Podcasting: Media Hosts for Audio Podcasting

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On today’s Tech Help for Churches, Podcasting: Media Hosts for Audio Podcasting

As I told you last week, a lot of churches try and use their web hosts for podcast hosting. I don’t think this is a good idea for at least a couple of reasons. First, stats. Web hosts don’t track show downloads like media hosts do, so you’ll get confusing numbers and may believe your audience is a different size than it is.

Secondly, hosting on your web host is betting against your own success. It’s hoping that you don’t do well enough that your web host shuts you down. Remember that “unlimited” is an advertising term here. Do you really think that Google or Amazon could use your “unlimited” web hosting? No.

So, what company should you choose.

Let’s start with honorable mention. Archive.org can do podcast hosting, but it’s not really designed to. That means that downloads will be slower and potentially problematic for your audience.

[tweet “Using your web host as a media host is betting against your own success. Try one of these instead:”]

With that in mind, I evaluated a few podcasting media hosts here back in 2013 and wanted to add to that work.

Soundcloud has podcast hosting that a lot of people rave about, but I’m concerned on two levels. First, they’re not yet profitable. Maybe they will be, but a company without profit may go away at any time. Secondly, according to Dave Jackson (who has been doing podcast training since 2005) on his School of Podcasting site, soundcloud is making it hard to find the download link and potentially changing links after you’ve been using them.

Buzzsprout and Podomatic are possible contenders, but at least on their free plans, you have to delete old media once you reach a certain threshold.

By contrast, Libsyn and Blubrry, which were both founded by podcasters for podcasters, don’t offer free plans, but they’re not too expensive (at $5 and $12/month respectively). Additionally, they don’t rename or reencode your file. So, what you send to them is what you send to your audience.

I’ve personally used both companies in one area or another (stats and software from Blubrry and hosting from Libsyn) for years and found them very reliable.

Watch the video above for more on podcast hosting.

Join the conversation; call 1-877-763-3246, leave a comment below the video, or hit me up on Twitter (@PaulAlanClif)

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If you use the internet, social media, or new media to advance your church’s mission, this show is for you.

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