84: Easy Wins for Your Podcast - OR - 8 Mistakes Podcasters Should Avoid

Podcastification - podcasting tips, podcast tricks, how to podcast better

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There are quite a number of easy wins you can get to make your podcast better.

Is there any reason you wouldn't want to do them?

I have the privilege of spending a lot of time checking out the resources podcasters are producing, from their podcast episodes to their websites and promotional material. Do you know what I find? Lots of obvious mistakes that I guess aren't so obvious to the podcaster in question.

In this episode I share with you 8 of the things I've noticed that many podcasters are messing up when it comes to their websites, the way they present their brand, and the way they interact with their following. I'm certain you will find something in here that you can tweak to get an easy win for your show.

Main Points : Easy Wins (by avoiding 8 common mistakes)

• [1:22] How I come across the obvious mistakes podcasters are making
• [3:14] Things about your website you need to understand
• [4:23] MISTAKE 1: Taking people AWAY from your website. It’s an EASY fix
• [8:02] iTunes ranks podcasts on one thing only. Do you know what it is?
• [9:05] MISTAKE 2: No subscription options
• [12:53] MISTAKE 3: Wonky episode titles that ignore keyword optimization
• [16:52] MISTAKE 4: Where is your contact info? Social only? Really?
• [19:48] MISTAKE 5: Podcast listens are happening more and more via mobile - can those people easily contact you?
• [22:18] MISTAKE 6: Cover Art that makes me want to throw up or yawn
• [27:52] MISTAKE 7: The website link in iTunes should go…. Where????
• [30:22] MISTAKE 8: Brand names or Cutesy show names

Your podcast player can be like the glue that keeps people on your page

It seems like many podcasters don't understand how and why Google chooses the websites it serves up to people who are searching for various things. It all has to do with Google's perceived value of the resources that are provided on that webpage.

But Google is a computer algorithm, how does it know?

Google's designers, as well as the designers of Bing and Yahoo, have programmed their systems with algorithms that look for certain indications of whether searchers are actually finding the content they discover on web pages to be valuable to them, or not.

One of the most important of those indicators is the time a searcher spends "on page" once they make a selection from the search results.

That simply means if you want to tell Google you've got valuable content, you need to keep people on your show notes pages as long as possible.

In my opinion, a podcast player can be an incredible tool to use simply because it DOES keep people on your website pages longer. It's like glue - as long as they are listening, they are not going anywhere.

So can you see what mistake number one might be? You got it! No web players on the page.

In fact, some people are even sending searchers away from their websites to listen to their episodes on Stitcher or Google Play or iTunes. Find out how I suggest you remedy this problem by listening to this episode. And hey, you'll help Google know this page was helpful to you!

Subscription options: Are you including them on your show notes pages and player descriptions?

It doesn't seem to be common knowledge, but iTunes determines which podcasts to rank highest in its search algorithms primarily by the number of subscribers there are to that show. That means if you are not asking your listeners to subscribe to your show, specifically in the iTunes platform, you are missing out on the opportunity to rank your show higher in iTunes organic search.

But that only has to do with Search in iTunes.

There's a related issue here that you need to be aware of as well, and that has to do with whether people are subscribing to your show at all (no matter the directory or app).

In this episode I explain why asking your listeners to subscribe is important and how it can benefit you, providing an easy win for your podcast promotion.

Episode 27: Bobby Smith. - What’s wrong with that title?

That's a pretty stupid episode title, don't you think? All it tells the reader is that some person named Bobby Smith is being interviewed on that episode. There's no topic, there's no appealing headline, in fact, it's so boring most people will simply click away without giving it a second thought.

You don't want that for your podcast episodes. So take the time to name them effectively.

In this episode of Podcastification - you can click the player above and hear it for yourself - you are going to hear what goes into a great episode title, why it is important, and how easily you can fix them the moment you're done listening.

If that is not an easy win I don't know what the words mean.

If you have no easy contact info on your website - you’re telling me you don’t really want to talk to me

When I go to a website and want to connect with the person who has created it, I expect that I will be able to click on the contact tab and send them an email, fill out a form, or some how reach out to them directly.

What do I find most of the time?

Social media profiles linked from the website. And in some cases, nothing at all.

It makes me think that the person behind the website doesn't really want to talk to me, no matter who I am.

What if I was their ideal client with my pockets full of money? What if I wanted to hire them to do business with me?

The only option I have is to reach out to them through social? Really? There has to be a better way. And there is. You'll hear about it on this episode of Podcastification.

Here’s an experiment to demonstrate how important good cover art is - and how you can get an easy win by fixing yours

Cover art changes are an easy win for every podcaster who needs it and to prove the point I have an experiment for you to try.

I have a little experiment for you to try. Next time you're seated at your computer…

• Open up the iTunes directory.
• Go to the business category
• Then click on the "see all" link.
• Scroll through the images you see there that represent the various podcasts available.

What do you notice?

Some of them stand out right away, others make you want to yawn, or worse yet, throw up. Which kind do you think is more beneficial for your podcast?

Creating good looking cover art for your show is an easy win. It's one of those ways you can stand out in a very crowded podcast niche. Seriously, I will click on a nice looking piece of cover art over a boring cover art selection any day. It's just human nature.

The good news is that anytime you want to update your cover art you can do so inside your media host and iTunes and all the other directories will pull that information almost instantly.

You can find out more great tips like this for getting easy wins for your podcast on this episode of Podcastification.

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Carey(AT)PodcastFastTrack.com

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