launching a podcast

While a podcast is a great way to bring new readers to your blog, it’s not the only reason you should start one.  In addition to new followers, you connect with your audience on a more personal level.

Hearing someone speak is undoubtedly more personal than reading words on a screen. With this kind of connection, you can gain your listener’s trust and get their attention in lesser time than it takes to read a blog post.  It may seem obvious, but when you’re talking to a mic, it’s easy to get self-conscious and not sound like yourself. Smile, laugh, be yourself and enjoy the process of getting your message out there. Soon you’ll have a group of followers who can’t wait for your next episode.

A well-planned podcast will make your podcasting routine easier. Just like a blog, a podcast needs a content calendar, so you have a clear idea of what you need to accomplish for each episode.
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Follow an outline
The dangers of recording a podcast without an outline are that you’ll go off-topic and find yourself rambling on about something else entirely.  Storytelling is ok if the story is part of the original plan but can sound like rambling if it is not part of your original outline.

Just like a blog post, a podcast should have an introduction, body, and conclusion. You don’t have to write a script that you read word-for-word; that would just sound like an advertisement or a bad commercial.  Just make yourself a bullet point list of what you’ll talk about and in what order.

While talking about something else for a few minutes can add personality to your podcast, you need to know when to bring your show back to delivering the subject matter at hand.

Getting personal
Speaking of personality, one of the benefits of a podcast is connecting with your audience on a deeper, more personal level. Podcasts are great for telling personal stories that relate to the episode’s topic.  If you’re giving advice about how to do a certain task, talk about how you learned to do the task effectively or whether you had challenges along the way.  Vulnerability makes you more human.

Episodes
List potential episode titles and schedule to publish them in a logical order. For instance, an episode with the title “How to Choose a Web Host” should come first before “How to Set Up Your Blog.” You can also have a theme or single general topic and break it down into sub-topics within a given time frame. For instance, you can assign April as “SEO month,” so all your episodes will be about SEO for April.

When you have a clear content plan for your podcast, you don’t have to worry about coming up with a topic for your next episode. All you need to focus on is creating and recording the content.

Invest in a quality microphone
Don’t just buy a cheap microphone; you’ll end up having to heavily edit the recording to compensate for poor audio quality. If you have the budget, or you can wait a little longer to have enough money to buy a quality microphone, I suggest you do so.

Having the best possible recording equipment will save you a lot of trouble when it’s time to edit your audio and will make you sound more like yourself when speaking.

Get a professionally made podcast cover image & intro
Unless you’re a graphic designer, I suggest having your podcast cover image made by a professional.

You can ask around for the best designers in your area, or just contact me and I can design one for you at minimal cost.

Make sure you choose a designer whose graphic style matches with your personal brand. Have a clear idea of how you want your image to look and take your time giving clear instructions.  Better yet, if you speak with a good marketer, they will even help you design the image before creating it.

Take note that your podcast cover image will appear as a thumbnail image on most podcast streaming services, so go for a design that still stands out even when it’s small.
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Choosing a podcasting web host

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