The muse comes when you expect it the least. You might be driving home when it suddenly kicks in: a random wave of thoughts comes flowing, and you know for sure that it is an excellent material for your future podcast.
So you record it on your phone, trim it with a simple podcast audio editing software, and then: you’re stuck. It turns out that sharing your story with the world is a little more complicated than you thought it would be. You need a podcast hosting service, but you have no idea why.
That’s why you’re here, so don’t worry: we’ll tell you everything you need to know about the podcast hosting service and how to choose a proper one.
But before we start listing the criteria of a good podcast hosting service, let’s first understand what it is.
What is a podcast hosting service?
The podcast host is the place where you save your audio files for later, distributing them as your podcast episode. Here you get your podcast RSS feeds, which you later need to submit to Apple Podcasts or other podcast directories of your choice. You might wonder, though: what is an RSS feed?
It is just a listing of all your podcast episodes. RSS stands for “Rich Site Syndication.” In other words, it is a list to which people subscribe for getting updates on specific online content. If you want a more technical definition, it is a web feed formatted in XML that defines your podcast’s information.
Besides providing your podcast’s RSS feeds, podcast hosting platforms also give you access to web players, analytics, some scheduling tools, and other useful features. All of these make it easier to publish and track your podcast’s success.
Some podcast hosting services will also allow you to integrate your ad networks, share your podcast on social media, and other similar distribution options.
Now, the next question is:
Why do you need a podcast hosting service?
Unless your podcast is just a student project for a random class, you probably will be creating pretty heavy media files, and you need a decent place to store them all, and, of course, share them. One of the ways you could do it is by creating a website where your listeners would come for your episodes.
In this case, though, you’ll need to ensure that your website has enough bandwidth capabilities or storage. Otherwise, all these files will affect your load time or even cause your page to crash.
That’s why most podcasters start to look for a different solution, and that’s exactly when podcast hosting platforms come in handy. They provide you with a large enough space to store all your files no matter how long you need them. And if you choose the right hosting platform, you might even get assistance with the distribution of your show, allowing you to find and reach a larger podcast community.
