There are so many options fo’ everything when it comes to podcasting!

What I’m going to teach you is how to start a podcast on WordPress, where to host your files and how to make it go to iTunes.

Y’all ready?!

STEP ONE: PREPARE A HOST FOR YOUR PODCAST FILES

• First thing first, you need a place to host your audio files cuz they can be huugee.
• You can host your podcast entirely on a site like Blubrry if you don’t want to put a website together…but then you lose out on some crazy good SEO.

STEP TWO: DESIGN YOUR PHOTO ART

• Create a square graphic for your podcast in Photoshop or Canva.
• Remember that it shrinks wayyyy down in iTunes!

STEP THREE: SET UP YOUR WEBSITE AS A HOST

• If you’re using Blubrry and WordPress, Install the Blubrry PowerPress Plugin.
• Every time you publish a podcast episode, you will need to add a new post on WordPress.
• The title will be the title of the episode for iTunes and the copy will be the show notes. Scroll down and you’ll add the audio file from Blubrry.

• Create a special category for your podcast post that you’ll use to alert iTunes of new episodes. You gotta do this step!

STEP FOUR: CREATE A FEED FOR YOUR PODCAST POST

• You can do this easily with feedburner! Your ‘Feed Title’ will be the episode name.
• Here’s where it gets tricky – ‘Original Feed’. This is going to be the url from your post

If you choose a category to alert iTunes it will look like www.websitename.com/category/categoryname/feed

If you choose a tag to alert iTunes it will be www.websitename.com/tag/thetagyouused/feed

If you aren’t on WordPress, just google what your feed url should be.

• THEN, go to the ‘OPTIMIZE’ tab in feedburner and enable the SmartCast. This is where you’ll change your cover art, description, and so much more. Ta-da!

STEP FIVE: SUBMIT TO ITUNES

• Head to podcastsconnect.apple.com, sign in, and hit the plus sign.
• The RSS feed URL is back in feedburner under ‘Edit Feed Details’ as ‘Feed Address’.
• If you’re in WordPress, you CAN do this feed stuff through PowerPress instead of feedburner.  

Now you’re ready to start a podcast! See, it doesn’t have to be hard. It’s actually pretty easy. #happydance