Creating a podcast website is the best way to help your show reach its full potential. And thankfully, you don’t have to be a professional coder—or have any coding experience—to create one of your own.
All you need is Podpage.
If you’re new to podcasting, we’re excited for what the future has in store for you. And if you’re new to Podpage, welcome! In this guide, we’ll walk you through the simple steps to setting up your own Podpage podcast website as well as answer some of the most common questions.
How To Get Started With Podpage
At Podpage, we wanted to make it as easy as possible for podcasters to set up and get started with their podcast website.
You don’t need to start by creating an account or giving us your credit card information. Just click on “Preview Your Website” and you’ll be able to start creating your website right away.
Step #1: Enter Your Podcast
Chances are, you’ve had time to record and release a trailer episode to get listeners hyped for your new show. Just enter your RSS feed or search Apple Podcasts so it can be seamlessly linked to your website.
Next, click “Save” and see all of your content appear on the site in seconds! Without ever doing an upload, your episodes will be ready to go on one of several customizable templates.
Step #2: Choose a Template
Preview any (or all!) of the preset template options before making a selection and see your actual content without having to upload anything. You can swap out your template for another at any time if you change your mind.
Podpage was designed for simplicity, so you don’t need to be a designer or a coder to achieve a great-looking website. And, while your template gives you the starting point, you can make changes and customize many of the elements included so that your brand carries through with consistency.
Now that you’ve chosen your template, it’s time to start customizing!
Step #3: Pick Brand Colors and Font
One of the key benefits of a podcast website is establishing credibility with consistent branding.
As you choose your main and background colors, you’ll be able to see the changes instantly reflected on your site. After you select your colors, you’ll be given a variety of fonts to choose from. Test out your options and tweak your site until you get exactly the look you’re going for.
You can also skip these steps or come back and change out your selections later if you’re still working on establishing a brand or specific style.
Step #4: Import Reviews
At this point in the process, a page has been created for each of your podcast’s episodes and each page has been automatically updated with your color and font choices. (We told you this was easy!)
Now, it’s time to import those hard-earned reviews that you’ve already collected and create a place for listeners to leave reviews directly on your website.
Reviews play a major role in helping you build your audience, boost your reputation, and bump up your podcast ranking. Because reviews are so crucial, the goal is to make it as simple as possible for listeners to find and leave reviews.
A great place to start is by putting your five-star reviews on display. After automatically importing your reviews, Podpage will organize your reviews on one dedicated page. Think of it as your podcast’s own personal trophy case. This is where your podcast gets to shine.
Listeners will be invited to leave new reviews directly on your website with the click of a button.
Step #5: Set Up a Guest Intake Form
According to a study by Rephonic, podcasts with guest speakers tend to get more listeners on average as well as perform better on social media.
Bringing guests onto your podcast allows for cross-promotion that benefits both you and your guest—which is what makes this format so appealing to so many podcasters. Fortunately, Podpage can help you streamline guest management with an intake form that handles the administrative details for you.
Guests can register with your site and share all of their contact information, including social handles and their headshot or relevant artwork. And while they’re at it, they can sign off on a guest agreement and release, stating the terms of how your podcast uses and shares content.
You can even enable a calendar booking widget to automatically send a calendar invite and manage your booking schedule. When guests have a great experience the first time around, they’ll want to partner again in the future.
Step #6: Display a Sticky Announcement
Updates and announcements are an important way to keep listeners in the loop and engaged with your podcast.
Maybe you want to tease an upcoming episode, or draw attention to a new website feature. An announcement bar is your place to talk directly to your audience and foster more interaction.
Podpage makes announcements easy by offering a static banner at the top of your site where you can share important updates. You can even include links if you’d like to direct listeners to another website or resource.
Step #7: Setup Complete!
Congratulations! You’ve built your very first website!
Now it’s time to head over to your dashboard to continue editing and learn more about the full functionality of your Podpage website.
Podpage Dashboard
From your dashboard, you’ll be able to leverage a wide variety of tools to help you organize, track, and grow your podcast.
Every Podpage website is built for sharing with convenient episode links and follow links, so it's easy for listeners to subscribe to your show. Each page is also SEO optimized so it ranks high in search results, loads quickly, and looks great on any device.
Here are just some of the things you’ll be able to do without ever leaving your dashboard (your access to some of these features will vary depending on which plan you choose).
Design
Redesign your site at any time!
Change up your colors and fonts, edit the look of your home page, and update your menu whenever you want. You can also add a popup, sidebar, or footer for extra control.
Publish
In addition to episodes, Podpage also gives you the ability to post videos and blog posts to build SEO and increase your content’s visibility.
You can also create custom pages to show sponsors some love, share your background info, or anything else your heart desires. If you frequently host guest speakers, you can organize the info easily from here.
The “Pretty Redirects” feature allows you to customize your URL so it’s easy for listeners to remember.
Grow
Your website’s SEO is too important to ignore. Fortunately, Podpage makes it easy!
While most of your site’s SEO is done behind the scenes by Podpage’s proprietary software, we also provide some tips and features to make it easy to connect with listeners and boost your audience like never before.
Connect your social media accounts for seamless sharing or connect your podcast to Zapier to automate tasks and make running your show easy and fun.
Connect
Connecting with your audience is key to growing your podcast. Start by building an email list with Email Capture and turn on commenting so you can get feedback from your fans.
Want to take things up a notch? Add a contact form or enable voicemail and receive recorded messages!
Earn
Want to monetize your content? No problem! Podpage offers a host of tools you can use to generate revenue, from ad integration to membership capability.
If you have an existing storefront on PayPal, Shopify, Teespring, or Gumroad, you can also list those products right on your website!
Settings
Here is where you’ll find all the important “behind-the-scenes” tools, such as your Analytics.
Sync your website with your Google Analytics account to track site activity and visitor data. Having access to this valuable information can help you tailor your marketing and better engage with your audience.
You can also integrate other apps (like Buy Me a Coffee, Mail Chimp, and Google Search Console) for added functionality and engagement.
Which Podpage Plan Should I Get?
Podpage’s flexible pricing model makes it easy to select and add the features you need as you grow.
You’ll start with a free two-week trial to preview the features and see what you think—no strings attached!
When the trial ends, you’ll be able to choose which plan you want to continue with. If you forget to choose a plan during the first two weeks, don’t panic! Your website might be inaccessible, but you’ll receive immediate access once you upgrade to your chosen plan.
Our Basic plan is fully hosted, optimized, and comes with many of the features you’ll need to run a successful site, such as your own domain name. Pricing starts as low as $12/month.
The Pro plan is the most popular option because it provides the same benefits plus full listener engagement tools, 30+ integrations to key tools and marketing partners, and Apple Smart Banners and rating tools to make your show more easily accessible. Pricing starts at $19/month.
For those who want to take your podcasting game seriously, check out our Elite plan. This plan gives you all the features of the Basic and Pro plans, plus upgrade ones, like the ability to automatically upload YouTube episodes, integrate Zapier, and set specific keywords to improve traffic.
Need More Help?
At Podpage, our goal is to make podcast websites as easy as possible so that more people can reap the benefits of this incredible medium.
If you have any questions along the way, feel free to check out the Podpage Help Center to learn more about how to leverage features and get answers to frequently asked questions. You can also chat with Podpage customer support for answers to your specific questions!
