As a podcaster, finding a platform to create, market, and distribute your podcast is serious business.
Among all of the larger names out there, some of the smaller services are doing an amazing job at ticking all of the boxes at a more affordable rate, and that includes Podiant.
Is Podiant good for podcasting? Podiant is one of the more effective podcasting platforms out there for beginner through to expert podcasters and is now housed under the Castos umbrella of services.
Their features include analytics, mentoring, marketing tools, hosting, production services and more, so you can do as little or as much as you want to with the platform.
If you’re in the market for a podcasting hosting service and you want one that can be as hands-on as you need, Podiant and Castos have been making waves.
We’ll have a quick look at what they offer and the ways you can make this hosting platform work for your brand.
What is Podiant?
Podiant was developed in 2016 by Mark Steadman who was looking for a way to create, host, and share podcasts with ease.
The web developer and podcast creator had found that other platforms available on the market for personal users had struggled with a lack of intuitiveness which made it harder to use their tools and services.
Steadman wanted Podiant to have a mind of its own so that the user didn’t have to do so much of the work just to get results.
Podiant also prided itself on giving its users the ability to adjust how much input they received from the hosting platform, with services like personal mentoring being available on the higher end of the scale.
After five years of success and a growing customer base, Podiant joined Castos in 2021, and they began the transition of their customers over to this other platform.
Castos has been operating for five years but has already developed a suite of efficient tools that podcasters can use to grow their reach, create incredible content, and monetize what they do.
The necessity for a podcast hosting platform arose out of the RSS feeds that share the content with the audience.
While it is possible to create an RSS feed on your own, you need years of coding experience, which is why hosting platforms like Castos and Podiant were created.
With an RSS feed, your podcast can then appear in the popular podcasting directories, so it’s essential for your success.
Who Should Use Podiant For Podcasting?
Podiant and Castos make it easy for people to get started creating podcasts, even if they’ve never done so before. They offer a host of free resources on their website including free video guides, FAQs, and the comprehensive How to Start a Podcast guide.
Designed to be an all-in-one solution for podcasters, they answer all of your questions about each stage from idea development to monetization.
Monetization Options on Podiant
The potential to earn an income with podcasting is what attracts many people to this type of content creation, but it can be hard to do successfully on your own.
Using a hosting service like Podiant and Castos means you get access to their monetization tools, so you can earn an income for your podcasts in the following ways:
- Advertising: The most common monetization tool you’ll hear on a podcast is advertising, and this occurs when either the presenter or a pre-recorded spiel advertises something during a podcast’s breaks. The company pays you directly to advertise on your show, so it can take time to build a customer base, and following that would make you appealing to brands.
- Direct support: Direct support is another way of saying you’re asking for donations from your audience. Whether you ask for a small donation of $1 or appeal to sponsors to give a set amount each month, these seemingly minor contributions can add up to a lot, and Podiant makes it easy to collect them automatically.
- Affiliate sales: This is where you sell something for another company, like educational courses or beauty products, and give listeners a discount code that’s linked to your podcast only. You earn a small portion of each sale without having to make the product or provide the service yourself.
- Complementary products: If you have merchandise, tickets to events, or courses that you want to sell, you can do so through your podcast thanks to Podiant. Using a podcast to advertise these products is a smart move, but you must be careful not to oversell or talk about it too much during each episode.
Castos operates with tiered membership options depending on how many listeners your podcast has and what other features you want.
Most people start with private or public access for 100 listeners, available at the Starter level but there’s the option to level up and eventually reach the Enterprise plan which has an unlimited number of listeners.
The more listeners, the more money you can make through your monetization incentives, so your podcasts should be carefully crafted.
Integration With Podcast Directories
One of the best signs of a quality podcast hosting service is how many integrations they can offer you.
This doesn’t only relate to podcast directories like Spotify and Apple Podcasts, but other third-party apps and software like Zapier, AdBarker, Stripe, and Paid Memberships Pro.
When it comes to podcast directories, Podiant and Castos are linked with the biggest names to guarantee a better audience reach.
If you allow Podiant to host your podcast and create the RSS feed that you use to submit to these directories, you’ll be able to reach the most popular ones like Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Podchaser, and Sitcher, just to name a few.
Transitioning to Podiant
As Podiant no longer exists as a standalone service, customers will now need to go through Castos if they wish to join up.
However, Castos makes it easy to transition from any other hosting platform in several ways, including publishing the podcast from the Castos dashboard or importing your podcasts for free.
Podiant and Castos have a range of documentation to support users who are transitioning to a new hosting platform and they offer guides for each of the popular services.
Among some of those that you can transition from are Simplecast, Blubrry, Libsyn, SoundCloud, and Podbean, just to name a few.
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Tips for Getting Started
Whether you’re brand new to podcasts or just switching over from another hosting platform to Podiant, there’s a lot to learn. Here are a few tips so you can make the most of the Podiant/Castos collaboration and improve the reach of your broadcast.
- Spend some time reading all of the guides and how-to’s that Podiant and Castos have to offer. You’ll find valuable information about making the most of their tools and which ones you can probably do without.
- A podcast is like any other form of content in that it requires ongoing maintenance and tweaking. Don’t be stubborn and stick with just one idea, but let the analytics and reporting that comes from Podiant guide you towards what changes you should make.
- Share your podcast with as many of the podcast directories as you possibly can to ensure a bigger reach. While it’s a good idea to think about the niche markets where you’ll perform well, it’s worth spending more time adding your RSS link to all of them so you can get as many listeners as possible.
- The Express Launch Service makes it quick and easy to start a podcast with minimal input from you, and it costs less than $200 to do so. As you learn more, you can make changes, but if you’re someone who prefers to do things quickly, having this instant process is helpful.
- Using a podcast transcription service is a must and you can employ this tool automatically on the Castos website. A transcript will be provided of each episode after it airs so you can read through what was said and make a note of looking for keywords to make sure content isn’t repeated in future episodes.
- Private podcasts are ideal for businesses who want to share ideas with others privately, otherwise making your podcast public is likely best. Consider what audience you are trying to reach before deciding how to deliver yours.
A Reliable Home for Your Podcast
As your pride and joy, you need a hosting service that will deliver exactly what you need for your podcast.
Working with Castos, Podiant gives their customers the freedom to choose just a little or a lot of help from them to help you achieve the goals you have for your podcast, so consider them at the top of the list.
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