This week, we had the chance to speak with Tom, the Founder of
Podcastpage1 – an all-in-one site building platform provides everything you need to easily build your podcast website.
Please describe the story behind Podcastpage: What sparked the idea, and how has it evolved so far?
Podcastpage is a website builder created specifically for podcasters. It’s built as a custom platform from the ground up, and includes many core features that are essential for creating podcast websites.
I’ve been around podcasting and podcasters for the past 5 years or so, and worked on many tools and projects in that space. In late 2019, I came to realize that there was no other platform that offered an easy, yet robust website tool made specifically for podcasters, and that idea really led the platform to where it is today – It’s a complete podcast website builder rather than a simple podcast page.
What services do you offer?
The idea is simple – it takes less than 2 minutes to create your podcast website from start to finish.
Once you create the site and import your podcast, you can simply choose a podcast site template, and you’re all set.
Obviously, you can always put more efforts and continue to customize your site even further. It’s easy to change the layout, content or the audio player (we have a unique, professionally-designed audio player with many built-in options, but you can also automatically import native embed players from 20+ podcast hosts).
All Podcastpage sites include a blog, custom pages, custom domains, and powerful integrations for all users. The websites are hosted by us, based on modern technology to ensure your sites are secure, SEO-ready, lightning fast and accessible from any spot on this planet. (we also include a global CDN for all sites). We take care of all the heavy liftings so our users can lay back and forget about maintenance, plugins, coding errors and more – and just focus on their podcast!
What separates you from other similar websites/companies?
When creating any type of website, other companies like WordPress, Squarespace and Wix always come to mind.
With that said, these massive platforms aren’t always super easy for beginners, especially when a podcast website is involved.
There are different types of features for podcasters that aren’t always easy to replicate on other platforms – For example, automatically importing your podcast and displaying an audio player, adding subscribe buttons around your site, or automatically post tweets once your episodes are published.
With Podcastpage, you don’t have to dig into plugins, addons, or pay for additional extensions or themes. Everything is included in an all-in-one platform designed just for podcasters. It helps save time and money when comparing to other popular platforms.
Beyond these larger website platforms, there are a few podcast-first website platforms that are available today. Most of them are quite limited and would only allow you to display a list of your episodes without custom pages or other types of content or even use a custom domain.
We are fully dedicated and work hard to build the best possible platform for podcasters – Our custom audio players, automation around podcast importing and cross-posting to social media, design and other features are unique in the space.
How do you envision the future of your industry?
The podcasting industry has grown tremendously these past few years. In 2020 alone, the volume of new podcasts has tripled when compared to 2019.
The entry barriers are quite low for starting a podcast, it’s as easy as creating a blog, and it’s only about to get easier for podcasters in the future.
We believe we’ll see more and more podcasters creating new shows, more podcast studios, networks or brands would create content or consolidate into larger powerhouses.
We can envision a situation where podcast creators will eventually become an asset class, much like the newsletter industry today. Investors could fund podcasters that could show potential to monetize their podcast.
Which trends and technologies do you find to be particularly intriguing these days?
The podcasting industry has seen many acquisitions and big players moving in (Spotify, Apple, Google and Amazon to name a few). Many creators are finding a way to leverage their podcasts into a growth channel for their existing brands or businesses, and lots of podcasts are profitable by selling ads or charging a membership fee from their listeners.
In recent years, creators are becoming the focus of acquisitions as well, as seen in the Spotify<>Joe-Rogan deal, or newsletter-based businesses like Morning Brew and The Hustle.
Technologies that are helping podcasters and creators save time and generate new content are getting highly popular these days. We can see more and more companies that are trying to simplify the process of podcasting, and making it even more accessible to everyone.
Automation around podcasting is a big trend. Nowadays podcasters can already automate their scheduling, editing, transcribing, marketing and other processes, so we can only expect improvements in that space going forward.