Everything I learned about starting a podcast (before releasing my first episode)
Me
QA, Testing, Scrum master, Girl Geek
some experience with a podcast in a previous job
@gem_hill
What is a podcast?
- A digital audio file made available on the Internet for downloading to a computer or portable media player, typically available as a series, new instalments of which can be received by subscribers automatically.
My Podcast!
A weekly podcast on QA, Testing, Agile, Scrum and other general geekery.
Content
-
Theme or structure (or both!)
- Co-hosts?
- Guests?
- Segments?
- Audience?
Content
- Episode content - plan a few out
-
Name/Domain
- Logo/colours/look and feel
- See what else is out there (maybe? I didn't really)
Content
- Format can be changed as needed - don't feel you have to finalise everything right now
- Mistakes are forgivable!
Content
- Schedule - when each part (recording, editing, posting) will be done - especially if podcast is long
- Episodes recorded/written up in advance
- Show notes
- Organisation
Other considerations
-
Logo
- iTunes requires artwork and most podcast apps use logos
-
Website
- Design, name, etc
- Free - wordpress.com etc
- Hosting and domains
Other considerations
-
Intros/Outros
- Creative commons music (http://incompetech.com/)
Podcast Hosting
The biggie!
- Space for episodes
- Download bandwidth
- RSS feeds for podcast apps and iTunes
Podcast specific sites
- Libsyn
- Acast
- Stitcher
- Podomatic
- Almost definitely others
- Soundcloud
- Youtube
These platforms have existing audience - less barrier to listen
Not specific but still nice/useful
Libsyn
- What I chose
- No charge for downloads, only for storage
- Creates RSS feeds for iTunes and other podcast apps
- Option to schedule posts
Twitter/Social Media
- I live my entire life on twitter anyway
- Twitter apps that can schedule tweets are a godsend
- Twitter apps that can analyse when your followers are most active (Tweriod, etc) also useful
- Easy to contribute - retweeting, retweeting with comment, etc
Twitter/Social Media
- Facebook has scheduling software
- Can link Twitter and Facebook so things posted to Twitter are posted to Facebook
- Consider Tumblr/Pinterest if it fits your theme/audience
Thank you