BTS - Hooked on the First Chapter Podcast Creation: Day 2 Recap - Set Up Podcast Hosting Platform

Alright, Day 2 keep going strong! So today’s task, however simple in appearance, due to my constant perfectionism I failed to stick to my preassigned time limit to keep me from getting behind. So today had both its plus and minuses when it came to getting closer to launching my first podcast related to my author/reader/author service provider business/life. (WOW that’s a lot of hats!)

See what I mean???

Let’s start with the easy stuff…

Today, I chose a hosting platform recommended to me for its budget-friendly pricing options and user-friendly features, Buzzsprout. (I am not endorsed by Buzzsprout of earning any commission/income from mentioning them, it is just who I am starting off with.) They have a free option, which is not going to work with my current plan in regards to hours uploaded, but the least expensive option should be manageable. I have decided, though for budgetary reasons, that means I have to cancel subscriptions that I am not using regularly.

(Sorry Starz that means you gotta go, but then I will have a surplus of left overs!)

As far as user friendly goes, jury says…

It is!

Everything is type and fill or drag and upload. They also have several guides to help me with things I may need support with, like what to put in the show notes so I don’t bore you. 

Overall? Easy-peasy!!!

Then two things happened at once:

1. It asked for a link to my webpage for HFC… which I did not have yet.

2. It needed cover art for the podcast…which I had made, but was interested in rebranding a touch with possibly a more recent picture.

And this is where the derailment of time begins…

I decided to do some rebranding, when my original artwork looked weird when resized to fit the thumbnail dimensions allowed.

(Now that I look at it though, I can see new potentials so...)

I also realized that the stickers I had made and all my materials said Hooked on the First Chapter not by so I came up like twelve variations that I love and had to choose from.

Since I am indecisive AF, of course I reached out to a few peeps for their opinion in the hopes they would come to a majority, but of course each person picked a different one for different reasons. All of the reasons were good ones, so again I went back to the drawing board.

And the clock ticked… and tocked…

I finally decided to go with my favorite. Then each season will get its a cover make-over so I am prepared for the future.

My Favorite, HFC Cover Art.

Decision made, it was time to move on to adding a page for HFC and podcasts to my website and corresponding blog. (Ummm…this one you’re reading now!) 

Yeah this was totally me.

Thus the beginning of frustration with my internet connection continues… Each time I went to save something else to the website WIX would need to reload because my connection buffered. So a task that should have only taken a few minutes of cut and pasting took hours of frustration. It pointed out that I definitely need to be hardwired to record my episodes, so I will need to add a trip to the Cox store to rework my internet connection situation.

All in all, it was easy, just time-consuming dealing with the internet issue and my own continuing battle with perfectionism. In the end I have some beautiful podcast cover art, I learned to head off some potential internet issues before scheduling recordings with potential quests, and my account is all set up to upload my first episode so that I can submit to directories! 

Thank you if you have been following my starting a podcast journey! Stay tuned for Day 3 (Which had to be broken into two days potentially since I am technically finishing this recap at the end of it and well that is for Day 3 recap). See you soon.

COMING SOON!