Thinking of jumpstarting your podcast but don’t know what to expect? Working on your podcasts is always fun and interesting at the first glimpse but behind the scenes, it’s a handful! In this episode, Hector gives tips on the key things you should know if you’re starting a podcast. Take some time to listen, digest, and make your way to starting your podcast right! 

Topics Covered 

• 00:44 - First thing you should know; results take time. 
• 01:57 - 3 quick steps to get you to 25 shows quickly. 
• 02:27 - Second thing you should know; your recording schedule matters. 
• 04:55 - Third thing you should know; what matters is you and your listeners. 
• 06:03 - Fourth thing you should know; a good room is just as important as good equipment. 
• 07:58 - Fifth thing you should know; think of your podcast as not only a podcast but as a show. 

Get Help With Your Podcast 

Free Podcast Marketing Checkup

AmplafyMedia.com 

Follow Hector on Twitter

And why P fam what's My name is Dr.

Cynthia Esteban, and I am your host and I've been producing publishing,

monetizing and marketing podcasts for the last six, seven years or so.

And this show is to help you learn what does and does not work when it comes to

marketing and monetizing your podcasts.

So this episode is titled five things.

You should know if you're starting a podcast and it's for people who are

thinking about starting a podcast, because that's what prompted the conversation.

But if you've already started a podcast, then you should know these things as well.

Because if you don't know them, then they aren't going to affect you.

So let's get into

Okay.

Thing, number one that you have to know is that things in podcasting

take longer than you expect, and that's almost everything, right?

Whether it's downloads or listens or audience.

Monetization, whatever it is that you're trying to do with

things are going to take a little longer than you expect.

So just know that going into

Here's the reality.

Results take time.

I mean, if you think about it, Joe Rogan started in 2009.

That was over a decade.

It's like a decade plus before he quote unquote hit it big with Spotify.

Right The unfortunate truth about podcasting is that most shows aren't

getting the numbers that you think.

And a very few amount of shows are getting way more downloads

than anyone would imagine.

, so if you want a number that you should shoot for 25 episodes, it's the number.

And if you think about That should take you either a half a year.

If you're doing one episode Or it could take you a year if you're

averaging an episode every other week.

And sometimes that happens when things get delayed or maybe that's even the cadence

that you've picked us to do it biweekly.

But if you can commit to putting out something every week, then you should

hit that within about six months.

And in six months, you should be able to know whether or not this is for you.

And the earlier that you can figure that out, the better

off that you're going to be.

But I've got three quick tips to get you to 25 shows as quickly as

possible, or to get you to your next 25 shows as quickly as possible.

The first one is make a plan and map it out.

The second is to have checklists . So you, that you're not making stuff up

every time and things can flow when they can start to be a lot more efficient.

And the third is to have fun with it.

And you've got to find ways to do that, whether that's with the content,

whether that's with the recording.

You've got to find a way that it can be fun or else you're

not going to follow through.

Okay.

So that's number one.

Do it for the longterm.

Get the 25 episodes.

. Second thing that you want to know is that your recording schedule matters.

A lot of people think that they can just be Willy nilly with this, or they can.

Just do it, whatever.

I was one of those people, but after a while things stopped working

and you either get really busy.

You forget, you hit a content LOL.

And so if you are not doing it consistently and you aren't doing

it regularly, And then we're going to talk about the ways that

we can do that in just a second.

Then there's going to be sometime in the future where you're going

to hit a bump in the road and not have the content that you need.

I don't want all this to be doom and gloom about podcasting, but unfortunately

it's more work than people think.

And so if you can eliminate a lot of the fatigue and the decision fatigue

that comes along with it, then it's going to make it so much easier for you

to actually once again, fall through, which I think is such a big part of

actually having a successful podcast is being able to actually follow through.

. So I mentioned the two keys here are regularity and consistency, and

you can either do one of two things.

Or what we recommend is one of two things.

The first thing that you can do is you can record every week,

the same time every week, Like.

On Mondays, you record whether you have a guest to record with, or whether

you don't, you make it a point to record at the same time every week.

So that way you always have stuff in the queue.

And you can get bonus points if you can record multiple episodes on that

day, so that you can start to get ahead, or maybe you can even start to

publish multiple episodes in a week without needing multiple recording

, so if that's not going to work and some people think,

well, that sounds like a lot.

I don't have a lot of time as it is.

And so if you're not going to be able to sit down every week at the same

time, then what we recommend is to sit down once a month and to knock out

all of the episodes for that month.

And that may sound like a lot at first.

But what it really only ends up being is if you, if you were producing

a weekly show, that's really about three or four hours, Not, not

every show is going to be an hour.

I wouldn't recommend that.

Well, maybe, maybe 45 minutes, something like that.

45.

Um, Two hours.

Okay.

But.

It's just going to be that's just an afternoon.

And so if you think about it, if you can devote an afternoon a month and

be able to record all the episodes that you need for that month.

That's going to do so much for you because you've got the rest of the entire month.

You've got 29, 30 more days to be able to do whatever you need to do and

focus on whatever you need to focus

So those are the two things that we recommend either record every

week at the same time, or to make sure that you record once a month

and record everything for that

The third thing that you should know when it comes to your show

is that the only people that matter are you and your That's it.

, you don't necessarily need podcasting

partner or your parent or your kid?

Unless they match your ideal listener.

I see too many podcast hosts who take too much advice and take too much input from

people who aren't actually in their target market, who aren't an ideal listener.

And they end up getting feedback that isn't coming from the right perspective.

So make sure that if you're going to get feedback, if you're going to

get input on your show that you ask people who are in your ideal listeners,

it's okay to show it to your partner.

It's okay to show it to your kid, but I wouldn't wait their

input very much because a lot of times podcasts are so unique.

They're so specific to the person that they're supposed to attract.

That they're almost going to repel anybody who isn't in that target market?

So understand what your listeners want, understand what they're looking for?

Both in their quality and in their content, but also in the tone, in

the music, in the field and the vibe, all that stuff matters when

it comes to your audience as well.

The fourth thing that you know is sound matters and your room actually matters

just as much, if not more than your mic.

And so before I got started, I had to do some stuff to my room because

even with a good microphone, having a good room can also really help.

Now here's the other side of that.

Having a bad room with a bad microphone can also really,

really make it even worse.

So your room and your mic with the two things that you want to make

sure that you take into consideration when you're recording It's ideal.

If you get a dynamic, a, usually an XLR mic, because those only pick up the

host or they only pick up the person.

Other Mike's like a lot of popular ones, especially the blue Are

designed to pick up the entire room.

And so that means that if there's a car driving by right now where there's, you

know, I'm looking at a car, cut, pulling up to the stop, sign outside my office.

That you'd be able to hear that car.

You might even be able to hear what they're listening

to with those types of mics.

And so you want to get a mic that's designed to only pick up

the person that's speaking into

The second thing that you want to do is you want to be in a room that That ideally

has lots of furniture and has lots of curtains and drapes and really things

. That can absorb a lot of the sound.

Honestly, I'm looking around at my office and it's honestly, probably not

a very ideal situation for recording.

I've got a glass mirror, I've got two windows.

I've got only furniture that I have is my desk and my chair.

And there's a variety of reasons I've talked about in previous

shows, why that's happened.

But just to give you an example, that is not something that you want.

If I had my druthers, what I'd probably be doing, we're working

on kind of redesigning the studio.

I'm redesigning it into a studio right now.

Is I'd put, probably put a couch.

We're going to put some blackout curtains and drapes.

. We want to put some foam boards all along the.

Drywall.

And maybe even hang some curtains over the mirror as well.

I think that's something that might also help.

So your room and your mic, they definitely matter.

And they're definitely important when it comes to your sound.

The last thing that you should know about your podcast is you

want to think about your podcast.

Not like a podcast, but more like a show.

and when I say a show, I mean that your podcast.

Is not just going to exist in an audio form.

On apple on Spotify rate because the industry is changing and things are

changing and Spotify is incorporating video and YouTube Twitter, just

so that they're going to start doing something with podcasting.

And so what a podcast is, is actually going to change

But what is going to stay the same as people are always looking to

be either entertained or informed.

And so if you have a show that can entertain somebody that can help

somebody for 30, 45 minutes an hour, however long you can do it, the longer,

the better that can take them out of their world and bring them into a world

that helps them, that that makes them laugh or makes them cry or keeps them.

In suspense, whatever it is, if you can entertain then that is going to be around

and people are going to be doing that.

As long as we're around as humans.

And the app in the format in which we're doing it might change

and might evolve over time.

So if you can think about your podcast as a show and less about just as an

audio podcast on apple and Spotify and these other podcasts apps, well, then

it really starts to allow you to create an experience that's much different

for your listeners that can evolve and adjust to the changing landscapes

and mediums that are out there.

Now to that point, that also means that your show.

Should be cohesive.

Everything should fit.

There's a branding part to it.

There's a visual part to it.

There's kind of three parts of the show, right?

There's how it sounds.

This is how it looks.

And then there's the words that are kind of written on it.

And so you have these three different components.

You've got your, your, your title, your description, you get your episode art.

You've got your.

Your F your trailers and stuff, all these things that kind of create this cohesive

Of your show.

And so, as long as you were thinking about that, or as long as you have those

things in mind, then that's, what's going to make your show successful.

So those are the five things I'd encourage you to go back and listen to these,

share it with podcasts or who is thinking about starting their show, or even

someone who's newer in their journey.

Maybe they haven't hit those 25 episodes yet, but.

Appreciate you guys listening.

Go back, listen to some of the other episodes.

And if you have any questions . Or if you have ideas for future episodes,

come find me on Twitter at Hector underscore podcast, and we'll see if

we can make it a topic on a future

Thank you guys for sticking around and being part of the