Podcast Directory Submission 101

Discover the essential steps to get your podcast listed on major listening directories like Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube Music. This episode breaks down the process of creating and submitting your RSS feed to ensure your content reaches your target audience!

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Podcast Directory Submission 101

Cara Pacetti 0:00

Welcome to Podcasting Q&A brought to you by the people at Buzzsprout . I'm your host , cara Bassetti , and I am bringing you the best tips and strategies to keep you podcasting with confidence . Today , we're talking all about getting your podcast listed on the listening directories . We see questions come into the support inbox all the time from podcasters and they just want to know how do I get the content that I've worked so hard to create in front of my listeners ? And the answer is you have to submit your podcast to the listening directories . Apple , spotify , youtube Music those are some of the top podcasting directories where listeners can tune in and hear your content . And so , in order to get your podcast in front of your listeners , there's a couple of key steps that are involved with this process . So

Understanding The Terminology

Cara Pacetti 0:52

first , I'd like to start off by just defining a couple of the key terms when it comes to podcasting and kind of the process . You'll often hear a term called an RSS feed , so when you are hosted with a podcast host , we will help you create an RSS feed . Now , an RSS feed is just a web page that contains all of your content . So your artwork , your episode descriptions , your title , your links and , most importantly , your audio files . Those are all contained on an RSS feed and you would upload your content to your podcast host , like Buzzsprout . We will create an RSS feed for you and all of your content can be found there . Then we need to get that content to the directories . So I mentioned this before , but Apple , spotify , youtube Music are some of the most popular directories right now . A directory is basically a place that listeners go to find content , so if you have an itch to listen to a podcast , you would visit a listening directory and search up the content that you want to listen to , and so you would just head to Apple Podcasts , search a topic and then Apple Podcasts will provide a list of available podcasts related to that topic that you've searched . That is why it is imperative that you get your content listed on these directories so that you can be discovered .

Cara Pacetti 2:15

But

Required Information

Cara Pacetti 2:16

, like I said , there's a couple of details that need to be completed in order to get your podcast to those directories , and so a couple of those include a title , a podcast description , a podcast category and also a creator . So title pretty self-explanatory Description . Think about just a couple of sentences describing what your podcast is about . Remember , on the directories , these listeners are heading there to basically window shop . They just want to know what's out there that's related to this category that I'm searching , and so keeping your podcast description short , simple and really enticing may make your podcast stand out in comparison to others and would really motivate your listener to subscribe and hear more of your show .

Cara Pacetti 3:03

The next step is to select a podcast category . Now you only need one in order to be listed on the directory , so you want to make sure it's the one that best describes your podcast . If it involves a niche subcategory , then that's totally fine . If you want to use an overarching category , you can do that , but you just want it to be the one that really fits the content of your podcast , and if you don't see one that is an exact match , just find the closest relative category . The list is set by Apple , and sometimes they do make updates to it , but there's not really a way to add your own unique category , and so you'll want to select your category , and then you'll need to add a podcast creator , so that can be you as the host if you are an independent podcaster . If your podcast is for , say , your company or maybe a hospital or a school , it could be the name of the school that you're working , of the hospital or even the company that you're working for . Typically , the creator information is displayed just below your podcast title on some of the listening directories , and so that field will need to be completed in order to submit your podcast to the directories . And so you'll want to make sure you add artwork , make it specific to your podcast , make sure you're capturing the overall vibe that you want to communicate to your listeners

Using a Trailer Episode

Cara Pacetti 4:28

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Cara Pacetti 4:28

The last remaining requirement would be to publish your first episode . Typically , we recommend podcasters would publish a trailer episode . In this case , a trailer episode is great because , since it is going to be live on your RSS feed when you submit to the directories , the listener may discover your podcast before you've actually officially launched , and so what better to have there for them to find than your trailer episode , which is introducing your podcast ? So that is what we recommend . Starting with , a trailer episode is just an introductory episode . There's no hard and fast rules on how short or how long the trailer needs to be . You just want to make sure that you introduce yourself , introduce the podcast title , let listeners know where they can find your podcast , and just give a little bit of information of what your podcast is going to be about and what they can expect . And again , you want to show off your personality . It's your first introduction with your listener , and so just make sure that you are putting your best foot forward . But that is what we recommend starting with .

Submitting to Listening Directories

Cara Pacetti 5:35

And so once you've published that and you've completed all of the detail and information and you've uploaded your episode artwork , now is the time to take the necessary steps to submit your podcast to Listening Directories . The good news about this you only have to do it once . The way that podcasting works is you submit your RSS feed to the directories and then the directories can read that web page , they can read all of the content so they can see your artwork , your descriptions , your title and they can show that on their platforms . Most directories continually check your RSS feed for updates , and so that's why , if you publish your episode at 9 am but you see that it doesn't go live on the directories until 12 pm , that's because the directory didn't check your RSS feed until 12 pm for an update . And so just keep in mind that little delay .

Cara Pacetti 6:31

Every directory has a little bit different of a process for submitting your podcast . I know for Apple and for Spotify . When you are hosted with Buzzsprout . It is a one-click submission . You will simply click Get Listed on the directories page inside of your Buzzsprout account and within three days , or maybe even sooner , your podcast will be listed on both Apple and Spotify . So you can get this done relatively quickly . And the good news is , when you submit to Apple Podcasts , your podcast will actually automatically be submitted to Overcast , castro , castbox , goodpods and TrueFans . So that is really helpful for getting your podcast listed across multiple directories .

Cara Pacetti 7:15

If you are submitting to another directory that doesn't have a one-click submission , you will need your RSS feed and in some cases the directories will need to verify that you are the owner of that RSS feed . There's a couple of ways that they do this . One of the common ways that we see is by adding an email into your RSS feed . We try to make that really easy for you . In your Buzzsprout account , you would just head to directories , email verification , and you can type in the email and we will add it to your RSS feed for 48 hours . So , for example , youtube , if you are logging in with a certain email for your YouTube studio , that's the email that you need to add to your RSS feed because they are trying to verify that you are the owner and that's the email that they're seeing on their end Make sense .

Cara Pacetti 8:02

One more thing I'm going to say about YouTube , because it is a pretty popular podcasting directory at this time is that when you submit your RSS feed to YouTube , it is getting listed on both your YouTube channel and the YouTube Music Platform as a static image of your podcast artwork that you added to your hosting site , and then it will play the audio file with that static image , and so when you submit your RSS feed , your podcast will be available both on your YouTube channel and on the YouTube Music Listening Platform

Final Thoughts

Cara Pacetti 8:34

. But overall , that is the process of submitting your podcast to the listening directories . Just a quick recap before we sign off , create your content , upload those files to your podcast host and complete all of the details for your podcast that I mentioned in this episode . Submit your RSS feed to the listening directories that you want your podcast featured on and then , from there , any edits you make inside of your podcast hosting account will automatically display across all of your listening directories . Hosting account will automatically display across all of your listening directories and your listeners will be so happy because it will reach them just in time . I hope this was helpful .

Cara Pacetti 9:14

Thank you for tuning in to this week's episode . If you have any questions for the Podcaster Success team about submitting your podcast to the listening directories , you can reach out to us at any time at support at buzzsproutcom . While we're tackling common questions we see in the support inbox . I also want to hear directly from you If you have questions at any time at support at buzzsproutcom . While we're tackling common questions we see in the support inbox . I also wanna hear directly from you If you have questions you'd like answered on a future show . Just click the send us a text link in the show notes . Since we too went through this submission process , podcasting Q&A is available on your favorite podcasting apps , so be sure to join us every Monday to kickstart your week . Thank you for listening . Have a great week and keep podcasting .