Everything I learned about starting a podcast (before releasing my first episode)
Me
QA, Testing, 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!
http://letstalkabouttests.xyz
A fortnightly podcast on QA, Testing, Agile, Scrum and other general geekery.
My Podcast!
Available on all good podcast apps, iTunes, and soundcloud
Started on 14/5/2015
Content
-
Theme or structure (or both!)
- Co-hosts?
- Guests?
- Q&A?
- 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
-
Plenty of options:
- http://incompetech.com/
- https://soundcloud.com/ramesesb/sets/no-copyright-free-to-use
Podcast Hosting
The biggie!
- Space for episodes
- Download bandwidth
- RSS feeds for podcast apps and iTunes
Podcast specific sites
- Libsyn
- Acast
- Stitcher
- Almost definitely others
- Soundcloud
- Youtube
These platforms have existing audience - less barrier to listen
Not specific but still nice/useful
Acast and Stitcher
- These are curated - you have to apply to be included
- Something to consider once got some episodes under your belt
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
- Buffer can queue posts - free for one of each type of account
- 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
Hardware and Software
I used the microphone on my Mac
Now use a Snowball are a good brand and look funky
Software
- Adobe Audition
- I've used this in work
- My favourite but so expensive
- Probably not worth the cash
- Audacity
- Free
- Basics are easy
- Open Source and on all OS
- Not changed much
Software
- Garageband
- Free
- Basics are easy
- Mac only
- What I use
Questions?