7 Essential Tips to Know Before You Launch a Podcast

By Wade Paterson

So you've been toying with the idea of launching your own podcast or interview series, but you're not quite sure where to begin. You're not alone. Over the past five years, I've had the privilege of hosting more than 250 podcast episodes across five different shows — spanning topics from public speaking to real estate to cryptocurrency and blockchain technology. Along the way, I've handled everything from recording and editing to distribution and growth. Through all of it, I've picked up hard-won lessons that I wish someone had shared with me on day one. These are the seven tips I give every friend who asks me for podcast advice, and now I'm sharing them with you.

1. Don't Settle for Audio Only — Add Video

If your first instinct is to launch an audio-only podcast, I'd encourage you to reconsider. When you go through the effort of creating an episode — preparing content, potentially booking and interviewing a guest — you're already doing a tremendous amount of work. By adding the element of video, you dramatically multiply the return on that effort.

Here's why video changes the game:

By incorporating video, you're no longer limited to a single medium. You're distributing your content across multiple platforms, which dramatically increases the likelihood that new listeners and viewers will find your work.

2. Include Interviews to Accelerate Growth

Interviews are one of the most powerful growth strategies available to podcasters. Not only do guests bring fresh perspectives and expertise that enrich your content, but they also bring their own audiences.

When you invite a guest onto your show, they'll often be more than happy to share the episode — and any clips from it — across their own social media platforms. Now do the math: after 10, 20, or 30 episodes, you've enlisted 10, 20, or 30 individuals to help distribute your content to audiences who might never have discovered your channel on their own. That's an incredibly powerful compounding effect.

Bonus tip: Don't be afraid to reach out to big-name guests. The worst thing that can happen is they say no — and that's perfectly fine. But what if one of them says yes? What if someone with 100,000, 200,000, or even a million followers agrees to come on your show because they genuinely like what you're building? That single appearance can be a massive accelerator for your podcast's reach.

3. Do Your Research Before Every Interview

This is a pet peeve of mine, and it's astonishingly common. I'd estimate that 80% of podcast interviews begin something like this: "Hey, Bill, for those who don't know you, can you give a brief description of yourself?"

This is a wasted opportunity — for two reasons. First, your interview is starting exactly the way dozens of other interviews have started for that guest. Second, it comes across as lazy. You're essentially asking the guest to do your job for you.

A far better approach is to do thorough research beforehand. Read a compelling bio or craft an introduction that sets the stage for your audience. Then open with a question that is sharp, unexpected, and genuinely interesting — something the guest has never been asked before, at least not as a first question.

When you nail this, the guest will often say something like, "Wow, what an intro. What a great question. I've never been asked that before." That reaction does two things: it signals to your audience that they're consuming high-quality content from a skilled interviewer, and it energises your guest, making them excited about where the conversation is headed.

Some approaches I love:

The best interviewers understand this principle: powerful, unexpected questions are what produce unforgettable conversations.

4. Invest in Good Audio Quality

One thing many aspiring podcasters underestimate is how critically important audio quality is to the listening experience. Whether you're producing an audio-only show or a video-and-audio podcast, clean sound is non-negotiable.

If your audio as the host isn't crisp and clear, it will be off-putting to listeners — and many of them simply won't stick around. You don't need to spend a fortune on professional-grade equipment, but investing in a solid podcast microphone (brands like Shure and Audio-Technica are excellent starting points) can make a world of difference.

Here's a helpful way to think about it: audiences are generally forgiving if a guest's audio isn't perfect. Think of a radio DJ with a clean, professional microphone taking calls from listeners on their phones — the quality difference is expected and accepted. But the host's audio needs to be consistently good. That's the baseline your audience expects, and meeting it signals professionalism and respect for their time.

5. Define Your Purpose and Your "Why"

Before you hit record on your first episode, spend some meaningful time thinking about the purpose behind your podcast:

And here's the critical question: Why are you doing this?

If your primary reason for launching a podcast is to make money, I'd strongly suggest you find a deeper motivation. Logan Paul once offered advice to an aspiring creator who said they wanted to make money from content. His response was blunt: "You have to plan to do this for 10 years and not make a penny."

That might sound extreme, but the underlying truth is real. Even after years of podcasting, many creators spend more on equipment, editing, and production than they earn. The podcasters who eventually thrive financially almost always started with a bigger "why" — a genuine passion for their subject matter, a desire to connect with people, or a mission to share important ideas. That deeper purpose is what will sustain you through the inevitable stretches where motivation is low and results feel slow.

6. Plan a Realistic Cadence — and Build a Buffer

Another crucial consideration before launch is your publishing cadence. How many episodes do you plan to release, and how often? Be brutally honest with yourself, because high-quality podcast episodes require significant effort — from preparation and recording to editing and promotion.

If you come out of the gate promising two episodes a week, that's a tremendous workload. It's far better to commit to a sustainable schedule you can actually maintain, because consistency is rewarded — both by platforms like Spotify and YouTube, which favour creators who publish regularly, and by your audience, who will come to rely on your content appearing on a predictable schedule.

Here's a practical strategy: always try to have a few episodes "in the can" as backups. Life happens — emergencies, illness, scheduling conflicts. If you release episodes every Friday but always record on Tuesday, one disruption can throw off your entire rhythm. Having a buffer of two or three ready-to-go episodes ensures you can maintain consistency even when the unexpected strikes.

7. It Doesn't Have to Be Perfect on Day One

This final tip might be the most important one: give yourself permission to start before you feel ready.

Too many aspiring podcasters put enormous pressure on themselves to have everything perfectly dialled in before they launch. They want the ideal setup, the perfect format, the flawless delivery. And that pressure becomes the very reason they never take action at all.

Here's a reality check: go back and listen to the first episode of any of your favourite podcasts. You won't find the polished, refined product they're putting out today. Everyone starts somewhere, and comparing your Chapter 1 to someone else's Chapter 43 is not only unfair — it's counterproductive.

The far better approach is to start, learn from the experience, and focus on incremental improvement. Make each episode just a little bit better than the last. That compounding growth is what transforms a scrappy first episode into a genuinely excellent show over time. If you wait until you have everything figured out, the most likely outcome is that you'll simply never launch at all.

Start Your Podcast Journey Today

Launching a podcast is one of the most rewarding creative endeavours you can pursue. It gives you a platform to explore ideas you're passionate about, connect with fascinating people, and build an audience that values what you have to say. But like any worthwhile pursuit, it benefits from thoughtful preparation — adding video for broader reach, leveraging interviews for growth, doing your homework on guests, investing in quality audio, defining a clear purpose, setting a sustainable cadence, and above all, having the courage to start before everything is perfect. Take these seven lessons to heart, press record, and begin. Your future audience is already out there waiting for you.

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