How to Create a Good Podcast on a Budget

 

Podcasts can be a great way to connect with a new audience, share your expertise and reach out to experts.

The key to a good podcast is good content. If you are new to podcasting and can’t invest in new equipment, how can you create a good podcast on a budget?

Contents

Step 1: Think about the Podcast’s Outcome

If you are interviewing an expert, for example, plan your questions and the time you will spend in total for the interview. The longer the interview, the longer it will take to edit it.

Having a tight set of questions will allow you to waste less time both during the interview process and in editing.

Soundbites are great for podcasts and for the accompanying marketing messages as they make great quotes. While you are interviewing an expert, take notes so you can revert back to them for soundbites.

When you conduct an interview with an expert always keep an eye on time and on your questions. Don’t be afraid to interrupt and either move on to the next question or ask for a more detailed explanation.

How long would you like your podcast to be? The most difficult podcasts to edit are less than 5 minutes long as you need to concentrate a lot of information in a very limited amount of time.

The rule of thumb is that for each minute of recording you will spend 3-5 minutes editing.

Step 2: Use Your Tablet

Tablet computers are portable and look professional when you are interviewing someone. They are also suitable to record Skype conversations.

Step 3: Download the Voice Record Pro App

Step 4: Voice Record Pro Settings

You will need to decide what audio quality you will need: highest audio quality is best but this means that the audio file will be very large, so you need to take that into consideration when uploading it onto your site.

Step 5: Create a Dropbox Account

You will need to save your files from your tablet to Dropbox and then download them onto your computer.
If you don’t have a Dropbox acccount, here is the link.

Step 6: Download Audacity Editing Software

Audacity is not the most straightforward tool to use but it’s a free resource and very effective once you get to know its features.

Download link.

You may also need to download a file converter, I suggest Media.io.

Step 7: Learn How to Use Audacity with Online Tutorials


Step 8: Think about the Listener

During the editing process, think about what your audience wants to learn from your podcast. Do you need to change the structure of the conversation to have the most important points right at the start?