On April 22, my sister and I made a podcast. TheAAPodcast (@theaapodcast) was just a dream we always had that finally came true. This is how we made our podcast in one week.

YouTube was my best friend.

Before I began tackling the idea of creating my own podcast, I did my research. In the wonderful land of YouTube, I typed in all my queries and concerns about the podcast world.

There, I learned what platform was best to use, how to market my podcast, and how to insert special promo clips of the podcast on my social channels. For someone like me who considers themselves technically-challenged, watching these videos were simple to understand and easy to copy in my own podcast.

Pro Tip: Make a playlist of all your podcast video favorites so you have easy access to all the content that worked for you!

I planned episodes in advance.

This may seem like a boring light form of homework, but planning episode topics in advance was a godsend to my podcast. My sister and I wrote down topics based on what we thought our platform needed to highlight.

That way, when it came time to record an episode or when we were lost on things to talk about, our topics list came in handy.

It was as simple as creating a list of ideas that we could add to. It helps to be consistent, and planning topics ahead of time make it easier to stay on course with your upload date and not let your creative ideas go to waste.

I got active on my socials!

Social media is the best way to market your podcast for free.

For our podcast, we created a social media page to easily interact with our listeners. We used our page (@theaapodcast) to post exclusive behind the scenes footage, new episode trailers, and more information on my sister and I's relationship.

Even if you don't want to create a separate page, posting the new episode on your personal page is an easy way to connect with your listeners.

ProTip: Utilize all the features of your preferred social channel!

For our podcast that was Instagram, where we went live weekly from the podcast page to talk to our listeners, made an advice column through DM's, and created exclusive IGTV videos about our podcast.

Analytics were my friend!

Say it with me: Analytics are my friend, not my foe! Whew. Naturally, when my sister and I first began recording @theaapodcast, we were glued to the data showing the number of listeners each week.

With only having our podcast for one week, the numbers were obviously low (shoutout to our first loyal listener, love you, mom!).

The most important thing is to not base the value or the impact of your podcast on the numbers.

Analytics is a great tool to learn the demographic, number, and type of audience your podcast attracts. But, if you check on your analytics after every post or after each episode you will only be beating yourself up for not reaching "podcast stardom" which is unrealistic.

ProTip: Instead of trying to get a million listeners in one month, make realistic benchmark goals for the future of your podcast. Be sure to share these goals to reach a certain amount of listeners on your social pages, as people will naturally want to help you reach your goal!

We were authentic.

Having your own podcast means being the raw unfiltered you. With my podcast @theaapodcast, my sister and I made sure to stay true to our authentic selves.

It's important to stick to your vision and preferred genre for the podcast, and not hone into trends and clickbait (or in this case is it earbait? Nevermind) to increase listeners.

The goal is to build a podcast that lasts and best reflects you, not to chase listeners and likes on social platforms.

Our podcast falls into a comedy/entertainment genre, so we invite our friends as special guests and include storytimes (most of which are embarrassing).