So, you’ve got a podcast. Great! Now where will your podcast live?
A podcast host is a home base for your podcast episodes. A host will provide the tools you’ll need to serve your podcast episodes to your listeners. FM Podcasts is a podcast directory. To be listed, you’ll need to have a podcast host that provides an RSS feed for us to pull your episodes.
There are many options for hosting your podcast. Many podcast hosting companies charge a fee for hosting your podcast. Some charge per episode, while others have a flat fee. Some allow you to create a free account and charge for additional features. In this how-to post, we’ll look at one option that is totally free!
Free Podcast Hosting
Our podcast host of choice is Anchor. Anchor is owned by Spotify, and has all the tools you’ll need to host your podcast and distribute it to all the other podcast services like Apple Music, Google Podcasts, Spotify, and more.
Anchor provides free, unlimited hosting of your podcast episodes and you retain all the rights to your show. You can move away from Anchor in the future if you want to try another host and still have everything you’ve created.
Additionally, Anchor provides unique creation tools that allow you to create episodes that are more engaging to your listeners, like episode blocks (audio segments) and transitions. You can even create a video podcast! Through the Anchor App, you can have multiple hosts record an episode or interview without being in the same studio.
And, because Spotify owns Anchor, you can add full music tracks to your podcast episodes from Spotify’s massive catalog of music.
Get Paid!
Podcasts continue to bring in more listeners, and there are many ways to make money from your podcast. Subscriptions, in-content advertisements, and donations are just three of the ways to produce income from your show.
Advertising
The most powerful form of podcast advertising is those read in your own voice. Your listeners are listening to you for a reason, and that lends extra power to ads you read in your episode.
With Anchor, you can also choose to insert sponsor-read ads and even choose where they appear. No matter what, you retain control over the flow of your episodes and have final word on your podcast content.
Subscriptions
Once people find your podcast, you’ll want to make it easy for them to come back and listen to episodes – both old and new. With subscriptions, your listeners can get an email notification of new episodes when they are posted and you can even offer exclusive content to your subscribers.
Emails are also an excellent way to promote swag like t-shirts and other items to your followers. You can offer several levels of subscriptions including a free tier.
Donations
People will pay for good content, and offering a way for your listeners to donate is easy – either one-time or monthly. With Anchor you can add an optional button that will allow your listeners to chip in!
Get Started
Check out Anchor for yourself! It’s easy to get started and totally FREE!
FM Podcasts was not compensated for this post.
