how to start a podcast
Keen to learn how to start a podcast? Glen James is here for it! Here are his top tips to do it right.
Written by Glen James - former financial adviser, author of Sort Your Money Out & Get Invested, host of the my millennial money podcast and the creator of media business, SYMO interactive.
Glen hosts or has helped create:
my millennial money
my millennial daily
my millennial property
my millennial career
my millennial investor
my millennial money professional
Retire Right
Everyone has a podcast. In fact, if you do not – are you even a person?
I run a podcast called my millennial money, we are Australia’s number 1 podcast for millennials and their money – or lack thereof!
So you want to start podcasting? Go though these steps before you worry about recording anything!
the process
Before you worry about equipment or recording, I suggest you follow the following steps:
Step 1.
Work out your strategy. Why are you doing it? Who is it for? What is the goal?
Will your show be hosted by you or more than one person? Is it a interview style (current trend is now at least two people talking to each other regularly)?
Step 2.
Is it short form (5 mins to say 40 mins) or long form? Over an hour?
Step 3.
How many times per week or month are you dropping an episode?
Step 4.
Write down at least 20 episode topics – if you can’t do this you shouldn’t start!
Step 5.
Get some gear and start talking!
The gear
You’ll need gear to record and software to edit your episodes with. You could start by recording on your phone, but quality is king – so you will need a decent microphone. A good quality USB microphone is a great place to start - I like the AT2020 USB+ as it’s a great sounding mic that is inexpensive! From there you can look to invest in a recording microphone and audio interface (this helps your microphone “talk” to your computer) but start small and work towards this.
In terms of editing your podcast episodes you need what’s called a Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) on your tablet or computer. If you have a Mac, GarageBand is a great starting point. I use Adobe Audition, but there are a number of other free software options out there like Audacity, Reaper and Cakewalk.
my millennial money
For the my millennial money podcast, I record with the following gear:
4x Shure SM7b
4x Cloud lifter activator (for the Shure mics)
When we are on the road, I use:
4x AKG D5 mics
upload your episodes
To get your podcast episodes out into the world and into peoples ears, you need an online distributor! I use Acast to host the all my podcasts. There’s so many podcast distributors out there now - a quick Google search will bring up a bunch of options. Try them and choose one that’s easy to use and has features you like using. You’ll be in there a lot!
make your podcast look and sound good
Now you need to make your show sound and look good! Carefully select a podcast name that clearly outlines what you will talk about on your show, is click-baity and that will attract your desired audience. Likewise work closely on strong episode titles to catch peoples attention. You’ll also want to create a template for show notes if you want to provide links or other information to listeners alongside your episodes.
Also get busy designing a piece of artwork to display your podcast on podcast apps! Canva is a great tool as the free account gives you enough features to design a great looking podcast cover. Show you designs to people that fit into your key target audience and see which design options stand out!
get out there!
My final piece of advice if you really want to give your podcast a good go is be consistent! By putting episodes out regularly you’ll build your audience over time, don’t give up too soon.
Good luck!
our shows
