There are so many top podcast blogs on the web. But, try as you might, you can't read them all, so how will you choose between them?
Podcast blogs aren't generic by any means. Each company adds their own flavor to their posts. Most include podcast industry news, how-to guides and technical advice. Some stick to those core categories, while other podcast blogs go above and beyond to offer fresh perspectives.
You could hunt them out for yourself - but we've done the work for you. Here are our takes on some of today's top podcasting blogs.
Rephonic
One podcast blog you shouldn't miss is our own Rephonic blog, where you'll find heaps of helpful content.
Many of our posts specialize in helping guests get featured on podcasts (or helping agencies pitch their clients as guests). Others are marketing posts with advice on podcast promotion. A third category follows case studies and podcasting industry insights from the Rephonic database, while a fourth gives templates and tools, such as the Podcast Interview Question Generator.
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How To Become A Recognized Industry Expert
Most of us don't become known as industry experts overnight. Our education, experience and expertise lay the foundation, but widespread recognition doesn't come until you put yourself out there. Podcast guest interviews can help. Hosting your own show can be a massive boost (but it's a lot of work!)
Read this post for heaps of actionable insights on how you can be recognized as a thought leader in your industry and the wider community.
The Podcast Host
The Podcast Host is all about helping launch people into their podcasting journey and then supporting them in growing and eventually monetizing podcasts.
The Podcast Host arranges their information as a journey: 'Plan & Launch,' 'Produce & Edit,' 'Present,' and 'Grow & Monetize.' You don't have to scroll too far down the Home Page to find them. That makes it easier to navigate to the podcast knowledge you need.
These valuable resources are jam-packed with practical advice to help you run a successful podcast. You'll find info on everything from "What to name my podcast" and "The best mics for all budgets" to "How to interview like a pro" and "How to run an audience survey."
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Demographics vs. Psychographics
This article dives into how to learn more about your listeners. Demographics describe a population using numbers. Think of them as learning about who people are on the outside. Psychographics are more about people's thoughts and feelings - who they are on the inside.
Why should we care about psychographics? As Colin explains, "The balance between demographics and psychographics not only helps you create better content more easily, it’s also a great way of adding real uniqueness to your show."
Read this blog post if you're new to the podcasting space, planning a new podcast, struggling to create content, or want to grow your show by understanding your audience more deeply.
We Edit Podcasts
is a podcast and video editing company. Founded in 2015 by Carli van Heerden, the company has blossomed, growing from the original 6 to 65+ editors, writers, marketers, designers, and more. As well as its core editing services, We Edit Podcasts also offers show notes, transcriptions, launch packages, cover artwork and more.
The We Edit blog is one of my favorite podcast blogs because it focuses on being human rather than concentrating solely on the business of podcasting. Many creators believe that showing your human side to your audience is more important than ever amid so much AI-generated content.
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How Do You Respond When Things Don't Go Your Way?
I usually read We Edit Podcasts blog posts through their newsletter, which is often themed around the Founders Corner. This article came in the newsletter called "The One About Overlooked Things" (ooh, a Friends reference - another human touch.)
Carli says that we're often disappointed or upset by situations because they don't meet our expectations. Her solutions include Shrinking the situation, Reflecting before you react, and Recalibrating your perspective.
Read this blog post if you're frustrated with how your podcast is progressing and want a chance to regroup.
Buzzsprout
Buzzsprout is a podcast hosting platform. It hosts your audio and video content online and includes analytics, advertising, a complete guide on "How to start a podcast," and a comprehensive blog.
The Buzzsprout blog has all you need to learn about podcasting, including simple how-to guides and answers to all your FAQs.
You'll find advice like "How to upload your podcast to YouTube," templates for effective podcast introductions, a guide to remote recording techniques and loads more..
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New podcasters often struggle with how to script their podcast. For example, should they write everything down or wing it and hope? Should each episode follow a pattern, or can a random style work, too?
This guide explains a basic podcast script template and best practices, then follows it up with eight different templates.
Read this blog post if you're not sure where to start or how to formulate your podcast content..
Ausha
Ausha is a podcast host and growth management tool that burst onto the podcasting scene in 2018. It uses hosting, distribution, stats and monetization strategies to help grow your podcast to the next level. Site resources include an Academy, links to their own podcast, ebooks, templates and the Ausha blog.
The blog includes podcast basics and guides like "Starting a Business Podcast," pod news - e.g., "Apple Podcasts Introduces Transcripts," and valuable insights on monetization such as "Four Ways to Treat Your Podcast Like A Business."
You'll find articles on the blog homepage arranged in the order they're published, or click the category panels (as pictured) to hone in on the topics you need.
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Taylor Swift Phenomenon: 5 Lessons to Boost Your Podcast
Perhaps you can't immediately see the connection between Taylor Swift and podcasting. But Taylor Swift didn't get to be a global phenomenon without having an astute head for business. This post from the Promote category makes some fascinating comparisons to push home its marketing lessons.
Read this blog post if you want to build and promote a successful podcast using your unique style and flair. (Read it twice if you're a 'Swiftie.')
Riverside
Riverside is a one-stop shop for podcasters. It offers studio-quality audio and video recording, editing software, transcriptions, social media clips and more.
Resources include the blog, Riverside University, webinars, Case studies and a community Facebook group.
Possibly one of the best podcast blogs around, you'll find hundreds of how-to articles, reviews and comparisons, product updates and more on the Riverside blog.
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15 Best Podcast Recording Software For Pros and Beginners
This article is an excellent example of the sorts of reviews and comparisons you'll find on this blog. It's well-structured, and the font style & color is easy to read. There's an embedded video option if you'd rather watch than read.
Check out this article if you're starting a podcast or you want to upgrade the recording options for your current podcast. Or dive in just because you're fascinated by recording software and want to learn more (as I did.)
Captivate
Launched in 2019, Captivate is another podcast hosting platform with options to suit every podcasting level. It helps podcasters monetize (with members-only content), network (cross-promotional opportunities) and save production time using a range of [platform tools (e.g., Dynamic Show Notes builder.)
Captivate's blog categorizes its articles around your problems and the advice you're likely searching for. So, you'll find articles on podcasting skills in "I don't know how to start a podcast," promotion advice in "My podcast isn't growing," and equipment tips in "I don't know what gear to use."
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How much money do podcasters make in 2024?
Ben Dodd is the blog's primary content creator. His articles are easy to read and concise yet informative. This article is an excellent example of his style. It doesn't reveal many facts and figures about podcasting income because the truth is nobody knows for sure. What it does do is list many of the current ways many podcasters make money and links to the Captivate tools that make it possible.
Read this blog post if you're interested in monetizing your podcast but aren't sure where to begin.
Podcastle
Podcastle has a mission to democratize access to storytelling. To do that, it uses web-based software and AI tools to help you easily create, edit and distribute an audio or video podcast.
Podcastle has a massive blog full of how-to articles to help you on your podcast journey. You'll also find podcasting listicles (e.g., Best Mental Health podcasts, 26 of the Best Story Podcasts) and articles explaining how to use the platform's many AI tools.
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This blog post is a great example of the Podcastle blog's valuable technical content. Video files are notoriously large, so I was keen to learn how to compress them without losing quality. The article takes you through the what and why of video compression and quickly moves into the various ways to achieve it.
Read this blog post (and others like it) if you're keen to learn the technical ins and outs of podcast and video production.
Castos
Castos is a podcast platform that offers hosting, the WordPress Seriously Simple Plug-in (to manage your podcast through a WordPress dashboard,) Internal Company Podcasts (broadcast only within your company team) and much more.
It has a far-ranging blog for aspiring podcasters and those already on the journey. The blog includes posts about YouTube—because of the growing trend to make YT podcasts—equipment reviews (RØDE SmartLav + Lavalier Microphone Review, The 11 Best Chairs for Podcasting), helpful tips (What are the Best Zoom Settings for Podcasting?). However, I can't see much tangible advice on how to podcast, editing tips and so on.
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How to Record a Phone Call for a Podcast
We've probably all heard podcast episodes with less-than-ideal sound quality. (Really, some truly are awful.) Now, that's not always the podcaster's fault. Not everyone has a professional-quality recording studio, which makes it hard to get great audio. That's why this blog post resonated with me—a step-by-step guide on how to get the best possible recordings over the phone.
Read this post if you're currently recording all your audio and video interviews over the phone and need tips on improving their sound quality.
Spreaker
Spreaker describes itself as "a podcast platform with everything you need to create, distribute, monetize, measure and grow" your show. Its products include the Spreaker Podcast Player App, Ad Exchange and Supporters Club.
The Spreaker blog reiterates Spreaker's message with eight pages of advice on recording, managing and monetizing podcasts.
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Should Podcasters Care About Song Stems?
What's a song stem? (I'm glad you asked.) Song stems (as I now know) are individual audio files created when you record music. They're used when mixing (e.g., turning down the drum stem - increasing the base). Why should you care? Because they provide simple sound mixing, better overall sound quality, and are collaboration-friendly.
Who should read this article? Anyone who wants to learn more about song stems and or to improve the music in their podcast.
Podbean
Podbean says it's an "all-in-one podcast platform to publish, promote, and monetize podcasts." The platform's services include audio recording, Podbean AI, Ads Marketplace, a podcast app and more.
The Podbean blog is a subdomain of the Podbean website; scroll down to the footer to reach the blog from the Podbean homepage. Among the usual "how to... " articles, you'll find gems like "What To Expect From Your First Podcast Conference" and "Audience Retention 101"—part of a podcast marketing series on discoverability and audience retention.
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This short article examines and comments on the results of a November 2023 survey into shifting consumer attitudes in the USA. The survey found that many Americans want to live purposefully, highlighting the value of social well-being, community and relationships.
What does that mean for audio content in 2024? According to this article, "authenticity isn’t just a buzzword; it’s the cornerstone for establishing trust and loyalty."
Should you read this post? Yes, if a) you're a podcast host or marketer, b) you run a branded podcast or c) if you love digging into surveys and stats.
Quill
Quill is a full-service podcast production and marketing agency focused on audio storytelling and "bringing corporate podcasts to life." (If you're not sure what a podcast agency does, we explain it here.) It offers branding and strategy sessions, episode planning and scripting, audio recording, editing, distribution and much, much more.
Quill's blog posts focus on helping business podcast hosts become branded podcast experts.
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The Power of Meaningful Conversations: Lessons from The Contributors Podcast
This interesting article from content creation and digital marketing specialist Tianna Marinucci examines an episode from the award-winning CAAT Pension Plan’s podcast. It shows how the podcast uses careful guest selection and artful questioning to create meaningful conversations and offers advice on how business podcast hosts can use those lessons to create their own podcast content.
Read this post if you're a podcaster in the branded podcast ecosystem or if you want to improve the conversation quality in your podcast episodes.
Simplecast
Simplecast calls itself "the first and last word in podcast management and monetization." It offers distribution, embeddable web players, podcast websites and a podcast-sharing and discovery tool called Recast.
The Simplecast blog echoes the fresh and breezy vibe of the main website has a fresh and breezy. Although the podcasting advice articles are just credited to Simplecast, the blog also has a number of contributing guest writers, and to me, those are the in-depth posts that really stand out.
I love Felix Trent's style and the way he brings his personality and experiences into his writing. I nearly chose this article as my example because of the funny intro story (involving an airing cupboard and a swinging microphone.)
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Sandmen: Audio in the Age of Netflix
It's hard to go past Roshan Singh Sambhi's featured article about turning Neil Gaimon's legendary Sandman series into an audio drama.
Many people think of podcasting as an educational medium, so they listen to learn something about their industry, their passion or the world. But that doesn't account for the fiction podcast genre, where podcast series immerse listeners in a scripted, often professionally acted audio drama. And that's where this article goes in-depth as it examines what "audio movies" are and how their growing popularity could spark new trends in podcasting.
Invest the 17 minutes it takes to read this article if you're into audio drama, love The Sandman or have no idea what any of this means, but you're longing to find out.
Final thoughts
Discovering an individual podcast's information and stats is notoriously difficult and time consuming; finding info for many podcasts could take you hours. Fortunately, a Rephonic subscription puts it all at your fingertips.
Our podcasting blog is just one of a range of tools offered by Rephonic. Another tool that's coming into its own is our interactive 3D graph.
It's a relationship web for each and every podcast in our database. Use it when you're researching podcasts to pitch as a guest. Or check out other podcasts similar to yours to see what they're doing and possibly reach out to suggest cross-promotion opportunities.
We've created a relationship graph for each podcast in our database. You can see similar or related podcasts at a glance and click on each icon to reveal more information and links to the podcast's page.
