How to Create a Podcast Website in WordPress

Podcasting continues to grow in momentum, year after year. 

What was once a niche hobby with limited marketing value has now grown into an incredibly valuable platform with a reach potential unfathomable a decade ago. 

More than 90 million Americans listen to podcasts weekly, and more than 40% of Americans have listened to a podcast in the last month. So far, the numbers have climbed yearly, often exponentially! Whether you’re looking to build a five-figure side hustle or leverage a podcast’s reach for your business, there are plenty of reasons to dive into the world of podcasting. 

But with more and more budding Sarah Koenig’s entering the field, you must market your podcast correctly to gain listeners. A podcast, like any business, requires a professional website you can use for SEO optimization, hosting conversations, selling merchandise, and more. 

Don’t worry if you’re not a seasoned web development professional. WordPress is known for its ease of use, and this article will help walk you through many of the considerations you’ll need to make. 

Why Choose WordPress for Your Podcast Website?

Before we jump into how to set up a podcast website with WordPress, let’s talk about why you should use WordPress at all. 

Because of its robust features that specifically support podcast website needs, many budding and professional podcasters turn to WordPress as their platform of choice when building a podcast website. 

WordPress websites:

  • Have a proven track record for aiding in Google search rankings, which helps people find your podcast
  • Easily integrate with analytics tools like Google Analytics, making it easier to gain insights about your visitors
  • Look incredibly professional (you’d be surprised at how many major websites are hosted on the platform)
  • Allow you to build a community with your listeners
  • Provide you with plenty of ways to monetize your podcast

Some podcasting hosting plans (we’ll cover those next) will host your website for you through their service. While these can appear more straightforward to set up initially, they come with drawbacks. With these services controlling your website, you’re tied to their service forever. Having your own WordPress podcast website allows you more flexibility and freedom to adapt and change things as your podcast grows. 

Choose a Podcast Hosting Platform With a WordPress Integration

You’ll want a separate hosting account for your podcast files that’s different from your standard web hosting plan. This is because podcasts contain much more data than traditional websites. A few hosted podcasts will quickly eat into a standard website hosting package’s data allowance.

Also, standard website hosting servers aren’t built to transfer large audio files quickly. If you host your podcast on a regular web server, your listeners could constantly face buffering issues and a generally poor experience. 

That’s where podcast-specific hosting plans come into play. Podcast hosting servers are purpose-built for podcasting needs, providing the required storage and bandwidth to support a successful podcast. 

Due to the explosive popularity of podcasting, there are several podcast hosting platforms to choose from. To make your life easier and speed up setup, we’d recommend you go for one of the many that come with built-in WordPress integrations, like:

Create a WordPress Website That Uses a WordPress Podcast Theme

Now that you have your podcast hosting plan in place, it’s time to set up your WordPress podcast website. Getting everything set up in WordPress is an easy process. Think of WordPress as the frame of a house.  It has the building blocks and framework you’ll need when applying all the pretty features. 

Once WordPress is installed, you’ll want to look for Podcasting specific themes to set the tone, look, and feel for your website. WordPress themes make creating a professional-looking website significantly easier and faster at a fraction of the cost of hiring a dedicated graphic designer. Plus, other users will have already tested the theme to find any bugs or issues. 

While you might find a WordPress theme that’s not podcasting-specific that looks more pleasing to you, try to choose one built for podcasting. Podcast-specific WordPress themes will have details you’ll need, like integrated players, responsive websites (for mobile listeners), and more. 

Some of the more popular podcast WordPress themes are:

Install the WordPress Plugins

Once WordPress and your theme are installed, it’s time to install any required plugins. When you’re adding custom features to a WordPress site, it’s done through plugins. WordPress plugins give extra power and functionality to your website. The dedicated plugin development community (of which Pixel Jar is an active member) makes so many fantastic WordPress plugins for just about every website need. And if a feature or function is not currently available, you can always have it custom-made. 

Often, the “read me” for your chosen theme will tell you what plugins, if any, you need to install. Also, if you’ve chosen one of the Podcast-specific hosting plans above, they come with their own WordPress plugins to ensure easy integration. 

Most of the podcasting plugins offer overlap in features and functionality. So, it’s worth researching before you choose a hosting provider to see which plugin provides the functionality and feel you want for your WordPress podcast website. 

You’ll also want to consider any extra functionality you wish to add to your site, such as security, analytics, and even ad placements. 

Upload Your Podcast Episode

Now that your website is up and running, all that’s left to do is upload your podcast episode to your podcast hosting plan. Most podcast plugins will handle the details for you. For example, the Seriously Simple Podcasting Plugin will let you upload your podcast to your hosting plan directly from within WordPress. This way, you don’t have to juggle different web interfaces to upload your podcast and link your files to your website. 

The plugins will also add the newly uploaded episodes to your RSS feed. You need an RSS feed so your subscribers know there’s a brand-new episode ready to consume. To reach even more potential subscribers, consider submitting your RSS feed to podcasting aggregators like:

Reach More Podcast Listeners with WordPress

You’ve dreamt up and worked hard to produce a podcast you’re passionate about. Now, all you need is a stunning website that supports your marketing efforts and helps deliver your latest content to your audience.

Thankfully, it’s easy to create a podcast website in WordPress that looks and functions like the best in the business. Early podcasters had to know how to code things from scratch, but now a podcasting website can be set up easily in a few hours. It just takes a little research, time, and effort. 

But if any of this seems too complicated, or you’re looking for something unique and different from what everyone else is doing, reach out to us. We’ll be happy to help you build a podcast website in WordPress, so you can focus on interviewing guests and editing your podcast.

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