Podcasting, Wordpress, iTunes in 10 minutes

As you already know, the easiest way to start podcasting activities is to use the services of any podcast terminal or podcast hosting. As a rule, it is free (or inexpensive) and convenient. But for many, independence and responsibility for placing a podcast and generating a feed (rss feed) is important they assume. In this article I will tell (practically show in the pictures) as in 10 minutes:

create a podcast blog
create rss-feed with the ability to add new editions easy and convenient
add your podcast to iTunes directory

The article is intended for beginners in both podcasting and cms and wordpress. If you are familiar with such systems, it will be enough for you to look at the pictures and that's it.

Step 1. Install Wordpress

Wordpress is a blog engine with great customization options for various purposes. The presence of many plug-ins of various purposes allows you to turn a blog on Wordpress, including a podcast blog, that is, a blog whose entries contain a media file, understood by the podcast aggregator . An RSS feed of this blog can be fed to iTunes and a person has already subscribed to your podcast!
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Installing Wordpress is so simple that I will not dwell on it at all, but simply direct you to the official site of this engine (Russian version), where you can download the necessary files, upload to your server and launch the installer at your future site. In a couple of clicks you will have a freshly installed empty Wodpress. If you have difficulties, try reading the documentation .

In most cases, this step takes a couple of minutes. not taking into account the time of uploading files to the server. It is also likely that in the control panel of your hosting it is possible to install Wordpress (along with other applications) in one click.

Step 2. Install podPress

It now remains to turn the standard blog into a podcast blog, for this we use the plugin podPress. This is not the only such plugin, but one of the most popular. His opportunities should be abundant enough for you.

In modern versions of Wordpress, installing plugins has become completely simple: you just need to go to the Console (WP control panel) in the Plugins-> Add New section.

Enter “podpress” in the sub-search line and click “Search for plug-ins”, then click “Install” and again “Install” in the window that appears:

After a few moments, you should see a joyful message about a successful installation and the “Activate plugin” link. Of course, we want to activate it immediately!

After activation, your blog is technically ready for the first listeners. The plugin generated the RSS feed of the podcasts (it is still empty: after installing WP, I deleted the first entry that appears there by default with every fresh installation), taking the information from the blog settings. Of course, it will be much better if we make sure that it is correct. Go to the new section of the blog control panel PodPress-> Feed / iTunes Settings:

Here you can set the title, description of the podcast, as well as customize how your podcast will look in iTunes.
feed_settings

Podcast title and Blog Description is information from the settings of Wordpress itself, you can change them either here or in the general settings of the blog. I also uploaded two pictures and indicated their addresses instead of the standard podPress logo.

The Podcast Feed Url field contains the address to subscribe to your podcast. If you want to skip the next step, then this link can already be specified as a link to a subscription.

Step 3 (optional). Feedburner

Feedburner is a free service now owned by Google that allows you to turn any RSS feed into a convenient RSS feed. Roughly speaking, this is just such a “tunnel” where you enter your RSS URL to the input, and you receive the processed RSS URL that you give to the public at the exit. Feedburner allows you to keep convenient detailed statistics, the ability to monetize and many other convenient pieces.

This step is optional but recommended. For example, if you suddenly decide to move, and the website address changes, and with it the RSS URL, your listeners will not notice the difference: they will also receive podcasts via Feedburner.

All you have to do is log in to feedburner.com, log in with your google account (I guess if you don’t have one, then creating a new one is not difficult) and adding a new tape for burning. Be sure to indicate that you are a podcaster:

In the next window, you can enter the podcast name and the desired RSS feed address:
feedburner_2

And in just one click on the Next button, the new tape is ready!
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If you wish, you can delve into the settings of Feedburner, you will find many interesting features.

Step 4. Add a podcast to iTunes

4.1 Create iTunes Account

iTunes is the most popular podcast aggregator, because it is primarily a media player with access to the Apple store's music store. In this store, in addition to music, movies and TV shows, podcasts are also distributed. Naturally, free of charge (for the most part).

iTunes is a free program , but in order to add a podcast to the iTunes Podcast Directory you will need an iTunes Store account . If you have a credit card, then most likely creating an account will not be a problem. The main thing is to select from the list of stores in the iTunes Store the country where the credit card was issued.

You can create an account without a credit card. Just launch iTunes, go to the iTunes Store, in the App Store (applications for iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad), select any free application and try to download it. iTunes will prompt you to sign in or create a new account:
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When creating an account, select “none” as the payment method:
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An activation letter should come to your e-mail, follow the link and it's done!

4.2 Add a podcast

The case remains small: go to the podcast section of the iTunes Store, in the menu, click on the link "Submit a podcast":
submit_a_podcast

Next you will need to enter simple information about your podcast and the address of the RSS feed. If you used FeedBurner, then indicate the link given to you by FeedBurner:

In the next window, iTunes will automatically enter the podcast information in the appropriate fields, which was specified in the PodPress settings -> iTunes / feed settings. Select a subcategory and click Submit.

There is a pre-moderation in the iTunes directory, and if you did everything right, then your podcast will appear in the iTunes Podcast Directory for two days. Now is the time to publish the first issue, because the blank tape will not go to the directory. Ideally, the first podcast should be added before this step.

Step 5. Broadcast!

You will repeat this step each time you publish a new release of your podcast. Just start creating a new blog entry (Records -> Add New). Upload your release. It can be any media file, audio or video, but it’s better to follow the mp3 formats for sound and mp4 / m4v for video, these standards are supported by most devices and programs. You need to know the full address of this file; The easiest way to get it: in the window that appears, click the "Link to file" button. The address will appear in the “Link” field, and you need to copy it to the clipboard and return to the record addition mode. You do not need to insert a media file with the "Insert into Record" button, you only need a link to the media file.

At the very bottom of the add record window there is a “Podcasting” section. This is part of the PodPress plugin, here you need to add a podcast to the post. Click “Add media file”

and specify the address of the file in the “Location” field, and also click on “Auto Detect” for size and duration. You can enter this data manually.

After clicking the “Publish” button, the entry will be added to the blog and RSS feed:

A convenient player will appear on the blog, allowing you to listen to the podcast without a subscription right from your browser. So it will look like RSS:

You can check how the subscription works: add the podcast to the list of subscriptions in iTunes (Advanced -> Subscribe to podcast ...):
itunes_subscribe