How to Get Started with Seriously Simple Podcasting Plugin for WordPress by Castos

In this tutorial you will learn how to install and set up the popular Seriously Simple Podcasting plugin by Castos. If you want to host your podcast episodes on your own website then SSP might be the right plugin for you. 

For this tutorial I will use the Podcast Plus WordPress theme.

Let’s begin.

Video Transcription

Install Seriously Simple Podcasting Plugin

Go to your Dashboard and open the Add New page in the Plugins section. Search for Seriously Simple Podcasting or Castos. 

Click on the Install Now button and then on the Activate button. 

You can use this plugin in a few different ways. When activated, SSP will automatically create a new custom post type called Podcast. In the Dashboard it will be visible below the Posts section.

Seriously Simple Podcasting Configuration Settings

First let’s set up a few things. 

Open the Settings page for the plugin. Keep in mind that you have to Save your changes on every page before you change the tab. 

In the General tab, select the post types that will hold your audio player. Most users should probably check the Posts checkbox and the Include Podcast in Main Blog checkbox. I will explain later why. 

In the Player tab, select the place where the player should be displayed. Select Full Content if you want the player to be on the post page. 

Check the Excerpt box if you want the player on archive pages too. This option might not work as expected in some WordPress themes.

Choose the location of the player, I’ll have it above the content.

Let’s go with the Standard Compact Player and Save our Settings.

And lastly the Feed Details tab.

Some of these settings are self-explanatory. Some will not even affect the way your content looks on the website. 

At the bottom of the page you will see the Subscribe Button links section. These links will appear below the audio player. 

If your podcast is available on other platforms, go to the Options page in the Podcast section and enable them in the list. Then get back to this page and add your links.

I will not go deeper into the rest of the Podcast Settings Tabs, as many users won’t even need them.

Publish your first podcast episode

Now let’s create our first episode.

I will select a sample audio file that I’ve uploaded earlier. Hit Publish.

The episode is now visible on the website.

Using regular Posts

But there is another way that you could use the plugin.

In an earlier step we have marked our Posts as a Podcast post type.

So now when we create or edit a standard post, we have this Podcast Episode Details tab.

We can create our episodes just like any other post. If we want to, we can create a separate category just for the podcast episodes, or maybe separate categories for different podcast shows. 

The result will be practically the same. Then why bother? The reason is simple: better theme compatibility. If you are struggling to make your theme work with the Podcast type posts, try creating them as regular posts. 

I think most users with a single podcast or show will benefit from doing it this way. 

Standard & HTML5 Audio Player

If you don’t like this standard audio player, go back to your Dashboard and open the Settings page in the Podcast section. Open the Player tab and enable the HTML5 Player.

After saving the page, you will be able to choose from a Dark Mode or a Light Mode player.

Congratulations! You should now have a basic understanding of how to install and use the Seriously Simple Podcasting plugin by Castos.

Besides developing this plugin, Castos provides podcast hosting. My listeners and subscribers can benefit from a Castos special promo deal when signing up.