Over the past several weeks, Amy and I have been working on launching the Break the Twitch podcast around minimizing distractions and doing more of what matters. The process of starting a podcast was completely new to us, and we’ve learned quite a bit along the way.

We’d like to share some things to consider when starting a podcast.

1 / Name

We debated back and forth on this one for awhile. The obvious choice was to just call it the Break the Twitch Podcast, but because this will be an ongoing project, we wanted to explore all options.

While the Break the Twitch name is catchy, it’s in the negative rather than the positive. I prefer things in the positive, so we had to at least consider what names might be in the positive. The other issue is the word “the” in the middle. This makes it harder to find “Break the Twitch” when typing in to a search engine or field. When typing out “Break the” the full name often doesn’t show up as a suggestion. If you’re trying to come up with a new name, it’s better to choose one that’s attention-grabbing, but also search engine friendly.

So we considered a few new names, such as On Doing, which was a play on On Being—a wonderful podcast by Krista Tippett. It seemed fitting since Break the Twitch is so heavily focused on the doing, doing more of what matters. But we didn’t want the podcast to seem like a knockoff. We also considered the name, Breakthrough, which is a series of mini documentaries we’ve done on people who are doing interesting things.

Ultimately, we decided to keep the name of the podcast as Break the Twitch, focused on the same topics of minimalism, habits and creativity to do more of what matters. The primary reason? Minimalism. Keeping it all under one website, brand and channel name for simplicity and efficiency.

Once you’ve decided on a podcast name, I’d recommend using this tool and hosting provider to secure the domain name or see what website names are available.

2 / Frequency

In discussing frequency of the podcast, we landed on a weekly podcast that would be split into seasons. There will be two seasons per year (at least starting out), with around 12 episodes per season. We decided on this so we would have time to work on other BTT projects and to produce the best podcast episodes possible.

3 / Format

When starting a podcast, it’s key to decide what format and style it will have. There are narrative-style podcasts that tend to be highly produced—like Serial and StartUp Podcast. There are also more conversational, interview-style podcasts. We knew from the get-go that a more conversational style was what we wanted to make. We wanted to feature and interview people from all walks of life, speaking candidly about their experiences and learnings around doing more of what matters.

We’d love for you to have a part in the format and conversation topics as well!

At the end of each episode, each podcast guest will select and answer a question that’s been left behind from previous podcast guests and questions from members of the BTT family. So if you have any questions you’d like to hear on the podcast, leave a question in the comments or send us a note!

4 / Cover art

Of course, there’s also the cover art for the podcast. A podcast cover should stand out and be easy to read among all the other podcasts out there. Easy to read is important since most of the time, the thumbnail of the podcast is quite small to the viewer. With keeping the name of the podcast the same, this one was easy. I kept it simple and bold with the same brand colors and fonts. Check it out below.

5 / Audio Signature

While you don’t need to make your own audio signature, it’s good to have a consistent soundbite about 10 to 15 seconds long for people to identify with your podcast. I wanted to make something unique and fresh specifically for the podcast show. When making the audio signature, I combined two elements: the original Break the Twitch jingle and boogie-woogie (what I grew up playing). I loved the end result; you can hear it for yourself in this episode at around 1:38.

The considerations above were just part of the process in starting a podcast. Coming up in part two of launching a podcast, we’ll share the more technical and admittedly more challenging considerations—the equipment, platforms and hosting. Stay tuned for more and subscribe below to the Break the Twitch podcast, officially launching with episode 001 on July 25!

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