More and more kids are considering starting a podcast of their own. There has been a long history of podcasts for kids really being podcasts for kids by adults. Sometimes younger kids are doing one with a parent. An example, of this is the History Storytime podcast which sees Sophie (age 7) and Ellie (age 5) do a history podcast with their father. It’s worth having a listen to this one to see how powerful the voice of the child can be. For example, this episode about the Rescue of the Danish Jews in WW2 is all the more powerful for being out of the mouths of two children. We have a guide to some of the best Kid’s Co-Host podcasts to give you some ideas of how others have done it.

But the question is, where to start?

Logistics for starting a Podcast of your own

1. You need to be able to record your podcast. You need a computer or laptop for this. Do not use the speaker in the computer. You must buy a different speaker or the audio quality will be very poor. Most people buy the Blue Yeti.
   
   
2. You need some software. Most people use Audacity. It is an open source free tool. There are many videos which explain how to use it and it is intuitive.
   
   
3. From this you create your audio file and export to an MP3 file.
   
   
4. You need to host your podcast somewhere. Normal places include podbean or buzzsprout. You will need an account and a credit card as there is a small cost. You then import your MP3 file here.
   
   
5. Your podcast can be listened to here. But hardly anyone will. Instead you need to provide the RSS feed to podcast libraries. There is a long tail of these but the most important ones are Apple, Spotify and Google. These account for 95% of listens. The podcast host will do this semi-automatically. But…
   
   
6. In order to have your feed on Apple you must have an artwork which meets their precise dimensions and also is not too wordy. You must also have one episode published so that they can assess whether your podcast is appropriate or not. As such you must as a minimum make an episode and artwork before you can really start. It takes Apple a couple of days to approve you.
   

Recording tips and tricks when starting a Podcast

1. Write a script or as a minimum a very heavy set of notes. My podcast is entirely scripted. But most top podcasts are unless they are interviewing. Make sure not to use your reading voice though when you record.
   
   
2. Use the inbuilt editing software to remove clicks and breath sounds.
   
   
3. Buy a popping filter. This is like a piece of nylon which stops the Ds and Ps from being too clicky. Sounds silly but makes a big difference.
   
   
4. Build a sound proof cave. You need to deaden echo. You can spend a lot of money on sound proofing but you can also do it for free. Record in a smallish room. Hang towels on some of the walls. Have books in the room. But most of all build a little cave of pillows to ensconce the microphone and your sound waves. Then don’t change the set up between recordings.
   
   
5. Make a repeatable start and ending with music and standard intro and use that each time.
   
   
6. When you do the recordings and editing keep to a consistent editing format. Save the first recording and file it. Then work off a duplicate. Then do all the initial editing. Then save that. And work off a duplicate. Then do sound levelling. Then save that. And work off a duplicate. Then any final amendments. Save that as the final file. Then export to MP3. That way you have edits to go back to if things go wrong.
   
   

Marketing tips and tricks when starting a Podcast

The three keys are SEO, push notifications and social media. Let’s deal with each in turn.

SEO (search engine optimisation)

1. It’s what finds you easily searchable on the podcast libraries or within the recommended lists. This is driven by text words associated with your podcast not your podcast.
   
   
2. You need to ensure that you have a write up of 400 words with your podcast. This must be heavily keyworded up – so if your episode is about spaceships then mention that word a lot.
   
   
3. Also go into the properties file of the MP3 file and cut and paste the write up into the description section.
   
   
4. Make sure that the episode title is one which has your keyword in – don’t be subtle.
   
   
5. There are also lists of popular podcasts – the apple one is especially important. If you get into these you will see a big boost. These are not driven by downloads by by recent subscribers. So having ten subscribers in the last 24 hours is better than twenty subscribers over twenty days. So get your friends and family to all subscribe in a short period of time – this way you play the algorithm game

Push notifications

Push notifications are when people who follow or subscribe to you get a notification that you have a new episode. This is why you need to push subscribers. It is the quickest way to get listens.

Social media

This is the main way to get people to listen to your podcast. Here’s what to do:

Twitter: Tweet about your epsiodes all the time. But most importantly use the search function to find others posting about similar topics about which you have episode. Then reply and tell them about your relevant episode. Many of them will retweet it.

Facebook: go onto relevant groups and especially home schooling groups. Join the groups and post links to your episodes. You might need to do this from your dads account.

Instagram: less important as you can’t put links in.

Monetising

There’s a lot to say here. But broadly the revenue is from advertising and from patrons. You get about 1% of subscribers / followers becoming patrons. You get £20/$30 per thousand downloads of one episodes. Net, you need to be a lot bigger before thinking about money. So for now, don’t worry about it. Focus on creating an audience and just starting a podcast.

GOOD LUCK!