WordPress plugins can make your podcast website even better. Here are the best plugins from 2015 I think podcasters should consider.
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This episode is brought to you by Social Subscribe & Follow Icons. It's the best WordPress plugin for bloggers and podcasters to make it easy for visitors to subscribe to your content and follow you on social networks.
Quick list
- Libsyn Podcast Plugin (free, upcoming)
- Smart Podcast Player (premium)
- Simple Podcast Press (premium)
- Social Subscribe & Follow Icons 1.2 (premium)
- Social Warfare (premium)
- No Longer in Directory (free)
- WP Featherlight (free)
1. Libsyn Podcast Plugin (free, upcoming)
The most annoying part of using Libsyn with WordPress would be either a lack of control, or a cumbersome workflow.
Libsyn's new and free “Libsyn Podcast Plugin” simplifies this. You create your post in WordPress, upload your media to Libsyn from the WordPress post editor, and then Libsyn uses the meta information in your post for the Libsyn podcast RSS feed.
This WordPress plugin is best for podcasters who are already using Libsyn's RSS feed and aren't already using PowerPress. In fact, Libsyn Podcast Plugin and Blubrry PowerPress are not compatible—but they're so redundant that you wouldn't need both, anyway.
There's not currently an easy migration tool for moving from PowerPress (or another podcasting plugin for WordPress) to Libsyn, but the Libsyn support team will be able to guide you through some steps for your situation.
Libsyn Podcast Plugin replaces Libsyn's own OnPublish feature for WordPress. OnPublish for other networks will still work, but it's unnecessary for WordPress because Libsyn Podcast Plugin publishes from WordPress to Libsyn. OnPublish is designed to publish from Libsyn to other destinations.
When you publish with Libsyn's plugin, a Libsyn player will be automatically embedded in your post.
Libsyn's WordPress plugin also includes a basic playlist player widget.
At this time, the plugin is still in limited beta testing. I would only recommend this if you're not already using PowerPress or you use the Libsyn RSS feed.
Here are Elsie Escobar and Krystal O'Connor demonstrating Libsyn Podcast Plugin.
Which RSS feed is best to use? Read these couple blog posts for more information.
- Why you may WANT to host your own podcast RSS feed
- Why you may NOT want to host your own podcast RSS feed
This requires a Libsyn hosting account. Use promo code “noodle” when you sign up to get the rest of this month and all of next for free!
2. Smart Podcast Player (premium)
While you're thinking about something outside of the PowerPress ecosystem, consider Pat Flynn's Smart Podcast Player.
I think this is the most beautiful podcast player available. The individual episode player is intuitive, and the playlist player and clean and thorough.
However, Smart Podcast Player does not currently integrate with PowerPress. You would have to manually edit all of your past episodes to fully switch to this player. But it works great if you generate your RSS feed from outside your website (like Libsyn's).
3. Simple Podcast Press (premium)
Coming back to more integrated WordPress plugins for podcasters, Hani Mourra's Simple Podcast Press combines a good-looking player, loads of features, and easy PowerPress integration.
Simple Podcast Press is packed with great features!
- iTunes, Stitcher, download, and custom buttons to appear below each episode player
- Email opt-in below each player or in a custom location
- Collapsible transcripts
- Short episode URLs (potentially replacing Pretty Link Pro)
- “Latest episode” widget
- Timecode-jumping bookmarks
- Podcast reviews inside WordPress (potentially replacing or augmenting My Podcast Reviews)
If you create your podcast feed from somewhere other than your own website, Simple Podcast Press can easily import all of your episodes from iTunes or an RSS feed.
PowerPress users don't have to redo old posts, because Simple Podcast Press easily integrates with PowerPress and can change all past and future players with just a couple clicks.
Use my promo code “noodle” to save 25% on any Simple Podcast Press license.
4. Social Subscribe & Follow Icons 1.2 (premium)
This is the WordPress plugin I created for bloggers and podcasters. Version 1.2 is finally coming out and it supports re-ordering your networks—the most-requested feature.
Social Subscribe & Follow Icons gives you scalable icons for popular podcast apps and social networks. You can place these in widgets, pages, and posts. “Feature” a network and it turns it into a button with custom text.
I use Subscribe & Follow on all of my podcast websites, Podcast Places™, and even my personal blog. It's highly versatile and looks great at any resolution.
The price goes up when 1.2 launches on July 18, but use promo code “JulyUpdate” July 18–31, 2015 to save 20%!
5. Social Warfare (premium)
This is my new favorite plugin! Social Warfare is the best social-sharing plugin I've seen! (This serves a completely separate need from my Social Subscribe & Follow Icons plugin.)
I've previously used and generally been unhappy with several other social-sharing plugins: ShareThis, AddThis, Social Sharing Toolkit, Digg Digg, Shareaholic, and more. Social Warfare provides the right features to make social-sharing more powerful on your site!
Currently, Social Warfare supports Twitter, Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, and Pinterest. That's not an impressive list by itself, but Social Warfare does amazing things with that short list—stuff that no other single plugin does.
- Customize the image, title, and description for Twitter, Facebook, and Google+ (usually a 16:9 ratio image).
- Customize the tweet message—I've wanted this for years!
- Create easy and attractive “click to tweet” embeds for quotations from your post
- Customize the description and image for Pinterest (usually a 2:3 ratio image)—no other social-sharing plugin does this yet (other than a Pinterest-only plugin)!
Switching from Shareaholic to Social Warfare also reduced my webpage sizes by 200 KB and decreased my load speed by as much as 1.5 seconds!
It's clean, it's fast, it works great on mobile, and Social Warfare integrates easily with pages, posts, and custom post types.
6. No Longer in Directory (free)
This is the kind of plugin you would almost never think of needing, but it's extremely helpful!
Free WordPress plugins are great, but they are sometimes abandoned by their creators. That's where No Longer in Directory helps. This will check all of your installed plugins and let you know what plugins you have that are—as the name implies—no longer in the WordPress plugin directory.
It's an easy and fast way to see which of your plugins have not been updated in a long time. This helps you know which WordPress plugins may need to be replaced or could be causing compatibility issues.
7. WP Featherlight (free)
This WordPress plugin is so new that it's only not even to version 1.0, yet! WP Featherlight turns images into attractive “lightboxes” when you click on them.
Thanks to the No Longer in Directory plugin, I discovered the jQuery plugin I was previously using for lightbox effects hadn't been updated in years. At the same time, I saw WP Featherlight praised for its speed, simplicity, and lightweight efficiency.
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Announcements
- Get the new Social Subscribe & Follow Icons! Use promo code “JulyUpdate” after the price goes up to save 20% in July, 2015.
- Register for Podcast Movement with code “noodle” to save 10%. If you'd like to join me for a meetup, text “PM2015” to 33444.
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Disclosure
This post may contain links to products or services with which I have an affiliate relationship and may receive compensation from your actions through such links. However, I don't let that corrupt my perspective and I don't recommend only affiliates.
I’m looking forward to seeing the Libsyn plugin in action. Right now, I upload the media files to Libsyn via FTP (not a painful process, just drag and drop) but then I have to create the episode post manually on both Libsyn and WordPress. In some ways, I only trust doing it manually, but I know that there’s a lot of room for error, especially if I were to teach someone else about how to create a post.
Here’s how you can improve that process.
Make sure your MP3 contains the ID3 tags, especially the title and description/comment. Then, upload to your “quickcast” FTP folder in your Libsyn account. This creates a post with the title and description from the ID3 tags.
Depending on your FTP program, you may be able to create a “droplet”—a little app on which you can drop a file to upload to the FTP destination.
I definitely use a Droplet, which is nice, but FTP is not the painful part (just drag and drop). I like to schedule my posts for a certain hour and day, so I’d need to visit the post for this purpose alone if nothing else. I’ve also discovered that in order for the episode artwork to show up on Facebook posts, I need to attach a thumbnail manually rather than just use the show artwork. It’s an ongoing process.
Still, the Libsyn authoring only takes 3-5 minutes, and most of that is composing the auto-post text for Facebook and LinkedIn. Compare this to the 60-odd minutes for taking the show notes and editing the main conversation, and it’s really no big deal. But the spirit of automation leads us to strive to eliminate steps, no matter how superficial they may seem.
Maybe at PM15 you can show me how you roll and I can learn a thing or two! We’ll drag Rob over and school my ass.
If you’re not using the Libsyn feed, you don’t have to worry about when your episode publishes over there.
On the WordPress side, check out Social Warfare, as that allows you to add that Facebook image to your post. Alternatively, the Yoast WordPress SEO plugin also allows you to enable Open Graph tags and add the social images, but Social Warfare does it much better.
Why are you posting to Libsyn you are destroying your SEO by posting in both places.
My Libsyn page is way down on Google compared to my home page. It’s fine for now. I just want to make sure my RSS feed is thorough and contains the appropriate info. Plus there’s that thing where you need to take effort to ensure that the photo which auto-posts to Facebook is the right one, and not just a link.
Just started listening – just one thing I would ask – could you mention the costs of the plugins you are reviewing before describing them? And give the “takeaway” message early (eg “use this if you have Libsyn but not if you are already using Powerpress”)? That would allow us to know whether we need to listen further to a particular element eg if it is something we would like but might not want to pay for.
You could even use MP4 chapters to let us skip directly to the next content element if we know the review is not one we are going to want to listen to (do most podcast players still support this? Is there an easy way to create chapters on the Mac? I wish more podcasters would use it)…
Thanks, David. I sometimes do forget the takeaways early in the list. But I have reasons for not doing the other things.
I try to avoid including prices because prices change and I want my content to be timeless.
I don’t use M4A chapters because they are essentially dead—most podcast players don’t support them, most audio-editing apps don’t support them, and the M4A format never picked up enough popularity.
I will, however, soon be using timecodes in the show notes, allowing website listeners to jump to specific portions, thanks to Simple Podcast Press.
I really like that ability to jump to a timecode. I can’t recall if I’ve ever seen that in other players, but it seems almost like a ‘must have’ feature to me. Thanks for the tip!
It’s also in PodLove, but I think Simple Podcast Press is the better player.
FWIW you can already, Post – Upload – Publish directly in WordPress with PowerPress if your hosting at Blubbry. I find it incredible that Libsyn breaks PowerPress with their plugin.
We have supported the entire community with our plugin regardless of where you host your media. Sad that they would only consider there financial interest in breaking plugins. No one else does this.
Hey Daniel, Social Warfare sounds a bit like another plugin that might be even more powerful in that regard (if people need even more power), WPSSO. http://wpsso.com
They also have light-weight sharing button add-on plugin available. It’s funny you mention the light-weight aspect, as I’ve also noticed that many of the social-sharing-button type solutions out there are rather heavy in terms of site load times. I’m guessing most people aren’t even aware of it. (I was shocked the first time I discovered it – which along with the need to have more control over which image gets picked up when shared – led me to WPSSO.)
But, I’ve heard some people recommend not even having the sharing buttons. Maybe because of the ‘weight’? Personally, I don’t think I’ve ever used them as a blog reader. I typically just make up my own tweets, etc. when I share something. But, other than site-load time, I can’t think of other reasons not to have them. (Part of the issue for me is that I don’t typically stay logged into social media sites, so hate being asked to login to share. I guess I batch my sharing. I typically just capture the title and URL in a text file, and then share later on when I am logged in.)
That plugin adds only the meta data. They have a separate, additional purchase plugin for adding the sharing buttons, which—guess what—are the official, resource-hogging buttons.
WPSSO doesn’t seem to let you customize the Tweet itself, but only the Twitter card text.
So I think WPSSO, while interesting, is too expensive, too poorly designed, too old-fashioned, and too lacking in usable, practical features.
When I don’t have sharing buttons on my site, stuff gets shared less.
Good points Daniel. I’ll have to check into the buttons further, as I know the WPSSO developer highlights the ‘light-weight’ aspect of the main plugin compared to competitors. re: ‘guess what’ – ekk… thanks. I hadn’t looked closely at the actual buttons yet, as I’ve not needed them…. I just assumed they were light-weight, likewise. Bad on me. 🙁
It does seem to have depth beyond Social Warfare (again, if needed), but looks like Social Warfare has more flexibility within what it does support. re: expensive, poor design, old-fashioned… yea, I guess the interface and such is kind of overwhelming, and maybe overly complex, but I’m not familiar with Social Warfare to compare. Social Warfare certainly isn’t inexpensive ($24/yr. vs $40-$50 one-time).
Does Social Warfare play nice with Yoast SEO? (I ask because I think WPSSO has to keep making changes and disable/override aspects of Yoast so they don’t interfere and hurt SEO, etc.)
Good feedback on sharing buttons… that makes sense (they just don’t do much for me personally). I’m probably the odd-ball by not keeping logged into social networks (the other problem is that I have multiple accounts for each… and I’d probably accidentally share via the wrong one).
Anyway, thanks for highlighting Social Warfare. I had not run across it yet. It does look great.
Actually, Daniel, are you sure about WPSSO’s buttons? I think this was the article I ran across while initially researching it… http://surniaulula.com/2014/08/01/how-fast-is-the-wpsso-social-sharing-buttons-plugin/
While that doesn’t have a comparison to Social Warfare, it shows they are *way* faster than many of the other commonly used ones.
Unless the screenshots are lying, those are the official, ugly buttons.
I have had no conflicts between Yoast SEO and SocialWarfare. This is some redundancy if I enable Yoast’s OpenGraph data and also use SW. But I just don’t do that anymore.
For the look, for sure! I’m not sure what’s going on behind the scene. But, I do like the SW ones much better visually.
Yes, hopefully just disabling Yoast’s OpenGraph stuff does it.
Thanks again.
Thanks for the great list of plugins really amazing listing, here is another plugin that could be useful for integrating facebook api with wordpress based site, it’s cheap as well imho :
https://www.xtendify.com/en/plugins/wordpress/social-networking/1056-facebook-integration-pro
I have wasted close to a week trying to get wordpress to accept the feed from Libsyn using iFrame. Libsyn is working fine and showing a clean transmission to WordPress but it dies there. The que for assistance from wordpress circles the globe twice and GoDaddy can’t figure it out. The Libsyn wordpress plugin may be the best solution!
[…] With today’s technologies and customization abilities you can embed almost any time of media. Don’t restrict yourself to text articles only. Narrate your posts to add a podcast alternative or illustrate your points with a short video, infographic or Powerpoint slide presentation. Here are some of the latest podcast plugins that became available in 2015… […]
Any particular reason you’re not using the Smart Podcast Player, Daniel?
It’s a beautiful player, but I don’t like its poor usability. It doesn’t integrate with PowerPress at all.
Thanks for the reply. If you were starting out afresh would you use it?
I’m researching podcasting for the first time at the moment, and I’m finding it overwhelming, even though I’ve set up many websites and even a membership site in the past.
It’s a daily feature, so I need to schedule. That makes the Libsyn plugin look appealing, but then I’m not sure if that leaves me stuck with the Libsyn player, which I don’t want. I like the look of the aesthetics of the SPP, but I’m not sure I’m willing to add $100/year for a rather simple (though very nice) player for a not for profit podcast.
I think of hosting with Libsyn, and people warn about not having your own feeds.
And so it continues. It’s more a minefield than I imagined it would be.
No, I wouldn’t. As beautiful as it is, it locks you into it’s strange method and it makes it nearly impossible to easily switch players.
But if you want to use Smart Podcast Player, pair it with a WordPress theme from Appendipity: http://theaudacitytopodcast.com/appendipity
I wish I had found this a year ago. It took me a lot of energy finding the plug-ins I use. Although I use a couple of these mentionee or at least comparable. However not all is lost, I did implement a compatible version of the WP optimizer and I love the idea of the comment luv and comment redirect. Thanks
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Great list. I use Social Warefare. LOVE! Major update even today. Cheers!
Good list of plugins. Social Warfare plugin is very well working and good for me. Premium features are much better. Faced quite a lot of trouble with Libsyn. Do check it out. Thanks for the list.
You’re welcome!
Hey dude!
Take a look : https://yendifplayer.com/ is the best extension for Html5 video / Audio player to like youtube..
[…] With today’s technologies and customization abilities you can embed almost any time of media. Don’t restrict yourself to text articles only. Narrate your posts to add a podcast alternative or illustrate your points with a short video, infographic or Powerpoint slide presentation. Here are some of the latest podcast plugins that became available in 2015… […]