PodCraft | How to Podcast & Craft a Fantastic Show

Podcast by The Podcast Host

PodCraft | How to Podcast & Craft a Fantastic Show

PodCraft takes you from novice podcaster to confident broadcaster. We’ll teach you how to start and grow a successful podcast in our easy-to-follow seasons. Let’s start at the start with the groundwork and planning stages. Why do you want to podcast, who do you want to reach, and why? Then, let’s learn what we’ll need to record, publish, and distribute it. Once that’s done, we move on to marketing, growth, and monetisation. Here, we help you to reap the rewards of all your hard work. On PodCraft we also run regular Q&A episodes, offer analysis and data on the podcasting industry, and talk about the latest tools, tips, and tactics that are improving our own processes and workflows.

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Latest episodes

22 July 2024

What’s Missing From Your Process? With Joe Casabona

On this episode of Podcraft, we have a special episode swap with our good friend Joe Casabona from Podcast Workflows.

Podcast Workflows provides insights into how to improve your podcast systems and workflows — allowing you to create and grow a high quality podcasting by showing you how to best spend your limited time.

Here, Joe will help us think about our own podcast workflows by encouraging us to think about what's missing from our existing processes.

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One of my favorite Disney+ shows is Loki. It’s a truly fascinating look at time travel, predetermined events, and controlling your own destiny.

And now I’m going to give you a major (if not very simplified) spoiler, if you haven’t seen it.

In the finale, Loki masters the ability to “time slip,” or transport to any time, any place, in any timeline (for all intents and purposes, a timeline is a parallel universe). This also allows him to relive events over and over again.

So as all of existence faces eradication, he can take as much “time” as he wants to learn how to save everything and everyone, on every timeline.

He continuously, over thousands of years, learns everything he needs to learn, and practices, through trial and error, to improve his process, and his odds of saving everything and everyone.

And while we don’t have thousands of years, or the ability to time travel, we do have the ability to take a step back and consider the question, “What’s missing?”

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27 June 2024

What is Podcasting 2.0? And Why Should I Care?

Podcasting has a tonne of strengths, but one of its biggest is its decentralised nature. A podcaster can upload their content to a hosting provider, and it can be consumed and enjoyed by people via many different platforms, apps, and directories.

Read the full post: What is Podcasting 2.0, and why should I care?

This was all made possible because of RSS, a 25-year-old technology that formed the foundations podcasting was built on.

As you can imagine, this “find us anywhere you get your podcasts” approach has benefited the medium. It can’t be owned or controlled by any one company, and it meets listeners on their own terms.

But, RSS-based podcast distribution in its traditional form has its challenges, too.

For example, if one listening app gives you access to monetisation tools, those tools will only be available on that specific platform. And that might make up a tiny per cent of your overall listenership.

Or, if another app has a comments feature, any comments left by listeners will only be visible in that specific app.

So, although the way podcasting works is great – it can be even better. That’s why the Podcasting 2.0 initiative exists.

What is Podcasting 2.0?

Podcasting 2.0 is a collection of podcasters, app developers, and hosting providers who want to build on and enhance the way podcasts are distributed.

This is done by coming up with and building new features (also called Tags) that various platforms can implement and support.

On this episode, we find out more from Sam Sethi. Sam is the Chief Evangelist for the Podcast Standards Project. He’s also the CEO of TrueFans, the RSS Marketplace for Indie Content Creators, and the Podnews Weekly Review co-host.

Also Mentioned: How Podcasting 2.0 Has LIT Up the Impact of Live Shows

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18 June 2024

Email List & Social Media Strategies to Build a Podcast Community

As we'll often tell you, you don’t need to use social media at all for your podcast.

But many do. And if you want Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, or any other platform to be part of your podcasting strategy, then it makes sense to be as smart about it as possible. On this episode, we'll find out more about our Indiepod Legends' experience with social media, what they've learned over the years, and any tips or advice they have for us.

We’re also going to learn about running an email list. A few of our podcasters are having brilliant results with email, and this is a great opportunity to get some tactics and takeaways for our own email strategies.

Finally, many podcasters run interview shows, and this is another big overlap between content creation and podcast growth. On this episode, you’ll learn about running an impactful interview podcast, as well as how you can still present yourself as a thought leader on your topic, even though your focus is usually on an expert guest.

The Podcasts

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06 June 2024

AI Tools to Nail your Video Podcasting & How to Grow on YouTube

In this co-hosted episode, Colin and Jeremy Ryan Slate discuss a whole range of AI tools to streamline podcast production workflows, particularly a video podcast, and share insights on fueling podcast growth on YouTube. They delve into the nuances of YouTube algorithms, thumbnail strategies, and tips for increasing viewer engagement. Tune in to learn how leveraging AI technology and optimizing YouTube presence can enhance your podcasting journey.

Followup resources mentioned:

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17 May 2024

Building a Business around your Podcast: Real Examples & Products you Can Create

Discover how to build a thriving business around your podcast in this episode of Podcraft. Colin co-hosts this episode with the host of the Always Free podcast - Jason Graystone. They both shares their strategies for crafting a show that resonates with people and how to then monetize that content within a wider business. They discuss a whole range of things, including:

If you're early stage, or pre-launch:

what a BIG launch strategy looks like, with real tactics
how to make the best of the first 3 months of your show
iterating your show to find the best fit for you and your audience

If you're experienced and ready to build an income from your show:

creating a product line that aligns with your unique expertise
breakdown of our own products & services, and how they tie together
creating your first product in a few days, with real examples
how to overcome the fear of selling as a creator and feel confident in the value you offer
the value of being open and honest with your ideas, even if it turns some people off

Our goal was to give a really solid picture of how we both run businesses around content, and the steps you can take to start to build your own.

Here are a few of the resources mentioned:

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08 May 2024

Top Promo & Growth Lessons From Successful Indie Podcasters

Just like the proverbial tree in the forest, is your brilliant content even brilliant if nobody hears it? On this episode, we're going to pick our Indiepod Legends' brains about all things promotion, growth, and marketing.

Obviously, social media can play a big part in this, and we're going to hear about what platforms and strategies have worked well for some of our creators (as well as which ones haven't!). But social media is only one aspect of podcast marketing, and you don't even need to use it at all if you don't want to.

SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) is the ultimate low-hanging fruit of podcast growth because it lets your listeners find and come to you in their own time and on their own terms.

Creating special or unique content alongside your usual episodes is another growth strategy that's yielded great results for some of our podcasters, and we're going to hear some tips for replicating that, too.

Another recurring strategy in this episode is collaboration. Being on or working with other podcasts is a proven way to build your audience. As Andrea puts it, "People who listen to podcasts listen to podcasts". Some useful tools for finding other podcasters to link up with are Podchaser, Rephonic, and Tink Media. And here are some tips on how to get booked as a guest on a podcast.

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