Summary: When you're launching a podcast, one of the big considerations early on is whether or not you should have a website. Easy answer: yes, you should have a website. Certainly, there are podcast hosting services, such as SoundCloud, that give you a space to post your audio, some text and maybe photos, but you should really have your own domain, a place to keep all your stuff and where you can send people. Having a website is important, very important, but it's not the most important thing to concentrate on when you start out. Figure out what your podcast is, how you're going to produce audio and what stories you're going to tell. Put your energies there. Somewhere in that mix, though, build a website. Eventually, as your podcast grows, the website will play a bigger role in promotion, monetization and interacting with your listeners. But in the beginning, keep it simple. Cesar Abeid works for Automatic, the company behind WordPress.com (http://wordpress.com), which many podcasters use for their websites. WordPress sites are easy to launch and maintain and are well-supported. It's All Journalism (http://www.itsalljournalism.com) is a WordPress website. I interviewed Abeid at the 2016 Podcast Movement (http://podcastmovement.com) conference in Chicago. We discussed the importance of having a website for your podcast. We also talk about his Abeid's own podcast, Project Management for the Masses (http://pmforthemasses.com). — Michael O'Connell (mailto:moconnell207@gmail.com)
