Useful Answers to Your Podcast Questions

Unedited Transcript of the Episode:

Hi, I’m Andy smiley, your friendly podcast guide. I help you create and grow a podcast that is fun and fulfilling, whether you’re just starting or a few years in, I share tips, stories from my own journey and insights from podcasters.

I admire today. I get to answer some of the most common questions I get asked about starting a podcast. And as always, I will be recapping the highlights at the end of the episode. So you don’t have to take notes unless you want to. Now let’s dive into these questions. The first one I have is what is a podcast hosting platform and what are some good ones?

So a podcast hosting platform is basically. A. Place that you put your podcast episodes. And this service sends it to all of the podcast apps. So you don’t have to individually send it to apple podcast and send it to Spotify and send it to. Pocket casts and all of the other. Podcast apps that are out there, you put it in your podcast hosting platform and it sends it everywhere.

Some good ones are, if you want something that’s free. Um, Spotify for podcasters is free it’s really basic, but it does what it needs to do. Um, some other good ones are Buzzsprout and Libsyn. Those are two that a lot of people use and have liked.

Okay, the next question is what tech do you need? The basic things that you need are. A microphone and editing software. That’s all you need. I would also highly recommend having some sort of way to record a video of yourself so that you can do a video podcast, because that is the easiest way to grow your podcast right now is through video podcasts and YouTube.

As far as what type of microphone you should get. Um, I recommend a dynamic microphone. That’s the one that I have. It pulls the sound just from like right in front of the microphone, not all around it. So you don’t get as much background noise. Um, which is really nice. And as far as editing software, I use descript right now, which is the best it takes your. Video or audio, depending on what kind of podcasts you’re doing, um, and makes a transcript out of it. So all you have to do to edit is like, Highlight and delete, and it gets rid of it on the transcript as well as in your video or audio makes it super simple and way faster for me to edit. Um, which is pretty much what I’m always looking for as a mom who was also a podcaster.

The next question is what are the pros and cons of doing seasons? This one I’ve gotten, um, a lot recently because I switched to doing seasons. This is season two of the friendly podcast guide. Um, I really, really like doing seasons. That’s why I switched to doing seasons. So we’ll start with the cons. The downside of seasons. And then we’ll talk about all of the pros because there’s way more pros, at least in my opinion. The cons of doing seasons are your listeners might. Get out of the habit of listening to your show. Um,

Honestly, that’s kind of the main one. You also might get out of the habit of creating your podcast. So when it’s time to start a new season, um, It might be hard for you to get back into the habit. But. In my. Experience. It’s nice. It’s much better to take a break um, so. Those are the two cons that I can think of some of the pros are when you have a seasonal podcast that gives your listeners time to catch up and listen to the episodes.

Um, especially if your episodes are a little bit longer, um, It gives your listeners time to catch up with you because maybe. They went out of town for a week or maybe their kids were sick, so they’d got out of their normal routines. So they didn’t listen to your episode last week or whatever it gives your listeners time, sick time to catch up.

It also gives you built-in breaks. And I have noticed for myself and for other people that I’ve coached when you have built-in breaks to your podcast, you’re much more likely to keep creating your podcast. Yes. It will take longer for you to have more episodes. But you will also have the energy and the space and the capacity to continue to create episodes.

So you won’t burn out. Which is kind of the goal is to not burn out and to enjoy our podcast. Um, another pro is that you get to build up hype for your podcast every new season. So, um, instead of just having an episode that comes out every week, Um, that might get a little bit boring for you as well as your listeners.

Um, if you take a break and come back, you can be like, Hey, I’m so excited. Season three starts in three weeks and then build up to that and you can even do a giveaway. There’s so many fun things you can do with a new season. So. Those are the pros and cons of doing seasons.

Another question that I get asked a lot is what should my first episode be about? Um, My first answer is always it’s your podcast. You can talk about whatever you want, but if you’re having a little bit of a hard time figuring out what that should be. I recommend that your first episode is something along the lines of. Saying who this podcast is for and why this podcast is going to be helpful for them. And maybe a little bit of behind the scenes of why you started your podcast.

Um, I think that’s always interesting and fun to hear. From podcasters.

How often should I release episodes? This one is another one that is. Just kind of depends on you.

Most podcasts release a new episode weekly for me when I. When I’m in the middle of a season, you get an episode every week.

But if that feels like too much, you can always tweak it to make it fit for you.

In my experience doing it once a week has been the sweet spot for me. And for most of the people that I have done podcast coaching with.

One question that I get a lot as a podcast coach is what am I going to talk about? And then they always follow this up with, I have a lot of things to say, but I don’t know which one I should talk about first or like, How many things I should talk about in one episode. So. If you have a lot to say, but you’re not exactly sure how to say it or how to package it.

Well, This is my piece of advice for you. Have content buckets, these buckets, um, can be like different topics that you like to cover or maybe, um, different. Types of episodes that you want to put out for my show right now I have solo episodes and I have interview episodes.

And those are my two main content buckets.

But within my solo episodes bucket. I also have an episode that comes out

the first week of every month, which is like, how is the friendly podcast guide doing? So that is a specific episode that I put out. Every first Tuesday of the month when I am doing a season and I always know that that’s coming.

So I’m able to plan for that. Easily.

Let me give you an example for a different type of podcast too. Let’s say you have a podcast, that’s all about plants. You have a lot of plants, you love plants and you want a place to talk about them.

One bucket could be taking care of plants.

Another bucket could be talking about like different types of plants. Um, and the third bucket could be interviewing. Plant experts. Like those could be your main three main buckets and you just like rotate between them or. However you want to do that. And then you could even have a fourth bucket. That’s just like,

Your favorite plant right now, or something like the buckets can be whatever you want, but having those buckets can help, you know, what you’re going to be talking about and just take a decision off of your plate. Which is kind of the goal, especially as moms with podcasts, because we don’t have all day to be. Spending on podcasting.

Another question that I get all the time is what editing software should I use? There’s a lot of good ones out there. Um, the one that I use and I absolutely love, and I talk about all the time. So if you’ve been listening to my podcast for a hot minute, You already know the answer to this, but it’s descript.

In fact, I’ve already talked about it in this episode, but I love the script. It’s. Just makes it so much easier for me to edit my stuff and get it out into the world. Without taking all day.

But if descript isn’t the best fit for you, there are a couple of other options for you. If you’re audio only, you can use garage band or audacity. Um, and those are both good fits. Or if you really don’t want to edit, you can also. Hire out your editing. If that is just something you really don’t want to do. You can have someone else do it.

I’ll put a link in the show notes for my favorite podcast editing services. They’re called next day podcast.

So this next question is super specific, but I do get it quite often. And it’s what does it mean to get approved by apple podcasts? And most of the time people are asking this. And they’re very nervous about it. Don’t be nervous. Getting approved by apple podcasts is not as hard or scary as. You might think it is. Um, When I was tr I was putting out the friendly podcast guidance, starting it up.

I was definitely very nervous and I did not need to be, it was not that big of a deal, but pretty much apple podcast wants to make sure that you are a legitimate podcast.

And so to prove that you just have to put your RSS feed in your podcast artwork. And answer a couple of basic questions about your podcast, and then you wait to be approved. It usually takes a couple of days. Even sometimes it’s even just one day to get approved. So it’s really not that big of a deal, even if it might feel a little scary or. You were like putting it off because you’re worried about it. Don’t worry about it. It’s not as big of a deal as you think it is.

Okay. The final question that I’m going to talk about today is how do I choose a niche?

This is a question that I get from people that usually already know what their niche is, but they’re worried about it. Or maybe they think they chose wrong.

I like to keep it really simple. How you choose your niche or make sure you have the right niche, or however you want to say that. Is think about the person that you are trying to serve with your podcast.

And serving doesn’t mean you need to teach them how to do something. Maybe you’re just trying to entertain them. While they are on their commute or whatever, just helping them in some way. And that’s your niche. Like, that’s it. You do not have to overcomplicate this.

Like, for me, my niche is moms who want to start and grow their podcasts. That’s my niche. It’s pretty straight forward.

If you want some help applying these answers to your podcast and you’re launching your show. I am currently offering a podcast jumpstart session. So here are the details. It’s a 60 minute call with me, one-on-one answering any and all of your questions about podcasting, um, and. Going through any concerns that you have

and helping you get rid of all of the blocks that are in the way of you starting your show.

This is specifically for moms who are wanting to start a podcast, but they don’t know where to start. Um, I have four spots available and it’s first come first serve. So whoever claims them first get some and it is totally free. We just get to talk for an hour and then I’ll send you a follow-up email with all of this stuff so that you don’t have to remember everything that we talked about during that hour session. DME on Instagram at friendly podcast guide to claim your spot, or you can comment jumpstart below.

Now I want to recap what was in this episode

and I’m going to try and do it in a minute or a minute and a half. So, first of all, a podcast hosting platform is a tool that will send your podcast to all of the podcasts apps. Um, when you first start your podcast, the only tech that is essential is a microphone and editing software, but I highly recommend also having a webcam. So you can do video podcasting from the beginning. I personally think doing seasonal podcast is the best way to do it, especially for moms so that we can get breaks, and build hype for every season.

Um, your first episode can be about whatever you want it to be about, but if you’re not sure and you’re floundering and that’s where you’re getting stuck. Um, you can talk about who the, who your podcast is for and how it’s going to help them. And. A little bit about your journey about starting your podcast is always interesting. To help you figure out what to talk about on your show.

Um, having content buckets is a great way to do that so that that’s one less question that you have to answer. In your week. Um, my favorite editing software is descript. I’ll put a link below, um, So you can try it for free if you want to. It’s the best.

Getting approved by apple podcast. Isn’t as scary or hard as you think it is, but it will take a little bit of effort and time. So set aside like half an hour, maybe an hour, and that’s all it will take. Um, and you’ll get approved in about a couple of days. And last but not least the easiest way to choose a niche is to figure out who you want to help. And that is who is your niche? It’s a really. It’s not as complicated as we sometimes make it seem like it needs 📍 to be. Will you share this episode with your friend? Who’s been talking about starting a podcast, but isn’t sure where to start.

This episode will hopefully answer all of her questions without. Making her feel even more overwhelmed. Next week’s episode is the last episode of season two. Can you believe we’re already here? I can’t. I will be talking about my download numbers for November and overall for season two. My favorite experiments that I tried in season two and what I’m going to be doing between seasons. Thanks for being here and I’ll see you next week.