This tutorial will show you how to create a WordPress audio library or MP3 player using the Document Library Pro plugin. Your visitors will be able to find and play audio tracks directly in a searchable and sortable table. They can play individual audio tracks or even complete audio playlists.
Audio galleries are a popular feature of many websites. There are lots of reasons for wanting to know how to create a filterable music library or audio track directory. You may be a band, artist, composer or musician and want to display your music or sound effects on a single directory page with embedded audio. Maybe you're a CD and want to include a track listing with samples.
You might need to provide samples as part of an audio or music catalogue or directory. Perhaps you're a voiceover artist and want to create an audio track library with examples of your work. Alternatively, your site might feature audio learning materials such as recorded tutorials or lectures, foreign language classes, or podcasts.
Whatever your reason for creating a WordPress audio library, this tutorial will show you how to do it using the Document Library Pro plugin.
The perfect WordPress audio library plugin
The Document Library Pro plugin has everything you need to create a WordPress audio library. While it has 'Document' in the name, it's perfect for listing any type of resource - including audio.
You add your audio files to the WordPress media library (or host it elsewhere, e.g. on Spotify), and the plugin displays them in a searchable table or grid. It contains embedded music tracks or MP3 players which you can listen to directly from the audio library page:
An audio library with a grid layout and embedded media players
It's a really neat way of displaying audio tracks. People can listen to them, play, pause and fast forward directly within the table.
Document Library Pro also works as a WordPress audio playlist plugin. It creates a container for playlists by listing them in a table-like directory structure. You can listen to playlists and navigate between the tracks from the table. People don't have to click through to a separate page to listen to them - it's all on one page.
You can use Document Library Pro to display audio players and playlists created using the audio shortcodes that come with WordPress itself. I'll also share some third party WordPress audio plugins that can be used to display more fancy audio players.
Read on to learn how to create a searchable, filterable WordPress audio library.
Beautiful product! I did a nice filtering and dynamic search for my music library without any strong skills in web development.
What type of audio can you include in a WordPress audio library?
A WordPress audio library with a playlist and 2 individual music players
These days, people use audio files for a huge variety of purposes. The good news is that you can publish any of these in a WP audio library. This includes:
Multiple audio file formatsMP3, WAV, MPEG and more.
Types of audio recordingAudiobooks, bands, choir music, foreign language lessons, karaoke backing tracks, orchestra music, relaxing background music, samples, singles and albums, podcasts, stock music (e.g. corporate background music, royalty free music, sound effects, etc.).
Audio from third party websitesIf you host your audio files externally, that's fine. The WordPress audio library also supports embeds from other platforms such as Mixcloud, ReverbNation, SoundCloud and Spotify.
How to set up your digital WordPress audio library
Now, we get to the tutorial part of this article. Keep reading to learn how to set up a WordPress audio library.
1. Add the audio files to WordPress
To get started, you need a WordPress website with the Document Library Pro plugin installed.
First, you need to add each audio item to WordPress as a 'Document' post. Each 'Document' will appear individually in your front end audio library. You need to do this even if your actual audio files are hosted outside of WordPress.
There are several ways to do this:
Option 1: Add document manuallyGo to Documents → Add New in the WordPress admin and add all the information you want to display about each document. Don't worry about uploading the actual audio file yet - we'll do this in Step 2.
Option 2: Use drag and drop file uploadGo to Documents → Import and drag and drop the audio files into WordPress. Then, go to Documents and manually edit each one as needed. For example, the name will be the same as the filename, and you can change this to make it more user-friendly.
Option 3: Upload from CSVYou can also go to Documents → Import and upload a CSV file. This should contain all the information that you want to display for each audio track, as well as the URL where the audio file is hosted (e.g. in the WordPress Media Library or on another website).
2. Add embedded audio players
The next step is to add an embedded audio player to each of the audio items (i.e. 'Documents') that you added in Step 1. For each one, you can add either a standalone audio track or a full audio playlist.
Initially, we'll use the native WordPress audio and playlist shortcodes. Later, I'll show you how to create even more impressive-looking audio embeds using other plugins which work with the WordPress audio library.
Go to the Documents section of the WordPress admin and click on one of the documents.
Add an audio player to the main content area using one of these methods:
If you plan to store the audio files in the WordPress Media Library, then you should click the 'Add Media' button and upload the file. When you insert it into the document content, WordPress will automatically convert it into a full functional audio player. It must be a valid audio file type such as MP3, AAC, WAV or FLAC.
To embed audio files hosted on Mixcloud, ReverbNation, SoundCloud or Spotify, simply paste the URL into the content area. Again, WordPress will display this as an embedded audio player.
If your audio files are hosted on another third party platform then you need to get an embed code. To add it, go to the 'Text' tab and paste the embed code there.
Click 'Update' to save the document post.
Adding audio to the WordPress Media Library
Adding audio playlists
You can also add complete playlists to the WordPress audio library. If you're planning to treat the entire table as a playlist then you should add each embedded audio track as a separate 'Document' as described above. This would look like this:
An audio playlist with 1 track per row
Alternatively, it's also possible to add actual playlists which appear in a single row of the table like this:
An audio library with an entire playlist in the first row of the table
To add a playlist to one of your 'Documents' - like in the second screenshot above:
Edit the document.
Click 'Add Media'. Instead of adding an individual MP3 file or similar, click 'Create Audio Playlist'. If you can't see this link, it's because you haven't uploaded any audio tracks to your WordPress media library yet. Once you have uploaded some audio tracks, this link will appear.
Select all the audio or music tracks that you want to include in the playlist and click 'Create a New Playlist'.
On the next page, you can add the track name underneath. This will appear on your playlist so make it as descriptive as possible - e.g. the song name. There are also some settings on the right, for example whether to display the artist name.
Finally, click 'Insert Audio Playlist'. WordPress will automatically create and embed your playlist.
Click 'Update'.
Adding an audio playlist using the Classic WordPress editor
3. Create a front end WordPress audio library
Now it's time to list the audio files on the front end of your website so that everyone can see (and hear!) them.
Document Library Pro has already created a main audio library page for you. To find it, go to the Pages section in the WordPress admin and find the page called 'Document Library'. Rename this to something more relevant such as 'Audio Library' (remember to change the permalink too).
View the page and you'll see your audio files listed in a table or grid view with one on each row. However, it may not have the information that you want to display yet.
To customize it to your requirements, go to Documents → Settings. Read through the page and change the settings as needed.
Recommended settings for an audio library
Document Library Pro has over 50 options and you can set it up however you like. In particular, I recommend that you use the following options:
Layout -Choose between a table layout with 1 audio track per row; or a grid layout with a tile for each document (like Netflix).
Content - There are lots of available content types to choose from. For a WordPress audio library, add something like: title, content, excerpt. This will display the title, the content field (which contains your embedded audio player or playlist), and an excerpt (which is useful for showing a brief overview of the audio file). You can rename the columns by adding a colon after each one like this: title: Song, content:Listen Now, excerpt:Description.
Shortcodes - Enable this option. This tells Document Library Pro to display the embedded music players in the main audio library, instead of the unrendered shortcode which WordPress has created behind the scenes.
Links - By default, people can click on the title column to access a separate page for each audio item. The separate page will have the name at the top with the embedded audio player underneath, and any other data you've entered on the right (e.g. the file size). If you don't need these pages then add none to the Links option.
Filters - If you have added categories or tags to your audio items, then add some filter dropdowns so that people can find then more easily.
Lazy load - Enable this if you will be listing lots of audio files. This tells the plugin to load one page of the audio library at a time, speeding up the load times.
4. View the audio library
Your finished audio directory will look something like this:
This has created a professional-looking WordPress audio library listing all your music tracks. You can add as many as you like.
If you have lots or music tracks or audio playlists then the plugin will add pagination buttons at the bottom.
Restyling the audio player
So far, I've shown you how to display the built-in audio and playlist shortcodes in a searchable WordPress audio library.
If you don't like how the basic players look or function, then you can enhance them by adding the free Compact WP Audio Player plugin. This works nicely with Document Library Pro.
Use it to create a very simple audio player, which appears as a small play button in a circle. When you click on the circle, the audio track plays and a pause icon appears within the button instead. If space is at a premium in your WordPress audio library, then this is an ideal plugin to add small audio players.
To display a compact audio player in the audio library, just install the plugin. Next, add the shortcode [sc_embed_player fileurl="URL OF THE MP3 FILE"] to the content field for each document.
Need to add download links?
Some WordPress audio libraries simply embed the audio files on the page, like the examples above. This is very secure because visitors can listen online but can't download the files.
If you want people to be able to download the audio files, then that's fine too. You can add download links, buttons or file type icons. Visitors click on these to download the audio file to their computer.
Go to Documents and click to edit a document.
Find the 'Document Link' option in the top right hand corner. Use it to either select the audio file from the WordPress Media Library, or add the URL where it is hosted on another website.
Go to Documents → Settings and add a 'link' column to your list of columns.
Use the other link-related settings on the page to choose a style for the download links.
This will add a download column to the WordPress audio library.
Need to sell audio online?
If you want to sell audio files in your WordPress audio library then you need an e-commerce plugin. You can sell audio files using either WooCommerce or Easy Digital Downloads.
Either way, you can use our other plugins to list the audio products in a searchable table. Your audio store will look like the other screenshots in this article, but will also have 'Buy' buttons so that people can make purchases.
Selling audio with WooCommerce
The free WooCommerce plugin lets you sell absolutely anything online. Use it with our other plugin, WooCommerce Product Table, to create a searchable audio library.
For example, Dosado used WooCommerce Product Table to sell audio files with embedded music players in the table.
If you only sell digital audio files then you can also sell them using the Easy Digital Downloads (EDD) plugin.
EDD is a bit simpler than WooCommerce because it doesn't have any options you don't need, such as Shipping.
For example, Fascinated Sound use EDD with our Posts Table Pro plugin to sell royalty-free sound effects and music tracks. They list over 600 downloadable audio products in their WordPress audio library.
Each audio download is listed in a table with columns for audio player, title, description, category and add to cart button. You can click on a category in the table to filter by that category. There's also a category filter dropdown above the WordPress audio library.
Customers can listen to each track by clicking on the embedded play buttons. The play buttons were created using the free Compact WP Audio Player plugin, which works perfectly in the audio library.
We love Fascinated Sound's WordPress audio library because it's such a user-friendly way to list and sell music and other audio products.
So now you know how to create an audio library in WordPress. Now it's your turn. Follow the steps in this tutorial to create your own WordPress audio library or music directory. To get started, download Document Library Pro today - it's one of the best WordPress audio plugins around.
Supports all types of audio file.
Aimed at beginners or developers.
Full support and documentation.
Money back guarantee.
Andrew from Next Level Web has been hunting for the best WordPress audio plugin. He has kindly provided this article comparing the best four, with advice on how to choose the best audio plugin for your own website.
Are you looking to add a bit of pizzazz to your website? Do you feel your website needs something to keep visitors a bit more entertained but not sure what? Well, we have an idea for you - how about adding a WordPress audio plugin that allows you to play music on your website?
If you have a WordPress website then you are probably aware that it offers numerous plugins for different purposes. You can easily embed an audio file with a WordPress audio player plugin, allowing users to listen to music as they browse your website.
Now, when it comes to plugins, there are a variety of different plugins that offer you the functionality you need. The case for a WordPress audio plugin is no different, so how do you know which one to opt for? We have tested the most popular WordPress audio player plugins and selected the top four. During our testing, we made sure they were easy to use for site visitors, provided you with customization options, and were easy to setup.
Whether you are a band or would like to add music to your website, you want a WordPress audio player plugin that gives you freedom and allows you to embed audio easily. Document Library Pro does that and more. It is both easy to set up for you and user-friendly for your visitor. This will enhance their overall experience on your website.
This audio plugin works by creating a searchable, filterable table of your audio tracks. Each one appears on its own row in the table, with an embedded audio player plus any other information you want to include. For example, you might want to display data such as song title, album, category, tags, file size, length, artist, etc.
You can either use Document Library Pro on its own with the built-in WordPress audio embeds. Alternatively, you can use it with other WordPress audio player plugins to display more flashy audio players within the table layout.
How to set it up
At your end, you can either use standard WordPress posts or the Documents post type (comes pre-packaged with Document Library Pro) for this purpose. You can create a new post for each audio track that you want to display using the WordPress audio plugin, along with any extra data you wish to display.
You can then easily embed audio files using the standard WordPress functions. The "Add Media" button allows you to upload audio to your audio library. You can easily remove and add songs in your media library.
If you want to add playlists, you have the option of creating playlists for your users to listen to. Once you've done that, Document Library Pro gives you a ton of options to display the music on your website with little to no effort.
At your user’s end, Document Library Pro creates a table containing music players and other information about each track. The user can select songs or playlists to listen to.
Document Library Pro is definitely one of the more user-friendly WordPress audio plugins. It is a popular audio plugin for not only musicians and composers, but also those looking to sell any time of audio online. You can use it with e-commerce plugins such as Easy Digital Downloads (EDD tutorial here). There's even a WooCommerce version of Document Library Pro called WooCommerce Product Table, which is perfect for creating a WooCommerce audio store.
If you plan to sell audio files from your website using WooCommerce, displaying them in structured tables with all relevant details will make this a cakewalk.
For this, you can use the WooCommerce Product Table plugin and start selling audio files from an easy-to-navigate table. Your customers will be able to listen to audio files and add them to their cart from the same page. This way, they do not have to visit each product page to listen to each audio on your store.
If you want to learn how you can integrate WooCommerce with the WooCommerce Product Table plugin and start selling audio files, check out this complete guide on setting up an WooCommerce audio store.
WavePlayer is a robust audio player that is perfect if you want to enhance the default WordPress audio player on your website. It comes with full compatibility with most WordPress plugins, such as Elementor, WooCommerce, and even Document Library Pro, for displaying audio files in tables.
The plugin comes with multiple customization options, such as the option to change the color palette, dark mode, skins, and even the controls. You get access to detailed documentation with this plugin, and you can get started with the plugin in no time.
Compact WP Audio Player is an HTML5 + Flash hybrid based player. You can use this plugin to easily embed mp3 and other audio files on your website and display it on major web browsers.
This WordPress audio plugin works nicely with the Document Library Pro plugin listed above. By using them together, you can show more audio files in the table, each with an embedded compact audio player.
It is easy to manage and a great option for those that want to host podcasts that are updated regularly. It doesn’t really have much of a playlist option. This means it isn't the best option if you want to have albums or a wide variety of media. However, if you like this plugin then you can use Document Library Pro to list multiple tracks, each with their own compact audio player button.
If you are looking for a simple WordPress audio player, with no need for additional functionalities, then Audio Album is a good choice. The player won’t “wow” you in terms of design or anything. However, it is so simple that it easily fits into any website. You can add songs and albums and have different ones on each page if you like this plugin.
Audio Album lets you add the title along with song information to display as the song plays. It supports numerous audio file types from mp3 to wav. You can also link to the audio files to display lyrics or any other information in a popup window. You need to create these popups and can customize the width and height. This means that it doesn’t take away much from your website.
The player itself is easy to use at the user’s end. It displays all the songs available for them to listen to, and they can easily go through them. You do have the option of changing the color of the player, so it easily goes with the theme of your website.
MP3 audio player is an enhanced version of the default WordPress audio shortcode player. It comes with a more intuitive interface for the mp3 player and lets you also display multiple audio files easily in playlists, albums, and podcasts.
The plugin also features an intuitive waveform bar under the audio player powered by WaveSurfer.js. You also get multiple options for displaying the audio player on the website too. You can choose to display the audio files using Elementor, Gutenberg, shortcode, or Javascript API. Moreover, you can also bulk-import audio files to your website and create multiple posts for your mp3 files with just a single click.
Be it audio creators or podcasters, the plugin is suitable for all use cases. You can get the lite version from the WordPress.org repository for free. If you want to learn more about the pro version, you can check here.
AudioIgniter is another popular WordPress audio player plugin that comes with full compatibility to add and showcase audio files on your website. The plugin also allows you to create beautiful playlists and display them in minutes.
It supports more than a dozen audio services, such as Amazon S3, Radiojar, Anchor, and Shoutcast. With its settings and options, you can create and control unlimited playlists and tracks seamlessly and display them in an intuitive, responsive layout. You can also allow your audio listeners to download or purchase tracks from the audio page.
The plugin also has a Pro version that lets you upload audio files in bulk and perform multiple advanced actions related to managing audio tracks and playlists. If you wish to learn more about the Pro version, you can check it out here.
Picking the right WordPress audio plugin isn’t rocket science. You just need to make sure that the plugin is easy to use and will get the most from the audio you display. Any of the four WordPress audio player plugins we've suggested will do just that.
Use all of them with Document Library Pro to list your audio files in a table layout, complete with embedded music players.
Need a WordPress audio playlist plugin to make it easy for your visitors to listen to audio content? In this post, we'll show you how to use the Document Library Pro plugin to create three different styles of audio playlists on your WordPress site.
A WordPress audio playlist plugin is a great solution for:
Podcasts - you can display all your latest episodes in one easy-to-navigate playlist.
Music - visitors can choose between different tracks. Or, you can include multiple playlists on a single page.
An audio library - visitors can search, sort, and filter to find specific audio content.
Portfolios - if you work with audio in any way, you can use the plugin to display your work in a portfolio.
Any other type of audio that you need to display!
Keep reading to find out how to set it up.
Document Library Pro - the best WordPress audio playlist plugin
If you think about it, an audio playlist is really just a table that includes information like:
Track name
Track length
Play/pause button
Etc.
Since Document Library Pro lets you display any resource from your WordPress site in a flexible table, it's perfectly suited to creating an audio playlist on your site. It fully supports music players and audio playlists so that people can listen directly on the main playlist page.
And because Document Library Pro focuses on customization and flexibility, you'll also gain more granular control over your playlist than other WordPress audio playlist plugins. You'll be able to:
Allow users to search, sort, and filter your playlist (if desired).
Control exactly what information displays on your playlist. For example, you can even include a short text description to go along with each audio file.
Display each track as a separate listing to create a single playlist or display multiple separate playlists on a single page.
3 ways to create a music playlist
Before we start, let's talk about what an audio playlist actually looks like. There are 3 options, depending on your requirements:
1. List audio tracks in a table with 1 song per row
Audio playlist - 1 track per row
In the screenshot above, we have a playlist where each track is listed in a separate row of the table. There's a search box above so that people can search for individual tracks within the playlist. They can then listen to each one individually.
2. List playlists in a table with 1 playlist per row
Audio playlist - 1 playlist per row
In the screenshot above, we have a table containing 1 row. This row has an entire playlist in it. You can add as many rows to the table as you like, each one containing a different playlist.
Customers can use the search box above the table to look for specific playlists. They can then listen to the playlist with a single click, and it will play the entire list in sequence.
3. Create a tiled audio playlist
Finally, you can create an audio playlist where each track appears as a separate tile. This option doesn't have auto-play as each track is displayed individually within the grid. However, it's worth considering if you want a more visual display for the playlist.
You can use the follow instructions to create either type of audio playlist.
How to create a WordPress audio playlist
The general process for using Document Library Pro as a WordPress audio playlist plugin goes like this:
Install the plugin.
Add individual audio files or playlists to WordPress.
Display audio playlists anywhere on your site.
Step 1: Install the plugin
We're going to create an audio playlist of audio files which are stored in the WordPress Media Library. As well as being in the Media Library, they will be in the 'Documents' action of the WordPress admin. This makes it easy for you to find and manage them, as well as adding extra information about each one.
Go to the plugin settings page: Documents → Settings. Activate your license key and then go to the 'Document Libraries' tab.
Decide whether to use the table or grid/tiled layout (see the screenshots above to help you decide).
Choose what information you will display your playlist. There are lots of options to choose from. You should probably include the following:
Title - this will show the title of the playlist
Content - this is where you will embed the audio players.
Enable the 'Shortcodes' option. This tells Document Library Pro to display fully functional embedded audio players in the table.
Step 2: Add the audio files that you want to include in your playlist
Now that you've created a custom post type to house your audio tracks, you're ready to actually add the audio tracks that you want to use in your playlist.
As we saw earlier, you can do this in two different ways:
Add a single track to each document post - this will display each audio track as a separate item in your table or grid. This is what you'll want to do most of the time.
Use the core WordPress playlist functionality - this essentially lets you create a "playlist of playlists". For example, you could use this to list multiple albums or multiple podcast series on a single page.
How to add a single track to each post
To add a single track to each post, you can either:
Upload your audio files directly to the WordPress Media Library if you want to self-host your audio files.
Embed an audio file from a third-party platform (e.g. SoundCloud) using the built-in WordPress embed functionality (Add Media → Insert From URL)
Either way, you should add it like this:
Go to Documents → Add New.
Add all the information that you want to display about the playlist. For example, this might include the title, a description, and so on.
In the main content field, click 'Add Media' and upload or link to the audio file. WordPress will then embed this as a proper audio player.
If you also want people to be able to download the audio track, then find the 'Document Link' section, upload the audio file (e.g. an MP3) or add the URL of where it is hosted. (Leave this blank if you don't want to add download links.)
Click 'Publish' and repeat the process for each audio file.
If you're using this method to add multiple playlists, then create a separate category for each one. Later, I'll show you how to create a playlist listing songs from a specific category.
How to create a "playlist of playlists"
You can also embed multiple playlists in a single table or grid. Each cell or tile contains an entire playlist. Here's a reminder of what it would look like with the table layout:
This option uses the native WordPress playlist feature.
Go to Documents → Add New.
Add all the information that you will be displaying about the playlist, such as the title.
Add a playlist to the main content area for the document:
Click the Add Media button.
Click the Create Audio Playlist link on the left-hand side.
This will embed your audio playlist in the main content for the document.
Repeat the above steps so that you have a separate 'document' for each playlist.
Step 3: Display your playlist
Once you've added your audio files and playlists using one of the methods above, you're ready to actually display your playlist on the frontend of your site.
The Document Library Pro plugin has added a page called 'Document Library' to your site. Find this now. (You can rename it to something else like 'Playlists' if you like.)
By default, the page contains the shortcode [doc_library]. It lists all the 'documents' (i.e. audio files or playlists) that you added in Step 2.
The audio playlist will use the options that you choose in Step 1. Go back to the plugin settings page and tweak these as needed.
You can add the shortcode multiple times - either to the same page, or to different pages on your WordPress site. Add options to each shortcode so that each table or grid contains different items. For example, you might create a different audio playlist for each category.
If you don't like how the core WordPress audio player looks or functions, Document Library Pro is compatible with many other audio player plugins to allow you to customize how your audio playlist functions.
Some good options are:
mb.miniAudioPlayer - more minimalist than the core player. It only expands when a user hits the play button.
Start using this WordPress audio playlist plugin today!
By using Document Library Pro as a WordPress audio playlist plugin, you gain the ability to control exactly what information displays in your playlist, as well as how your visitors can interact with your playlist in terms of searching, filtering, pagination, and more. Visit the audio playlist plugin knowledge base to see all the options and how to use them.
Whether you're creating a playlist of individual audio tracks or a "playlist of playlists", Document Library Pro is the perfect tool for the job.
Have any other questions about how to use this WordPress audio playlist plugin? Leave a comment and we'll do our best to help you out!
Discover the best WordPress podcast hosting options to build your listener base, and how to set them up.
Podcasts have never been more popular, and for good reason: they're highly engaging, and a great way to draw attention to your business, sell your products, and earn money through advertising – but they also take a good deal of work to create. You need microphones, audio editing, and podcast hosting. It's easy to focus on the first two on this list, but quality WordPress podcast hosting is going to let you take your podcast to the next level.
In this article, I’m going to tell you why it’s important to choose the best WordPress podcast hosting option which will give you maximum exposure. We’ll talk about why it can be a great idea to host podcasts on your WordPress website. I’ll also show you how to display them more effectively in a way that keeps your podcast episodes evergreen so that people can continue to find and enjoy them long after they’re published. We’ll do this using the Posts Table Pro WordPress plugin, which is perfect for displaying podcast episodes and playlists in a searchable, filterable table.
Use the Posts Table Pro plugin to create a searchable table of podcast episodes
Why does podcast hosting matter?
Choosing the right podcast hosting platform can make all the difference in the success of your podcast. While microphones and audio editing software are important, podcast hosting is equally crucial. A quality podcast hosting platform will enable you to upload and share your podcast episodes easily and ensure that your listeners can access them quickly and without interruption.
The right podcast hosting platform can also provide advanced features and tools to help you grow your audience, such as analytics to track listener behavior and preferences, as well as built-in marketing and promotion tools. It can also give you full control and ownership over your podcast content, allowing you to decide how and where it is distributed.
Therefore, it's important to invest in a reliable podcast hosting platform that can offer fast and secure hosting services for your listeners and help you grow your audience and monetize your content. Without a good podcast hosting platform, your podcast may not be able to reach its full potential, and you may miss out on valuable opportunities to engage with your listeners and grow your brand.
Self hosted WordPress podcast hosting vs managed hosting
When it comes to podcast hosting, there are two primary options available: self-hosted WordPress podcast hosting and managed hosting. Both options have their own pros and cons, and understanding the differences between them is crucial for choosing the best hosting solution for your podcast.
Self-hosted WordPress hosting means that you are responsible for hosting and maintaining your own website and podcast. This means that you will need to purchase your own web hosting plan and install WordPress on your own server. You will also need to install and configure podcasting WordPress plugins, such as Seriously Simple Podcasting or PowerPress, to manage your podcast content. This option gives you complete control over your website and podcast, but it also requires technical knowledge and can be time-consuming to set up and maintain.
Managed hosting, on the other hand, is a hosting service where the hosting provider takes care of all technical aspects of hosting and maintaining your website, including security, backups, updates, and optimization. Managed hosting services often include a range of additional features and services, such as automatic updates, and advanced caching. This option is ideal for podcasters who want a hassle-free hosting experience and do not have the technical knowledge or time to manage their own hosting.
Why is self hosted WordPress podcast hosting better?
Self hosted WordPress podcast hosting can be a better option for several reasons. First, it gives you full control over your podcast and website. You have the freedom to customize your site as you wish and can choose which plugins and tools to use to manage your podcast content. This flexibility is particularly useful if you have specific design or functionality requirements.
Another advantage of self hosted WordPress podcast hosting is that you have complete ownership and control over your data. You are not reliant on a third-party hosting service to store and manage your content, which means you can back up and restore your data at any time.
A self hosted podcast also offers greater scalability, as you are not limited by the storage or bandwidth restrictions of a managed hosting service. This means you can upload and share as much content as you need, without worrying about running out of space or exceeding your monthly bandwidth allowance.
Getting started with WordPress as a podcast hosting platform
If you are looking to create a successful podcast, one of the most important decisions you will make is choosing the right hosting platform. While there are many hosting options available, WordPress stands out as a great choice for podcasters.
WordPress for podcast hosting is that it is highly customizable. With WordPress, you can choose from a wide range of themes and plugins to create a unique and professional-looking podcast website. You can also customize your site's design and functionality to meet the specific needs of your podcast and your audience.
In this post, we will provide you with a comprehensive guide on how to use WordPress as your podcast hosting platform. You will learn how to create a filterable and sortable database for your podcast episodes, as well as easily navigable archives, analytics, and email signup forms on your self hosted WordPress website. Additionally, we will cover how to keep your listeners engaged by automatically sending them new episodes via email.
Our step-by-step guide covers all you need to know about getting your podcast working, including:
Getting a WordPress website online.
Adding podcast episodes to your site using the Seriously Simple Podcasting WordPress plugin.
How to list podcast episodes in an archive using the Posts Table Pro plugin.
Submitting your podcast to iTunes, measuring its success with analytics, and turning listeners into subscribers with an email newsletter signup + auto sending of new episodes.
We'll keep costs to a minimum here: you'll need to pay for WordPress hosting (and a domain name, if you need one) and the Posts Table Pro plugin for podcast archives, but that'll be it. You can get a head start by getting Posts Table Pro right away.
Back when it was hard to get high-quality hosting at reasonable prices, hosting companies would get a bit huffy about the large amounts of data transferred by podcasters' audio files. Because of this, it might have made more sense to subscribe to an all-in-one podcast hosting service. Compared to a website with just text and a few images, podcasts do use more data.
Thankfully, we now have ready access to super fast, reliable hosting, so the data transfer issue is becoming increasingly irrelevant. For most, going the self hosted podcast route is now by far the most beneficial.
By choosing the open source software, WordPress, rather than a traditional podcast hosting service, you'll maintain complete ownership over your podcast content. You'll also be able to maintain a core focus for your podcast marketing, with a central point to direct social media and search engine traffic to, a place to analyze listener numbers and engagement, and the option to hook listeners or advertise in whichever way fits your business model.
Overall, it's just much more flexible.
To get started, all you need is:
A domain name
A WordPress hosting plan
A WordPress theme
If you already have a WordPress website up and running, skip ahead in one section, to add your podcast episodes to WordPress.
If you don't already have a website ready to go, read on. Here are the three steps you need:
1. Domain name
Firstly, you'll need a domain name so people can find your website and podcast easily. If you have a domain name already, you'll simply need to direct it to your WordPress hosting. If not, you can pick one up for a few dollars through a domain name provider, such as NameCheap. You should pick a domain name that matches either your brand or your podcast name (Domain Wheel is great for generating ideas).
2. WordPress hosting plan
We've previously discussed in detail how to choose a host for your WordPress website. For the purposes of hosting your podcast, we recommend getting started with some robust managed hosting, such as that offered by WP Engine.
WP Engine specializes in WordPress hosting, offers exceptional support, and has useful tools you can access directly from your WordPress dashboard.
The other benefit of using a WordPress hosting specialist like WP Engine is that all the work of installing WordPress is done for you. That means you'll be able to get on with the important business of designing your website and getting your podcast online.
3. WordPress theme
There are thousands of free and premium themes available in the WordPress theme directory – you can search and install these from your WordPress Dashboard by going to Appearance → Themes → Add New. One of the recent (free) themes which are included in all WordPress installations (the Twenty Something series) would be a convenient starting point. You can always change your theme later.
Make your own podcast hosting: Add podcast episodes to WordPress
Now you have your WordPress website ready, the next step is to upload and organize your podcast files.
There are a couple of ways you can go about uploading your podcast. The less desirable option is to add your media files directly to a post or page on your WordPress site. This will work fine in that people will be able to access your podcast on your website. However, it makes it tricky to measure your podcast's success, and even trickier to get the formatting correct for submitting to iTunes.
To solve these issues you can create a specific custom post type to make sure all the information is in the right place. Instead of reinventing the wheel, we recommend taking the quicker, easier (and free) alternative, which is to use a plugin that does exactly what you need it to.
Creates a custom post type automatically, so it's easy to upload, assign metadata and manage your podcast files in one place from your WordPress website
Supports both audio and video podcasts
Pairs with extensions, including one that lets you analyze podcast usage stats
Formats your podcasts ready for submission to iTunes
First up, you'll need to add this plugin to your WordPress site. Go to Plugins → Add New and search 'Seriously Simple Podcasting'. Click Install Now then click Activate.
Starting to use Seriously Simple Podcasting
Once installed, the Podcast menu item is added to the sidebar in your WordPress Dashboard, and a new custom post type podcast is created:
If you're going to group your podcast episodes by series, you'll need to create a series category.
To do this, go to Podcast → Series. Fill out the fields to give your first series a name (e.g. Series one) and, optionally, a description. Click Add New Series.
Go ahead and create another series (or multiple other series) if you have more podcast series ready to upload.
Add podcast episodes to your WordPress podcast hosting
Next up, you'll want to start adding your podcast episodes to the site.
Head over to Podcast → Add New. Just like you would do with a new blog post, you'll need to give your podcast episode a title. I've called this example 'First ever podcast episode':
If you like, you can include a full description or transcript of your podcast episode in the content box just under the title in the editor. And, if relevant, you can select which series the podcast belongs to on the righthand side of the editor. You can also add any relevant tags to each episode. We'll show you listeners can filter your podcast episodes by these taxonomies later on.
If you then scroll down, you'll find the Podcast Episode Details box. Here is where you'll upload your first podcast episode.
Checklist of steps for adding each podcast episode
These are the steps you need to run through for each episode:
Select whether you're uploading an Audio or Video file, click Upload File, upload your first podcast file, then click Select.
You can manually add the duration and file size, or leave these fields blank to auto-calculate.
Add in the date recorded so listeners will know how old or new your podcast is.
If necessary, there's also the option to mark specific episodes as explicit or choose to block them from appearing in any external podcast libraries to you submit your podcast.
It's a good idea to add a summary of the episode in the Excerpt box as we can display this later in our searchable podcast library.
Add your podcast's series and any relevant tags. Users will be able to use these to quickly filter the episodes they want.
Hit Publish and your first podcast is ready to go!
Add in any remaining podcast episodes, by going to Podcast → Add New again and repeating the steps above.
Once you've added all your episodes, it's time to display them nicely on your website. Next, we'll cover how to enhance your self hosted WordPress podcast hosting, by creating a sortable podcast archive that can display your latest episodes in a convenient format.
How to list podcast episodes in an archive: quickly find episodes
Your website needs to be an easy place for visitors to listen to your podcast. Visitors should be able to find episodes they're interested in, easily listen to them, and sort through your archives. This section will show you how to list podcast episodes on your WordPress site.
Seriously Simple Podcasting lets you display your most recent podcasts, but just displaying a long list of podcasts in the order of newest to oldest isn't always the most helpful – especially if you're trying to engage new listeners or those who have missed a few episodes.
A better solution is to create a library of your podcasts by displaying them in a sortable and searchable table. This will let your listeners quickly sort through episodes, conveniently listen to them, and makes everything extremely simple for you.
The Posts Table Pro plugin can pull in all the information you've already added using Super Simple Podcasting. It uses this information to autogenerate your podcast library, in a sortable, filterable, and searchable list. This is the perfect format for podcast archives.
Plus, each time you add a new episode to your website, Posts Table Pro will update your library automatically :)
WordPress podcast hosting is superior :)
The animated screenshot above shows this in action. Note how listeners can even conveniently filter by podcast series!
In addition to the benefits mentioned already – listeners can search all your podcast episodes in one place, easily find the episode(s) they're looking for by sorting the table or filtering by series or tags, and listen to episodes directly from your podcast library – you can even add newsletter signups to this page in order to keep listeners hooked, which we'll cover after this section.
Your purchase will include instructions on installation and setup. Once installed, decide whereabouts on your website you'd like to display your podcast library. This might be on your home page, or on a separate podcasts page. In this example, we'll be putting our podcast on a homepage.
How to create your sortable table
When you've chosen where to display your podcasts, generating your podcast library is simple. Upon installing the plugin, an automatic setup wizard will initiate and provide a comprehensive guide to creating your first table.
The instructions below will describe each step involved in creating a table.
Choose a name for the library and select the post type you want to display. Here we're displaying the custom post type podcast.
Select the posts or podcast episodes to include in your library.
Customize the columns you want to display in your table by selecting which columns to add and in what order. You can also rename or hide column names and remove columns as needed. I suggest adding a column for episode date, title and listen now.
Add filters. will set your table to be filterable by the podcast series, as shown in the example below. You can also add filters like tags and categories.
Customize the sorting options for your table, including the default sorting option and the sort direction
Display your podcast library
Once you have completed creating your table with the Post Table Pro plugin, the setup wizard will confirm that you are finished and provide instructions for inserting the table onto your website. By choosing one of these two options, you can easily add your table to your website and make it accessible to your visitors.
Use the "Post Table" block in the Gutenberg editor.
Copy the shortcode from the table builder and paste it anywhere on your site. This option gives you the flexibility to place the table on any page, regardless of its content.
Ready to publish your podcast
When you're done making your library look great, click Publish and the page will publicly display the table with your podcasts. Nice work! Visitors can now easily find your entire archive of podcasts, and you've made a fantastic self hosted podcast solution.
Now your WordPress podcast hosting is all setup and your podcasts are beautifully displayed on your website, you're ready to get promoted and grow your podcast further.
This section will show you three advanced next steps you can take, two of which you can only do because you've chosen to self host your WordPress podcast hosting. We'll show you how to submit your podcast to iTunes, how to set up podcast analytics, and how to add an email signup box in order to convert listeners into long-time subscribers.
Submit podcast episodes directly to iTunes from WordPress
To increase your audience reach, you need to submit your podcast to iTunes.
Yet another useful feature of the Seriously Simple Podcasting WordPress plugin, is that it organizes your podcast episodes in an iTunes-friendly format. Once you've uploaded your episodes to your WordPress website, you're almost ready to submit them all in one go to iTunes.
Before you do, you'll just need to go to Podcast →Settings → Feed details and upload a Cover Image for your podcast.
Once you've done that, to submit your podcast to iTunes, simply go to Apple's podcast submission page and sign in using your Apple ID (or create one if you don't have one already).
The Seriously Simple Podcasting plugin will autogenerate a URL for your podcast. You can find this in your WordPress Dashboard by going to Podcast → Settings →Publishing.
The URL you need is the Complete feed and will be something similar to https://yourwebsite.com/feed/podcast
Copy and paste your Complete feed URL into the box on the iTunes submission website and click Validate:
You'll then see a preview of how your podcast will appear on iTunes.
Once iTunes is happy your podcast meets the requirements, and you're happy with how everything looks, click Submit.
Podcasts can take up to 10 days to make their way through the iTunes approval process but are often processed much faster than that. Once complete, you'll be able to see your podcast in iTunes – alongside the best podcasts in the world.
While you're waiting for your podcast to be approved on iTunes, it's worth getting your analytics set up too. We'll look at these next.
Podcast analytics
If you want to successfully grow your podcast audience, it's important to keep track of how many listeners you have, and how they're consuming your podcasts.
There is a multitude of analytics tools out there, but seeing as we've already installed Seriously Simple Podcasting, let's go ahead and use their add-on plugin, Seriously Simple Stats.
Just like the name suggests, this plugin is seriously easy to use and ideally suited to measuring the success of your podcast.
Among other things, it can measure where people are listening to your podcast (e.g. iTunes, your website, or via a download), how many listeners you have, and what your most popular episodes are.
This is all vital information you can use to optimize future podcasts, source sponsorship, and boost advertising revenue.
You can download Seriously Simple Stats free from the WordPress plugin directory. Go to Plugins → Add New then search "Seriously Simple Stats". Click Install Now then click Activate.
You can access Seriously Simple Stats right from your WordPress dashboard, head to Podcast → Stats. Your stats will start showing up here over the coming days.
The industry secret is podcast stats are horribly unreliable: keep in mind that a download to your podcast isn't necessarily a listen to your podcast. My podcast app, for example, downloads the latest episode of my favorite podcasts every week. I don't necessarily listen to them, and if I do listen, I don't necessarily listen all the way through.
Don't be disheartened by this; given podcasts are downloaded and listened to separately, there's no prospect of fixing this in the short term. What you can do, however, is keep your listeners hooked by connecting with them in your email inboxand your podcast app. We'll cover how to handle this next.
Collect email subscribers for your podcast using MailChimp
Don’t miss out on turning one-off listeners into long-term subscribers! Getting inside your listeners' email and their podcast app is a great way of ensuring listeners know about the latest episodes, and what you're doing, and are excited about the podcast in the long term.
We'll let you collect email subscribers by adding an email subscription box to your podcast page using MailChimp and the MailChimp for WordPress plugin. This is a major benefit of handling your WordPress podcast hosting yourself.
First, sign up for a free MailChimp account if you don’t already have one. The free account lets you have up to 2,000 subscribers, which is plenty to be started with.
Next, add the MailChimp for WordPress plugin to your site:in your WordPress Dashboard, go to Plugins → Add New, then search "MailChimp for WordPress plugin". Click Install Now then click Activate.
You’ll need to pair this plugin with MailChimp. From the Dashboard, head to MailChimp for WP→ MailChimp, and click Get your API key here. Copy your API key from MailChimp and go back to MailChimp for WP→ MailChimp. Paste the key into the API Key box and click Save Changes.
Once connected, you’ll also need to create a new list in MailChimp to start collecting email subscribers. From MailChimp, go to Lists→ Create List→ Create List, and fill out the details.
Add your email signup form to WordPress
Next, create the signup form for your website. From your WordPress Dashboard, go to MailChimp for WP→ Form, give your form a title, select the MailChimp list you want subscribers to be added to then click Add new form.
The plugin will generate a shortcode for your form. Click Get shortcode, copy the shortcode, and paste it on your podcast library page so listeners can easily subscribe to future episodes:
You'll be collecting podcast subscribers in no time! Hooray! You know, however, need to be emailing new episodes out to your subscribers. You can automate this by connecting your podcast RSS feed to Mailchimp. Our popular tutorial on how tocreate an RSS-Driven Campaign in MailChimp shows you how to do this, and take a step out of your podcast email setup.
Best practices for podcast SEO on WordPress
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is crucial for any website or content to gain visibility on search engines such as Google. It involves optimizing your website's content to make it easier for search engines to crawl and index, and ultimately rank it higher in search results. Similarly, optimizing your podcast for SEO can help it reach a wider audience and increase its visibility.
Tips for optimizing your podcast for search engines
Use descriptive titles and descriptions: Make sure to use descriptive titles and descriptions that accurately reflect the content of your podcast episodes. This will help search engines understand what your podcast is about and display it in relevant search results.
Include relevant keywords: Identify relevant keywords and incorporate them naturally into your titles, descriptions, and episode summaries. However, avoid keyword stuffing, which can negatively impact your SEO.
Use transcripts: Transcripts of your podcast episodes can be helpful for SEO as they provide search engines with text to crawl and index. They also make your content more accessible to those who may prefer to read or skim content rather than listen to an entire episode.
Optimize your website's metadata: Ensure that your website's metadata, such as titles and descriptions, are optimized for SEO. This can help your website rank higher in search results, which can indirectly help your podcast gain more visibility.
Use internal linking: Internal linking, or linking to other relevant content within your website, can help improve your website's overall SEO. By linking to other relevant content, you can also help search engines understand the context and relevance of your podcast.
Troubleshooting common WordPress podcast hosting issues
Even with the best WordPress podcast hosting, issues can sometimes arise. Here are some common issues you may encounter and how to troubleshoot them:
Slow website performance
Slow website performance can lead to a poor user experience and may cause visitors to leave your site. This issue can be caused by a number of factors, such as poorly optimized images, an outdated WordPress version, or a plugin conflict.
To troubleshoot slow website performance, you can use tools like Google PageSpeed Insights or GTmetrix to analyze your website's speed and identify areas for improvement. You can also try optimizing your images by compressing them and resizing them to the appropriate dimensions. Updating WordPress and plugins to their latest versions can also improve website performance.
Audio file playback issues
Audio file playback issues can be frustrating for listeners and may cause them to stop listening to your podcast. These issues can be caused by incorrect file formatting or encoding, insufficient bandwidth, or compatibility issues with the podcast player.
To troubleshoot audio file playback issues, make sure that your audio files are in the correct format (usually MP3) and encoded at the appropriate bitrate. Check your web hosting plan to ensure that you have sufficient bandwidth to handle podcast downloads and playback. You can also test your podcast on different podcast players to ensure compatibility.
RSS feed issues
RSS feed issues can prevent your podcast from being distributed to popular podcast platforms like Apple Podcasts and Spotify. These issues can be caused by incorrect RSS feed formatting, missing or incorrect tags, or a plugin conflict.
To troubleshoot RSS feed issues, use a tool like Cast Feed Validator to analyze your RSS feed and identify any formatting errors. Ensure that your RSS feed includes all the necessary tags, such as title, description, and artwork. If you are using a podcast plugin, try disabling it to see if it is causing the issue.
Self podcast hosting is easy! Now you're ready to go
Choosing to manage WordPress podcast hosting yourself is remarkably easy, and this tutorial has shown you everything you need to know. We've shown you how to set up WordPress, add the podcast, and then make use of features you can only get if you self host your podcast, including a sortable archives page, and effective email signups.
Just to recap, here are the main steps needed to host your own podcast using WordPress:
Set up a WordPress website – with managed hosting and a simple theme.
Customize your searchable podcast library using the table builder.
Power up your podcast by submitting it to iTunes right from your website, and monitoring your analytics using Seriously Simple Stats.
Automatically email your podcast subscribers with new episodes.
Now you have the equipment to make your podcast and your website can delight listeners.
Please let us know how your self-hosted podcast library is working for you. We can't wait to see the clever things you do with it!
We've been busy improving all our WordPress plugins. Here's a roundup of the new features now available in Posts Table Pro, our popular tables in WordPress plugin.
These new developments are very exciting and let you create tables in WordPress in new ways that weren't possible before. The amazing thing about Posts Table Pro is that it has so many possible uses. Previously, it was popular for various types of tables in WordPress such as website indexes and tables of contents, publications lists or document libraries and WordPress member directories (or other types of directory). The new features make it ideal for many more types of tables such as table-based WordPress video galleries, event listings, audio libraries and playlists.
Play audio tracks directly from a WordPress table
We've added support for audio files embedded using the built-in WordPress audio embed shortcode. This means that your tables in WordPress can include actual audio players which can be listened to directly in the table. People can listen to your audio tracks directly from the WordPress table, without having to click through to the single post/page. This lets you create a table of audio listings, for example for a musician or band website.
To add an audio file to display to a table in WordPress, upload your file to the page or post using the Add Media button. You can add it to the main content or the excerpt. WordPress will automatically create a shortcode to embed the audio player into your page or post. You can then tell the table plugin to render the shortcode in the table by adding shortcodes="true" (see knowledge base).
You can see a table in WordPress with audio embeds in action on our new Audio and Video Gallery demo page.
Watch video directly from the tables in WordPress
As with audio tracks, the Posts Table Pro plugin now supports embedded WordPress video. Your visitors can watch videos directly from your tables in WordPress, without having to click to a separate page or third party site.
There are 2 ways to add videos which can be displayed in the WordPress table:
Type the URL of the video from YouTube, Vimeo or similar and WordPress will automatically embed it into your page/post and display in your table
Either way, you can set up Posts Table Pro to display videos in your tables in WordPress by adding shortcodes="true" (see knowledge base).
You can see a WordPress table with embedded video in action on our new Audio and Video Gallery demo page.
Watch & listen to playlists in a WordPress table
As well as individual audio and video files, you can use WordPress' embedded audio and video playlists to display whole playlists in the table. This is perfect for video websites and featuring CD's with track listings. Your visitors can listen to entire playlists or a specific track directly from your tables in WordPress.
New filters above the table
We've had many requests for this feature so we're pleased to announce that you can now add search filters (dropdown lists) above your tables in WordPress. These let you filter by category, tag, author name or custom taxonomy (depending on which columns you have included).
Simply add filters=true to your shortcode to enable the filters above the table. You can see these WordPress table filters in action on the main plugin demo.
We've also added a reset button next to the search box which clears the current search and resets the drop-down filters for the table.
More control over your WordPress table elements
There are also new options that let you control the elements that appear above the below the table in WordPress. This lets you change the positioning of the 'Show X entries' section, the search box, the 'Showing X of X entries' text and the pagination buttons.
You can choose whether to show or hide these, or to display them above or below the table.
Display shortcodes in your tables in WordPress
There's now an option to display content generated by shortcodes in your WordPress table, in either the content or the excerpt column.
We've also fixed more bugs and made other minor improvements. As always, if you have any feedback or suggestions on how the Posts Table Pro plugin could help you create even better tables in WordPress, please get in touch.
That's all for now! We hope you like the new version of Posts Table Pro. If you haven't bought the plugin yet, it's available here. And if you like it enough to recommend, earn 30% commission for doing so as a Barn2 Media affiliate!
The free WooCommerce plugin lets you sell absolutely anything online. Use it with our other plugin, WooCommerce Product Table, to create a searchable audio library.
