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Today we are going to talk about something I’ve heard a lot of questions about lately- how to start a podcast. A few weeks ago I started a new podcast for one of my clients, Thrive Coworking for Women, which is the coworking space I work out of. As part of the sales & marketing team for Thrive, we’ve talked about starting a media company to help support women who work not only in the space but all around the world. One day I was sitting in my office, and it happened to be Free Coworking Day, and one of the speakers from our recent event was here working at Thrive. It came to me that she would be the perfect first guest on our Podcast, and I should interview her that day and kick off our new podcast as soon as possible. I brought her in my office, recorded a 15-minute episode, but then needed to actually DO something with that content- which meant spending the afternoon creating a podcast where that interview could live so I could launch the episode really quickly so we could capitalize on the audience for the panel she spoke on at our event. 

I sat down and for the next couple of hours, I created the new Thrive Podcast from scratch. I really wanted to share this story here on the blog because I feel like a lot of people have wanted to start a podcast for years, and have all these ideas floating around in their heads but they are just stuck. They can’t seem to put a date on the calendar to launch it, and there are a lot of roadblocks standing in the way. We’re going to take away all those roadblocks and give you the tools you need to launch a podcast today

In today’s post, I’m going to share with you how I launched a new podcast for a client starting from nothing and publishing their first episode in just two hours.

Create your strategy

The general rule of thumb for life is don’t start anything without knowing where you want to end up. That’s what creating a strategy gives you- where are you going and why, and how will you get there?

Spending the time upfront mapping out what you want to accomplish with your podcast, giving yourself deadlines and due dates, and doing some market research will help you so much in the long run. Want to start a podcast to help people start a business? Cool, but why though? And what people? There’s already a TON of podcasts out there about that topic, so narrowing down your focus, at least at first, can help you stand out among the vast sea of podcasts people can pop in their ears. The main things you need to ask yourself when you’re starting a podcast is

1. Who am I serving?
2. What is the change I seek to make in the world with my content?
3. When will I launch it (pick a date or it will never get done)?
4. What is the format & what are the topics you want to cover?
5. What does success look like? How will I know if I should keep going?
6. What is my Exit Strategy? What has to happen for me to stop this project?

By starting with the end in mind, and taking a few minutes to be intentional about continuing and stopping your podcast, you’re already a lot more committed to your podcast. Now that you have a general strategy , let’s dive in to getting this baby launched.

Create a free Anchor.fm account

Now that you know what kind of podcast you want to create, and your goals for the podcast, it’s time to make your podcast a reality. Head over to Anchor.FM to sign up for a free Podcast Hosting account. I’ve used Anchor for the last year-and-a-half and I really love how easy it is to use the platform, how little tech savvy you need to be to get your podcast up and running, and the fact that it’s completely free. ??

Record your episode

One of my favorite things about Anchor is that you can record directly inside the app. I have recorded from my headphones into the app, but recently I prefer to record in my voice memos app and then upload the recordings to Anchor on my laptop. I like to record multiple audio clips at a time instead of recording an entire episode in one take to prevent choppy editing. Don’t be afraid to have imperfect audio, there are plenty of episodes from really famous podcasters in the industry that don’t’ have award-winning audio quality.

Piece together audio clips to create your episode

Once you record all your content in the app it’s time to put together the clips to make your episode. If you recorded your content in voice memo you can upload all the clips in an MP4 format to Anchor. Watch the video above to see how to piece together an episode from different audio clips. You want to make sure to title each segment so you won’t get confused when creating your episode. Another reason why Anchor is so awesome is that you can add in musical intros that they provide in their software and you can even add in call-in segments that your audience records on your account.

Create your podcast graphics on Canva

Now that the audio is taken care of, you’ll want to create visual Graphics to add to your episode in Anchor before you publish. I like to use Canva to create my Graphics because it is another free platform and there’s tons of awesome templates you can use for free from Canva, or templates you can purchase on Creative Market. Choose your favorite square shaped design and create your episode cover art.

Add show notes & publish your episode

The last thing you need to do before you publish your episode is to add in show notes and a title for your episode. You can look around for ideas for show notes on some of your favorite podcasters episodes. You’ll want to add any links in the show notes as well as ask people to subscribe to your podcast. You can use the same show notes on Anchor that you use on your own website if you’re going to host your episodes on your site. 

Once your title and show notes are already, your audio is edited to perfection, and you have your cover art designed, it’s time to hit publish! Your episode will publish on your Anchor platform for any of your Anchor subscribers to listen to.

Now we’re going to go over how to get your episode on iTunes and 12 other platforms ??

Distribute your podcast across 13 Platforms

You can set up your iTunes account right on the Anchor Website. When you sign up for podcast distribution you can select which Platforms (Anchor has up to 13) you would like your podcast distributed on. This is so important because it allows you to meet your listeners where they are. Even if you’ve never used anything like Podbean it only allows more people to view your podcast the more places it’s distributed. 

Create a Podcast Page on your website

If you have a website I would definitely recommend creating a podcast page to direct more of your website visitors to listen to your podcast. I use WordPress and the Divi theme for all of my websites, and it makes it super simple to create an easy podcast page to publish my latest episodes. I treat my podcast page a lot like a Blog so every new episode has its own new post. Like I said above, the show notes you created for Anchor can double as the copy on your podcast post. I was able to quickly create a new podcast page from a template I’ve created for my client to host their first episode.

Create Podcast Promotional Graphics in Canva

You’ve already created a podcast cover art, but now you’ll definitely want to create social media graphics and email Graphics to promote your new podcast to your audience. Again there are tons of awesome templates in both Canva and anywhere you can purchase digital templates online. Some of my favorite places to purchase graphic templates are Creative Market, Etsy, and any of my favorite designers’ digital product shops. I have my own template shop where I’m going to be putting more and more podcast templates to help you promote your podcast, so be sure to sign up for my email list if you’re looking for more templates to promote your podcast!

Bonus Tip: one of my favorite places to promote a new podcast episode is Instagram Stories! I have an Instagram Stories Podcast Trailer Training & Templates in The Social Club Template Shop to show you how to make these awesome videos to drive more traffic to your podcast episodes.

Share your new episode on Social & your Email List

Of course, now that you’ve created your graphics and templates to use over and over again, it’s time to promote your post on your own social and to your email list. Schedule posts to go out on your favorite content scheduling apps and send an email to your list directing them to listen to your first episode! Now you just need to rinse and repeat every time you create a new episode for your podcast.

So there you have it, my friends, a step by step guide to creating a podcast from scratch in two hours flat. Download your 10 Step Guide to Launching a Podcast For Free by clicking the button below.

Links mentioned in this post

1. AnchorFM

2. Divi Theme for WordPress

3. Listen + Lattes Podcast

4. My Yeti Blue Miicrophone

5. Canva

6. Canva Template Shop

7. The Social Club Template Shop for Podcast Stock Photos, Training & Templates

Once you’ve had the chance to read or listen- I’d love to hear your thoughts!

It’s your turn to tell me your ideas for your podcast. Leave a comment below and share all your big ideas for your podcast, which is the first step to making it happen!