Our Podcaster platform enables creators and publishers to host their podcasts, edit episodes, publish episodes, view episode analytics, and more.
In this Podcaster overview article, we will cover:
Within this overview, you will find links to subject-specific tutorials and help articles to dig deeper into some of Podcaster's capabilities.
Terms and Definitions
Before you start, it’s important to become familiar with the key terms used throughout the software and their meanings. Many of these may be self-explanatory to you, but we recommend reviewing them before getting started with Podcaster.
| Shows | Shows are a container for podcast episodes; they only belong to one Organization. |
| Episodes | Episodes are the core content of your podcasts. This section of the software is where you would upload the content you create and intend to publish as an episode. |
| Downloads | The total number of downloads represents when a user has consumed 60 seconds or more of a podcast episode within the specified timeframe. |
| Reach | The number of unique listeners. |
| Shows (on the Analytics screen) | The total number of shows represented in the Analytics report given the specified timeframe. |
| Downloads by Time | Displays how many downloads occurred within a specific timeframe. |
| Downloads by Platform | Provides details on the specific platforms that listeners are using to consume content. |
| Downloads by Show | The total number of downloads per show. |
| Downloads by Country | Presents a tabular breakout of all listeners by country. |
| Organization | Organizations can have one or more Administrators who have admin permissions for all shows in the organization. This set of permissions includes creating new shows automatically, managing feeds, and seeing organization-level analytics. |
Content Management
Now that you have familiarized yourself with the key terms within Podcaster, it’s time to start your account setup. Upon logging into Podcaster, the Content tab will be automatically selected.
- Section (1) allows you to search for a specific show, create a new show, playlist, or subscription and import an RSS feed. Additionally you can switch to view all the episodes.
- Section (2) contains a series of filters through which you can sort the shows.
- Section (3) displays the list of already created shows.
Next we present the order we recommend you take to get started. However, there is no specific order of steps required.
Create your first show
If you are creating a show from scratch, click on the Content option in your left-side navigation bar. From there, you will see the Add Show button in the right corner of the screen. Then, click the Create Program option on the drop-down to get started.
You should now be seeing the following screen:
Here you will add all the information about your show, including the Cover Art you would like to include.
For Cover Art, you want to ensure that it meets the following requirements: a minimum size of 1400 x 1400 and a maximum size of 3000 x 3000. Once you have an image meeting these requirements, simply drag and drop it into this area to upload it for this show.
Note: Images, including cover art may be cached for up to one hour.
Note: The page has more fields when you scroll. Please make sure you scroll to the bottom and enter all the applicable fields.
After entering all your Show information, scroll to the bottom of the page and hit the Save button to create your Show.
Note: We recommend that the show has at least one episode to start the feed.
Congratulations, you just created your first show!
Importing an existing show
To import a show, click on the Content option in your left-side navigation bar. From there, you will see an Add Show button in the right corner of the screen. Clicking on it will reveal a drop-down menu where you can select the Import RSS Feed option.
From here, enter your current RSS feed link into the field titled “URL” and press the Continue button.
Note: We recommend Preserve episodes GUIDs checkbox be checked. If it's not, all the directories where the show is listed will resync to match the new RSS feed, and all episodes will be considered new.
Note: You have the freedom to import shows featuring episodes with identical titles.
Congratulations, you’ve just imported your first show into Podcaster!
Next, you'll need to reach out to your podcast host and ask them to initiate a redirect to our platform. To make it happen, you need to contact your podcast host, give them the RSS feed for each show from SoundStack, and kindly request their assistance to handle the switch.
Note: We also suggest updating the RSS link across all directories, applications, or other platforms where it's distributed, replacing it with the one supplied by SoundStack for future proof precaution.
Editing your show’s information
Now that you've created your show within Podcaster, it's time to edit the show information. To begin, navigate to the Content panel via the left-side navigation bar. From there, click on the cover art of the show you wish to edit.
At this point, you should see the overview page for the Show and all its episodes. You’ll see tabs across the page, allowing you to view various configurable options. The Episodes tab is selected by default.
Click on the Edit tab to begin entering details about your show.
As you scroll down the screen for the Edit tab, there are other sections to be completed. One section is Metadata, where you can configure important attributes such as the release style, content rating, language, and timezone.
After editing your information, scroll to the bottom of the page and click the Save button to complete your changes.
Enabling ads and tracking for your show
From the same Show screen as above, click on the Settings tab. From there, scroll down to import an RSS feed. The published date will display as the day you created your episodes in the Podcaster platform.
We recommend Preserve original feed GUIDs checkbox be checked. If not, all the directories where the show is listed will resync to match the new RSS feed, and all episodes will be considered new. For maximum compatibility with RSS feed readers, we recommend the second checkbox be always enabled as well.
The Episode pagination size feature allows you to set pagination to a certain amount of episodes in the RSS feed. The purpose of this feature is to help you manage the displayed size of your RSS feed. For example, you can make your RSS feed smaller, which allows podcast directories to render and display more quickly. It allows you to try and manage how episodes are listed when you have a show with a high number of episodes. Selecting the default value of 0 will include all episodes without pagination being applied to the RSS feed. The maximum number allowed to be set is 100.
Note: If an Episode pagination size is set, the RSS URL will change and some of the destination players may not support the URL parameter or their player might not function properly. We recommend keeping it 0 unless you have a very high number of episodes. And if that happens, we recommend setting it to 100.
If you do choose to set a pagination size, you can check how pagination affects the RSS URL by viewing it through the Show RSS link once you save the setting.
Note: Allow a few minutes for the RSS link to update with the recent changes.
The link will provide the range of episodes based on the number you set for pagination. The example below shows the first RSS link page.
- (1) self - shows current RSS link.
- (2) next - displays the following RSS link that contains the next number of episodes.
- (3) first - provides the first RSS link from the group.
- (4) last - shows the last RSS link page according to the number you previously selected for pagination.
- (5)You can always “jump” to a specific RSS link by adjusting the last value before “.xml”. In the example above, our last page is 76 and has the following URL:
- If you want to access page 5, you will need to replace 76 with the number 5 and the URL will be as follows:
Note: SoundStack’s Embedded Player does not support pagination at the moment and it will display all the episodes that we have on the first page of the RSS feed. For example, if you set pagination to 3, the Embedded Player will show you 3 episodes, without having the ability to access the rest of the episodes. Show Page will always display all your episodes no matter how the pagination size is set.
You also have the option to enable audio pre-roll ads and/or post-roll ads. Check the box next to each option you would like to enable.
Note: To learn a bit more about the Add multiple ads option, please see our Podcaster Ad Placement article.
Add any users who will be working on your show
From the same Show page as above, click the Users tab. From here, click on the Add User button on the right side of the page.
Enter the new user’s email, first name, last name, and the desired password for them. Then, check the box next to a permission level (Show Admin or Show Editor) and click the Save button.
Congratulations, you’ve just added your first user!
Upload and schedule your first episode
Now it’s time to upload and schedule your content. To do this, on your Show page, select the Upload episode button to begin.
You’ll now see a tab with fields to enter basic details about your episode, including name, subtitle, description, episode number, season number, episode type, content rating, and tags. Tags allow you to add episodes to Podcaster Playlists.
Additionally, to the right of the screen, you’ll see a box labeled "Audio File." Click the blue cloud with a white arrow to pop up the file selector and pick your desired episode file.
It’s now time to publish your episode. When you want to publish an episode, you will have to provide the date and time of when you need the episode to be published. On the episode creation or edit pages, in the "Publish Date" section, you can find a date and time picker. You can check Publish immediately or set a specific time and date for your episode to be released by checking the Publish at... option. When you are selecting the Publish at... option, you can select a date in the past, or depending on your needs, the date can be set in the future. This will bring up the date selector. From there, select the time/date you’d like, and press the Save button.
Congratulations, you’ve just published your first podcast episode!
For more details about the episode file format we highly recommend reading the following article: • Podcaster - Supported formats for episodes
Note: Episodes are published in the show's timezone.
If you plan to publish the episode at a later time, you have the option to save it as a Draft.
Additionally, episodes that are already published can be switched back to drafts. This will automatically change their status to Unpublished.
When an episode is unpublished, its metadata will no longer appear on RSS Feed, Show Page or Embedded Player. You can still publish the episode immediately whenever you're ready, and once published, the metadata will be displayed once again.
Another feature of Podcaster is the ability to automatically unpublish episodes at a specified date and time.
Note: Unpublishing the episode takes two to five minutes to complete after the selected time. The episode information will be removed from the RSS feed, Show Page, Share tab, and Playlists.
Feeds
Now it’s time to test the audio of your episode to ensure it is working correctly. There are two ways you can test your audio:
Via the show page
To access the Show page, click on Feeds in the left-side navigation. From here, find the show you would like to test and click the Page button on the right side.
You should now see the Show page with information about your show, and a button for the RSS Feed. On this page, navigate to the episode you would like to listen to and select it.
You should now see your Episode’s page, which includes information about your episode and a Play arrow in the middle of the screen. Click this button to play your podcast episode.
Congratulations, you’ve just tested your first Podcast Episode!
Via the RSS feed
Once again, click on the Feeds option in the left-side navigation bar. From here, find the Show you would like to test and right-click the RSS button on the right side of the page. Select Copy Link Address from the drop-down.
Otherwise, you can right-click the show RSS Feed button on the Show page. Then, select Copy Link Address from the drop-down.
Now you should have the RSS feed URL saved to your clipboard. From here, you can go to your favorite RSS feed player and enter your URL.
Congratulations, you’ve just tested your first feed! You can now share your Podcast Show page with anyone you’d like and connect your RSS feed to your website and any other directories.
Analytics
The Analytics page can be found via the left-side navigation bar or by pressing the Analytics show tab and you will be redirected to Insights. There you will find analytics, reporting, and audience measurements for your podcasts distributed through SoundStack.
NOTE: You will want to read the Insights - Podcast article to continue learning more about the functions and capabilities.
Audit Trail
The Audit Trail interface provides a history of all actions taken in your account by all its users.
The Audit Trail page can be found via the left-side navigation bar. The log contains the timestamp of when the action was performed, the corresponding user, the action tag, and a detailed message about that specific operation.
If you have any further questions or concerns please do not hesitate to contact our Support Team through the ticket submission form or by emailing us at support@soundstack.com.