What A Content Creator Learned From Producing a Podcast
It was exciting. It was epic. It was a challenge
When it comes to creating something new, part of the fun is always going through the painful learning process of trial and error. Don’t be afraid, though. The finished result is well worth the ups and downs. And for a content creator like me who has been working at his craft for quite some time, it was exciting to learn about a new creative content form. But like learning any new medium, podcasting has its own, unique tricks and challenges. Here’s what I learned from producing my first, 16 episode season of my podcast, Keeping Up with Joe.
A Podcast Is Not a Podcast Without a Podcast
First up — what is a podcast? I mean, what is it really. My first foray into the world of podcasts was via YouTube. So I figured I could probably just upload a few audio-based YouTube videos and Voila! I’m a podcaster. I took it the next step this time around, and in early 2020 I started uploading podcast episodes to SoundCloud. Again, that’s a nice way to introduce your work to a new audience. However, neither SoundCloud nor YouTube are what actually make your podcast legit. In order to be respected amongst the fold, you need to have your own RSS feed, sort of like having a blog, that can then be syndicated to podcast platforms.
There’s actually more involved in this than you might think. You need to understand how RSS feeds work, or at the very least sign up a service that sets one up for you. Website services like SquareSpace, will do this for you. I use SquareSpace to host my audio files, even. Once set up via third party podcast platforms like Apple Podcasts and Google Podcasts, when you upload and add a new episode to your website, your episode will be updated on the podcast app, as well.
This is super helpful for a few reasons. One being, it helps you reach a larger audience without much effort on your side. Unlike the intensive work involved with uploading YouTube videos or uploading to SoundCloud, when you host your Podcast and use an RSS feed, you can start gaining new listeners from podcast services you might not have even heard of before, like Overcast and Castbox.
Figuring Out A Show Idea Is Harder Than You’d Think
Coming up with a good show idea is no walk in the park. In fact, many pro-level podcast creators spend exorbitant amounts of time pondering show ideas. And that’s just the start. You haven’t even gotten to the work yet. My show was relatively easy to come up with. I just wanted a talk-show style podcast where we had conversations about interesting questions, mostly about creative stuff. The end result was a podcast made by makers for makers. Getting the messaging just right even for this show, however, took several iterations. And it’s not a particularly unique idea, if you think about it. Imagine how much harder it would be to come up with the next big thing.
A Good Podcast Has Instantly Recognizable Theme Music
I didn’t figure this one out until a few episodes into my podcast. But if you listen to enough good podcasts, you realize each of them has a theme song. I don’t mean lyrics necessarily, or even something overly long. But they certainly have some sort of jam that they use to bookend the podcast episode. Figuring out the right tune for your show is probably its own exercise. It didn’t take me too long to find a good song for my show, however. I got lucky and discovered one pretty quickly that fit the vibe I was going for.
A Good Logo is Also Key
Another aspect of creating a top-tier podcast is coming up with a great logo. The logo is important because it will be displayed not only on your website but also across all of your social media platforms. For many of your listeners, it will be the first way that they come into contact with your show. having something shoddy or boring or even mundane might mean the difference between attracting a subscriber and going unnoticed.
Logos should be between 1400x14000 and 3000x3000 square images with high quality graphics and easy to read text. I might outsource this to a designer. I did with mine and I think it turned out quite well. If you want to get in touch with the designer I used, you can find her on this website.
Figuring Out Your Audience is Gold
Along with figuring out your show idea, you will also want to hone in on who it is that will be listening to your show. You can do this anyway you want. Print out a picture of somebody you know. Write down what they like and dislike. Do research on other shows like yours. Whatever it is you do, have a clear idea about who you are creating for. My podcast is largely for “becomers” or people between the ages of 18 and 35, with a heavy number of listeners in the 20-something range. Basically, they are people like me. They want to hear from creatives, content creators, and learn about interesting, intellectual topics that you often don’t hear a out in mainstream media.
Once you understand your audience, you can figure out things like what your episodes should be about, and how often you should produce them. I know I wouldn’t listen to any one podcast more than twice a week, for example. So I don’t produce more than twice a week for my audience.
Additionally, understanding your audience will help you come up with a great description and help you better define your messaging. Your description is hugely important. Ultimately, it should not only describe your show, but also give people a reason to care about your show. The worst thing that could happen is someone sees your show in their podcast player, read your description, and think “so what?”
Dealing With Audio is Harder than You Think
If you are a content creator and storyteller like me, figuring out the technicalities of sound is probably not your first concern. You’re probably already sketching out your podcast episodes, trying your best to create a story arc, and really hone in on the meaty parts of the story you are trying to tell. However, people are less likely to listen if your audio sucks. Now, I’m no audio master myself, but I did record my own audio for my podcast interviews — some episodes sound a lot better than others, and none of them are perfect. But I did learn a few things that could benefit you.
For starters, it’s really important to record in a small room without a ton of hard surfaces. I don’t think you necessarily need to run around covering your walls with egg cartons and foam (although some people do that). having a sofa and soft chairs and books and things like that will probably help enough. This keeps your voice from sounding tinny or reverberating sharply off of the hard surfaces. A few episodes I forgot this rule and recorded downstairs in my house which has tile and is wide open. Not the best idea.
You also should get yourself a microphone. Recording with your iPhone headset is not optimal. My dad lent me his pro microphone which helped a lot. Also, I guess there are two types of microphones, ones that record out of one area, and one that record more around the whole thing. I’d look up the different kinds of microphones that you need before you purchase one, just to make sure it fits your purpose. I use a microphone that just records directly out of the end. When I record, I sit up nice and close and talk directly into the microphone purposefully, almost as if I were singing, in order to get the best quality sound.
Zoom Beats Skype for Conversation Podcasts
My show is all about conversations between people. But I don’t have the budget nor the time really to fly folks out to talk with me, and I don’t want to limit my podcast to people who are directly in the vicinity. So what I did instead was record my podcasts over Skype and Zoom. Now, if you do a basic Google Search, you will probably come across several articles that say Skype is better than Zoom. That might be true for overall audio quality. However, I choose Zoom over Skype for one major reason. It sounds more natural.
With Skype, when you talk, the audio cuts out the other speaker in an attempt probably to increase the audio quality. But what ends up happening is that during your conversation Skype will make the audio really choppy as it switches back and forth between speakers, making a naturally flowing conversation almost impossible.
With Zoom, however, it sounds pretty much like you’re in the same room together having a conversation, no talking over one another. Whatever difference exists in regards to audio quality I’m able to make up for in post production using the excellent, free tool, Audacity.
And that’s the bulk of it. I had a ton of fun producing the first season of my podcast. It was a ton of work over a short but intense period of time, and I’m looking forward to a bit of a break from it. In addition to this article, I also wrote a blog post about how to get great podcast guests. If you are planning an interview or conversation style podcast, make sure to check that out.
