And I have found the perfect plugin for the job: Podcast Subscribe Buttons. This plugin makes it easy to add a subscribe button to over 60 podcast platforms. Each one has a unique podcast icon and you can pick and choose which ones to use.

Today, I will demonstrate how to use this plugin to make WordPress podcast friendly.

Why Add Podcast Subscribe Buttons in WordPress?

The podcast industry is booming, and with it, a variety of platforms have been created that are dedicated to hosting podcasts. To make sure your podcast is reaching your audience on their favorite platform, you need to be on just about every single one.

This makes it difficult to advertise when there are well over 50 podcast platforms. Therefore, you need to make it easy to subscribe to your podcast in WordPress.

And there is no easier way than with podcast subscribe buttons. These work almost identically to social share buttons in that visitors click on them and they are subscribed to your podcast on that individual platform.

They are easy to set up and should help turn visitors into podcast subscribers.

How to Add Podcast Subscribe Buttons in WordPress

Step 1: Install Podcast Subscribe Buttons

The Podcast Subscribe Buttons plugin allows users to add subscribe buttons to over 60 different podcast platforms. These include all of the major ones like Apple, Google, Spotify, and many others,

If it hosts podcasts, it’s supported. These buttons can be added to nearly any location on your website, so there are a lot of options to consider. Overall, the process is simple and should only take a few minutes, but largely depends on how many platforms you choose to set up.

Let’s start by clicking on Plugins and selecting the Add New option on the left-hand admin panel.

Search for Podcast Subscribe Buttons in the available search box. This will pull up additional plugins that you may find helpful.

Scroll down until you find the Podcast Subscribe Buttons plugin and click on the “Install Now” button and activate the plugin for use.

Step 2: Creating A Podcast Subscribe Button

Creating one of these buttons is quite simple. You pick the design style of the button, select the platform, and add a link. It should take under a minute to create a button, but it could take a bit if you plan to create multiple sets of them.

On the left-hand admin panel, click on Tools and select the Podcast Subscribe Buttons option.

Click on the “Add New” button.

Style the Button

The first seven options you see deal with the style of the button. Here you can choose what the button says, type, style, along with the background, text, and hover colors.

The Button Type option allows you to select to just use icons. These will display the most recognizable icons for each platform. If you choose this option, it is the only customization you need because no other settings will make an impact.

This is the recommended setup for the plugin because visitors will recognize the icons for the platforms they use.

The choice is yours, though.

Connect With Platform

Towards the bottom, you should see an “Add Subscribe Button Links” section. By default, it is set to Acast (alphabetical), click on it to expand the options.

Use the drop-down box to select which platform you want to use. You must also enter an auto-subscribe link to make the button function. Sadly, with over 60 options to choose from, there is no way I can demonstrate all of them.

Instead, I recommend doing a quick Google search to find a guide. For instance, I found this helpful guide to find an Apple Podcasts subscribe link. The process is unique for each platform, but it is easy to do in every case.

It is worth mentioning that you can add additional links to the button. This enables you to display multiple buttons that utilize the same style, but each links to different platforms with a single shortcode. This is your best friend when it comes to adding multiple buttons.

When you are satisfied with the changes, click on the “Publish” button.

Repeat this step to create multiple subscribe buttons for your favorite platforms. You might want to create a specific batch of buttons that are displayed in a widget for sites with less room, and perhaps one for regular posts and pages.

This gives you greater customization and allows you to properly size the buttons.

Step 3: Add the Subscribe Button to WordPress

With all of the subscribe buttons created, it’s time to actually add them to your website. Luckily, this is pretty easy to do. The plugin utilizes shortcodes to add buttons, thus you can add them to any post, page, or widget area on your website.

To find the shortcodes, go back to the Podcast Subscribe Buttons section in WordPress. You can see the shortcode, next to the buttons you created.

Copy the shortcode.

Go to any post, page, or widget and add the shortcode. Once you save the changes, you can view the buttons in action.

Congratulations on adding podcast subscribe buttons to WordPress. Remember to add the button if you put your podcast on a new platform. The plugin is constantly adding new options as the number of platforms grows.

Note: It’s likely that you already have social media share buttons in place. You should try to make it clear that these are for your podcast as they may look similar.

Make Sure It Matches Your Websites Design

If you chose to use the icon styles, you have nothing to fear. But if you chose to create a custom button, then you need to take a few minutes and make sure it matches the rest of your website.

It might seem like a small thing, but let me assure you, a badly designed button can work against you. For instance, did you create a black button and put it on a black background? Is the button font color hard to read?

If the button isn’t legible, no one is going to click it, thus defeating the entire purpose of adding one.

This might seem really obvious, but enough beginners make this mistake that it needs to be said.

Get Your Podcast Out There

Every single person is unique and the platforms they choose to listen to podcasts are as well. Getting your podcast on as many platforms as possible is the best way to make sure more people have access to your show.

That said, it’s also a lot of work maintaining accounts on so many platforms. However, in this case, the work is well worth the potential reward.

Growing your audience.

Making sure that visitors are aware there are other options to listen to your podcast is important, and that’s exactly what these buttons do. They help visitors find other places to listen to them.

Did you use another free subscribe button for a podcast WordPress plugin? How easy did you find this plugin to set up?

The post How to Use Podcast Subscribe Buttons to Drive an Audience in WordPress appeared first on GreenGeeks.

With it, website owners can display their podcasting feed on any post or page on the website. All it requires is the podcast URL, so it’s easy enough for anyone to use. You can add any number of podcasts on your site, so it’s a great choice for websites dedicated to marketing the feed.

Today, I will demonstrate how to use the Podcast Player in WordPress.

Why Podcasts Are Great for WordPress

A podcast is an audio recording of some type of discussion, conversation, or examination of a specific topic. If your website specializes in a certain topic, adding a podcast can grant you a lot of benefits.

For starters, having a podcast reinforces the idea that you are an expert or a fanatic on a specific topic. This can add a substantial amount of credibility to all of the content you create, while at the same time, providing new content for visitors to enjoy.

Podcasts often have guests on their shows from similar websites, YouTube channels, or industries. This makes them a great place to build partnerships and host collaborations with other content creators in your field.

Many content creators will include a podcast as an additional piece of content for patrons or member-only content. This is a great fit because a podcast doesn’t require as much work as dedicated video content and it is also more personal.

Content creation can be extremely challenging, yet podcasts are some of the easiest pieces of content to make. Most podcasts will leave in any mistakes, unlike traditional content. With that said, it is a good idea to minimize these mistakes, otherwise, it could hurt your credibility.

How to Use Podcast Player in WordPress

Step 1: Install Podcast Player

Podcast Player is a WordPress podcast player plugin that allows you to display your podcast content on any post or page within WordPress. It’s easy to use and only requires the podcast URL to get started. It also has a variety of customization options available.

Keep in mind that this plugin is only for displaying podcasts. To create a podcast, you will still need dedicated podcast software. And you will still also need to upload your podcast on an appropriate platform.

Thus, if you have not done this yet, you cannot use this plugin.

Let’s start by clicking on Plugins and selecting the Add New option on the left-hand admin panel.

Search for Podcast Player in the available search box. This will pull up additional plugins that you may find helpful.

Scroll down until you find the Podcast Player plugin and click on the “Install Now” button and activate the plugin for use.

Step 2: Settings

The plugin is very easy to use and should only take a few minutes to set up. However, before you go through the tutorial, go to the platform you store your podcast and be ready to copy the URLs for each one you want to display on WordPress.

On the left-hand admin panel click on the Podcast Player option.

This area of the plugin allows you to adjust settings and view plugin information including an FAQ. I always encourage everyone to read all of the information in a plugin to make sure you’re getting the most out of your new tool.

Click on the Settings tab.

Here you will find a few options that allow you to determine how often the podcast update interval is, minimize unintentional exposure of podcast data, optimize podcast images, and add rel (relationship in HTML) attributes.

There are also advanced options that allow you to keep older episodes, enable Ajax website compatibility, and set the timezone.

When you are done, click on the “Save Options” button.

Since you can have multiple podcast feeds with unique settings, you must apply the changes to a specific freed. To do so, click on the Toolkit tab.

Here, you must enter your podcast feed URL to apply all of the changes you made in the settings. This will not display any podcasts, it only ensures that the podcast has the latest settings enabled.

Click on the “Update Feed” button when you are done.

This concludes the settings portion of the tutorial. Now all that’s left is to display the podcast.

Step 3: Display the Podcast

Podcasts are displayed by using the Podcast Player widget. Thus, they are accessible anywhere on your website.

Click on Appearance and select the Widgets option.

Locate the Podcast Player widget and drag it to the desired widget area.

Note: There are multiple plugins available that allow you to determine the visibility of widgets you add. Thus, you could display certain podcast feeds on certain pages within your website and give yourself great customization over how your content is displayed.

The widget is very straightforward to use. Simply enter a title, which will probably just be the name of your podcast, and enter the podcast feed URL.

Underneath these selections, you will find four sections of settings that include a wide variety of customization options. Go through each of these sections and pick the best options for your website.

Click on the “Save” button.

Note: Keep in mind that you can add multiple Podcast Player widgets if you have multiple podcasts you wish to share with your audience.

Congratulations, you can now view your podcast feed on your website. If it is not appearing, double-check that you have entered the correct Podcast Feed.

Display Your Podcast Wherever Podcasts are Available

Podcasts have become incredibly popular over the years and now, you can display yours on a variety of platforms that are dedicated to podcasts.

The more places you share your podcast on, the more listeners you will gain, which will ultimately mean more traffic for your website. Of course, this doesn’t mean you should limit yourself to a dedicated podcast website.

For instance, YouTube is an excellent platform for your podcasts. You can use a still image (like your company logo) or series of still images for your podcasts. Thus, you don’t need a very high production value.

Some visitors may even be interested in seeing you and a guest interact. In fact, there are many podcasts that exist only on the platform and some of them are even done via live stream on the platform or similar ones like Twitch.

Fully utilize every opportunity available to you.

Build A Podcast Today

Podcasts are a great way to engage with your audience. They can be accessed through multiple platforms and help bring in new traffic to your website or business. This is because they are easy to listen to and they can and can fit into anyone’s schedule.

For instance, if you’re working out, it’s common to listen to music or a podcast while doing so. In this way, they are superior to video because you can keep focusing on the task on hand instead of looking at the screen of your computer.

Do you use another free podcast player in WordPress? How many podcasts do you display on your WordPress website?

The post How to Engage an Audience with Podcast Player in WordPress appeared first on GreenGeeks.