These days, there are thousands of different ways to broadcast yourself and promote your business online.
Blogging, YouTube, Podcasting, Instagram and Snapchat are some of the best ways to highlight your business.
These options are overwhelming, and you may not be able to promote your business on every platform. The success mantra states- wherever you shine, that’s the medium you should focus on!
This simply means, what suits your business is what you need to continue to promote your brand online.
Podcasting is one such medium that modern businesses are taking into serious considerations. This audio form is transforming businesses every day and we call it the “podcast revolution”. This revolution is encouraging, compelling and exciting people all around.
A complete guide to podcasting in WordPress
Podcasting is a great way to develop a relationship with hard-to-reach audiences. Your users can subscribe to the podcast and get notified of new content available. Moreover, they can download the podcast on their mobile devices, iPods or computers and listen to it as per their convenience.
In this post, we’ll walk you through a comprehensive guide about WordPress podcasting. Get ready with the things that you’ll require to start your podcasting journey- an episodic series of audio files.
Let’s get started!
For example, you’re already owning a WordPress site for running your hosting solution business. You create a different blog post to promote your hosting business. Now, probably you want to start a podcast for giving your audience a demonstration of your offering. The first thing you need is solid equipment to record the podcast. And once you’ve recorded and edited the final version of the podcast, you’ll require the perfect tools to enable publishing the podcast on your website or blog.
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A proper podcasting equipment
First, you need a good microphone to start a podcast recording, however, an entry level microphone is good to start your podcasting journey. Remember that a computer’s built-in microphone should be avoided to record your podcast as they will result in bad sound quality. Thus, it is recommended to get a good microphone to record your podcast.
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Start recording your podcast
To start with recording your podcast, you’ll require voice recording equipment and an audio recording software.
Audacity is a free, cross-platform, and open source platform for podcast recording with studio quality output. It can record live audio through a microphone or mixer and you can edit, import and combine sound files. Audacity supports 16-bits, 24-bits and 32 bits sound quality and allow easy editing options to cut, copy, paste and delete audio files.Follow these simple steps to continue with your podcasting process:- After successful installation, open it up and start a new project from the File menu.
- Now you can start recording your first podcast. Don’t worry about the awkward pauses, breaks, and other glitches while recording the podcast as you can edit it as many times as you want.
- Also, you can import suitable music files from File >> Import to set them as a background music for your podcast.
- Once you’ve created the podcast, now you need to export it. Most of the podcasters export their podcasts in MP3 format due to its smaller size and better quality.
- Choose a smart name for your podcast. Your podcasts are episodic series, so naming your podcast series using a number series along with a proper name is recommended.
- Save the final version of the podcast file on your computer.
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Choose a media hosting service
Next, you’ll need a media hosting service to accommodate your podcast media files.Yes, podcasts are large media files and you need a media hosting service to facilitate the podcast so that your website doesn’t get slow due to heavy and large media files.As you know, WordPress development agency offers you the best tools to enhance your capabilities in the form of plugins. So, WebbyMonks have tested and sorted out the best podcasting plugins that can help in building up your podcast in a professional style without much technical knowledge.PowerPress Podcasting and Seriously Simple Podcasting are the best two plugins you can download and install to start with the podcast. Check out this detailed article on how to install WordPress plugins, to help ease the installation process.
PowerPress Podcasting by Blubrry is a popular podcasting plugin for WordPress. It has many features such as:-
Subscribe tools
Create a separate subscribe page or place a sidebar subscribe widget on your podcast page with the help of exclusive subscribe shortcode embed. These are highly optimized for responsive websites, Apple Retina and screens displays.
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Podcasting SEO features
Make it easier to discover your podcast with search engines such as Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc. and with the Apple Podcast directory.
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7 Advanced modes, players and more
It includes 7 simple and advanced modes and multiple audio/video player options. It fully supports Google Podcast, Apple Podcast, TuneIn, Stitcher, Blueberry podcasting directories.
The plugin fully supports Apple Podcasts (iTunes), Google Podcasts (Google Play), as well as all podcasts apps. The plugin makes you manage your podcasts from WordPress site easy.
Also, it has a huge user community consisting of many successful podcasters. PowerPress Podcasting comes with great tools such as iTunes optimization, ID3 tagging, automatic media management, etc. It makes your content delivery faster and reliable with its top-tier content delivery network.
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Publish your Podcast with WordPress
Now that your podcast is ready, login to the WordPress admin area of your WordPress site/blog.As you’ve already configured Blubrry PowerPress in your WordPress, you can now upload the podcast file to the media hosting service by logging in to your Blubrry hosting account.Click on the Podcaster Dashboard and upload new media file under Podcast Hosting section. That’s how you can be able to use it on your WordPress blog. Once you’ve uploaded your podcast media file you’ll be able to use it on your WordPress site or blog. As everything is in order and you are set to publish the first podcast.
- Go to Posts » Add New and publish your first podcast.
- It is recommended to create a separate category for your podcast series. It will allow keeping your podcast series separate from the rest of content on your website/blog.
- Click on the folder icon and select the file you’ve uploaded on Blubrry media (if you’ve opted for Blubrry hosting). However, the other users need to paste the media file URL and click on the Verify URL to check whether you’ve placed the right URL.
- Also, using Blubrry PowerPress Setting you can switch to advanced mode and publish your podcast on iTunes, Google Play, etc. But to do so, you need to download the updated version of iTunes on your computer.
- Make sure to get a preview before sharing your podcast on iTunes, Google Play and other applications.
Hosting a podcast on your WordPress site can make it heavy and slower to load. To make this less of a problem, you need to have a reliable WordPress hosting provider for your WordPress website. ResellerClub has a reliable and simple cloud-based hosting solution for your WordPress websites.
Podcasting takes lots of hard work and it is not for every type of business, but it can be great for those who are looking for innovative ways to promote their business. If you have created podcasts for your business, then do let us know of your experience in the comments section below!
