Using WordPress for Your Podcast

In honor of International Podcast Day, let’s talk about that inkling you’ve had to start a podcast. Just me? Cool, cool.

WordPress was originally created for blogs + internet diaries. I know this because my love for the platform started when I was looking for a way to publish my teen angst-ridden poetry. (It wasn’t that bad, but there’s a reason I code for a living now.) WP grew into a really useful content management system (CMS) that works really well for podcasts.

But how do you use WordPress for your podcast?

You should still publish your episodes on a specific podcasting platform — Spotify, Apple, etc. In the same way that we don’t want to house video files on our site, audio files can be quite bulky. Big files = big site load times.

Once you pick your platform of choice, you can then display podcast episodes on WordPress which benefits your business in a few ways:

  1. SEO. The text on your website pages is searchable by Google. Those audio files on Apple Podcasts are not. By having an episode page with text, you are improving your site SEO + showing off your expertise.
  2. Branded experience. Does Spotify use your band colors + language? Not a chance. But your site does. Having a direct link to the branded experience you have full control over ensures that your audience gets to know you + your brand more + more each day.

While I don’t have a podcast (yet), I had a vendor send this reply to a support email: “From one Midwesterner to another, I LOVE that you drop the ‘fucks’ on your site! Authenticity at its best.” You best believe that I’m on their mind when a client mentions needing WordPress support.

All you need is to connect your podcast feed to your WordPress site with a plugin. That plugin will then automatically pull in new episodes as they are published. Your team can go in + edit the content, add in additional resources, or anything else you’d like for your user experience.

The plugins that I’ve had the most success with are Simple Podcast Press + Podcast Importer from SecondLine.

Looking for some podcast inspiration? Here are a few of my client’s podcasts + the WordPress sites they live on:

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