We are going to remain very tangible here. Because even though podcasts are popping up all over, I still get the question quite often ‘But Elizabeth – how does it ACTUALLY work?’

I’m going to keep this brief, and it may take a couple times of you reading over it for the process to completely sink in (don’t worry, it does for everyone!!) – but it’s really this simple!

Here’s how audio goes from your brain and on Apple, Spotify, etc.

• Hosting Platform. Much like a blog, you need a place to host your audio for your podcast. This is the behind the scenes platform for CREATORS, not consumers of your content. You’ve probably heard of things like Libsyn, BuzzSprout, Acast, etc. These are platforms where you will upload your audio (much like how you would type out a blog) and then you will connect this to Apple, Spotify, etc. which we are covering in step 3!
  

• Connected to your hosting platform is something called an RSS Feed. The RSS Feed is where all of your show information lives. Things like: Your show title, description, artwork, each episode – and yes, subscribers. This is why your RSS Feed is such a big deal! It’s essentially the brain of your show and where all the content lives. It’s a simple link that you will use to connect to your distribution platforms (which we are talking about in the next step!)

• Distribution Platform. These are things like Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, etc. This is the CONSUMER SIDE of podcasting. This is where YOU listen to your favorite shows. The creator/host of the podcast will connect their show from their hosting platform to each distribution platform only ONCE. Once it’s connected, the creator/host will only need to upload their episodes to the hosting platform, and it will automatically populate on the distribution platforms at the set time. The Distribution Platforms will each individually scan your RSS Feed for new content, and once it finds it, it will pull that information for your audience to finally listen to! 

And that’s the behind the scenes, how-to of what makes a podcast actually a podcast. An RSS from your hosting platform that connects to the distribution platform.

Again, it might take a couple of times for the information to sink in, but read over it a few times and it’ll just ‘click.’

If you want more on the recording process itself, leave a comment below and I’ll create a resource on that as well!

Did you miss any part of this three-part series? Click HERE to make sure you’re caught up on all three!