How to Publish Your Business Podcast
Posted on 19th January 2021 at 10:10
How do you upload your business podcast to Apple Podcasts or to any of the other directories?
The answer is to use a media host.
Whichever one you choose; it will take on the job of distributing your podcast to all the major podcast directories every time you upload a new one. This is a huge labour-saving task for you.
And for the small fee levied for the service each month, the hosts provide lots more help besides.
About the Author - Serena Gay – founder and managing director of Made4U Podcasts
Serena founded Made4U Podcasts in 2018 after a career spent in radio and TV in the UK with the BBC and Germany with DW TV.
She has years of experience writing and voicing well-researched and engaging material and developed her social media marketing skills managing companies in the UK and Germany.
How to Publish Your Business Podcast
It’s all very well recording, interviewing, editing, adding music and creating pretty artwork – but how do you deliver your finished product into the ears of the people you most want to listen?
Pretty much everyone who podcasts uses a podcast hosting service like:
And that is to name just a few.
These services exist to publish podcasts far and wide to all the podcasting directories. And I must admit, it makes a podcaster’s life much easier for two major reasons:
A podcast host provides you with a crucial piece of code – your RSS feed. This is a format for delivering updated web content, and if you register it with the podcast directories, and by this I mean Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Alexa etc, they can recognise new editions and display them. The podcast hosting service makes it very easy to register the RSS feed with the directories – it’s a one-off step you need to take.
Most crucially, a podcast hosting service ensures your new episodes are published at the same time – on a date that you want - to all the directories.
But all you have to do is upload your latest production ONCE – to the host.
So, you see, using a podcast host saves you hours of work.
Why not host your podcast on your website?
Indeed, why bother with a third party at all?
For the very simple reason that your website wouldn’t be able to cope with the increased bandwidth that audio files require. It would make download speeds incredibly slow and that would frustrate potential listeners. Besides, doing so would almost certainly contravene your web host’s Terms of Service. So, a host is needed which:
can give your audio files a permanent home – for years if that’s what you want
sends fresh episodes to all the directories every time you publish a new podcast
provides episode players that you can place on your website to link to your audio files.
What else do podcast hosting services provide?
There are quite a number vying for your business and, as a result, they offer a host of competitive features. These include metrics to show:
your total plays
what apps people are using to listen to your podcast
where they’re listening
what devices they’re using to listen
Other features offered include:
embeddable podcast players to place on your website
podcast website option
podcast editing advice
monetization help
marketing assistance to produce, for example, visual soundbites or transcripts
Buzzsprout offers to polish up your audio through its Magic Mastering facility. It also gives you the ability to add additional messages at the front or back end of your podcast to all previous editions – and to change the messages at will, when and how you want. They call this Dynamic Content.
I’m happy to admit that I’m an unabashed fan of Buzzsprout! If you choose to join them you can use my affiliate link. If you then decide to go with their paid plan, you’ll get a $20 or a £15 Amazon gift card. Something to think about. But let me say that some of their competitors also have their strong points which you might want to check out.
How does publishing your podcast through a podcast host work?
First, you sign up to the one you choose.
If you are registering a brand-new podcast you should have a ready-made trailer that you can upload. This enables you to apply for an RSS feed which won’t take long to arrive.
The next step is to register your podcast through the service with each directory. This involves a bit of work filling out forms. But it is all made as easy as possible.
And certainly, the services listed here, have excellent customer service agents who’ll respond quickly to any questions.
Be warned that some of the directories take a while to respond so leave time – I would say two weeks – for all this registration malarkey to go through.
Two weeks is very generous but you don’t want to get caught out just before going live for the first time if your podcast fails to be accepted by a major directory
Once the directories have recognised your existence you can upload as many finished episodes as you want. Then you should schedule their publication dates. (Remember to select the correct time zone for where you are.)
And that’s about it – not difficult at all!
Should you choose the free or paid for plan?
You will find that they all mostly offer a free plan or a free trial period. The free plan is fantastic for podcast hobbyists because it allows them to get their podcasts distributed freely and to access a host of other really useful features.
But, for the business podcaster, you really should go with the paid plan after the free trial period. You will undoubtedly want your podcasts to remain evergreen so that in the months and years to come people will be able to binge listen to past episodes. But the free plans normally only allow your podcasts to remain available for 90 days.
Also, not all the facilities they offer to the paying clients are available on the free plan such as the magic mastering one in Buzzsprout.
What will it cost you?
For the best service choice, you have to pay a small monthly amount but it won’t break a corporate budget.
Around $12 or £9 a month will buy you a secure and reliable service.
Summary – should you go it alone or go with a podcasting service?
I think you would find it almost impossible to go it alone and extremely time consuming if you did.
Whichever podcast hosting service you end up choosing, you will find it incredibly convenient simply to upload each new episode once a week (or whenever you publish) and allow them to do all the distribution work for you.
I’d be interested to know what podcast hosting platform you choose to go with – or that you might already be with – and why. But if you’re still making up your minds, have a look at my Buzzsprout affiliate link.
Let me know if these tips help you with your podcast presentation. It would make my day to hear from you – email serena@made4u-podcasts.co.uk
Planning to launch your own business podcast?
Why not download my guide to business podcasting?
And have a listen back to all my previous bite-sized editions of Podcast Launch Pad which I think you’ll find helpful and concise.
If you’re looking for a friendly community to discuss your podcasting plans with – please join my Facebook Group, "Podcasting Blueprint for Women Business Owners"; EVERYONE is welcome!
Finally, please check out my company, Made4U Podcasts to find out more about me, my podcasts and the services we offer.
Tagged as: Podcast Launch, Podcast Production Service, Podcast Vocal Tips, Podcasts, start a business podcast, Tips to sound good on a podcast
Share this post: