FOR PODCASTERS
How to light a video podcast set
A practical UK guide to video podcast lighting: key, fill and practical lights, two-person desks, backgrounds, flicker under 50 Hz mains and a look that stays…
Does your podcast need a website? What a podcast website does that apps can't, the pages to include, episode pages, UK cookie and email rules, and when to skip it.
A podcast website isn’t compulsory, because apps will play your show without one, but most podcasts that want to grow, attract guests or win sponsors benefit from having one. It gives you an address you own, a page for every episode that search engines can find, a place to collect newsletter sign-ups, and somewhere to send guests, press and sponsors. Start simple: home, episodes, about, guests, a media kit and contact.
Picture a listener finishing an episode on a train, searching your show’s name and landing somewhere that feels like you: your latest episode at the top, the guest’s portrait, a short note on what they talked about, and a sign-up box for the newsletter. They read for a while, sign up and send the link to a friend. Nothing about that moment depended on an app’s algorithm.
That is the calm a website brings. Apps and social platforms change their rules, their layouts and their priorities. Your own address stays where you put it. Here is what a podcast website is really for, what it needs and when you can safely leave it for later.
App pages are essential, but they are rented space. You can’t choose the layout, add a guest booking form or collect email addresses, and the platform decides what appears next to your show. If you only link to one app, listeners who use a different one have to go looking.
A website solves that with one address that works for everyone. It can carry links to every app, the YouTube version and your newsletter, so wherever you are mentioned, on a guest’s show, in a press piece or on a poster, the link is the same and it is yours.
Most shows need fewer pages than they think. A strong starting point:
The episode page is where most of the value lives. Give each one a player, the YouTube embed if you film, a few paragraphs about the conversation, links to anything mentioned, the guest’s details and, if you can, a transcript.
Write for people first. Google’s own guidance is that a good page title is unique to the page, clear and concise, and that it helps to use words in the URL that are useful to readers and to think about the words someone might search for. So “/episodes/how-to-price-your-first-product/” beats “/ep-112/”.
Your episode pages can also connect back to the apps. Apple Podcasts Connect, for example, has an optional Episode Website field where you can point listeners to that page. Our guide to podcast show notes goes into writing the page itself.
No. Keep your audio with a podcast hosting provider, which creates the RSS feed that Apple Podcasts, Spotify and the other apps read. Your website then embeds the player from your host and the video from YouTube. That keeps the site fast and means the apps keep receiving episodes exactly as they do now.
Many hosting providers offer a basic page for each show. It is a reasonable placeholder, but it usually looks like everyone else’s and can’t carry your guest pages, media kit or the look of your show.
UK rules apply to your site like any other. The ICO says you must get a person’s consent to store a cookie on their device unless the cookie is strictly necessary for something they have asked for, and you can’t set non-essential cookies before they have agreed. Analytics tools and embedded players from other platforms can set cookies of their own, so check what yours do and use a proper consent banner.
For your newsletter, the ICO says you can send marketing emails to individuals who have specifically consented to electronic mail from you, and every message needs a way to opt out. Our guide to starting a podcast newsletter covers sign-up forms in more detail.
Less than most people fear, if it is built properly. Once there is an episode template, publishing a new episode page should take about as long as writing the show notes you already write for the apps: paste the player and video, add the notes and guest links, choose the image and press publish. Make it part of release day so the site never falls behind.
A site built around your cover art, photography and tone of voice also does a lot of quiet work for your wider brand. Our page on marketing for podcasters explains how it connects with social media, video and ads.
If you are a few episodes into a hobby show and simply want to find out whether you enjoy it, a link page and your app listings are fine for now. Build the website when you start booking guests you don’t already know, approach sponsors, plan a live show or launch a newsletter. Those are the moments when a website starts earning its keep. When you get there, our website design for podcasters is built for exactly that stage.
We want your show to have a home that feels like you and can’t be taken away. We started as co-founder Jack Cartwright’s in-house team, building the website at the centre of his book marketing alongside his videos, ads and design, and we bring the same care to podcasts. Our website design for podcasters includes episode and guest pages, a newsletter sign-up and a media kit, built so you can publish episodes yourself. A clear brief, scope and fee are agreed before any creative work begins.
It is fine early on, because it gets people to the apps quickly. It can’t rank in search for your episodes, hold show notes and transcripts, or present a media kit, and it belongs to someone else’s platform. Most shows move to a proper podcast website once they start booking guests, approaching sponsors or building a newsletter.
You can, and it is better than nothing. These pages are usually quick to set up and update automatically from your feed. The trade-off is limited design, few page types and an address on someone else’s domain. If you plan to grow, a site on your own domain is worth the step up.
Usually not a separate one. Your episode pages are your blog: each one is a fresh, useful page about a specific conversation. Spend the time on good show notes and transcripts rather than writing extra articles, unless you have topics that genuinely deserve a written piece of their own.
Ideally your show’s name on a .co.uk or .com, kept short and easy to say out loud, because you will mention it on air. If the podcast supports your business or personal brand, a section of your existing site can work well instead, and helps your main website at the same time.
They aren’t required, but they help. A transcript makes episodes accessible to people who are deaf or hard of hearing, lets readers skim, and gives search engines the full text of the conversation. Edit automatically generated transcripts for names and obvious errors before publishing them.
A practical UK guide to video podcast lighting: key, fill and practical lights, two-person desks, backgrounds, flicker under 50 Hz mains and a look that stays…
How to promote a podcast on Instagram in the UK: Reels from every episode, Stories on release day, guest collabs, trial reels and posting between seasons.
How to write podcast show notes that persuade people to press play and help episodes get found in search, with a simple template, timestamps and transcripts.
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