Using resources for podcasting is becoming one of the most useful additions to help run and maintain your show; especially for those that aren’t familiar with what it takes to manage and publish podcast episodes.
Podcasting hosts and plugins make life so much easier, which means that you can spend less time worrying about getting your message out to your audience, and instead spend time on delivering episodes so that you can get your message out to your audience.
Whilst most podcasters have heard of Libsyn, Soundcloud, Blubrry, and Buzzsprout; there are many other options out there.
One of these is Seriously Simple Podcasting, which has gained a long-time cult following. With recent updates to the hosting platform, if you can make podcasting as simple as possible, then we want to find out if that’s the case.
We’ll take a look at Seriously Simple Podcasting, and whether the name holds up. We’ll explore the dashboards, their security, and how easy it is to use.
🎤 Create and manage all of your podcast content from WordPress dashboard
🎤 Has some great analytics to dig deeper into your audience stats.
Price
The good news for those that don’t want to blow their budget on their podcast, is that this plugin is stand-alone and completely free. This is similar to the Blubrry PowerPress plugin, which we have also reviewed.
This plug-in allows you to host media wherever you want and is even included on your servers. However, the easiest way is to upload episodes via the media library on WP. This way you can get your Libsyn-hosted episodes over to WordPress.
Castos, which is the plug-in parent company, also offers integrated podcast hosting which is essentially the same as using something like SoundCloud or any other external host. However, this is not free and you will need to pay for the hosting.
Signup is $19 per month, so you can sign up for a free 14-day trial to see if it’s for you. This is the typical price for this service, s&a comes with unlimited storage and as many episodes as you wish.
Which, if you do a lot of video podcasting, is a super feature that shouldn’t be overlooked.
Another great feature is that they offer concierge media migration over from your old host at no charge.
A podcast hosting platform that automates ever step in building a successful podcast.
14-Day Free Trial
Dashboard
As soon as you activate the plug-in, you will register a page number as a new podcast in the admin menu. The very first time that you use the plug-in you’ll get tutorials and information on what the plug-in can offer you.
If you want to check out their 14-day trial, there is a sign-up button that will lead you to that offer, however, if you just want to try the free plugin for now and then dismiss the message.
After this, you can view the dashboards and see a list of all podcast episodes that the plugin can manage.
This dashboard is the powerhouse and from here there are many options that you can play with such as settings, as well as non-general settings.
Settings
There are plenty of different settings options for you to sink your teeth into, however many of them you will simply leave alone, and those that are new to podcasts won’t need to worry about touching some of the tabs.
However, under the general tab, there are a few things that you need to consider for the podcast plugin to work efficiently, such as Media Player Locations, and Media Player Style for the spoken fine-tuning of your show.
This will enable you to have the built-in player appear on your site.
Also, Seriously Simple Podcasting does not show your episodes in the main feed of a blog, so make sure to take this option if you want to see them there.
We aren’t sure why this wasn’t a standard issue, to begin with, but the option is there to select it.
Security
We are happy to see that there is an option to password protect the podcast feeds, which can be located in the settings tab.
Whilst many people would not look to use this feature, it’s handy for those who will publish multiple versions of their show across different platforms, especially platforms that are pay-to-play such as Patreon.
Series
If you go to the podcast menu in your dashboards, you’ll be able to locate the series tab, which will allow you to create a mini-series of episodes for your show.
This is another feature as it allows you to separate different episodes depending on their subject matter, similar to creating a playlist on YouTube. It also means that you can separate them in a uniquely secondary feed that will only contain these episodes.
Creating An Episode
So the big question is whether it was easy to make an episode? The short answer is that it was super easy to create, just like making a blog post.
All you need to do is go to Podcast and then Add New. This will bring up an editor where you can post your show, as well as include things like show notes, images, and everything else that you would expect in WordPress.
Below are the four pieces of information that you need for your Seriously Simple Podcasting.
Episode and File are where you will be able to add your media, which will either be an audio file or a video file. You can upload audio through the media library and MP3s are small enough to not have any issues.
However, if you have a video podcast you’ll need to go with an external host, i.e. Castos, which may put off some people that don’t want to spend money.
🎤 How To Host a Podcast on WordPress
Date Recorded will let your audience know when the episode was initially recorded, which is a useful feature for new audience members that can see how far back in time your show has been recorded.
Podcast Series is where you choose which feeds the episode shows up and is ideal for those that are planning to have a particular series or themed type of episode.
This is great as it gives you more control about how your show is published, which is lacking in other services that are similar to Seriously Simple Podcasting.
Episode Embed Code is where you have the code generated by the plug-in that you can paste using the HTML code. This will access a rich-media card with links back, as well as a player if you’ve already set one up, and a featured image.
This method is much better at sharing and displaying posts than a bar with the play button, which can look unprofessional.
Custom Fields And Metadata
As you install the plugin it will create a post-cold podcast that comes. This is helpful for those that want to customize their fields and add in your own if any are needed. However, most podcasters won’t need to worry about this feature.
Our Verdict
Overall, this plug-in delivers with its name, as it is super easy to set up and get creating podcasts. It can manage multiple shows and allow you to create playlists within your show which we thought was a powerful feature.
You can also combine this plug-in with existing tools with another host that you might be using, such as Libsyn.
However, If you are looking for unlimited episode uploads and filespace, you’re going to need to upgrade using Castos paid hosting, which is essential if you are going to be uploading video podcasts.
Final Thoughts
Seriously simple podcasting is worth a look if you are interested in trying a free plug-in for your podcasting needs that doesn’t take a lot of time to figure out.
A podcast hosting platform that automates ever step in building a successful podcast.
14-Day Free Trial
➡️ Manage your podcast from one dashboard
➡️ Better Analytics and Audience Data
➡️ Dedicated Podcast Hosting
➡️ SEO Management
