A Rough Guide To Podcasting

“The time has come,” the walrus said, “to talk of many things: Of shoes and ships – and sealing wax – of cabbages and kings”
Lewis Carroll

It’s often said we all have a book in us but for me the modern equivalent is the podcast. It can be hard work but rewarding so this is a quick guide if you are considering a pod of your own. In my opinion hosting can be broken down into two types:

The professional podcaster. A subject matter expert who takes on a pod as a side project. Usually backed up by a production team, researchers and a decent budget. They generally have an audience they can bring over from past work and Dan Snow (History Hit) and Al Murray/James Holland (We Have Ways Of Making You Talk) are good examples.
The enthusiastic amateur. Someone with a keen knowledge about a subject and is starting from scratch, on their own, with limited resources and budget. Basically you and me.

Picking Your Subject

In theory the easy part. It should be a topic you are passionate about but ideally something unusual or a bit different. We started off with the history of our unit from it’s creation in the “stay behind” OP role during the Cold War up to its present day incarnation as the Army’s surveillance and target acquisition (STA) patrols unit. Something unique and we were knowledgeable about. The good news if you are a former Para, Marine or SF is you have it cracked as the market for this is insatiable. Basically you can turn out derivative crap and an audience of Walts and groupies will lap it up. In which case you can stop reading here but for everyone else it can be a challenge.

Episode Frequency

How often should you release an episode? Google this and you will be met with a variety of opinions with many saying you should release weekly but keep them short. Don’t underestimate prep time for the pod and editing the final product, both take time and ultimately dictate the quality of what you’re asking listeners to free up their precious time for. For us the sweet spot is monthly with an episode length of 75 min. This way you can have a good discussion with your guest and the time is ideal to cover a commute, run or dog walk.

Before you go live it’s best to have at least 3 episodes in your catalogue. It takes practise and you will listen back to your first recording and cringe but, if your content is interesting, no one is bothered and people appreciate you aren’t a professional broadcaster.

Video Or Audio Or Both?

Entirely up to you. If you want to be a hit on YouTube then you will need to record video but bear in mind some guests might not want their ugly mugs on display. Also it adds expense due to the increased bandwidth and storage requirements via your chosen hosting method. You can have your show on YouTube as audio only however the algorithm doesn’t favour this but it’s easy enough to do and worth the presence in my opinion.

What You Need

Keep it simple and there is no need to spend a fortune. In general you will need:

Web hosting site.
Recording software.
Headphones and mic.
Editing software.
Laptop/PC.
Headliner.
Canva.

Web hosting site. This is where your recordings will be stored and pushed out to audio platforms such as Spotify, Google and Apple podcasts. If you are techy enough you can build your own or use a “one stop” service such as Podbean or Buzzsprout. These charge annual subscriptions depending on how often you upload episodes and how much storage you require. If using video this can increase requirements and therefore pricing substantially. Do your research and find the platform that best suits your needs.

Recording Software. You have some free options here:

Zoom. Limited in that the free version ends after 40 min.
Skype. No limits for time but can be patchy.

Or you can pay for a bespoke service from a platform such as Squadcast or Riverside FM. These are basically cloud recording studios designed with podcasting in mind. They create high-quality audio and video content with in-browser software for premium recordings that are auto-saved with cloud storage. Note also that some hosting platforms like Podbean offer recording solutions too.

Headphones and mic. Everyone loves a bit of tech and the temptation to go out and buy high end headphones and a mic should be resisted. Read up on this and the advice will be buy the best you can afford but, whilst this may be true for the established podcaster, there is no need to splurge your hard earned dosh on over specced kit that requires a lot of setting up on your laptop/PC. I would recommend a USB headset like the Sennheiser PC7 easy to use and cheap at around £23. Once established you can upgrade and you will also have a better idea of what you want. Another tip is not to buy new when upgrading as there are plenty of deals to be had on ebay.

Editing software. There are a plethora of apps and software out there some of them very expensive. I use Audacity which is free and relatively easy to use for podcast editing plus there are plenty “how to” videos on YouTube. Highly recommended. Remember you aren’t Phil Spector but editing is perhaps the most important aspect of podcasting but also the most tedious. Enjoy.

Laptop/PC. This is simple. If you have one you are good to go and nothing fancy is required.

Headliner. This is a great app/SW platform that is free to use. It’s fantastic for converting MP3 files to MP4 for uploading to YouTube. You can also create audio shorts for publicising your podcast.

Canva. Is a free app for creating artwork for social media posts and covers for YouTube videos.

Getting And Preparing Guests

Army cliche time – fail to prepare, prepare to fail. Get your friends and contacts on initially, by doing this you have a connection and it will also calm early nerves. Choose people you know are good speakers and who can talk in depth about the subject. Prepare in advance and:

Have a set of pod notes you can refer to with an intro, questions and outro.
Share it with your guest on Google docs for example and keep it in the cloud so you can collaborate and retain version control. Very few people have the ability to record without a format.
Have an icebreaker before the recording date if you haven’t met the guest before.
On the recording date don’t jump straight in. Walk through the pod notes and make sure everyone is happy. Have a chat before hand as this will calm nerves.

Don’t be afraid to approach people you don’t know. As part of your intro let them know what the podcast is about and what sort of audience you have. Tell them about your reviews and why you think they will be a good fit. Most people are only too happy to help out.

Spreading The News

This takes time and effort and you will need to establish a presence on the usual social media such as Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. If you are a good dancer and a 19 year old female with a penchant for bikinis then TikTok is where you want to be with the added bonus of thousands of followers. For middle aged old farts SM is a real effort, takes time but does drive audience engagement. Good luck.

Perhaps the best way to publicise your show is appearing on other pods as I did when I wrote to Ian Sanders who hosts the very successful Cold War Conversations podcast. Ian was kind enough to invite me on and following my appearance we saw a huge leap in downloads. If you have something decent to talk about most podcast hosts are always looking for guests.

Finally don’t forget “calls to action” as part of the podcast. Ask for reviews on your show intro/outro and for people to subscribe and spread the word.

Measuring Success

Everyone gets hung up on downloads and you can usually get good statistics from your hosting site or visiting websites like Listen Notes or Chartable. Also don’t fall into the trap of confusing podcast download numbers with things like YouTube plays, or social media followers. People are used to seeing views and followers counted in thousands but these have no bearing on pod downloads as clicking follow or subscribe takes much less effort than downloading a podcast.

As a rough guide a podcast episode that has been out approximately 30 days averages 141 downloads. If you have over 3400 downloads you are in the top 10%. If you have over 9000 downloads you are in the top 5%. Lastly, if you have over 50,000 downloads per episode you are in the top 1%.

So people like Jocko Willink really are exceptional in the podcasting world. Look at it this way if your podcast gets 140 downloads in one month imagine filling a room with that number of people who want to listen to what you are discussing.

Final Word

Podcasting is long-form entertainment and you should make a show because you enjoy it not because you want thousands of people to download each episode. If you are producing content that people enjoy listeners will come. You may even get lucky and have an instant hit on your hands. If you have any podcasting tips or questions drop them in the comments below. Happy podcasting.