Podcasts are appealing to content creators for a variety of reasons. Podcasts are, overall, less expensive to produce than video, require less overhead than video, and they can be consumed by potential customers or fans while they are engaged in other activities (driving in particular). However, the process of producing and publishing a podcast is surprisingly complicated and can be extremely time-consuming.
But don’t let the overall scope and weight of the project stop you! We here at Steed Productions like to look at these aspects of our work as part of the fun and, if you’re going to be producing your own podcast, this is the type of attitude that is absolutely imperative if any of your shows are to succeed. And by succeed, I’m not necessarily saying your show gets five billion downloads and makes you ten million dollars. While this (or some smaller variation of the same theme) is a perfectly acceptable goal, if you’re here just starting out, your primary goals should be simply this:
- Make an audio file of your show, and in order to do this, a podcaster needs:
- An idea
- Episodes around the theme of your idea
- Audio files that make up the content of your episodes
- Some kind of edit and mix of the audio files for each episode that can be exported as a single MP3 file and then uploaded and distributed
- Publish your show, and in order to publish a show, a podcaster needs:
- A picture or logo for your show (if you’re really into this part, you can make a picture for each episode)
- A server that holds the audio files
- An RSS feed that lists the episodes and pertinent information about them (oh man, things just got complicated. . . Or did they?)
- Repeat
This is the cycle at its bare minimum. So, there you have it. You are ready to become a podcaster. Well, in theory, but. . . and it’s a big “but,” there are countless steps and nuanced processes that are involved in this three-step approach. It’s important to keep in mind, though, that this is all you really need to do. Start simple, make a show, try out the process.
However, if you discover that some of the hundreds of little things that go into this process aren’t your cup of tea, get ahold of us. We can work with you to:
- Streamline your process
- Undertake aspects that you find to be too time-consuming, or you’re not interested in handling
- Launch new, higher quality shows that, throughout the process, are inherently more promotable through techniques that help other search for and find your shows