Every New Podcaster Needs To Know These Tips and Tricks For Success

Growing a podcast can be incredibly tough but rewarding. The following will explore a few vital steps you need to take if you want your new podcast to find its audience.

Listen To Other Podcasts In Your Niche

It’s incredibly important to observe how other people do something if you want to be good at that same thing. Listening to other podcasts will give you an idea of the standards in your niche that listeners have come to expect, like audio quality and topic depth. It will also allow you to figure out what makes a podcast bad; you might need to practice speaking without using the word ‘um’, or you might have to break the nasty habit of clearing your throat.

Listening to podcasts with a similar structure as yours (individual person speaking or interview-style, for instance) can also give you some major pointers. Podcasts that talk about the same thing every episode get boring quickly. Podcast interviewers that change the subject without tact because they had points they wanted to hit can create jarring episodes. Pay attention to which podcasters are excellent conversationalists and see what you can learn from them.

Finally, listening to other podcasts in your niche is a vital component of figuring out what differentiates you from other shows. Knowing what makes your show different can be a major help when it comes to marketing your show. Often people don’t want something they already have. If something is a better version of what they already have, or it fills in a blank that exists with what they already have, then they might consider it.

Be On All Platforms

There are a ton of different podcast apps and directories. You probably have a favorite place to listen to podcasts, and other people do too. Make sure that your work is present on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, Stitcher, Castbox, PodcastAddict, iHeartRadio, Overcast, Pocket Casts, and all the others. By making sure that your work is available on many platforms, you are opening yourself up to a wider audience.

Often the process for submission is pretty easy. You simply make an account and submit your episode. Each app has its own turnaround time for publishing submitted episodes. Alternatively, some podcast hosts do this submission work for you. This Buzzsprout review, for example, explains that Buzzsprout submits your episodes to a whole bunch of podcast directories automatically. Not all hosts do this, so be sure to read up about the applications and directories they work with easily before selecting a host.

Include Video With Your Podcast

While podcasting is inherently an audio-focused medium, some people are not auditory learners. There are people who prefer video; some people won’t even consider an audio-only show. Don’t limit your potential audience by eliminating the possibility that video-only folks will give your show a try. It’s worth noting that static images, while the audio is playing, doesn’t count as video anymore. For the benefits of this tip, use video footage of you and your co-hosts/guests speaking or craft video graphics that support what is being discussed.

Optimize The Details

Things like your cover image, title, and your episode description can be optimized to increase organic traffic from search engines. Make sure your image is clear and accurately indicates the vibe of your episode; you also want to ensure that the image is effective, even if it’s just a teeny square on someone’s phone so take steps back from whatever program you’re using to put the image together and make sure that it’s eye-catching.

Your episode title and description also need your time and attention. Most people discover new podcasts while using search engines, so it’s a good idea to use search engine optimization techniques to select keywords that are often sought but produce fewer results. Your titles should have your main keyword within the first few words. Don’t forget to use a consistent labeling system for your titles so that people who discover your show later on will be able to backtrack and listen to all that they missed without trouble.

Quality, Quality, Quality

The internet is full of people telling you that with the right marketing tricks and money spent on ads, you’ll explode into an overnight success. Some of these techniques are effective, but if people leave your episode within the first few minutes, all that effort and money will have been wasted. Focus on building the best episodes you can, and be sure to beta test them. Have friends or volunteers who tend to listen to podcasts in your niche listen and give you feedback. Make changes; rerecord if you have to, and then test your episodes again.

The above information should help you organically find and grow your podcast audience. None of these tips will turn you into a success overnight, but they will support continual growth as long as you employ them.