The idea of starting up a podcast is an enticing one to a lot of people. There is nothing stopping you from becoming a podcaster other than the equipment and the ideas you need to get started.
If you have already got a few podcasting ideas bouncing around, how about that equipment?
We are going to take a look at how to launch a podcast on a budget in this article, giving you some insight into how you can make your project well without having to touch your savings account.
We will also talk about how to get your podcasting project out there so that people can actually listen to it and enjoy it. Let's get started powering your new podcast proficiently:
How to Launch a Podcast on a Budget
Starting up a project like a podcast can a little trick, if only for the reason that you don't want to put a whole bunch of work into something only to have it listened to by nobody.
A few defenses against that outcome are great ideas, quality production, and an effective content marketing campaign. The great ideas are entirely on you, bu we can offer a little support in the way of production and marketing ideas.
The first thing to note is that you can make a great piece of work on almost any piece of equipment that you have. Naturally, it is easier to make a polished and traditionally well-made podcast on a bunch of nice speakers and computers, but that's not in the cards for everybody.
One way to make the most of the things you have is to really take some time to explore what they offer. In most cases, the equipment that limits a podcast is the recording software and hardware.
Working with What You Have
You might just be working with the microphone on your laptop. Don't shy away from the possibility of using that as your primary microphone.
Explore the software that your computer offers and look around for different packages online that might give you a better chance to adjust the EQ and set things up the way you would like them to.
If you can tune the audio to sound relatively good, the listener won't even notice the difference. You can also play on the fact that your equipment isn't high end but using the different low-fi elements of the set up to produce an ambiance that high-end microphones can't.
Sound Effects
Your computer probably has the capability to produce a whole host of sound effects. If you are working on Apple's preinstalled GarageBand, for example, you can find dozens, if not hundreds of quirky little sounds to work with.
At the same time, whatever recording software you are using, you will have the ability to record sound bits that you can isolate and manipulate. This gives you the option to record yourself or objects in your home that can come together to make sound effects and different elements that you might use in your podcast.
You can record the busy traffic on the street or the wind through the trees, pretty much anything that you could use to create a soundscape that the listener enjoys.
You might also commission a musician to create some parts for you. In some situations, you might be able to do so for pretty cheap because the exposure that a podcast allows might be enough to get someone to make some music for you.
Finding a Publishing Platform
One great way to make sure that your podcast is even out there is to sign up to a publishing platform. Podcasts are extremely popular, and it's hard to get noticed if you just spread your content around on social media or elsewhere.
Having a solidified position on one of these platforms is easy, cheap, and it gives you the option to work your way up toward exposure in a meaningful way.
These options give you the chance to optimize your content, produce it in a way that is packaged well with imagery that fits the platform you're using, and the most important thing is that there are typically search engines on those pages that give users the ability to browse.
Marketing Your Audio Content
When it comes to marketing and advertising podcast radio shows, there has never been a better time than now to be trying to push a project out to the public. Search engine optimization is one great way to target an audience and expose your audio episode content to them.
This is just the process of creating content in response to keyword research and trying to land high spots in the search engine results. That doesn't mean all of your content has to be made in response to keywords, only the pieces of it that exist outside of the podcast.
So, things like descriptions, titles, Html, image descriptions, meta tags, and more can all be optimized for search results.
You can also use any social media platform to pay for sponsored posts that get exposed to thousands of people for very little money. You could potentially expose your podcast to 10,000 people for something like $100.
That isn't to say that all of those people will engage with your content or listen to it, but the eyes will be on you and your name will get out there. The great thing about these platforms is that they only charge you when your post is engaged with.
In other words, you can post a sponsored post and have it seen by 20,000 people but only 100 engage with it. You will be charged a few pennies for each of those 100 engagements, while the rest of that exposure is free.
Additionally, the way that individuals respond to your ads will give you a lot of insights into how to tweak your future posts and search engine optimization tactics to better gain followers and subscribers.
Ready to Start Your Podcasting Project?
Knowing how to launch a podcast is the first step in your journey toward podcast success. We're here to help you with other ideas and insights along the way to profit from podcasting.
Explore our Bootstrap Business Blog further for more ideas on how to execute your podcasting, radio, music, and audio projects on a budget.
