Podcasting: A How to Guide

There is no shortage of podcast hosting platforms out there. Deciding which one to use means figuring out how frequently you plan to produce episodes, how long they will be, what sort of statistics the platform provides, and how much it costs. Below are a few resources to help you decide. 

Promoting your podcast well will help your listeners find you. Here are some tips:

• Provide a written transcript. This will help your podcast show up in search engines. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) works best with text. Transcribing makes your content more accessible to a variety of listeners and can boost download numbers. There are a number of services that will transcribe your podcast.
• Create a blog and use your podcast content as content for the blog. Augment that with other content, outtakes, articles, and opinion pieces to create an overall promotion package for your podcast.
• Cross-promote your podcast on other similar podcasts. You can reach out to another podcast to see if they will swap promotion time. You can also collaborate on content with other podcasters, do joint episodes, or interview other hosts/have them interview you.
• Use social media, QR codes, and live events to build your audience.

These ideas and more are available here:

The following is a short list of some of the most popular podcast hosting sites available. There are dozens more that are not mentioned here. Each of these podcast hosting sites offers a free version of their service, but pay attention to what caveats come with being free -- some will have upload runtime caps, some limit monthly bandwidth, etc. The podcast hosting site you choose will depend of what you want your podcast to do. It is helpful to compare several of these to find what works best for you.