How to Create a Website for a Podcast in 5 Steps
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Comments: Everyone knows that podcasts are something that you listen to. It’s why we love plugging them in on our morning commute, or when we go for our evening jog.
It’s why you love running your own podcast show, too – because of that little bit of joy it gives people in their day-to-day lives.
But what if podcasts didn’t have to solely be something that your audience simply listened to? What if they could read about your show, explore existing and upcoming episodes, and sign up for exclusive offers, insider access, and a wealth of exciting extra content? Interact comprehensively and holistically with your podcast, every day?
In other words, what if your podcast had its own website?
Well, it can – and thanks to the likes of Wix, Squarespace, and GoDaddy, it’s easier than ever to build a website and create an online home for your podcast. So read on for our five-step breakdown of how to set up your own dynamic, dazzling podcast website – and a reminder of exactly why you should do just that.
What Is a Podcast Website?
A podcast website is a place where you’ll showcase your podcast online.
It’s a place to plug, promote, and publicize your podcast, and start a conversation with your audience in a way that goes beyond the usual offering of your show.
A podcast website is an ideal tool not only for consolidating your existing audience – giving them a sense of community and connection with your podcast and brand – but for widening your base of listeners and expanding your reach, too.
Your podcast website should contain essential info about your show’s premise, purpose, and people – that is, its founders and host(s). It’s also a great place for listing the episodes you’ve created to date, and providing supplementary content (articles, interviews, images and the like) to support the audio.
Of course, your podcast website should also make it clear where people can access your content – be it Apple, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you make your podcast available to listen to.
Podcast Website: Pros and Cons
Before we dive straight into our five-step guide to creating a podcast website, let’s quickly recap the key pros and cons. (Spoiler alert: the former outweighs the latter!)
| Pros: | Cons: |
|---|---|
| Good for SEO. Having a well-optimized podcast website will make it simple for your audience to find you online. It also means that people who aren’t searching for you might stumble upon your site, and become interested in your podcast through that avenue. | Financial investment. Unless you’re using a free website builder, creating a podcast site can require an upfront cash injection – particularly if you want your site to have a deep, diverse set of functionalities. |
| Central location for all podcast episodes. A good podcast website should provide a core compendium of all the episodes it’s produced. This allows browsers to explore summaries of your content, get a flavor for your podcast, and – ideally – click through and start listening to it! | Time investment. It’s not just money you’ll need, but time, too. Unless you have the cash to hire a dedicated web designer, you’ll have to create your podcast website yourself – and this won’t always be a lightning-quick process! |
| Collect listener data. Through your podcast website, you can offer people exclusive content by signing up to your mailing list. Once you have their email addresses and key demographic info, you can market to them with tailored, targeted offers and discounts. | Requires continuous maintenance. Creating a podcast website isn’t as simple as launching it and leaving it. You’ll need to keep adding new content, updating the info, and refurbishing the site to keep it fresh, as well as giving your readers (and listeners!) a reason to keep coming back. |
| Sell merchandise and related content. A podcast website doesn’t have to be informational alone. It can be commercial, too. Through it, you can sell merchandise related to your show or brand, or educational content such as online courses. | |
Creating a Podcast Website: 5 Simple Steps
Ready to get started, and create your own stunning, highly functional podcast website? Here’s how.
1. Pick a Platform
For starters, you’ll need to pick a platform to create your podcast website on.
We recommend using a website builder. These tools are quick, simple, and – for the most part – superbly easy to use.
Your other alternatives are constructing your site around a CMS (Content Management System) such as WordPress or Drupal, or building it from scratch. Both of these approaches are more time-intensive and complicated than website builders, and require substantial tech-savviness to utilize well.
So – website builders. Which ones do we most recommend for podcast websites?
Our top website builder pick for creating a podcast site is GoDaddy. All intuitive, intelligent, and providing considerable dynamism and design freedom, these platforms offer everything you need to create a powerful online presence for your podcast.
Wix is best for beginners, and is our top recommendation, while Squarespace has the best designs, and GoDaddy is the fastest way to get your podcast website online.
Costs to get started:
- Wix starts at $14 per month, and offers a completely free plan
- Squarespace’s plans start from $12 per month, with a 14-day free trial
- GoDaddy’s rates open at $9.99 per month, with a free plan too
2. Choose a Domain Name
Next up? Choosing a domain name.
Your domain name is your site’s unique online identifier (find out more about what a domain name is). It’s the name that people will associate with your podcast and brand, and – for some – will be how they locate your site in the first place. So, unsurprisingly, your domain name needs to be an accurate reflection of your podcast.
To help you pick a domain name that doesn’t confuse your audience, breeze through our quickfire tips:
- Keep it short – no one likes typing, and the briefer your podcast website’s domain name is, the more memorable it will be.
- Ditch the slang – purposely misspelling words in your domain name might feel like fun at the time, but it will only make your site harder to find.
- Steer clear of numbers and hyphens – they’ll only confuse people, and are easily misspelled or misinterpreted.
- Make it memorable – the more people remember your podcast website’s domain name, the more likely they’ll be to return to it.
- Don’t fret if your ideal name is taken – keep searching. There are plenty of alternate variations of your ideal domain name that’ll resonate with your listenership.
You’ll usually have to upgrade to a paid plan to connect a domain name to your site through a website builder. Once you do, however, many platforms offer a domain name for free – at least for a certain period of time.
All of Wix’s annual premium plans, for instance, come with a free domain name for the first year. With GoDaddy (which you might already know as one of the largest domain registrars in the world), purchasing a domain for a year costs only $9.99. If you extend this out to two years or more, that first year will cost you a single cent alone.
3. Find a Suitable Theme
With your new podcast website’s foundation and name accounted for, it’s time to think about appearances. How do you want to present your podcast to the world? To use color, design, copy, and white space to convey your show’s unique personality?
“Themes” are design templates that allow you to base your site’s look and feel around. Most website builders come packed to the brim with them, which is handy – it means you’re not starting from scratch on the design front, which is nice!
With that said, your next job is to pick a theme that fits the message you want your podcast site to convey. Typically, you can filter these by the type of podcast you produce. Take Wix’s 10 podcast-tailored website themes, for instance:
Wix splits its podcast website themes out by industry. There’s food, true crime, sports, religion, travel, art, music, and design – so plenty to choose from to get you started.
For really good-looking podcast website templates, though, we recommend Squarespace. Throughout all of our extensive research and testing, Squarespace comes out on top for design, with stunning themes and a seemingly limitless number of ways to customize them.
Among its best website themes for podcasters are SUNDEW, Brine, and Paloma – check them out in the interactive gallery section below to explore whether any might be the right fit for your podcast website.
Squarespace Podcast Templates
Click the image below to expand We should also note that Squarespace offers a range of premium (read: paid) design themes available, too – though we’d only recommend investing in one of these if you’re extremely taken with how they look.
4. Create Content
Three steps down, two to go – now, it’s time to create some content to fill up your blossoming podcast website.
Here’s a quick rundown of what you’ll need.
A Homepage
Your podcast website’s homepage needs to do several things.
Grab your reader, for one – instantly convey what your podcast is about for another. Your homepage should also serve as a launchpad, from which your site’s user can contact you, listen to your latest episode, or donate some money to keep your podcast going.
An “About Us” page
You don’t just want to talk about your podcast itself, but the story behind it.
In other words, you’ll need to tell your story – who you are, why you created your podcast, and your goals in doing so. Was it a specific, untapped market you wanted to appeal to? Was the creation of your podcast a result of something that happened to you personally?
Your listeners will want to know this info, so make sure to include it all!
An Episode Guide
Your podcast website should summarize the episodes you’ve produced to date (and, if you’re looking to whet your readers’ collective appetite for what’s to come, some info about upcoming episodes, too).
In your episode guide, you can provide a brief summary of each episode’s content and guests, as well as link out to wherever your site’s user can listen to those episodes – be it on Spotify, Apple, Stitcher, or somewhere else.
A Store
With a solid online store built into your podcast website, you can sell merchandise – t-shirts, stickers, bibs, toys, and more – related to your podcast, and allow your customers to pay for them securely through your website.
Other content elements you might want to factor into your podcast website include a way your listeners can contact you, a sign-up form to subscribe or receive regular content (i.e. email marketing), and more info about your sponsors.
You can also include a page where your podcast’s most avid listeners can donate – thus ensuring the longevity and independence of the content you’re creating.
5. Consider Your CTA (Call to Action)
The icing on the cake of the podcast website creation process? Considering your CTA.
A CTA (call to action) is anything that requires action from your site’s users. It could be subscribing to your podcast, listening to an episode, signing up for your newsletter, donating money to fund future episodes, or buying some merchandise.
Your listeners taking action on your site is vitally important – it’s what’s going to build your brand, expand your audience base and followers, and make you money. So when writing your call to action, start at the end, and work backwards.
What is it you want your podcast website to achieve?
If that’s new subscribers, place a prominent “Subscribe Now” button in a place that casual scrollers will see it.
If your site’s end goal is simply getting people to tune into your show, place the episode guide at the fore, and embed the audio files into your homepage so people don’t have to be funneled to another platform to listen.
Alternatively, you might only want to encourage your listeners to get in touch with you – and provide their own thoughts as to what they want to hear on your podcast.
If, on the other hand, you just want to make money off merch and supplementary content sales – a book you’ve published, for instance – make sure your podcast website’s infrastructure is diverting visitors to your online store in a meaningful way.
More Information
- Suburban Witchery Interview: Read how this small business uses Squarespace to share podcast episodes
Creating a Podcast Website: Summary
We wrote this guide to demystify the podcast website creation process. After all, there’s just five steps to it:
- Pick the website builder you’ll use (Wix is the most fit for purpose)
- Choose a domain name (keep it simple, and you can’t go wrong!)
- Select a design theme that reflects your podcast’s unique look and feel (Squarespace has plenty – some free!)
- Create content for your site (a homepage, “About Us” page, episode guide, and merch store are all essentials)
- Consider your CTA (this could be encouraging your readers to subscribe, sign up, or get in touch with you directly)
It’ll take some time initially – plus a small monetary investment for a truly professional podcast website. But in exchange, you’ll get a dynamic, diverse online presence that does justice to the content you’re creating – week in, week out.
With a dedicated podcast website, you’ll also be helping more people discover your content – meaning it’s a fantastic tool for growing and cultivating the loyalty (and numbers!) of your audience over time. So go get started – and good luck!
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