Great episodes do not matter if nobody can find them.
Podcasts have evolved from “an audio-only space” to a major media player that leverages its content as part of an artist’s or producer’s overall marketing strategy. The many things you can do with your podcast’s content include: podcast episodes, audio segments; text; video (TV) show pages/photos/releases/media kit/slideshows; email signups; podcast guests; old/new material being published as part of the podcast back catalogue. It’s likely to keep generating revenue for at least the next year as it does in one way or another as long as you play your cards right.
The shows that expand are obvious: good production across the board, one host per show, a well-ranked website and a recurring promotion of the shows to fans and social media contacts. You can also early on experiment with push discovery (while still working on them) by running some kind of “test” based around Spotify promotion packages to see what happens with follows, saves and completion.
Why a Podcast Website Matters
Using platforms such as PromosoundGroup to help you manage the entire podcasting process can be beneficial. Think of using a platform profile as the platform from which you rent, while your website would be your real asset. Though your top source of listening may be Spotify, having your own domain will provide you an opportunity to be found in search, capture the intent of a listener and convert them from being an occasional to a repeat listener.
- SEO traffic: episode pages can rank for guest names, topics, and song references.
- Brand control: artwork, typography, press photos, and your story in one place.
- Email list building: a simple signup beats begging an algorithm for reach.
- Monetization options: sponsors want a media kit, not a link-in-bio.
- Content hub: every episode can live with links, timestamps, embeds, and transcripts.
This feature works very well in music-related podcasts. Every time you do an interview with an artist or breakdown a recent song release or teach a production technique, it should create a new episode that has its own page on your website which can be indexed and found by people searching for new podcasts to listen to without currently being in a podcast app.
Choosing a Podcast Hosting Platform
This is the essence of any podcast hosting guide: hosting is the location of your audio files, and the creation of your RSS feed. This RSS feed is the medium by which podcasts are distributed to Spotify, Apple Podcasts and other podcast directories. If you make the wrong choice at the onset, you’ll spend your first month doing technical support, instead of publishing your podcast.
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You definitely need the best file delivery possible with your podcast hosting; at a minimum, you want to be able to have an RSS feed that you control, as well as reporting and analytics that don’t require a decoder to read. Some podcast hosting providers will include simple episode pages, but they will probably not provide the full benefits of being hosted on a website if you are concerned with SEO.
| Platform | Why creators use it | Watch-outs |
|---|---|---|
| Buzzsprout | Beginner-friendly dashboard and distribution tools | Can feel limiting as a full site replacement |
| Podbean | All-in-one hosting with monetization add-ons | Feature-heavy plans can add cost fast |
| Libsyn | Long-time industry standard with strong delivery | Interface is not as modern for new creators |
| Riverside | Great for recording and remote interviews, then publishing | Primarily a recording workflow, not pure hosting-first |
| Anchor / Spotify for Podcasters | Tight Spotify podcast publishing and management tools | Still build an owned website for SEO and list building |
If you are using Spotify as your main channel for distributing your podcast, your hosting provider must allow you to easily submit new episodes to the Spotify app (with no issues) and not adversely affect any previously submitted episodes when submitting an update. Episode information changes (e.g., title, description, and artwork) should appear in Spotify with the same expected timeline.
How to Start a Podcast Website
Most new podcasters spend far too much time stressing about the design of their site and not enough time thinking about how they’re actually going to put the site together. Your new site will most likely consist of just a few pages of content plus a set of repeatable episode templates, so focus first on getting it up and running. You can always go back later and fix the look and feel if you choose.
- Buy a domain you can say out loud (no weird hyphens).
- Choose a web builder: use WordPress for flexibility, Webflow for design control, and Squarespace for speed.
- Make a homepage describing the show in 10 seconds — who it’s aimed at, why it’s being produced, and where listeners can find it.
- Create a detailed episode page template that includes an embedded audio player, brief summary, timestamped highlights, important links, and a transcript where possible.
- Add an email capture with a real incentive (bonus track breakdown, presets list, guest playlist).
- Set up basic SEO: title tags, clean URLs, internal links to related episodes, and an XML sitemap.
The episode page is crucial to podcast layout. Just like a blog post, you should have an identifiable keyword phrase for the title, provide a clear introduction to the content, and include links to other places where the listener can take action based on what they heard. For example, after reviewing a new release or interviewing a DJ, include links to the artist, the label, and any playlists you mentioned. You’d be surprised how much Google understands context.
Promotion Tactics That Hold Up
Many individuals struggle with successfully using a podcast marketing strategy. Most podcasters make the mistake of posting generic promotional audiograms and labeling that as promotion. Successful shows that grow their audiences are those producers who treat distribution and promotion as separate functions from production.
A few podcast promotion strategies that consistently outperform the “post-and-pray” approach:
- Short clips with a purpose: 15–30 seconds that sells the problem, not the guest bio.
- Guest cross-promotion: appear on a show similar to yours and publish both within the same two-week window.
- Feed trailer swaps: old-school, but still works for niche music scenes.
- Newsletter recaps: one email per episode with 3 takeaways and one link back to your episode page.
- Directories beyond Spotify: Apple Podcasts, YouTube, and genre-specific hubs all provide additional discovery.
- SEO compounding: refresh your top 5 episode pages quarterly with better titles and updated links.
For one team in producer education, they stopped chasing viral clips and concentrated on two consistent actions: weekly emails and guest swapping. After three months, the big spikes were gone, but they had doubled their baseline listen counts. That’s a strategy you can plan around.
Growing on Spotify Without Guessing
Your podcasts can achieve rapid growth because fans of your music are already using Spotify. When someone listens to your podcast, the recommendation system responds to user activity and creates reward signals based on similar patterns to those used for music: completion rates, frequency of listening, following, and saving. The key to success is quality content, good packaging, and a consistent publishing cadence.
If you want Spotify to take you seriously, tighten these factors first:
- Publish on a schedule you can maintain for at least 12 weeks.
- Use specific episode titles — not clever ones — so listener intent is obvious.
- Front-load the hook in the first 60 seconds, then get to the point.
- Ask for a follow once, cleanly, and move on.
- Build playlists and references around episodes if your show is music-first.
Keep an eye on your stats after first listens. Strong starts but weak completions suggests the intro is too long or not delivering on its promise. Good completions but a flat follow rate means you’re not giving listeners a clear reason to subscribe. Fix the inputs before seeking increased reach.
Common Growth Mistakes
These are the most common traps with new shows:
- Only focusing on recording and editing, then ignoring discoverability.
- Treating the host platform’s auto-page like a real website (it rarely ranks well).
- Inconsistent publishing that resets listener habits.
- No plan for podcast distribution beyond one platform.
- Weak branding: generic cover art, unclear show concept, no reason to follow.
A simple rule: each episode should produce at least two reusable assets — a short video clip and an SEO-optimised episode page. If you are not producing these, you are doing a large amount of work for a very short window of someone’s attention.
The Simple Growth Funnel
Use this as a mental model for how your website and platforms work together:
Discover (Spotify recommendations or Google search) → Click (episode page) → Listen (embedded player or app) → Take Action (follow or email signup) → Return (newsletter or next episode) → Share (clips or guest swapping).
If you only build the LISTEN part, you are leaving all the rest of the growth to chance.
