How to Start a Podcast – The Step-by-Step Guide

How to Start a Podcast – The  Step-by-Step Guide

So a lot of you might be thinking of what to do at this time right? We know that there are a lot of people who are looking for alternate platforms of entertainment besides the conventional one. By conventional ones, we mean everything up to Youtube. We can all binge there and enjoy the contents there. The thing is that all of these are visual media and are a distraction as hell if you want to work somewhere else. Now if you are a content creator, you should know that a lot of people who are on Youtube other content-based media are those who have time. That is a lot of people but what if you want to reach the people who are busy and don’t have the time to watch?

That is where audio platforms come into play. Honestly, there are not many platforms for content-based audio. Sure there are audiobooks but that is not really a good place if you want your content to be an episodic one. What choice do you have next? Now, this is where podcasts come into play. What is a podcast you may ask? It is a content-based platform where the media is pure audio. This is good for content creators who want to reach the working population. If you are interested in starting this, here is how you can do it. 

Step 1: Brainstorming your Podcast Concept. 

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The first step to start is to have a clear idea of what you want to do and how you want to present yourself or your content. Let’s make it simple shall we by breaking it down into two phases?

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Phase 1- Searching for motive

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This is common sense and a base for all media. You have to think of a concept on which your podcast will be based on. What do you want your podcasts to do? Do you want to give out information on things? You might want to teach and instruct your audience on a specific topic.  Or do you want your audience to enjoy a good story? Ask yourself these questions before starting. You need to have a clear goal in your mind before setting up a channel. 

Phase 2- Settle on a theme

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So you have a goal in your mind now. What do you want to do next? You have to choose a specific theme for your podcasts. This is similar to picking up a genre for a movie, but instead of a few hour-long audiovisual things, the genre you pick will be a lifetime one. You can pick out multiple themes as well. The only issue is that the more theme you have in your podcasts, the more chaotic and mismanaged your podcasts will be. There is only one exception though and that is if you want your podcasts to be a chaotic one. 

Step 2: Settle on the format and schedule. 

Similarly to the previous step, let’s break this step of podcasting into two phases. It will be easier to understand for all of us and easy for us to explain as well.

Phase 1- The Format

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This step is a continuation of the second phase of the first step. In this step, you have to choose how you are going to present your podcast. Just like how you chose genre in the second phase, of the previous step, in this step of setting up your podcast, you have to choose the characters and the tone of your podcast. Now, this may seem like the same thing but it is not. The format is a completely different thing. Why we say this is because in this step you will finalize your target audience and start writing scripts. 

The common formats are interview, fiction, news, education, scripted-non fiction. Let us explain each format and their requirements in brief

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  • Interview: The name says it all. In this type of podcast, you invite some celebrity be it local or national or of any level, and ask them questions and have a bit of fun with them. 
  • Fiction: This is basically the same as a radio drama. You and your team enact a drama but purely through voice acting and some light background music. 
  • News: Basically you tell the news but in your own style. This can be through humor or satire as well. 
  • Educational: In this format, you teach your listeners about any topic and explain each and everything in detail. Since there is no visual, you have to be as clear as possible. 
  • Scripted-Non fiction: This is where you talk with someone about real-life events but based on a script. You can do this without the scripts but it will get messed and you can very well get facts wrong. The main goal is to inform the listeners through a scripted discussion with a partner. 

Phase 2- The schedules

 

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After you have finished the first phase of finishing up thinking about how you will present your podcasts, you now have to fix a schedule. You may think it’s just recording and you can do it every day which you can, but only if you are a professional podcaster who has a ton of listeners. The recording may not take much but the editing and re-recording can take a long time and a lot of effort. So consider this factor and the length of your podcasts. Short podcasts can be published every day. The longer your podcast the longer it takes to edit. Also, fixing the schedule will also give your audience predictability and give you some free time as well for your personal life

Step 3: Setting up the equipment

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Now that you have fixed what you want to do and when you want to publish, it’s time to get the hardware and software to start.  To begin you don’t need much. You can get a cheap medium quality microphone and basic software to edit your sounds. One thing you cannot compromise with though is sound absorption.

There will be a lot of background noises at any time. These noises are a bit less during the night but still if you want to podcast you need complete silence. To start cheap, you can create a cube around the recording place with thick blankets but you need to get a good space and a microphone as soon as you can. 

As for the software, a lot of editing can be done with FL studio. The only thing is that you have to buy some addons regarding the echo and reverb to do this. This can cost around Nrs. 1500 so you have to be prepared. 

Step 4: Recording and editing

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Finally, you can start to record. There is no limit to how long you should record but to have the maximum effect you should keep your podcast length from 45 minutes to 2 hours per podcast. Any less than that and your listeners will not get enough space to connect and any more than 2 hours and there will be a lot more work for you. You can extend your podcast length later on once you get enough following or once you can hire an editor but while you are still alone or with a small team, this length is the most optimum.

As for the editing, you can edit on some other software as well like Audacity and GarageBand but these will cost a bit more money, and being a Nepali, you want to save as much money as you can so FL studio is the best one till you can afford or spend more than 5thousand per purchase on the add ons. 

Benefits and earnings

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Up to this point, you should have a clear idea of what to do to start a podcasting career. But why should you choose it over youtube or twitch or other conventional media?

Well that is because of the following benefits. 

Passive Listeners

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As mentioned before, the people who listen to podcasts are those who need to work and are busy but also want to listen to something they like which is not music. The thing with them is, when they get busy, they don’t really get what you are saying completely. They become passive listeners. Now, why is this a benefit? Well, that is because they do listen to your podcast until a certain point before their mind gets focused on their task. This makes them want to re-listen and the more your podcast listens the more benefit for you. 

Lack of Competitions. 

We know that most of you have barely heard of many podcasting channels. This is not your fault so don’t worry. The reason is that the ones who listen to podcasts don’t listen to many channels. They have a dedicated following to a few channels and that is all. There is way less competition for you in the podcasting platform than in youtube or twitch. 

Earnings from podcast

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Along with the benefits, earning is also good as well. On average every 30 seconds of your podcast played by 1000 people will give you $18 which is around 1800 Nepali rupees. So that means for every 30, 000 second or 8 hours of your podcast you will get 1800 rupees which is high pay for considerably low effort. This still is not much but it is still better than the payment by youtube or twitch. 

Additionally, you can also play ads that are relevant to your channels to get ad revenue or ask for sponsorships in the same way that YouTubers do. 

Platforms for the podcast. 

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All you have to do now is know where to host and where to listen to podcasts. This is the final process as well, 

To host your podcast you can contact any of these platforms. They are 

  1. Buzzsprout
  2. Captivate
  3. Transistor
  4. Castos
  5. Podbean

These are the top 5 hosting platforms. Contact them and follow their procedure as well as verification methods. Additionally, you can also get some starter bonuses on these platforms

Now as for listening platforms they are

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  1. Google podcasts (Android)
  2. Overcast (iOS)
  3. Podcast Republic (Android)
  4. Castro 3 (iOS)
  5. BeyondPod (android)
  6. ListenApp (iOS)

You can also listen to podcasts on different sites such as podcasts.com and gpodder.net.

If you want to know more about the equipment’s, why don’t you check our list of “8 Best microphones for Youtube and Podcasting“.