If you've created content online before, podcasting won't be unfamiliar. You'll want to make sure that your hardware setup is appropriate for your needs, and that you've found a hosting service that offers the features that you need to grow your show.
You have some experience; here are the things that you should be thinking about to take your show beyond simple audio recording and editing:
Your recording software and hardware will make a world of difference as you look to improve your show's production quality.
A basic DAW like Audacity will serve you just fine. Audacity is free and is used by many popular podcasters, and includes almost any feature you could want. However, Audacity may be limiting in some ways, and can become annoying over time if you spend many hours editing audio.
Consider some paid options:
You'll first want to make sure that you have a microphone that's doing your content justice. The first and highest-rated (though pricey) option is the Shure MV7.
If you already have a microphone stand, be sure to check whether the Shure MV7 will work with it. We recommend a boom stand, but a tripod stand will eliminate noise caused by vibrations from your desk (e.g., those caused by typing or moving your hands). Any stand with a 5/8" threaded connector should work with the MV7.
If you are trying to be mindful of cost, you can consider a slightly less expensvie option that still has great audio quality. The Audio-Technica ATR2100x-USB has been rated highly for its great sound quality, and could be a great choice if you're being mindful of your budget.
Pinecast lets you monetize your podcast using a dedicated tip jar. You can simply allow your listeners to leave tips and subscribe, but there is a greater opportunity to build your income with premium content. Marking episodes as private makes them available only to paid subscribers. Consider the following approaches:
With the Pinecast Growth add-on, which is an extra $10/mo (or $110/year), you have access to additional options to help monetize your show further.
Beyond the features that you receive with your Pinecast Starter subscription, consider these add-on features which can help you grow faster and have better control or insight over your podcasts.
This add-on unlocks additional insights about your show. There's no need to backfill, so immediately after you upgrade you'll be able to look at historical Pro Analytics data.
See the analytics documentation for full details.
In addition to the tip jar features mentioned above, the Growth add-on provides the following features:
The Crew add-on is made for podcasters who don't work alone. Allow your co-creators to add episodes and administer individual podcasts or groups of podcasts. You can collect multiple shows together into a single unified network dashboard, complete with combined analytics.
You'll also have access to notifications, which allow you to receive alerts for events on your podcast via email, Slack, Discord, or via a HTTP webhook.
This add-on allows you to upload files up to 256MB. If you're looking to upload very high-quality audio files (e.g., 192kbps or higher), you'll likely want this add-on. Additionally, this add-on will update your RSS feed every five minutes instead of every 15 minutes, allowing your episodes to go live faster.
Pinecast's podcast websites allow you a great deal of flexibility when customizing their look and feel, but sometimes you want to do something unique. In cases where you want to have greater control, check out our WordPress plugin. This plugin will create WordPress posts for each of your episodes, optionally putting them into a category and syncing episode artwork.
With WordPress, you can customize the theme, add features and scripts, and make the site more on-brand. Because our plugin accepts many feeds, you can, for instance, build a network website that organizes episodes how you'd like. This is truly the most flexible option for hosting your podcast website, and our plugin gives you complete control over how episodes are presented.
Documentation is available on our support website.
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