How to Systemise your Podcast in 7 Easy Steps

Step 1 – Planning & Time Management

Before you start the nitty-gritty of your podcast, plan ahead and determine how many episodes will be in the series. Brainstorm ideas on what content each episode will contain and draw up a plan of where you will be going in terms of content and guest speakers.

Secondly, to optimise your time, conduct recordings in batches. For example, if you are airing one recording a week, batch 4 and record those all in one go in half a day.  Then process them through the system and release them on a weekly basis which is a great way to manage your time efficiently.

Start off by confirming a time with the guest through the use of tools such as Calendly or Book Like a Boss. These platforms help save time by reducing “calendar tag” and allow people to schedule a time slot which suits you both.

Step 2 – Record the Audio

Wondering what tools to use when recording your audio? Anfernee recommends Skype or Zoom as easy go-to platforms when recording.  KCS recommends Streamyard.  Though in today’s age, Zoom is dominating the market due to its ability to record both video and audio simultaneously.  Once you’ve got your chosen tool set up, record the audio and save it to an online storage location like Dropbox or Google Drive for easy access.  (Remember to give it a consistent naming convention so you can not only access it but find it!) 

Step 3 – Edit the Audio

When starting out, editing the audio yourself may be an option, however this can be a long and tedious process. Simply put, if you don’t love audio editing then don’t do it.  A great platform to use is Fiverr. This site allows you to find a freelance audio editor who will help edit your audio professionally. You connect with someone you like, pay them their fee and then they pick up your recordings via the sharing location, they do the editing and then they drop it back in the sharing location (Dropbox or Google Drive), and it’s as easy as that! Anfernee recommends looking at the reviews that people are posting on editors’ profiles and if you see 50+ positive reviews then that’s a good indication of the standard they’ll provide!

Alternatively, you could approach established agencies that do podcast editing but typically, you’ll find that their rates are 3 or 4 times higher, so it really depends on what your budget is.   

When you get the audio file to the editor, remember to give them instructions in terms of title and description. That information is important as it’s required to be added to the file for when it gets uploaded to the Audio Server / Host.

Step 4 – Tag and Upload Your Podcast File into an Audio Server

This is done in the same manner in which you do a blog post, you would go to your preferred website builder like WordPress, upload your audio and do some editing.  With podcasts, you need to host the file on an audio host. Some commonly used ones are The SoundCloud and Wooshkaa. Wooshkaa is a great one as it’s an Australian based company and they are doing a tremendous job with podcasts at the moment. When it goes to iTunes, Apple Podcast or other servers like Spotify, they take the information that’s embedded in the audio file (Title, description etc) and use that for their own search engines. Hence why it’s crucial to give that information to your Podcast Editor.   

Step 5 – Optimise your Website

Another key tip is the use of Canva for graphics. When you get the podcast back from the Editor, you not only put it onto an audio server, but you also put it onto your website because that’s where you want to drive traffic to. It’s beneficial that you know the process, but again if necessary, you can get a virtual assistant to do this for you. This page can also showcase other links, such as the guest’s website, any resources that were mentioned in the episode, or any “Calls to Action” (CTA).  Though you can put these things in your description on iTunes, most people aren’t reading the descriptions, especially if they are listening to the podcast on their phone while busy with other tasks so this is purely for your website optimisation.  

Step 6 – Create Your Show Notes

Once you’ve created your show notes, put them onto your website too. Anfernee recommends using a self-hosted website builder like WordPress, but there are other tools, such as Wix. WordPress is recommended since it has a high rating and is easier to optimize for SEO. Next you hit “Publish your Podcast” so you can schedule it ahead of time, as mentioned in Step 1. You can do it in batches to get all episodes edited. You then upload all the podcasts in that batch and schedule them to go out on specific dates.

Step 7 – Promote. Promote. Promote!

The last step is the most important step. You need to promote your podcast in order for your audience to hear it. 

How to Schedule Podcasts for Success

Scheduling podcasts for success requires that a Project Management System be put in place. When starting your podcast, many may ask “How does a Project Management System actually work?’ For the first 6 months, Anfernee highly suggests Trello or Asana due to their simplicity. Essentially, they enable you to create tasks and tags such as “Promote on Social Media”“Create Artwork” and “Record Episode”, etc.. Anfernee has a series of questions that they ask the guests which are all easily found in the “Record Episode” task.  This enables them to seamlessly ask the essential questions during the interview process whilst recording. The idea is to build your system as you go. 

Using Software to Promote Your Podcasts for 12 months

Once you’ve followed “Steps 1-7” above, a critical step to include in your project management system is the necessity for an email template which you send out to let your interviewing guests know that the episode is live. Having a template allows for you to tweak where necessary and to tailor it for your guest speaker whilst still maximising your time. Promotion of your podcasts should also include posts to your social media channels and emailing your subscribers. People on your email lists are listeners who like to engage with your podcast, so make sure you don’t miss promoting in this way! A great tool to use for social media promotion is Missinglettr. It’s not free but it sure does save you a heap of time! And time is money after all. Essentially, Missinglettr generates 12 months of social media posts after you’ve assigned hashtags to your episode. If you have a transcript, Missinglettr will pull information from the transcript and enable you to pick relevant quotes in order to promote on platforms such as Facebook and Twitter. Once you’re good to go, you can approve it and it will schedule your posts. Missinglettr also provides analytics and tells you how your content is performing.