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“Follow the plan outlined here and you can create your own website from scratch without writing any code for less than $300.”
Podcasting has been growing like crazy over the last few years.
While many podcasts rely on services like iTunes for distribution and syndication, every great podcast needs a website. In this straightforward guide, you’ll find a streamlined approach to get your own podcast site online.
How to create your own podcast website
There are just a small number of steps and tools required to build the site.
- Get a domain name
- Signup for hosting
- Install WordPress
- Pick a theme
- Pick a podcast player
- Publish your site
In this guide, you’ll find all the tools you need to put together the best site possible for your growing podcast.
A quick preview
I have a handful of recommendations for you later in the guide, but here’s a quick look at one of the nicest designs available.
Looks great, right?
That theme works equally well for traditional audio podcasts and video podcasts. But more on that later!
For now, let’s jump into the first step – picking a domain name.
Find an available domain name
First of all, I’m assuming you want to find an available domain name so you can register it for $10, but it’s perfectly fine to purchase a domain for more.
The most important thing is that you find a name you like that matches your brand. If you’re lucky, the name of your podcast will have a matching domain name available, but that’s not always the case.
If your desired domain name isn’t available, just try adding an extra word. For instance, if your podcast was called “Incredible Podcast” and the domain incrediblepodcast.com was already taken, you could register incrediblepodcastshow.com instead. It’s still a nice name and on-brand.
For more tips, check out our domain registration guide.
Get hosting
Your website needs hosting to be able to load. When you get hosting, you are essentially paying for space on someone’s server where your site’s files will be stored and loaded from when someone visits your domain.
There are lots of hosting options available, but for a WordPress site, I always recommend Nexcess.
They have a great product for new webmasters and it works great with WordPress.
As of now, they’re also offering a 30% discount for any who creates a new Nexcess account, so make sure to take advantage of that offer while it sill stands.
Install WordPress
If you signup with Nexcess, they’ll automatically create a WordPress site for you. It’s part of the simple account creation process.
That said, there are lots of WordPress-compatible hosts out there and the majority of them have WordPress auto-installers that can help greatly with the process. I’ve included this step for the sake of being comprehensive, but odds are you’ll just need to fill out a single form with some details like the name of your site and you’ll be done.
Why WordPress?
There are lots of site builders out there, but WordPress has by far the biggest community. The benefit is that there are tons of themes and plugins available to change the design of your site and add new features.
WordPress has been in development for more than a decade now and actively powers an astonishing 30% of the top ten million websites on the web. It’s an extremely reliable solution for building and managing a website.
Check out my WordPress website creation tutorial for more help with creating your site.
Pick a theme
The first theme I would recommend is the awesome Dixie theme by SecondLine Themes.
Dixie has a beautiful and effective design for podcasts. You can feature your latest episodes, highlight the podcasters behind the show, and promote your email newsletter.
The Dixie podcasting theme comes with tons of layout options, integration with the Elementor page builder plugin, customizable colors, and of course, a built-in audio player.
You can click here to see everything Dixie has to offer.
While I think this theme is awesome, there are some great alternatives as well.
Dixie alternatives
I’ve already scoured the web for the podcast themes and put together a collection. You can check out my selection for the best WordPress podcast theme here.
You’ll find a good amount of design variety in that collection, but regardless of your choice, you’ll end up with a gorgeous and professional website.
If you want something a little simpler, we have 19 free themes made for content creators like yourself, and they all work great for podcasts.
Pick a podcast player
Keep your eye on the prize!
While it’s great to have a nice-looking website online that can promote your podcast, visitors should also be able to listen to episodes directly on your site. In addition, you may want to host the podcast on your site and keep a podcast feed URL on your site.
Well, once again I’ve got a collection prepared for you. Check out this list of the top WordPress podcast plugins to publish episodes on your site and embed a beautiful audio player.
There’s a premium plugin included, but the list is mostly free plugins for podcasting from your site.
Publish your site
With all the technology sorted out, the final step is to actually announce your site and share it with your audience. There are plenty of ways to promote your site, but I’ll leave that part up to you.
With the steps outlined here, you should be able to create a beautiful and functional website to build your podcast brand. To summarize the steps one more time:
- Get a domain name
- Signup for hosting
- Install WordPress
- Pick a theme (I recommend Dixie)
- Pick a podcast player
- Publish your site
It may seem overwhelming if you’re creating your first site, but these steps can easily be completed in an afternoon now that you know exactly which tools you’ll need.
