Getting into the podcasting business can be a little complicated. Recording entertaining content, writing SEO-friendly shownotes for each episode, designing a decent podcast cover photo, keeping your social media accounts up to date, following up on new guests and arranging a recording and publishing schedule. To top it all off, you'll need to get your episodes edited. Here's why editing is so important, and what you need to look out for when picking a professional to work with.

Podcast editing can take different forms depending on what you want your episodes to sound like. Do you want breaths, stutters, ehms, "you know's" and "like's" to be removed? Or, do you want a more natural feel, where stutters are only removed if they're incredibly noticeable? Think about the content, would you like the episode to be compressed from an hours-long recording to a 30 minutes listening experience? Or do you want it to feel live and uncut? Most of these questions can be answered simply by looking at the topic and target audience of your podcast. Business or science-themed podcasts focused on a specific niche, going into details and using their content as sales point, will most likely work best with finely combed audio, more precise and to the point. If your podcast is themed around health, people, stories or humour, a more gentle approach is needed - leaving room for characters and their flaws to shine naturally.

Here are 6 reasons why choosing a Professional Podcast Editing Service is so important:

1. It Saves Valuable Time

If you're just getting into podcasting, you likely don't have much experience with editing, recording or processing audio, and that's absolutely fine! You can't be a master of all trades, so make sure you focus all your energy on the content and core of your podcast. Editing can be very time consuming, as it entails listening through each episode, cutting out tiny slices of audio and then making sure the conversation or monologue still flows naturally. In terms of perfecting your podcast, you as host can make a bigger difference by working on your speaking or interviewing technique and storytelling, rather than having to learn a complicated craft with all its nooks and crannies.

2. Listeners WILL Notice The Difference

There are a lot of specifics that come in to

play for podcast editors: they use EQs, compressors and other virtual plugins to enhance voices and make sure different speakers are balanced in volume. To cut to the point and avoid audio jargon, listeners will notice the difference if you have a professional audio engineer edit your audio. And the more your listeners enjoy the podcast, the more likely they are to recommend it to a friend or leave a better review. The worst possibility of all, is when a potential listener clicks away a podcast, not because he/she doesn't like the content or speaker, but because he's put off and annoyed by tiny details, for example the hosts tendency to use the word "like". Scenarios like that are easily avoidable!

3. Good Quality Audio Helps Your Podcast's Performance

Let's be incredibly honest here: Humans are a terrible audience. We're easily distracted, have an abysmal attention span and aren't always open to new ideas, shows and of course podcasts. We claim to be great at multi-tasking, but finally, just end up with a split focus. We're guided almost exclusively by emotions, so when a potential listener moves on after 20 seconds of listening to your podcast, he/she most likely won't be able to explain why. It just "didn't feel right", and as we're spoiled by choice, there's nothing wrong with giving another podcast a try. A podcast editor will make sure you have the best chances of locking a listener in, by enhancing your voice, making sure everything is loud and clear and any weird distractions are removed. Ever wondered how loud your fridge buzzes? If that noise is captured in your recording, you definitely need an editor.

4. Get A Second Pair Of Ears To Help Produce Your Podcast

Podcasting is very much a DIY venture, but podcast editors could be your first contact with professionals in the branch. An editor will be working on a number of different podcasts, with completely different topics, guests, and hosts. Who knows, he might even have his own podcast? Getting objective feedback will ultimately contribute to shaping the future of your podcast. How does the Interview come across? Should I be explaining or describing more? Am I taking the listeners knowledge for granted? How can I improve my speaking technique? What should I focus on more? And you can trust an editors knowledge, because unlike friends and family or even listeners, he or she focuses while editing the audio. Your editor definitely won't be leaving the audio running in the background while driving, commuting or cooking. Plus your editor will know other podcasts to compare your work with, so make sure you keep a constant conversation flowing!

5. A Podcast Editor Can Help You Branch Out Into Different Channels

Ever thought of also publishing your episodes on Youtube? In fact, according to a study by Futuri Media/ The University of Florida, 43% of monthly podcast listeners say they went to YouTube for podcasts in the past year, ahead of both Apple (34%) and Spotify (23%). Youtube requires you to provide some kind of visual element to the listening experience, so what works best and what are your options? Do you really need to purchase camera equipment to film interviews and talks? Or is laying the audio over your podcast cover enough? Together with your editor you can figure out a strategy moving forward.

6. Even More Time For You!

A lot of editors also offer to take over writing shownotes for you. Shownotes are an essential part of spreading your podcast all over the data streams that connect the internet. Shownotes are needed to provide content for Search-Engine-Optimization (SEO). You want people to find your podcast online, by simply looking up the topic, guest or you, the host! A good podcast editor will know how much and what data is needed to boost your search-ranking, while not giving away the entire content and juice of your podcast.

So whether you're just beginning to plan your idea and podcast or you've been going it solo for the first few episodes, a professional can add a lot of extra value to your podcast. You're already putting a lot of time and effort into recording and planning, so why not get an extra team member on board. Using a podcast editing service will definitely help you make the best out of your content!