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WJ Tutorials: How to submit a podcast to iTunes
Submitting a podcast to the iTunes Podcast Directory is a must.
iTunes is the most popular music player and many people use it to automatically manage their podcast subscriptions. Plus, the iTunes Podcast Directory is also a great way for people to discover new podcasts, and you want as many people as possible to be able to discover your podcasts.
Many people will not listen to a podcast if they can't get it automatically loaded onto their iPod or iPhone. Don't give people a reason not to listen or view your podcast. Thankfully, getting a podcast into the directory is both easy and free. Here are the simple steps:
1. RSS feed required -- First, you must have an RSS feed of your podcast. This is the only real requirement for getting a podcast into the directory. If you use a service like Mevio, it spits out an RSS feed of your podcast. If you post your podcasts to a blog like WordPress, you also have an RSS feed. You can also use a service like FeedBurner to help manage and create RSS feeds.
Apple strongly suggests using good metadata for your RSS feed. A service like Mevio will handle this for you, but Apple has a good primer here. Apple says this about using good metadata and art for your podcast, "It will affect whether your podcast shows up in relevant searches, and whether users who find your podcast are likely to click the Subscribe button."
Apple has a sample RSS feed here with the metadata they suggest. If you need more help with RSS feeds, post a comment below and we'll help you out.
2. Submit the URL - This link will take you to the page needed to submit a URL to the iTunes Podcast Directory. You need iTunes and an iTunes account to submit a link, however. You can download iTunes here for free.
3. What not to do -- iTunes will not accept a podcast with the tag set to yes or with explicit language in the title or description of the podcast. If you wan to be explicit, iTunes is not for you. Content deemed inappropriate (such as child porn or racism) will also be rejected. Violation of a third party's copyright will also get a podcast rejected from the Podcast Directory. See the full list of what isn't allowed.
4. You're done -- See, wasn't that simple? It can take a few days for a podcast submitted to the store to show up, but it eventually will. This simple and free step could be the difference between your podcast taking off or not. Do not skip it.
iTunes is the most popular music player and many people use it to automatically manage their podcast subscriptions. Plus, the iTunes Podcast Directory is also a great way for people to discover new podcasts, and you want as many people as possible to be able to discover your podcasts.
Many people will not listen to a podcast if they can't get it automatically loaded onto their iPod or iPhone. Don't give people a reason not to listen or view your podcast. Thankfully, getting a podcast into the directory is both easy and free. Here are the simple steps:
1. RSS feed required -- First, you must have an RSS feed of your podcast. This is the only real requirement for getting a podcast into the directory. If you use a service like Mevio, it spits out an RSS feed of your podcast. If you post your podcasts to a blog like WordPress, you also have an RSS feed. You can also use a service like FeedBurner to help manage and create RSS feeds.
Apple strongly suggests using good metadata for your RSS feed. A service like Mevio will handle this for you, but Apple has a good primer here. Apple says this about using good metadata and art for your podcast, "It will affect whether your podcast shows up in relevant searches, and whether users who find your podcast are likely to click the Subscribe button."
Apple has a sample RSS feed here with the metadata they suggest. If you need more help with RSS feeds, post a comment below and we'll help you out.
2. Submit the URL - This link will take you to the page needed to submit a URL to the iTunes Podcast Directory. You need iTunes and an iTunes account to submit a link, however. You can download iTunes here for free.
3. What not to do -- iTunes will not accept a podcast with the tag set to yes or with explicit language in the title or description of the podcast. If you wan to be explicit, iTunes is not for you. Content deemed inappropriate (such as child porn or racism) will also be rejected. Violation of a third party's copyright will also get a podcast rejected from the Podcast Directory. See the full list of what isn't allowed.
4. You're done -- See, wasn't that simple? It can take a few days for a podcast submitted to the store to show up, but it eventually will. This simple and free step could be the difference between your podcast taking off or not. Do not skip it.
Tags: tutorial
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6 Comments
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Comment by Noah Bombard on June 16, 2009 at 2:05pm - Anyone using Audacity for your podcasts? If so, how do you handle getting cover art on your iTunes podcasts? I'm editing podcasts in Audacity and then feeding them to iTunes via WordPress -- where the podcasts are posted. I know on GarageBand you can add cover art to your podcast, but I'm not aware of anyway to do that in Audacity. Of course, I guess a workaround would be to upload my finished Audacity podcast to GarageBand just to add the cover art and then export, but there must be a simpler way.
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Comment by Jonah on April 27, 2009 at 9:17am - Cool. Thanks Patrick. I put it on Wordpress, then used feedburner to get everything on iTunes. I now see my podcast on iTunes, but only 1 episode, and we have 3 so far. How do I get it to find all episodes?
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Comment by Patrick Thornton on April 13, 2009 at 3:36pm -
Jonah,
You can always post your podcasts to a a WordPress blog or something along those lines and then use that RSS feed for iTunes. That's probably the easiest way. I don't have a lot of experience with Archive.org but have heard good things about it.
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Comment by Jonah on April 13, 2009 at 3:34pm
- ok, RSS feeds... I put the podcast up on archive.org so that we could embed it on our site, but now i'm trying to get it on to iTunes and am having some trouble finding where the RSS is (or if it even exists). A little help?
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Comment by Riane Menardi on February 18, 2009 at 4:49pm - Thanks for the tips. I was just thinking about doing this for a project, but had no idea where to start. Now I do.
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Comment by Noah Bombard on February 18, 2009 at 3:23pm
- Great info... how do you setup an iTunes page, though? I see lots of organizations with audio content have them, but despite all my snooping around, I haven't found an answer as to how to setup a page yet.
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