When I first started The Nerdy Photographer Podcast, shall we say my audio production knowledge was limited. Now, eight years and a couple hundred episodes later, I think I have learned a few things and I have some tips to pass along to anyone looking to start a show.
Everyone has a podcast idea. Way fewer people actually launch one, and even fewer stick with it long enough to build an audience. More than 90% of podcasts don’t last more than 14 episodes! If you’re serious about starting your own show, here are five things that will save you months of trial and error.
[Editor’s Note: This article does contain affiliate links. If you subscribe to a service or buy a product, I get a tiiiiiiiiiny commission that helps me keep this site running.]
1. Audio Quality Is Non-Negotiable
Listeners will forgive a lot — awkward pauses, imperfect editing, a guest who talks too fast — but they will not forgive bad audio. Static, echo, or muffled sound is the fastest way to lose someone in the first thirty seconds. My first few episodes sounded absolutely terrible. Which is why I taught myself a lot of audio production.
To get this right, you need three things:
- A good microphone. This is the single biggest upgrade you can make. Skip the laptop mic entirely. I recommend the Maono PDW200 as a great microphone. You can connect via XLR cable, USB, or wirelessly! And it’s less than $100
- A mixing board. Even a simple one gives you control over levels in real time, especially if you’re recording with co-hosts or guests. Again, I’m going to recommend a Maono product here – the E2 Gen2. You can connect two XLR microphones (and provide power for them) and it gives you professional mixing options, including noise cancellation. I’ve been using the first generation Maono mixing board for years and it’s great. I’m sure they’ve only improved on it.
- Editing software. This is where the show actually comes together — cutting dead air, smoothing transitions, balancing levels. I personally use Adobe Podcast for quick cleanup and noise reduction, and Adobe Audition for the deeper editing work. Between the two, I can take a rough recording and make it sound genuinely professional.
Invest here first. Everything else is easier to fix later; bad audio isn’t.
2. Choose the Right Hosting Platform
Your podcast host is where your audio files live and how they get distributed to Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and everywhere else. Every platform has different strengths, so it’s worth shopping around — but I’ll save you some time: I use Libsyn, and it’s worked well for me.
A few reasons why:
- Multiple price points depending on how much storage and bandwidth you need, so you’re not overpaying when you’re just starting out.
- Built-in analytics so you can actually see who’s listening and where they’re coming from.
- Monetization tools, including automated ad insertion and subscriber-only feeds, if you want to build a revenue stream without a ton of manual work.
If you want to try them, use code NERDY when you sign up.
3. Be Consistent
Listeners want to know when to expect new episodes. When I started out, I was putting out an episode every month and a half or so. I’d go on hiatus for a couple of months and come back when work wasn’t so busy. Then the pandemic hit, and I put in systems to make things run more smoothly. I also had a lot of time on my hands to record and edit episodes, so I decided to put them out weekly. Why not? I had SO MUCH TIME. Well, the pandemic ended and I realized that producing an episode every week wasn’t viable for me anymore. So, I settled on every other week.
It was a schedule I could be consistent at and that consistency led to more subscribers. They could depend on new episodes at regular intervals. Whether you’re publishing new episodes weekly or monthly, it doesn’t matter as long as listeners know. Also, if you go more than 45 days without publishing an episode, a lot of podcast platforms will consider your show ‘dormant’ and your reach will suffer.
This is why I will also recommend that, before you launch, you get at least 6 episodes ‘in the can’ recorded and edited so that you give yourself some space to figure out how you’re going to manage the workflow of producing new episodes.
4. Get Listed Everywhere
Once your show is live, don’t just settle for one or two directories. Submit your podcast to every directory you can find — Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, iHeartRadio, Podcast Index, and any niche directories relevant to your topic. Most good hosting platforms (Libsyn included) will distribute to the major ones automatically, but it’s worth double-checking your show actually shows up on each one. The wider your footprint, the more chances new listeners have of stumbling onto your show.
5. Start a Mailing List Early
Your podcast platform doesn’t own your audience — you do, but only if you have a way to reach them directly. A mailing list is that way.
I recommend Kit for this. It’s simple to set up and lets you keep listeners in the loop between episodes. You don’t need to overthink the content:
- A quick note when a new episode drops
- A monthly wrap-up of what you’ve released and what’s coming next
Even a small, engaged list is worth more than a big passive following. It also gives you a direct channel if you ever want to promote merch, live events, or anything else — which brings us to the next point.
6. Sell Merch (When You’re Ready)
Merchandise won’t make or break your show in the early days, but once you have a loyal audience, it’s a nice way to build community and add a little revenue. I’ve tried a handful of platforms for this and landed on Printify.
What makes it worth using:
- You set your own prices, so you control your margin.
- It integrates with a wide range of e-commerce platforms, so you’re not locked into one storefront.
- Print-on-demand means no upfront inventory risk.
Start simple — a logo tee or a mug — and expand once you know what your audience actually wants.
The Bottom Line
Get your audio right first, pick a hosting platform that grows with you, make yourself easy to find, build a direct line to your listeners, and only add merch once there’s an audience worth selling to. Do those five things well, and you’re ahead of most podcasts that never make it past episode ten.
