Creating a podcast website is a powerful way to leverage all benefits of the podcasting medium and grow your show to its full potential. With Podpage, the process is simple and straightforward.
In this blog, we’ll walk you step by step through setting up your own Podpage podcast website and answer some of the common questions you might have along the way!
How to set up a Podpage account
Podpage has a flexible pricing model that makes it easy to select and add the features you need as you grow. You can start with a free Podpage trial to preview the features and see what you think–no strings attached! You’ll get access to all the benefits of a Pro plan for seven days.
Want to sign up for a paid plan right away? Let’s look at which one is the best fit.
A Basic plan includes a custom domain name to help with your credibility and growth, and episode pages are automatically created each time a new episode drops.
The Pro plan is the most popular option because it provides the same benefits plus full listener engagement tools, 30+ integrations to key tools and marketing partners, and Apple Smart Banners and rating tools to make your show more easily accessible.
The Basic plan is $9 per month and a Pro plan is $15 per month. You can save 25% more by paying annually. A great first step is simply to preview your podcast website, which is totally free and takes just a few minutes–no strings attached!
Step #1: Import your RSS feed
Once you’ve created your login, you’ll be asked to search Apple podcasts for your podcast name or enter your RSS feed.
Click Generate My Website to see all of your content magically appear on the site in seconds! Without ever doing an upload, your episodes will be ready to go on one of several customizable templates.
Step #2: Choose a template
Preview any (or all!) of the preset template options before making a selection and see your actual content without having to upload anything. You can swap out your template for another at any time if you change your mind.
Podpage was designed for simplicity, so you don’t need to be a designer or a coder to achieve a great-looking website. And, while your template gives you the starting point, you can make changes and customize many of the elements included so that your brand carries through with consistency.
Now that you’ve chosen your template, it’s time to start customizing!
Step #3: Pick brand colors and font
One of the key benefits of a podcast website is establishing credibility. Consistent branding will help you do this by reflecting the style and tone of your podcast. You want your podcast to stand out from the crowd, so getting the look and design right is essential, but it shouldn't be complicated.
As you choose your primary and background colors, you’ll be able to see the changes instantly reflected on your site. After you select your colors, you’ll be given a variety of fonts to choose from. Test out your options and tweak your site until you get exactly the look you’re going for.
You can also skip these steps or come back and change out your selections later if you’re still working on establishing a brand or specific style.
Step #4: Import Reviews
At this point in the process, a page has been created for each of your podcast’s episodes and each page has been automatically updated with your color and font choices. Now, it’s time to import those hard-earned reviews that you’ve already collected and create a place for listeners to leave reviews directly on your website.
Reviews play a major role in helping you build your audience, boost your reputation, and bump up your podcast ranking. Because reviews are so crucial, the goal is to make it as simple as possible for listeners to find and leave reviews.
A great place to start is by putting your five-star reviews on display. After automatically importing your reviews, Podpage will organize your reviews on one dedicated page. Think of it as your podcast’s own personal trophy case. This is where your podcast gets to shine.
Listeners will be invited to leave new reviews directly on your website with the click of a button.
Step #5: Connect with listeners
One of the primary benefits of a podcast website is the ability to create a direct line of communication with your audience.
By interacting with your listeners, you’ll learn what type of content they like and want more of as well as what type of content they don’t resonate with. You’ll also be able to get ideas for content you could deliver in the future to meet listeners’ needs and solve their problems.
This kind of listener relationship will help you create a podcast and resources that are tailored to your audience, leading to higher levels of engagement. As you foster loyalty among your current listeners, you’ll establish a reputation that reaches new listeners and leads to growth.
Podpage makes it easy to connect with listeners in a variety of ways, so you can find out the best way to connect with your specific audience.
In addition to a contact page, you can give listeners the ability to leave voicemails through your website or comment on episodes. You can also promote and encourage listeners to opt into a mailing list if you offer a newsletter or email updates around new episodes.
Step #6: Set up guest intake form
According to a study by Rephonic, podcasts with guest speakers tend to get more listeners on average and tend to perform better on social media.
Bringing guests onto your podcast allows for cross-promotion that benefits both you and your guest–which is what makes this format so appealing to so many podcasters.
Podpage can help you streamline the process of hosting a guest with an intake form that handles the administrative details for you.
Guests can register with your site and share all of their contact information, including social handles and their headshot or relevant artwork. And while they’re at it, they can sign off on a guest agreement and release stating the terms of how your podcast uses and shares content.
You can even enable a calendar booking widget to automatically send a calendar invite and manage your booking schedule. When guests have a great experience the first time around, they’ll want to partner again in the future.
Step #7: Display an announcement
Updates and announcements are an important way to keep listeners in the loop and engaged with your podcast. Maybe you want to tease an upcoming episode, or draw attention to a new website feature. An announcement bar is your place to talk directly to your audience and foster more interaction.
Podpage makes announcements easy by offering a static banner at the top of your site where you can share important updates. You can even include links if you’d like to direct listeners to another website or resource.
That’s it!
Congratulations! You have now completed the setup and you’ve got a great-looking website to show for it. Now it’s time to head over to your dashboard to continue editing and learn more about the full functionality of your Podpage website.
Podpage features and integrations
Every Podpage website is built for sharing with convenient episode links and follow links, so it's easy for listeners to subscribe to your show. Each page is also SEO optimized so it ranks high in search results and is optimized to load quickly (and look great) on any device.
From your dashboard, you’ll be able to leverage a wide variety of tools to help you organize, track, and grow your podcast. Here are just some of the things you’ll be able to do without ever leaving your dashboard (keep in mind some of these features are exclusively on the Pro plan).
- Build an email list. Collect email addresses for your mailing list to contact your listeners directly via integrations with ConvertKit, Aweber and Mailchimp.
- Track analytics. Measure website traffic with comprehensive Google Analytics visitor data. Having access to this valuable information can help you tailor your marketing and better engage with your audience.
- Offer memberships. Offer subscriptions to your listeners via integrations with Patreon, Supercast, BuyMeACoffee, and more.
- Write a blog. Create unlimited written content alongside your podcast episodes to build SEO and increase your content’s accessibility.
- Post videos. Post videos along with each episode so listeners have more ways to consume your content!
- Add transcripts. Make your episodes more accessible to listeners with a hearing disability and give Google more context for what’s in each episode.
- Receive voicemails. Engage with your listeners via voicemails they can leave on your homepage.
- Generate social posts. Quickly create a tweet, Facebook or LinkedIn post with the social sharing tool. This is a great way to link back to your website or specific podcast players so you draw in more traffic!
Every site also comes with a Contact and About page, and a rating URL that lets listeners rate your show directly from your site.
Need more help?
If you have any questions along the way, feel free to check out Podpage Support to learn more about how to leverage features and get answers to frequently asked questions. You can also chat with Podpage customer support for answers to your specific questions!