BROADCASTS.com

This Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp incident on October 4, 2021 was more than a mild inconvenience. Or as Facebook internally called it "a snow day."

As a podcaster, we hope you now see the urgency in creating a standalone website entirely separate from social media. If this downtime were to happen to Spotify or Apple, far too many podcasters would end up losing listeners.

And even worse, revenue.

My guest is Laura Oldham, founder of Starburst Media. I have known Laura since 2017, as she was the first guest on the TriVillage Chamber Partnership podcast Business Inspires. We've worked together over the years on a few projects.

I wanted to get her insight on how important a website is for podcasters.

Her focus with Starburst Media is mainly on building websites in WordPress, Shopify and Squarespace and giving her clients the tools to make their own changes so they don\u2019t necessarily need to depend upon Starburst Media (or another firm) to keep their websites up to date.

If you haven't built a podcast website, now is the time. And by podcast website, we mean a standalone website not through your hosting platform. This Facebook incident on October 4, 2021 won't be the last time social media will go down.

And if you completely rely on social media to promote your podcast, to promote your business, you're building your "castle on sand," as the saying goes.

As she states...

If there's ever been a time, it was made clear why you shouldn't have one company controlling such a big chunk of your communications. Where people in countries weren't able to communicate with family members. And businesses weren't able to do basic commerce that rely upon Facebook.

Laura covers some do's and don'ts when creating a website. Her main advice is just don't overthink it.

...enough that someone can find you and get a feel for what it is that you're trying to share with them, sell them, whatever it is. But even the most basic Wix website or Squarespace website can be really easy to throw together as long as you just don't overthink what should go on the website.

Is WordPress the best route to go? If you blog and podcast, yes. WordPress was made for this. If you are looking at adding very little blog content to your website over time, Squarespace and Wix are good, easy options.

When the time comes to build, or update, your website, you may want to consider outside help like Starburst Media offers. Laura offers some advice on what questions you should ask.

Plus, notice what questions are asked of you from the perspective of a web designer. You need to know this person is on your team. Not only to build your website, but to help you maintain the best website you can. For today, and for the future.

Podcasts added to your website have shown to help with your website SEO. Laura has been helping her clients with this as well.

I think that's fantastic when people do take the time to make sure that their podcast is on the right services so they can easily embed each podcast.

Contact Laura about your podcast website questions. Her email address is...