Podcast Hosting
Podcast hosting offers a variety of options, all of which have their their pros and cons.
Some people prefer to host their podcast on their main website. Other people use an additional domain for only podcasts. Some people use free hosting services, and others pay for dedicated podcasting services.
Here is a quick look at all four to help you decide which avenue is right for you.
1. Podcast hosting on your own website
People who choose to upload their podcasts directly to their website do so to keep everything in one place.
As a general rule, this not an option that most people should use. This is especially true once their podcasts gather a large following of fans.
You will quickly burn up a lot more resources than you would expect and soon be paying overage fees to your hosting company. There is nothing worse than having a popularity surge, only to find out later that you can’t pay the hosting bill.
The average half hour, basic talk show is going to have a file size of around 15MB if it is encoded at 64 kbps. If you have a daily show with only 10 subscribers, you will be using 5 GB of bandwidth and use a ½ GB of space every month.
2. Separate Domains
Using a separate domain for hosting isn’t a bad idea. It gives you a centralized location of all of your podcasts, and makes them easy to control.
Unfortunately, you can run into some of the same problems as you do with podcast hosting on your own website.
Chances are that you won’t go over your bandwidth limits using separate domains, but there is still a chance that could happen.
If you are going to stream your podcasts to your main site, why take the additional risk. If you do hit overage fees, you have accomplished nothing except that you have been paying to host two domains when you could have only been paying for one.
3. Free Podcast Hosting Services
Free podcasting services offer the big advantage of being able to host your podcasts for free.
They will normally add an advertisement to the beginning and end of every podcast.
Additionally, they tend to have strict limits on the bandwidth you can use per month and how much you can upload on a monthly basis.
Another drawback is that over the last 3 years, it seems like many free podcasting hosting services have been shutting down.
The best idea to choose a free podcast service that also has paid opportunities. This increases the likelihood that they will stay in business.
4. Paid Podcast Hosting Services
The biggest benefit of these paid hosting services is that they often grant unlimited bandwidth, which means that you will never be charged for overages. The only limits they put in place are on the amount of podcasts that you can load every month.
Personally, paid podcast hosting services are the best solution. They minimize your risk of paying fees while still affording you the advantages of streaming your podcasts to your website.
