- Why Do We Need It?
- Why Do You Need A Separate Podcast Hosting?
- Features Essential For A Podcast Host
- Best Podcast Hosts
- Why Should You Use Podcatchers?
- Design Themes for Podcasts
- Conclusion
Intro
Podcasts are regular audio shows that are available for listening on request. As a rule, episodes are united by a common theme, format, and composition of the hosts. All you need to listen to them is headphones or speakers in conjunction with a smartphone, computer, tablet or even a watch.
The major distinction is that you are not attached to the screen. You listen to human speech, and your hands and eyes are free. Therefore, it is convenient to listen to podcasts on the subway, while driving, while jogging or walking, monotonous work, training in the gym, cleaning or cooking and in other cases when your ears are free and your head is idle without cognitive load. In this article, we’ll observe the services that will come in handy for those who want to run own podcast.
Why Do We Need It?
The world's first podcast was an interview recorded by journalist and radio host Christopher Lydon and RSS developer Dave Winer. It was recorded in 2003 and published on Winer's blog. Next, an entire RSS feed of conversations with bloggers, politicians, scientists, and others was created.
Today there are myriads of podcasts from various fields of knowledge online. They are especially popular among leading businessmen and their audience. In addition, if you do not have time to read articles or watch videos during a busy day, podcasts are very convenient. You can listen to them during training, in the subway, in the car, just taking a walk and thereby expanding your knowledge base.
Their role in a business is huge. We all know that if you're not on the Internet, you don't exist. Thus, penetrating to all possible spheres, including the discussed one, is the right way to get you noticed among the crowd.
You may want to read our post with a full guide listing the steps to start a WP podcast site.
Thus, if you have already planned your material for publishing, prepared all the necessary instruments, and recorded mp3 files, now you need to upload it to a place on the Internet and make it accessible for others online. Namely, you necessitate hosting and adding your show to the catalogs so that potential listeners can find it. With the development of the podcast industry, this process has become easy and doesn't need high expenses.
In this review, we have collected the most appropriate hosting services that will assuredly match your project.
Why Do You Need A Separate Podcast Hosting?
This question may arise if you already have a page, which is hosted on one or another platform, which you think is a good one. Meanwhile, there are certain points why you might need a distinct hosting for a podcast.
- Primarily, it should be of high enough quality to quickly download multimedia files and cope with hundreds and thousands of parallel downloads of new episodes. These files weigh much more than visuals or articles on your site, which necessitates a hosting with comprehensive storage.
- The other reason why you might need a separate home for your podcast is that podcast host services also handle the distributing issues, namely RSS, for you.
Features Essential For A Podcast Host
There are certain basic and advanced components offered by the suppliers that will make your project work smoothly and flawlessly.
- First of all, it is the number of data allowed to be posted monthly. Some hosts provide unlimited space while others will restrict it.
- The other point is how many projects you can run from one account. While some suppliers suggest one – three podcasts, others allow an unlimited number of shows.
- What's more, many suppliers offer you a free site for the project coming with the basic plan. This is very convenient as you'll definitely need an online page for sharing news, organizing episodes, making announcements, integrating social media, etc.
- You may also want to view the statistics on your visitors and to conduct some analysis, which is also given among many plans of the suppliers.
- Some of the resources allow for many possibilities to promote your podcast, which is essential if you plan to use marketing tools and boost the audience of your show.
Best Podcast Hosts
You can try free services such as Pinecast, which allows you as many recordings as you wish and gives the ability to manage up to three podcasts from one account. But the listeners will be restricted to download only the last ten episodes of the program. The service will take care of your RSS feed, which will make your show available for listeners. The Tip Jar will let your users send you tips if you’ll set up a cashout account. Pinecast also has a paid plan which comes with extensive analytics, including listen history, subscriber counts, listens by apps, etc. It also lets you move the existing project to Pinecast with little effort.
The other free assistance is offered by Anchor, which provides you limitless place for files, and your consumers can get as many episodes as they want to download. Anchor unites the instruments to create and publish your show.
SoundCloud is a famous source which can host your audio show for free. However, there are only three free hours of uploads, but the possibilities extend with the paid plans.
Notably, there are opinions that we don’t need paid services if there are free ones, which are great and provide the basic necessary conditions. Of course, free resources are always a big plus for beginners and those who aren't going to make a premium product. However, we should have great ambitions and distant plans. So now let's observe what the paid resources can offer.
Libsyn is among the oldest representatives among podcast hosts. For $5 per month for the starting plan, the platform gives you 50 MB of storage, one podcast per plan, and a free site. What's more, for separate monthly payment of $2+ you can get a custom domain and for the similar costs, you may order regular analytics of your project. But these are not the only options offered by Libsyn. Being one of the most popular and reliable hosts, it has a lot of premium features that can make your podcast unique and organized.
Castos is also a paid service but it has a free trial period, which lasts two weeks, but after it ends, you can pick a plan starting from $190 per year. Along with it, you are free to have an unlimited number of projects and episodes,can import the content with one click, get a website for your podcast, analytics, and other premium features. It can also be easily integrated with an existing WP site, which may be important to your project.
Simplecast also offers two weeks for a free trial and acquaintance with the service. The basic plan begins with $15 per month for the unlimited storage space, unlimited uploads, distribution to a variety of platforms, analytics, secure RSS feed, and a website. This is a reliable tool, and many large companies, such as Facebook, HBO, Nike, cooperate with it.
The other supplier with a trial period, which lasts a week, is Captivate. It is fast, offers advanced analytics, an unlimited number of projects, free importing of your show, unlimited team members, and other useful components for $19+ for a month. This is a great tool to grow the followers of your project.
One more representative of the first-appeared podcast hosts and the most reliable instruments is Blubrry, which offers its subscribers podcast statistics and PowerPress plugin. The plans start from $12 for a month with 100 MB of monthly storage and professional statistics.
A fast and functional supplier is PodBean, which is priced from $9. It gives the user unlimited storage options, one project per plan, website, analytics, and is user-friendly. With PodBean, you'll be able to integrate ads easily. You’ll be able to distribute your project over the major apps, such as iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, etc.
And we also would like to mention Transistor among the players on the list. Paying $19 for a month, you can create unlimited podcasts on the same account, receive advanced analytics, get a built-in podcast website, two collaborators per podcast, and live client support. Overall, it offers great marketing tools that may advance your show. This is an expert-level service that will help your project to succeed.
Why Should You Use Podcatchers?
After dealing with the hosting issues and publishing, it is also recommended to check how your podcast can be found by other users. For this aim, you can use the apps named podcatchers that simplify the search of new shows and allow users to subscribe for favorites podcasts. Among the podcatchers, there are Apple Podcasts for iOS users, Pocket Casts for Android, iOS, Windows 10 and is a paid option, Castbox – a free cross-platform tool, Overcast for iOS, and others.
Design Themes for Podcasts
When working on the design of your podcast site, don't forget that you can enhance its popularity by adding more information, craft galleries, represent the list of the episodes with the relevant information, and integrate the content for social media platforms. We offer you to pay attention to the list of cool and functional themes for podcasts, which will help you to get all the aforementioned options. They are designed specifically to meet all the needs of your show and represent it in the exceptional way. When searching for a theme, note that they should have a customizable player, responsive design, multilingual options, blog layout, SEO-optimized design, contact form, and various promo-oriented components.
We are also proud to represent you our TM podcast for designers, which combines engaging and motivational discussions on the industry topics and funny real-life stories. Thus, in the first episode, the show hosts talk about gifts for designers, brainstorming ideas on the topic and sharing hilarious stories and real-life experiences.
Conclusion
You can find many good and reliable resources, so pick the one that is most comfortable for your project. Just remember that people go for what catches their attention, what is extraordinary or to the contrary very down-to-earth, something that is related to their hobbies or work, content that can make them better and smarter or the material that opens some new to them, words that evoke emotions, make them laugh, or maybe it’ll be just your pleasant voice. If you still don't have a podcast but are thinking about this or planning to run one, then it's time to express your ideas for other people like we did with TM podcast. Let our example inspire you for conquering the new horizons!
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