How To Start Your Own Podcast with Spreaker

So you are ready to jump into the world of podcasting. But how do you start your own podcast? There’s a lot there to take advantage of, and we don’t want you to miss any of it.

In fact, you can start your podcasting journey in a matter of seconds with Spreaker. We are the one-stop shop for recording, publishing, monetizing, and distributing your podcast.

As a result, we’ve created this helpful guide giving you a full overview of exactly how to start your own podcast with Spreaker. It is as simple as 1-2-3.

Let’s begin with the basics. 

How to Start Your Own Podcast

Podcasting has been around for longer than you think (over 10 years now!), but the ways it has enticed people to tell their stories, as well as connect with others in a very intimate way, has never felt fresher. Yet, while there are lots of potential podcasters out there ready to try it out for themselves, many get lost along the way. It’s easy to see why – the onslaught of “necessary” gear, like microphones, filters, and mixers and the time commitment involved, are intimidating distractions.

However, you don’t have to sweat it – not that much, anyway. Even with the most basic tools, getting into podcasting is simpler than you think.

Establish your podcast concept

Before you can start recording your podcast, it’s important to develop a solid concept. Whether you want to start a podcast that recaps your favorite TV show or helps your company achieve a particular goal, you should consider where your expertise lies and what your listeners will enjoy.

Once you’ve spent some time considering the topic, decide on these key elements:

Define your listener avatar

Along with understanding your podcast concept, you need to define WHO will be listening to your podcast.

Defining your target listener, otherwise known as your podcast avatar, will allow you to increase your podcast listeners exponentially based on what appeals to them.

Rather than a cute photo for your social media profile, a podcast avatar is an ideal listener that represents your entire audience. Think of your avatar as a real person with a personality and background story. Approach your podcast as if you are speaking directly to them. Ask yourself what your avatar’s hopes and dreams are, and how your podcast can fulfill them. Do they listen to your podcast to be entertained during a mundane job that they hate? Are they setting aside half-hour every morning to learn from you?

For example, if you are a travel podcast, it is crucial to know if your audience is composed of wealthy British retirees looking to settle down in the Algarve, or adventurous American college students looking to backpack across Europe.

Defining these personality quirks will allow you to understand in what ways they would help build a community around your podcast and grow your podcast audience. Adventurous travelers might spring for in-person meetups or Google Hangouts. But if your avatar is an introverted bookworm, an anonymous online platform like Tumblr might be easier to use to connect with them.

Remember, your podcasts exists to provide value to listeners. Value to a specific type of listener. So who are they? What do they want to listen to? Make sure you take the time to identify your podcast or listener avatar.

Choosing a Name & Topic

When choosing a name, it’s important that it reflects your brand and expertise while also allowing users to simply and easily understand what to expect from the show. When you choose a name, first check to be sure that it’s not already being used by another podcast. Search on platforms like Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Deezer, and Google itself.

Other recommendations in terms of finding the right title for the podcast include:

• The name should be easy for the audience to remember and find;
• Must include any relevant keywords surrounding the central theme or reflect the personality of you as the host;
• Preferably between 20 and 29 characters long.

75 percent of 658,900 podcasts analyzed have up to 29 characters. The characters in the most popular titles, on the other hand, are no more than 16.

Pacific Content

The name of the podcast should also reflect the topic of the podcast and the overarching theme of the show. The topic should not be too narrow, as it will be hard to continue to create content. But you also don’t want it too broad as episodes should appeal to a specific niche. The idea is to cast a wide net in order to make an impact. But not too wide! You don’t want to confuse the audience about your message.

Choose Your Podcast’s Category

Once you’ve identified the name and the topic, the next step is to identify the podcast category. The idea is to narrow down these options before starting the process as it makes it easier to understand the direction that you and your team are heading towards.

The category is where your podcast will find its home for all the major platforms like Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Stitcher. Take Apple Podcasts, for example, where there are currently 16 main categories and then some of them are broken down into subcategories. You can choose either the category or sub-category. The category allows listeners to understand what they can expect from your show.

Identifying a topic and category for your company’s podcast should be informed by the interests of your potential listener audience. 

Pay Attention to Your Podcast’s Description

Do not treat your podcast’s description as an afterthought. It’s important to give it some time and energy. Why? Because of search engine opitmization (SEO). What this means is that if potential listeners are searching for topics that the podcast might cover, you want to make sure that they can find it while they’re searching online.

When writing the description of the podcast, it is important to ask what are:

• the questions that podcast is answering?
• the kind of things would people be typing into Google to find the types of things the show can answer for them?
• types of keywords someone would use to look for content similar to what is providing in our podcast?

The goal of writing the podcast description is to provide a refined and condensed explanation of what listeners should expect from the podcast. The description also outlines the promise or the solution to the listener’s pain point. The description itself needs to be as short and direct as possible. It also needs to be specific as possible. Avoid being vague. Explain in a few sentences what listeners will learn and why it is important to them.

While the podcast title needs to be clickable and grab people’s attention, the description needs to take it a step further and explain exactly what they should expect once they start listening.

The description should include:

• As many keywords as possible (but avoid keyword stuffing)
• A call to action (such as “subscribe”)
• Links that direct them somewhere else online. Take them to a place where you can control their experience, like your social media pages, show notes, or a website.

Finding the Right Tone of Voice

You’ve probably noticed that your favourite podcast hosts and presenters communicate their messages in many different ways. It’s not just in the language they use but also their tone of voice.

The tone of voice conveys a thousand things to a listener. The key is to get what you want to say across correctly. Your tone will affect everything from how you’re interpreted as a person to the sincerity of the message you’re broadcasting. The Guardian says tone will “affect how we’re seen in terms of our personality, our emotional state, and even our professional competence”.

If you want to learn more about the different podcast genres out there, read our article to see how you can find the right tone of voice your podcast.

Your Podcast Gear & Software

Don’t have the budget? Don’t worry. You don’t need a lot of money to start your podcast.

If you are going to start your podcast as a hobby, then the only equipment you really need is your phone. With the Spreaker Studio app, you can record directly on your phone. If you want it to sound a bit more polished, you might want to use a microphone that you can connect to Spreaker Studio desktop on your computer, and a pair of headphones, to avoid feedback in your mic channel.

Spreaker Studio App

Spreaker Studio is a podcast creator app for all levels of podcaster, from beginner to experienced. The user-friendly interface – available both on desktop and mobile – makes managing a podcast from creation to distribution super simple.

So how can you start your own podcast with our Spreaker Studio app?

Well, first you can professionally record your podcasts in our app’s audio studio. With the click of a button, you can record and save progress on your episodes and get the sound you’re looking for with built-in features like auto-ducking and mic controls.

The app also has easy-to-use editing tools. This means that editing your audio, for free, is stress-free. The app’s easy-to-use interface makes audio editing a breeze. Trim and crop your recordings directly in the app, and upload files or migrate old content to be edited into new episodes.

Interested in giving Spreaker Studio a try? Learn more about its capabilities and download it on desktop here. If you’re looking for more advanced software to record a podcast with, check out GarageBand, Adobe Audition, Hindenburg, and Audacity.

Mic, Headphones & Pop-Filter

There are three pieces of equipment – a condenser mic, noise-canceling headphones, and a pop filter – that you could start with. Here are some specific recommendations on the best podcast equipment here.

Remember organization is key and as a result, pre-production is just as important as post-production. Before recording, it is important to identify who will be involved in the planning, recording, editing and distribution of the podcast.

You can record multiple episodes in batches. For launch, it is recommended that you have 3-5 strong episodes recorded and ready to release. This gives new listeners several different pieces of content right out of the gate to binge, which is more opportunity for them to love and engage with your show. Plus, the more podcasts you release at the beginning, the more likely that your initial download numbers will be high.

The Finishing Touches

The final piece of the podcasting puzzle, before you start to upload episodes and trailers into Spreaker is to finalize your cover art, intro, outro, and trailer.

Cover Art

Don’t have design skills? We believe that creating good podcast cover art isn’t as scary as it seems.

Before you jump into designing the podcast cover art yourself or hiring someone else to design it, remember that the design should reflect the topic of your show and it should have more visuals than words. Start brainstorming your podcast’s art by looking at shows on your favorite listening apps and noting what visuals stand out to you.

So how do you make your podcast’s image pack a proverbial punch? Luckily there are some handy (and easy-to-follow) tricks you can employ which will immediately help your visuals. Read this guide, cross the items off your checklist, and give your podcast some added pizazz!

Also if you need help creating your cover art, we recommend taking a look at some of the amazing artists on FIVERR.

Intro & Outro

Along with the content, each episode should also have an intro and outro accompanied by music. The music needs to fit the mood of the show and has to contain royalty-free and/or copyright-free music. Along with the right music, the intro needs to not only describe the premise of the show but persuade the listener to stay for the whole episode.

The outro, however, can include music and can be as simple as asking your listener to rate, review and share the podcast episode. Outros can be the same every week or you can change it up each week.

The Trailer

The podcast trailer is uploaded before any other episode goes live. It is a taste of what listeners can expect. A podcast trailer should be engaging and informative. It should also be short and sweet. The structure is up to the publisher, but the first couple of seconds need to hook in the listener.

A podcast trailer is essential because it gets the word before the first episode is even published. It allows publishers to start their marketing efforts early on, pitch their podcast to journalists, and/or start some sort of paid advertising campaign. It also allows for distribution on other platforms as it creates an RSS feed. This is particularly important for Apple Podcasts, as it takes a couple of days for this platform to accept new feeds.

While you might be wondering what the best length for a podcast is, there’s actually no single ideal podcast length. Depending on the type of show you’re producing, the time will vary. Instead of zeroing in on a particular length, in the beginning, focus instead on creating quality content and getting to the point in a focused way. 

Getting Started on Spreaker

Ok, so you’ve recorded your podcast trailer, finalized your cover art and now you’re ready to upload everything on Spreaker.

Getting started on Spreaker is easy. Watch the video below to get an overview of our features.

So why Spreaker?

Spreaker has everything a podcaster needs. A perfect balance of simplicity and power.

 Spreaker offers more audio storage and doesn’t limit your bandwidth.

You will immediately notice Spreaker’s clean, simple-to-navigate design and the ease of use when it comes to publishing. Where Spreaker excels above the pack is in innovation and modern features, as we continue to rapidly update our offerings to meet modern needs.

Another is our silent detection for ad markers, which is a game-changer if you are monetizing your podcast. Paired with our introduction of triple ad markers, these changes are focused on making podcasters more money. Learn more about how you can make more money with Spreaker by reading our article on programmatic advertising.

And how about distribution? We’ve got that covered as well. With our one-click distribution there’s no need for you to create a podcast distribution strategy. You just select your preferred platforms for where to share.

Now you know how easy it is, it’s time to get sharing:

1. Access Spreaker’s CMS and choose your podcast
2. Click on the “Distribution” option from the menu at left
3. Select your podcast distribution platform of choice and click ‘submit’ – we’ll do the rest.

But that’s not all.

Make Money With Your Podcast

Do you want to make money with your podcast?

If you didn’t already know, Spreaker is leading the way in terms of podcast monetization, specifically programmatic advertising.  In reality, there is no other platform with an equal offering and revenue generation potential for programmatic like us. And now it is easier than ever to monetize your podcast with Spreaker.

For example, we have integrated programmatic advertising, easy dynamic ad insertion, and other tools that make monetizing easy for podcasters of all sizes. We also offer podcasters a way to grow their audience with our AdHub. Podcasters can upload an audio ad — for example, promoting their show — and then specify both a budget and target audience and then it will be dynamically inserted as an additional promotional method.

Our ad network has the highest performance in terms of revenue. Not only that, but we consistently bring innovative features to the table. These features are not only new to our platform but unmatched in the podcasting market. Now is the time for you to monetize your podcast. 

To get even more information on how to take advantage of Spreaker’s features, check our our Help Center.

And, of course, we’d love to hear what you think. Looking forward to your comments!