Things To Consider Before You Start A Podcast

Ten questions to ask yourself before you start podcasting so you can get a feel for it. Are you ready? Is this what do you want to do? So figure out what will you talk about? And the content you'll like consuming will typically work best in your podcasts.

So what's going to give you the energy to create, to create, to create, to create? And actually as well, you know, take a look at it, can you pivot from that content as well too. I don't think the well always dries because if you have the right topic, it can continually regenerate itself. But take a look at how flexible that content will be. 

What type of host are you? You know, are you are you the expert basically? Are you looking at being a solo interviewer? Do you love chatting with guests. Or journalist? You know, many reporters pursue podcasts because they're losing their jobs and they still want to be a journalist and use podcasts for that. 

What equipment do you need? We were gonna create a podcast about that as well, too, in July. But you know the basics are that you are going to have to have a microphone recording and editing platform.

And, you know, a recording studio or a quiet place where you want to record and then you taking a look at a podcast hosting platform.

Do you want to co-host? Do you want guests? That kind of goes back to the expert interview style. 

How often will you be publishing your podcast? How often can you generate? Sometimes that depends on how long your episode is. How long do you want that content to be? And the longer the content, the more likely that you will publish fewer times because it just takes so long to produce a longer piece of content. Longer being an hour, hour and a half.

I'm focusing on doing, during my challenge, maybe less than seven minutes. Then you can do episodes frequently, quite frankly, because it does take some time to do a quality program, quality content, do some editing, putting it together and just carving out that space and time to do that.

How do I publish my podcast? Basically, the easiest way is just working with a podcast hosting platform. There are other ways of getting around it and utilizing website hosting. But first, safety and peace of mind, a hosting platform probably is the best way to go. 

How do you grow your audience? Think about how do you want to do that. There are many, many ways, and many, many people who will tell you the best practices of how to grow your audience. There are guests that you cross promote with other podcast hosts, the press itself, have a launch party. And of course it comes down to you. You have to promote yourself. 

How can you monetize it? Do you want to monetize your podcast? Some podcasters don't monetize. They're using their podcast to promote themselves, promote their business. And they're not making a dime from their podcast. Others, they're using that podcast to possibly promote a new book, promote them being a great interviewer and they want to look for sponsors.

Many, many different ways to monetize a podcast. 

What metrics should you use to measure your podcast. Success? Growth? That's another reason I use a podcast hosting platform, because you can get some details about when people are downloading, how many downloads going into different podcast players. You can use Apple analytics to find out how long people are listening to your podcast. As well as just maybe where people are listening. And when you publish, how evergreen is that episode. In other words, do listeners find older content and listen to it. And can older content be promoted over time.

Lots of different metrics to take a look at, depending on the content that you're creating. 

So those are 10 things to keep in mind before you jump in. If you're missing one of the 10. Should you jump in? It'll come. I think you just need to be aware that you should have some answers to those questions, especially the content. And how often you want to publish. And what you're going to be doing with the podcast.

Those are the big things. And realize you don't have to be married to it. With my podcast, I've gone solo. I have had guests. I like the guest situation, but I have no problem just opening the mic and and talking as well, too, which is probably for the most part, what I'll be doing for my 31 day challenge. I appreciate you being here for day number three for my 31 day challenge. We'll talk to you tomorrow on day number four.

And thanks to ArchesAudio dot com for the music you're hearing today. I ran across this company a few days ago that they are allowing podcasters on a commercial basis to download audio from their Web site. If you're an independent podcast and as long as you give them some recognition within your podcast verbally and and put them in your podcast show notes, ArchesAudio dot com.

I have no affiliation with them, but I thought it would be kind of neat to put to 31 different types of music behind 31 episodes. And that looks like a really good resource today. 

Recorded in Studio C at Channel 511, in the Brewery District, downtown Columbus, OH.

Brett Johnson is the owner and lead consultant at Circle270Media Podcast Consultants. With over 35+ years of experience in Marketing, Content Creation, Audio Production/Recording and Broadcasting, the podcast consultants at Circle270Media strategically bring these strengths together for their business Podcast clients.

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