Last week, we told you about the great marketing opportunity with starting a podcast. This week, we’re showing you how to start a podcast step-by-step. It may cost a little money, but sharing a podcast for free can transform your business and build a highly engaged audience. Podcasts can lead to opportunities, like speaking engagements and networking. Here are the 5 steps to take to create and market your podcast:

Choose your genre—Beyond figuring out the content, you should focus on the unique position of your podcast. Think about the overall feel and brand of the show. Choose between the 5 most common genres of podcasts: Interview, News, Q&A, Expert-based and Comedy.

Determine your audience—Now, you need to pinpoint your messaging and define specifically who your audience is. This will give you a strong direction and attract a particular audience. Podcasts are usually very specialized, so don’t be afraid talk about a focused topic.

Start recording—Time to get down to business and start recording. Here, you may need to invest in some equipment. Go to your local computer store and ask about recording and editing software, as well as microphones, cables, overhead broadcast booms and other equipment.

Set up your website—Almost done! This is step is crucial--every podcast needs to live on a website. Always craft your call-to-action to direct listeners to your website to find more information or get in contact. This will help create a community around your podcasts. Stream your podcast on your website and allow for comments.

Submit to iTunes—Once you’ve recorded a few episodes, go ahead and submit your podcast to iTunes. It usually takes about 48 to 96 hours to be approved. Make sure to consistently create rich episodes, full of content, and upload them to iTunes.