Join our weekly Unstuck e-newsletter at https://www.smartpassiveincome.com/e-newsletter/
New to the world of podcasting? You is likely to be questioning, nicely, what is a podcast? And the way do they work? On this article I will cowl what a podcast is, what they’re used for, and find out how to get began as a podcast listener or creator.
Desk of Contents
- What’s a podcast and the way do they work?
- How podcasts began (a short historical past of podcasting)
- What are podcasts used for?
- What’s a podcast host and why do you want one? (How an RSS feed works)
- Varieties of podcasts and podcast examples
- Who makes podcasts?
- The right way to take heed to a podcast
- The right way to begin a podcast
- What’s a podcast FAQ
- Are you prepared to begin your podcasting journey?
What’s a podcast and the way do they work?
A podcast is a digital audio “present” or program you can obtain or stream from the web in your smartphone, pc, or pill and hear when it’s handy for you.
A podcast “episode” is a single occasion of a podcast, very similar to the episode of a TV present.
Right here’s an instance—an episode of our very personal SPI Podcast, which has been working since 2010:
For stunning, easy-to-embed podcast gamers just like the above, look no additional than Fusebox — the official podcast participant of SPI! [Note: I am a compensated affiliate for Fusebox.]
Podcasts are a particularly widespread type of media that’s rising rapidly. The primary podcasts have been produced by people, however now they’re additionally made by corporations, information shops, and different organizations. Podcasting has grow to be large enterprise, with corporations like Apple, Spotify, iHeartMedia, SiriusXM closely invested in podcasting.
For the listener, podcasts are a flexible medium! The audio-only format of podcasts makes them simple to eat in numerous settings, resembling whereas commuting, cooking, touring, or working.
You’ll be able to consider podcasts as “background” content material, however it’s also possible to give them your full consideration should you like.
Talking of content material, podcast subjects can cowl an enormous vary, from true crime to enterprise methods to parenting tricks to comedy or children’ content material. You probably have a subject in thoughts, there’s in all probability a podcast on the market for it! And if there is not, that may imply a chance so that you can begin your individual podcast on that subject!
Podcasts are sometimes accessible both in seasons with a set variety of episodes or in an ongoing collection. Our podcast Flops got here out with an eight-episode season in 2021, whereas different SPI Media exhibits like AskPat 2.0 and The Group Expertise have been launched weekly (till being sunsetted final yr). The Sensible Passive Revenue Podcast continues to be launched each week on an ongoing foundation.
Able to study podcasting the good means?
The All-Entry Cross has the sources you want.
How podcasts began (a short historical past of podcasting)
Podcasts have their roots again within the Eighties, however they didn’t take off till the early 2000s. In September 2000, the corporate i2Go launched a digital audio information and leisure service known as MyAudio2Go.com that allowed customers to obtain information, sports activities, leisure, climate, and music in episodic audio format. The next month, tech entrepreneur Tristan Louis proposed attaching sound and video recordsdata in RSS feeds (see beneath). This concept constructed steam over the subsequent few years, and in 2004 the time period “podcasting” emerged to explain this new means of distributing audio content material. In 2005, Apple added a podcast subscription function to iTunes 4.9 and launched a podcast listing within the iTunes Music Retailer.
Since then, the sky has been the restrict for podcasting, with someplace between 3 and 5 million podcasts on this planet proper now!
What are podcasts used for?
So what’s the purpose or objective of a podcast? What are they good for? A complete lot!
For the listener, a podcast is a good way to find out about a given subject—and/or be entertained!—in a means that’s handy to them. Podcasts are free (for essentially the most half) and simple to seek out, and given their rising reputation, cowl a wider and deeper vary of subjects than ever earlier than.
For the podcaster, the makes use of and advantages of a podcast could be monumental. Podcasts are a good way to construct and serve an viewers by entertaining and/or educating listeners on a given subject.
One of many key benefits of a podcast for the podcaster is that you simply get to talk on to folks, utilizing your voice. Your podcast episode could also be heard by 1000’s and even tens of millions of individuals, however for every listener, it’s simply you and them.
It’s been mentioned that podcasting is one of the simplest ways to scale intimacy and make a direct reference to every of your listeners.
What’s a podcast host and why do you want one? (How an RSS feed works)
Podcasts are made accessible to listeners through a Actually Easy Syndication (RSS) feed.
An RSS feed permits content material creators to publish notifications of recent content material resembling weblog posts or, in fact, podcasts.
Here is how that works. The podcast creator submits their podcast’s RSS feed to a listing, which makes it accessible to listeners through a podcast app or the creator’s web site.
A podcast listener can obtain new installments or episodes of a podcast robotically by subscribing to the podcast’s RSS feed of their chosen podcast app.
However how do you create your podcast’s RSS feed?
That’s the place a podcast internet hosting platform (or podcast host for brief) is available in.
A podcast host is a service that gives a spot to retailer and distribute your podcast’s audio recordsdata through an RSS feed. The podcast host robotically generates the RSS feed in your podcast, after which submits it to podcast directories, resembling Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, and others.
You is likely to be pondering, Do I’ve to make use of a podcast host? Can I host my podcast on my web site? The brief reply is sure—however hear me out.
There are a number of advantages to utilizing a podcast host as an alternative of DIYing it. A podcast host can:
- Present storage in your podcast episode recordsdata, and permit them to be downloaded by listeners.
- Automate the creation and syndication of your RSS feed to podcast directories.
- Supply built-in analytics, so you may see how your present is rising and which episodes are the preferred.
Sure, you may technically host your podcast’s RSS feed by yourself web site. And sure, most podcast hosts price cash, with these prices typically growing as your present grows.
However for many creators, internet hosting your podcast by yourself web site is far more hassle than it’s price.
You may save a couple of bucks, however in our opinion, the dearth of analytics alone makes internet hosting your podcast in your web site a foul alternative.
Fortunately, you’ve loads of choices to select from in relation to podcast hosts. Our really helpful platform is Fusebox, because of its ease of use and useful options. [Note: I am a compensated affiliate for Fusebox.]
Different widespread internet hosting platforms embrace Buzzsprout, Libsyn, Podbean, Anchor, and Blubrry.
It’s comparatively simple to work with a podcast host. You arrange an account on their web site, the place you may enter the small print of your podcast, add episodes, and discover choices for monetizing your present. Some platforms cost a month-to-month price (variable relying on how a lot content material you publish), whereas others are free.
Final however not least, you is likely to be pondering, Isn’t a podcast host additionally an individual? Sure! A podcast host can even consult with the one who is the face and voice of a podcast. (For example, Pat is the host of the SPI Podcast.) Glad we cleared that up. 
Varieties of podcasts and podcast examples
As a medium for entertaining and sharing data, podcasts can take many various types! Listed below are among the most typical podcast codecs, together with examples.
- Interview: A bunch invitations a number of friends to debate a given subject. This present format requires analysis and outreach to seek out friends for every episode. (The Sensible Passive Revenue Podcast, Armchair Professional, Contemporary Air)
- Solo Speaking/Storytelling: Because the identify suggests, a single host “runs the present.” The time that may be spent on visitor analysis and outreach for an interview present is as an alternative directed towards analysis and preparation of the present’s content material. (Hardcore Historical past, Revolutions)
- Cohosted: A present with two or extra hosts who can present completely different personalities and views and typically humorous banter. (Stuff You Ought to Know, My Favourite Homicide, Flops, The Group Expertise)
- Roundtable: An expanded model of a co-hosted podcast with extra hosts who have interaction in conversations and banter round a given subject. (SmartLess, Pod Save America)
- Documentary: Just like a TV documentary, this podcast format sometimes has a narrator, and might embrace interview segments, sound results/music, and even scripted scenes. (Serial, Startup Podcast)
Word that many podcasts are a hybrid, incorporating components of a number of codecs. For instance, the New York Instances’ The Every day is a cohosted podcast that comes with interviews.
Who makes podcasts?
Podcasts could be created by nearly anybody, from a person to a small workforce to a big firm!
What’s a podcast producer?
In the case of podcasts, a producer is somebody who works behind the scenes to ensure the present is pretty much as good as it may be. They sometimes put on a number of hats, and their duties might embrace discovering friends, organizing the episode schedule, overseeing the recording and enhancing processes, selling the present, and extra.
The right way to take heed to a podcast
How simple is it to take heed to a podcast? Fairly darn simple! Right here’s what you’ll want:
- A smartphone, pc, or pill with an web connection.
- A podcast app
You’ll want an internet-connected system, resembling a smartphone, pc, or pill to entry podcasts. Because you’re already studying this submit, I’m guessing you’ve bought this one coated.
Whether or not you’re looking for a selected podcast or need to seek for a brand new one, a podcast app will come in useful. Listed below are among the hottest ones:
- Apple Podcasts
- YouTube Music (previously Google Podcasts)
- Spotify
- Audible
- SiriusXM (previously Stitcher
) - TuneIn Radio
- Pocket Casts
Every of those apps could be downloaded to your system or accessed through the online.
So which one do you have to select? To be sincere, there’s not a ton of distinction between them, particularly should you’re simply getting began as a podcast listener.
In the event you’re a Mac/iOS person, then Apple Podcasts is your go-to, and should you use an Android cellphone, then the Google Play Music app is the simplest choice.
Every app additionally offers a podcast listing you can search to seek out new exhibits. Many of those apps may even present personalised suggestions based mostly on the exhibits you take heed to on the app.
If you end up turning into an avid listener of numerous podcasts, you may discover profit from utilizing an app like Pocket Casts, which is designed to filter and manage numerous podcast subscriptions. However for 99 p.c of listeners, most apps will just do tremendous.
When you’ve discovered the podcast you need to take heed to in your podcast app, you may both stream it or obtain it to your system to hear later. Your podcast app must also permit you to “subscribe” to a present so that you’ll be alerted when new episodes are launched.
Some podcast creators additionally make their podcast episodes accessible straight on their web site through a web-based podcast participant like Fusebox.
Right here’s an instance of find out how to use an embedded internet participant like Fusebox to play a podcast episode proper on a webpage:
The right way to begin a podcast
In the event you’re fascinated with find out how to begin a podcast, you’re in the precise place! At SPI, we have now a ton of sources for first-time podcasters (and extra superior podcasters too, however let’s not get forward of ourselves…).
With a view to begin a podcast, you want a couple of key elements:
- An thought in your present, in fact!
- A podcasting microphone
- A podcast host to retailer and distribute your RSS feed
- Podcast art work
That’s not all, although, and if you would like the total scoop, try our “The right way to Begin a Podcast STEP-BY-STEP” information.
It consists of the lowdown on issues like:
- Choosing a podcast subject you may decide to
- Writing a compelling podcast description
- Selecting a podcast internet hosting service
- Recording your episodes
- And far more
The “The right way to Begin a Podcast STEP-BY-STEP” information makes beginning your podcast simple and doable so as to construct your viewers—and even begin and scale a enterprise with the assistance of your new present.
You may also try our video information to beginning your podcast!
A free guidelines for beginning your podcast
Ensure you do not miss a step! The Podcast Cheat Sheet provides you all of the steps it is advisable begin your present.
What’s a podcast FAQ
Listed below are some generally requested questions on podcasts, and our solutions!
Why are podcasts known as podcasts?
The phrase “podcast” is a portmanteau (mixed phrase) of “iPod,” Apple’s authentic transportable music participant, and “broadcast.” Some folks have additionally urged “transportable on demand” as a “backronym” for the phrase “podcast.”
Podcasts vs. radio: What’s the distinction?
Are podcasts the identical as radio exhibits? Whereas podcasts and radio share a number of similarities, since they’re each audio codecs, podcasts are extra versatile in a number of methods. You’ll be able to consider podcasts as the subsequent “evolution” of the radio present.
Listed below are among the key variations between podcasts and radio:
- Podcasts are often edited, whereas radio is usually reside.
- Podcasts could be streamed or downloaded on demand, whereas radio exhibits sometimes have to be listened to reside. Radio stations are more and more making their beforehand aired exhibits accessible on-line, however most radio content material have to be accessed when it goes reside.
- Most radio content material is aimed toward a broad viewers, whereas podcast content material could be extraordinarily area of interest.
- Most radio exhibits must fill a selected time block, whereas podcast episodes could be any size.
- Radio exhibits sometimes have larger manufacturing prices, in order that they include ads to assist offset these prices. Whereas podcast promoting is a rising trade, many podcasts don’t embrace advertisements as a result of the price barrier to entry for podcasting is a lot decrease than for radio.
Are podcasts free to take heed to?
Among the best issues about podcasts is that they’re often free to obtain and take heed to. Sure, you’ll want a tool to take heed to them and an web connection to obtain them, however the content material itself is usually freed from cost.
In recent times, some podcasters have begun creating further paid content material for his or her subscribers. These paid podcasts have gotten more and more widespread, though free podcasts are nonetheless much more widespread.
What’s a podcast community?
A podcast community is a set of podcasts underneath the umbrella of a single firm, which produces, distributes, and/or makes these podcasts accessible to advertisers. Podcast networks can present publicity and income for podcast homeowners and are a fantastic choice to think about as soon as your podcast has grown a bit.
Some podcast networks are targeted on a single theme, whereas others settle for podcasts throughout a variety of subjects. The most important podcast networks embrace iHeartRadio, Wondery, PodcastOne, HubSpot Podcast Community, and Audacy.
What’s a video podcast?
Video podcasts are an more and more widespread type of podcasting. Because the identify suggests, they incorporate video and audio, permitting listeners to see and listen to your content material. Including video to your podcast is usually extra work, however it could actually assist expose your present to a wider viewers by platforms like YouTube and TikTok.
What gear do it is advisable begin a podcast?
As talked about above in “The right way to Begin a Podcast,” a microphone is crucial piece of apparatus you’ll want to begin your individual present. Nevertheless, there are a couple of different items of tech to think about:
- A desktop microphone stand
- A increase arm and shock mount to scale back undesirable vibrations
- A pop filter to scale back plosives (harsh sounds from sure syllables) in your recordings
- Software program for recording and enhancing, resembling GarageBand or Audacity
- Sound dampening supplies to scale back room echo
Do podcasters earn a living from their exhibits?
They positively can, and plenty of of them do!
The commonest means podcasts earn a living is thru promoting or sponsorships. You may also use affiliate marketing online to advertise merchandise in your present and earn a fee when somebody purchases them utilizing your hyperlink.
Our Amp’d Up Podcasting course — accessible solely to our neighborhood members — is designed to assist podcasters develop and higher monetize their exhibits whereas additionally lowering manufacturing time.
Are you prepared to begin your podcasting journey?
I hope this primer on podcasts was useful! Possibly you’re impressed to go discover a new present to subscribe to, and even grow to be a podcaster your self!
Earlier than you leap, nevertheless, it’s vital to weigh the professionals and cons of podcasting.
Execs and cons of beginning a podcast
The advantages of getting a podcast could be quite a few. A podcast may also help you:
- Develop your model or enterprise
- Meet new folks
- Develop new revenue streams
- Broaden your viewers
On the similar time, podcasting might not be for everybody. It takes time, power, dedication, and sources to begin and keep a podcast. To achieve success, it is advisable produce a high-quality present and publish it recurrently.
Extra sources for the aspiring podcaster (or simply the pod-curious)
If the thought of beginning a podcast continues to be thrilling to you, nice! We’ve bought a number of useful sources should you’re able to continue to learn about podcasts and what they’ll do that can assist you develop your enterprise and join together with your viewers.
In the event you’re fascinated with beginning your individual podcast, our The right way to Begin a Podcast Information provides you sensible subsequent steps.
However should you’re prepared to begin your podcast in essentially the most streamlined means potential, our Energy-Up Podcasting® 2.0 course is for you. It is a step-by-step information to launching a profitable podcast that will get discovered and grows your on-line model. You’ll be able to take the course as a part of our All-Entry Cross — membership will get you all our programs and the help of a vibrant studying neighborhood to information and encourage you in direction of podcasting success.
You may also discover The Sensible Passive Revenue Podcast and skim extra about podcasting on the weblog.
Able to study podcasting the good means?
The All-Entry Cross neighborhood has the programs, sources, help, and accountability you want.
The submit What Is a Podcast? How Podcasts Work and The right way to Get Began appeared first on Sensible Passive Revenue.
