At Creative Agency Secrets we’re always looking for ways to promote great content across the internet. It also doesn’t hurt knowing how all the tools of the online world function and how we can use them.
Here’s our guide to getting your podcast stored and accessible on iTunes.
Make an appropriate podcast
Any podcast can be a “good” podcast, but is it appropriate? Before you go thinking about storing, uploading, submitting or advertising your podcast you should check it for content infringements. Sound hosting and streaming services like SoundCloud come with a set of guidelines you need to follow or you risk having your podcast denied a listing on their services. Your podcast must abide by a few rules:
It must only contain original content owned by you (note there is a possible exception for news related podcasts).
You cannot include profane metadata, erotica or illegal solicitations in your podcast.
Services like iTunes may not accept podcasts with hate speech or targeted degradation to individuals or groups.
So be careful when crafting your podcast if you want it to be sharable across the web.
Creating your RSS based podcasting account
If you want your podcast on iTunes you’ll need an RSS feed. iTunes doesn’t host or store your podcast, it accesses it from somewhere else. For our projects we like to use SoundCloud which currently has a beta section for iTunes and RSS based podcast creators. Once you have a SoundCloud account and a podcast, you can request to be part of the beta and receive your podcast RSS feed URL. (which will eventually go live so be aware – this link may no longer be valid while you are reading this).
SoundCloud tends to accept developed podcasts so you might have to get a few episodes going regularly to prove your commitment. Approval for the beta may take awhile to be approved (sometimes up to two weeks) so don’t be afraid if you haven’t heard back from them too soon. Once you obtain approval they will email you your RSS feed link.
Creating your iTunes account
While you’re waiting for your podcast to be approved for RSS feed activation you can go ahead and create your iTunes account. You’ll need one of these to submit your podcast to iTunes and it takes a credit card and a few personal details to set up.
Submitting your podcast feed
From this stage, the process is simple! Assuming you have your RSS feed and you’ve set up your itunes account, all you need to do is:
- Open iTunes on your computer
- Navigate to the iTunes store in the left hand menu bar (Screenshot below)
- Log in if you haven’t already
- Navigate to the “Podcasts” tab at the top of the store
- Click on the Submit a Podcast option in the upper right sidebar
- Copy and paste your RSS feed URL into the next page
It will then take a few days for iTunes to process and approve your podcast.
If everything has been successful, a few days later you’ll receive an email telling you your podcast has been approved and is up on the iTunes store ready for eager fans to follow.
Congratulations! Your podcast is on iTunes!
