How to Start a Podcast for Beginners: Step-by-Step Guide

 This post contains affiliate links for the podcast tools that I use personally. 

Are you thinking about starting a podcast but don't know where to begin? Don't worry! I’ll walk you through how to start a podcast for beginners. It's easier than you think, and you don't need to be a tech expert or even know what you want your show to be about right now. You can figure that out as you go.

Why Start a Podcast?

Podcasts are a great way to grow and connect with your audience. They can help nurture your audience in ways that other media forms can’t. Your listeners bring you into their world and let you share a part of their week.  

If you have a business, podcasts can be a great way to connect with your audience and nurture them, allowing you to build that all-important like, know, and trust that can help your business grow. If you have a business, you will want to think about your podcast and decide if it’s going to be part of your marketing funnel or if it’s something just for fun. If you want it to be part of your marketing funnel, you will want to be very strategic in your decisions for the next couple of steps. If it’s just for fun, it doesn’t matter quite as much, but things like your topics and show name are still important to help your potential audience find you.

If you have a business and want to start a podcast, I highly recommend including it in your marketing funnel. It can be a very powerful tool.

Easy Questions to Answer to Help you Start your Podcast

Is this Podcast for fun or for Business? 

This is probably the most important question to start with. If your podcast is just for fun, the answers to the remaining questions will likely be very different than if it’s to be part of your marketing funnel.

What Topics Will Your Podcast Cover?

While your podcast can be on any topic you want, if you want to include it in your marketing funnel, it’s going to work better if you tie it to your niche. Take some time to really think through what content you might want to address on your podcast.

If you’re creating one that’s just for fun, you can pick any topic you want. But if you have a business and you want it to be part of your marketing funnel then you’ll want to stay focused on ways to help your niche.

Similar to a blog, I always recommend choosing a set number of topic categories that you’ll talk about on your podcast. If you’re going to release a new show each week, then it’s a good idea to choose four topic areas or categories to talk about on your podcast. It makes it easier to plan out your content, stay on topic, and serve your audience when you do it this way. I recommend doing the same thing with your blog. If you don’t have a blog yet, we’ll talk about that in a bit because your show notes for your podcast can be turned into a blog post, which can help you rank higher on Google and get organic traffic. We’ll talk about that later.

What will you Name Your Podcast?

One of the most important parts of creating a podcast that will help your business grow is to use keywords that your audience uses. When you’re naming your podcast you want to think about your niche and the questions they have or what they want to achieve or learn.

For example, if you have a business that sells sourdough bread recipes, starters, and courses, you might want to name your podcast Sourdough Bread Baking for Beginners or Sourdough Tips for Home Bakers.

If you are a parenting coach, you might want to have a podcast that focuses on a specific age range, such as infants, toddlers, young kids, tweens, or teens. You might want to incorporate those words in your title. For example, you could create a podcast called Sleep Tips for Newborns, Sassy Tween Energy Survival Tips, Surviving the High School Years, The Blended Family, etc.

If you’re not familiar with keywords, that’s OK. A keyword is simply the word a potential listener would search for when looking for a podcast to listen to. It’s the same concept as Google SEO and choosing keywords for your website or blog. However, the nice thing about podcasts is that you can use bigger keywords like sourdough bread baking, parenting infants, newborn sleep, etc., which might be much harder to rank for on Google because of the competition.

Take a look at the podcast apps again and see what the podcasts in your niche are called. You don’t want to choose a name that’s too close to a competitor. It can cause confusion. I did that. It wasn’t intentional. I started my podcast and used the name Simple SEO, which aligns perfectly with my branding. I didn’t realize there was someone else using a variation of it for her podcast. I didn’t know the podcast or even this person existed until months after I launched mine. I like my name, and it’s perfect with my branding since my course that existed long before my podcast is called Simple SEO Content, so I kept it, but when you’re starting from the beginning, it’s a good idea to double-check the names in your niche and make sure there isn’t someone using the same name you want or something too similar.

What Type of Episodes will you Create? 

Another thing to decide is if your podcast will be solo shows, interviews, coaching calls, or a mix of all of the above. You can design the show in any way that you want. It’s your show.

I personally don’t do a lot of interviews, while other people I know interview someone on every single episode.

If you want to do interviews, it will take a bit more time because you’ll need to find guests, meet with them ahead of time to see if they’re a good fit, do research for the episodes, come up with questions, etc. If you’re doing solo shows, you won’t have to coordinate your schedule with someone else, but you still need to research ideas and topics and verify facts and things like that.

I personally like the flexibility of doing solo shows. I can record when I want and batch a bunch out at once, but I see the benefit of having others on who can talk about subjects that are interesting to my audience. They’re the experts, not me. Guest episodes can be very beneficial.  

How Long will your Podcast Episodes be? 

You want to think about how long your episodes will be. If you’re looking to be discovered by new people, it’s better to keep them shorter rather than longer. I personally aim for 10-15 minute episodes. It’s enough to share a tip, provide some background, be helpful, but not so much of a time commitment that someone who’s new to my podcast is going to question if it’s worth investing 45-60 minutes in an episode.

What will your Episodes be About?

If you’ve chosen your four content topic areas, you can start planning out your podcast launch. I want you to brainstorm possible topics for your new episodes. Think about what your audience is interested in. What questions do they have pertaining to each of your topic areas? What questions do you get asked a lot? These are all possible topics for your podcast.

If you’re not sure what would work well in podcast form for your niche go to the podcast app and search keywords or topics that are related to your niche and see what topics other podcasts are covering. Now, you don’t want to just copy another podcaster and take their idea and copy their content. That’s not going to work, and you should never do something like that. What you want to do is get a feel for what types of episodes are available for your audience. What are people interested in?

Next, I want you to create a list of possible ideas for each of the four topic areas. Take your brainstorming notes, research notes, etc., and create a list of ideas for each topic area. Then, finally, you’ll choose 3 topics for each of the four areas, and you, my friend, have ideas for the first 12 episodes of your podcast. And, if you can get through the first 12 episodes of your podcast, you’re less likely to end up stopping before it can really take off. Pre-planning will make this much easier in the long run.

How will you Title your Podcast Episodes?

You want to think about the titles of your episodes. You should use keywords in the titles to help your potential listener find your episode. You can use a larger, more competitive keyword and a smaller, more niche one together. If you can only find one keyword to use in your title, that’s OK, too.

Try to use your keyword at the beginning of the episode title so that it shows up in the podcast app when someone is searching. If they see a keyword that catches their attention in the app, they’re more likely to click through to listen to your show.

What Equipment do you need to Record your Podcast?

You can go super basic and start with things you have around the house, or you can invest a bit in software and tools. I did invest a bit when starting my podcast because I understand the difference that high-quality audio makes for a listener, and I had money to invest in a good podcasting mic. If you don’t have the money to invest in one or you’re not sure if you’re going to like podcasting, then you can start easily with your smartphone and a pair of headphones.

I believe in growing in a safe, sustainable manner. It might not be the sexiest approach to business, but it works for me. With this mindset, I don’t spend lots of money on things until I know they’re going to work for my business. I knew that I wanted to focus on a podcast. I had content creation down pat after 7 years of blogging for the business, and because my BA is in broadcast journalism, I knew that I’d be pretty stinking comfortable behind the mic. I was a news reporter and DJ for the college radio station a million years ago. I was looking forward to starting my podcast. I did tons of research and landed on a Shure microphone. It was somewhere in the $200 range. It wasn’t crazy, but it wasn’t cheap. That’s the only piece of equipment that I invested in before launching my podcast.

If you know you’re going to do this long term, it might be worth investing in a good mic, but if you’re not sure, go the easy, free route and start using your phone and headphones that you already have.

If you want to learn more about my podcast setup today, I’m sharing that in another blog post. Watch for it soon.

Do you need Special Podcast Recording Software? 

When I started mine, I chose to pay for podcast software to make things easier and faster. As I said, I had a small budget to invest in launching the podcast. If you have a budget then a tool like Descript can be great. That’s what I use, and I love that I can record, edit, and then export directly to Buzzsprout, my hosting platform. I don’t have to download, upload, or save files on my computer or anything like that. It’s worth spending a little money each month for the ease of use for me. If you’re interested in learning more about how I produce my podcasts, you can find information in this post.

If you don’t have a budget for software, you can record directly into your phone’s voice app, on Zoom, etc. You’ll just need to upload the episode to your host. More on that in a minute.

 Where will you Host your new Podcast? 

I personally chose Buzzsprout. I had several friends who used Buzzsprout and they liked how easy it was to use. I liked that you could set up your account, connect to Descript, and have everything work together without having to do anything technical. Have I mentioned that I’m not a techy person? Yeah. I’m not. You can automatically share your new show with the podcast directories via Buzzsprout, too. And they’ll keep track of your downloads and show you where your audience is. It’s a great, beginner-friendly platform. I’ll cover more about this in my tech setup blog post in the future. For now, if you click the links here, you’ll get my referral code for Buzzsprout, which gives you $20 discount on your paid plan. This is an affiliate link for me. Thanks for using it! I don't recommend companies I don't use. 

Here are a few Tips for Recording your Podcast Episodes

Find a quiet space to record. Having as few distractions as possible is key to a better listening experience. A room with carpet, rugs, or pillows is ideal, too, because those items help to absorb other sounds.

Record a time that you’re at your personal best. You want your energy to come across in the recording, and if you’re drained and it’s the end of the day when you’re trying to record, it’s not going to be engaging to listen to, and your audience will be less likely to consume your entire episodes. I had a teacher in high school who was so monotone… it was painfully boring. You don’t want your audience to feel that way about you. I had to take that class to graduate, so I had to pay attention. A podcast listener can just hit stop and move on to something else. And if your podcast isn’t exciting. They’ll do that.

Speak clearly and directly into the microphone so the audio quality is good. Even if you don’t have a high-quality mic yet, you still want to have the volume consistent for your listeners. Speaking with the mic close to you and directly in front of you will help. You want your mic within about 6” of you when you record.

Will you Batch your Podcast Episodes?

I personally batch-record my episodes. I find that it saves me a lot of time and lets me work ahead, so I don’t risk missing a week. Consistency is very important to me.

I brainstorm my topic ideas and create a content plan for the quarter. Once I’ve got the ideas planned, I generally record a month’s worth of episodes at a time. I’ll outline each of the four episodes and then record, edit, and upload them to Buzzsprout. I then optimize them for discoverability and schedule them out. Once they’re scheduled and ready to go, I write my emails for the month so they’re ready to go to my listeners.

If I’m going to do anything on social media, I do it once the podcast episodes and emails are scheduled and ready to go. Social is my lowest priority item so it’s the last piece I work on.

Consistency is very important to your podcast growth. I highly encourage you to batch your work.

Will you Edit your Podcast Episodes?

Full disclosure: I don’t do a lot of editing on my podcast episodes. I’ll edit it if the Amazon delivery person rings the doorbell and it’s noticeable or if I’m coughing really bad because that could be distracting.

But overall, I don’t edit a lot. Now, I have an advantage over many podcasters, and that’s the fact that I went to broadcast journalism school, so my professors beat the ums and ahs out of me in my early 20s. If you tend to say um or ah a lot, you might want to look for a software program, like Descript, that can automatically remove them for you. It makes life easier, and you sound more polished when you aren’t saying um or ah constantly.

You can, but it’s not necessary to have all the fancy bells and whistles, especially when you’re first starting out. You don’t need extra sounds, intros, outros, mid-roll, and all the other crazy options out there. You can start with an episode that you record on your phone, and as it grows, you can grow.

I started with an intro, outro, and custom music, and you know what? After 100 episodes, I’m ready for a change. I’m not sure what the next iteration will be, but when I come back for season 3, it’s going to be updated.

What will your Show’s Cover art Look Like? 

Before you launch your podcast, you’ll want to consider cover art. Remember that your cover art will be tiny in the podcast player app, so keep your design simple and clear so it’s easy to read.

I personally opted to have a designer work on mine for me. I’m OK with design but it’s not my strength. It was worth paying someone a little money to create cover art for me. If you’re OK with design and want to try to create your own cover art, you can do that using Canva or another tool. Canva has lots of templates you can use as a guide. And, you can take a look at the podcasts in your niche and see what type of cover art most of them have. Maybe you’ll get some inspiration. If you have branding for your business, which you should, you’ll want to use your brand colors and fonts and make sure that people can connect the podcast to you.

What About the Show Notes for your new Podcast? 

It’s important to have show notes. Most podcast listeners are used to looking for show notes for additional information, links, etc. Now, if you want your show notes to help you rank higher on Google for more keywords or get organic traffic to your website, they can if you do Google SEO on them.

To learn more about the basics of Google SEO, request a copy of my Beginner’s SEO Guide here; it will walk you through what to do on your show notes page. You’re going to want to create it as a blog post. You’ll want to include information that ties to your episode, including the links. If you want, you can include a copy of the show transcript at the bottom of the page. I run the transcript through an AI tool to clean up the punctuation because what I get from Descript isn’t great, but the tools can clean it up in a matter of a minute or two.

A Note About SEO on your Show Notes Blog Post

Your keyword for your blog post will not be the same keyword you’ve used for your podcast episode title. You’re going to need to choose a keyword that you have a good chance of ranking at the top of Google for and use it here. The keywords you’re using for your podcast name or episode title are likely going to be more competitive than what you can rank for on Google. You can start by typing the keyword you’re using in your episode title into the Google search bar, using an incognito browser window, and see who’s ranking on page 1 for that keyword. You want to see how similar they are to your website. If they’re all big companies, you need to look for a different SEO keyword. You’re likely going to want what’s called a long-tail keyword or a phrase with 3-5 words tied together to rank on Google. These keywords will have less search volume, but that’s OK. You’ll have a better chance of ranking for them.

To learn more about how to do SEO on your podcast show notes blog post read this post on SEO best practices for blogs and use the Beginner’s Guide to SEO to walk you through what to do step by step.

How will you Launch your New Podcast?

Before you hit publish on your first episode, you want to have 2-3 episodes ready and scheduled out. Some people suggest releasing one and then 2-3 a few days later. You can also release your first one and wait a week to release the next episode. That’s what I did. I’ve released a new episode every Tuesday since February 1, 2023. I didn't specifically choose that date for any reason. It happened to be the first Tuesday after my podcast episodes were ready to go. It's coincidentally our wedding anniversary, so it felt good to launch then. 

The day of the week doesn’t really matter. Choose the day you want to release your show. Most seem to release mid-week on Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday. It doesn’t really matter. Once your audience starts to grow, they’ll know when to look for your show. The most important thing is to be consistent. Choose a day and release it then.

If you have an email list or active social media presence, you should tease your upcoming podcast, share a little about the process (if you want), and then let your audience know when it’s ready to listen. Your current audience will hopefully be the first listeners, and it can grow from there.

Request a copy of my podcast SEO Guide here and learn how to get more people to your new show.  

How will you Grow your Podcast?

For now, focus on getting your show ready to launch. Once that’s done, we’ll get into growing your show. Learning about SEO right now can help because you’ll be able to choose an optimized name and hopefully SEO-friendly titles for your first episodes. You can learn more about podcast SEO best practices here. When you’re ready to learn more about growing your show, you can check out this post.

Celebrate launching your new podcast, and then you can focus on growing it more. By using keywords in your show name and episode titles, you’ll give yourself an advantage over those who don’t.