Required · Step 7

Build the feed

The RSS document that makes it a podcast.

What this step is

Create the RSS feed: a small XML document that lists your show’s information and every episode. This is the podcast. Everything else points at it.

What must be in it

• Show level: title, description, author, artwork, language, categories, an explicit flag.
• Episode level: title, description, publish date, a link to the audio file with its size and type, and a unique id.
• Optional but worth adding: chapters, transcript links, funding links, and the other Podcasting 2.0 extensions.

How to do it

You do not write this by hand. A feed builder generates and updates it when you add an episode. Hosting services include one; standalone builders let you keep the feed on your own domain.

Tools

Our Ninacast builds and manages the feed and can keep it on your domain. Most hosting services (Transistor, Buzzsprout, Castos) generate one for you.