Transcripts
1. Welcome to Class!: Hello there, and
welcome to my class How to Launch your first
podcast online. I'm so excited that you're here. It's so exciting that you're
making this commitment, that you're so excited
to start your podcast, and we're going to get into
it. So let's just do that. So again, welcome to class. My name is Ben Hawes, and I will be your
instructor today. I'm so thrilled that you've
decided to join my class. I am a podcast host. I've done 60 episodes of my
podcast called Life in Bold, where I interview
queer comedians about their journeys
toward living more boldly. Um, I'm also a stage musical
comedian in New York City. I've been doing that for
two or three years now, but I've always loved music and playing music and
creating online content, and I do social media. I'm also a business owner of a photo booth rental company, and I'm a creative project
launch consultant. So I help people build their creative projects and make them into realities that
exist in the real world. And that absolutely
includes podcasts. So today, what you'll
gain from this class, I'm very excited to tell you, you'll learn how to find
your perfect concept. So if you haven't come
up with an exact concept for your podcast yet, this
is the class for you. You'll learn how to
stick with podcasting. There's a lot of things that pull us away
from podcasting. And so you'll learn a little bit more about how
to stick with that. You'll learn about recording
with the right technology, which is really important. And you'll learn
how to actually get your podcast
launched and online, and you'll be on Apple and Spotify everywhere that
you get your podcast, your podcast will be living. Then we'll get into
advertising and marketing your show and starting
to grow your audience. So make sure you follow me here on skill share because you
don't want to lose this class. It's a really extensive class. We're going to really
get into a lot of nitty gritty details about the technology and really how to promote your podcast and
how to get everything online in person and
into people's ears. So, um, there is a class
project for this class, and I'm so excited to
tell you about it. We are going to have a worksheet that you can download here on Skill Share and fill out and
then upload after the class. So you can start journaling exercises throughout the course. You can download the worksheet
now if you'd like to and start filling out
your podcast concept and things like that
throughout the course. There's definitely a few
options there's definitely a few opportunities
to be able to stop the class and write
down some of your ideas, which I high highly recommend. So grab a piece of paper, open your notes app, however you like to take notes, however you like to journal, definitely grab your
supplies because this is going to be an
inspiring 30 or 60 minutes. I'm not sure how long this
class is going to last, but I'm very excited
to have you in class, and I will say, let's
just dive right into.
2. Finding Your Concept: This class is going
to be three parts, and we're going to start
with Part one, obviously. And part one is going to be
finding your podcast concept. So in this class, there's ten or 11
different lessons. Number one is all about
finding your why. With podcasting, it's really
hard to keep with it, okay? And so it's really important
that you understand for yourself why you want
to have a podcast, why it's important that you
are the host of the podcast. Who is your audience? Who are you trying to impact? And so it's really just
important that you understand, some of the disclaimers
here because podcasting, I will tell you as a podcaster, it's very difficult to
keep with podcasting. And there's a few reasons, and really the first reason is that it's hard to get feedback
when you're doing a podcast. It's hard to you're not really getting
that many comments. You're not really
getting that many people telling you what they
think of your podcast, and you're creating
it in one situation, and then you're releasing
it in another situation. And you know, when you're
creating a podcast, you're not really
there with somebody while they're listening
to your podcast. And so it's really
important that you understand that because it feels like you're creating
and to avoid sometimes. And it takes a long time
to build up an audience. And so while you're
getting started, it's really hard to stay
consistent and to stay motivated and to stay on top of releasing a podcast
episode every single week. Now, did you know that 99% of podcasts do not
make it to episode 21? So I will issue a
challenge here. And this is something that
I feel very passionately about is that if you
can get to episode 21, you can do anything. And so, 21, I mean, what is that one quarter? Or two quarters of the year. If you can release an
episode every week, maybe do some bonus episodes, maybe get an episode for a holiday or a special
occasion out there. But if you can
release 21 episodes, you will have beat
out 99% of podcasts. So I really recommend if you're
going to start a podcast, try to make it so that
you can get to 21. If you can get to Episode 21, I will be very,
very proud of you. It's very difficult. It requires a lot of
grit, but it's worth it. And it's awesome
to have a podcast. So you're right to
want a podcast, and you should have a podcast, but just know that it tends to be very difficult
to get to Episode 21. So I just want to make
sure you know that as we go into this idea
of having a podcast, running a podcast, and being able to
stick with a podcast. Now, not all podcasts
need to be 21 episodes. You could do a ten
episode project, and that's totally fine. But if you're trying
to create a podcast that's lasting years and
years and, you know, going on and on and building and building and getting
a lot of traction, then I really recommend trying to get to at least Episode 21. Another reason, you know, is that each episode
takes a lot of time. And when it takes a lot of time, we have jobs, we
have commitments. Some of us might
have kids or pets or vacations or whatever
we have to deal with. And it makes it very difficult
to spend, you know, ten, 20 hours on every
episode between building the episode and editing and then promoting
and all of that. And so it can be very difficult. It can also be difficult
to book guests. It can be difficult to write
episodes and keep up with the tech or just making the promo clips
takes a lot of time. So I say that not to discourage
you at all because again, you are right to want to
have a podcast and to be driven to share your story and to be driven to
connect with people. But I just say all of that
to make sure that you're aware that podcasting is not
necessarily an easy feat. So if you want to on
something smaller, like maybe a blog or
maybe a weekly visit, a video series, that could be something that could fill
that same need for you. I just don't want you
to necessarily feel like you need to make a podcast, which is, in my opinion, sometimes the biggest
project possible if you don't necessarily need to or if you don't have the
time to commit to do. Okay, so part two of Lesson number one is
really finding your why. So this is where I want you This is where we're
really getting into it, okay? So I want you to really
reflect and think about why you want to have a podcast because you
know that you want to, you know it in your head, that you want to have a podcast. But it's really important to be extremely
clear on the why. So when you're
starting your podcast, you need to get deep
with yourself about why you are the one that's
leading the podcast. So thinking about,
simple questions, like, why do you want
to have a podcast? Is it to grow your audience? Is it to support your business? Is it to make friends, you know, who want to come on your
podcast, that's totally fine. But really thinking
about what is the reason that you
want to have a podcast. And this is where if
you have your pencils and papers or if you
have your notes app, you can get that out and
start thinking about and writing down why is it that
you want to start a podcast? Um, these two questions are
really important to me, which is why should
people hear from you? Because a lot of times
we have an interest. Like, for example, if you're
interested in soccer, you might want to start
a podcast about soccer, but what is your unique
perspective about soccer? And what is your unique
experience with soccer that makes it interesting to listen
to you talk about soccer. And of course, everybody
has a unique interest and perspective and way of talking that makes
it entertaining. But if you are more clear on it, then you're more clear on
the value of your podcast, and you can pitch it to
people when you meet them. So it's really
important that you know what makes you special, so that you know so
that you can know what makes your podcast special. Does sharing your
perspective and planting your flag fire you up? That's a really important
thing to think about. Do you want to
share your opinion about soccer as the
soccer example? Do you want to say something
controversial about soccer? You know, thinking
about what you want for your podcast and
why you are the person who should be sharing
these messages is a really good exercise as you're building out what
your podcast should be. So take out your paper,
take out your pens, and write down a few reasons
why you want to start this show and circle the one
that fires you up the most. I can tell you that as someone who has done
multiple podcasts, there's been
different reasons for every different podcast
that I've done. And oftentimes it's driven by my love of podcasting, even. And so just make sure that you are clear on what
your podcasting Y is. Lesson number two
is really exciting. So narrowing your niche. So you hear this a
lot, the word niche. What does it mean and kind of why is it important
to have a podcast niche? Now, the thing about a
niche and, you know, a topic and something
that's really specific is that a lot of the most successful podcasts out there are very, very niche. So, you know, there's
people out there who have podcasts that are
about wire fencing. There's people out
there who have podcasts about audio production. It doesn't have to be
a big wide topic and a big wide variety of things in order to be
a successful podcast. A lot of times the podcasts
that we hear about from celebrities are just really interview podcasts and they're just kind
of comedians or celebrities or people who are talk show hosts or TV people. And they're really just interviewing people
about their life. And that's totally fine. If you want to
interview your friends and if you want to interview people in your life about their lives and their
perspectives and their stories, that's a great podcast, and
that's what you should do. But you should also think about what you're
passionate about. Maybe you're passionate about just getting to know people, but maybe you're passionate about ice cream trucks
or something like that, where you want to start
a podcast outlining the history and
the inner workings of the ice cream truck industry. That kind of thing could get very successful because
there's a lot of people out there who might just be
interested in that topic, or they might just be interested that you're interested in that. And if you can talk about something that fires
you up the most, that's going to
be the thing that your podcast should be about. So when you're thinking
about your podcast concept, don't just think about
the big wide variety of things you can talk about. If you can think about
something that's very niche, that is a really
helpful way to grow your audience and to get an
audience in the first place. You know, some questions
you can ask yourself are, you know, what do you nerd out about at parties or at work? Like, if I saw you at a party and you were
in a corner talking to somebody and you were just all animated and so fired up, what would you
be talking about? That would be a
really good question to journal about in your notes. You know, these can be
good starting points to find your niche. Um And, you know, I say all of this about A Niche, and
at the same time, what's really important is that you're passionate and that your passion comes across
in your podcasting, and in your episodes, people can tell that
you're not bored. As a podcaster, you
have to not be bored. You have to be interested
and engaged and excited about what people
are talking about. And so if you're interested
in just anything, that's totally fine, as well. But you have to be interested. You can't just say, Oh, this week, we're going
to talk about necklaces. Next week, we're going
to talk about eggs, and that's just going
to be what it is. There's plenty of podcasts that are just generally kind of choose a topic every
single week and deep dive, that's totally fine, as well, but you have to be interested. And if the niche is
just you doing you, that's totally fine, as well. It's okay to be a multi passionate person and to have a lot of
different interests. I'm just saying that your
niche needs to be clear to you and it needs to be clear when you're talking
about the podcast. So really coming
up with a title of the podcast and tag line for the podcast is really important as you build out your concept and as you build out your theme. So write down a few niche
ideas that you have, and then, you know, circle the one that feels
the most authentic to you. That's what you really need a
podcast to be is authentic. So as you think about
what's really, really, really going to
drive you to make the most episodes
ever and to build a podcast that matters and is meaningful and actually
hooks people in, it's really important that you are interested, like I said. So let's go on to Lesson three. Okay, this is very exciting. So we're going to talk
about Lesson three, which is deciding on
your show format. Your show format, let me just be very clear with you,
can be anything. It can be anything
you want it to be. It can be a five minute show. It can be a ten hour show. Whatever feels most authentic
to you, you should do it. And you can also
test things out, try things out, change up the
format every now and then. But here's a couple
of things that you need to think about as
you're building out the format because as
you're starting to book guests or as you're starting to collaborate with a co host, or if you're just planning out your first episode or
your first few episodes, it's really important that you know what the format of
your show is going to be. There's just some things
you need to decide. That's the exciting part about producing and starting
your own podcast. Number one is is it just you? Is it going to be just like this where it's just one person, a microphone, a
computer, and a story. Is that what's going
to be your podcast? Is it going to have a co host? Is it going to be a panel? Really thinking about
who is the cast the main cast of the
podcast is really, really important because it's okay to switch it up
every now and then, but being clear on that is going to really
help you with your concept. Ask yourself, are
you going to do the episodes in person or are you going to
do them on Zoom? If you do them in person, then you got to think
about a set and think about what it's
going to look like and think about the technology, which we'll get
into in Part two. And then the third idea, this is just something I
had an idea of I was like, do you want to record in
front of an audience? Some podcasts absolutely record
in front of an audience. Sometimes they do in person
shows and stuff like that, and that could be something
you consider as well. And then considering is
your show audio only, or is it going to be video? So all of these questions, I would take a notepad and write down the answers
to these questions because it's going to be
really important that you are clear on this and that when you're talking
about your podcast, you can say, Oh, you know, it's me and my co host, and we're both really
passionate about electrical work and plumbing. And I'm an electrician. He's a plumber, and we just
talk about the industry, you know, and that could
be a really great podcast. Honestly, I would listen to also thinking about things in your
podcast that might come up. So are there going
to be segments? Are there going to be games? Are there going to be, is there going to be an intro song? Is there going to be
callers or correspondence? Thinking of things like
that is going to be really, really helpful as you
plan out your show. So these kind of
abstract things that you can apply to every
different episode, and you will be better off for having planned this out in advance instead of just
kind of starting off. And the more you can
plan in advance, you know, I'm totally an
improviser, impulsive person, but planning these things in
advance and having a format to your show is going to make it easier to get to
that 21 episodes. So protip here is to write down a bit of a run of show
for your first episode. It can be an imaginary episode or you can actually ask somebody to be on your show and put
together a run of show. And, you know, answer
the questions above and see what your show
is going to look like. Okay, now, lesson four. This is where we're
going to talk about actually making it happen. And what we're
talking about here is making the recording happen. So there's a little bit
that I want to say to you, the class taker here about getting started
on your podcast. A lot of people, when they
have a project like this, tend to be hesitant. And there's many, many reasons why people
tend to be hesitant. But I want to encourage you to just put the
podcast out there, to just schedule the
recording and get it done and make sure that you're not operating
out of a place of fear. So the questions that
I have for you to consider if you are hesitant
and if you're not hesitant, feel free to skip to
the next section. If you're ready to just
move on and get ready for the podcasting world,
then that's fine. But if you are
hesitant, consider, am I worried about the
judgment of my friends? This is something that's
so important to get past because if you
are worried about the judgment of your
friends and you let that stop you from actually creating what you're
passionate about creating, that ends up being a very
lonely and sad outcome as a result of fear of judgment. We all have a fear of
judgment and we all want to make sure that we protect ourselves from embarrassment
or from judgment. But just consider the fact that everybody starts somewhere, and when you're
starting a podcast, it's not going to be perfect. And even if you're really
great with the audio and you're a really fantastic
conversation holder, it's not going to be what
it would be on Episode 21. So that's why I really want
to encourage you to make at least 21 episodes and
beat out those 99% of people because the progress
that you will see in the first 21 episodes
is going to be amazing. It's going to be
fantastic progress because you're going to learn about your format, your concept. You're going to learn how to
have better conversations, how to listen better in
your podcast interviews. And it's going to be really,
really fantastic to see how much effort or to see how much improvement you make
in your first 21 episodes. So just understand that everybody feels that sense of fear that they
will be judged. And push through it. You know, really be able to say, I'm going to just put
it out, and maybe I'm going to show five
friends or ten friends. Maybe I won't post the first
episode on social media. You should post it
on social media, but just in case you're
feeling that judgment, I would encourage you to
do it for the love of the podcast and post it
on the podcast platforms, and just let it be and
let it be what it is. The next one is, am I worried about the commitment
or the failure? This is another big fear that people have is
that they will fail. Well, with podcasting, it's a really interesting
thing because really, any podcast is going
to end at some point. So at any point, you are
allowed to stop the podcast. Just do it as long
as you're loving it and do it as much as you feel is appropriate for how much you enjoy
doing the podcast. Um if you're worried
about the commitment, you don't have to do
an episode every week. You can do an episode every
other week or every month, or you can really just
do it as much as you feel like it and just put out an episode whenever you
want to put out an episode. I know people who do podcasts and they just do an episode
every two or three months, and it's fun for them,
and that's what they do. And if that's what's
important for you, then I highly recommend
that's what you do. But something that you
can also think about is what systems can I take
advantage of to make it easier? So if you're worried
about the time commitment of building the podcast, then I recommend thinking about computer systems and, you know, scheduling systems that make it easier to do your podcast. Maybe it's something
where every week you put it in your calendar
to record the episode, and you just stick
to that every week. Maybe that's a system
that works for you. Or maybe when you're
booking guests, you use a calendar link to send to them so that they can just choose a time
that works for them, that's based on your calendar. That's a good idea as
well for something, you know, that ultimately takes
a lot of time is booking. And then the last one is, Am I expecting perfection of myself? Now, perfection is the
enemy of production. It's going to stop you from putting something out if you
feel that it's not perfect. And podcasting, I'll tell you, is not supposed to be perfect. You are not supposed to put
out an episode that sounds perfect and gets everything
perfect every time. It's supposed to be real, it's supposed to be authentic, and it's supposed to connect
with audience members. So I would recommend that
if you are worried about the perfection of maybe
the audio quality or the perfection of, you know, the
guests or whatever, um, that's another thing that you have to work
through and get through. So I recommend looking into which of these
things are holding you back from getting
started and your podcast. And really, I would recommend talking
to a friend about it or if you're in therapy, talking to a therapist about it or if you have a
family member that you call often talking
to them about what might be holding
you back because once you say it out loud, it will hold less power, and they might be able to advise you on how to move
forward there. So that would be,
you know, a lot. I know that was kind of a long
lecture here on, you know, something that's
tangential to podcasting, but I would definitely recommend really digging in here and thinking about
what's holding you back. Now, let's get into
really making it happen. So if you're not
feeling hesitant or you are feeling hesitant but
you want to push through, I recommend setting a date
to record your podcast. And this is going to get
you started on recording your podcast because
setting a date and inviting the right people
that need to be involved will absolutely set you on the right path toward
publishing the podcast. So things to consider before you start recording
your podcast. This is a really
important thing. So make sure you take
some notes here or a screenshot this slide or
however you're taking notes. Things to consider before
your recording date. Number one, how does
your video set look? So if you are doing audio only, this is a little
bit less relevant, but it still is relevant because even even if you're not
doing a video episode, you should still potentially film on an iPhone
or on a camera. You recording because you can use those recordings for
clips on social media, which we'll get into in
section number three. But thinking about
how your set looks. So cleaning your area, maybe decorating a little bit, maybe thinking about how
you personally look, have you showered, you know, are you looking the way you
want to look on the Internet? That's a really important
thing to think about for sure. And then, number two, do you have all the
technology that you need? And we'll talk about
that in part two here. But do you have all the
technology you need? That might be microphones, a computer, certain software. You might need an
audio interface, maybe headphones, lighting,
all of that stuff. So think about that as you are setting your date
for your podcast recording. And remember, you do not need to be perfect on
the first episode. What matters most is
just you, your voice, your conversation, your story, and getting that
out into the world. So don't worry about making a professional production for your very first podcast episode. And then really just
making sure everybody is aware of their roles and
their responsibilities. So if you have a
producer or if you have a podcast co host or
if you have a guest, making sure everybody
knows where to show up, what to bring and how to act during the podcast interview, and also how long you
expect it to take. So in the words of
Nike, just do it. Just get out there, put
something on the calendar, and get something started. And that will take us to the recap of P one,
which is very exciting. So part one recap, we talked about
finding your why. So we talked about how hard it is to get to
episode number 21, and so really understanding
and anchoring yourself in why you are
doing this podcast, narrowing your niche is number two and thinking
about what is my niche? Like, what is making me special? And remember that question
of if I saw you at a party and you are just gabbing and having fun and
talking about something, what would that topic be? Um, and maybe not just fun, maybe just really interested. Maybe maybe you're
a true crime person and you're just really
serious and curious. Number three is
designing your format, and so just really thinking
about those segments. Are you going to have,
you know, callers? Are you going to
have correspondence? Are you going to do video?
Are you going to do audio? Like, all of that
makes the most sense, and then ending with making
a path and setting a date. And with that, that is P one. Let's move on to part two and start to wrap
up this course.
3. Successfully Recording Audio (And Video): Okay, so part two,
we're going to get into the technological
side here. And I will tell you, I'm
pretty good at explaining the technological side
of a lot of this stuff. And so if you have
questions, definitely, leave a comment in the
skill share class here, and I'll be happy to engage
with that and help you understand some things about what technology to buy
and things like that. But we're going to get into
my recommendations on how to build out a
tech platform and, you know, tech stack and what technology you
need in order to record good audio and video. And then we'll also
talk about some of the practices and the best practices and getting into that. So lesson number five is setting yourself up
for a great quality. Okay, so let's get into it. And you can definitely
screenshot this. You can take notes, and you can leave comments and ask
questions and all of that. But number one is
your microphones. And this is where it really matters what
microphone you use. Now, it doesn't matter for
the quality of your podcast. You could use
AirPods if you want. That's totally fine.
Or you could even, you know, just hold up your
phone if it's just you. You could just hold up your phone and talk
into your phone and upload that to a
podcast platform, and that is a podcast.
That's totally fine. But if you're looking to get serious about the
microphones that you're using, and you want the audio
to be higher quality, and you want the
audio to be really engaging for your audience, the best microphone out
there, in my opinion, and of the opinion of a
lot of producers who do podcasts is the SM
seven B from Sure. You can get this on
all kinds of platform, all kinds of stores, and
you can get it anywhere. But that's the microphone that is highly recommended
for podcasting. You can also get anything
from that brand, and it will be a pretty
good microphone. So definitely looking at, you know, $50 to up to $500. You know, microphones can go
anywhere from low to high. So just thinking
about what microphone you want to use is a really important
thing to think about. But again, I'm serious. It's not about the
audio quality. Of course, the audio quality matters from the
microphone perspective, but there are other things that matter about your
podcast way more, like the story you're telling, the fact that it's authentic and that you have your niche, things like that
are going to grow your podcast a lot more
than the audio quality. There are plenty of podcasts out there that have really
bad audio quality, and they have hundreds and
thousands of listeners. So don't get too caught up on the money that it's going to
cost to buy a microphone. Just get what you can afford, get what you can start with. And maybe as a 21st episode, gift, you can upgrade and get yourself an even
nicer microphone. Headphones is something that
a lot of people ask about, and you really don't
need headphones when you're doing a podcast. They do have benefits, like if you have a headphones, you can if you have headphones, it kind of takes
away distractions, and it also allows you to hear, like, what the podcast might sound like in the final form. But you don't need headphones. So don't think you
need headphones in order to do a podcast. It's totally okay to do it. Even if you want to use AirPods
or or bigger headphones, it's completely fine to
not use headphones at all. Pro tip number one is to get something that
matches your budget. Don't go out of your
way to, you know, go into debt to buy some
huge, nice microphone. The more you spend, the
easier it will be to edit the audio into something
that sounds really good. But do what you can. That's really what I would say. You do not need the most expensive microphone
in order to have a good podcast and in order
to build an audience and grow your storytelling
and grow your audience. Pro tip number two is, this is a piece that you need
to know about microphones. Um, some of them
require something called an interface,
an audio interface. And this is something that
might cost 100 or $200. And essentially, it's
just a little bit of an adapter kind of thing that instead of plugging the microphone directly
into the computer, which is something that you can do with certain
different microphones, some microphones require that you plug it into an
audio interface, and then you plug the audio
interface into the computer. The reason is that
some microphones have a cord that can't plug
into a microphone. So you just have to or that
can't plug into a computer. So you just have to understand
about your microphone, what it plugs into
and how adaptable it is and how compatible it is to your computer if
you're using a computer or phone to record your podcast. Okay, now, number five here is going with your
budget and your level. So there really is no right
way to record a podcast. So here in this slide,
we're going to talk about the different levels
of production here. So if you are setting
out to start a podcast, so just imagine you want
to start a podcast, maybe it's about your
childhood memories and how it relates to mental health or
something like that. You know, that's a
great niche. Um now, on the simple side, on the very, very simple side, if
you just wanted to, you could hold your phone up in your voice memos app and
talk for 30 minutes, and take that file
and just upload it straight to a
podcasting platform. You don't have to edit, you
don't have to add effects. You don't have to do anything. You can just upload that file. That's the really,
really simple side. On the more middle side,
on the medium end, you could get a simple
microphone like maybe some kind of SR microphone that cost, you know, cost, you
know, $100 or something, $200 or something like that. And you could record into your computer or you
could do it on Zoom. You could record on Zoom, which is something that
we haven't totally talked about yet, but we will. And then you can edit the audio in something like garage band. If you have if you
have a Mac computer, PCs have other software that
they can use to edit audio, but it's just really
important that you understand what software you're
using and what microphones you're using
and all of that stuff. So on the medium end, you
could do audio only and just record into microphones and edit the audio in garage band. And then on the advanced side, which is something that I do recommend you
get yourself up to, you could have microphones
with, you know, an interface, like we talked about,
going into a computer, have video going on a camera and then edit in Imvie
or Final Cut Pro, which are two softwares
that do video editing. Um, and, you know, I say, just start where
you're comfortable. You do not need to hire
somebody to edit your episodes. That can be very,
very expensive, especially if you're just starting out and
you're not sure about the cadence of the
podcast or you're not really settled in
how you like it edited. It can be very expensive. Now, let's talk about the benefits of doing
a video podcast. Lot of people don't love
doing video podcasts. But I do recommend it from the
searchability perspective. If you can build an audio podcast that
goes to things like Spotify and Apple
and Stitcher and other apps that people listen to podcasts on, that's great. But if you can add
your podcast to YouTube as a video episode, that is going to increase
your searchability in a way that is going to really change the
reach of your podcast. So even just filming with one camera is totally
okay and then just matching the the audio
and the video in a movie software and
editing it as a video and then uploading the audio to your distribution platform. That can be a
really, really good way to grow the reach
of your episodes. So I definitely believe
in video episodes, but at the same time, I do think that you should start
where you're comfortable. And then maybe if you start with audio and you gain
a little traction, then you can start adding video, but take it slow and start with what you're
comfortable with. But if you know how
to edit a video, it's not that hard
to edit the video and put it up on YouTube in addition to putting
it on Spotify. So do what makes sense for you, but I definitely recommend
doing video episodes. So going on to
Lesson number six, planning your
recording for success. So we've talked about
some of the technology. And honestly, there's
other classes on really recording audio and, you know, getting good audio. But what I would love to talk
about is kind of setting your scene and setting the room for getting
great, amazing audio. So lesson number six is planning your
recording for success. So the biggest tip, and this is something
that is so funny because almost every
episode almost every podcast that I listen to has
had some problem with this where it gets hot or it gets cold and people want
to be comfortable, so they turn on the
air conditioner. And, you know,
that's totally fine, but there might be a hum or
a buzz or something like that in the background
of your podcast episode. And honestly, it's
better in my opinion, to suffer for the 30 or 40 or 50 or 60
minutes that you are recording the episode and turn off any air conditioners
or any u you know, dishwashers or fans
unless you feel like you can test it out and they're not making
too much of a noise, because I'll tell you, listening
to a podcast with a hiss or a hum in the background
is really distracting. And so people are
likely to hop off of your podcast if they can't
stand, you know, the audio. So you got to it's less about the microphone quality and more about the setting that
you put yourself into. So the next tip is try
to reduce distractions. So this could be your
kids, your pets, any deliveries,
things like that are going to cause a distraction
in your podcast. And even if they're not
making a lot of noise, they can distract
you from being able to focus on your podcast
episode and really being able to really being able to deliver a great
message and really be able to deliver a great story
that doesn't need to be edited that
much because that's something that you
want is to have such a good episode that it doesn't need a ton of editing. And then the other thing
is removing yourself as much as you can
from outside noise. So if there's weather and thunder and lightning
and things like that, maybe wait till tomorrow
to record your podcast. Unless that's part
of your story and part of your podcast, that
could be pretty cool. I personally live on a street with a lot of
ambulances and fire trucks, and it makes it very
difficult to hide from that. But you do your best. You can try to get away from
those sounds and noises, and that will make your
podcast a whole lot better. So tips for audio recording. Number one, record everyone's
audio on a different track. This is something that I
learned pretty early on in my podcasting journey that if you can record people's
audio on a different track, then when you're editing,
you can manipulate people's audio just for what they are saying and what they're doing
and things like that. So this was really
helpful for me. When I was getting
started in podcasting because I noticed
I said, Uh huh. Mm hmm. Yep. Uh huh. Yep, yes, yes, yes, while
people were talking. And I just decided I wanted to cut some of
those out in editing. And so having a different track really made a difference
for me and being able to and being able to edit
the way that I wanted to with being a
beginner in podcasting. I would honestly recommend
taking a class maybe here on skill share about audio editing in the software that
you're planning to use. If you don't know how to
edit audio, take a class. It's honestly something that is a really good skill if you're
going to be a podcaster, and you really don't
want to outsource the editing for your podcast unless you have a ton of money. It's for someone
to take, you know, an hour and a half episode and edit it and put it together
and create the story and, you know, you know, just
even dealing with the files, it just adds so much work when you can just
do it yourself, and I highly recommend
editing it yourself. Unless you're working
with a team that already has an editor or you're working with a co host who wants to edit it themselves
or something like that, that is okay, but I would not hire an editor unless
you really have the funds. And if you do, that's fantastic. The other thing that I'll say is just the better your microphone, the better the audio will be and so you won't
have to do so much, editing of the
lowness of the voice or the background noise
and stuff like that. Nicer microphones will take out the background
noise a little bit and make the voice
sound really, really nice. So moving on to editing
your first episode. So this is you know, I recognize this is a
lot of information. And so I hope you know you're taking notes and just
kind of enjoying this class because it's really nice to get to sit
down and think about, like, how am I going to go
about doing this podcast? So editing your first episode. So if you're doing audio only, what I would recommend is to record your episode right into garage band if you're on a Mac and right onto another
software if you're on a PC. And then once
you've recorded it, just edit it right there. Definitely make sure that
you're saving often because you don't want to lose the
audio that you've recorded. I might even recommend
making a copy or duplicating your audio so that you still have
the original audio, and then you have
the edited audio. But then all you
have to do is export your audio episode from garage band or from
another platform. And then you'll have
a file that you can upload and we'll talk about
how to distribute, as well. Now, if you're doing
a video episode, it does get a little
bit more complicated. But to me, it's
actually not that much harder when you think about how it's really
just one more step, which is combining the
audio and the video. So what you want to
do here is put up a camera and film your episode. So if it's a conversation, just put up a
camera and film it. Don't worry about the
audio for the video, because the audio that you're going to use
is going to come from your microphone and from
your your garage band, you know, so don't worry
about the video audio. Just worry about
the video looking good and looking how
you want it to look. Then once you have the audio
file and the video file, you're going to merge
them, basically. So you'll go into
something like I movie. And you'll put in the video and then you'll
put in the audio. And then the only real hard part is aligning those things. And so what I recommend is really making sure you
can see the sound waves and lining them up based
on the sound waves so that when you say
something on the video, it's saying it also on the
audio at the exact same time. That takes a little bit of learning and a
little bit of skill, but once you've
done that, then you can just edit the video
like a normal video, and it is a lot actually
easier to edit a podcast as a video because you can actually see the
conversation that's happening, and it makes it to me it makes it easier because
you can actually feel the energy versus when
you're just editing audio, it feels like you can get
distracted and you're not really sure what's going
on and things like that. So both have their
pros and cons, but if you're going to be
doing a video podcast, that's what I highly recommend. Protip number one is
that the better you are as a podcast
producer and as a host, the less editing you
will have to do. So I notice, you know, that when people do
a really good job of speaking and
telling their story and being authentic and sharing what they want to share on the podcast in
a concise manner. They don't have to edit as much. Whereas, if somebody is
rambling and if somebody isn't sure what they want to say or if somebody is taking a lot of
breaks and things like that, there's going to be
more editing involved. So a really, really
big tip is to plan ahead and make
sure you know where the story is going
and make sure that your guest has used the
bathroom and things like that, because it really is hard to edit like an
hour long podcast, and that's where it
takes a lot of time out of pro tip number two is that, you know, design your show to require the editing that
you're going to want to do. So, for example, if you're going to want to
have a theme song, that's going to
require more editing. So just imagine, you know, every episode, you're going
to have to take, you know, 10 minutes to insert
the theme song and to transition it into the episode, you know,
things like that. So it does add up. So designing your show to
require the same amount of editing that you want to do is a really
important piece here. Okay. And now on
to Lesson eight, we're going to talk about
launching your show. So this is the big moment
you've been waiting for. You've recorded your episode. You have edited and
exported your episode, and now where do you put it? So once you have
your edited episode, you're going to go to a service called Spotify for Creators. Now, there are plenty of services that you can use for
distributing your podcast. My recommendation is to
use Spotify for Creators, and the reason is that
Spotify for Creators is free. As long as you just
have one podcast, it's a free course or
it's a free platform, and they're really easy
to use. Now, Spotify We distribute your podcast
to not only Spotify, but to Apple and Google
to the Google store and to all the different places where podcasts are produced. Some of them you may
have to add manually, but most of them are automatic and they have partnerships, and they will just put it out. And when you upload an episode
on Spotify for Creators, it only takes about
ten or 20 minutes for them to get everywhere
on the Internet. It's a really amazing platform. So when you're getting
started on this, you're going to go on
Spotify for creators. Just Google it and find it, and it'll come up
really quickly. They have great searchability. But you can just
Google that and make an account you probably already have an account
with Spotify potentially. But you can make an account,
and then you can um, you know, create your show. And so this is where
you're thinking about your concept, your niche. You can give it a title. You can give your podcast
itself a description, maybe upload some album art. This could be a
picture of you or something you've created
in something like Canva, and then you can basically upload the fact that
you have a podcast. The other cool thing about
Spotify for creators is it will create like a
website for your podcast. And so you'll be able to share that page that shares where
people can find your podcast. Now, once you've
created your podcast, you can upload your episodes. And you can upload
unlimited episodes. I think you could do one
every day if you wanted to. And all you have to do
is click New episode and enter the details and the
audio clip or the video clip, whichever one you're
deciding to do because Spotify for
creators can handle both. And then you're going to want
to upload that same video. If you're doing video,
you're going to upload the same
video to YouTube. So the way that you're doing it, if you're doing a
video podcast is to upload to Spotify for creators and then
upload to YouTube. The order doesn't matter, but those are the two platforms
that you have to do, and then your podcast will be everywhere, which is fantastic. So upload to YouTube. I recommend making a
YouTube channel for your podcast unless you want to just keep it
under your own name. But a lot of times when people
are following a podcast, they just want to follow
the podcast itself. They don't necessarily want to follow the host or the
guests or this or that. And it's also really cool
because you can make your page really themed
for the podcast. So making a YouTube page for
your podcast is really cool. And then make sure you upload
the video as a podcast, not just as a video
because spotify. I mean, because YouTube suggests podcasts as
its own category. So you want to be included. When people are
looking up podcasts, you want to be included as a podcast, not just as a video. And then take a
breather and say, ya, you want to make sure
that you have written a description and you've written a title
for your podcast, and, you know,
everything's uploaded. And then I would
just take a break, grab a drink of water, and really think about how you just uploaded your very
first podcast episode. Very exciting and
congratulations.
4. Promoting Your Show: Okay, getting into Part three, this is going to be the final
section of this course, and we're going to talk a
little bit about how to promote your show and how to
get a podcast audience. Because, of course,
you don't want to just create your show and just put it online and
then never tell anybody. That's what a lot of people
do when they're not proud of their podcast or
when they're worried that people will think they're taking themselves seriously. But you are an authentic
podcaster now, and you have to be able
to promote your show, to be able to talk
about your show, and to be able to understand
how to make your show grow. So let's get into it.
Okay, so like I said, about the YouTube channel, making a YouTube channel for your podcast is a
really good idea because it makes it more bingib. It makes it more connected
to itself within YouTube, and that's true for Instagram
TikTok and wherever else, you want to see
your podcast grow. So I definitely recommend making an Instagram page
for your podcast, maybe making a Tik Tok
page for your podcast, and then also potentially making a website
for your podcast. A website is a great place for your podcast because it'll
help with the searchability. It will also make it
so that you can create a place where people
can always find the newest episodes
of the podcast. But if you can't
create a website, you can always create
something like a Link tree if you want to, or a one page bio kind of situation that you can
put into your Instagram bio. Making a website
or a Link tree is going to be a really
fantastic idea. And then what you
should do is go into your Instagram
DMs or go into your text messages or go into your address book and ask
people to follow the page. Just tell them, Hey, I just
started this new podcast. I'm really trying to
grow the Instagram page. Do you mind giving it a follow? Most people will go
in and follow it because they're excited
to see your new project. They want to see
what you're up to, and they will be
likely to follow. So that's how you can get
some of your first followers. Now, when it comes
to what to post, you're going to
want to post clips, clips, clips of your podcast. As many clips as you can afford within your schedule, you're going to want to post. The way that you're
going to do this is if you're doing audio only, I think you should still film with your phone or something. The episodes being
filmed because if you can post clips of video, that's going to be a lot more engaging than if you
just posted a photo. Video on Instagram
is blowing up, and if you can post a
video of a podcast clip, that's going to be
really, really helpful. If you don't know
how to edit them, there's definitely classes
on how to do that. But it's really a
lot more engaging, and I highly recommend doing
video and not just photos. It's just going to ultimately make your podcast grow faster, and it's going to make people
excited about your show, and it also gives a face
if you're having guests. And so just really
making sure that you're posting on social media. If you're doing weekly episodes, you should probably be posting three or four times during
the week about your podcast, both in your Instagram feed and also in your
Instagram story. And then do the same
thing on TikTok, do the same thing
on YouTube shorts. The more you put into it, the
more you'll get out of it. And Lesson ten, we're going to talk about
friends versus fans. So the thing that I've
learned about podcasting in my journey is that your podcast
is not for your friends. It is for your audience and your authentic audience and
your interested audience. A lot of people that
we're friends with are not interested in what our
podcast is going to be. Now, they might
be, because maybe your podcast is just about
interviewing your friends, and they all want to hear their own interviews,
and that's great. But think about the real
audience for your podcast. Now, that's who you're targeting with your social media content. So yes, you're going to ask
your friends to follow, and maybe your friends will listen to an episode
here or there. But ultimately, you want
an authentic audience full of strangers
who are listening to your podcast and people who are interested in the same kind
of things that you are. So if your friends are not naturally interested in what you're talking about, they probably will fall off after the first ten
or 20 episodes. And that's totally, totally
that's totally okay, because you are a
targeting and more authentic, more
aligned audience. And that is going to ultimately be better for your podcast
because that's going to be better for ad revenue and for sponsorships and also just for the engagement in what
you're talking about. So when you're recording, think about that
audience member. Don't think about your friends. And especially if
you're thinking your friends are
going to judge you, just leave your friends
out of it, you know? Sometimes our friends are people that we're looking
for approval from, and that's not actually who
we're marketing towards. So as you're recording
your episode, try to make the authentic
audience member feel included and drop what
you think about your friends. Now, when you're
growing your audience, when you've launched
your first episode and you've posted
on social media, there's also a couple of
things that you can do to really make the podcast even better and also really involve more people in the process of
growing your podcast. The first thing that you
can do is an obvious one, but always be talking
about your podcast. If you go to a party or
a networking event or you're at work or you're with your friends,
mention the podcast. Mention that you
started a podcast, mention that you have a podcast, talk about what the concept is, talk about what the niche is, and really always
just bring it up. And, you know, when you have
a podcast that has guests, you can always say, Oh, my God, this person was on my podcast. And then someone says, Oh, cool. What's your podcast about? It's a very natural
authentic way to bring up your podcast. The other thing you
can do is asking for feedback on your
podcast episodes. If you ask for feedback. One of the things that I've
learned is that people support what they feel that
they have a part in creating. And so if you ask somebody for feedback, they give you an idea, and you incorporate that, they are more likely to
support your podcast. And the last one
here is just really iterating on your ideas. So maybe every ten episodes, think of, like, Hey, what can I do to make this even better? What can I do to make this more connected
with the audience? Is the audience that
I'm setting out for actually listening
to the podcast, and are the people who are
listening to the podcast actually the people that I set out to attract because you
want to have that alignment. You want to make sure
that you are able to connect with people that you're trying
to connect with. And that's really
the ultimate goal of the podcast is to connect
with that audience. They want to be able to expect what you are going to be
able to put out there, and you want to be
able to put out there what they're
looking to expect. So consistency. Let's talk a little
bit about consistency. You have to be consistent if you want
to grow the audience. Now, of course, you're
allowed to start a podcast and do episodes
whenever you want. But one of the things with podcasts is we all
have maybe five, maybe ten podcasts that we're aware of that
we're listening to. And we know the day they come out and we say, you know,
a lot of people say, Oh, I got a new episode, and they set aside their time. It becomes a part
of their routine, and that's how you really
grow a podcast audience. And so the more
you can do to stay consistent, absolutely,
the better. So anything you can do to stay consistent is
really important. So, um you can do an episode every other week, if that's
going to help you. You can do an episode every month if that's
going to help you. But at the end of the day,
it's a sad but true truth. Doing a weekly
episode and having a day that it comes
out is just going to ultimately grow the podcast more than almost
any other strategy. And that's where I will take you to the wrap
up of this course
5. Wrapping Up: Thank you so much
for being here. I have totally enjoyed
teaching this class. I'm so excited to
connect with you, and I'm so excited for you
to go start your show. You do have something special to share. You have
something unique. You have a voice, and everybody's story matters,
especially yours. And so I do hope that
you start your podcast. I hope you take action, and I hope you
don't let anything hold you back from
starting your podcast. You can do it. You
can start a podcast. And I I really want
to encourage you to go out and make a first
episode and then test it out, iterate, see what you can do about getting to
that 21st episode. Once I hit 21 episodes, I got to 60 so
fast, it was crazy. But you have to get that habit. You have to get into
that you know, motion. And the other thing that
I'll tell you about podcasting is that it's a void. You know, you're podcasting
into a void for what feels like 20, 40, 60 episodes. There's a podcaster
that I follow who said a quote that
was something like, nobody really totally
paid attention to my podcast until I
was at Episode 100. So think about not don't I mean, she didn't mean
nobody, but she meant, like, she started small. She had friends who
listened to her podcast. Then she grew, then
she grew, but, like, it wasn't something where she
was getting big guests and, you know, notoriety and sponsorships until
she hit 100 episodes. So if that inspires you,
let it inspire you. If it discourages you, don't let it discourage
you because what she's really saying is that
podcasting is a long game, and you should be in
it for the long haul. Otherwise, podcasting might be not necessarily the
right project for you, unless you're just
doing a limited series, which might be something to
consider and is totally okay. What I recommend is
saving this class and following me here
on Skillshare because I post a lot of creative
launch ideas and a lot of creative launch
and podcasting classes, and I hope that
you will take them and engage with them
and do the projects. You can feel free to
DM me on Instagram. I'm Ben Hawes HQ. My name is Ben, and I would love to hear your idea
for your podcast. And just let me know what you thought of this
course and let me know what you're hoping to
achieve with your podcast. Um and then do the class
project and, you know, download the worksheet and fill out your ideas or just leave
a comment with your concept and what you're
hoping to achieve with your podcast
because I really am excited about what
this course can do for people starting
podcasts and what this course can do
for people who have the idea and the itch
to start a podcast. So again, I really, really hope you go out
and start your podcast. Um, and if you do and if
you do get to Episode 21, please let me know because it
will mean so much to me to hear that any part of this class helped you get your
project started. Anyway, I hope you have a great
day and even better week. And may we all find the boldness to chase our dreams? Thank you.
Ben Hawes, Creative Project Consultant & Podcaster
