Let’s start by assuming you have already gone into deep consideration about whether to start a podcast and your absolute, considered, not-still-fucking-around answer is YES.
If you’re still deciding whether to start a podcast, instead go check out this blog post: Should you start a podcast? <add link later>
Now, going from that point forward, there are three big topics we will cover all of which have many sub-topics. The big three are: Setting everything up (all the one-time stuff), recording episodes (actually podcasting), and growing your podcast (getting an audience, growing that audience).
- Setting everything up
- Getting listed on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and everywhere else
- Podcast listings: name, art, basic SEO.
- Recording episodes
- Software/apps for capturing audio
- Hardware
- How to contact guests
- How to conduct a guest interview
- post-production and posting an episode
- Growing your podcast
- Building your audience with guests
- Building your audience
But here’s the catch, we’re going to tackles these in reverse order.
Growing your podcast
When starting a podcast most people would think about naming, artwork, and getting the podcast listed first. All of this is straight forward. Instead, we’re going to start at the end–growing your podcast–and then work backwards to get all the other stuff done. That’s because no matter how good your podcast name or idea, without a real solid growth plan, it’s probably not going to achieve your goals.
First, what are your goals for the podcast and will be listening to it?
Podcast Growth Rule #1: Go small or go home
Build your audience in as narrow a niche as you can. The podcast world has changed and you are not going to be the next Tim Ferris or Joe Rogan. They started their podcasts at exactly the right time with the right message and niche. Podcasts today build audiences by serving a narrow group of people well and then expanding from there.