Setup Wizard Walkthrough

The setup wizard launches automatically the first time you activate Benecaster. It walks you through the minimum configuration needed before your first subscriber can use their feed — most podcasters finish in under 10 minutes.

Exit any time — the wizard saves your progress at each step. The next time you log in, it picks up where you left off at the last incomplete step. You can also reopen it from the Benecaster dashboard if you close it early.

Not every step appears for every podcaster. Tier mapping only appears if you connect a subscription plugin in the same session. The wizard adjusts based on your answers.

Continue vs. Skip: Each step has a Continue button that marks it complete and advances the wizard. Optional steps also have a Skip link. Skipping moves you forward without marking the step done — skipped steps appear as tips on your Benecaster dashboard, and clicking a tip brings you back to that wizard step to complete it.

Setup wizard — welcome screen

Show Name

Enter your podcast’s title exactly as it should appear in podcast apps and directories — Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and others display this name directly from your RSS feed.

Description

Write a short description of your show. This appears in podcast apps and RSS directories.

The live character count shows how much space remains as you type (maximum 4,000 characters)
Skip this step with “I’ll write this later.” — a placeholder description is used until you fill this in. The step appears as a tip on your dashboard until completed.

Artwork

Upload your show’s cover art.

Setup wizard — artwork step

Upload zone — click to open a file picker, or drag and drop an image directly onto the zone
URL field — paste a direct image URL if your artwork is already hosted elsewhere
Accepted formats: JPEG or PNG, square dimensions
Minimum size: 1,400×1,400 px. A warning appears if the uploaded image is smaller. Apple Podcasts recommends 3,000×3,000 px.
Skip this step with “I’ll add artwork later.” — the step remains as a dashboard tip until completed.

If the upload fails: A hung upload times out after 90 seconds with an “Upload timed out” message. Other failures (unsupported file type, oversized file) show the specific error from WordPress — for example, “File type not permitted” — rather than a generic fallback. If you see an error, try the URL field instead and paste a direct link to a hosted image.

Language

Choose the language your podcast is delivered in. This sets the <language> tag in your RSS feed, which affects how podcast apps and directories categorise your show.

The language picker lists only locales that have a fully translated Benecaster admin interface — .mo translation files that shipped with the plugin. Locales without a complete translation are not shown, so every language in the list is fully supported.

Primary language — select the main delivery language. Your show’s feed language tag is set to this value.

Additional languages — optional; select if your show publishes content in more than one language.

Both fields pre-fill from any values saved in a previous wizard run. If you reopen the wizard, your existing language settings are shown and you can change them without resetting anything else.

Skip this step with “English only for now.” — the language defaults to English (US) until you complete this step. The step appears as a dashboard tip if skipped.

This can also be changed at Benecaster → Settings → Show → Language.

Subscription Plugin

Connect the membership plugin you use to manage your paying subscribers. Benecaster reads your plugin’s tiers and handles feed token generation automatically — it does not handle payments itself.

Setup wizard — subscription plugin picker

Only plugins that are already installed and active on your site appear as cards. If yours isn’t listed, install it first, then return via the wizard resume link on your dashboard.

Supported plugins:

MemberPress
WooCommerce Subscriptions
Paid Memberships Pro
Restrict Content Pro

Selecting a plugin and pressing Continue activates the connection immediately. The Tier Mapping step appears next.

Select “I’ll connect one later” to skip — the tier mapping step is skipped as well, and feed token generation is disabled until a plugin is connected. You can complete both at Benecaster → Settings → Subscription.

Tier Mapping

This step appears only after selecting a subscription plugin above.

Map your membership plugin’s tiers to Benecaster’s access system. Benecaster reads your plugin’s active membership levels and shows one row per level.

Setup wizard — tier mapping step

For each level, choose the access it grants:

Option	What it means
Paid	Subscriber has full feed access; counts toward your paid subscriber limit
Free	Subscriber gets a feed URL but is treated as a free listener; does not count toward the paid limit
No access	This level should not generate a podcast feed token (e.g. a newsletter-only membership)

All levels default to Paid. You can add custom tiers inline by clicking + Add tier without leaving the wizard.

This mapping can be changed at any time at Benecaster → Settings → Subscription. See Mapping Your Membership Tiers for detailed guidance.

Migrate from an Existing Feed

If you’re moving your podcast from another hosting service, this step adds a redirect tag to your new Benecaster feed. Podcast apps that see the redirect automatically switch subscribers from your old feed URL to the new one.

Setup wizard — migration step

Select Yes, then enter your old feed URL and choose a redirect duration: 6 months, 1 year, or Permanent
Select No to skip — no redirect tag is added

The redirect tag (<itunes:new-feed-url>) is respected by Apple Podcasts and most compatible apps. For the 6-month and 1-year options, the tag is removed automatically by a background job the day after the period ends. For Permanent, the tag stays in your feed until you remove it manually at Benecaster → Settings → Show.

This setting can also be configured or changed at Benecaster → Settings → Show after setup.

Note: This step handles the RSS-level redirect for moving from another hosting provider. If you’re migrating paying subscribers from Patreon or Supercast, see the Migration Wizard add-on — it handles subscriber import separately.

Import Episodes

If you have an existing RSS feed, Benecaster can import your episodes as drafts.

Select Yes, enter your existing feed URL, and click Import episodes →
A progress bar shows the import running; episodes are created as WordPress drafts
Press Continue at any point — if the import is still running, it continues in the background and finishes on its own
Once complete, review and publish episodes individually from Benecaster → Episodes, setting tier availability on each
Re-importing the same feed is safe: episodes are deduplicated by RSS GUID, so running the import again won’t create duplicates

Select “I’ll add episodes manually” to skip this step.

Supported fields on import: title, description, audio URL, file size, MIME type, duration, episode number, season, episode type, explicit flag, author, and artwork.

All Done

The wizard is complete. The final screen shows:

Your base feed URL — with a copy button. Each subscriber gets their own unique token appended automatically; this base URL is for reference and support use
Your subscriber account page — the page where new listeners subscribe and manage their feed access
What’s next — a checklist linking to any steps you skipped, plus a prompt to create your first episode

Take a quick tour — a button on the all-done screen launches the core Benecaster Overview tour, a short walkthrough of the key areas of the admin. After you’ve run the tour once the button label changes to Revisit the tour — clicking it replays the tour from the beginning.

Click Go to dashboard → to mark the wizard complete and open the Benecaster dashboard. Any optional steps you skipped appear as dashboard tips — click any tip to jump back to that wizard step to complete it.

Setup wizard — all done screen