Quickstart guide: Set up your podcast in Castos and add your first episode
Ready to create your podcast? Our video and step-by-step guide will walk you through the process from creating your podcast, adding an episode, and understanding your podcast's RSS feed.
Set up your Castos account
Where would you like to manage your podcast?
The first step after signing up for a new Castos account is to select where you’ll be managing your podcast:
- Select Castos Dashboard to manage your podcast and add episodes directly from your Castos account.
- Select WordPress Site if you have WordPress website and would like to manage your podcast there using our Seriously Simple Podcasting plugin.
Already have a podcast you’d like to import from another hosting provider?
After selecting Castos Dashboard, you’ll be asked if you’d like to import a podcast from another platform. If you’re launching a new podcast, click SKIP and move on to the next step: Give your new podcast a title
If you’re migrating a podcast to Castos from another hosting provider, enter your podcast’s current RSS feed URL and click Continue.
To complete the migration process, use the Search option in this article to search for the current podcast host and or visit Getting Started and select one of our step-by-step guides.
Give your new podcast a title
Enter the Podcast Title and click Continue:
Create your podcast
You’ve established where you’ll manage your podcast and given it a title.
Next, you’ll add the ingredients needed to create a podcast and generate the RSS feed you’ll use to connect your podcast to platforms such as Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, and Spotify.
Add the first episode
After clicking Continue you’ll be redirected to the Add New Episode page.
1. Enter the episode title and description or show notes
2. Click Browse to locate the media file on your computer > Upload the media file
For audio-based podcast episodes, this should be an MP3 file. If you’re a Castos Pro Plan subscriber publishing a video episode, this should be an MP4 file.
The remaining fields are optional. Enter information as it applies:
3. Click Publish Episode
Enter details about your podcast
1. Click Settings to open the Podcast Settings page:
2. Select Feed Details:
3. Enter your podcast description
4. Upload your podcast’s cover image
5. Enter the remaining information and click Save Podcast Details
* Additional info available in our article Setting up your Castos RSS feed
Claim your Castos podcast website URL
Castos creates a custom website for your podcast complete with its own URL.
1. Click Website Settings
2. Carefully review the unique URL created for your podcast:
3. If you’re satisfied with the URL, click Save Podcast Details. If not, edit the “slug” section of the URL before clicking Save Podcast Details
NOTE: After this step is complete the URL cannot be changed
Congratulations! You’ve created your podcast
The final step is to make your podcast available to listeners by submitting the RSS feed to podcast listening platforms.
1. Click Distribution:
2. Copy the Public Podcast RSS feed link:
3. Submit the RSS feed. Follow the steps provided by each of the podcast listening platforms where you'd like your podcast to be available to listeners. To get you started, we've outlined a few of the most popular here: Podcast Directories
For even more step-by-step guides, check out our blog article How to Publish a Podcast to 28 Different Podcast Directories