Benefits of Using a Podcast Platform for Podcasters

A lot of podcasters are in a dilemma. Do they use their website to post their podcasts or a podcast platform? Both options have advantages and disadvantages. But how can you weigh which one is better?

Although posting a podcast to your own website can give you independence, there are a lot of cons to it. Your website must be constantly maintained and must have a similar feature as the podcasting platforms. In the end, you can see that its cost is bigger than what you earn.

On the other hand, subscription platforms offer a lot. This article gives you exposure to the various benefits of using podcast platforms as a podcaster.

What is a Podcast Platform?

It is best to define a podcast platform as a service that stores your recorded podcasts. That’s not to say that’s all podcast platforms can be. Some popular podcast services help you store your recorded podcasts and deliver them to your audience. They serve as the middleman between you and your listeners.

To understand further, podcast platforms are similar to YouTube. The only difference is that audio files are being uploaded instead of videos.

Benefits of Podcast Platforms

Using a podcast platform is pretty easy. All you have to do is to record your podcast. Next, you will upload it on your podcast platform as an mp3 file. Of course, the file will have a description and some artwork. This is being displayed on your podcast app and that of your listeners.

In addition, your podcast platform now generates an RSS feed. That feed makes it easier for each podcast to reach your listeners on the front end of their podcast apps.

However, podcast platforms have a lot more to offer.

1. Storage Management

When using your website to host a podcast, you take up a lot of space. Websites have a limited amount of storage, and podcasts are large files. Sending your podcasts to your website gives it a very tedious task of holding heavy files. This makes your website slower and prone to crash. 

In fact, if there are many downloads on your site at the same time, your host service will block some processes. Thus, you need a podcast platform to store and present media files. You can send large files without a hitch or bother. You also get to connect with other people in the podcasting business.

2. Monetization

You might be wondering, how do podcasts make money? Even though podcast monetization is a new thing, it is profitable to podcasters. 

Paid podcasting is how you make money on podcasts. Brands can reach out to you if your podcast niche fits their branding. You can then both have a partnership or agreement. And since podcasts have a fairly large audience, the brand could directly advertise to them through you.

Money made through podcasts is determined by your weekly or monthly listeners. The more listeners you have, the more followers, thus more cash.

Podcasts make you money when you use podcasting sites like Patreon. It connects you to your listeners for a weekly or monthly subscription fee. By doing that, your listeners are able to reward and give support to your podcast. 

The number of downloads of your podcast is another factor to consider if you wonder how much podcasters make. In a simple estimation, if you have about 5,000 downloads, you can expect about $250 – $450 in affiliate sales, it is all by the numbers, but podcasts pay.

3. File Quality

There is no need to worry about file quality when using podcast platforms. The servers present in the platforms are being designed, so you don’t worry about audio quality. As a result, you get the highest quality even when you produce huge podcast files.

4. Speed

People in their everyday activities are almost always in a hurry. Imagine that you have download speed issues because you uploaded to your website. At the same time, a podcast platform is available. If an audio download doesn’t move forward within a few seconds, you will go down. Interest in downloading your podcast and even interest in revisiting your page will reduce. 

Also, if there is too much buffering, the same result is what you get.

Having a dedicated platform for your podcasts will help you avoid such a situation. Your podcasts get to have many downloads at the same time, and speed will no longer be a challenge. You also get to keep your listeners.

5. Analytics

Data Collection is a very important aspect of everyday living. Having data in this age is like having gold; you use it to achieve many things. With podcast platforms, you can collect data that is helpful to the growth of your podcast.

For example, you get to know the duration of time your listeners engage with your podcast. You also get to see the number of people who listened to an episode. Their location is a goldmine, and the same goes for knowing the kind of devices they use to listen to your podcasts.

All these data are vital. They are part of the functions of the analytic tool for data on podcast platforms. You can use this data to make decisions based on your listeners’ choices.

Also, Check – How to Find Free Music for Your Videos

6. Security

Having in-built security measures is of advantage to podcast platforms. Today’s world is full of thousands of hackers and millions of insecure internet users.

It pays to have the best security on your podcast platform. All you have to do is pay a monthly subscription fee, and your security measures are in place. This is better than hosting a podcast on your website. You are responsible for your site security.

7. Compatibility

If you already have a website, you can get a podcast platform with which you can integrate it. By doing this, you can promote your show and engage your listeners. But you have to get a podcast platform compatible with your website programming. So it avoids lag or even no communication between the platform and your website.

Conclusion

Choosing a podcast platform can help you succeed or deter you from it. First, make sure you budget enough money to get the best podcast platform. That is because some of these platforms do not offer the same functionality. Then, do a lot of research and know which platform will serve you best. This will be of great help to you in a very short while.