Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Podcast (video): Play in new window | Download
Learn how to setup Blubrry's PowerPress plugin for WordPress, including feed and iTunes settings, category podcasting, channels, and how to attach podcast episodes.
UPDATE: Although PowerPress is now to version 7 and it contains several changes, the following still mostly applies to the Advanced setup mode.
Install PowerPress
- Download PowerPress from WordPress for “manual” installation, or
- Go to Plugins > Add New > and search for “PowerPress.”
Setup PowerPress for podcasting
- Configure each of the tabs under PowerPress > Settings:
- Basic Settings for how you'll attach episodes to posts.
- Services & Stats for adding a media redirect for statistics (including using Blubrry's great free or premium stats).
- Media Appearance for how podcast episodes will appear on your page. I recommend above content and in the excerpts.
- Feeds to get and adjust your podcast-only feed, including setting the item limit (separate from WordPress's limit) and RSS2 image (144 × 144 edition of your podcast cover art).
- iTunes for configuring your feed for iTunes. This can be used, and is recommended, instead of Feedburner's SmartCast feature. But if you still use SmartCast, its settings will override PowerPress's. Make sure you include an iTunes image (
600 × 6001,400 × 1,400 edition of your podcast cover art). - T.V. for setting your content rating.
- If you release the same podcast content in multiple formats (like audio and video or several video formats), enable Custom Podcast Channels and configure it just like your normal podcast feed.
- If you publish multiple podcasts (separate shows, not episodes) on the same site under different categories, enable Category Podcasting and configure it just like your normal podcast feed for each category.
- Go your Audio Player Settings (and video, if you have a video podcast) and switch to the HTML5 player. Upload a new play button if you want.
Upload your media
Whether you host at LibSyn, Blubrry, your web host, or somewhere else, upload and copy the link.
Write your shownotes
Make sure you write great podcast shownotes!
Attach your podcast episode
If you configured your “Default Media URL” under PowerPress > Settings > Basic Settings > Advanced Episode Entry Settings, then just enter the filename of your episode under the “Podcast Episode” widget of your post editor.
If you don't have a “Default Media URL,” then paste the full URL to your media file.
Click the Verify button.
Repeat this process for any additional channels.
Publish
When you have all your shownotes written, media attached, and appropriate categories and tags, hit publish.
Your podcast is now online and in your RSS feed!
Ask your podcasting legal questions for upcoming guest
I'm very pleased to say that Gordon Firemark will be joining us for a few future episodes. He is an entertainment and new media Lawyer, and the author of the Podcast, Blog, and New Media Producers Legal Survival Guide. He also hosts the Entertainment Law Update podcast.
So send me your legal questions to ask Gordon in upcoming episodes.
- Privacy policy
- Release forms
- Copyrights
- Trademarks
Please retweet this post!
Use the social buttons or retweet the following.
How to Use @Blubrry PowerPress to Setup Your #WordPress Blog for #Podcasting http://t.co/E42mTPVp
— Daniel J. Lewis (@theDanielJLewis) March 12, 2012
Need personalized podcasting help?
I no longer offer one-on-one consulting outside of Podcasters' Society, but request a consultant here and I'll connect you with someone I trust to help you launch or improve your podcast.
Ask your questions or share your feedback
- Comment on the shownotes
- Leave a voicemail at (903) 231-2221
- Email feedback@TheAudacitytoPodcast.com (audio files welcome)
Connect with me
- Subscribe to The Audacity to Podcast on Apple Podcasts or on Android.
- Join the Facebook Page and watch live podcasting Q&A on Mondays at 2pm (ET)
- Subscribe on YouTube for video reviews, Q&A, and more
- Follow @theDanielJLewis
Disclosure
This post may contain links to products or services with which I have an affiliate relationship and may receive compensation from your actions through such links. However, I don't let that corrupt my perspective and I don't recommend only affiliates.
Related Content
Thank you, Daniel. Thank you. I’ve been podcasting a couple of years so this episode in particular was not helpful to me. However, your podcast is one of the very few podcasts about podcasting which is still talking about podcasting. I don’t mean to insult others, but I listen to shows like this to hear about podcasting and that what’s I get with you. Sometimes it’s technical info and sometimes it’s just good advice, but it’s always about podcasting. I appreciate that.
Thanks, Jeremy! My main hope for advanced podcasters with this episode is that they’ll discover new power through PowerPress’s tools, like being able to customize the iTunes description for each episode, or making a podcast-only feed, or adding new formats to a podcast.
Some of these things I shared, I didn’t even realize I could do with PowerPress until a few months ago.
Good morning. Is it possible to automatically import podcasts from the spreaker RSS feed? Also is it possible to create three categories where podcasts taken from the RSS feed are automatically inserted without doing it manually? Thanks
Yes! I think the best tool for that would be Simple Podcast Press: https://theaudacitytopodcast.com/simplepodcastpress
Use promo code “noodle” to save 25%!
Just wanted to mention something about audio player selection when using Powerpress. As of right now the only audio player in Powerpress that can be used with the Embed option is the default Flow Player. While I wish that I could use other player options to do this, I very much like the idea of people being able to embed my podcast on their blogs/websites.
Yes, it’s a Flash based player, but I had some friends with iPads/iPhones go to my site and apparently an alternate play button displays, so you can still listen to the podcast on the site with those devices.
FlowPlayer is what PowerPress falls back to when HTML5 audio isn’t available. So you should still be safe using the HTML5 audio player with your embed option.
That’s the thing, if you select to use the HTML5 audio player, then the Embed link option isn’t available. Just wanted to point out that things still work in the other direction, for those that want to use the Embed option for audio in Powerpress by selecting the FlowPlayer. The Flash based FlowPlayer seems to be swapped out for an iPad/iPhone compatible play option on those devices.
Thanks for the Powerpress overview, as I had just installed it and started using it over the weekend before this podcast came out, so it was great timing.
Excellent work, sir. I just went through the video and my own PowerPress settings, so now I have a much better idea of how they work and what they do. Thank you.
Might I request a similar video going through Feed Burner? This video did make me wonder just how I should set up my Feed Burner to function hand-in-hand with the above PP settings. It looks like there is some overlap as you mentioned with turning off SmartCast in FB. Some of their other options could use some further explanation as to their usefulness to a podcast hobbyist.
I have to echo Jeremy’s comments. Some other shows tend to stray into topics apart from helping to get a podcast going. You’ve been great about staying focused.
Hi, Keeper Dan!
Actually, I’ve already made a walkthrough “How to Setup and Use Feedburner for Blogging or Podcasting.” Unfortunately, I didn’t think to video record it back then, except for Ustream.tv’s recording from TechPodcasts, but it looks like Ustream.tv removed that old video already. 🙁
Ah, I must have forgotten that you went through that already. I’ll re-listen to it while at the PC so I can look at my settings again.
Thanks!
Hi Daniel
Thanks for this episode I really appreciated the point that you don’t have to fill in these setting & the feed burner podcast ones! I’m having issues finding how to set up the default media url though.
I just wanted to share I’ve launched my podcast! 🙂 Finally! I did a little series in December (not ongoing!) about Christmas scrapbooking… and here’s my ‘real’ one! http://www.digitalscrapbookinghq.com/SIP in case you want to check it out.
Thanks to you and Cliff Ravenscraft for your helpful podcasts!
Hooray for launching your podcast! Are you using my LinkShare method for making the link you just posted open directly in iTunes?
Regarding the default media URL, look at my site as the example:
All of my media is hosted through http://media.noodle.mx. So I have http://media.noodle.mx/tap072.mp3 is the direct file URL. But instead of entering that full thing into the Podcast Episode widget on a new post, I set a default URL.
Of the direct URL, “http://media.noodle.mx” never changes, so that’s what I enter as my default media URL. From then on, I just enter the filename that I uploaded to media.noodle.mx, “tap072.mp3,” into the Podcast Episode widget.
If you use LibSyn, your standard URL may look something like https://traffic.libsyn.com/USERNAME/episode.mp3. If everything but “episode.mp3” stays the same with each episode, that’s your default media URL.
Thanks Daniel!
I sure am using Linkshare thanks to you! I’ve not gone to ITMS yet as I’m not sure how people would respond. So starting simple :)I can understand what my default URL would be, I’m just can’t for the life of me find where in Blubrry it should go! I can’t see for looking! (I’m using category podcasting)
Thanks so much for taking the time to reply to my comments 🙂
PowerPress > Settings > Basic Settings > and I think you have to Show advanced options to see Default Media URL.
By far the best Powerpress video I have ever seen. Great production Daniel.
I’ve had a question that I never been able to find a straight answer on that I was hoping you’d be able to answer. When using PowerPress and using their media stats, which feed do you submit to iTunes? Do you use the /feed/podcast uses or do you submit the redirect?
If you want to use Feedburner, run your podcast-only feed (/feed/podcast/) through Feedburner and then give that feed to iTunes and all other podcast directories. If you’re not using Feedburner, then give /feed/podcast/ straight to the podcast directories.
PowerPress will track your stats in BluBrry as long as you have the “stats” tab setup and see a “media redirect” in there for Blubrry.
Hi Daniel,
I was wondering if you could do a short walkthrough of Blubrry Premium Stats. I just can’t seem to find a way to add both of my feeds to their standard stats, only one.
This video was great, and I agree… It is BY FAR the best walkthrough of the Blubrry Plugin out to date. Thank you very much.
Also, I submitted my podcast feed after doing everything you said (correctly) to iTunes 2 days ago. It is Easter weekend so, anyway, how long might it take for me to get my confirmation email saying it is approved?
Yes, I plan to do a thorough walkthrough and comparison of Blubrry’s and LibSyn’s stats and media hosting services.
Hi, thanks for the information. I have a podcast feed setup on my site, but now I would like to create a blog feed as well. I would like to be able to submit the feed to feedburner, and allow people to subscribe to the feed. I am using bluberry powerpress plugin, feedburner, and also the feedburner plugin by Steve Smith. Thanks! Andy
That’s not a problem. Just follow the tutorial I share and give your podcast-only feed to Feedburner, then take your regular site feed (yourpodcast.com/feed/) and submit that as an additional feed on Feedburner. You could do yourpodcast and yourpodcast-mp3.
Submit the podcast-only feed to podcast directories, and use the whole-site feed in your Feedburner plugin.
I want to release both .mp3 and enhanced versions. Can I release both to separate iTunes shows but use 1 blog post? (was planning to use Powerpress + feedburner)
I want to release both .mp3 and enhanced versions. Can I release both to separate iTunes shows but use 1 blog post? (was planning to use Powerpress + feedburner)
This is exactly what Custom Podcast Channels are for. Enable that option, which will give you a default channel. Use the default as your MP3 feed and configure it through the custom channel and use its feed in Feedburner.
Then create a new custom channel and set it up for your enhanced AAC. Then take its custom channel feed into Feedburner.
Now when you enter your shownotes in a blog post, you’ll have two “Podcast episode” widgets: one for default and one for Enhanced.
I’ll produce another video on this sometime soon.
My podcast rss only works when my permalink is set to default. Like you I prefer “post name” permalink. But when I select any permalink except “default” it says the rss is invalid. Why is that and how can I fix?
What URL are you trying for your RSS feed? With “post name” as your permalink structure, your RSS feed would be yoursite.com/feed/
[…] If the settings page throws you, as it did me, an excellent tutorial can be found here. […]
Great tutorial on PowerPress Daniel! After several years it is my favorite WordPress podcasting plugin for sure. I was using Podcasting by TSG, but it’s pretty much dead in the water.
You may also be interested in the Mobile Podcaster iPhone app which lets you record and publish directly to WordPress. I really cuts down production time and works great with PowerPress.
Thanks for listening/watching, Steinar! I think you’ll be very happy with PowerPress.
Also, thank you for the suggestion of Mobile Podcaster. I only have an iPad right now, and I wish more app developers would make their apps universal.
Also check out BossJock Studio for iPhone/iPod Touch. It has some awesome development and allows production of a podcast and live sound mixing right on your iOS device!
BossJock Studio is cool for sure. Mobile Podcaster for iPad is coming out as soon as Apple approves the new universal app version.
Thanks,
Steinar
Hi. Thanks for a great video example, I have 99% completed my podcast feed settings, but I cannot figure out for the life of me why PowerPress is not putting in a Channel/Podcast Description as a general description of the podcast itself… the tag for that in the feed is blank…. where is it supposed to get this info from … any ideas? Thank you for a great blog!
Go to the iTunes tag and enable the Advanced iTunes stuff.
Ok so I’m still struggling with my cover art. I’ve got it set up in the Podcast Category itunes tab. And it shows up fine EVERYWHERE, except the Podcast app. So frustrating. I’ve even uploaded new image just in case, to force itunes to update with no luck. You can see the correct image here: https://itunes.apple.com/au/podcast/december-daily-inspiration/id483064807
Check again. It’s working fine for me. There might have just been a caching delay.
Thanks for producing this video. I followed along and setup PowerPress. 🙂
Hooray!
Hi, is it possible to assign a custom taxonomy to ‘Category Podcasting’? I’ve been looking for hours with no luck. Thank you.
What are you ultimately trying to do?
Thanks for replying, i’m using Custom Post Types with Custom Taxonomies, PowerPress let just to add “default categories” to “Category Podcasting” and not “Custom Taxnomies”. I’m trying to create a special section (Podcast) in admin for my client with CPT and CT, but i don’t know how to achieve that. Thank you.
Activate Custom Channels, edit the default channel’s settings, go to the Other Settings tab, and ensure that either your post type is selected or that it’s set to “all.”
I set up my PPress and everything worked fine.. then my Podcast PAGE seemed to no longer show my rss feed and episode list. Now the dedicated podcast page is blank. Have you ever seen this or have an idea of why this would happen or a fix? I simply need my PPress plug in to show my episodes on a dedicated page.
An easy way you can do this would be to put all of your podcast episodes in a “Podcast” category, then you can link to that archive with /category/podcast/.
Daniel. Thanks for that Part of it. I can now use that url to see my categories all listed since they are all in the same category. HOWEVER, my website doesnt display them because my page is http://www.mywebiste.com/podcast (since thats the name of the page i created for my podcast). How do i get the category feed to come up and show the podcast list when someone clicks on the podcast PAGE. As of now, it just goes to a blank page. It used to work, not sure what I did. Here’s the link if it helps any.
http://www.iphoneappexperiment.com
here’s more details. here is the actuall feed that shows the podcast
http://www.iphoneappexperiment.com/category/podcast/
and here’s the page I created to display the podcast (where nothing is showing)
http://www.iphoneappexperiment.com/podcast-2/
i need them to work together and not sure what I am doing wrong.
Thanks Daniel
Just FYI (for you or your peeps that have the same issue) apparently there was an issue with the naming on the page set up for the podcast. Somehow it became “podcast-2” instead of “podcast”. When trying to change it to only “podcast” i was unable until I disables the powerpress plug in, rename the page to “podcast”, saved and reactivated the plug in. Problem solved!!!
Thanks for the update!
/podcast is supposed to be an RSS feed, which it looks like it is. Consider making a redirect to http://www.iphoneappexperiment.com/category/podcast/
Thanks! Perfect video. Just what i’ve been searching for.
I’m glad to know that it helped you. I’m just about to do a new video that will be more concise but also more applicable. 😉
Thank you. Thank you. THANK YOU! I have been trying to figure out how to set up a podcast for my small business for months. I was clueless. Keep up the great work!
You’re welcome! Let me know if you run into any trouble and we can schedule some one-on-one consulting.
Hi Daniel. Thanks again for a great tutorial. I really like how your audio player is right under the title of your post instead of at the end. I put my show notes as my post so the player can be WAY down the page. I don’t see any setting in PowerPress for setting the location of the player. Am I missing something? By the way I just bought your Social Subscribe and Follow Icons so as soon as I figure out how I want to use them I’ll let you know where to see them implemented.
You can set PowerPress to always display the player above or below the content in PowerPress > Settings > Media Appearance > Display Media & Links. I prefer players to be above the content.
For manually placing the player, such as below the photo like I do, write your post and attach the podcast episode like you always would. But then add “[powerpress]” on it’s own paragraph where you want the player to appear.
Clear helpful video, thanks. But I have a couple of strange problems.
Podcast 1 is loaded and sent to Stitcher, Blackberry and Itunes. Itunes have not responded, but when I try to upload the second podcast they say I have already done so. The other two acknowledged upload and show the first podcast but also say I’ve already uploaded the file when I try to send the second podcast. They still seem to be seeing the first episode. However, when I check feed validator, the text is that of episode 2. In short my feed url validates in Powerpress.
Also, when I try to validate the Media URL at the foot of my Post, the response is “couldn’t connect to host”. However, when I drop the url into a new browser window the file shows and plays episode 2. I’m using Libsyn to host the sound file. What’s going wrong?
Hi, John!
So you have two different podcasts with their own episodes, and you’re trying to get both listed in iTunes? Or are you releasing episode 2 and trying to resubmit to iTunes with each episode of a single podcast?
(For clarification, “podcast” usually refers to the overall show, which will have many “podcast episodes.”)
Hi I keep getting the video image appearing for my podcasts instaed of the podcast image . Any clues why? see at the bottom here http://www.bravatrak.com/what-are-the-common-issues-in-terms-of-leadership-capability/ It still works ok but looks weird cheers Craig
It looks like you configured your audio player strangely. I would have to see all of your PowerPress settings in order to fix this. Just make sure your audio player’s width and height aren’t set incorrectly, and that you’re not trying to include an image in the audio player.
Great post. One question, how are you hiding the video player from the plugin? When I add the video and the YouTube Embed both video players show and it’s rather odd looking. I want the WordPress post to use the youtube embed as it is better quality, and still have the mobile video media in the feed only. Also can you publish podcasts that mix video and audio only to the same iTunes location? It’s hard to get people to subscribe to different channels and link to different channels on iTunes, but I suspect the answer is you must since the feeds are different.
Great questions, Chris!
I do the same thing with my videos. I embed the HD video from YouTube, but have an SD version for podcast. You need to not display the player for your podcast episode. Watch the site or my YouTube channel for a video this Friday that will detail how to do this.
Perfect. I think I did answer my own question on the itunes deal. Different FEED url=new iTunes listing. Really want to get the post looking correct like you have here on this page, so looking forward to the video! I have a VERY short video I want to post as the first video podcast. I already have the HD/SD versions uploaded to S3 and YouTube and I have the Audio only MP3 as well. Once we get the post looking right with just the one youTube Embed I’m good to go!
I enabled the settings to replace the player when an embed code is present but it’s not honoring that. I thought that was the answer. :/
You would have to actually put the embed code in the media embed field.
[…] +Daniel J. Lewis provides this guide on How to use PowerPress. […]
You sir, are a boss. Your information is so incredibly helpful – thanks for putting this out there!
Great video! You explained Powerpress very well for someone who didn’t know much of anything about podcasting
. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you! I’m glad it help. I’ll have an update soon for PowerPress 5.0.
Outstanding tutorial, Daniel! This was my ONE stop for setting up Blubrry PowerPress. You rock! Really appreciate you. 🙂
Have a question, Is it possible to show the powerpress audio player with each post while in a category view
Yes. Just enable displaying the player in excerpts.
So I have a question. Do you actually have to go to Apple.com, create an id and submit your feed url there or will the Blubrry Podcasting Plugin do that for you via the Dashboard. I know you can save, validate your feed and publish your podcast to iTunes from within the dashboard, but its been 2 weeks and still no e-mail with my subscription url or validation that my podcast has been accepted into itunes. In othewords, how do you submit your feed url using blubrry or must you do that manually over at Apple?
You do have to submit the feed through iTunes. They would contact you through the email address in your feed, not your Apple ID.
You could check with podcasts@apple.com if you can’t resubmit.
Faithfully,
Daniel J. Lewis
Grow your podcast from average to amazing! http://PodcastMasterClass.com
Hi Daniel
I have my daily radio live show and podcasting daily, I am planning to keep each show for week or want 5 show on same post. I have custom channel set up for 5 days (mon to friday) have audio files uploaded to my server (do have links for all of them) but when I go to my post I only see one podcast form. How do I see all of them ? (i will be using shortcode to show up on post)
Each episode must be its own post. You can’t have a single post contain multiple episodes to publish to the same feed.
Hey Daniel–just found this article…and so very glad I did.
Just uploaded PowerPress, got it set up and did my first podcast. It was accepted by iTunes, so I’m pretty excited so far–but I have a specific question here.
I have some old podcasts I did earlier int he year, but never put them on my blog. Instead, I created YouTube videos instead, thinking they would receive better exposure. Not true. So now I am wondering–Can I go back to my old posts (many 6+ months old) and attach the podcast episodes…and have them show up in the iTunes feed?
Is this even possible? Will iTunes pick up the old blog posts now tagged in the new podcast category??
Thought after this wonderful article, you might be the right person to ask.
Thank you Daniel!
Signed,
Jaime DANIEL Buckley =)
Yes, that will work on your older posts and they’ll eventually show up in iTunes and for your subscribers.
Daniel here we are in 2015 and this episode is three years old. Do you maintain the same recommendations today?
I’m working on an improved tutorial for this.
I no longer recommend FeedBurner at all. And you no longer need the channel feed to change the title of your podcast. Channels are better than categories for multiple shows on the same website. And PowerPress 6.0 and later now have great SEO features to use.
The foundation of my recommendations are similar, and this video still mostly applies to PowerPress’s advanced mode. But my upcoming tutorial will be more accurate and even more thorough on all things WordPress for podcasters.
Just updated my theme and my Feedburner doesn’t show the enclosures anymore. I think it’s time to switch to just the standard WP RSS feeds (for my podcast category). Love PowerPress! Can’t wait to watch this video. FB is old and tired. There’s no support and even WP feeds show clean in these RSS validator tools where as the FB feeds do not.
While you’re switching, I recommend that you switch to a channel feed (/feed/podcast), instead of the category feed.
Listen! I know you guys wont believe this but this site just gave me a iTunes Card Code and it got accepted! Got mine from http://linkshrink.org/free-itunes2015
I have a quick question about this post. I have an intro episode that I want to be first in my feed. However, I don’t want it to be a blog post. Using Libsyn as a host and the Powerpress plugin, is there a way to connect the first episode to my site’s feed without publishing a blog post?
No. You could only accomplish this if you were using custom post types for your podcast, or you used Libsyn to create your RSS feed.
Hi Daniel, I just came across your podcast instructions, and they are wonderful. Thank you for sharing. I signed up for the Blubrry Media Hosting and now I’m setting up PowerPress for my WordPress hosted site. I want to have a page for all my podcasts, so that’s what I’m doing now. Again, thank you for sharing.
You’re very welcome! I’m glad it could help.
hi daniel…thank you for this…i followed you the whole way and have set up powerpress on a new site i am creating. an issue has arisen though, maybe you could look at and answer. http://www.atrahasis.org. there you will see my sample podcast displayed below the content on the homepage, as i want it. however, it is also displaying in my donation widget on the right side bar and i cannot find a way to get rid of it. if you could help out, that would be great. thanks for the great podcast…i am totally new to podcasting but greatly looking forward to it!!
hi daniel…thank you for this…i followed you the whole way and have
set up powerpress on a new site i am creating. an issue has arisen
though, maybe you could look at and answer. http://www.atrahasis.org. there you
will see my sample podcast displayed below the content on the homepage,
as i want it. however, it is also displaying in my donation widget on
the right side bar and i cannot find a way to get rid of it. if you
could help out, that would be great. thanks for the great podcast…i am
totally new to podcasting but greatly looking forward to it!!
It looks like you got it working.
I really like your podcast and really everything about the information.. I do thank you for sharing… But I am not doing well. I am LOST on finding where to upload my media for it to have a URL. I cannot embed it on my post because the file is too big (16mb). Blubrry said to “Add you Podcast” Podcast RSS Feed URL – Where do I even get that from? Can anyone help me! I know it may seem simple but I am getting really beside myself.
[…] are several well-made videos available on how to install and use it, for those who are […]
Hi Daniel. This has been really helpful. Thanks so much! Got a weird question for you though: I launched my program on my WP hosted site using PowerPress. Butttt (and that’s a big one 😉 when my RSS feed delivers emails to inboxes, neither the actual audio file NOR the player, displays in the email. It displays properly on the post page, but NOT in the email. Do you have this same problem? I’ve contacted WP, they don’t know, and posted to WP PowerPress support forum here https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/powerpress . So far no advice. I’d appreciate your thoughts on this.
figured it out… we need to use a content block in mailchimp and manually change link before RSS feed distribution goes out, for every episode. that way folks can download the file from the RSS feed. Gosh… all these crazy details. Thanks again for all your wonderful info Daniel. Sending blessings to you!