Do you need a new domain for your podcast? What are the considerations?

If you are using a podcast service package, chances are you don’t have a choice under which domain you want your podcasts to reside. Such services usually give you a unique sub-domain to host the pages and podcast files.

Even if you want to use a standalone domain, you are faced with a few selections:

1. Whether to host your podcast site on your existing domain or a new domain.
2. Whether to retain your domain by utilizing a new sub-domain or entirely a new domain.
3. Whether to use sub-domain or a directory.
4. Whether to upgrade hosting or move the podcast file hosting to a new domain and service.

Let’s answer the question one by one.

Browsing through podcast sites, you should realize that some decided to let the company website on its own, and host the podcast site in a new domain with the company name in it, such as [companypodcast.com]. While this is not a bad idea — and it has its own benefits — there are several things you are going to miss with a separate domain:

• The podcast will be seen as if it is a separate entity from the business site.
• From the search engine’s perspective, you can’t leverage the hard-earned inbound links that point to the podcast site (and vice versa) for the benefit of the company beyond an inbound link.
• From the surfer’s perspective, they can’t immediately notice the other sections that the company website has to offer.

Of course, you can make the entire structure visible through the podcast site, but there is no possible way to workaround the second point above.

Unless the podcast is entirely a different endeavor that is unrelated to your existing business, I suggest to host it in the same domain as the main company site. It is not a matter of preference but also for branding, content leverage, and integration.

As to whether to use a sub-domain or entirely new domain or new directory, I would suggest that if you use the same domain, host the podcast in a new directory instead of sub-domain. Why? Because search engines treat sub-domain as a separate entity.

If the site has multiple podcast shows, then perhaps in this situation, it is acceptable to move all podcasts to a new domain, with each podcast into its own directory in the new domain.

Finally, you can always host the audio files only on the new domain but still have the podcast site on the same domain as the company’s site. Enclosures don’t have to reside in the same site as the podcast site or feed. A sub-domain that hosts differently in other server is also acceptable.

The final tip can save you from having to move your company site to the new domain. This is a major timesaver if you already own a pretty complex backend that works on the old hosting account. Just buy a new domain and register it with a hosting package with ample of space and bandwidth transfer, and you are ready to go.

Generally, you can overlook all the considerations here and go on with your own choice. In fact, people don’t care if they see or listen to your podcast on your site, in directories, via direct email downloads, YouTube (for video podcasts) or other services. The more distributed the podcast, the better it is for your business. I presume we all don’t mind for the extra exposure.

Still, if we would like to get the added benefits if we do this “right” from the start. Putting a bit of thought into will be time worth spent.

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