We are doing a very, very exciting episode today because this topic hasn't actually been revisited too much since 2019. Yeah, we are going back to our roots here today on the profit podcast, and we're talking about how to start a podcast in 2022 and beyond. So let's get right to it. Welcome to the Proffitt Podcast where we teach entrepreneurs how to start launch and market their podcast. I'm your host, Krystal, Proffitt, and I'm so excited that you're here. Thanks for hanging out with me today.
Because if you've been trying to figure out the world of podcasting, think of this show as the time saving shortcut you've been looking for. So let's get right to it, shall we? This episode is extra fun to talk about and plan and create because this is the origin story of the podcast. I mean, obviously, I'm not going into how I started and all the thing like I'm not gonna go like take you down a trip of Memory Lane
today. But this is the episode that started everything that I've been doing in the last three years. I had a totally different podcast when I started in 2018. And over time, I realized, oh, podcasting is actually the thing that I should talk about creating content is just the thing that lights me up. It has lit us like lit a fire in my soul. And it's what I've been talking about, really ever since this episode aired.
So the original episode, it's episode 46 of the Prophet podcast, it's how to start a podcast, if you want to go back and listen to how things have changed in the last few years. Be my guests go listen to that. But what I wanted to do is actually ask myself the question of like, Hey, if you were starting a podcast in 2022, like today, now, knowing all the things that you do, would you do things the same? And what would
that look like? And I wanted to I actually have it pulled up here, I have Episode 46, which is the original How To Start A Podcast, it could actually be how you found my content. Because it's one of my most downloaded episodes, it's one of my most visited pages on my website. People want to know, well, how do you start a podcast and looking at this one, y'all, I think it's so important to look at and celebrate where you've come from, because I look
at all of this information. And I'm like, Oh, dear, sweet, young Krystal, the things that you just didn't know, or the things that you thought were important that actually don't matter that much. Or usually, like they're not the biggest priority. This is really what I see in looking at this particular shownotes like these, this particular episode and seeing it, but you know, hindsight is 2020. I know now what I need to do
differently. And what I would recommend if I were starting a podcast in 2022, or if you're listening to this way in the future, hello, welcome from the past, like all the things that always gets weird when you start talking about potential audiences that will listen to this in the future. But that's the amazing thing about podcast when you create something that's evergreen and can live for years and years and years and still be relevant. It's what's so cool
about this platform. But I wanted to tell you, so there were seven original steps in how to start a podcast back then. So you can go and check it out. I have all the resources, all the different things that I recommend, but I wanted to update that list. In the order, I believe you should look at your content today, like in 2022.
And the first one is, number one, your audience. I think that number one and number two can go, you know back and forth, you could switch these out. I mean, they could equally be as important because number two is your content and what you're going to talk about, but at the end of the day, you know who you want to talk to. And I say that because I've talked to enough podcasters that they start with their topic. They say Oh, this is the topic I want to talk
about. But in reality, you're trying to speak to one specific person. You're trying to talk to other people that are going through something that you've gone through, or other people that are trying to learn the thing that you've learned. So now you want to teach it to them, or you know, the list goes on and on, or you just want to talk to people to make them laugh. You want to talk to people, to inspire them to
motivate them. There's so many different reasons why you want to start your podcast, but you know, who you want listening on the other side of it, or, more importantly, you know, who you don't want listening on the other side of the microphone, right? Like who you want, listening in their earbuds every single week. And I think that this previously, let me see here, I'm actually looking, I don't even have audience on this initial list, y'all. I don't
have it. It's not on there. I guess this is the additional and now I'm looking at this. There's things on here that I'm like, Ah, it's not that important. Because this is something where I screwed up, y'all. This is a lesson learn. This is not just a how to episode, this is a lot learn from my mistakes. I did not focus on my audience. Therefore, whenever I went to market my podcast, I didn't know who I was talking to. I was just like, Hey, anybody listen to podcast, please go listen to my
show. snuggest strategy. Lesson learned, don't do that. I want you to first focus on who you want to talk to who is your specific audience, and make sure that you could describe them to anybody that asks about your show. If you say I'm starting a podcast, and I want to say, Who's it for? What would you say? Right? And then the second question, what's it about? This is where your content comes in your topics? This is number two. Number one is your audience. Number two, is your content.
What are you actually saying? What are Why are you doing this? And we can go into the all the different mindset of you know, what's your purpose, you need a purpose behind it, because you got to have this, you got to have that, really, at the end of the day, you do have to have a purpose. I agree. It's very important. It's what keeps you going. But to just get started, you got to have some that you're going to talk about. And it has to be clear, this is the biggest
mistake that I see. I see people that want to shove 17 Different things that they're passionate about into one podcast episode. And it's a mistake. Oh, it's such a big mistake. I think that people, I've done this, I can say this with confidence. Because I've done this too. I started my podcast, I wanted to talk about writing and fitness.
And, you know, creating businesses and doing like overcoming things in your life, like I wanted to talk, you could go Listen, go back and listen to the very early episodes of my podcast journey. It's why I leave them there. It is why I didn't delete them, and pretend like they didn't happen. And try to show up here and be like, Oh, I'm on this journey. And I'm perfect. I've always been perfect, y'all. So with my kids, we don't even allow them to say
the word perfect. It's almost like perfect as a four letter word in our house, because we let them know, nobody is perfect. And I like to share the messy part of my journey because it lets you know I'm human. I'm so far from perfect. So so far from perfect. It's comical. And I just I really want people to understand that. Even if you start your content, and it sucks, you are still starting somewhere, you can always hone that in you can always get more specific about your audience
too. But you got to have at least a place that you're starting. All right, we're not talking about today's episode isn't labeled how to have a number one podcast, it's how to start a podcast that you need the nuts and bolts to get your show going in 2022 That's what this is for. And then so number one audience number two, your content. What's the main topic you're gonna cover?
Number three, you have to have to have to have to and I harped on this so hard and a recent training that I did, you must understand the importance of organic reach. Now what I mean by this is SEO and keywords. If you don't know what that is, don't worry. I'm going to put in the show notes, KrystalProffitt.com./episode326. I have YouTube videos. I have podcast episodes about SEO for podcast and what that looks like. But I am like steam is coming out of my ears. I'm so frustrated with people saying they don't understand SEO, or I will get to that when I will understand that later. And I don't know if this is one of those concepts that someone out there is saying well you don't really need SEO until you're Becker till your show is getting more listens or till you are getting in front of a bigger audience, like hold the phone back the truck up, because that is not true. This is actually how you get in front of an audience and how you end up in the search engines how people when they're looking for a very specific topic. That is what your podcast is all about. It's how they find you. It's how they go to your website, get on your email list, start buying your products, like it's how everything in the online business space works. It's the domino effect. That's at the very, very beginning. Think of it like the very first domino. It is SEO and keywords. And I talk about this, and I harp about it so much, because I was just like you, I did not spend a ton of time on SEO and keywords in the beginning of my journey. And I regret it. I regret it so much. I regret it so much. And it's one of those things. Yeah, it's not a get rich quick scheme. It's not something that's going to oh, if I change this in this, it's going to everything's going to dramatically changed in 24 hours, it takes time. It does take time, SEO keywords winding up in Google's front page, like getting to the top of the YouTube list, like doing all of these different things. It takes time. But oh my gosh, is it worth it? Holy crap. Like it is one of those things that is so underestimated in this space. Like I've been wondering, I'm like, do I need to do a training on SEO, how it works or podcast and why it's important because I just want to scream at the top of my lungs that SEO is the thing that has helped my podcast grow. It's how people find me organically. I'm not spending money on ads, y'all. I've talked about this before, if you listen to the potty report, I've talked about you know, oh, I think I want to spend a little money on ads here. I want to do this. But I unless it's a launch, I haven't even messed with ads. I've never used Facebook, Instagram, YouTube ads, none of those to try to grow my podcast. It has happened organically through SEO and keywords. So you cannot ignore this. I'm going to link in the shownotes. If you this is the first time you've ever heard this term, you're like I still don't know what that is. I'm linking in the show notes to all of my favorite resources for SEO and for growing organically with a podcast. Okay? That's the third most important thing do you see? Have we even
talked,
We're just now it's number four. And we're just now getting to equipment and software. And I lump these two together previously, they were separate things. These are both two together because y'all the barrier to entry to get started with a podcast in 2022 is so freaking low. If you have an iPhone, if you have an Android, if you have an iPad, if you have anything that was created in the last 12 months, even the last like 36 months, it has the ability to record your voice. I
don't want to hear this. I don't have a $7,500 microphone and I don't have this beautiful setup. I need my perfect backdrop before I can start my video podcast like it's it's crap, y'all. It is total BS excuses that you are serving and I'm not here for any more. I feel like I don't know what's gonna I'm like I'm on fire for all this stuff today because I'm sick of everybody's excuses. Of, I can't grow my podcast, I can't do this. Can't do that. I can't. Unless I get this specific
microphone. It just won't work. And I y'all I got started with a $20 microphone $20.20. And if I would have known how to record on my phone, I would have started there. I get it you don't know you're like I don't know how much to invest. I don't
know if I want to invest? Well, if you don't know then don't go spend hundreds of dollars on a microphone, use your phone, use your iPad, use your kids tablets, y'all I know some meals kids have nicer things than we ever had growing up, like, take advantage of the technology that we have at our disposal. And don't spend so much time doing research. Like just pick your
budget. If you're like, Okay, I could spend about 100 bucks on a mic then I'm going to link to a YouTube video that the Buzzsprout folks did that I think is fine. It's like all these microphones for under $100. It's fantastic and I think that you should go watch it if this is what they like and just make a decision. Move on because that is not the most important decision. Once that decision is made. Everything else becomes
easier. I promise issue, but you have to figure out what equipment are you going to use in software, I'm just going to tell you like point blank. I will first let me go back to equipment for a second because I know you're going to ask, I'm going to link to a YouTube video that I did that has all of the equipment I've ever used. It has my $20 microphone, it has my Blue Yeti, it has my road caster road Procaster Sorry, I'm like
calling it the wrong thing. And then I have used just, I have a task cam, which is an independent recorder like a portable recorder, I can literally plug in a microphone and walk around my bedroom, which is how I've recorded so many podcast episodes like I will give you all my recommendations, but it's a lot better to have it in that YouTube video. So again, the show notes are KrystalProffitt.com./episode326.
For all the recommendations on equipment, now software, I lumped equipment and software together because again, I don't think that they warrant as much weight as I previously thought, because once you figure it out, it's like that's just one piece of the puzzle. It's just one thing, like once you figure out how to edit a podcast, you know how to do it. And let's talk about all the other areas that you can get better at podcasting. But software I got started with Audacity, which is
100%, free. And then if you are a Buzzsprout user, which we're going to talk about hosting and a little bit, but if you are a Buzzsprout user, they have so many resources, so many discounts on software's that you can try for free or have a discount for the software. So one of those is Hindenburg Journalist, this is what I use. And I don't even have the Pro version of Hindenburg. Sometimes I wondered, I'm like, should I go ahead and upgrade? No, I don't need to do all those fancy
things. I don't do a lot of fancy editing with my podcast, because I don't believe it's necessary. And I think a lot of that gets in the way of you really creating a message that resonates with your audience. So Hindenburg Journalist is what I use. I did a I believe it was a 90 day free trial through Buzzsprout. And then I got the pro version, which was a one time payment of $90.99. It was less than 100 bucks. And it's what I've been using for the last two years. And I love it. I
love it. I love it. I love it. So for $100 you can invest in amazing software that will do everything you needed to do, I promise if you get the regular version of Hindenburg, it will do all the things that you need. Okay. So that's equipment and software, I will link to a few of my favorite editing videos as well. If you're like, well, Krystal Unani know how to use this, I'm going to link to those
in the show notes. Because obviously, I can't show you on the podcast, how to edit your show, but I absolutely can on the YouTube channel, so I'm gonna link to those.
Okay, number five. So let's recap real fast. We've talked about your audience, your content, SEO and potential organic reach. Number four is equipment and software. Number five is your format. So I do believe that you need to get this part of your content figured out. And I want you to know if you've never heard me say this before I say this all the time. There are no rules in podcasting. There are absolutely guidelines and things that you can do things that you can try.
But your there are no rules. If someone tells you that there is only one way to podcast, please get up and run in the other direction. Because I am a true believer that you can have a show that publishes every Monday, we could have one that goes every Monday, Wednesday, Friday, you could have one that goes once a month though, I recommend bumping it up to at least once a week to have that consistent flow with your
audience. Because what you're doing is, the more you can get in front of your audience, the more they have the opportunity to consume your content and get to know you get familiar with you. So if the idea of having an hour long podcast every single week is terrifying. You're like, oh my gosh, that sounds like so
much work. It sounds impossible, then I would encourage you to look at options like hey, what if instead of an hour long podcast episode, I split that up into four episodes over a month, and they could each be 15 minutes. Doesn't that sound more doable? Didn't you did your shoulders just relax a little bit because you're like, oh my gosh, she just gave me the permission. I needed to have shorter podcast episodes. Did I ever say they're not as
impactful? No, you did not hear those words come out of my mouth. Just because it's shorter. Does it mean it's Not as strategic, it doesn't have as much of an impact. That's not what that means at all. I want you to figure out a consistent schedule that works for you. The only rules that you should be abiding to for your podcast are your own, the ones that you make up the ones that fit into your life fit into your schedule in a way that doesn't stress you out.
So when you think about your format, I really want you to consider the length, how long your episode is going to be, and how often now, if you want to know how, like, if you're like, Well, I don't even know where to start, you can go to and I'm gonna link to this in the show notes. But Buzzsprout has this great resource page. That's there Buzzsprout global stats, where you can look at the stats over 100,000 Other podcasters.
And you can see, like, Okay, if you, let's see, I think it's 20 to 40, no, sorry, 20 to 60 minutes, is typically the range, it's like 60% of podcast fall between being 20 minutes long and 60 minutes long. So you can kind of get well this is typically what other people do. But again, those aren't hard and fast rules. That's just a great resource that I love to go look at when I want to get a fair comparison of what other podcasters are doing. So that is
a great place to go look. But you can also see how often people are publishing and it's typically around every, I want to say at seven to 14 days is how often people are publishing brand new episodes. So it's that once a week or twice a month is typically when you will see people publishing brand new content. All right. Are you with me? Are you just like, oh my gosh, this is the year this is the year I'm going to start my podcast? Yes. Just keep going Krystal because I'm ready.
Well, the next thing I want to talk about which we've kind of hinted at a little bit here, but its production capacity. Now this may sound like a really fancy term. But it's exactly what I just said it is you figuring out what you can handle. And I didn't say this in the original, how to start your podcast episode, simply because I did not know how important this
would be for other people. And I believe that I am someone who was very disciplined in how I spend my time, my time management, my project management, how much is on my workload, like all the things I do this really well. But I think other people have a tendency to over commit in certain areas of their life. And so I just want to really bring this up. And maybe we'll have another podcast episode specifically about what production capacity means. But
don't ever commit yourself. I have a good friend who always complains to me that she hates show notes. She's like, I don't want to do show notes. I think they're stupid. And they've stressed me out every single time I put out a podcast episode and I say, well don't do show notes. She's like, wait, what? I don't have to do them. And I'm like, Well, I mean, you would have better SEO, and you might have a little bit more reach.
But if you're not doing your podcast, because you hate your show notes, then don't do your show notes. Don't do them. You could wait another six months and hire a VA to go back and do all your show notes for your website. But if it's the thing that's holding you back from podcasting every week, yeah, don't do your freakin show notes. Forget about them for
now. Get that consistency under your belt, I would much rather see you being consistent with your podcast, in putting stuff out on a regular basis than you being stressed out to the max every single week. Because you can't hit that production capacity. You're just like, I'm maxed out, like I want to quit this out. People burn out. I've seen it time and time again, if I talk to someone about why they burned out why they quit their podcast, it's usually something
to do with. I didn't have time for this, or this part of it stressed me out. So I stopped and I'm like, you know, you don't have to do those things. You don't have to write again, there are no rules. What I want to see people doing is creating their content not being stressed out about their content. So I want you to be aware of your production capacity, how often you can publish, how long your episodes can be and what actually goes into each episode. Right? So that's number six.
Number seven. This is a really important one that I feel like I barely skimmed over in the last one if I even talked about it at all. And it was your next steps. And this feels like a little bit more of an advanced strategy, but it's really not. Because if you're starting a podcast in 2022 There's a reason, right? Like, you're not just starting one to throw up because you don't have anything else better to do. Okay, let's just be really honest, do you have tons
of stuff to do? You've probably been putting off your podcast for a few years now. And you're just like, okay, should this be the year that you know that you're ready to go all in. So you also know the purpose behind your podcast and what those next
steps should be. So I know many of you listening either have an online business, or you want to have an online business, and you want your podcast to be the thing that either drives traffic to what you're doing, it drives traffic to your offers, your products, your programs, your services, like all the things, what are those next steps? What do those, what do you have to ask of your audience in your episodes to actually make that happen? This is what I want you
to brainstorm. I want you to think of well, you know, okay, I have a lead magnet, how can I talk about that on my podcast? Or I want people to go to my website, what does that look like? Or I want to get more followers on Instagram, or I want to get more people to check out my content on my YouTube channel, y'all. This is some Did you hear what I said earlier, I said, Oh, I have a great YouTube video for that. I'm gonna link
to it in the show notes. That was an intentional call to action that I actually wrote out in my show notes. Because I know I need to make that call to action. I want more people going to my YouTube channel, I want people watching my videos. Well, if I want that to happen, I have to make that call to action. If I want more people going to my Instagram, I have to make that
call to action. This is something you cannot overlook in 2022, you've got to be very clear about what you want your people doing that are listening to your content. So focus on your calls to action brainstorm. What are all the things that I could potentially ask people to do? Is it sign up for your webinar? Is it buy your product? Is it follow you on Instagram? Is it join you on Tik Tok? Is it go to your Facebook group is it watch your Facebook Live isn't like that. I mean, it's endless.
I could come up with so many other calls to action that you can make. But you have to decide what's going to be most impactful for your audience in your show.
Alright, so number eight, is hosting. And I left this as something that was the last thing to consider because I feel like these were really listed in order of importance. And number eight, because it's a no brainer, I think that you should go with Buzzsprout. I'm a proud partner with Buzzsprout. I've been with them since early. It was like 2018 I guess it was April or May when I first signed up with them. And I just I've never used another hosting service, it should be a no
brainer. They are very affordable, they have the best resources for podcasters out there, go check out their podcast, go check out their YouTube, like they just have the best information and they have the heart to help other independent content creators. So go to Krystal proffitt.com, forward slash Buzzsprout to start your 90 day free trial if you have not already, because that's what I did. I signed up for them for 90 days, I stayed I think it was like a two hour a
month threshold. And that's really where I stayed with all of my content. I planned everything out strategically to do four episodes under 30 minutes apiece, so I could take advantage of that free trial. And then I was like, You know what, this is it. These are the people that I met to create my show with and I've never looked back. They are fantastic. I'm gonna stop talking. I'm like fangirling over Buzzsprout they
know that I love them. Like I I just have so much fun watching all the amazing things that they're creating with their software and how they help podcasters get their message out to Apple podcast, Google Play Spotify, good pods, all the places that you can listen to podcast, that is what your podcast host does. So again, you can go to Krystal proffitt.com, forward slash Buzzsprout to check them out. But really that's it like that. That's all you need to start a podcast in
2022. Now, there are a few key things that I didn't talk about simply because I want you to go back and listen to the original how to start a podcast episode because I go into more detail in the tactical things that you can really do if you want to talk about software and recording and solo episodes versus interviews like that's another part of formatting or talk about your artwork in your music. I didn't talk about all of those things because these are the eight things that I would tell you are
most important. You can hop into Canva and create podcast art work in five minutes now, their templates are amazing. And all the things that they do on Canva. There's integrations with Buzzsprout. So it's one of those things where it's just a lot easier, I don't have to bring it up because it's it's easier to do it today isn't important. Of course, it's still very important. But it's not the most important things for you to think about as you start your
podcast in 2022. But I wanted to really leave you with something that I tell all of my podcasters that get started. So if you're in profit podcasting, you've heard me say this before, all the members of my community, I'm going to tell you this, and I want you to hear it like loud and clear. Stop putting so much emphasis on editing your podcast. Okay, I'm gonna say it again, for the people in the
back. Stop putting so much emphasis on editing your podcast, everyone's worried about taking out the arms and the AWS and the weird mouth sounds and this, just keep podcasting. Keep hot, it's going to get better, it's going to get better that people that are listening and really care about what you're saying. They're not paying attention to that weird hiss noise that you made with your SS last time, or the fact that your dog was barking in the
last episode. These are things that in the big scheme of things don't matter. Honestly, in the podcast I listened to they make you more human, especially after everything that's gone on in the pandemic, I feel like everybody is so much more forgiving. Of, we know that Amazon, people are coming to your house and ringing
your doorbell. We know that you could have kids in the other room that are at home sick from school, and you just got to go on with your life and keep podcasting we know that there are animals and weed eaters and all the other things in your world because we're all human. Okay, quit putting so much pressure on yourself to be perfect. Remember, that's a four letter word around here. Perfect is not in our vocabulary, it is not something that we are going
to strive for. We are not striving for perfection in 2022. We are striving to get started. And to keep it up because we all have to start somewhere. Right? You've heard that I'm sure a million times at this point, but it's very true. So go to the shownotes KrystalProffitt.com./episode326 To find the links to all the resources and everything that we
talked about here today. But if you are wanting to really get going with your podcast, if you're like Krystal, I want you to help me get my podcast going, then I encourage you to check out my course profit podcasting. It's literally all about how to start launch and market your show. In 30 days or less. You can go to Krystal proffitt.com forward slash course, to learn more, but I'm gonna link to it in the show notes as well. So go check it out, like no more
excuses. Let's get in there, get your podcast started and make things happen this year. I'm calling 2022, the year of the podcaster. And I'm hoping it catches on because it is something I'm so passionate about. So go to the show notes today. KrystalProffitt.com./episode326
But let's do a quick recap. So number one, the most important things to consider for your podcast number one, your audience to your content. Three, the potential for organic reach number four, equipment and software. Number five, the format of your show. Number six, your production capacity and how much you can actually get done. Number seven, the next steps that you want your audience to take with you. And number eight, your podcast hosting.
So that's all I have for you today. One more time, KrystalProffitt.com./episode326 For everything that we talked about here today, but that's all I have for you. So this is your first time tuning in. I'm so happy that you found this podcast. I hope that you enjoyed everything you heard today. If you've been around here and you're like, oh my gosh, Krystal, I've heard you from the very first how to start a podcast episode. I hope that
this was encouraging. Even for those of you that have been around here for a while and you started your podcast a while ago. I hope that you learn something fresh, something new or maybe even just got that tough love about not editing your show so much this year. But that's all I have for you today. So as always remember, keep it up. We all have to start somewhere.