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How to Choose the Right Podcast Hosting and Save

Published Monday, August 4, 2008 by bloggerblognet83460 | E-mail this post

Talking about podcast hosting, there are two separate parts that every podcaster has to consider. The first one is podcast file hosting, and another is podcast site hosting.

Podcasters can host both of them on the same hosting account, but occasionally this is not possible for some reasons. Most sites, including podcast sites, consist of mainly text content. Podcast files, on the other hand, are audio or video content that consume much more space on storage device and bandwidth transfer to get from the server to the end users.

If your hosting account is capable of handling this kind of load, more power to you. Otherwise, consider migrate to another one. Alternatively you can use another hosting account to host the gigantic files and handle bandwidth issue.

For first time podcaster who started from scratch, selecting the right hosting is also important to keep both the files and site manageable and save cost.

1. Free podcast hosting

There are services that provide free space for your podcasts, such as ourmedia.org. The uploaded files should be released under Creative Common License. This solution is suitable for hobbyists who just want to distribute messages through them but don't want to invest money in it.

For the podcast site, there are free blog hosting service like Blogger.com and WordPress.com which can help you publish episode notes and other content easily.

2. Commercial web hosting

Podcasts don't use any proprietary protocol or standard so any web hosting that you use to host your site is good to go. The only consideration is that the web hosting server should be able to handle the load and have the disk space to transfer and store the files. Beware of the fact that hosting companies who promise unbelievable amount of disk space and bandwidth may not actually provide them without requiring you to upgrade and pay more.

Using commercial web hosting, you can setup WordPress blog to manage podcast site and also publish podcast feed.

3. Integrated podcast service

This is the easiest way to host your podcast. Usually podcast service provides file and site hosting in one account, with more other features. Choose service provider that know what they do so they can provide the level of service that you are expecting.

In this type of hosting, no further step is necessary other than signing up and start uploading and publishing.

To record a podcast is easy, but to publish it to the world and keep the podcast available is another different issue. It is very important to ensure that you it is available to listeners. Lousy podcast hosting not only causes listeners to go away because they can't download it or view the podcast page, but also can put your credibility at stake as a professional business.

Do you want to learn more about podcast creation and marketing? Have you considered podcasts as part of your business and marketing mix but are confused about the strategy?

Download your free 3-step podcasting guide and business case for podcasting from http://podcastingscout.com/subscribe