What Is Podcasting?
In a nutshell, podcasting is the distribution of video or audio content through a feed, directly to your users. Commonly used formats are Atom or RSS 2.0. Podcasts can be found through a user’s client application, for example iTunes or Juice. These applications allow your users to subscribe to your podcast, so they get notified when you release a new episode.
WordPress Podcasting
We power our websites using WordPress. From the WordPress’s early version 1.5 podcasting has been automatically supported
Once you’ve created your podcast, you can add a link to your audio file in a post, and WordPress will automatically add the necessary tags to your WordPress feed so your listeners get your podcast.
Enhanced podcasting features can be added to your WordPress website with plugins such as Blubrry PowerPress.
How Podcasting Works
- Create audio or video that you want to share (usually MP3 or MP4)
- Upload the file to a server
- Link to the file in a post in your blog
- WordPress automatically includes a link to the file in your RSS/Atom feed
- Listeners “subscribe” with podcast client application to your RSS/Atom feed and download new files automatically
Podcast Hosting
Podcasts are large files and therefore some hosting considerations come into play, for example:
- Increased storage footprint. As larger files, podcasts can significantly increase your need for file storage on your server, which can have a cost implication.
- Increased bandwidth. If your podcasts are going to be downloaded by a lot of people, this will have an impact on the bandwidth of the site, with cost implications. How many people constitute ‘a lot’ and the cost of bandwidth will depend on your hosting package’s allowances.
- Content Distribution Network. If your podcasts have worldwide appeal, you may need to consider storing the file on multiple servers in order to reduce the distance the file needs to travel to the user.
Looking for guidance on WordPress podcasting? Want to add features and functionality to your WordPress website? We’re here to help, get in touch!