Ask-a-Zontee: 5 Top Tips for Podcasters

I often joke that I’m the person my friends call randomly when they need a good recommendation of a place to take out-of-town guests or to purchase that perfect cocktail dress. With that in mind, I’m sharing my answers every once in awhile, here on my blog. It’s Ask-a-Zontee, so named by my friend Liz.

One of my current job responsibilities is our award-winning* podcast, YarnCraft. That entails everything from writing, producing, and co-hosting it, as well as editing the raw recordings. I’ve been asked about my top tips for people interested in getting into podcasting, so I’ve decided to share them here on my site.

Zontee’s 5 Tips for Podcasters Getting Started

1. Know who you are.

Don’t act like an expert unless you are one—you’re more likely to reach an audience who relates to you. The audience wants you to be genuine, so know your voice and stay true to it. I’m by no means a stitch diva, but I’m a decent yarncrafter with a wide range of skills and interests. I bring in guests ranging from expert teachers and designers to fun characters—they’re the people I’d want to talk to about my crafting, and they’re the people that my audience will relate to best.

2. Get the right equipment.

I’ve heard some podcasts where it’s obvious to me that the host is recording on a headset at his/her computer. What gives it away? The popping of hard consonants like Ps, as well as the very noticeable breathing.

If you really want to record at your computer, that’s okay, but you’ll want to get a good USB mic. Something like this. I’m personally a fan of the Zoom mics, since they’re portable and they have great sound quality.

The right equipment also extends to software. Host on a service like Libsyn or Podbean (podcasts take up a lot of bandwidth). Get some audio editing software (Audacity is free). Create a blog or website as a home base. Get on iTunes.

3. Edit your podcast for “extra” noises.

Whenever possible, I recommend cutting extra pauses, throat clearings, phlegmy coughs, etc. They’re distracting, and while pauses can be forgiven in video (or in real life) because the audience is distracted by other information in the form of visuals, long pauses are extremely noticeable in audio. Plus, if you’re not “live to tape”, it also gives you (and your guests) the opportunity to redo lines that come out awkwardly the first time.

4. Keep it interesting; keep it organized.

There are a lot of podcasts that are a single host waxing poetic. For shorter formats (10 minutes and under), I think that this style is just fine, but for anything longer, I highly recommend other voices. Either have audio essays by contributors, interviews with guests, or consider an interplay between two co-hosts. It keeps things interesting. “Man on the street” is another way to go.

To keep your show moving (again, short format shows can get away without), I also recommend segments. Think about “This American Life”, a show in three acts. My show usually has 5 segments (intro, banter, body, change-of-pace, outro).

5. Plan ahead.

Create a calendar where you can mark down ideas, breaking out ideas for various segments. Schedule interviews ahead of time. Know what you’ll talk about on future episodes. This allows you to tease future episodes on current ones so that your listeners come back for more (and have the opportunity to share comments and questions that you can use for conversation fodder when you record your future episodes).

*PR News Platinum Award Winner 2008, Honorary Mention 2009 & 2010.