Whether you want to start a discussion-based podcast, interview people in your industry, or share what you’ve learned about a particular topic, it’s a must to have your podcast in iTunes!
These steps will help you get started getting your podcast into the iTunes store. Let me know if you have any questions.
1. Create a name, thumbnail image, and website.
The name that you choose for the podcast should be available as a domain name so that you don’t run into any issues when you begin to actually build out your website with episodes or other forms of content. Be sure to check that first!
After you’ve chosen your name, I recommend setting up either a wordpress website using Bluehost’s one-click-wordpress install or set up a website using SquareSpace. Ultimately, I think you’ll find that is pays big dividends to set up your own website now, than having to do that later.
Although you can set up a podcast using SquareSpace rather than using your own website in addition to a specific podcast hosting provider, I’ve gotten some few negative vibes about it from other people in the industry. Don’t get me wrong, their website creation tool is fantastic, but I think there still needs to be more work done on their podcasting functionality.
Finally, it’s important to create a compelling thumbnail image. You could hire a contractor on 99designs to do this or use Fiverr if you are on the cheaper side. I personally used the Pixlr graphic design tool to create my own. Don’t forget that the image must be 1400 x 1400 pixels and a maximum size of 2048 x 2048 pixels.
2. Choose a company to host your podcast.
Although you can technically host your own podcast on your web sever, it’s best to use a third-party tool for simplicity’s sake, to minimize downtime, and to make sure that your episodes can be accessed on a consistent basis, no matter the bandwidth.
I use Libsyn to host my podcast, though you can also use SoundCloud, BuzzSprout, Podbean, or Blubrry. My main qualm when setting up my show was dependability and Libsyn has been around for a while and cultivated an image as a stable provider. However, BuzzSprout seems to have a much better ease of use and user interface and SoundCloud itself has more of a social community containing other podcasters and musicians. It will be interesting to see how these services play out in the long run!
Of course, it depends on the frequency in which you will launch your podcast episodes and the length of those episodes, but I’ve found podcast hosting to be relatively cheap and on par with hosting a high-quality website.
3. Submit Your Podcast to iTunes
After you’ve chosen the company in which you’d like to host your podcast and uploaded an episode, you submit the RSS of your podcast to iTunes. First, click on the “submit podcast” button in the podcasts category of the iTunes store, as shown below.
Next, you must enter the Podcast’s feed URL and proceed. After you’ve completed the process, your podcast will appear in the iTunes store for download once it’s approved!
Conclusion
If you have trouble finding the RSS feed URL for your podcast and you’ve gone with one of the podcast hosting providers that I mentioned, then browse the website’s help/faq section or contact them directly.
Once your podcast is accepted into iTunes, finding it is another matter entirely! In a future article, I will talk a little bit about the SEO of the iTunes store and how to maximize the chance the people stumble upon your podcast or are able to find it after putting in certain key words.
