Launching a Podcast in 13 Steps

The first step in starting your podcast is knowing why. Why am I starting a podcast? Do I want to position myself as an expert? Am I trying to get customers for a business? Am I just trying to have some fun and entertain people? There are many different reasons to start a podcast. If your reason is that you want to make money quickly, can I just tell you to stop right there? It just isn't going to happen.

Number two, you have to know your audience. You have to be crystal clear. Who is this audience for? Why? Because if you don't know your audience, it's like giving a Christmas present to a stranger.

Number three, what can you talk about to hold their attention? So the who that we just talked about in step two will do your why that we talked about in step one? So what are you going to talk about?

Number four, determine your format. And so many people think, well, should I do a solo show? Should I do maybe interviews? Should I do some sort of narrative style, I say do them all. There are no rules here. When you do a solo show, you grow your influence. When you do an interview show, you grow your network, and I can definitely help you with that.

Number five: Purchase your equipment. You can see my gear guide. I helped somebody save $300 last week. They were going to buy a bunch of stuff that they just didn't need.

Step six is to practice with it. Think about this, if you are a musician, just because you buy a guitar doesn't mean you're ready to go out and start making money with it. No, you've got to practice recordings. And you really need to get to know your gear so that when it comes time to do an interview, you don't go, "Oh, hold on. I think the record button is around here somewhere."

Number seven, identify your intro and outro. And what this boils down to is number one intros are actually kind of easy, I might do an episode on these in the future. We've talked about horrible ways to start your podcast, but it should be welcome to the bla bla bla show where we blank. So mine is welcome to your podcast consultant. Short lessons with big value. And then what do I do I tell you, hey, today on today's show, we're going to do such and such In fact, I do a little tea so you know exactly where you're going. Nobody gets on a bus without knowing where it's going to go. And then your outro goes back to number one. Why are you starting a podcast? Well, that should be your call to action. My call to action is I want to work with you. I want to help you avoid all the podcasting pitfalls. So if you notice on all of my shows, I'm asking you to come out and book some sort of coaching session. So number seven, identify your intro in your outro.

Number eight, record an episode that you feel is good enough for the public. And you're like, "You know what, I've done a few of these. I've deleted the first six. I think this one's pretty good." Then and this is the one that's so hard out of all these steps. I think this is the one that's the hardest step nine, get feedback. And it has to be feedback from trustworthy people. Now, I know your mom is trustworthy, but not in this instance. Because she's going to tell you, "Oh honey, it's great." I had somebody last week they said "All our friends said this was great. We need you to do "the Dave Jackson." There were some things in there episode that really needed to go. They said, "We're so glad I reached out to you." So I can be your Simon Cowell if you need somebody to listen to your show.

Then number 10 is order artwork. This is what you need to start a podcast. You need artwork, you need a description and you need a finished episode. So at this point, we're getting close. We've got feedback on that episode and we're tweaking it. We might as well order our artwork. I'll have links out in the show notes at podcast consultant.com slash eight

Step 11 is order media hosting. Now that you have a finished episode, you have some media, you need a media host. And I see so many people make step to order media hosting. And then they just end up paying months for a media host that they're never using this is when you order your media host why because you have something to host.

Step 12: Create your website if you don't have one. This is important. In the next episode, I'm going to talk about your website. But your website is where everybody is going to go to subscribe to your podcast, it is your home base, not Twitter, not Instagram, not Facebook, not tic tok , your website is your home base. And then you're all that social stuff is floating around it that way, if any of those go away, you can always direct people back to your website. So the correct answer to where can I find my podcast is your website.

Then number 13. You need to submit your show to directories. And we've done episodes on this, you submit it to all of them, then I'll have links again, out in the show notes at podcast consultant.com slash eight, five to the previous episodes where I've talked about some of these things. But that's really it.

And I've had people that have told me Oh, I don't know anything about technology. This is not gonna work. I'm just here to tell you. And I walk them through the steps. And they get done. They go Okay, well, what's next? And I go, that's it. You're done. And they're like, No, seriously, what's next, and I don't know, let's make another episode. That's it. At that point, you're to the lather, rinse, repeat. Just keep making new episodes, and keep promoting it, you do have to promote these.

So it's not as hard as you think you don't have to spend a million dollars to sound like a million dollars. And I can help you with all of that. Simply go to podcast consultant.com. And let's schedule a coaching session. Or if you want to do this more on a timeframe of your own time, then go to school of podcasting.com. And I can walk you through these steps over there on your own schedule. And I want to thank you so much for tuning in. I'm excited to work with you. It's a new year. And if you're thinking this is the year I'm going to start a podcast. I'm here to tell you there's a lot of noise out there, a lot of noise and a lot of really bad advice. I've been doing this a long time, and I can help you avoid those common pitfalls. I look forward to working with you. podcast consultant.com slash schedule will get you right to my coaching page. Thanks so much