Last Updated: July 25, 2024, as of MereChurch 1.6.6.
Why should my church podcast?
It's simple: more ways to reach your church visitors.
Churches have been blessed with a steady flow original "content" every week, and a podcast is a way to reach your church members, as well as visitors and potential visitors. In short, let's take advantage of this tool, especially when churches are already set up well to succeed. with a frequently-updated podcast.
Podcasts are another way to point back to your website and ultimately, your church.
How do podcasts work?
"A podcast is an digital audio file that’s made available on the internet. Listeners can download the file to their devices or stream it through a listening app. Episodes are typically released as part of a series."
From "What is a podcast?"
Podcast directories, like Apple Podcasts or Google Play Podcasts, are the primary way that visitors discover new podcasts and stay up to date with podcasts that they're subscribed to.
These podcast providers use RSS feeds to update your podcast when your website is updated. In other words, you post content on your website, and you can automatically notify podcast directories via your RSS feed (along with anyone else who's subscribed to the feed in a feed reader).
To submit a podcast to these providers, in other words, you'll need an RSS feed to submit to Apple Podcasts, Google Play Podcasts, and any other directories.
Turning your MereChurch resource library into a podcast (or podcasts!)
As of MereChurch 1.6, it's a cinch to publish one of your Library resource types to a podcast RSS feed. Navigate to your studio > Structure > Resources > Resource Types, and then edit the resource type you're looking to publish (such as 'Sermons'). Check the box reading 'Make this resource type into a podcast?' This will make many more fields appear in your edit screen, like this screenshot below:
These extra fields are required by podcast directory services to properly publish your podcast.
- Podcast Title (required)
- Podcast Subtitle (optional): A short description of your podcast.
- The existing 'Description' field on Resource Types is automatically used as the long description of your podcast.
- Podcast Cover Image: Must be 1:1 square, 1400x1400px to 3000x3000px, .JPG or .PNG file format of 1 Megabyte or less
- Podcast Categories: This is automatically set to the 'Religious' category.
- Website: This is automatically set as your MereChurch URL.
- Provider: This should be the name of your church, and/or your pastor
- Email Address: This is not public: Google Play/Spotify/iTunes need a contact to send notifications to.
- Explicit Content: Google Play/Spotify/iTunes need to know if a podcast contains explicit content or not (Defaults to 'No Explicit Content')
- At least one published episode was an audio file attached.
Apple Podcasts RSS feed requirements
RSS feed guidelines for Google Play Podcasts
The Resource Type page includes three more fields: Google Play/iTunes/Spotify URL fields. These are an extra way to surface your podcast on your website. These links will show up on the archive page for this particular resource type, as well as on any single resources in this resource type.
(You can also include these links directly in your Footer Social Media menu, if you'd like).
Submitting your RSS feed to Podcast Directories
Once you have all the required details, copy the RSS feed URL. You'll need this to submit your podcast to Google Play, iTunes, and other podcast providers.
How to submit your Podcast to Apple Podcasts
How to submit your Podcast to Google Play
How to to Submit a Podcast to Spotify
How can I validate my podcast RSS feed?
We used CastFeedValidator to make sure that our MereChurch feeds are always valid, but you can double-check there to make sure that you have all the required details before submitting.
If you're submitting on Apple Podcasts, you can also use their in-app validator.
Missing some of the required fields may cause your podcast to be denied by a podcast directory. If you believe your podcast was declined for another reason (maybe even if it's our fault!) please reach out to our support line and we can work with you on a case-by-case basis.
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If you still have questions, please feel free to get in touch! We're here to help you with your MereChurch.