Podcasts are one of the most popular ways of broadcasting and gaining an audience. In fact, Podcasts have become essential for anyone who wants to sell, promote, or simply talk about something.
As much as 21% of Americans have listened to a podcast in the last month. Moreover, with a 23% year on year growth, podcasting has solidified itself as an extremely valuable niche. So, you have every reason in the world to come up with a podcast.
WordPress comes out as a perfect platform to start your podcast. With lots of plugins and themes, it has become extremely easy to add podcasting functionality to your WordPress site.
Here, we go on to list the Best WordPress Podcast Plugins which will make it easy for you to launch a podcast website.
You will come to know the best WordPress Plugins which will help you to publish podcasts to your WordPress posts and pages.
Before we go onto showcase the list, here’s a short overview on podcasting itself.
Podcasting Basics
Podcasting started in the 1980s indie radio boom.
However, the format which is available today came into existence in 2004 through platforms such as Odeo.
Apple took the lead in further popularizing podcasts as it set the ball rolling by integrating podcasts in iTunes.
Since then, podcasts began to be created by every conceivable media outlet and organization which opened the doors for many individual voices.
Most of the popular podcasts have been entertainment-based.
However, podcasts also go on to explore a diverse range of topics.
Some biggest podcast hits include This American Life, The Joe Rogan Experience, Radiolab, The Nerdist, and This Developer’s Life.
WordPress has also become one of the popular platforms for broadcasting Podcasts.
A number of notable podcasts have been showcased on WordPress which cover and address diverse topics such as news, how-to, advanced programming techniques, tutorials, reviews, interviews, as well as non-technical advice.
Your podcast with a WordPress site becomes a lethal combination for promoting and sharing your show. Nowadays, most of the podcasts have a website together with their RSS Subscription Feed.
The best thing about recording a podcast episode is that you don’t necessarily have to use high-end hardware and software. Instead of using expensive microphones and premium recording software, you can go with affordable alternatives that will work just as well.
Once, you are ready for a podcast episode; the next step is to publish it on your site. Here, the best WordPress Podcast Plugins come into the picture and make things extremely easy for you.
These WordPress podcast plugins not only help you to integrate podcasts into your content but also provide unique features that make your podcasts stand out from the rest.
This post has been specifically crafted to provide you with enough information so that you can choose the most suitable WordPress Podcast Plugin and get the best listening experience for your audience.
Before you go on to install any of these plugins, you should upload your podcast files to your media host.
Although podcast files can be uploaded to your web server; however, it is not recommended to do so as you run the risk of crashing your site when traffic shoots up.
Plus, it is easy to manage podcasts with web hosts as they have support and integration with WordPress.
So, let’s get started and look at these best WordPress Podcast Plugins.
6 Top WordPress Podcast Plugins
1. PowerPress
PowerPress is undoubtedly one of the best and most popular WordPress Podcast Plugins. It is a WordPress Podcasting Plugin from Blubrry which is a media hosting service. However, you don’t have to be a subscriber for using the plugin. The best part is that it is a completely free WordPress Podcasting Plugin. It comes with Simple and Advanced modes which help you to navigate its features easily.
In Simple mode, you have to follow three steps:
Publish a blog post with your first episode.
Set up your podcast settings.
Submit your podcast to iTunes.
When you switch to Advanced Mode, you get the full list of options.
Here’s the awesome list of stuff that you can do with PowerPress:
- Support for iTunes and Google Play Music.
- PowerPress comes with Simple and Advanced Modes which make it easy to use.
- It can detect audio file size and duration.
- Migrate files from other hosting services.
- Set up for Podcasting SEO.
- HTML5 Media Player so that your audience can listen directly on your site.
- Includes Shortcodes and widgets which drive subscribers.
- Easy to add show notes and descriptions
- Podcast Statistics.
- Well documented which makes it easy to setup and easy to use even for WordPress beginners.
- And lots of other features, as well.
Seriously, PowerPress is immensely feature-rich.
2. Simple Podcast Press
Simple Podcast Press is a premium WordPress Podcast Plugin which enables you to add podcast automation functionality to WordPress. It can function as a standalone plugin or in conjunction with plugins like Smart Podcast Player or Blubrry PowerPress.
You simply have to enter your existing podcast feed, and Simple Podcast Press will automate everything. Simple Podcast Press goes on to automatically create pages for all your episodes, complete with a player and description.
As stated, Simple Podcast Press is not a free WordPress Podcasting Plugin. It is available as a one-time purchase, and you can also renew for getting all the latest updates. The plugin functions as a podcast player as well as an automation tool.
The plugin can be used to automatically publish the podcast episodes onto your WordPress site or blog. You simply have to enter the podcast URL; the rest is managed by the plugin itself.
Simple Podcast Press comes with a mobile-friendly podcast player. It includes subscribe buttons, opt-in boxes, and custom call-to-action buttons. The plugin provides many podcasting tools such as clickable timestamps, iTunes reviews, Transcripts, and much more.
Simple Podcast Press offers a 30-day full money back guarantee.
3. Seriously Simple Podcasting
Seriously Simple Podcasting is a free and lightweight WordPress Podcasting Plugin. However, this does not mean that it is light in features. Moreover, it has been empowered with all the basic features which let you manage podcasting on your WordPress site in an easy way.
Seriously Simple Podcasting comes as a user-friendly podcasting solution and allows users to broadcast multiple shows from the same WordPress site. Its simplicity is the biggest highlight of this plugin which goes on to differentiate it from the rest of the WordPress Podcasting Plugins.
Seriously Simple Podcasting comes with a streamlined interface and has a short configuration process. So, you can set it up quickly and focus on recording your podcast. In short, Seriously Simple Podcasting is ideal for beginners.
Seriously Simple Podcasting goes on to create a syndication complaint feed for your podcast. It allows you to have multiple podcasts by generating separate feeds for each podcast. It has four tabs on its Settings Page: General, Security, Publishing, Redirection, and Feed Details.
You simply have to specify on which post types you want your podcasts to appear, your podcast feeds link, where the audio player goes, and you are ready to have podcast episodes onto your posts.
Key Features:
- Run multiple series of podcasts.
- Shortcodes for embedding podcast episodes to posts or pages.
- Free statistics add-on.
- Compliant podcast feeds for iTunes, Stitcher, and more.
- Play episodes via WordPress media player.
- Supports both audio and video podcasting.
- And Lots More.
4. Smart Podcast Player
Smart Podcast Player is a premium WordPress Podcasting Plugin. It presents your podcast with a modern and interactive audio player.
Smart Podcast Player has been developed by professional blogger and entrepreneur Pat Flynn, who is a name in the podcasting and blogging world.
He is the guy behind Smart Passive Income which is tremendously successful with the audience all over the world.
Smart Podcast Player comes with a variety of features and allows you to embed beautiful podcast players. In fact, Smart Podcast Player has the best design of any podcast plugin on this list. It comes with various library display settings, direct downloads, playback slowing, and more.
In fact, Smart Podcast Player is one step ahead of other podcast plugins as far as the level of design customization is concerned. For example, you can have a color palette for your audio track bar which makes your podcast a native part of your website.
Key Features:
- Extensive design customization features.
- Listeners can download episodes directly from the podcast player.
- Support for all MP3-based podcast feeds.
- Speed up and slow down playback.
- Automatic library updates.
5. Libsyn Podcasting Plugin
Libsyn Podcasting Plugin is indeed an incredible addition to the WordPress Podcasting Plugin landscape. In fact, Libsyn is one of the most popular podcast hosts online. It allows you to post new podcast episodes to your Libsyn account directly from WordPress.
Your RSS feed gets automatically updated, and your files get posted to Libsyn servers. It not only saves time but also allows your updates to be viewable from both iTunes and your site.
6. Podlove Podcast Publisher
Podlove Podcast Publisher is a simple yet effective WordPress Podcasting Plugin for adding podcast episodes to your WordPress blog. It is a modern and streamlined option for hosting MP3 shows on the same server as your WordPress Installation.
The plugin offers efficient podcast feeds for every subscription service. It also offers a great level of control on how the user’s client will operate and load the podcast. So, you do not struggle with slow loading, lose episodes, or display data incorrectly.
You get multi-format publishing, Podlove Web Player, and templates for customizing your podcasts. Moreover, Podlove is committed to regularly rolling out new features.
If you look for impressive features, then Podlove Podcast Publisher is surely one of those WordPress Podcasting Plugin that you should surely check out. Plus, it is available as a free WordPress Plugin.
We hope that the above list of Best WordPress Podcast Plugins helps you in selecting the most suitable plugin for publishing podcast episodes on your WordPress site. If you liked the post, don’t forget to share it with your friends and colleagues. We welcome your comments and suggestions.