If you are reading this material, you probably know what podcasts are and are ready to create your own. What remains to be understood is how to do it. In this article, audio to text transcription service from Transcriberry will tell you what preparatory steps you need to take to fully create and launch a commercial, editorial, or personal podcast.
What are podcasts?
To fully understand what is a podcast, we need to go back in time to around 2004, when journalist Ben Hammersley of The Guardian newspaper wrote a piece titled “Audible revolution” or “The Audible Revolution,” where he explored the phenomenon of audio blogs, which were created by ordinary English-speaking users. It was in this material that the word podcast (from Apple’s iPod and broadcast) was first mentioned. At the same time, the main features of podcasts were formulated:
- it is a recording in MP3 format
- It is distributed through RSS-channels
- It is possible to subscribe
- The ability to download the release to your iPod
The industry has come a long way since then, with the American podcast market estimated at tens of millions of dollars. The European segment is a couple of steps behind, but you should consider this as a good prospect for your podcast because the popularity of this format is just a matter of time. Imagine that this was YouTube in 2007, and as you know, the first to catch up is always one step ahead.
Nowadays, podcasts are called just about anything you like, talking videos on YouTube with a running time of over 20 minutes, or editorial podcasts, which are available only on the sites of their creators. For example, like my dissertation, I created a podcast for my university, which was also distributed only on the website, ignoring all available libraries.
This variant is possible only for major media outlets having their own audience, which will be ready to visit the site or application specifically for podcasts. It does not suit us, as it is very difficult to be promoted in this way from scratch. So, we will talk primarily about classic podcasting on iTunes, SoundCloud, etc.
Theater starts with a hanger, but podcasting starts with a microphone?
It doesn’t! Many people, especially those who were previously far from creating media projects, think that you have to start with the equipment. This thinking is typical of inexperienced creators, thinking first about the secondary things rather than the fundamental steps. I can tell you from experience that the wrong strategy leads to a transformation of the original idea. This negatively affects the most important thing for any media project: the audience. Loss of interest, a drop in statistics, a loss, and the closure of the project, because you can’t go far on enthusiasm alone…
You have to start with the concept!
Elements of a simplified concept for a personal podcast:
- subject matter.
- Purpose
- Target audience
- Genre
- Format
- Visual and audio design
- Story
- The script (structure) of the issues
As you can see, a competent concept allows you to describe all the elements of your future creation in detail. Of course, it sounds boring and tedious, but even to create an entertaining show, you should try to take the description process as seriously as possible. Ultimately, the concept will allow you to make a simple creation scheme and write the stories for many issues to come. It’s the only way that you won’t get those same devastating questions later on, after the first two issues: “Why is it so bad? What should I record next?”
The concept is a rather lengthy topic that takes up about 20 pages in my research, and if you want a separate piece describing each element and specific examples of the concept of an already created podcast, then click the so-called “Like”, subscribe to me and write in the comments under this piece that you want a more detailed breakdown, only then will I understand that you are interested in this topic!
And we move on, getting closer and closer to implementing and distributing our podcast to all available venues.
How to record a podcast?!
So, we have a concept, we think that half of the job is done. Now we can talk about the technical component!
Podcasts are written in different ways and of indifferent quality. In fact, it all comes down, as always, to money…
How much are you willing to spend on equipment? 35, 20, 10, 5 thousand rubles, or your budget can’t exceed a couple hundred? In any case, there are always ways, and a lack of money should not be an obstacle on your way to podcasting!
How do I upload my podcast to the web and add it to popular streaming services?
The question of publishing is probably the most difficult for new writers, because, remembering myself, it is absolutely unclear how it all works!
Podcasts are distributed through the RSS feed, automatically downloading on all connected platforms.
I’ll try to explain as simply as possible on the example of sites. Imagine that you have a simple site, a domain, and a host of a certain size. You upload your release to the site and create an RSS feed in the settings of the site, this is an automatically updated feed, where your podcast is published. You add your RSS feed address to platforms, and it turns out that by uploading a podcast to your site only, all connected platforms pull up your issue in their libraries through the RSS feed.
You have to understand that the same Apple Podcast is not a huge server where all podcasts are uploaded, but only a platform where you can listen, download, etc. The episodes themselves are stored on the hosts of their creators. And here’s how you can get your own hosting
Aayush Kumar Gupta is the founder and creator of ExploringBits, a website dedicated to providing useful content for people passionate about Engineering and Technology. Aayush has completed his Bachelor of Technology (Computer Science & Engineering) from 2018-2022. From July 2022, Aayush has been working as a full-time Devops Engineer.
