Considering using Anchor for your podcast hosting? Yes, it's free and could get you started quickly and easily.
But it won't help you build audience!
It’s hard to deny that Anchor podcast hosting is attractive for any new podcaster.
After all, it’s totally free, and promises to take away the stress of publishing your podcast with the click of a button.
But as with all things in life, if it seems to good to be true, it probably is.
And with Anchor for your free podcast hosting, it definitely is.
Why wouldn't I want to use Anchor for podcast hosting?
Over the years, the cracks in Anchor’s aggressive podcast hosting armour have been shown time and time again.
At one point, they were on the verge of disappearing for good because of user dissatisfaction.
That was until Spotify swept in and saved them.
Spotify recognised the opportunity to bring free podcast hosting and creation ‘in house’, offering their loyal listener base the opportunity to quickly and easily create a podcast.
A lot of creators quickly became frustrated with the lack of features and options that they found they needed, thanks to Anchors overly simplified user interface.
As their podcasts started to grow beyond the limitations of the platform and its free podcast hosting model, they started to look around.
Every month, record numbers of people move their podcast away from Anchor, and over to paid platform.
They appreciate that results don’t come for free.
Aside from the very basic stats, if you submit your podcast to the directories (including Apple Podcasts) then you can’t easily access your own podcast’s platform specific data.
For any brands or podcasters wanting to measure their marketing KPIs, this is essentially a non-starter.
After all, how can you confidently invest in your podcast marketing, if you’re unsure if it’s even working as you want it to?
Anchor will actually hurt your overall SEO efforts too.
Because Anchor uses very aggressive marketing to ensure it’s always showing at the forefront of Google searching for every podcast on its platform, you’re essentially investing in your own website’s defeat.
Unless you’re also spending thousands per month on your podcast’s own SEO, their landing page for your podcast is always going to beat your own.
Add to this, the frequent technical ‘blips’ the platform is known to regularly suffer (some podcasters have reported whole episodes not publishing correctly, or publishing with audio problems) then pretty quickly the idea of a free podcast hosting option becomes far less attractive.
Not to mention they can potentially delete your content without warning, but will happily allow others to steal and rip off your content.
Oh, and let’s not forget – Anchor sells itself as an opportunity for podcasters to actually ‘make money’ from their content.
However the reality is you need thousands of listeners per episode to make this financially viable, and hosting on Anchor is not the best way of growing that audience!
A better alternative to Anchor for affordable podcast hosting
So what’s the better alternative to using Anchor for your podcast hosting, without breaking the bank?
In terms of free podcast hosting, you’re very limited quite honestly.
Both of these approach podcast hosting from a simple storage approach.
IE, not very much of it.
This might be fine for you if you’re looking at micro-content of ten minutes or fewer.
Both also feature limitations on your content.
For example if you wish to monetise with your own advertising or sponsorship messaging, you’ll be unable to.
If you want to use your own custom website (I highly recommend you do!) then you’ll find some real stumbling blocks here.
"I've heard good things about Buzzsprout - would you recommend them?"
Buzzsprout offers a free tier of its platform, giving you two hours of free storage per month.
But that generous data comes at a cost.
They decide how good your content sounds and will often ‘squeeze’ your audio down to reduce their bandwidth used by your content.
So if you want to have high quality audio or add effects and music, it’s going to sound dull on their platform.
Your audio is automatically mixed down to mono, and compressed.
Personally, as an audio lover, I’m not a fan of making any change to original audio quality in any way.
Can you imagine how Mick Fleetwood would feel if Spotify just compressed the bass guitar on “The Chain” to make it mono and flat?
That’s how a podcaster with great music branding and sound design will quickly feel after hosting their podcast with Buzzsprout.
So who should I host my podcast with?
The short answer to this, is “it depends.”
And it depends on what is most important to you.
Is it, having your content mindlessly published completely free?
Or would you like to have a half a chance of growing an audience?
If it’s the first option, then you absolutely should use either Podbean or Buzzsprout.
You’ll be well taken care of, and their podcasting teams are at least professional, and have your best interests at heart.
If it’s the second option, you might like to learn about Podknows’ own affordable platform, “podcast platforming“.
The benefits of this service over an Anchor or Buzzsprout account are that the podcast is managed on your behalf.
Your titles will be professionally optimised for search, and your show notes will be handled so you’ve a good chance of having your episodes surfaced in apps.
If you’re only just starting in podcasting, it offers a chance to get your content published, with all the branding taken care of for you.
There’s no need to worry about artwork or intro music, as the content will feature a standard and professional looking clean template.
All you need to do is record the audio, and transfer it using a provided link.
Podknows will handle the rest, and depending on which plan you decide to go for, will also create your social media marketing assets too!
Podknows' offering sounds great!
How can I get started?
The service is currently in ‘beta’, and there are a limited number of initial accounts available.
You can book and pay now, and you’ll be contacted within a few days to set up your account, and get started with publishing.
If you’d prefer to find out more first, book in a chat with me and I’ll talk you through how it all works.