with Simplecast. I can also say that their support has been great when I had general questions and I’m sure if I ever did have issues, they would be quick to resolve the issue.

I’ll be sure to update this section if my experience changes or if I ever switch podcast host but at this time it’s smoooooth sailing.

Configuring Your Simplecast Account

I personally use Simplecast for hosting my podcast, Hustle To Freedom. The below process will be shown in Simplecast but it will be similar to most other podcast host. (I have no affiliation with Simplecast, I just like their software)

You MUST HAVE a podcast host setup before you can get your RSS feed. Once you have an RSS feed, you can then submit to have your podcast published on all the major platforms such as Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Spotify, etc.

First let’s configure your profile. Typically, I would not spend time showing you how to setup your profile but it is REALLY important here. It’s really important because, unlike a normal webpage where you can focus on SEO to increase your search visibility, it’s very hard to be discovered on a podcast feed because only 2 fields are indexed for search. The full page is shown below but I’ll cover the most important fields.

Podcast Title

This field should be catchy but also contain some of the keywords you would like to come up for in searches.

Search Keywords

This field is not as important since the largest podcast ecosystem, Apple, does not utilize them for search. I would recommend still choosing very solid keywords so that if they start using them again you will be ready. There are also some smaller platforms, such as PlayerFM, that do use the keywords.

Author

This one was a game changer for me. Seriously. For the first ~35 episodes I just had my name, Ryan Helms, input into this field. Then, as I drove home from my day job one day, I heard a guy mention Apple indexes the Author field so you can apply relevant keywords in this field. So, I obviously rushed home and did this immediately. I changed it to Ryan Helms: Creator of The Side Hustle Journal | Freedom Chaser | Solopreneur | Financial Independence Enthusiast.

Three days later and nothing happened. But on day four after the change, which wasn’t even a release day, my listeners went up 4x. Seriously, 4 times the number of listens as I normally got on the days I released episodes.

Here is screenshot I took from the Simplecast dashboard on that day. It ended up going to 450%.

The spike was so drastic that I even submitted a support ticket to Simplecast to see if something was broken. Haha

Update Aug 2018: There is talk about Apple Podcasts removing or not approving shows for placing excessive keywords into the Author and Title fields. In some cases, anything other than just the Author’s name will cause Apple to remove the show. Proceed with caution on how you name your podcast. I’ll update this as new information is released

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Categories

You can choose up to 3. Make them relevant.

Here is the full settings page for my podcast so you can see exactly how it is configured.

Uploading a podcast episode to your host

After you have signed up for Simplecast or whichever host you choose, and have your profile configured, you will need to find where you can upload an episode. You may be asking why I am showing you how to upload an episode before I show you how to record and edit a podcast. Yea? This is because you cannot connect your podcast RSS feed to the major distribution platforms, such as Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Spotify, etc, until you have at least one episode uploaded.

So, let’s take a look at the process to upload a podcast episode.

• In Simplecast it is in the top left corner of the home page.
• Click on Add a new episode.

The next part is quite basic but there are some tricks that I’ll include. You can see the screenshot below for the full page but here are the details on each section:

Episode Title

You may or may not want to start with a numbering scheme how I did. For sure you should choose an episode title that sounds intriguing. It should spark curiosity and make someone want to listen. This is not used for search indexing so just focus on creating a title that draws people in.

Episode #

If you have an episodic podcast then this number will sequentially rise with each episode you put out. Note: this number does not get placed in your podcast title.

Type

I would leave this as Full

Publish Date

Choose a date in the future when you would like your podcast released to the world. Keep in mind where the bulk of your listeners are and when they are most likely to listen. For me, about 80% of my audience is in the USA and they listen in the morning while commuting to work. For that reason I release my episodes at 5:46 am Eastern Time. Why 5:46? Because one of my competitors releases at 5:45 and I want mine to be on top.

Episode Summary

This is what most podcast players will show in the preview before clicking into an episode. You cannot add any links in this section.

Full Description / Show Notes

Here I typically copy the Episode Summary then add additional information such as the links from things referenced in the episode. To add a link in Simplecast, just highlight the text you want to link then click the Globe icon. You can also add other formatting with Markdown or just by using the formatting buttons. You will see a live preview as you update the Show Notes section.

Author

This pulls from your Profile.

Artwork

This will pull from your profile, or, if you want an episode specific artwork, you can upload that here.

Episode Audio File

Click Add New Episode and upload the amazing episode file that we created earlier.

Click Save, of course.

 

Note: Be sure to double check your Publish Date. A few times I have chose the wrong time and been stumped when I didn’t see my podcast released.

Here is the completed page for an episode of my podcast.

Note: If, after the episode is live, you notice there is a mistake in the audio and you need to change it (been there), then you can delete the file in the episode and upload the edited version. BE SURE that the episode has a different file name than the original file. If it has the same name it will not update.

How To Publish A Podcast 

Once you have followed the above process and you have at least one podcast episode, you’ll be ready to publish your podcast to the world. There are several podcast platforms which you can have your podcast connected to but Apple Podcast is by far the largest platform. Below, we will look at how to connect your podcast RSS feed to the various platform. Before doing any of the below steps, make sure you have at least one podcast episode uploaded into Simplecast.

Your URL will look like https://rss.simplecast.com/podcasts/3518293211/rss.

Note: If you’re still using Simplecast in Trial mode, you’ll need to add a debit/credit card before your RSS feed will be enabled. And remember, you’ll also need to have at least one episode published.

Apple Podcast

Let’s take a look at what you need to do to publish your podcast RSS feed to Apple Podcast

• Head over to Apple’s Podcasts Connect login page and sign in using your Apple ID.
  • Don’t have an Apple ID? You will need to create one.
• Once logged in you will see a “+” icon in the top-left corner of the screen – click on that.
• Head over to your Simplecast dashboard and click on the Sharing section.
• Copy your show’s RSS feed URL and then paste it into the form over on Podcasts Connect.
• Click the verify button, and wait for Apple to confirm if the feed is valid then click submit.

Note: According to Simplecast, if your feed URL doesn’t validate, your feed might be missing some information (check Podcast Settings) or you may not have at least one published episode.

Step by Step Explainer Videos & Much More

With that completed, you just have to it back and wait for Apple Podcast to publish your RSS feed, which should happen in the next 24 hours. Your podcast should now go live on Apple Podcasts sometime in the next 24 hours. You should be emailed when your podcast is accepted, or if there are any problems.

Google Podcast / Google Play

Now, let’s connect our podcast RSS feed to Google Podcast and Google Play. You will need a Google account to set this up.

• Sign into Google Play Music with the Gmail account you want to be associated with your podcast.
• Click “add podcast” and paste in your Simplecast RSS feed URL.
  • Remember, you can find the RSS Feed URL on the Sharing page within Simplecast.
• Next, you will need to verify your Gmail account.
• Now you just have to wait for Google to approve your podcast.

Spotify

Now, let’s connect your podcast RSS feed to Spotify.

Not all podcast host allow you to submit your podcast to Spotify but Simplecast does.

In order to submit your podcast, you will need to fill out this form so they can submit to Spotify for approval.

You should expect between 2-7 days before your podcast is live on Spotify after you complete the above form. The Simplecast team will email you once it’s submitted. Soon they will have the Spotify podcast submission form built into the platform, but until that happens just use the above form.

Stitcher

In order to add your podcast to Stitcher, you will need to complete the form on this page and request approval to have your podcast show on the Stitcher SmartRadio.

iHeart Radio

In order to add your podcast to iHeart Radio, you will need to fill out this form.

Should I get a website for my podcast?

You really have three options when it comes to answering the question of, “should I have a website for my podcast”.

The short version answer is, yes, you should have a website for your podcast but I will highlight your other options also. It is not a must-have when you are just trying to figure out how to start a podcast but I really want you to consider the below information before making a decision.

No Website

You can certainly launch a podcast without a website to support your podcast. In no way is a website a dependent factor in getting started with launching your podcast. In fact, please do not let this slow you down from launching!

Website With Podcast Theme

If you want to have a lot of flexibility when it comes to the “look and feel” of your website then you should, without a doubt, have a WordPress website. With WordPress websites, you can apply a theme, which will allow anyone, no matter how design challenged they are, create a brilliant website. If you already have a WordPress site, then you know there is an endless sea of themes available but there isn’t a ton high quality ones that are made specifically with podcasts in mind. That was until SecondLine Themes started releasing themes about a year ago. If you are looking for a theme specifically for podcasts then you should definitely check out thier themes over at SecondLine Themes. You will find themes made just for podcasts and you’ll still get all the benefits of a WordPress site – flexibility, SEO, scalability, etc.

 

Here are a few of their themes:

 

Website Through Your Host

If you do not already have a brand that your podcast will be associated with, this will be the best and quickest option for you. Many of the podcast hosting platforms, including Simplecast, offer this as part of the package.

If this is something you will be doing, even if only temporary, be sure the host you choose offers the hosted website option, because I know not all the hosting services have this available.

An example of what a hosted website from Simplecast looks like is: https://designdetails.simplecast.fm/

(you can update the URL to your own domain, if you have one, and drop the “simplecast.fm”)

Use your own existing website

The last option and the best if you have an existing brand or plan to be podcasting long-term is to have your own website that you are 100% in control of. There are plenty of options to quickly start a website but I recommend WordPress paired with BlueHost as your web host. This will give you maximum flexibility to customize to fit your brand and allow for scaling and evolving as your podcast and/or business changes – because it surely will.

When I first started podcasting my website was built on the Shopify, then the further along I got in my personal journey, the more and more I began to realize that my business is much more about creating content then it is about selling products. Because of this, I made the pivot to WordPress. It was a pain to move CMS’s (content management system) so that’s why I recommend starting with a platform that can scale with your side hustle. If all you do is sell a ton of products, then you should start on a platform like Shopify. If you create more content like a podcast, blog, or video, then you should start from the beginning with WordPress.

There are a ton of ways you can manage your podcast episode catalog on your website, but here is how I manage mine.

I create a blog post specific to each episode. Depending on your niche and the delivery of your podcast, each blog post can be very different but I have found that I like to have a template that answers some basic questions about the episode and that the blog also includes the embeddable player shown above and any links from the episode.

The questions I “ask” in this blog are:

• Who is it?
• What is their side hustle?
• Why should I listen?
• How will it help me?
• Where can I learn more about them?
• Show notes

Then I simply answer these questions and by the end of it, I’ve got my blog post.

Your style may be totally different than this, but I think it is good to develop a template that you can use each time because it will save you time and help with outsourcing the task if you eventually get there. (we will discuss outsourcing later) If you have frequent visitors to the site, the template structure also allows them to know what they can expect when they check out the blog.

Some of the other benefits of having a WordPress site are:

SEO

If you are unfamiliar with the term, it means Search Engine Optimization, and it is the practice of strategically updating certain content on your site to help it appear higher in search results on sites like Google and Bing. (does anyone still use Bing?!)

If you are using a hosted site from your podcast host, such as Simplecast, then you likely won’t have the ability for any advanced SEO and it likely won’t show high in the search engine rankings. So, if getting organic traffic from Google is something you want, then you should definitely go the WordPress route.

With WordPress, you can download free SEO plugins, like Yoast, to give your podcast the best chance of showing up in Google search results. Yoast does a lot but in essence, it allows a beginner, with no SEO experience, create well-optimized content very quickly. You’ll also be able to add SEO relevant data to any images used in your blog post to help visibility in search results.

Other’s can link to it

A great benefit of having a website, either on WordPress or through your podcast host, is that people, including guest, can link it to. This can really help your site’s authority if you are getting backlinks for sites with a higher domain authority than you, which is pretty much any other site if you are just starting out. You also never know who may stumble upon your website on Google, think your podcast is awesome, and link to it on their site.

Building a brand

I touched on this earlier but it’s worth another mention. Having a site that you can build a brand around, personal or not, can be huge. It will not only giving you the ability to craft how your brand appears online, but it will also establish credibility for you as a host and expert on your topic.

Adding a podcast embed player to your blog

After you have your podcast uploaded, I always recommend creating a blog post for each episode. With Simplecast, you get a beautiful embed player that you can add into your blog post to make it look amazing and increase time on page, which is good for SEO. Below is an example of how that embed player can look on your page.

• To get the embed player code, you need to go back to the Simplecast homepage. There you will see a thumbnail of each episode.
• In the bottom right corner of the episode artwork you will notice an arrow symbol, as shown below.
• Click this button.
• From there you will several options but we want to focus on the main embed player. You can choose between a Light and Dark theme.
• After you choose the theme you like, click into the iFrame Emded section and copy the snippet of code.

• With this code copied to your clipboard, head over to your website. I use WordPress for my website.
• After logging into your WordPress account, create a post or navigate to the post you want to add the embed player into.
• When you get to your post, you will want to click on the Text editor. This is where you will add in the Simplecast embed player. You CANNOT add it in the Visual Editor.
• Paste in the code, click Save, then go check that it updated by clicking on the Visual Editor.

Then you can fill in all the other information you want to include about your episode. I use a template format for each episode. This makes the blog creation process much quicker because it’s like a fill in the blank questionnaire.

If this seems like a bit too much work for you, then I would just go with one of the themes shown above from SecondLine Themes.

Transcribing A Podcast Episode

So, what does it mean to transcribe a podcast episode? This just means that you will send your audio file to a company like GoTranscript and they will produce a text version of the spoken words on the audio track.

There are three primary benefits of transcribing your podcast audio

1. If you use this transcript in your podcast episode blog post then it can help greatly with SEO
2. It gives your audience another way to consume the podcast content
3. You can use the transcripts as a lead magnet. Meaning, you can have them on your website for download using software like Sumo.

 

How to find podcast guest

The next section will only be applicable to those podcasters who will sourcing guest(s) for their episodes. For those that need it, it’s a critical element in how to start a podcast.

I know when I was thinking about starting a podcast, one of the primary concerns I had was, would I be able to find guest – and equally as important, a guest that wanted to be on my podcast. I looked at my network and, at most, I had 3 potential guests and here I was formulating a plan to launch a podcast that puts out 2 episodes every single week. I’m not going to lie, it was a bit concerning. However, since launching I have not had any trouble finding a guest and I’ll tell you how I’m doing it below.

Step one if to define your podcast guest avatar.

This is simply the specific characteristics of that perfect guest.

You should determine:

• The name of your avatar
• Their demographic traits
• Their physiological traits
• Associate them to an image of an actual person

With this information defined, create a simple one-page document capturing all the information above – think of it like a personal resume for your ideal guest.

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Once you know your avatar, the first thing you need to ask yourself is…

Where would my ideal podcast guest hangout both online and offline?

Finding guest offline can seem challenging at first but not once you know your avatar this becomes much easier. The first thing I would is Google YourCityName + PodcastKeyword + Events. For me, one of the things I searched was Atlanta Startup Events. When I did this, I found there were actually a ton of events nearby and I immediately started attending them. If you aren’t near a large city/town, you may have to travel a bit. This may seem like a bummer but once you make that first great connection, it will totally pay off. Chances are, it will not be the person you actually meet at the event but they will introduce you to someone in their network.

When you are looking for them online you can look for areas of the internet that they may be hanging out. Below are some ideas.

Reddit

Reddit is a huge community and the chances that you can find a subReddit on your niche topic is very likely. There are two approaches that I use for finding guest on Reddit. First, I monitor applicable subReddits for post relevant to my podcast and post in them as much as possible. When it makes sense, I will mention the podcast but this doesn’t really generate many guest leads. To generate guest leads on Reddit, I look at the comments on the various post. You may see a post for someone knowledgeable on the topic that would be a great fit for your podcast. When you find that person, you can simply send them a private message (pm). The second thing I do with Reddit uses a tool called TrackReddit. This free tool allows you to monitor specific keywords and phrases on Google and then be notified by email every time someone makes a post using this keyword or phrase. In the settings, you can determine if you want it to only look in the post titles or if you want it to also look in the comments. When you get these email notifications you can quickly visit that post to see if either you can add value to the post or if the poster/commenter would be a good fit for your podcast. Before you jump on Reddit and start looking for guest, I’ll give you a few words of wisdom – do not be spammy or promotional – they will call you out, trust me.

Facebook

Facebook is another community great for finding a guest. Yes, there is more to Facebook then your highschool friend posting cat videos. Specifically, within Facebook, you need to join Facebook Groups that are applicable to your niche. Similar to Reddit, you should be adding value to these groups and also consistently browsing the post for potential guest. If you find someone that seems like they may be a good fit, add them as a friend and shoot them a message on Messenger. Unfortunately, I don’t have a fancy tool to monitor these groups yet.

You can also try apps like MeetUp, but I don’t think it is nearly as popular as it once was. Maybe there’s a newer app whenever you read this – try and searching the app store for something similar.

Podcast Guest Booking Platform

Joon Han realized that not everyone wants to pick through the internet and hunt local events hoping to find their next great podcast guest. Through his experience in the online entrepreneurship world, he also knew guests were always looking for great podcasts to be featured on. This sparked an idea in his head – a platform that connects great podcasts with amazing guests.

This is how AwesomeGuests was born.

If you are a podcast host looking for guests or guests looking for cool podcasts to be featured on, then you should definitely sign up for AwesomeGuests. Be sure to click the link above if you want to find a pool of awesome guests for your new podcast.

The second thing you need to ask yourself is…

Who is already talking to my ideal podcast guest?

For me, this one was huge! It may seem like cheating, but I consider it being smart and resourceful. Once I knew who my avatar was, I realized that there were tons of people already talking to them every day and all I had to do was find out who these people talking to them were and I would have tons of podcast guest leads.

Other podcast

Although I have a very niche podcast, there was still other podcasts out there talking to my avatar. Many of them I was already listening to but since I didn’t know who my avatar was at first, I was not in the frame of mind to acknowledge they were right in front of me. Once I knew who I was looking for, I began finding potential guest all over the place. For example, I was on the way to work listening to The Art of Paid Traffic from Rick Mulready and heard a conversation with Charlie Liu and as soon as I heard him say his business was still a side hustle, I got online and hunted down his email address. I found it on his website but you can also use tools like Hunter.io to determine someone’s email address. I did the same thing for Cielo de la Paz – thanks, Rick!

I also found a podcast very similar to mine and went through the blog associated with the podcasts to find the potential guest. I didn’t want to personally go through each blog post and gather the information so I hired someone on Fiverr to do it for me. They charged me $20 to gather 100 leads – not a bad deal to me.

YouTube

Similar to listening to the various podcasts, I’ve done the same thing several times on YouTube. In fact, I was sitting at a Starbucks waiting for a networking event to start and I watched part of an interview with Greg Jeffries. The second I heard him say that he had recently turned his side hustle into his full-time business, I got on his website and hunted down his email. He was episode 23 on my podcast.

Google

Searching for the traits of your avatar on Google will surely turn up potential guest. When you are doing this, don’t be scared to go past page 2 in the search results. Your guest will likely not appear in the first few pages of results unless they are just ultimate badasses on their topic.

Scheduling guest on your show

Now that you’ve got some potential guest lined up, we need to get them scheduled. The scheduling process can be quite tedious unless you have some automation built in to make life and your guest’s life easy. Get ready because automation is the area where I’m going to geek out but I think you’ll enjoy it.

The process I am going to outline here requires a few pieces of software, all of which are FREE.

Calendly: This is online booking software that makes it seamless for people to find and schedule time on your calendar. You can set your availability in both time and days. In the booking process, you can select up to 4 questions to ask your guest to gather more information on them prior to the podcast recording. My strategy is to use these questions to both gather information and also screen the guest. (A great alternative is Acuity Scheduling)

Google Calendar: This is a very common calendar but the above process would also work if you were using another option such as Microsoft Outlook.

Evernote: This piece of software is primarily used for capturing information in the form of notes under different digital notebooks.

Trello: This is a project/ task management software with a kanban format. You have boards to manage the project overview, list to manage a specific area of the project, and cards which manage a task in the project.

Zoom: This is the software that we will use to facilitate the online interviews. If you are doing in-person interviews then you will be using a recorder as mentioned above. I recommend downloading the desktop application and conducting your interviews through that vs the web browser. Your guest can use the web browser though, there won’t be an issue.

Zapier: This tool makes all the different applications mentioned above talk to each other as shown in the flow chart.

Before going any further, go sign up for all of these applications.

Let’s go step-by-step through the process of setting this automated booking process up.

Setting up automated podcast guest booking process

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Setting up Calendly (similar process works for Acuity Scheduling)

• Once you have your Calendly account created, you’ll need to create a “new event type”.
• You will be prompted to decide if you will be conducting 1-on-1 or group meetings. For the sake of this, we will go with 1-on-1 interviews.
• On the next page, you will fill in a few basic questions. I recommend naming the event name your podcast title. For location, add “Zoom link will be provided prior to scheduled time”. Leave the default radio button for “Display location while booking” selected. For the event link name, I recommend using “guest”.
• On the next page, you’ll fill in the required information. For the event length, select the amount of time you will want to be blocked out on your calendar. I set mine for 1-hour.
• On the calendar, you will define your availability to the guest. You can set to a firm schedule for each day of the week, say, 3:00 pm – 8:00 pm Monday thru Friday, and have this apply to every week. Or, you can set a unique time for each day and manage this as your schedule changes.
• On the advanced tab, you’ll want to look at two sections – “Events Max Per Day” and “Minimum Scheduling Notice”. For the “Events Max Per Day”, think about how many recordings you are comfortable doing in a single day. For me, I have this set to 2. For “Minimum Scheduling Notice”, think about how much time you would need to prepare for the recording – research, etc. For me, I have this set for 48 hours. This gives me time to do my research on this guest and make any changes needed to my schedule to fit the interview in. You may want to set this shorter or longer. At this point, your calendar will be active and ready for guest to use.

There are a few other things you will want to setup under Additional Options prior to leaving Calendly. By default, it will require the guest to input their name and email but you’ll want to take the opportunity to capture some additional information.

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• Add in the selection for Phone Number. This will come in handy if you need to communicate with your guest quickly. For example, if something comes up and you want to reschedule – it would be better to send a text message because most people will see a text message before an email.
• The remaining questions should fit the needs of your podcast. I recommend using all the available questions and making them required. This is a great opportunity to screen your guest to ensure they are a great match for your podcast. Below are the questions I ask:
  • What’s your phone number? (I’ll only use it to communicate about the podcast episode)
  • Check the box that applies to your side hustle. You just need to fit one of the requirements below. (then it list my criteria for being on the podcast with radio buttons)
  • Briefly describe what your side hustle is all about and how you got started. What is the website or social media?
  • List any specific topic(s) that you want to be sure we cover.

Under Invitee Notifications you will want to do a few things:

• On “Calendar Invitations”, you can click on the Personalize button and review the formatting included. What is shown here is what will appear on the calendar invite sent to your guest. I recommend adding a link to your podcast FAQ page in the body of this invite. (we will talk about a podcast FAQ page later)
• Make sure “Email Reminders” are turned on. I again include a link to the Podcast FAQ page here and I also include my Google Voice number in case they need to call or text me. I set the reminder time for 24 hours before the scheduled time and again 45 minutes before the scheduled time.

In the Custom Links section:

• Include a link to your Podcast FAQ page on your WordPress website. (below we will talk about your different options for a website)

Now Calendy is all setup!

If you look at the flowchart shown above, you’ll see that we want to give guest two entry points for booking – a booking page on your website and also just from an emailed link that takes them directly to Calendly.

Creating a podcast guest booking page on your website

To create a booking page on your website, like this one, you’ll need to navigate to the “Event Types” page inside Calendly then find the event you just created. In the square for that event you’ll notice a little gear icon – click that. A dropdown will appear and you’ll want to click on “embed”. If you want it to appear on your website as shown in the previous link, you’ll want to select the embed code under “Inline”. You will paste this into your WordPress (or whatever other CMS you are using) page.

That’s your first path of entry for a podcast guest – the embedded Calendy on your website.

You can also send them a direct link to your Calendly page, which does not require a website. To do this, just click the gear next to your podcast event type and then click “copy link”. The link will be automatically copied to your clipboard and this is the link you can send to the potential guest.

I recommend saving this link on your desktop somewhere for quick retrieval in the future.

Building Podcast Automation With Zapier

After Calendly or Acuity is all setup, you’ll want to start building the automation with Zapier. In the beginning, when you are trying to determine how to start a podcast, automation is so important. You want to spend your time creating great content, not doing trivial tasks. I recommend watching the video explainer for this but I will also explain it below.

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Here is an overview of the automation we are about to build based on a guest scheduling time within Calendly/ Acuity or on our website:

Trigger

Guest schedules time using Calendly

Actions

Automatically create a note in Evernote with all the information from Calendly

Automatically create a card in Trello in my “Booked” list.

Automatically sends me an email to create a Zoom meeting room (if paid account)

Automatically adds the person to my “podcast guest” email list in MailChimp

You should log in to Zapier and, if you have not already done it, create an account.

• When logged into Zapier, click “Add Zap”
• In the top left, you’ll see a place to Name Your Zap. You can name it “Podcast Workflow Zap”.
• Search for Calendly and select it
• The trigger will be “Invitee Created”
• Connect your Calendly account
• Next, you will test the connection between Zapier and Calendly. To do this, you need to make sure you have created a test event recently. If not, then go to your Calendly link and create a test event.
• Once the test is successful, click Continue

Next, you will want to add an action step with Evernote

• First, in the Evernote web or mobile app, create a Notebook titled Podcast Guest
• Now, go back into Zapier and select Evernote as the app.
• Select “Create Note” as the action
• Connect and test your Evernote account just like you did with Calendly
• Click Continue to go to the Edit Template step
• In the Notebook section, select notebook we created called Podcast Guest
• In the Title section, click the popup selector and choose “Invitee Name” and “Event Start Time Pretty”. I use a vertical line to separate the two fields so it looks like this “Ryan Helms | 6:30 pm Monday, September 3rd, 2018”. This will be the title of your notes in Evernote and also your cards in Trello.
• In the Content section we will add the information that will make up the body of our note. Evernote uses HTML so we can add some basic formatting to make our note more useful. You can copy and paste the below and modify it to fit your needs. Anything in double curly brackets {{ }} will be selected from the popup selector.

<b>Attendee: </b>{{invitee__name}}<br>

<b>Email: </b>{{invitee__email}}<br>

<b>Responses</b><br>

<b>Question 1: </b>{{questions_and_responses__1_question}} – {{questions_and_responses__1_response}}<br>

<b>Question 2: </b>

{{questions_and_responses__2_question}}

{{questions_and_responses__2_response}}

<br>

<b>Question 3: </b>{{questions_and_responses__3_question}} – {{questions_and_responses__3_response}}<br>

<hr>

<b>Pre-Start Checklist</b><br>

<a>- Cut off cell phone</a><br>

<a>- Make sure AC is off</a><br>

<a>- Get some water</a><br>

<a>- Cut off cell phone</a><br>

<a>- Besure to click record</a><br>

<a>- Start the timer</a><br>

<hr>

<b>Prep Notes/ Questions:</b><br>

<a>- Tell me how you got started</a><br>

<a>- If already left job – take me through what was going through ur head</a><br>

<a>- How’d you come up with idea</a><br>

<a>- What are you doing for marketing?</a><br>

<a>- What has been your biggest challenge?</a><br>

<hr>

<b>Show Notes:</b><br>

 

This is how it will look when it automatically creates in Evernote, minus the guest information:

• The last thing I add is a podcast tag called “Podcast Guest”. This is optional.
• Test this step then click continue

Next, you will want to add an action step with Trello but before we do this we need to add a few things in Trello.

• In Trello, create a new board by clicking “+” in the upper right corner
• Title your board “Podcast Guest Workflow”
• Create a list in your new Trello board titled “Booked”

Now let’s jump back over to Zapier and finish the setup there.

• Click “Add a Step” and choose Trello as the app
• For the action, select “Create Card”
• Connect your Trello account and test it as you did previously
• In the Edit Template section, the first thing you’ll do is select your board “Podcast Guest Workflow” from the drop-down menu in the “Board” section
• Then, under the “List” section, choose the “Booked” list we created by using the drop-down menu
• In the “Name” section, click the drop-down menu and choose “Invitee Name” and “Event Start Time Pretty” from the Calendly options. I use a vertical line to separate the two fields so it looks like this “Ryan Helms | 6:30 pm Monday, September 3rd, 2018”. This will be the title of your cards.
• In the Description section, we will add the information that will make up the body of our card. Trello uses Markdown so we can add some basic formatting to make our card more useful. You can copy and paste the below and modify it to fit your needs. Anything in double curly brackets {{ }} will be selected from the popup selector.

# Attendee:

{{invitee__name}}

# Email:

{{invitee__email}}

Responses

# Question 1:

{{questions_and_responses__1_question}}

{{questions_and_responses__1_response}}

# Question 2:

{{questions_and_responses__2_question}}

{{questions_and_responses__2_response}}

# Question 3:

{{questions_and_responses__3_question}}

{{questions_and_responses__3_response}}

This is how it will look when you card automatically creates:

• The last thing you need to do here in Zapier is chose “Green” under the “Label” section
• Select Continue and test this step

Next, we will create an automated email as a reminder to schedule this in our Zoom account. (You could also just use the automated email sent by Calendly/ Acuity to remind you to schedule the Zoom meeting but I like to have this specific email telling me to do something.)

• Click “Add a Step” and select Gmail as the app
• For the action, select “Send Email”
• Connect and test your Gmail account then click Continue
• In “Edit Template” the first thing you will update is the “To:” field. Here you should input the email address at you most closely monitor.
• In the “From Name” field I input “Zoom Bot”. This will be the name you see in your Gmail account and it can be whatever you want it to be.
• In the “Subject” field input “Schedule Zoom Meeting and Update Calendar”
• In the “Body” field, you can input:

“Hi, YourName,

You have a new podcast interview scheduled. You need to go into Zoom and schedule the meeting. Be sure to update the Google Calendar event once completed.”

Next, we will have Zapier send the email address of our guest to a list in our MailChimp account. To do this, we must first create a list in our MailChimp account and below is how you do it. If you already have an email list that you want your guest added to, then you can follow a similar process and select that list.

• When logged into your MailChimp account, click “List” in the upper left part of your screen
• On the far right, click the button that says “Create List”
• In the “List Name” field, input “Podcast Guest” or whatever you want to call it
• In the “From email address” field, input your email
• In the “From name” field, input your first and last name
• The remaining fields can be left as-is.
• Click “Save”

This list is not meant to be a list that you actively send information to, but more so of a database of all your podcast guest.

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Now, let’s set up Zapier to automatically add the guest information into this newly create email list within MailChimp.

• Back in Zapier, click “Add a Step”
• Choose MailChimp as your app
• Click Continue then select “Add/Update Subscriber” as the action
• Connect and test your MailChimp account then click Continue
• In the Edit Template section choose “Podcast Guest” in the List field
• In the Subscriber Email field, click the drop-down menu and choose the “Invitee Email” from the Calendly section
• In the Double Opt-In field, select “No”
• In the Update Existing section, select “No”
• In the First Name section, click the drop-down menu and choose “Invitee Name” from the Calendly section.
• Everything else can be left blank and click continue
• Test this step then click Finish

Now your automation is all completed! You’re awesome! Pat yourself on the back.

With this setup, the only thing you will have to manually update is the meeting event in Zoom. If you have a paid subscription to Zoom, then you can also add a step, just like we did above, that will automatically create the Zoom event. I use the free version of Zoom, which is why I manually perform the step to setup a Zoom meeting.

Now, let’s walk through the process of setting up the Zoom meeting room. It’s quick and easy so don’t worry about it being burdensome.

Before we create the Zoom meeting room, let’s make sure our audio files will save in a place that we can find them.

• Open the Zoom desktop application
• Select Preferences or Settings
• Go to the Recordings tab
• Select or create a folder where you would like the recordings to be stored
• MAKE SURE the checkbox for “Record a separate audio file for each participant” is checked. This makes sure we will get two different audio files – 1 for guest and 1 for host – which makes editing much easier.

Note: If you have more than 2 guests then you will be limited to 40 minutes of recording time on the free version of Zoom. If like me, you only have two people on the call – host and guest – then you can record as long as need to.

Ok, now that we know where our audio files will be downloaded and that it will be in 2 tracks, we can set up that Zoom Meeting Room.

• Log into your Zoom account (desktop app or web browser)
• Click the “Schedule a New Meeting” button
• In the Topic field, input the name from either your Trello card or Evernote note
• You can leave the Description field blank
• In the When field, select the date and time your guest picked. You can get this from your Evernote note title or the Trello card title
• The Duration will default to 1 hour, but you can change it to match the length of your typical episode. This part is not very important since you can go over the defined time here. If you set it to 1 hour, you could go over 1 and a half hours and it will not impact anything.
• No other setting need to be updated
• Click Save
• Copy the Join URL
• Open the Google Calendar invite and paste the Join URL into the Location field
• Click Save
• Click Yes when it asks you if you want to send an updated invitation to the guest. This will ensure their invite has the most up-to-date information

Note: You can also select “use personal meeting ID” in the Zoom meeting setup process. This will allow you to use the same meeting ID for each interview. If you choose to do this you can go into Calendly and update the “location” with this meeting ID and avoid having to go back into Google Calendar to add the link. The only caution with this approach is that if you have two meetings back to back, another guest could join the meeting. You can add a buffer in either Zoom or Calendly setting to prevent meetings from being scheduled back to back.

Now we have this flow fully built out! I know it was a lot of work but the great thing is, you only have to do it once.

 

Outreach To Potential Guest

During this process, we embedded a scheduling page from Calendly or Acuity directly to our site so that you can point people there or they can schedule time without ever talking to you.

We also talked about sending cold emails to people and asking for them to be on our podcast, so I want to show you how I approach this.

Here is an example of the email I send to the potential guest. Feel free to use this as a template.

Hi Carey,

My name is Ryan Helms, and I host a podcast called Hustle To Freedom.

I came across your story on another podcast and it sounded super interesting so I was wondering if you’d be open to a discussion on my podcast? I haven’t had any guest with a publishing background yet, so I would love to dive into that with you.  I’d love to hear more about the evolution of your side hustle and how you got the idea to write your book.

I focus on one-on-one interviews with people who are actively building a side hustle, or who have left their day job in the past three years to work on their side hustle.

Let me know your thoughts, I’d love to have you on.

Hope your week is off to a great start!

Ryan Helms

Founder of Grit and Hustle Co.

Host of Hustle To Freedom podcast

In this initial email, I do not ask them to join the podcast, I just use it to introduce myself and the podcast. Additionally, I make sure to add information specific to them so it does not come off as a spam email blast. This is super important! Make sure you do some research on the person before sending this email. If you don’t, I would be very surprised if you received a reply. One small trick that I use to help my emails stand out is I do not capitalize the first word in the subject line. You’ll see above the subject line was “would you want to be on the podcast?”. This just helps it stand out when 99% of the email in a person’s inbox starts with a capital letter.

Once you receive a reply email from the person and they have expressed interest, this is where you ask them to be on your podcast. In your response to them, let them know you are excited to have them on your podcast and give them a link to book a time slot on your Calendly or Acuity calendar. You can either direct them to the booking page on your website or directly to Calendly or Acuity. Here is an example of my response to a potential guest.

Once they click the link in your email they can book a time slot and then all the amazing automation we built earlier will take care of the rest.

Building a Podcast FAQ Page For Guests

One thing you can do to help ease the nerves of guests and let them know what to expect is to create a podcast FAQ page. If you look at my reply above you will see where I tell them to check out the podcast FAQ page prior to the scheduled time.

Below are some common questions that you can list and answer on your podcast FAQ page.

• How do I schedule an interview on the podcast?
• What should I do to prepare for the interview?
• Do I need any special equipment for the podcast?
• How long will the interview take?
• Does it matter where I’m at for the recording?
• What do I do when it’s time for the interview?
• Will you send it to me before it’s live?
• What if there is a period of bad connection?
• What questions will you ask?
• Can I cuss on the show?
• Will there be any breaks?
• Is it ok to promote my widget?
• How long before it will be live?
• Any other miscellaneous stuff I should know?

You can find an example of my podcast FAQ page here.

Recording a podcast episode

One of the most critical pieces of the puzzle, when you are trying to figure out how to start a podcast, is the recording. If you get this wrong, the product on the other side will be crap. If you needed guests for your podcast, you should have them after following what was outlined above. If you are doing a solo podcast then I hope the above information didn’t bore you too terribly much. Below, we will cover how to do this for three different types of podcasts so read the one that is applicable to you.

Recording with an online guest

At the time of the scheduled meeting, you and your guest will access the Zoom Meeting Room that we setup earlier. You, as the host, will access the meeting room through the desktop application by clicking the Meeting tab then selecting Start on the upcoming meeting. Your guest will access through the link you provided in the meeting invite.

Note: I do not provide the dial-in number because I have found the audio quality over dial-in is poor. If the situation requires the guest to dial in, then I’ll provide it at that time. You can find it by clicking edit on that specific meeting.

Get Access To The Course Now

Now that you and your guest are now both on the Zoom meeting together, you’ll want to double check a few things before getting started. This is the podcast checklist that I have built into Evernote.

• Make sure the proper microphone is selected as the audio source in Zoom! In the meeting window, you will see a microphone icon in the lower left corner, click the up arrow beside it. In this popup window, you should confirm the podcasting microphone is being used – and not the computer’s microphone or the microphone in your headphones. This is also the place you can make sure your headphones are properly selected.
• Make sure your phone, or anything else that makes noises, is on silent – same for your guest.
• If your home air conditioner makes a lot of noise, then cut it off. I have to do this and yes, it sucks in the hot months but it prevents from having to edit out the hum.
• If there is a fan in the room that makes noise, cut it off. Most ceiling fans are fine.
• Basically – if anything makes noise near you, cut it off.
• Make sure you and your guest have water in case you get a parched throat.
• Make sure you and your guest have gone to the restroom prior to starting.

The next one is very important…

• Make sure you actually click RECORD when you get done with the small talk and actually begin the conversation. I’ve heard so many stories about people going through an entire interview without recording it – don’t let that happen.
  • You can configure Zoom to start recording from the time the meeting is opened if you’d like. This can be done in the Zoom settings.
• Understand that everything you hear coming through your headphones from your guest will be in the recording. I made this mistake on episode 14 of the Hustle To Freedom podcast. The recording you hear now is actually the second attempt. The first time we recorded a 1.5 hour conversation and all throughout I heard this funny noise everytime Mark talked. When I went back to edit the audio I realized it was in the recording as well and it couldn’t be salvaged. Thankfully, he was nice enough to record another episode. The lesson here is, if you hear it now, it’ll be in the audio download as well.

Once you get to the end of the conversation, you’ll want to make sure you save it. To do that:

• Click the Stop Recording button. This will not end the meeting, it only stops the recording so you will both be able to say a proper goodbye off the air.
• When you have said goodbye to your guest and you want to get off and save the conversation click End Meeting in the lower right corner then click End Meeting For All. You will see a new window open and a status bar showing your download progress.
• Once done, you can find your 2 audio files in the folder you set for it to be saved in. If you had video turned on during the conversation as well, you will also find the video file in there as well.

Recording a double ender with an online guest

If your guest doesn’t have the best audio connection or if you want to make sure your guests audio quality is the best it could possibly be, then you may want to learn how to record a podcast double ender.

It’s called a podcast double ender because both you and the guest are recording your own audio locally. Meaning, onto whatever computer is being used for the interview.

While this method does ensure the best possible audio quality from your guest, it also requires more work on both the guest and the person doing the audio editing.

It creates more work for the guest because not only do they have to log into whatever service you use to facilitate the interview, such as Zoom, but they must also record their own audio with an application like Adobe Audition. For some guests, this won’t be a big deal but for other guests, this could be a huge obstacle. Hell, sometimes it is hard enough just to get a guest onto Zoom, let alone using another application to record their own audio.

The other downside is that it will take a bit more work on the editing side because you will need to ensure your audio tracks are aligned. The last thing you want is for the audio to be out of sync. That will cause a horrible experience for the listeners

If you decide that the supreme audio quality is worth the extra effort then here is how you would record a podcast double ender

• You can continue to use Zoom to record your audio and a backup of the guest audio, or you could use Zoom to just facilitate the video conversation.
• If you are just using Zoom to facilitate the video conversation, then you will want to open up Adobe Audition and record your audio into that application.
• You will also want your guest to record their audio as well using a similar application
• Once the interview is completed, get your guest to upload their audio track to a public Google Drive folder, or a similar service. Here is the process for making a Google Drive folder public.

From there, the audio tracks need to be aligned (vocals synced) in your editing software. If you decide to use Adobe Audition like I do, then once you have the audio vocals in sync, you should group the clips. You can see how to group clips down below in the editing section.

Recording with a guest in-person

What we will talk about in this section is applicable to someone who is with their guest face-to-face but not in a fancy studio setting. What we will talk about here is how you would record a high-quality podcast sitting at someone’s kitchen table or in their living room.

My assumption here is that if you have a recording studio already you probably aren’t reading this guide.

Launch Your Podcast In A Weekend

Much of the same pre-recording checks that we do when recording online apply here as well. Let’s take some time to walk through them below:

• When using a recorder, such as the Zoom H4N Pro, you always want to make sure you have a full battery before starting. (I use this recorder) These recorders can quickly consume battery life so it’s best to just throw in a fresh pair before starting. You won’t need to worry about a fresh set of batteries running out if you are recording less than 3 hours at a time.
• Make sure both of your lavalier microphones are securely connected.
• When clipping the microphones to your shirt, I recommend it being about 6 inches from your chin, in the middle of your chest.
• You’ll want to adjust the audio input levels on your Zoom H4N, or another recorder, to ensure both host and guest have audio levels around the same. When I am setting up for an interview I set each mic input at around -12 on the animated audio meters – this is the horizontal lines on the display jumping up and down when you speak into the mic. Each of those lines relates to an individual mic.
• If your home air conditioner makes a lot of noise, then cut it off. I have to do this and yes, it sucks in the hot months.
• If there is a fan in the room, cut it off.
• Basically – if anything makes noise near you, cut it off.
• Make sure you and your guest have water in case you get a parched throat.
• Make sure you and your guest have gone to the restroom.

The next thing is quite important and was taught to me by Andrew Deitsch on episode 6.

• Make sure you are at least 6 feet apart from each other and do not directly face each other. You don’t have to totally face the other direction but just a slight angle and not directly talking will prevent their voice bleeding into your microphone track. It will seem awkward at first but it’ll become more natural over time.

The next one is very important…

• Make sure you actually click RECORD when you get done with the small talk and actually begin the conversation. I’ve heard so many stories about people going through an entire interview without recording it – don’t let that happen.

Recording solo

If the podcast consists of only you then your process will be different than discussed above. Let’s go into how you can get recording your solo podcast.

• I recommend recording in Adobe Audition, and this is also the software that I will show you how to edit your podcast with later.
• With Adobe Audition open, click File > New > Audio File
• In the popup window, name your file something recognizable. Your naming nomenclature will be dependant on how you structure your recording. For example, maybe you are recording based on acts, chapters, sections, etc.
• Leave all the other settings alone in this window and just click OK.
• Make sure the proper microphone is selected! You can check this by going to Preferences > Audio Hardware >Default Input. Make sure this is set the podcasting microphone and not your computer’s internal microphone.
• Make sure your phone, or anything else that makes noises, is on silent.
• If your home air conditioner makes a lot of noise, then cut it off. I have to do this and yes, it sucks in the hot months.
• If there is a fan in the room, cut it off.
• Basically – if anything makes noise near you, cut it off.
• Make sure you have water in case you get a parched throat.
• Make sure you have gone to the restroom.

The next one is very important…

• Make sure you actually click RECORD when you are ready. It’ll be a little red button in the bottom middle of the screen. I’ve heard so many stories about people going through an entire interview without recording it – don’t let that happen.
• Don’t stop recording every time you make a mistake, just keep recording. We will be able to edit out any mistakes later on.
• One trick if you make a mistake while recording – snap loudly near the mic. This will create a spike in the audio wave and you’ll easily be able to see where you need to edit.
• When done, save this file in a folder on your computer that you can access when we get ready to edit everything together in a bit.

Recording Prep using Evernote

Earlier, we set an automation with Zapier that automatically create a note in Evernote each time someone schedules an event in our Calendly or Acuity. Now it’s time to use it.

Using the template I provided, your Evernote note will create with all the questions and answers your guest filled out in Calendly or Acuity and also sections for your checklist, prep questions, and show notes.

Before each interview, I like to research each guest and while I’m going through that process I jot down any questions that come to mind in Prep Questions section. If there are questions you always ask, it may make sense to go back into Zapier and add them into your template, as I did, so that they automatically pull in each time. Be sure to gather as much information and questions that you can so that you can make the most of your interview.

Let this information and questions guide the conversation when needed, but do not create a script. It will sound very unnatural and prevent a nice, free-flowing conversation. This is my opinion, yours may be different.

You will want to have Evernote open during your interview and, besides Zoom, these should be the only applications open on your computer. Ensure your web browser and any other applications are closed. This is so that random applications do not start syncing or streaming data. If this happens it will reduce the audio quality and create glitches in the podcast audio. I’m sure you have heard it before in other podcasts where, for a brief second, the guest sounds like a robot and the audio cuts out. This is likely due to something like I have pointed out here.

Taking notes in Evernote while recording

It’s important that you capture key information while you are recording the interview. This will come in handy later when you are creating the introduction or storyline for the episode.

Because when you are taking notes you may want to capture the time as well, I use an application on Mac called, Timey. It lives in the top menu bar so there are no extra windows open. You could find the comparable application on Windows or use the Stopwatch on your phone – as long as it’s on silent.

Here are some of the things you may want to consider capturing while recording:

• The time that any major mess ups by you or the guest occur.
• Any recommendations made by you or the guest
• Any references to specific things made by you or the guest

This may seem difficult at first but the more comfortable you get interviewing, the easier it will be jotting down information in the middle of the interview. Regarding making time note of any edits, this will make your life or your editor’s life so much easier when it comes time to open Adobe Audition and edit the files.

When the interview concludes, I like to take a few minutes to capture any additional thoughts or notes that may help to in editing the audio, writing the blog post, or posting on social media.

Organizing Your Podcast Files in Google Drive

With all the moving parts and various files associated with each episode, it is very important we stay organized. This is important whether you are doing everything yourself or you are outsourcing some of the processes.

So, let’s take a look at how we can setup our Google Drive (use that link to get your first year of G-Suite for $7.99) to keep track of everything and make it all easy to find. Here is how our folders will be structured – each shape represents a folder.

First, let’s create a main folder in your Google Drive called “Podcast”. This will house everything related to your podcast.

• Open your Google Drive
• Click “+ New” in the upper left
• Click Folder and name it “Podcast”

Once this folder is created, double-click on this folder. It will be empty.

Add the following sub folders, while inside the Podcast folder, following the same process as above.

• How-To
• Episodes
• Graphics
• Guest Prospects
• Whatever else is related to your podcast – keep it high level

The How-To and Graphics folders will not contain any additional sub folders unless you want to further organize things.

Next, let’s click into the Episodes folder and create the following sub folders using the same process as above.

• 1-10
• 11-20
• 21-30

Then in folder 1-10, add the following sub folders

• 1
• 2
• 3
• etc
• etc

Repeat this until you have folders ready for your first 30 episodes.

This may seem like overkill now, but you will thank me down the road. Being organized is the key to being efficient. Also, if you decide to outsource any of this process, then that person will be extremely grateful that everything has a home.

Now, whenever you have an audio file, social media graphic, etc related to a specific episode, you should place it in the applicable folder. Below I will show you how to link these folders to the applicable Trello cards, which will be used to manage the process of each episode.

Using Trello to manage everything

When you are creating high-quality content there are tons of moving parts to manage. You may not be thinking about it now, but every episode is a project and it needs to be treated that way. When beginners are starting out and trying to determine how to start a podcast, the project management side of it scares the crap out of them. Nowadays, there are millions of project management software but most of them are either overkill or too expensive for what we are trying to do.

That’s where Trello comes in.

Trello is how I manage EVERYTHING related to a podcast episode, I mean everything.

First, let’s get some basic understanding of Trello. The main components of Trello are the board, list, and card. Let’s look at them reverse order.

Card

The fundamental unit of a board is a card. Cards are used to represent tasks and ideas. A card can be something that needs to get done but in this scenario, it will represent a podcast episode. Drag and drop cards across lists to show progress.

List

Lists keep cards organized in their various stages of progress. They can be used to create a workflow where cards are moved across lists from start to finish, or simply act as a place to keep track of ideas and information. In this scenario, the list will represent significant stages in the podcast workflow process.

Board

A board represents a project or a place to keep track of information. The board is the place to organize your tasks as cards on lists and stay organized and, if you have help, collaborate and share action items with your team.

To take advantage of all the amazing automation that we go over below, you’ll need Trello Gold and the Butler add-on. You can still do a lot of it with the free versions of both. (I have no affiliation with Butler, I just think it’s amazing)

Download The Fully Setup Trello Board Here

In these next sections, we will walk through how you can setup your Trello board just like mine to have an amazing, super efficient podcast workflow from start to finish. This Trello board has been tweaked soo many times and now I think it is absolutely perfect.

If you’d like to skip the setup process and just download this board already setup, just click the button below.

If you are going to download the pre-setup podcast workflow board, you’ll need to update your Zapier automation to use this new board instead of this manually setup board we started earlier.

If you downloaded the Trello board, here is how you can update your Zapier automation:

• Login to your Zapier account
• Click on Zaps and find your Zap titled “Podcast Workflow Zap” which we setup earlier
• In Step 3, you can click on the Trello logo
• Click the Edit Template section
• In the Board field, select your newly downloaded board with the drop-down selector.

You’re done! Skip to the section titled “ Trello Power-ups”.

If you have chosen not to download the pre-setup Trello board then proceed to follow the below steps. I recommend downloading the pre-setup Trello board.

• Earlier we setup our Trello board called “Podcast Guest Workflow”, open that board
• You will have one list created already titled “Booked”
• To the right of the booked list, you’ll see “+Add another list”, click that
• The title of this list will be “Information”
• You can click in the upper grey area, near the list title, and drag this entire list around. Let’s drag it on the left side of the Booked list.
• Let’s create additional lists on the right side of the Booked list by clicking “+Add another list”. Create the below lists:
  • Interview Done
  • Ready For Edit
  • Post Editing Process
  • Post-Live Actions
  • Ask For Review
  • Follow-up (3m)
  • Canceled / Rescheduled

Now, let’s add some critical elements into our list titled Information. We are going to create cards that either provide information about the board itself, checklist that will be used in the process, or important files for the editing process. Keep in mind, the purpose of this Trello board is to have everything in one place so you aren’t hunting all over the place for files or to figure out if something is completed.

Some of the cards are really only applicable if you are outsourcing so I will make a note on those. However, I would highly recommend that you go ahead and create these as well so that when your podcast skyrockets in popularity, you can easily outsource some of the task.

So, let’s create the cards. Under the list titled Information, click “+ Add another card”.

Board Overview Video

Create this card and video if you are outsourcing or plan to at some point. This card contains a video explaining the Trello board in detail, including the different stages in the workflow and how host and outsourcer will communicate. It could also be useful if you have a co-host, especially if they aren’t tech savvy.

How To & Login Info

Create this card and video if you are outsourcing or plan to at some point. This card contains several videos explaining the various process that you may be outsourcing, including, but not limited to Editing the audio in Adobe Audition, How to Export a file in the proper format, how to edit the blog post in WordPress, how to edit the graphic templates, How to upload the edited audio to Simplecast, and a spreadsheet with any applicable login details. (You can see all of these videos here)

Podcast Template

This card may be useful whether you are outsourcing or not. It gives you an easily accessible place to find the podcast audio template that we will create later. In this card I have the Google folder that contains my template linked to the card for quick access.

Graphics Templates

This card may be useful whether you are outsourcing or not. It gives you an easily accessible place to find all the graphic templates for your podcast. In this card I have the Google folder that contains my graphic templates linked to the card for quick access.

Pre-Edit Checklist

This checklist will capture everything that needs to be completed before moving into the editing process. If you are using Butler to automate your Trello board, then you really need to create these checklist, don’t skip this. To add a checklist to this card, open the card and look for “Checklist” on the upper right side of the card.

• Create a title for this checklist called “Pre-Edit Checklist”. This will contain all the small task that must be done prior to editing the podcast.
• Add the following items to your checklist. Some may not be applicable to your podcast format.
  • Record Intro
  • Record Outro
  • Define Beginning Audio Snippet
  • Create an episode title
  • Create the episode summary
  • Add links for the show notes
  • Upload podcast files to Google Drive – intro, outro, snippet, interview tracks
  • Add Google Drive folder to card
  • Add Episode # and Release Date to card

Main Checklist

This checklist is where most of the work will happen. To add a checklist to this card, open the card and look for “Checklist” on the upper right side of the card.

• Create a title for this checklist called “Main Checklist”, or whatever you want
• Add the following items to your checklist
  • Edit the audio file(s)
  • Add final MP3 file into the episodes Google Drive folder above
  • Add title to into Simplecast
  • Set live date & time in Simplecast as XX:XX am/pm
  • Add summary in Simplecast
  • Add show notes and links in Simplecast
  • Create episode graphics using Adobe Illustrator templates
  • Upload graphics to episode folder in Google Drive
  • Create blog post in WordPress
  • Schedule blog post for same time as podcast release

Post-Edit Checklist

This checklist will be completed once the episode is uploaded to your podcast host. To add a checklist to this card, open the card and look for “Checklist” on the upper right side of the card.

Save Time & Download The Pre-Setup Trello Board

• Create a title for this checklist called “Post-Edit Checklist”
• Add the following items to your checklist
  • Schedule Buffer social media posts
  • Schedule MailChimp email blast to email list (if you have one)
  • Double check episode go-live time is correct
  • Schedule email to guest including link to blog and graphics (more on how to properly do this later)

After It’s Live Checklist

This checklist will be completed once the episode is live. To add a checklist to this card, open the card and look for “Checklist” on the upper right side of the card.

• Create a title for this checklist called “After It’s Live Checklist”
• Add the following items to your checklist
  • Upload to YouTube
  • Add to any applicable blog post, etc

Here is how your Information list will look like once it is completed.

Great, now our Information list is all setup. This will be extremely helpful if you decide to outsource some of the process and it will be required if you want to utilize some of the automation we talk about below. I would suggest to go ahead and set it up as I described and plan ahead for podcast success. It’s easier to do it at the beginning than to adjust down the road.

Now, you can use your Trello board exactly how it is now and drag your cards from left to right as you move through the process – adding the checklist and other things manually as you go into each session but that’s a lot of work.

To create a board exactly how I have it will require a Gold account in Trello, which is $5 per month. I can’t recommend this enough – it’s a steal for that price. You can also pre pay for a year and get it for $45 – that’s what I do.

Trello Power-ups

When you have the Gold account you get (3) power-ups. Think about these as add-ons to increase functionality.

If you proceed with just the Free version then you’ll only get (1) power-up and you’ll need to choose.

Here are the 3 power-ups I use:

• Google Drive: I use Google Drive to store all my files. This power-up is free allows you to link files and folders directly to a board so you can see and access everything from the Trello card. I create a folder for each episode and link that folder in the card.
• Custom Fields: This power-up is free and, like the name suggest,  gives you the ability to add custom fields to your card. These can be visible with the card closed or open. I use this for adding the episode number and release date to the outside of the card so it’s visible when looking at the board. You can also build actions based on the information in these fields with Butler – see below.
• Butler: This power-up has a free version, which will work if you have only a few episodes each month. I use the Silver Platter Service paid version, which cost $10 per month. Honestly, I couldn’t manage my podcast without Butler. Seriously, I couldn’t. So, what does it do? Butler allows you to create an infinite number of “if-then actions” in Trello. For example, one of the automations I will show you how to setup later is: when a card moves from Booked to Interview Done then remove the green label, add the Pre-Edit Checklist, and assign to Person X. All this happens automatically from simply dragging the card into the list. Another example I’ll show you how to setup is: when a date is added to the Release Date custom field, set a due date 3 days prior and when it is 1 day from being due, move the card to the top of the list. The options are endless and I’ll show you all kinds of awesome stuff later.

If you are not going to get the Trello Gold account (you should), then I would choose Butler as my one power-up.

Let’s move forward assuming you didn’t select any of the power-ups I recommended and instead went with something else.

Managing your board WITHOUT any automation (not recommended)

Here is an example of how you would manage a podcast episode WITHOUT any automation built into your board. To add in all the automation, I use an power-up called Butler. As I mentioned above, we will talk about that in detail later.

All your episodes will be automatically added into the Booked list when someone schedules in Calendly or Acuity, thanks to the Zapier integration we setup earlier.

Once you record an episode, you’ll drag it over into the Interview Done list. When the card is added to this list, you’ll want to manually apply the Pre-Edit Checklist by clicking checklist then selecting it from the list. Once it’s there you’ll want to complete all the activities listed in your checklist. I recommend adding a due date here as well, which should be a few days before you want your episode to be live. With that completed, drag your card over to the Ready for Edit list.

You’ll do the same here thing here. Manually add your checklist, which I call Main Checklist, and complete the items on this list. Once it’s done and your podcast is uploaded, you’ll drag your card to the right into the Post-Editing Process list.

Do the same thing to your card in the Post Editing Process list and in the Post-Live Actions list: add checklist, complete, move the card.

If you need to notify someone such as a host or outsourcer at any time during the process, you will need to manually assign them to the card or send them an email. You can do both of these automatically with Butler.

This is a lot of manual actions even if you are working on the project solo, and it’s certainly too much if you have another person involved, such as another host or an outsourcer. So, let’s look at how you can automate just about everything in our podcast workflow!

Automating your board with Butler

Like I said above, I honestly don’t know how I would manage my podcast without Butler. If you are like me and you value every spare minute and tend to forget things, it’s a life saver.

To activate the Butler power-up, you will need to install it.

• On the Trello board, click Menu in the top right corner
• Click Power-Ups in the Menu
• In the search box, type in Butler
• Enable Butler on your board

Once done, you will see a Butler link at the top of your board.

I could write a book on all the different ways you can use Butler, but I’ll stick to some of the core ways I use it on the Trello board.

Step-by-step Instructions For Automating With Butler

There are 3 main functions within Butler: Card Buttons, Rules, and Schedules. I heavily utilize the rule functionality but will highlight how I use the others as well.

Card Buttons

In Trello, you’ll notice that when you open a card, there “buttons” on the right side. By default, you will have buttons that perform actions such as move, copy, or watch that specific card.

With Butler, you have the ability to add custom card buttons. You can make buttons perform the actions you do most often with one click. Each button can run one or more actions, customized for your workflow.

Now, let’s setup one of these Card Buttons so you can see how it is done.

• Click the Butler link at the top of your board, as shown above, and it will trigger a popup window. This window is where you will see all of your options, but I want you to click on Card Buttons if it’s not already chosen.
• Click the ‘Create a New Button’ button.

• We will create a button that marks the card’s due date as completed.

• In the Title box, type in “Due Date Done”
• Select the clock icon.
• Click the “+” next to “mark the due date as complete”.
• Click save.
• Go click into any card on that board and you should see the newly created button on the right side in a section called Power-Ups.

This button will now mark a due date on that card as complete anytime you click it. You can create buttons to perform just about anything but before you get carried away, let’s take a look at the Rules functionality.

Rules

This is where all the real magic happens. A rule is generally composed of two parts: a trigger and one or more actions. This basically means you can create an infinite amount of if-then statements.

Some examples are:

When custom field “Release Date” is set, set due on the date in custom field “Release Date” minus 2 days. This statement will look at the date input into the Release Date field and set the Due Date on the card to 2 days prior to the Release Date.

Or

When a card is added to list “Post Editing Process”, add the “Post-Edit Checklist” checklist to the card, and move the card to the bottom of the list. A statement like this will add a pre-built checklist to your card when it is added to a specific list.

Let’s take a look at how to set up a rule for this example:

• With Butler open, select Rules in the top level menu.

• Click the button “Create a New Rule”.
• Then you will need to select the double arrow icon in the Trigger section as shown below.

• Next, you will need to identify what the Trigger will be.
• As shown below, use the Trigger “when a card is [added to] list [Post Editing Process]“
• Click the “+” sign to add the Trigger.

Now that we have the Trigger setup, we can determine which action will happen when that Trigger occurs. In our example, this means when a card is created, moved to, or added to the list titled “Post Editing Process” the action we define will happen.

So, let’s tell Butler what we want it to do when our Trigger event happens.

• As shown below, in the Action section, select the checkmark icon.
• From there, find the row to add a checklist. In this row you will need to input the checklist name that should be added. This must be typed in EXACTLY as the checklist is named. A typo will result in the checklist not being automatically added.
• In this example, type in “Post-Edit Checklist” in the blank.
• Click the “+” sign.

Finally, we want to add the Action step that will automatically move our card to the bottom of that list so that things stay in chronological order.

• In the Add Another Action section, click on the arrows icon shown below.
• Next, in the row that says “move the card to”, click here and select “the bottom of the list”.
• Click the “+” sign.
• Lastly, click Save.

To summarize this automation, it would be…

When a card is added to the Post Editing Process list then Butler should automatically add the Post-Edit Checklist and move the card to the bottom of the list.

Pretty cool, huh?!

Below I’ll list out all the automations I have built out and you can create them on your podcast board by following the above process.

Or, if you want to watch the video of how this is done and download the Trello board already setup, then click the below button.

Assuming you are a DIY’er or have plenty of time on your hands, I’ll highlight all the different automations you will need to setup below. You may want to not use some of these or add more.

Additional Butler Automations

• When a card is added to list “Ready for Edit”, add the red label to the card
  • This is simply a visual indicator.
• When a card is added to list “Booked”, add the green label to the card
  • This is simply a visual indicator.
• When a card is added to list “Ask For Review, set due in 2 weeks at 8:00pm
• When a card is added to list “Followup (3m), set due in 3 months
  • This is so that I remember to reach out to my previous guest.
• When a card is added to list “Ready For Edit” add the “Podcast 1” checklist to the card, and remove the green label from the card.
• When custom field “Release Date” is set, set due on the date in custom field “Release Date” minus 2 days. (this one was shown above)
  • This automation looks at the date you input into the Custom Field titled Release Date and sets a due date a few days before the episode should go-live so that you have time to do things such as social media and scheduling email.
• When a card is moved into list “Ready To Edit”, add member @yourVA to the card, and send an email notification to “yourVAemail@gmail.com” with subject “New Episode Assigned for Hustle To Freedom podcast” and body message “ Hi yourVA, Please check the Trello board. There is a new episode ready to edit. Please fit it into your schedule considering the due date.”
  • If you have an editor or virtual assistant, this automatically sends an email to them notifying them that the episode is ready for editing.
• When a card is added to the list “Interview Done”, add the “Pre-Edit Checklist” checklist to the card, and move the card to the bottom of the list.
•  When a card is added to the list “Post-Live Actions”, add the “After Checklist” checklist to the card, and move the card to the bottom of the list.
• When a card is moved out of list “Ready for Edit”, remove member @yourVA from the card.
  • This removes the editor/ virtual assistant from the card.
• When a card is added to list “Post Editing Process, add member @ryanhelms5 to the card, and send an email notification to “ryan@gritandhustle.co” with subject “Yo Ryan, your VA finished editing. You’re up!” and body message “Go to Trello and see status of episode.”
  • This sends an email to me, the podcast host, and lets me know the editor/ VA has completed their part and I can do the last few things before it goes live.

Following these steps, your podcast board will mirror mine and have all the automation built in to make your life so much more efficient. You could certainly use Trello without the Butler power-up but I think that would just add a lot more work, especially as your podcast grows and you become more busy.

Trello also isn’t the only kanban style project management tool but, in my opinion, it is the premier option due to the low cost, comprehensive functionality, and expansive integration options. I’m sure you will quickly see how easy and useful Trello is for your podcast workflow.

Preparing to Edit Your Podcast in Adobe Audition

Now, let’s do a deep dive into the part of podcasting that prevents most people from getting started, the editing. I’ll take you step by step through how you can edit your podcast, even if you have no experience.

Choosing a podcasting DAW (digital audio workstation)

You will need some software to edit your podcast, unless you choose to have a raw, unedited podcast. These podcast editing softwares are often referred to as DAWs, or a digital audio workstation.

The DAW is where you can edit the audio, such as cutting out unwanted “umms”, leveling the audio so it doesn’t go quiet and loud throughout, and cleaning up background noise. These are just a few things you may want a DAW for.

Option 1

I personally use Adobe Audition to edit my podcast. You can either pay for the application individually or as a part of the Adobe Creative Cloud package. The latter is what I do because you get access to all of the Adobe applications for a low monthly charge.

Option 2

The next best option would be Audacity. It has been around for many, many years and is free to download and use. It looks like it was built in the 90’s but many people still use it.

Option 3

If you have a Mac, you could use Garageband, which is a preloaded audio editing application that is free.

I use Adobe Audition because it is the most robust solution that work well for beginners and experts and, when you get the Creative Cloud package, you also get Photoshop, Illustrator, Lightroom and Premiere Pro and all the other Adobe applications.

Editing Yourself versus Outsourcing

Podcast audio editing can be a time consuming process, and depending on the frequency that you releasing episodes, you may need to outsource the editing – unless the podcast is your full-time job. The length of time it takes to edit each episode will also depend on the level in which you edit it. Meaning, do you want your guest to sounds very polished so you edit out all the “umms” or do you want to go for a more raw feel and only edit out major goofs and background noise? The latter will be much quicker but may not produce the best result.

In the beginning, I recommend editing it yourself before outsourcing so that you can determine how you want it to be edited. In beginning you probably won’t know how you want it to sound. Playing around with different intros, the amount of touch-ups, and the types of filters are all things you can figure out when doing it yourself. You will surely take more pride than someone else so it will be best to determine how your want your podcast to sound then, if you indeed want to outsource the editing work, you can clearly communicate your expectations on how the episodes should sound.

If you outsource to someone in the USA, you can expect to pay between $75-$125 per episode. This only includes editing of the actual audio, not necessarily, compiling the entire episode – intro, music, interview, outro. You can see this can quickly add up, especially if you are putting out more than 1 episode per week. If you released 2 episodes per week and it cost $100 per episode, that would be $9,600 per year, just on editing. If you have sponsors, this may not be a big deal. If you don’t, then this may be a hard sum to swallow.

If you outsource to someone in a developing country, you can expect to pay between $20-$60 per episode.

Want me to recommend a good podcast editor to you?

I outsourced my editing once I had released 36 episodes doing everything myself. I found someone in the Philippines and negotiated a monthly package. The cost was $42 per episode and this included editing the audio, mixing the episode, uploading to the podcast host, creating 3-5 social media graphics and writing of a blog post on my site. Not a bad deal.

No matter who you choose, you will need to have your process well defined (i.e. a well designed Trello board) and supplemental process documentation, such as written work instructions and video instructions. The experience of your VA/ editor will determine how in-depth your supplemental instructions need to be.

Creating a Podcast Template With Adobe Audition

So, let’s say you want to edit some or all of your episodes. I’m going to show you how to do this with Adobe Audition.

Adobe Audition is such an amazing powerful tool with a million features but you only really need to use a handful of them to get your podcast sounding pro quality. Let’s dive into the basics.

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Setting up your podcast template

You will want a podcast template because there are certain elements of the podcast that will remain the same from episode to episode. For example, in my podcast, part of the intro, the music, and part of the outro never change. With a template you just have to plug in the episode specific elements, such as the interview, guest intro, and episode outro and you are done.

When I was trying to figure out how to start a podcast, I wasted so much time trying to build a template. Let’s dive into the details of how you can create your podcast template in Adobe Audition, quickly.

We need to create a Multitrack Session

• Click File > New > Multitrack Session

• Select a name for your template. I kept it simple and called it “Podcast Template v1”.

Now, you will see a screen several rows like shown below.

We need to do a few things on our template before it’s ready to add any audio into it.

• The first thing we need to do is apply a filter on the Master track to govern the maximum number of DBs your audio can reach. This will prevent some loud noise from causing a loud spike in the final audio track
• To do this, click into the Master track as shown below
• Then, go into your Effects Rack
• Click the arrow next to the row 1, as shown below
• Select Amplitude and Compression > Hard Limiter

• In the pop-up window for the Hard Limiter settings, adjust the slider bars as shown below for your Hard Limiter.

Next, let’s configure your Match Loudness settings. This is a function within Adobe Audition that will ensure your various audio tracks all sound the same when played through external speakers, such as someone’s car. For example, have you ever listened to something before and one person is talking at a low tone then another person chimes in and it sounds 10 times as loud? Yea?! Well, this will prevent that with your podcast audio.

The reality is your guest or fellow host will never be on the same audio level as you are. Whether it’s because they are too close/far from the microphone or that they are just a loud/quiet person.

• Find the section within Adobe Audition called Match Loudness. It should be in the left sidebar by default, as shown below.
  • If it’s not there you can find it through the top navigation menu by going to Effects > Match Loudness. (see below)

Looking at the screenshot above, you will configure your setting to:

Match To: ITU-R BS.1770-3 Loudness

Target Loudness: -16 LUFS

Tolerance: 0.5 LU

Max True Peak Level: -3 dBTP

When you go through the editing process below, you will see how this comes into play and how to use it.

Name your template tracks

The last thing you will need to do in your template is name your tracks. By default they will be called Track 1 thru 6 plus your Master Track. You could keep these as is but I would recommend that you name them to match all the different files you will have in your podcast. Some of the usual files will be an intro, outro, music, and the interview.

My tracks are titled: Host, Guest, Music Bed, Standard Intro, Specific Intro/Outro plus the Master Track.

Here is how I use each of them:

Host track: Since I record my interviews on two separate tracks (guest and host), I place my host audio file in this track.

Guest Track: Since I record my interviews on two separate tracks (guest and host), I place the guest audio file in this track.

Music Bed: I have music that plays during my intro and outro. That file is in this track.

Standard Intro: For my podcast, I have a standard intro that is on every episode and it doesn’t change. That audio clip in is this track and is saved in the template so I do not have to add it each time.

Specific Intro/Outro: For each episode I record a intro and outro specific to that episode. Those files are placed in this track.

Master Track: Nothing gets placed here, it just governs your entire template if you place effects, like the Hard Limiter, on it.

Adding files to your template

The next thing you’ll want to do, if it fits your podcast format, is add in the files that will always remain the same. (Yes, you can update them at any time)

The are three ways you can add add your template audio files, or any files for that matter:

Method 1: Simply drag your files into the Files Pane

Method 2: Using the top navigation menu. File > Import > File

Method 3: Using the Import button in the Files Pane.

Once you have imported the files into the Files Pane, you can simply drag and drop them into the appropriate track. Once the file is in the track that you want it in, you can drag that left and right within the track to place it where you need.

You will see below how my various track files are placed in seemingly random places. However, since this is a template, the gaps will later be filled in by the episode specific intro/outro and the interview.

Editing a Podcast With Adobe Audition

If there is one thing that scares potential podcasters the most, it’s editing the audio.

In fact, this was the biggest concern for me as well. Once I got started I found out that cutting and trimming the audio tracks was not difficult, but the real challenge came when I needed to do things like leveling the audio tracks. I was scared as hell that someone was going to cut on the podcast while driving in their car and my voice was going to be super loud and the guest super low or vice versa.

What if there was background noise that I needed removed?

What if I stumbled on my words and needed to edit it out?

Etc, etc.

These were all things running through my head once I had an interview recorded but no way to make sure it sounded amazing.

Want A Detailed Video Tutorial Instead?

So, I did what possibly brought you to this post, I scoured the internet looking for specific instructions on editing a podcast. I didn’t find much information that was specific, as in, click here and do this. Instead, I found a lot of high level 1,000 word generic blog post that were little help to me.

Eventually, I ended up reaching out to some folks in a Facebook group focused on podcast editing to get some advice for editing a podcast in Adobe Audition. I ended up doing a training session with a lady who owns a company that only does podcast audio editing. It seemed like a good person to learn podcast editing from.

She gave me the essentials for podcast editing that I will share with you here.

Cleaning up podcast audio

Clean up the background with Spectral Frequency Editor

What is the Spectral Frequency Editor?

The Spectral Frequency Display will show you noises that are not very visible in the normal Waveform view.

Looking at the above image, all you see is a bunch of orange color in the Spectral Frequency DIsplay. The purpose of this exercise is to clean up the noise in between audio gaps, so we will need to zoom more on the audio. There is two ways to do this. The first is to use the scroll wheel on your mouse while hovered over the Waveform or Spectral Frequency Display. If you aren’t using a mouse, the equivalent on your trackpad will work. The second way is to use the viewfinder ends to narrow the view. The viewfinder is located above the waveform display (it is the mini waveform display) and you can click the ends, as shown below, and drag left or right to narrow the range, which zooms in on the audio.

Let’s zoom in on a blank section of the audio. Meaning, a section when there was no active talking.

What you will see below is that, depending on the environment of the audio recording, you may see background noise that appears. In this section of the audio clip, my guest was not talking but the microphone still picked up some background noise. This could have been caused by breathing, shuffling items on the desk that were near the microphone, bleed through from headphones, fan in the background, and the list goes on. No matter the cause, this is something that can certainly be cleaned up.

Depending on the style and feel of your podcast, this little background noise may not matter to you. For the sake of this, let’s pretend it does so I can show you how to fix it.

This first thing we are going to do is what’s called Capture Noise Print in Adobe Audition. We will highlight a section of the audio that contains unwanted noise with the intention of using this process to mute that noise, not only in the selected audio, but in the entire audio track. This is great is the is constant background noise throughout the entire audio clip, such as a fan.

Let’s take a look at how it is done.

• First, highlight the section of audio which contains the unwanted sound. To highlight, simply click and drag on either the Waveform or Spectral Frequency Display.
• Then, right click on the highlighted section and select Capture Noise Print as shown below.

• Once that is clicked, the noise print is captured. There not be a confirmation or another popup so if you are unfamiliar with the tool, it may seem like nothing happened but don’t worry, it is done.
• Next, you’ll need to highlight the ENTIRE audio track. This can be done by clicking into the track and pressing Cmd+A on a Mac or Ctrl+A on a Windows computer.
• Once the entire audio track is selected, you will go into the top menu bar and goto Effects > Noise Reduction / Restoration (process)… and click that, as shown below.

• Once you click that, a new window will appear. You can mirror the setting highlighted below and then click Apply in the bottom right of the window.

As shown below, once the Noise Reduction Process is applied, it eliminates a lot of the low level background noise. I do not recommend performing the Noise Reduction Process more than twice. Any remaining sounds that are unwanted can be silenced and we will look at that next.

Now that the Noise Reduction has been applied, you will want to find any remaining unwanted sounds and silence them.

Here are some of the sounds that may not not be eliminated by the Noise Reduction process:

• Placing a cup down on the desk
• Shuffling papers or notes on the desk
• Phone noises
• Cough / Sneezes
• Excessive “ummm”, “yea”, or “OK” from a guest or co-host

Silencing audio sections in Adobe Audition

To silence a section of audio in Adobe Audition, simply highlight the section > right click > click Silence. The process is shown below.

You’ll notice that there is also a keyboard shortcut for the Silence function: Cmd+F. You likely will not see a keyboard shortcut for the Silence process unless you create the shortcut. You can create a keyboard shortcut by going to Edit > Keyboard Shortcuts. I recommend that you create a shortcut for the Silence function because it increase your efficiency of cleaning up the audio greatly.

Below is showing the Waveform after the Silence has been applied.

You should perform the Capture Sound Print and Noise Reduction process on all vocal audio tracks in your podcast episode. Likewise for the Silencing process, if you don’t like those random background noises. I always skim all the vocal audio tracks and silence any of the above mentioned unwanted audio. This will create a much more “polished” sounding podcast. Some people don’t like polished. If that’s you then don’t silence everything but I would still run the Noise Reduction.

With all of our audio tracks cleaned up, we can now perform the Match Loudness in Adobe Audition. Previously, we configured the settings for Match Loudness. If you have not already done that, please scroll up and update your settings prior to following these steps.

To recap, the Match Loudness function will ensure that the audio loudness for all the tracks sound the same. Meaning, for example, it will prevent the host audio from being loud and the guest audio being quite. When you apply this process, both tracks will sound the same when played by a listener.

Note: When you create your podcast template you should complete the Match Loudness process on the files in the template and save it. You will not need to perform this process again on those template files.

Performing Match Loudness to audio clips in Adobe Audition

We want to select any audio tracks in the Files Pane that need the Match Loudness applied.

• Drag those files into the Match Loudness Pane. It will take some time, depending on the file size, for the program to analyze the audio.
• Once completed, you can perform the Match Loudness process.
• Remember to ensure your Match Loudness settings are configured as shown earlier.
• Once you have dragged the file(s) into the Match Loudness pane, as shown below, you will click Run.

Depending on the loudness of the original file, you may need to perform this process 2 or 3 times.

Note: If you run the Match Loudness process 2 times and it is only at -17 LUFS, I would just leave it there. The difference between -16 and -17 will not be noticeable.

So, at this point you have your audio cleaned up and all the tracks are at the same loudness.

The next thing you will want to do is cut out any unwanted sections of audio.

Cutting out sections of audio in Adobe Audition

You may have started recording a few minutes before the “official” conversation started and you need to cut out the audio before.  For me, this is an every time thing. I always start recording ahead of the actual interview starting so my guest is comfortable with it being recorded. Sometimes a guest will be nervous once they know it’s actually recording.

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Before we get to cutting and dicing the audio tracks, we need to “group” any tracks that should remain aligned. Why do you need to do this? It will prevent your audio from getting out of sync. So, before you start cutting out sections of the audio, let’s Group the tracks host and guest interview tracks.

• Select tracks by holding Cmd/Ctrl and clicking each track. Once all tracks are selected, you will need to Right Click.
• Once you do this, you will see the audio tracks change color. For example, from green to pink. That means that are now grouped.

Let’s keep using the scenario that we started recording before the actual interview started, and we need to cut out the section of audio before the actual podcast conversation starts.

• Highlight the section on the Grouped audio that should be removed. Below you will see where the actual interview started and the section that is highlighted will be removed.

There are several ways to delete this section of audio but I always use the Ripple Delete in Adobe Audition with the Time Selection in All Tracks setting. The reason that I use this is because when it deletes that section of audio, it automatically moves any audio that is to the right, back to the left. So, in other words, it does not leave a gap in the audio.

• As shown below, right click on the selected section of audio
• Goto Ripple Delete > Time Selection in All Tracks> Click

You can also just use the keyboard shortcut, which is what I do. The Ripple Delete keyboard shortcut is Shift+Cmd/Ctrl+Backspace/Delete on a Mac. This is what I typically do because it is much more efficient. Below is how the audio will look once the Ripple Delete is done. You will notice the section that I noted as the starting point is now directly against the preceding track.

Note: This method will delete ANYTHING under the selected tracks. So if you have anything under the grouped tracks, such as music, that you do not want deleted, you will want to use another method for deleted the unwanted sections. The most simple would be just the Backspace/Delete key. It will not close the gap like I mentioned above but it will not impact the below tracks – only the tracks that are highlighted/selected.

I go through the entire interview and remove any gaps, screw ups, or unwanted noises using the Ripple Delete method.

Exporting podcast in proper file format

Once you have all of your files in place and you’ve edited them to your liking, then you are ready to export your file.

This is another area that I was nervous about before I launched my first podcast episode. What if the file type wasn’t correct. What if I used the wrong settings when exporting the podcast file.

Like most of the processes within Adobe Audition, there are multiple ways to export a file and plenty of settings but I’ll share the process and settings that I use to create a high quality podcast file.

• In your Multitrack file, select all the tracks by pressing Cmd/Ctrl+A.
• File > Export > Multitrack Mixdown > Selected Clips

• Configure the Multitrack Mixdown export settings. Referencing the below image, we will apply the proper settings
  1. File Name: Here you will name the MP3 file. I tend to use a basic, consistent file nomenclature so that I can easily find the files, such as “episode_55_final.mp3”.
  2. Choose where you want your files to save at. After you choose the first time, you will not have to change each time.
  3. Leave the file format as MP3 Audio.
  4. Leave this as-is.
  5. Click Change then set it to Mono then click OK. (Note: 5 is below 6 in the screenshot)
  6. Format Settings: Set this to 80 Kbps (44100 Hz). Leave the Type as Constant.

Now, the file will take a few moments to export. Once completed you will have a podcast ready file!

 

Promoting a Podcast

Promoting a podcast isn’t easy but it is definitely necessary. I say it’s necessary because, unlike a blog, it’s very hard to organically rank high in search results besides the tricks I showed you a little bit above. With a website, you can optimize for SEO, get backlinks, etc, so that your ranking is increased in search results on sites like Google. Sadly, these tactics aren’t available on platforms like Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, or Spotify.

So, with the exception of the optimization strategies I showed you earlier, you need to depend on some promoting strategies to increase your subscribers and downloads.

The first thing you can do is CREATE GREAT CONTENT.

If you are creating great content then people will find it and share it.

This is the ultimate promotion strategy.

Now, let’s assume you checked that box and you are putting awesome content out to the world and into your audience’s ears. With that confirmed we can go into a few other strategies for promoting a podcast.

Email List

Like I said above, it’s really important that you have a website associated with your podcast – either directly or indirectly. Because when you have a website you can start building an audience and when you have an audience you can send them emails!

If you have an email list before launching your podcast, no matter how big the list is, you should send them some emails letting them know about the upcoming launch.

When the podcast launches, I recommend send your list an email each time and episode goes live. When you are sending them an email about an episode going live, you should consider the time that you are sending it. By this I mean, when will your audience be listening to the podcast? In their car on a commute? Some other time? Answering this question will let you know at the time you should send it.

Since about 80% of my listeners are in the USA and my audience members are mostly still working their dayjob, I aim to email my list early in the morning before I think their commute would begin. The idea is that before they hop in their car they will see my email and then listen to that episode when they begin the commute. I use MailChimp for its simplicity and also because it’s FREE!

Reddit

If you are unfamiliar with it, Reddit is a huge collection of forums where people post about various topics and comment on other people’s post.  Currently Reddit is the 5th most visited in the United States and it has the highest time on page per visitor of any website.

So, how can you use this platform to promote your podcast?

The answer…

Very carefully.

You see, the Reddit community is very anti promotion and advertisement. They tend to look down on anything that comes off as not providing true value. When I decided to start posting on Reddit about The Side Hustle Journal, it didn’t take long for me to realize that writing about my product without providing a ton of value would be shunned.

So, instead of just scoring tons of post looking for one to comment on or making self-promoting post about you podcast, you need to approach it a bit differently.

I use a tool called TrackReddit for this.

TrackReddit allows you to track certain words or phrases used in Reddit post. You can track the word or phrase in the title or in both the title and body of a post. You can choose whether you want it look for an exact match to a phrase or if a partial match should also produce a notification. However you do decide to configure it, you will get an email or SMS notification when it finds a result that matches your parameters.

To make this clear, I’ll give you an example of how I use it.

I have a notification built around the phrase “side hustle”. When someone makes a post with this in the title of the post, I get an immediate email notification with a link to the post. When I get this email I try to quickly go in to the post and read it to see if there is any way that I can provide value. Ideally, I would be able to provide value and reference the podcast, but that isn’t always possible. But, when I can add value and reference the podcast, I definitely try and do it.

Below is an example of how I’ve done it.

Andddd here is how it looks when it doesn’t go well 🙂

Paid Ads

Another option to get the word out about your podcast is paid advertisements on platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and Reddit.

Personally, I have not had great luck running Facebook and Instagram ads to get podcast listeners except when I do it under a certain situation. I’ve had decent results running paid ads to an episode when the guest I have on the podcast has a large social following.

Have your guest promote it

This is my favorite option, especially when the guest has a large social following. The chances that your guest will just voluntary promote your podcast is pretty low – not because they are mean, it’s just that people are busy.

For that reason, you must make it super easy for them to promote it.

So, how do you do that?

I send them an email on the morning that the episode goes live. Actually, I type the email up ahead of time and schedule it using Streak, a Gmail add-on. When I send this email I include a few things that will help get the ball rolling and increase the chances that they share the podcast with their audience.

I include:

• A sincere thank you
• A link to the blog post created for their episode
• The iFrame embed code for the podcast player so they can place it on their site
• 3-5 different social media graphics
• I ask them to share it

Here is an example:

Social Media

Those same social media graphics that I share with my guest are used in my personal and business pages on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

Again, I schedule these post on social media ahead of time, with the exception of Instagram Stories. To arrange this scheduling I use a free tool called Buffer.

I have all my social media accounts connected to it except for Pinterest. Buffer allows you to schedule all of your post based on a schedule that you define. For example, my schedule is to post on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday at 8:47pm. When we reach the defined time, the Buffer app will automatically post to the social media accounts. There is a web-based app, a mobile app, and a Chrome extension to make it easy to schedule social media post anywhere you may be.

Templates For Social Media Graphics

Several times above I mentioned custom graphics for social media and you may be thinking, I don’t have the skills or time to create graphics for each episode.

No worries, that is where creating templates in Adobe Illustrator comes in.

Learn The Basics Of Illustrator

You really only need to create the graphic one time and then just update the text within the template for each episode. If you are design challenged, then you can hire someone, on a website like 99Designs, to create the template for you. Just remember to have them give you the file in format “.ai” so that you can update the text.

I have 6 templates created and I update each one for every episode. With these templates I can have several different episode specific graphics in less than 5-minutes.

They are formatted for:

• Instagram/ Facebook Stories
• YouTube thumbnail
• Instagram/ Facebook post
• Blog graphic

I’ll show you how to setup your template in detail here.

How to get podcast ratings and reviews

Having ratings and reviews on your podcast is a must.

There is really only one platform that it matters to have reviews on and that is Apple Podcast.

Many people will search through various podcast and windowshop. Meaning, they go in and look for a few things; mainly, consistency of releasing episodes and your reviews. This will tell them if they want to invest the time in listening to your podcast.

So, how do you get reviews in the beginning?

Step 1 is not having too much pride.

Ask your friends and family to review the podcast. Hell, take the phone from them and navigate to the app for them. Don’t feel bad about these somewhat inauthentic reviews, most of your fellow podcasters are doing it or have done it in the beginning. Some reading this may disagree with this strategy but I think it’s very important to get those first few reviews because a stranger to your podcast is going to less likely to leave a review if they see a big fat goose egg there.

Step 2 is again, not to have too much pride.

Ask your podcast guest for reviews on your podcast if they enjoyed their experience. Just like when we asked them to share the podcast episode, you need to make it easy for them to leave a review.

Despite Apple Podcast being the only place that having a review really matters, they surely don’t make it easy for people to leave reviews. For this reason, I provide very clear instructions on how they can do this. I typically ask them to leave a review about 2 weeks after their episode has went live. Below is the exact template that I send out to every one of my guests. Feel free to copy it.

Typically, most guest are more than happy to help you out and providing the clear instructions will only help the odds that they actually do it.

Before I started providing that detailed email above, I received several emails from people telling me they could not figure out how to leave a review, so be sure not to skip that part.

Step 3 is adding a CTA

A key to getting more podcast reviews is to include a Call To Action (CTA) somewhere in the episode intro or outro. This may not drive immediate reviews but it will remind your audience that if they are enjoying the episodes, a way to support the podcast would be the leave a review. If you are providing truly great content then your audience will take you up on this offer as a sign of appreciation.

How To Make Money Podcasting

Deep down this is what most people want to happen with their podcast. However, if you are starting a podcast with the sole intention of making money then you may be in for a tough road ahead. Similarly to it being difficult to organically grow your podcast, it can also be difficult to monetize your podcast. There are some ways you can do this – some traditional and some not.

Learn The Secrets To Monetizing

When people think about monetizing a podcast, the first thing that comes to mind for most is advertisements from another company at the beginning or middle of their episode. This is one of several methods. Let’s dive into this one and the others.

Paid Advertisements

Like I mentioned, this is usually the first thing that people consider when it comes to monetizing a podcast. Typically the companies will have strong ties to your audience and have a product that aligns well with them. Recently this is beginning to change as more and more large companies, such as Intel and HP, start advertising on seemingly random podcast. This is great for podcasters because it proves that podcasting is indeed becoming a mainstream form of media.

The podcasting industry has standard around how much money ads cost. They are based on a CPM metric, or cost per thousand listeners.

Below is a screenshot from AdvertiseCast.com in July 2018 which shows the industry rates.

As you can see, you really won’t make any “real money” until your listenership gets quite large. When your podcast does take off though you could easily turn the podcast into your primary income source. Below is an example:

Listeners per episode: 10,000

Type of advertisement: 30-second ad

Episodes per week: 3

Advertising Rates: $20 CPM

This would have you making $2,400 per month from your podcast.

A Lot of the larger podcast are getting 150,000 downloads per episode, so that means they would be making $48,600 per month!

Promoting Your Products

One of the best ways to monetize a podcast is by promoting your own products and services. I say it’s one of the best for two reasons. First, the offer will certainly align with your audience and often speak to them better than a paid ad from some random company. Secondly, it has the most potential earning potential for a podcast with a small to midsize audience.

You could create an offer, which could be anything from a digital product, such as an online course or PDF download, to a service done by you, or even a physical product that you may have. I do the latter with The Side Hustle Journal.

Most often, it will be best to keep this short and sweet, meaning 15-20 seconds, and insert it within your intro or outro. Also, make sure the messaging speaks to your audience and illustrates how your product or service will solve a problem they have. Often times I hear host promote their products and they only talk about the features of it and not how it will help the listener if they choose to buy it.

Patreon

Another option to create revenue, and in this case recurring revenue, from a podcast is through Patreon. This platform allows your audience to sign up for a monthly donation for podcasts they may love. You can checkout more on Patreon and see if it is a good fit for you.

Affiliate Revenue

This is somewhat a hybrid between the two above podcast monetization methods. With this model you will be promoting someone else’s product or service but they won’t be paying you for speaking about their offer. Instead, they will pay you for referring leads or customers to them.

This is what is referred to as affiliate marketing. I could write a whole book on this topic, and many others have. However, for the purpose of this post I will keep it short and to the point. As it relates to podcasting, you as the podcast host you will want to promote offers that strongly relate to the subject matter of your podcast.

For example, if you hosted a podcast around personal finance, then you may want to drive your audience to sign up for a product like Personal Capital, which tracks your finances and net worth. This would be something that fit your audience and likely solves a need that many of them have. Another example could be, if you have a podcast on business or marketing, then you might want to tell your audience about Clickfunnels, which is a drag and drop website and sales funnel builder. If you can’t find any products in the beginning, don’t sweat it. You could even reference your listeners to books or other physical items discussed on your podcast through Amazon’s affiliate program. Yes, most Amazon links that you click on websites are affiliate links and you could get a percentage of that sale. In fact, the link above that says “and many others have” is an Amazon affiliate link.

Please, do not promote something random on your podcast that relates in no way to the content of your podcast, you will quickly lose respect of your listeners. You only want products that fit the audience and solve a problem.

So, you may be thinking to yourself, how the hell do I get my audience, who is likely listening while driving or working out, to go checkout on of my offers.

Great question and a perfect segway into…

Directing listeners to your offers

In all but one podcast monetization strategy, paid advertisements, you will have to get your audience to take an action in order for you to make money from podcasting. This can seem more difficult than getting someone to take action on a website, and frankly, it is. It’s more difficult because on a website, the link is literally right in front of their eyes. All they have to do is move the cursor over to link and you could make money if they purchase or sign-up for whatever is on the next page.

With a podcast, you have to take a little bit of a different approach to get have a listener take action on your offer.

The first thing you need to do is have any of the affiliate offers applicable to the podcast episode linked in your episode show notes. Scroll back up to the section on uploading your episode to see how adding links in the show notes is done. Make sure they are clickable link and that they contain your affiliate link. In addition to the affiliate links specific to that podcast episode, you may also have “static affiliate links” that you want to include. By this I simply mean affiliate links that will remain the same in every episode. This could be a product or service that you highly recommend and want everyone in your audience to take advantage of. You can look at my podcast show notes and see that, in addition to the episode specific show notes, I also always have a link to my physical product, The Side Hustle Journal, and a link to a booking page for my podcast. (It was mentioned earlier, but Calendly and Acuity are great options for your booking page.)

The second thing you can do is actively point people to your show notes during the podcast episode. For example, if someone references a piece of software that you are an affiliate for, direct the listeners that they can check out that software by finding the link in the show notes. Another example would be if you have your own product, you can mention it during the episode and direct them to the show notes.

The third thing you can do is give them the exact URL. But what is my URL is long and ugly? No worries, you can create a redirect in your website. This will allow you to create a short, easy to remember URL that you can simply read out in your episode. For example, your original link might be www.fakewebsite.com/how-to-start-a-podcast-101. You could create a new link www.fakewebsite.com/podcast101. Using a process like shown in the link above, you can have someone type in www.fakewebsite.com/podcast101 and be redirected automatically to www.fakewebsite.com/how-to-start-a-podcast-101 without them ever realizing it. I would definitely recommend creating these redirect links if you are going to give out links in your episode.

The future of monetization

Podcast platform Castbox launched a blockchain project called Contentbox to reward creators. When you you download the Castbox podcast app (which is what I listen to podcast on), you are even given some BOX – their cryptocurrency.

This is where the future of podcast monetization is heading and Castbox is ahead of the curve for sure.

Track Podcast Ranking

How to track your podcast ranking. Have you wanted to do this? I’ll show you how to do this in a Google Spreadsheet. I originally saw instructions how to do this on the Jukka Ahola blog.

Get The Podcast Tracker Tutorial Videos

Find the RSS feed to follow in Apple Podcast

So, in order to track a podcasts ranking we need to find the correct RSS feed within iTunes it should look at.

Below is the format of the RSS feed you will need.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/rss/topaudiopodcasts/limit=200/genre=1321/xml

You’ll notice there are two bolded parts of the above RSS feed. The “us” tells it to look at the USA podcast charts. The “1321” tells it to look in the Business section.

Here you can find the complete Apple Podcast category and subcategory codes.

When I created my tracker I used “us” and “1413”, which is for Marketing and Management.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/rss/topaudiopodcasts/limit=200/genre=1413/xml

Copy and paste that into your URL bar and go to the webpage. You should see the name of podcast category you input in the 5th or 6th row, as shown below.

Using IMPORTXML function in Google Sheets to get podcast ranking

Follow the steps below to configure your Google Sheet.

• Create a new Google Sheet
• In cell A1 write =now()
• In cell A4 write Date
• In cell B4 write Your Daily Podcast Rank (or whatever you want)
• In cell B1 copy and paste this function:

=IMPORTXML(“https://itunes.apple.com/us/rss/topaudiopodcasts/limit=200/genre=1413/xml”,”count(//*[local-name()=’entry’][contains(.,’Hustle To Freedom: Everyday People Creating Extraordinary Side Hustles’)]/preceding-sibling::*)”)-7

In order to have it pull in the information for your podcast you’ll need to update some of the information in that function.

=IMPORTXML(“https://itunes.apple.com/us/rss/topaudiopodcasts/limit=200/genre=1413/xml“,”count(//*[local-name()=’entry’][contains(.,’Hustle To Freedom: Everyday People Creating Extraordinary Side Hustles’)]/preceding-sibling::*)”)-7

Change the above bolded section to your podcast link. Meaning, the country and category associated with your podcast.

=IMPORTXML(“https://itunes.apple.com/us/rss/topaudiopodcasts/limit=200/genre=1413/xml”,”count(//*[local-name()=’entry’][contains(.,’Hustle To Freedom: Everyday People Creating Extraordinary Side Hustles‘)]/preceding-sibling::*)”)-7

Note: If you are having issues, check the single quotes used in your function. The issue may be due to formatting in the page copied from. You can try to delete and retype each single quote. I explain this in the video course in detail.

Change the above bolded section to your podcast title.

Now, the Google Sheet should display your function will output your current podcast ranking. If you get a “-7” in the rank field this just means that your podcast was not found in the top 200. If you get some other error, check the spelling within the function.

Tracking podcast ranking daily

It’s cool to know what your podcast ranking is in the current time, but what is even cooler is to be able to track your podcast over a period of time. In order to do this, you will need to create a script that runs in the background to save this data each day.

Let’s take a look at how to do this:

• In the Google Sheet we just added that function to, go into the top navigation menu and navigate to Tools > Script Editor
• Delete any code that you see
• Paste in the below:

// custom menu function
function onOpen() {
var ui = SpreadsheetApp.getUi();
ui.createMenu(‘Custom Menu’)
.addItem(‘Save Data’,’saveData’)
.addToUi();
}
// function to save data
function saveData() {
var ss = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSpreadsheet();
var sheet = ss.getSheets()[0];
var date = sheet.getRange(‘A1’).getValue();
var yourpodcast = sheet.getRange(‘B1’).getValue(); sheet.appendRow([date,yourpodcast]);
}

• You can name your script then click save
• Go back to your spreadsheet and refresh the page
• Once refreshed, notice the new Custom Menu as shown below

Note: If you are having issues, check the single quotes used in your function. The issue may be due to formatting in the page copied from. You can try to delete and retype each single quote. I explain this in the video course in detail.

• Now, click Custom Menu > Save Data
• It will ask for authorization to run, click accept.
• The script is programmed to input data into Row 5 so you should now see data in cells A5 and B5.

As is, the script will only run when you press the button, like we just did. But we want it to run everyday so let’s keep going with the setup.

• Open the script editor again. Tools > Script Editor
• Go to Edit > Current Project’s Triggers

• Click on “no triggers set up”
• Choose the below settings

• Click Save

This will have the script running daily. You can update the time to have it run whenever you want.

Note: It is very possible that this could break in the future if anything changes in the Apple Podcast RSS structure. I’ve read on the blog I got a lot of this information from and also on others that they have needed to update the process a few times when things changed. If you do this process and it breaks, let me know and I’ll take a look to see if something in the code needs to be updated.

Final Words

I sincerely hope that you got some value from this article on how to start a podcast. I would LOVE to hear your feedback in the comments section below. Did the article suck? Is it missing anything? Did you get some valuable insights from it? Let me know!

Starting a podcast was the best thing that I did in 2018 and I hope that, whenever you read this, you take advantage of this amazing content medium and start your podcast now. The longer you wait, the more competitive the landscape becomes but there is still so much opportunity for you to take advantage of today.