How to Start a Podcast

Podcast concept: name, niche, and goals

• Buzzsprout • Season 1 • Episode 1

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In Episode 01 of How to Start a Podcast, you'll learn how to pick the right niche for your podcast and how to create the perfect name for your new show.

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Gilon:

If it's just connecting with people in your field, or if it's like, Hey, me and my friends are getting together and talking about bears Battlestar Galactica, it's perfectly fine. So people are gonna listen to you. Welcome to How To Start A Podcast, a podcast about launching and starting your pod. Know how

Alban:

very descriptive name.

Gilon:

Yeah, we wanted to make it easy for you to find. So this is a podcast all about launching, growing and starting your show. So who am i Who's this voice? My name is John Mart's. I work here at Buzzsprout. I'm part of the support team as well as the content team. So I've been podcasting personally since 2017, which is about five years now. If you've watched any of the Buzzsprout P QA videos, Podcasting Q&A, I'm probably on one or some of those. And I also answered tons and tons of emails when you guys write into support about why your audio is so low or you got an episode, so I'm kind of completely dunked in this world of podcasting. And that's a little bit about me, and why you should maybe listen to the thoughts that I have about how to start a podcast.

Alban:

I'm Alban Brooke, and I'm the Head of Marketing at Buzzsprout. Worked in podcasting for seven years been podcasting for a good portion of that and teaching people how to podcast. So we're excited to take you on this journey. Buzzsprout has been helping people watch your podcast since 2009. And over 300,000, people have watched shows with us. So we're excited for you to be 3001 As long as you make it through these next 10 episodes, or 3000 or 300,000 300,000, I say 3000 3000 3000 groups of 1000s.

Travis:

I was wondering if you're gonna mention what Buzzsprout is so Buzzsprout. If you're I'm Travis, I'll introduce myself in a second. Buzzsprout is a podcast hosting service will tell you about what we do and why it's valuable to you starting a show, but just know, we all work for a company that's in the podcasting space. My name is Travis Albritton. I'm the Head of Content at Buzzsprout. I've launched I think over a dozen podcasts at this point. And so I am playing the role of the producer for this show. So Jalon and Alban are going to run it. And if you hear my voice in the middle, the episode, something has gone terribly wrong, but it should not happen. And I will chime back in at the end of each episode to give you some next steps if you want to go deeper on the things that you learn,

Gilon:

for sure. So on this first episode of How To Start A Podcast, we are going to just talk about some of the basics if you are even just considering hopping into the podcasting space. So first things first, why should I start a podcast?

Alban:

I think that is the question for our listeners to decide. We can tell you lots of reasons why you should start a podcast and tell you some of the reasons that we love podcasts. But this is kind of the critical first step is figuring out why are you even listening to us? And why is this on your mind? There's some reasons to do it. And there's some reasons not to do it. So should we jump in?

Gilon:

Can we start with the reasons to not start a podcast? Yes.

Alban:

Okay, this is my favorite, big red flag of why you should not start a podcast is if your answer was something like this. Man, I love listening to Joe Rogan. Or I love listening to This American Life or I love listening to cereal. And I I think I have these cool conversations that would be fun. And I think there's always this temptation to like, be famous. And it's the temptation that we have seeing athletes and seeing celebrities and all sorts of stuff. And we think we want to be those people. But we probably don't want to do the work that they had to do. So if your reason to start a podcast was just that you want to be popular, that probably isn't going to work, it's going to be really difficult. If your reason to start a podcast is you've got a message that you've got to get out to the world. But you want to become and present yourself as an expert in a field. If you want to grow a business, you want to just start growing yourself as a person by getting content out to the world and facing something that's probably a little bit scary. Those are great reasons to start a podcast.

Gilon:

I totally agree. I think having a purpose beyond wanting to be seen or or famous is really important. Because podcasting, while everyone is doing it is not necessarily super easy to do, right? It doesn't come without some legwork and some investment. And so having an idea about why you're starting, you know, start with your why it's really important to even the beginning steps of launching a successful podcast.

Alban:

And if the answer you have is just to have fun, and to connect with friends, and to meet interesting people and talk about things that you're interested in, that is a great reason to do it. So don't feel like you have to have some super high minded V goal here. It can just be the sounds like a ton of fun. And I'm super interested in x. And now I want to discuss that on a show.

Gilon:

And really I think that's those are some of the best shows where someone is passionate about something because that comes through. And so like you said, if it's just connecting with people in your field, or if it's like, Hey, me and my friends love getting together and talking about bears, Battlestar Galactica. It's fun like the vibe, the people are gonna listen to you. But as long as you start with a purpose, and you know what that purpose is, I think it's gonna be a good show.

Alban:

The next thing we got here is what are the goals for a podcast.

Gilon:

So that really is hinged upon your purpose, right. So like you talked about a couple reasons for starting a podcast. So it's to establish yourself as an expert, maybe that would be to kind of put your voice out there so that people look to you for information about like the office, like a show or look to you for information about news or health, mental health, whatever. So it's to be out there to people see you, as someone who knows about this particular topic. Cool. That's a great goal of establishing yourself as the expert, if it's a business thing, like trying to reach more customers and broaden your reach that way, podcasts are really good for that as well. If you are wanting to have tough conversations that other people aren't having, that can be a really good way to guide you into what kind of information you want to present kind of conversations you want to have. Like I've lost myself in the sauce a little bit.

Alban:

Well, I love that you're talking about becoming an expert, because I had a good friend who moved out of the construction industry into programming. And he didn't know anybody in programming, he didn't go to school for it, he was totally self taught. And his solution to this was to start a podcast about his experience. And through podcasting about it. When he went to interviews, people would see Oh, you already have this podcast, it's on your resume. And I listened to it, and you sound really smart. And I really liked the way you think about problems. And it was something that differentiated him from everybody else that was applying. And doing a podcast, or a YouTube channel or a blog or something, putting some effort into a piece of work really differentiates you from a lot of people. So if you're trying to break into an industry, or you're just trying to grow in an existing industry, starting a podcast is a great way to do that.

Gilon:

Yeah, and even when you're talking about that, I think kind of making people feel more seen kind of like creating a community around something. So whether that's, hey, there's conversations that aren't being had about X, or I, you know, I've tried to break into this industry, or I'm trying to just like a 20 something, right? Like just trying to figure out this adulting thing, I'm sure I'm not the only person that feels this way, people will gravitate towards that. And so then there's this shared sense of belonging, where you might have felt on the outs and like nobody understood podcasting really does wonders for creating community around something.

Alban:

Yeah, I love that. They've you ever heard the phrase like, if your car's broken down on the side of the road, no one stops. But when you start pushing your car, people come and help you push. I think that kind of the podcasting is your way of starting to push saying like, I'm not comfortable where I am, I want to be doing something different. I want these conversations to be had, I want to learn about this thing. I want to teach people about this thing, whatever it is that you're passionate about, once you start actually doing some work, people go, this is someone I want to be involved with. And now you have so many more doors being opened.

Gilon:

Alright, so we've got some goals, right? We've talked about establishing yourself bringing people together, getting your voice out there, maybe, how do you pick your theme or topic? There's so much that you could talk about, there's so many ways that you could go about trying to establish yourself as an expert anywhere, where do you even begin to start?

Alban:

So the thing that if you've been around, like the content game for a little bit that you keep hearing is like, niche or niche depending on like, how, how French you are. So finding a niche is just finding like a very specific topic. I see a lot of podcasters, who basically do or use the Office Go to earlier, they're like, Oh, we talk about bears beats Battlestar Galactica, we talk about all this stuff. And what ends up happening is it's not clear who that podcast is for, you know, if you talk about everything that people don't want to talk about relationships, and politics, and sports is like, actually people talk about that nonstop, I guess. And the fact that you are talking about all these topics means that it's kind of for everybody, but it's also not for anybody in particular, podcasting, there are tons of options for people to listen to shows, you're going to find the most success when you focus down on a core audience and a core subject that you're talking about. And now be very clear who it's for

Gilon:

and made me think of this quote from The Incredibles because my brain works like a child, where the villain was basically saying when everybody's super the nobody is, and it's kind of very much like that. It seems kind of counterintuitive to niche down because then it feels exclusionary, like our goal is to grow our audience, what do you mean, we should try to exclude people, but if you don't make it clear who your trumpet call is for or who this podcast is for, then it just ends up appealing to nobody in particular. And like you said, you end up talking about things at a low level, and so not really talking about anything specifically to anybody in specific, it's just shouting into the void. And so that's definitely one of the benefits of finding your niche or your niche depending on how you pronounce that. So how do you suggest someone go about finding their niche?

Alban:

Well, I think you've got to figure out what what you're interested in, we all have lots of interests. But then you need to combine an interest with a some level of expertise. And that doesn't mean you have to have a degree, it doesn't mean that you have to be credentialed, or you've spent so many years in an industry or something. But you need to be spending time with this interest. So, like, I have an interest in architecture, but like, I'm not starting a podcast, because I couldn't come up with a bunch of topics. And if you ask me about architecture topics, I wouldn't know what to say about it. I just be like, Oh, the house looks cool. And like, this modern house kind of is a little bit bland to me, like, I don't have I wouldn't have a ton of great, well thought out opinions. So when you're thinking about what could your topic be, I'd say no matter what it is, try to focus even tighter, you want to do a podcast about business go tighter, okay, now it's about marketing, go even more focused, okay, I want to do a podcast about marketing, where I'm not just talking about growing, but I'm talking about doing it in a healthy, sustainable way that won't burn out my team. Now I've focused on multiple times. And the power of that is, not only do I have a direction for all my episodes, because they're always going to cut back to my theme. But again, anyone wanting to recommend my podcast will say, Oh, you're kind of getting burned out by growing your business, check out this podcast, it's actually about people who are getting burned out by feeling the need to grow really fast. It might help you, if you just have a general interest podcast, or talk about tons of stuff, no one ever recommends it. Because nobody ever is like the clear person who'd be interested in it.

Gilon:

That's such a good point, that your niche becomes prescriptive in a way that like, you know who this is for. And so then I can recommend it when I'm sitting across from my friend talking, you know, to her about coffee. And then you also know immediately like, as you were talking, I was like, Oh, those people that are like grow your business in 90 days and good. Like, that is not who this is for. And as a person who like that kind of talking makes me a little anxious, like, oh, yeah, stay away from that, let's go find this one that's about sustainable, healthy growth. And so it really does help you find your tribe.

Alban:

One of the ways that I think are really helpful knowing whether or not you've found a good topic is, can you come up with 10 Episode themes or topics? So if you're starting a podcast about architecture, and he didn't know much about architecture, you'd be like, well, I know, there's like a few different periods. Like there's modernism. And there's also this other stuff. And now I can talk about one about materials. And now I'm kind of losing the trail. I don't know what the third episode be about. That's because I'm not an expert. But like July, what would you start a podcast on how to start a new show right now,

Gilon:

if I would start a new show, it would probably be around like mental wellness, mental health, something like that. Maybe even like a spiritual space. So I would niche down some too. And that and I can easily come up with 10 topics because it's a space that I like, inhabit, breathe, I can talk about mental health books, I can talk about anxiety, or depression or mental health and spiritual spaces. What does it look like when you're looking for therapists, there are all kinds of topics and things that I could think about as episode topics.

Alban:

Yeah. And so the fact that you can come up with those off the cuff very quickly means that this is probably a good area for you to be looking at. So if you are right now listening to us, and you think you've got kind of a podcast niche, you've got this theme. And now you sit down and just start writing, like write the titles of all these episodes and see how many you can write. And if we're stalling out at three or four, we might want to do a little bit of soul searching. But if you're cruising past 1213, this is an area that you would probably be really good at.

Gilon:

Definitely. Alright, so now you got some ideas about the direction, the goal, the theme? What about a name? How do you come up with a name? Should you be like, should you put your name in the title? Should you have tons of keywords so that you can find it when people are searching? What should you do?

Alban:

I think this is one of those areas that there's so many people that have gotten really big using their own name, like I think the Joe Rogan experience or something, or names that aren't super clear what they are, like 99% invisible, maybe people don't understand exactly what that is right in the beginning. When you hear those names, you think, oh, I should be coming up with like a brand. Or I should be naming it after myself. And those actually for new podcasters, especially for new podcasters who are not well known. Yeah, they're not they haven't already done something to grow themselves and their own personal brand. Those are both kind of bad ideas. Instead, you want to find a name that is one unique and we can kind of talk about that a bit. But to make it really clear what the podcast is about. So if we were doing your mental health podcast, you could say mental health in the church or something like some of the we've made it so clear that people see it and they go, I know exactly what that podcast is about.

Gilon:

So what are some of the pitfalls of naming a podcast?

Alban:

I mean, this is what I got. I could go on a rant about this. The cute names. There's so many podcasts that they love puns. If you've got a pun, where it's like, oh, my name is Alban. And that kind of rhymes with this, I should have actually come up with that idea. But like you're trying to take your name and a topic and you're kind of trying to mix it in, or maybe your co hosts name is mixed in with your name and ever seen that website? Epicurious? Okay, so it's epicurean, like a person who eats food or cares about food and curious. That's a cool brand now, but you know how difficult it was probably to grow that brand. When people are like, what's Epicurious? Like? I don't understand, like, oh, well, no, no, it's like, it's people are curious about food. And let me let me explain it. And they're like, Okay, well, I typed it in. And I keep getting Epicurean and Google saying, like, didn't you mean and is recommending something else to me? Well, if that's happening, it's gonna be way harder to grow.

Gilon:

Not to mention, do people know how to spell Epicurious? Or epicurean?

Alban:

Well, probably no to both.

Gilon:

So that's another like, because you don't really want any barriers with your name. You know, I'm saying like you're wanting a name that, like you said, it can be unique, that's perfectly fine. But you also don't want to make it difficult to be found if someone searches if they hear about it, because there'll be times where I'm listening to a podcast, and someone will recommend another podcast. And if I like, What did you say, you know, like, I'm typing it out, is Google gonna suggest that to me, or if Google were to say, like, oh, you misspelled this word. It's actually Epicurious. And so you don't want it to be difficult to be found is another, I think, big thing that people should be mindful of when they're naming their podcasts.

Alban:

We see this all the time, for some reason in the software business where people have a cool name, and it's a normal name. So it's like, tick, but they're like, oh, but that's already taken. So it's actually TC K. And so we dropped the I in LA Times, we will like drop vowels from the name. And they think it's like kind of cool and hip. But it's not cool and hip when someone's typing in the name of your podcast, and not finding it or finding someone else's podcast. Yeah. So they typed in Epicurious and Apple podcast was like, I have no idea what this thing is, you misspelled it. And so what I did pull up was the epic food podcast. And they went, maybe that's what I heard. I misheard them, and they click on the epic food podcast. Well, guess what, now we're two weeks in of them listening. And they're like, this is really good. But wasn't Chalon on this podcast? Like, I'm confused, oh, well, this is great stuff. Well, you don't want to be in that position, especially if you're the one recommending to them, Hey, maybe check out my podcast,

Gilon:

big problems, big, big problems. So then what do you suggest when people are naming their podcast? Well, first,

Alban:

we want it to be unique, we don't want you to be battling with somebody else with the exact same name that's gives you issues when your people are searching for you in the podcast apps. But also, you're not gonna be able to get the Twitter handle, there's gonna be somebody else fighting you on Instagram, or the domain probably not available. There's a really good website, which is gonna be ironic when I tell you the name, it's called name checker. But there is no E and checker in a second E. So it's name check, the letter are not calm. So the fact that I had to spell that out for you, proves the point that maybe if they just used name, check, they've been able to get that domain, it would have been better. But what name checker does is so good, is you put in a name, and it searches, all sorts of stuff. It's looking at, hey, is this Twitter handle available? Is the.com available? Is the YouTube channel available? And if stuff starts coming up across the board, grain, you know, you're good. If there's some Yes, and some knows that maybe it's not a great idea, do a little more research. And if it all starts coming up, read, okay. Somebody else is already operating under this brand name. So start writing out some names come up with like phrases that people might search for, that is a great way for your show to grow. I think of online marketing Made Easy, like that podcast, you know, with Amy Porterfield is growing because people are typing that exact phrase into Google. How do I make online marketing easy? How do I learn online marketing, and then this podcast pops up and they're like, oh, that's exactly what I want. If she'd have made it some like, kind of cutesy name, they would never have found it. And when they saw it, they wouldn't be sure that it was for them anyway.

Gilon:

Any other tips is we're talking about like podcast conception?

Alban:

Well, one of the things I know is, at this stage, I see a lot of people get interested in artwork, and I think that it's time to put artwork to the side for just a little bit. Why would we do that? I think blasphemy. We're building the brand. It's so much the brand will come out in your artwork. It's a critical piece of your brand. But it's harder than naming. Naming is just you coming up with it and you're typing it out. And your theme is going to probably shift and what I don't want to happen is you've recorded a couple episodes now you've edited them. You've done all this work, you've got a mic, and you're going, I'm actually gonna mental health podcasting more I want to do like positive psychology, like how do I not avoid depression, anxiety? But how do I live like the most abundant life possible, so maybe you've shifted the topic. And now in shifting the topic, you've shifted the name, and you've shifted the brand. Well, now you feel pretty silly that you maybe spent a few $100 Getting someone to create a graphic for you. And you're like, well, maybe I just stick with this graphic, and it doesn't fit perfectly, but I'll just do it. If you held off on your artwork. Now, when the brand is a little more locked in, and you've got a better idea, that's the right time to make it or have someone make it for you. So probably a few episodes down the line, we will get in and talk to you about that. And I

Gilon:

would definitely add on that podcast can evolve as you get into those first few episodes like it is not uncommon to start one way and then kind of pivot as you're going. So I probably would have benefited from waiting on my artwork for a couple of episodes before sending more money to my fiber guy. So that's a definitely it's a really good pro tip there. Okay, so we've talked about naming your podcasts having goals for your podcasts. Travis, what are some of the next steps.

Travis:

So I've got a couple of resources to help you if you want to go deeper on those topics that we discussed in episode one. The first one is a video all about how to name your podcast and we go through tips and strategies to really help you flesh out the right approach for you and coming up with a name for the topics that you want to discuss. And we also have a video about how to identify your podcasts niche and really niche down in the way that Alban describes, you're creating the perfect show for a particular audience. Both of those are videos that you can find on our YouTube channel. But if you want a blog to read, there's a really great blog on the Buzzsprout blog called at podcasting tips to start a successful podcast. So if you want a 30,000 foot view of what other podcasters are saying, advice that they would give to someone who's just starting out, that is a great resource to read. You can find links to all of those resources in the show notes for this episode, just kind of scroll down or over on the podcast app you're listening on. And you can find those links. And I'll also put the link for name checker comm in there too. So you don't have to worry about spelling it correctly.

Gilon:

Thank you so much Travis for all of that good information. So definitely check that out before next episode. And just as a little bit of a teaser, we're gonna be talking about podcast format for our next episode. So should you do a solo? Should you have a host? Should it be scripted or not scripted? How long should it be? We're gonna get into all of that. So until next time, keep broadcasting