You want to launch a podcast, and in the past, I've talked about how there are 27 steps to launch a podcast (you might want to read that first). Today I want to cover this episode from a new angle and address some of the mistakes I am seeing on episode 636 of the School of Podcasting. If you missed the previous list it was Step 1: Pick Your Topic Step 2: Decide if you're podcasting solo or with cohost(s). Step 3: Pick how you will podcast. Step 4: Pick where will you podcast? Step 5: Pick a name. Step 6. Buy the Hardware Step 7. Buy Software Step 8 is purchasing web hosting Step 9 is installing WordPress Step 10 is to get your WordPress installation ready to podcast Step 11 is making your website look good. 12. Domain Name 13. Graphics 14. Intro Music. (optional) 15.  Media Hosting (for your mp3 files) 16. Organize Your Content 17. Record Your Content 18. Edit Your Content 19.  Assemble Your Episode 20. Add ID3 Tags 21. Upload your media 22. Write Your Show Notes 23. Copy the Media URL and Paste It Into Your Post (optional) 24. Click Publish 25. Set Up Tags for iTunes 26> Make Sure your Feed is Valid 27. Submit Your Podcast to Apple Podcasts What is the Goal of Your Podcast? You need to know this. How will know if it's successful? Is it a certain number of downloads? Is it a certain number of sales? Is it to position you as an expert? Does Your Podcast Move You Toward Your Goal? So if the goal of your show is to help build an email list, did you remember to tell people about your list. If it's to build your consulting clients, did you mention you are available for consulting? Has Someone Who Is Your Target Audience Given You Honest Feedback? Have You Checked to See If You Are Unique? There are at least five shows named "outside the box", and six shows named, "The Feed." If you name your show identical to another show, not only may you be opening the door to legal action, but these people have a head start and you will have a hard time ranking for that phrase. What you NEED to Launch a Podcast Artwork: The artwork is SQUARE with a minimum dimension of 1400X1400 and a maximum dimension of 3000X3000. The FILE SIZE needs to be less than 500 kb. Failure to meet these specifications can get you rejected, and cause your show not to update, and in some cases get removed from Apple. A Valid RSS feed. That feed will have a description of your show. Along with the author/hosts(s) of the show, categories, and an email address. This is typically entered into your media host (more on that later) or whatever tool you are using to create an RSS feed A media host. I was a Libsyn customer for 10 years before being a customer, but I feel Libsyn.com is the best. For other thoughts on podcast media hosting see this post A quick note: Stay away from Anchor or any other free media hosts. I've seen multiple attempts at free media hosting over the years and it always ends badly One published episode. You can't upload a bunch of episodes as drafts, submit your show to Apple and other directories, and the flip a switch.  While many people will tell you to launch with 3, 4, 10, 30 episodes, I'm here to tell you that you can launch with as many as you want (please note they DO NOT automatically download when someone subscribes, your audience needs to manually download them) but you only NEED one. The Podcast Launch Schedule I see so many people picking a launch date and then trying to fit their podcast into it. This is like picking a time for Thanksgiving dinner and you've never cooked a turkey before. You need to have a knowledge of how long it takes to cook the bird, and likewise, you wouldn't call everyone to the table if the meal wasn't done. They would all come running to the table and ask, "Hey, where's the food?" I spent last week with Rob Walch the VP of Podcaster Relations at Libsyn.com (the oldest, largest podcast media hosting company - get a free month using the coupon code sopfree ) and he recommended to start submitting your show to