Does your business require a podcast website?
A podcast doesn’t need a website, but having one has so many benefits that it’s almost hard to pass up.One of the best things about podcasts is that you can find them in so many places. You can make a podcast by signing up with a podcast hosting service, which is where all your episodes will be uploaded, shared, and stored.

Once your podcast is out there, it can be found in a lot of directories and apps for listening and putting together playlists. The two biggest are Apple/iTunes and Spotify. But Podchaser, Overcast, and Podcast Addict are also very popular.

So there are plenty of places to sleep on your podcast. But you may want to give it its own place to live. So, listeners can stop by, and you can choose the food, drinks, and art on the walls.

Think about it: when someone looks up your show in a directory, they’ll see the basics: your title, artwork, description, and a list of episodes. But if someone goes to a website that you run and listens to podcasts, you can control what they see and hear. This is helpful in many ways, like making money (by selling products or services) or putting your best episodes in the spotlight on a “Start Here” page.

Your podcast website is the place where people can go for ANYTHING. No more “Find us on iTunes, follow us on Twitter, and help us out on Patreon…blah, blah, blah.” You can put all of those links on your website and then just send everyone there.

How to Make Your Own Podcast Website

So you now know why you need a website for podcasts. But how do you actually get one? Luckily, there are a lot of choices, and most of them are very simple.

Here are three of your best options:

1. The Site That Comes With Your Podcast Hosting

It’s important to say up front that almost always, when you create your podcast show in your hosting account, you’ll also get a simple website for it.

The vast majority of hosting services let you make a website for a podcast for free. The quality and customization options, on the other hand, vary quite a bit.

As of right now, I think that Captivate is the best choice in this area because it has the best design and growth options of any product of its kind. 

Some of the problems with a website that hosts podcasts are:

• Unlike a site you own, you can’t change the design as much.
• Compared to WordPress, there aren’t as many tools for adding on.
• You don’t own it, and it’s not your domain. Sometimes you can get around this by buying your own domain and adding it to the site.

But these problems are often worth it because the sites are free, require almost no setup, and are run and kept up by the hosting company. Couldn’t be simpler!

2. Tools for making podcast websites

There are more and more services that will automatically build a website for your podcast if you already have a podcast.

Transistor, a hosting company, has a new one called Free Podcast Websites.

Podpage is my favorite choice here. This service has been around for a long time and comes with a lot of tools and features. You can use Podpage for free and take advantage of many of its features. But their premium tiers take things to the next level with options to get voicemails from listeners, build a mailing list, track analytics, write a blog, collect comments, offer memberships, and a lot more!

Check out our full review of Podpage for more information, or just jump right in and make a website for your podcast in just a few minutes.

Podcastpage is another website builder for podcasts that works in a similar way. There is a 14-day free trial, and you can start using it for $12 per month if you pay for it all at once.

Most of the time, these tools give you more options for design and customization, so you can make the site your own. But you can’t change their layout or add much functionality to them.

But then it’s a big plus that you don’t have to take care of the site yourself. Instead, the person who made the tool runs and takes care of it.

3. Using WordPress to build a website for a podcast

Building your own WordPress site can give you the most freedom because you can design and change it in any way you want. You can add tools for almost anything, and it’s your site, so you’re in charge of it.
A common way to do this is to sign up for web hosting with a company like Bluehost and then use their WordPress platform to build your website. 

Of course, with ultimate freedom and customisation options comes the risk of accidentally breaking stuff and constantly tinkering with things that you’re never quite happy with. This option isn’t difficult, but equally, it’s not exactly for the faint-hearted.

There are tools to help, though. Check out Second Line Themes for a collection of excellent templates that are plug-and-play on any WordPress website. They add players, subscribe buttons, share buttons and more, which help to turn a basic site into a podcast promotion machine.

You can also build your website on Wix, which many consider to be easier for non-techy and beginner folks. But again, the cost is that you have fewer plugin, layout, and branding options.

If you’re a business or a network, it makes a lot of sense to build on something like WordPress. Also, if you want to take your podcast seriously in the future and maybe even make some money from it, you’ll benefit a lot from the extra growth tools, ways to make money, and branding options.

But for most people who are just starting out or who are podcasting as a creative outlet, a third-party platform like Podpage is all you need to build a great website for your podcast and save a lot of time and stress.

How to Add your Podcast to an Existing WordPress Website

If you already have a website, don’t worry; you can use that as the “home” for your podcast. Don’t make yet another thing to take care of!

Obviously, this is based on the fact that the topics of your website and podcast are the same. It would be strange to tell people to check out your podcast about high-intensity interval training by going to your website about garden gnomes.

Let’s say you run a business, and your new podcast is going to be a way to market that business. You already have a WordPress site, so you can also use it as a website for your podcast. You’d just need to add a “podcast” category or section.

When you release a new episode, you should write a post about it on your site. The title would be the same or very close to it. Then, you’d add your shownotes, any pictures, and the episode player from your hosting account.

Now you have a post on your own website that you can share when new episodes come out. This means that most of the traffic comes to you, so you can also customize and improve the experience of your listeners on your site. On top of that, you’ll reap the SEO benefits of more traffic, more searchable content, and your website (and business) becomes more discoverable, going forward.

As a final point, it’s important to note that a self-hosted WordPress site (wordpress.org) is different from a WordPress.com site. The hosted version is more like a “lite” version, and you might not even be able to do basic embeds on the platform. If your podcast website is made with WordPress, you should sign up for web hosting with a company like Bluehost and set it up that way.

Can I Host My Podcast on My Website?

Why upload your episodes to your hosting account if you’re just going to embed and share them on your website? In the end, you can add media to your website. So why can’t you just put your podcast there?

In our post Why you should never host podcasts on your own website, we talk more about this. But delivery and demand are the main reasons. Big audio files could be being used by hundreds or even thousands of people at the same time. This could cause your website to crash, or your web host could get angry and say, “We know we said you could have unlimited bandwidth, but we didn’t mean that unlimited!”

Dedicated hosting services are made to handle the distribution of audio files all over the web in a reliable way. People can get as much as they want at one time. They also don’t care if your podcast website goes down, which does happen, which is a huge weight off your shoulders.

Do I Need a Domain Name?

Just like you don’t need a website, you don’t need a domain name either, but it makes perfect sense to buy one. It’s the last thing that makes your “one place for everything” plan complete. When you sign up for a hosting service like Bluehost or Wix, you have to buy one as part of the process.

Domain names cost a few dollars per year, but if they are very popular, they can be very expensive. Most of the good dot-com names have already been taken, so they tend to be more expensive. These days, you can save money on a dot net or a dot pretty much anything else.

When you buy a domain name for your podcast website, there are a few best practices to keep in mind. For starters, it’s best to stay away from things like hyphens. Your domain should be easy to remember and read, and it shouldn’t be hard to figure out what it means.

For example, if you wanted a number in your domain name, you might have to buy two versions of the domain—one with the number and one with the number spelled out—and point them both to your website.

Make it easy for your listeners, just like with everything else in podcasting, and you’ll see the benefits. 

Again, consider this: if someone searches for your show in a directory, they will see the essentials, including your title, artwork, description, and episode list. However, you can manage what a visitor hears and sees when they listen to podcasts on your website. This is beneficial in a variety of ways, including earning money (by selling goods or services) and highlighting your best episodes on a “Start Here” page. But never forget that creating a quality website for your show has never been simpler thanks to services like Podpage.