Why do you need to build a podcast website?
You already have a podcast, or maybe you’re planning to start one. You know that you can reach listeners through the major podcast distribution channels like Apple’s iTunes, Spotify, Google Podcasts, and Stitcher, and you can host your content using Spotify, SoundCloud, Podbean, or Buzzsprout. So why do you need a website?
Firstly, search. As far as I can tell, Google is not indexing audio content within podcast episodes -- yet. I think it’s pretty likely that search crawlers and indexers will do this at some point, but currently, if you want to have your podcast content visible in search engines, then you need a website.
Secondly, content ownership. Sure, you can host your podcast using a third-party service, which even provides access to episode transcripts. But when your podcast content is indexed on the third-party service’s site, it’s that site that gets the ranking for your content -- not you! This may not seem like a big issue since the search traffic will be directed to your show, but if you ever change services, then that ranking will be lost.
Thirdly, fundraising. This isn’t for everyone, but if you ever decide to set up a fundraising page on Patreon or a Buymeacoffee, you’ll want a website to showcase your content, and from there you can direct them to your fundraising page. Â
How do you build a podcast website?
Just like with hosting your podcast content, there are many options for setting up and hosting your podcast website. Here are the essentials you need to know to build a podcast website.
For any website, you need a domain name, a place to host the site, and your content, right? Yes! And no! While you can certainly get started and get by with those at a minimum, there are many more pieces to consider if you want to increase and measure your audience and interactions.
Your podcast website will need a domain and DNS
This is easy, right? Just go to GoDaddy and register your domain. Sure, but GoDaddy is famous for turning the simple purchase of a domain into a few additional domains, privacy protection, multi-year registration, and email and website hosting. Pretty soon your order is in the hundreds of dollars!
My personal favourite for registering a domain name is Porkbun.com. There are no upsells, privacy protection is free, and it's one of the cheapest registrars on the market.
What is domain privacy?
When you register a domain, your name and contact information are added to the domain registry - a publicly accessible database containing all the registration information for domains using the same ending (e.g., .com). Most registrars offer a domain privacy service that replaces the information submitted to the registry with contact information, allowing the registrant to remain anonymous. In some situations, like a dispute over a domain name or legal action being taken against the operator of a website, the registrar is required to release the registrant’s actual contact information to the appropriate party.
There are lots of other domain registrars out there, but make sure you know what you are buying when you checkout. The email and web hosting in the upsell might not match your needs.
Do you need domain privacy?
The biggest benefit of having domain privacy is that your contact email address is not publicly available in the domain registry. Spammers collect email addresses published in domain registries, so having domain privacy can reduce the amount of spam you receive at that email address. However, if you plan to accept credit card payments on your site, some payment processing services require that you do not use a domain privacy service.
Once a domain is registered, the domain name system (DNS) must be updated to direct traffic to your website. Most domain registrars provide a DNS management service that allows you to set the IP address of your webserver and your website hosting provider will have instructions for you to follow.
What kind of website hosting do you need?
Once you have a domain name, you need a place to host your site, unless you are building with Wix.com, Squarespace, or Wordpress.com, and some other platforms. Just like with registering a domain, there are many hosting options. To choose the best option for your needs, consider if you want to:
Simply identify your show and how to access the episodes
Regularly update your site with new content
Let your listeners contact you
Share audio or video content
Accept tips or donations
Avoid having to update your website software.
While most of the main website services can support all of these activities with varying levels of effort on your part, consider which of these are most important to you now, or will be important in the future. This will help you find the one that best fits your needs.
For example, if you only want to share information about your show and you aren’t interested in updating the content on your site very often, then a simple, low-cost Wix site might be the best option. If you want to publish written content as well as share your episodes, then a Wix or WordPress blog might be the way to go. If you plan to blog, but really don’t want to manage your own site, then a fully managed option might be right for you.
Do you need website security?
It’s important to have your traffic served securely to instill trust in your visitors and your site’s search ranking (Google search started giving preference to sites with HTTPS as far back as 2015). Fortunately, all these options support TLS-encrypted traffic (TLS is the protocol that makes HTTPS traffic more secure than HTTP). Depending on your hosting service, the TLS (sometimes called SSL) certificate may be included or might result in an additional fee.
Podcast website design
While it's possible to have a podcast show and no website, having a good podcast website delivers real benefits. It's a place where listeners can go to find out more about the show and you as a host. If you want to write about the subject your podcasting about, add a blog on your site. Grow your listening audience with a website newsletter (or a service like MailerLite). And install a contact form so that listeners can get join in the conversation. Some say that social media fulfils the later purpose, and it did at one time. But we all saw what happened to Twitter, and plenty of people don't like Facebook these days. So invest and build your show its own home on the web.
If you already have a logo and some artwork for your podcast, you will want a design that looks great with those elements. Fortunately, there are many resources available to create a great-looking website without spending a lot.
First, there are business that offer websites for podcasters, such as Podpage.com, Onpodium.com, or Podcastpage.io. We have only use Podcastpage in the past and weren't that impressed with it. It has limited features and the search fuction doesn't work well. If you decide to use one of thise services, list out all the features you want and then see what's on offer at each one. You will want to grow your show and in the future might want a newsletter or e-Commerce functionality.
Platforms including Wix, Squarespace, and WordPress.org are popular choices for a podcast show website with plenty of functionality and potential for growth. It’s usually easy to customize the colours and fonts for any site using a free template or theme (note that Squarespace doesn't have a free plan), but not all are designed for a podcast site and some have limited page layouts.
Most website platforms and hosting solutions have networks of designers and developers who create and sell website themes. It is likely you can find a podcast-specific theme you like through one of the many theme marketplaces. With WordPress, for any theme you buy, it’s important to understand what level of support is provided, how quickly the developer responds to support requests, and how long the theme is likely to be supported. Buying a theme through your hosting service can help ensure better support, but the theme options will be fewer.
Adding your podcast show to your website
Fortunately, many podcast hosting services have audio players you can embed in any page or post of your site. Typically, you will take some code, usually an iframe or some javascript, and add it to the appropriate location on your site. Visitors to that page will see the podcast player and will be able to listen to an episode immediately.
Sometimes you may want to create an audio file with highlights of your content as an introduction to new listeners. This requires some audio editing, but once the file is created it can be added to your site in the same way.
Wix has a range of templates, including ones specifically for podcasts shows. But your choice isn't limited to one of these templates. You can work with any template you like and either embed code for a podcast player, or add the free Wix podcast app to incorporate your show and episode into your Wix site via your host's RSS feed. The app also lets you:
Showcase podcasts: Feature and stream podcasts from your website
Customize: Easily change the design and layout of the podcast player, episode pages, and podcast overview
Add episodes: Add audio and video episodes, and allow users to download episodes
Create pages: Automatically create a Podcast Overview page and dedicated Episode pages for each episode
Add subscribe links: Set up podcast subscribe links so listeners can know when new episodes are released
Add to member apps: Embed a podcast player in your member app so members can listen on the go.
The custom website option
Finally, you can hire a theme design/development service to build you a custom site. This will be the most expensive option, but you will end up with something unique and, potentially, a differentiator for your podcast. As with buying a theme, it’s important to find out what type of support is available for the completed site and what the costs will be to continue receiving support.
Regardless of which route you go for your website design, it’s incredibly important that your site looks great on mobile devices. Themes that work well across different screen dimensions are generally referred to as being responsive, and they adjust the size and layout of elements on each page depending on the size of the visitor’s screen.
Search indexing
Having your podcast content available for search engines is one of the main reasons for having a website. So once your site is live you want it to be indexed quickly. To do this, submit your sitemap to the major search engines for indexing.
What is a website map, or a sitemap?
A sitemap is a document on your website that tells search indexers what pages are available on the site. A sitemap allows you as the site owner to include additional information about each page, like when it was last updated, how often it changes, and how important it is in relation to other pages of the site. This gives you some control over which pages are indexed and how they appear in search results. Using a sitemap is the best way to inform search indexers of new pages or content on your site.
How do you add a sitemap to a website?
A sitemap is a text file and is readable, but it is written in a format called XML (for eXtensible Markup Language) and needs to be correctly formatted to be considered valid by search indexers. Website hosting services may automatically create a sitemap or you may need to add the sitemap functionality to your site. Wix automatically adds a sitemap to your website, and you can find it by adding /sitemap.xml to the end of your website URL. Wix also automatically submits your site map to search engines. For WordPress sites, you can use the Google sitemap plugin.
Once your sitemap is available, you can submit it to the Google Search Console and other webmaster tools for indexing. You will need to verify that you own the domain, which is usually done by adding a code (provided by Google or Bing) in a custom DNS entry for your domain. You will create the verification records using the DNS management tools provided by your registrar, and both Google and Bing provide directions for the major registrars. Google’s search console will automatically verify your domain if you used Google Domains as your registrar.
Once you have verified your site, you will start to see how your site is being indexed, which search queries match your site, and your site’s performance for these queries. You will also be notified if any errors are encountered while indexing your site, giving you the ability to make sure your site is being indexed correctly.
If you want to communicate with guests, listeners, or potential sponsors via email, you can use a personal email address, but one with your website domain looks much better. It's inexpensive to set up a custom domain email account with G Suite, Microsoft 365, or other providers. For these services there are some DNS changes required to add your website domain to the service and get it working. With both services, you can create email address aliases (e.g., info@yourdomain.com) without having to pay for an additional account monthly.
Marketing and newsletters
Do you plan to communicate with your listeners on a regular basis? Setting up a newsletter is a great way to send updates to your listeners who might not be automatically downloading your episodes. Wix Light comes with its own newsletter platform. For a long time, Mailchimp was the go-to third-party service for many websites sending marketing messages and newsletters, but today it's expensive and some say it's confusing. Today, there are other easier and less complicated platforms. For a basic newsletter, check out MailerLite.
Analytics and advertising
Understanding your website traffic will give you insights into how visitors are finding your site and, if you’re doing any online advertising, which ads are most effective. It’s very straightforward to set up a Google Analytics account and get your tracking code. How you add the tracking code to your site will depend on which hosting service and technologies you use, but all major website hosting services support the use of tracking codes. The most important thing to remember is to have your tracking code on every page of your site.
If you plan to do any advertising on Google Search, Facebook, LinkedIn, Reddit or any other platform, it’s best to set up Google Tag Manager to help you install and manage the tracking code for each of these platforms.
SSL, tracking, page load time, and other final checks
Once you have finished setting up your website, there are a few final checks to make sure that everything is working properly:
Does your security certificate work if you go to https://yourdomain.com in your browser?
Do you get redirected to the https version if you use the http address?
Does Google Analytics track visitors across all the pages of your website?
Is your website being indexed by Google (and Bing)?
Are there any search indexing errors?
Is new content being indexed?
Is your page load time okay?
Does your email signup and/or contact form work?
Can you listen to your podcast episodes using the embedded player?
When you’re ready to set up a website to promote your podcast, Communicate Influence can help!
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