WEBVTT 00:00:00.179 --> 00:00:02.399 Travis: When you first get started in podcasting, it's 00:00:02.400 --> 00:00:04.799 almost guaranteed that you're going to make a handful of rookie 00:00:04.801 --> 00:00:07.980 mistakes, but that doesn't mean that you have to make all the 00:00:07.980 --> 00:00:13.109 mistakes. So in this special bonus podcast episode, we went 00:00:13.111 --> 00:00:16.109 back through the archives of the podcasting Q and a show, and five 00:00:16.111 --> 00:00:19.500 minute Mondays to pull together the 10 things we wish we knew 00:00:19.620 --> 00:00:22.289 before starting our very first podcast . Now, as you're 00:00:22.291 --> 00:00:25.350 listening to this episode, you'll hear some sound effects pop in 00:00:25.350 --> 00:00:27.750 from time to time. And that's simply because we pulled these 00:00:27.751 --> 00:00:31.109 clips from our YouTube channel, where we add animations and 00:00:31.111 --> 00:00:34.200 different sequences to help visually communicate the things 00:00:34.201 --> 00:00:36.899 we're discussing. So when those things pop up, that's what that 00:00:36.901 --> 00:00:40.590 is. If you are wondering, but they're not overly distracting. 00:00:40.591 --> 00:00:43.320 So you'll still be able to get the gist of what we're talking 00:00:43.320 --> 00:00:45.840 about and hopefully be able to take one of these things and 00:00:45.841 --> 00:00:48.990 implement it. Moving forward for your podcast to help you reach 00:00:48.990 --> 00:00:50.340 your goals, that much faster 00:00:53.030 --> 00:00:57.770 Sarah: Creating good audio is really key to keeping your 00:00:57.771 --> 00:01:01.579 podcast listeners engaged because no matter how good the content 00:01:01.581 --> 00:01:04.939 is, if your audio quality isn't good. It's unfortunately just 00:01:04.941 --> 00:01:08.359 going to turn them away. I know what you're thinking is you 00:01:08.361 --> 00:01:11.359 probably think you have to spend thousands of dollars on equipment 00:01:11.361 --> 00:01:14.090 or rent a podcasting studio just to make sure everything sounds 00:01:14.090 --> 00:01:17.930 great. And I'm here to tell you that's not true at all. I have 00:01:17.930 --> 00:01:22.400 created some pretty good audio from mic's that costs less than a 00:01:22.400 --> 00:01:25.129 hundred dollars. And I have also recorded in places like in my 00:01:25.131 --> 00:01:29.239 home office, even in the closet. Yes, no. One's going to see you 00:01:29.240 --> 00:01:32.599 unless you're recording video like this one , um , wherever you 00:01:32.600 --> 00:01:36.170 can just to muffle the sound is going to be really make that 00:01:36.171 --> 00:01:40.189 difference between air quality and good quality. 00:01:42.739 --> 00:01:44.840 Travis: Now, when you're creating your podcast intro, there's a 00:01:44.840 --> 00:01:47.750 couple of things that you want to make sure that you cover a couple 00:01:47.751 --> 00:01:50.299 of things that you want to make sure that you say the first one 00:01:50.301 --> 00:01:54.950 is who you are specifically, like, what is your name? So you 00:01:54.950 --> 00:01:59.299 can start. Your podcast is, Hey, welcome to my podcast. My name is 00:01:59.329 --> 00:02:02.780 Travis, Albritton, and then your credentials. Why should someone 00:02:02.781 --> 00:02:06.019 listen to you? So if you have experience in whatever you're 00:02:06.021 --> 00:02:09.110 talking about, you want to make sure that you mentioned that if 00:02:09.110 --> 00:02:11.900 you went to school for something, if you have a job doing 00:02:11.901 --> 00:02:14.569 something, if you have clients that you work with, you want to 00:02:14.570 --> 00:02:19.219 mention the things that lend credence to your advice. This is 00:02:19.221 --> 00:02:23.419 a specifically important. If your podcast is centered around you 00:02:23.420 --> 00:02:25.849 and your expertise, the next thing that you want to make sure 00:02:25.850 --> 00:02:30.229 to include in your podcast intro is what your podcast is about in 00:02:30.289 --> 00:02:33.979 this podcast. For instance, podcasting una. At the very 00:02:33.980 --> 00:02:37.069 beginning, we talk about, well, one, what is it that we're going 00:02:37.070 --> 00:02:40.969 to discuss? And then our opening tagline is that we're giving you 00:02:40.971 --> 00:02:44.659 tips and strategies to launch, grow and monetize your podcast. 00:02:44.840 --> 00:02:49.520 So if you're a podcaster that speaks directly to you because 00:02:49.580 --> 00:02:52.189 you're listening to this, or you're watching this because 00:02:52.191 --> 00:02:54.590 you're looking for those tips and you want to think through, for 00:02:54.591 --> 00:02:58.189 your podcast in a similar way, what is it that people are 00:02:58.219 --> 00:03:01.389 looking for? And then how do you make sure that you address that 00:03:01.390 --> 00:03:04.180 in your intro? So they're going to continue to listen, not just 00:03:04.181 --> 00:03:08.139 to the one episode, but to every single episode, it'll actually 00:03:08.140 --> 00:03:11.590 turn into a subscriber that then goes on to download everything 00:03:11.591 --> 00:03:13.930 that you have. And then the third thing that you want to make sure 00:03:13.931 --> 00:03:18.370 you mentioned in your podcast intro is why someone should care. 00:03:18.490 --> 00:03:22.479 Why should anyone care that your podcast exists? Are they going to 00:03:22.480 --> 00:03:25.060 lose weight? Are they going to be happier? Are the relationships 00:03:25.061 --> 00:03:27.610 going to get better? Are they going to make money, save money? 00:03:27.969 --> 00:03:32.289 What is it that you were offering to them? What is the end result 00:03:32.290 --> 00:03:34.870 look like for them, if they not only listened to your podcast, 00:03:35.110 --> 00:03:36.939 but then also put it into practice. 00:03:39.360 --> 00:03:42.509 Gilon: So is there an ideal podcast length, short answer? 00:03:42.689 --> 00:03:46.979 Nope. Joe Rogan has some episodes that are three hours long, but 00:03:46.980 --> 00:03:49.800 then there are other podcasts that do just fine and are very 00:03:49.800 --> 00:03:53.310 successful at 10 minutes or less. The reality is we love podcasts 00:03:53.340 --> 00:03:56.400 because of the content that they're presenting. And so if it 00:03:56.401 --> 00:04:00.000 takes you 10 minutes to get out great glorious content, amazing. 00:04:00.270 --> 00:04:03.960 If you have some podcast episodes that are on the longer end, maybe 00:04:03.961 --> 00:04:07.590 up to three hours, that's okay. Too. People come to the podcast 00:04:07.591 --> 00:04:11.310 to get the content, to get what you say weekly. And to be honest, 00:04:11.311 --> 00:04:13.379 there are times when we need just a quick little something to 00:04:13.381 --> 00:04:15.599 listen to. And there are times when we have a lot of space in 00:04:15.600 --> 00:04:18.300 our day to listen to something. It really just depends on what 00:04:18.300 --> 00:04:20.579 you're trying to accomplish and what you're trying to get across. 00:04:23.189 --> 00:04:26.939 Travis: Be a guest on other people's podcasts, but not just 00:04:27.149 --> 00:04:31.319 anyone's podcast podcasts that have a similar target audience 00:04:31.649 --> 00:04:34.949 that you do. So let's say for example, that you talk about 00:04:35.399 --> 00:04:38.790 online marketing. For instance, you want to find other podcasts 00:04:38.790 --> 00:04:40.800 in your space where they talk about online marketing, where 00:04:40.800 --> 00:04:43.589 they talk about how to grow your business, where they talk about 00:04:43.591 --> 00:04:47.519 the entrepreneur life. Because those are the groups of people 00:04:47.970 --> 00:04:51.180 that have already self selected and said, Hey, I want to hear 00:04:51.180 --> 00:04:54.750 this kind of podcast content. If you can pitch yourself as a guest 00:04:54.750 --> 00:04:59.430 to be on those podcasts, then they will immediately trust you 00:04:59.699 --> 00:05:02.639 because they already trust the podcast host of the podcast 00:05:02.730 --> 00:05:05.819 you're guesting on because they listen to it every week. And then 00:05:05.821 --> 00:05:08.519 when you're able to demonstrate your expertise and say at the end 00:05:08.521 --> 00:05:11.759 of the episode, Hey, by the way, I also have a podcast where I 00:05:11.761 --> 00:05:15.149 talk about X, Y, and Z. You're going to get a good number of 00:05:15.151 --> 00:05:19.500 people from that podcast to come over and subscribe to yours. 00:05:22.139 --> 00:05:24.240 Gilon: Interviewing noteworthy guests that have a significant 00:05:24.240 --> 00:05:27.000 audience is actually one of our favorite marketing strategies for 00:05:27.000 --> 00:05:31.470 podcasters. The only thing is the guest has to promote the episode. 00:05:31.529 --> 00:05:33.959 Ideally, you want to make it as easy as possible for them to 00:05:33.961 --> 00:05:37.050 promote the episode. So some things that you can do are 00:05:37.170 --> 00:05:40.319 creating an audio gram or a social media graphic for 00:05:40.321 --> 00:05:43.290 Facebook, for Instagram, whatever social media platform you promote 00:05:43.290 --> 00:05:46.350 on. That's a really easy way to get them to share that episode 00:05:46.350 --> 00:05:48.779 when you have that created and it's made right there for them 00:05:48.781 --> 00:05:51.480 and you give it to them. The second thing that you can do is 00:05:51.480 --> 00:05:54.389 create a blurb for them to include in their newsletter about 00:05:54.391 --> 00:05:57.740 the episode. Hey, this is an episode about X, Y, and you send 00:05:57.740 --> 00:05:59.930 that over to them. They can push that right out to their people 00:05:59.959 --> 00:06:03.290 via email. The other thing that you can do is provide a direct 00:06:03.290 --> 00:06:06.620 link where people can listen to the episode. The idea is that it 00:06:06.620 --> 00:06:09.920 should be as easy as copying and pasting and pushing out to their 00:06:09.920 --> 00:06:13.040 people. You want to have no reason for them not to share the 00:06:13.040 --> 00:06:14.029 episode and promote it. 00:06:16.629 --> 00:06:21.310 Travis: Use templates, make it your goal in life as a podcaster, 00:06:21.519 --> 00:06:26.110 to never duplicate your work, whether it's your outlines, 00:06:26.259 --> 00:06:29.079 whether it's your audio editing software, your projects that you 00:06:29.081 --> 00:06:32.920 work in, your emails that you send to your guests, anything 00:06:32.920 --> 00:06:37.000 that you do consistently spend some time really make it 00:06:37.120 --> 00:06:40.329 unbreakable, make sure that it's exactly the way that you want it. 00:06:40.930 --> 00:06:44.620 And then don't go back and redo that actually leverage that work 00:06:44.620 --> 00:06:48.759 you've done in the past to speed up future episodes. So let's say 00:06:48.761 --> 00:06:51.069 for instance, that you have a guest that you're bringing onto 00:06:51.071 --> 00:06:54.970 your show, rather than writing a custom email from scratch, send 00:06:54.971 --> 00:06:57.939 them the one that you sent to your previous guest, but then 00:06:57.970 --> 00:07:00.279 change out the first name to them. It looks like a brand new 00:07:00.281 --> 00:07:03.550 email because they haven't seen that email before. And you know 00:07:03.550 --> 00:07:06.250 that it has all the details that they need to know to make sure 00:07:06.250 --> 00:07:09.879 they're fully prepared to come on your episode. Once you finish 00:07:09.970 --> 00:07:12.250 your recording and you bring your interview into your audio editing 00:07:12.250 --> 00:07:15.009 software, you shouldn't be creating a new project from 00:07:15.011 --> 00:07:19.360 scratch. You should be opening up a previous episode, saving it as 00:07:19.360 --> 00:07:23.470 a duplicate and then rewriting over the pieces that need to 00:07:23.471 --> 00:07:26.319 change leaving, intact , your intro, your outro, and all of 00:07:26.321 --> 00:07:30.189 your audio preferences. And then when you're creating your show 00:07:30.190 --> 00:07:33.819 notes, they should be copy and paste from your previous episode, 00:07:33.821 --> 00:07:36.370 show notes, and then filling out the fields and changing 00:07:36.370 --> 00:07:39.189 everything. That's different just by using templates, just by 00:07:39.190 --> 00:07:43.060 leveraging your previous work. And previous efforts for future 00:07:43.060 --> 00:07:49.089 episodes is going to save you a ton of time. These show notes is 00:07:49.091 --> 00:07:52.899 the section of your podcast episode that allows you to engage 00:07:52.959 --> 00:07:55.480 for your listeners, provide some next steps for those that are 00:07:55.480 --> 00:07:58.180 ready to take action on what they just listened to. And also 00:07:58.180 --> 00:08:02.500 persuade someone new to listen to the episode. The number one best 00:08:02.500 --> 00:08:07.269 practice is to use formatting. All right , a majority of podcast 00:08:07.271 --> 00:08:11.769 players like Apple podcasts, Google podcasts , uh , overcast, 00:08:12.009 --> 00:08:15.490 they support HTML formatting. That means you could put 00:08:15.490 --> 00:08:19.449 paragraph breaks, bullet points in bed links, all the stuff that 00:08:19.451 --> 00:08:23.680 you need to do to make your show notes look nice because when your 00:08:23.680 --> 00:08:26.350 show notes are properly formatted, when it's easy to 00:08:26.350 --> 00:08:30.220 navigate within your episode description, it makes it easier 00:08:30.221 --> 00:08:32.769 for your listeners to find what they're looking for. Right? 00:08:32.770 --> 00:08:35.139 Instead of combing through several paragraphs of 00:08:35.140 --> 00:08:37.840 information, they can just zip down to the list of links that 00:08:37.841 --> 00:08:41.080 you mentioned and click on the one that they're looking for. 00:08:41.320 --> 00:08:44.169 Because remember when someone goes to your show notes, your 00:08:44.171 --> 00:08:47.470 episode description, they're going for a number of reasons. 00:08:47.710 --> 00:08:51.129 First reason they heard you mentioned something in the 00:08:51.130 --> 00:08:53.590 podcast and they want to find the link. They want to learn more. 00:08:53.799 --> 00:08:57.120 They want to buy that product, that you, they are looking for a 00:08:57.120 --> 00:08:59.730 particular piece of information. And they're going to take action 00:08:59.730 --> 00:09:02.190 on that. The other reason somebody goes through your show 00:09:02.191 --> 00:09:05.519 notes or your episode description is they're not sure that they 00:09:05.520 --> 00:09:09.120 want to devote the 30 minutes, 40 minutes hour to listening to the 00:09:09.120 --> 00:09:12.539 full episode. And so they see the title is interesting. They're 00:09:12.541 --> 00:09:15.960 curious. They want to learn more and they go to your show notes 00:09:16.549 --> 00:09:19.169 too , to see some amplifying information to see is this 00:09:19.171 --> 00:09:20.519 something that I really want to listen to? 00:09:22.879 --> 00:09:26.570 Sarah: So let's talk about whether you actually need a 00:09:26.600 --> 00:09:32.059 custom podcast website now for most pod-casters the answer is 00:09:32.061 --> 00:09:36.950 actually no, because if your podcast has an RSS feed with a 00:09:36.951 --> 00:09:42.799 podcast host like Buzzsprout chances are you already have a 00:09:42.801 --> 00:09:46.879 podcast website with Buzzsprouts website, you get a homepage with 00:09:46.880 --> 00:09:50.690 links to obviously all of your episodes that your listeners can 00:09:50.691 --> 00:09:54.440 listen to. You can also direct them to different podcast 00:09:54.860 --> 00:09:57.350 directories like Apple podcast, Stitcher and Spotify. If they 00:09:57.350 --> 00:10:01.429 want to go listen and subscribe there, and you can also use your 00:10:01.460 --> 00:10:05.330 own domain names . So you can look and feel like your own 00:10:05.960 --> 00:10:08.960 podcast website . You're just looking for a place for people to 00:10:08.961 --> 00:10:12.110 listen to your episodes. Changes are you don't need to spend that 00:10:12.110 --> 00:10:14.690 money to build your own custom website. 00:10:17.330 --> 00:10:19.820 Gilon: You may think that the best strategy is to put your 00:10:19.821 --> 00:10:23.450 entire episode up on a social media platform, but actually you 00:10:23.451 --> 00:10:26.389 want to create teaser content and teaser content gives them a 00:10:26.390 --> 00:10:28.580 little sound bite , just a little snippet that what's their 00:10:28.581 --> 00:10:31.730 appetites want to go listen to the rest of the episode, wherever 00:10:31.730 --> 00:10:35.269 they listen on Apple podcasts or Spotify, or what have you. So 00:10:35.270 --> 00:10:37.940 we're going to talk about what three things are included in 00:10:37.941 --> 00:10:40.970 every good social media post. The first thing that you need is a 00:10:40.971 --> 00:10:44.000 visual element, right? So people are scrolling. They're reading, 00:10:44.000 --> 00:10:47.120 whatever. If you post a picture that causes them to stop. And the 00:10:47.360 --> 00:10:49.580 idea is that they stop , they listen, they read, they engage. 00:10:49.759 --> 00:10:52.279 And the picture of visual element helps them do that. So this can 00:10:52.280 --> 00:10:54.830 be a graphic. It could be a headshot of your guest . It could 00:10:54.831 --> 00:10:57.259 be an audio gram . The second thing that you need is a good 00:10:57.260 --> 00:11:01.100 hook. Think about what can I say to make someone want to continue 00:11:01.100 --> 00:11:04.370 listening, to go check out the full episode. It could be a crazy 00:11:04.370 --> 00:11:06.799 stat. It could be a really good quote. It could be a couple of 00:11:06.801 --> 00:11:09.860 bullet points that summarize the high points of the episode. 00:11:10.129 --> 00:11:13.519 Whatever that thing is, put that in the caption to help encourage 00:11:13.520 --> 00:11:16.580 people to go check out the full episode and finally a link you 00:11:16.581 --> 00:11:20.299 want to include a direct link to that specific podcast episode in 00:11:20.301 --> 00:11:23.539 your post. If you nail all three of these elements, you'll not 00:11:23.541 --> 00:11:27.049 only intrigue new listeners. You'll also encourage existing 00:11:27.051 --> 00:11:28.850 subscribers to share your posts as well, 00:11:31.490 --> 00:11:35.809 Travis: Batch production of your podcast episodes. So anytime that 00:11:35.811 --> 00:11:38.809 you were producing an episode, there's so much involved. There's 00:11:38.811 --> 00:11:43.129 so many moving pieces that need to happen in a specific order in 00:11:43.130 --> 00:11:45.860 order for you to create that episode. So you have to start 00:11:45.860 --> 00:11:48.230 with generating ideas. Then you have to create outlines or 00:11:48.409 --> 00:11:50.629 scripts. If you have a scripted podcast, you have to line up 00:11:50.659 --> 00:11:53.470 interviews, you need to record the episode. You need to edit it. 00:11:53.471 --> 00:11:55.940 You need to upload it. You need to schedule it. All of those 00:11:56.220 --> 00:12:00.690 things take time. What takes even more time If you do every single 00:12:00.691 --> 00:12:04.200 episode by itself. But let's say instead that you scheduled all 00:12:04.201 --> 00:12:07.259 the interviews that you needed for the entire month in one week, 00:12:07.289 --> 00:12:09.899 maybe you had to record it on Tuesday. And to record it on 00:12:09.900 --> 00:12:12.570 Thursday, you know , have four episodes to start working with 00:12:12.960 --> 00:12:16.169 that Saturday. You create the outlines for the rest of the 00:12:16.171 --> 00:12:18.809 episode. You record the narration, put it with your intro 00:12:18.811 --> 00:12:21.659 and your outro music, and you export it. You output it to your 00:12:21.660 --> 00:12:24.570 podcast host, and now you schedule it out. You've just done 00:12:24.600 --> 00:12:29.759 a month of content in one week. So if you're looking to optimize 00:12:29.760 --> 00:12:32.669 and streamline your workflow even more beyond templates, the next 00:12:32.671 --> 00:12:34.769 best thing to do is to batch your episodes.