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Plugin Description
Seriously Simple Podcasting is a top-rated podcasting plugin for WordPress, built by Castos. Using the onboarding wizard to start a podcast, multiple player options to display your podcast on your site, and multiple free extension modules to supercharge your content, Seriously Simple Podcasting powers over 30K+ podcasts.
The plugin is, and will always remain, free to use. The only costs associated with using Seriously Simple Podcasting is if you choose to host your audio and video files with a dedicated podcast hosting provider, such as Castos. Similar to using a website hosting provider to keep your WordPress site fast and running smoothly, we recommend hosting podcast files with a dedicated provider. But remember, this isn’t required!
Every plugin feature is fully functional, no matter who you choose as your podcast hosting provider. Seriously Simple Podcasting gives you maximum control over your content so you can start podcasting without limits.
However, Castos is specifically designed to sync with Seriously Simple Podcasting to save you time in your publishing workflow. This means anytime you update your podcast’s information or upload a new episode file, the changes automatically sync with your Castos hosting account. You only have to do the action once, saving hours each week. Read more about how Castos and Seriously Simple Podcasting work together.
With other podcast providers, you’ll need to make updates to your podcast’s RSS feed via your hosting provider account and again on WordPress to manually sync the information.
HOW TO SET UP SERIOUSLY SIMPLE PODCASTING
Getting started with Seriously Simple Podcasting is a seriously simple process. In just four steps, you’ll go from installing the plugin to your WordPress site to submitting a functioning RSS feed to every podcast directory.
- Install the Seriously Simple Podcasting plugin to your WordPress site.
- Begin the onboarding wizard, and create your first podcast. Here you’ll give details like the Podcast Title, Description, and upload your cover image.
- Then you can connect Seriously Simple Podcasting to your Castos account, if you’re hosting with Castos. This offloads all of the file storage and delivery from your WordPress site and host.
- Last, it’s time to create your first podcast episode. You can do this either in the dedicated Podcasting section of your WordPress site, or in the regular Post area.
- Once your podcast is live it’s time to distribute it to podcasting directories like Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and other destinations.
SERIOUSLY SIMPLE PODCASTING KEY FEATURES
Seriously Simple Podcasting offers all of our advanced features through our free plugin. You’re not required to pay for additional add-ons or use a specific podcast hosting provider.
MANAGE YOUR RSS FEED FROM WORDPRESS
Seriously Simple Podcasting generates an RSS feed that’s fully compliant with Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and every other listening platform.
- Set your podcast’s title, subtitle, description, category, cover art, explicit rating, and copyright information from WordPress.
- Manage all updates to your podcast’s RSS feed from WordPress and changes automatically sync with your podcast hosting provider.
- Turbo-charge RSS feeds to increase the number of episodes displayed on podcasting apps and speed up the feed’s load time.
- Utilize one of several private podcasting integrations to enable private podcast functionality on your WordPress site.
- With Castos, use the one-click submission feature to easily submit your podcast to Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, and more.
MANAGE MULTIPLE PODCASTS FROM THE SAME SITE
Create unique RSS feeds for multiple podcasts and feature them on the same website.
- Save unique settings per podcast for easy management.
- Create custom subscribe buttons for each podcast you create
- Optional “catch-all” feed for podcast networks that want to aggregate all of their shows into a single feed.
- With Castos, pay one price to host multiple podcasts under one account. Each plan features unlimited uploads and bandwidth so you’ll never hit a limit when managing more than one show.
CUSTOMIZE THE EMBEDDED MEDIA PLAYERS WITH BLOCKS
Choose between a standard compact player or feature-rich HTML5 media player that displays your cover art or episode-specific images. Change the settings to display your podcast exactly how you want it.
- Display customizable subscribe links to Apple Podcast, Spotify, Stitcher, Overcast, and Pocketcasts. Also include links to download the content or play it in a new window.
- Display episode meta data like episode durations and date published beneath the player.
- Customize the background and player progress bar colors to match your brand.
- Select the player’s position either above or below the post content.
- Media player is mobile-responsive so podcast posts look great across desktop browsers and mobile devices.
- Use the Castos Player block to feature the player anywhere on your website.
USE CUSTOM WIDGETS AND BLOCKS TO CREATE PLAYLISTS & DISPLAY THEM ANYWHERE
Curate custom playlists with embeddable widgets then display them anywhere on your website.
- Feature single episodes anywhere on your website with the Podcast Episode shortcode.
- Insert episode player anywhere with the Castos Player block.
- Create playlists featuring all episodes from specific podcast with the Episode List block.
- Curate custom playlists with specific episodes with the Playlist Player block.
PUBLISH PODCAST EPISODES ON ANY POST TYPE
You have full control over how podcast episodes appear on your website by picking which post type to apply the plugin settings.
- Choose which post type (from posts, the Podcast post type that SSP creates, or any other custom post type on your site) to enable podcast functions. This adds all podcast posts from the specific type to your feed.
SUPPORTS VIDEO PODCASTING
Feature embedded video players within any podcast post.
- Embed video players from Vimeo, VideoPress, or the common video block.
- Display the embedded video player anywhere within your podcast post.
- With Castos, host your audio and video podcast files with our Pro plan.
FREE ANALYTICS ADD-ONS & INTEGRATIONS
Understand how your podcast is performing with our free Seriously Simple Stats add-on.
- Install Seriously Simple Stats to access listener statistics for free. Track total listens per episode, by date range, and by listening sources.
- Connect 3rd party analytics platforms like Podtrac or Chartable.
- With Castos, view advanced analytics by geographic location, device, and listening platform plus total unique subscribers. Also access your Spotify-specific data from your dashboard for a holistic view of your podcast’s performance.
SIMPLIFIED IMPORTS, MIGRATIONS, AND REDIRECTS
Seriously Simple Podcasting works with any podcast hosting provider. Easily import or migrate your podcast files to the plugin then start managing your show via WordPress.
FULLY INTEGRATED WITH CASTOS PODCAST HOSTING
You can host your podcast with any podcast hosting provider. If you choose to host your podcast with Castos, you’ll access these unique features from your Castos dashboard.
- Automatic syncing: Seriously Simple Podcasting automatically syncs with any Castos plan. Fully manage your podcast from WordPress while hosting your podcast files on our dedicated servers.
- Private Podcasting: Castos has several integrations with third-party membership site tools like Paid Memberships Pro, LMS providers like LifterLMS, and payment processors such as Stripe to empower you to offer paid podcasting to your audience.
- Free episode transcriptions: Pay nothing for on-demand episode transcriptions. Use these transcriptions on your website to make your podcast more accessible.
- Monetize Your Podcast: You can make money from your podcast either through Castos Commerce by receiving listener donations, or by using Castos Ads to enable programmatic ad insertion on your podcast to get paid from your podcast.
- Automatic YouTube republishing: Castos supports video file hosting and can automatically publish your podcast to YouTube.
- Unlimited storage and bandwidth: Every Castos plan includes unlimited uploads and bandwidth. You can also host multiple podcasts under one account for one price.
Where to find help
Seriously Simple Podcasting comes with complete documentation. Please read this documentation thoroughly before posting on the support forum.
How to contribute
If you want to contribute to Seriously Simple Podcasting, you can fork the GitLab repository – please read the contributor guidelines for more information on how you can do this.
Help translate this plugin
If you would like to contribute translations to this plugin you can do so through a simple web interface. Any and all translations (new languages or updates to existing ones) are always welcome.
Screenshots
Step 1 to set up Seriously Simple Podcasting is to install the plugin on your WordPress site.
Step 2 to set up Seriously Simple Podcasting is to add your first episode. Upload the audio or video file and complete the episode’s title, duration, and publish date.
Step 3 to set up Seriously Simple Podcasting is to complete the podcast’s RSS feed details. This includes things like the podcast’s name, category selection, and cover art image. If you host your podcast with Castos, these details will automatically sync with your Castos dashboard.
Step 4 to set up Seriously Simple Podcasting is to submit the completed RSS feed URL to podcast listing apps like Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
Customize your podcast’s RSS feed details from the Settings > Feed Details tab.
Upload audio or video episode files directly to WordPress.
Customize the embedded media player settings to match your brand colors and pick the preferred location.
Example of the HTML5 player within a podcast post from Rolf Pott’s podcast, Deviate.
Example of HTML5 player with a collection page featuring every episode from Rolf Pott’s podcast, Deviate.
Example of a styled RSS feed when viewed in a browswer.
Automatically sync Castos accounts with Seriously Simple Podcasting in a few clicks.
Import RSS feeds from any podcast hosting provider using Seriously Simple Podcasting.
Customize on which post type to enable podcasting features.
Create password protected podcast RSS feeds from the Settings > Security tag. Use this feature in combination with a membership plugin to restrict access to your podcast.
View podcast episodes in the At A Glance widget on the main WordPress dashboard.
