How to Get started with your own podcast

This day and age is full of instant knowledge, data and information at our fingertips with a million ways to get our voices heard.  There has never been a more ripe time for the “average person” like myself to make a podcast and be heard.  Podcasts are quickly replacing radio stations in our daily lives.  They (Podcasts) are climbing in popularity every day and the technology used to create them has become easier than ever to master.  Even with all the growth and popularity there is still a ton of opportunity and room for new podcasters clamoring for a way to be heard in the sea of podcasters out there already.  Many of you watch our video podcast, or vodcast, Nebraska Booze and Babel (NBNB), and have reached out or spoken in person with me about how to launch your own ideas into the world and suggested I blog about it, so here we go.  

NBNB is not my first podcast foray and I have learned a lot from mistakes and triumphs in the world of podcasting.  In this ongoing series I will give you the best advice I can on starting your own podcast from concept to launch and then day to day continuation of your content.  I will be very detailed with my failures, where I have fallen, and more importantly how I get back up.  I don’t believe you can be very successful without some failures, maybe my failures can help you avoid some mistakes and allow you to make all new ones on your own! 

Citing Edison Research, Buzzsprout states that the number of Americans listening to podcasts each week has grown 120% over the past four years, and 90 million Americans Listen to a podcast every month.  This audience only keeps growing both in the U.S. and worldwide at an astronomical rate.  Due to the growth in listeners now is the time to strike if you want to start a podcast for your brand, about hobbies and things you like, your financial journey to being debt free, or even your business or weight loss journey.  Anything you are interested in or doing there are bound to be hundreds if not thousands of other people wanting to do the same thing and possibly unsure of how to do it.  For instance, you are reading this because you want to know how to start a podcast right? Maybe I should take this blog series and start a podcast ?!?!

In the world we all grew up in you had FM radio and AM radio, and you may have even had XM radio.  In order to have a “radio show” you would have to spend a lot of money, or get sponsored and get radio air time.  I actually hosted my own Radio show on AM radio in Omaha Nebraska for a couple of years.   It was successful and I truly enjoyed it, but it was very expensive on a weekly basis and that was without me having to buy any equipment.  There was so much guess work or paid research in picking time slots, content was always difficult because of regulations and policies and rules and just the financial burden to be able to run a 1 hour show was de motivating.  On top of those issues there was the stringent time commitment to the show, every show was live, there was no “oh it’s Christmas Eve I’ll run a recorded show”, or just not do one this week.  There are a limited number of stations to use and the distance for FM/AM is limited due to actually using radio signals.  XM using satellite doesn’t have distance issues but you do have to pay or subscribe to it and you still just get what other people offer you not something you specifically choose to listen to, and always at the time they tell you to listen to it.  Starting a podcast gives you a genuine “real” connection to an audience who actively seeks you out for your content. It allows your listeners to listen to you whenever they choose and get the content at no cost to themselves most of the time.  Buzzsprout again cites that there are at least 600 million blogs (like this), 23 million YouTube Channels, but only 800,000 Apple Podcasts.  That is 1 podcast for every 750 blogs and 29 YouTube channels.   In other words there is a lot of untapped potential in the podcast arena just waiting for YOU!

In this Blog series we will look at the steps involved with Starting your Podcast.  Your idea or concept for a show, your chosen format, what items you will need to put out quality content, how to record the podcast, editing and distribution of your content, branding, VodCast (video podcasting) or not, getting “found”, and your “Grand Opening” or launch.  Each week we will cover one of these items in detail, and maybe I will actually start a companion podcast, the “Podcasting Podcast” there are literally hundreds of podcasts about podcasting.  I hope you come along for this journey, and use the content to generate your own podcast.  If you do be sure to email the link to the show so I can check it out!