Check out my past episode and article, “Redirects and How to Use Them in Podcasting” to learn more about how redirects work and the different options there are.

(As an affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases through some—but not all—of the following links. But I recommend things I truly believe in, regardless of earnings.)

Caution #1: 301 redirects are “permanent” and cached

In podcasting, we throw around the term “301 redirect” or “permanent redirect” often without realizing what that actually means: it is (or at least it's assumed to be) permanent!

I often use the physical mail or US Post Office metaphor when explaining redirects. Think of a permanent redirect as a “change of address” notice sent back to everyone who mails you something.

A 301 redirect is permanent and is essentially telling apps, “This thing has moved to over there. Please stop looking here and always look there instead. So don't look at me again.”

This is great when you actually made a permanent move—or at least intend for it to be permanent. Like when you permanently move homes and change your address!

But if you ever change your mind or—even worse—make a mistake in the redirect, that redirect will be followed and the old URL will stop being checked. So if you make a “/feedback” page that 301-permanently redirects somewhere else, then even if you change where “/feedback” goes, any app that previously loaded “/feedback” will bypass it altogether and go straight to the destination it has saved in its cache.

That cache is sometimes cleared, but you should assume it never will be! (However, this doesn't apply for anyone visiting your redirect for the first time.)

So if you get your 301 permanent redirect wrong and you don't fix it immediately—like within a few minutes—the best thing to do is to also redirect that incorrect destination to the correct one. And, unfortunately, that's not always possible. Thus, I recommend that, if possible, you make your redirect a 307 or 302 temporary redirect first, test it over a few days, and then change it to a 301 permanent redirect.

Caution #2: Your redirect destinations might change or disappear

Contrary to the Stanley cup craze of spring 2024, my favorite water thermos has been a Contigo Ashland Chill Autospout Water Bottle with Flip Straw, Stainless Steel Thermal Drinking Bottle,Leakproof,Grey, BLue, 590 ml (I earn from qualifying purchases through that link) that I've had since 2019. But I recently lost it—I think at a mall while my son and I were waiting for my broken-down car to be towed.

I thought I could simply re-order it for close to the original $10 price I paid, but no! That specific bottle has a new version I don't like as much, and the original bottle was listed for $45 when I needed it!

Here's what makes this relevant to redirects. The first place I went to re-order that water bottle was my Amazon order history. When I clicked on the product link, my heart was initially crushed because Contigo Autospout Straw Ashland Chill Vacuum-Insulated Stainless Steel Water Bottle, 20 oz., Monaco says, “Currently unavailable”!

Imagine if I had redirected to that product page with a 301 permanent redirect! Anyone clicking through my link might have their hopes dashed just like I did!

This is why I highly recommend that any redirect to any URL you don't control should be a 307 temporary redirect (a 302 redirect is also temporary and works fine, but use a 307 if you have the choice). If I had been smartly promoting that water bottle with something like a “/waterbottle” redirect, I could easily change its destination when the product URL changes, or point back to a page on my own site with a note about the product.

That's easy to do with temporary redirects because they don't get cached. So even if you used my redirect yesterday, then I changed it last night, and you use the same redirect URL today, you would be taken to the correct destination.

I love that Pretty Links Pro has recently added a new feature to monitor all the redirects you create and alert you when any of them point to a broken URL! And that could be really important for both your audience and any kind of affiliate income you hoped to make.

Caution #3: Most redirects bypass content

This is both a caution and a blessing. However your redirect is placed (and I'm not referring to the <itunes:new-feed-url> RSS tag), the redirect will be followed before any of that URL's content is loaded.

So if you redirect an old podcast RSS feed URL to a new one, anything you put in that old feed will be completely ignored.

That's a caution because it means your audience won't get anything you put in that feed, especially not any announcement of the feed change (if that's even necessary). This is why you should put the <itunes:new-feed-url> tag in your new feed if you ever change podcast feed URLs. And yes, the tag should actually point to itself as a sort of confirmation that this feed is the new feed URL.

But it's also a blessing because it means you don't actually need an RSS feed to exist at that address once you're redirecting it. In fact, you can have nothing at that address except the redirect! (That's how nearly all redirection tools do it. You don't have to create pages or posts to redirect, you simply create the redirect.)

So if you want or need to give some information before the redirect, then create a page at that URL you share, and then have the redirect linked from the page.

For example, that's what I've been building for a lot of podcasting tools I frequently recommend. Consider Captivate, for example. If you visit theaudacitytopodcast.com/captivate, you're no longer immediately redirected to Captivate, but you instead land on my page that briefly explains why I recommend Captivate. And then you can click on the button to use my affiliate link to visit Captivate. Fun fact: that button is still a redirect: theaudacitytopodcast.com/go/captivate

Caution #4: You might someday rename your redirect

I've previously shared why you should stop saying brand names in your podcast, unless absolutely necessary. Maybe you heard or read that and decided to change your “/patreon” redirecting URL to a generic “/support” URL (or you had a similar situation).

While that's great that you did that, it still breaks all your past calls to action that used the “/patreon” URL!

For this reason, if you ever want to someday rename your redirect—regardless of whether you've only typed it in your notes or you've also spoken it in your podcast—I recommend that you make a new redirect and point both the new and old redirects to the correct location (and take this chance to ensure they're both 307 or 302 temporary redirects!).

Alternatively, you could actually point one redirect to the other. So instead of always having to change the destination for multiple redirects, you only change the last one. But just don't get crazy with this! I recommend making no more than 2 layers of a redirect. So that could look like this:

“/patreon” (original URL) ➜ “/support” new URL ➜ “final” destination

I put “final” in quotation marks, because it's possible even that URL gets redirected, as happens with many affiliate URLs that bounce through multiple trackers before landing on the actual final destination.

Caution #5: Correcting URLs you said in old episodes is practically impossible

If you do rename a redirect, like switching from “/patreon” to “/support,” don't even think about editing the audio or video with all your past calls to action!

This is why it's important to get it right in the first place and make a future-friendly generic URL you can change whenever you want without breaking past calls to action.

But if you didn't plan ahead like that (and I've made that mistake countless times, too!), make sure all your old calls to action still work. That could be either with a redirect, or a note and the correct link on the resulting destination. So even if you said a “patreon.com” URL in your podcast, you might be able to leave that page up but with a prominent note that your support options have moved and with a link to that new location. (But make sure that link is also a redirect, in case you ever change things again!)

Caution #6: Reusing things you redirected from is a bad idea (my 2024 redirect mistake)

I need to illustrate this point with a story from my own recent mistake.

Several years ago, Blubrry launched Podcast Mirror, a free and much better podcast-focused alternative to FeedBurner.

But with all the features coming from Podcasting 2.0, and the dragging feet of many outdated podcasting tools and hosting providers, Blubrry decided to add more features to Podcast Mirror, which could let you add Podcasting 2.0 features to a feed that didn't already have them. Just like how Feedburner could be used to turn a normal blog feed into a valid podcast feed. (Funny side note: I was actually thinking of launching my own service like this as soon as I learned about Podcasting 2.0, and I even registered a great domain for it, but I never got around to building that product.)

These upgrades were great, but it also meant that Blubrry would stop offering a basic Podcast Mirror service for free—not even their plain feed mirror service. This upgrade to Podcast Mirror went into effect during my few-month podcast hiatus while I doubled down on launching Podgagement in the second half of 2023. So when I published a new episode in January 2024—NEWSFLASH—my feed wouldn't update anymore because I hadn't upgraded to a paid Podcast Mirror subscription! (To be blunt, I think this was a horrible betrayal of trust from Blubrry. But at least all podcasters could easily redirect away from Podcast Mirror.)

Having a tight cashflow, I decided to redirect my Podcast Mirror feed to a FeedBurner feed—doing nothing but simply mirroring or “proxying” my feed for performance reasons. But I very quickly discovered that FeedBurner no longer offers a ping service or a manual refresh button, leaving me with no way to trigger an update of my RSS feed. Consequently, my episodes were not going out to podcast apps for several hours!

Crazy me—I decided to try building my own feed proxy service. But after more than 4 hours into it, I realized I'd wasted more time (and “time is money”) trying to “DIY” it and thus lost more potential income than if I'd just paid the reasonable yearly fee Blubrry now charges for Podcast Mirror!

So I emailed Blubrry on my digital hands and knees, begging them to take me back. We worked out a deal and I'm back on Podcast Mirror now. Hooray!

But here was my big mistake: I insisted on having my original feed URL again.

Why was that bad? Because here's what the 301 permanent redirects looked like:

Podcast Mirror ➜ FeedBurner ➜ Podcast Mirror (same URL).

Do you see the problem? If anything had cached Podcast Mirror's 301 redirect on my feed, it would enter what's called a “redirect loop.” I suspect that is why I saw a big drop in downloads per episode after I changed the redirect. (And this was in February 2024, so it had nothing to do with the over-hyped iOS 17 update!)

I actually made it even a little worse by momentarily redirecting to my PowerPress feed—but a URL that bypasses any redirects from PowerPress. And this made it difficult to actually re-redirect when I wanted to!

In all of this, my feed URL didn't actually matter. Do you even know what my podcast feed URL is? I could have easily added a “2” or “-audio” or anything else to the URL when I rejoined Podcast Mirror and it would have been fine.

So the moral of this long story is that if you ever think you should redirect back to something that was already 301-permanently redirecting, DON'T! Instead, make a new URL as your final destination.

Quick resources for making redirects

I want to end this with a couple of tips for making redirects that won't cause problems in the future.

301 permanent versus 307/302 temporary

With these cautions in mind, my general advice is to choose 307 (or 302) temporary redirects for any destination you don't control. Start with affiliate links, your donation or membership page, your online community, and such.

And for any destination you do control, or you are absolutely certain will not change in the foreseeable future, you can use a 301 permanent redirect.

WordPress plugins for making redirects

If you're looking to make redirects on WordPress, my favorite plugins are Pretty Links Pro and Redirection. I actually use both of them!

Pretty Links Pro (paid) is much easier to use and has a lot of helpful feature, like automatic keyword-linking, shorter link-creation workflows for pages and posts, smart redirects, and more.

The Redirection plugin (free) is more advanced, even allowing regular expressions. And, maybe the handiest feature here, is that you can enable it to monitor your pages and posts to redirect any of those URLs you change. For example, many of my old episode webpages still include the “tap###” code I used to use in my titles. I've already removed those from the titles, but if I change those URLs, the Redirection plugin would automatically redirect that webpage's old URL to the new one.

Other ways to make redirects

If you're not using WordPress, or you want to manage your redirects away from WordPress, look at what your domain or website tools offer, or consider Cloudflare's options.

Some podcast-hosting providers or easier website-builders (such as Podpage) offer their own redirects you can create and manage within your dashboard. This would work from only the domain you set to work with that website.

The options from your domain registrar, your hosting provider, or Cloudflare generally all work before loading anything from your website. So the redirects might continue to function even if your website is down. And these can work without any website at all.

Lastly, there are plenty of third-party URL-shorteners and redirect tools you can use, but some might charge if you want to customize the URL or use your own domain. And even if you can use your own domain, it usually has to be a subdomain or a completely different domain from your normal website.

Please click here to learn more about redirects and how to use them!

Community corner

• 7,777§ boostagram from Steve Webb on “11 Tips for Sharing URLs in Your Podcast,” saying, “Another great episode with useful, actionable content. Thanks Daniel!”
• 1,000§ boostagram from Andy Lehman on “11 Tips for Sharing URLs in Your Podcast,” saying, “I tried clicking on your links for this episode in the chapters and it crashed Castamatic. I wonder if it has to do with the anchors.”
• Streaming sats from Dave Jackson, Guy Martin (Dwev), and Bryan Entzminger

Engage your audience and grow your podcast!

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Disclosure

This post may contain links to products or services with which I have an affiliate relationship. I may receive compensation from your actions through such links. However, I don't let that corrupt my perspective and I don't recommend only affiliates.

The post 6 Cautions When Using Redirects in Podcasting (plus best practices) first appeared on The Audacity to Podcast.

Beyond your podcast website, you might also want to share affiliate links, resources, episode notes, past episodes, sponsors, and more.

Here are 11 tips for how to share URLs effectively in your podcast.

(As an affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases through some of these following links. But I recommend things I truly believe in, regardless of earnings.)

1. Speak as few URLs as possible (per episode)

Every URL is essentially a call to action. That could be where to follow you on social networks, the episode's webpage, your support page, where to send feedback, and much more.

And calls to action are most effective when there are very few of them, but they are reinforced multiple times. This is why you'll hear most ads give the call to action (like visiting a website) at least 3 times.

That's a good practice for your podcast, too. But with all the URLs you might want to share, you'll start overwhelming your audience and making each URL less memorable.

For this reason, I recommend that you say as few URLs as possible—maybe only one!

But don't make it the same URL across all your episodes! For example, if I kept telling you to get the links for this episode at “TheAudacitytoPodcast.com,” that works best only when this is my latest episode. But the more episodes I publish, the more this episode gets shifted down my website's front page, and eventually pushed off the front page.

Thus, I recommend having a unique URL for each episode that will always take your audience to the correct information—whether they listen immediately or 5 years later. This is easy to do on WordPress with my favorite plugin Pretty Links Pro.

2. Defer to your chapters or episode notes

If you follow tip #1, then your single URL should be your episode webpage. There, you can include all the things you want your audience to get or see: images, videos, links, buttons, and more.

Make sure this stuff—at least the links—appear in your episode notes within the podcast apps, too! Because many publishing tools and podcast apps follow different standards, the best thing to do would be to ask the maker of your publishing tool how to ensure your links show in your top podcast apps, and they can give you the right guidance for your situation. But the most universal case is—unfortunately—that a full, ugly URL, like “https://theaudacitytopodcast.com” will work more often than an HTML hyperlink, like <a href="https://theaudacitytopodcast.com/">The Audacity to Podcast</a>.

Check out Knick Knack News for a great example of actionable episode notes (it's also a really fun podcast I highly recommend!). Their notes are not effective for SEO, but they are excellent for engagement inside the podcast apps! The hosts of that fun show, Alex and Anthony, often share things you will want to see or read for yourself. And they do that in very simple and actionable ways in their notes. Here's an example from an episode:

Anthony's Stories This Week:

Ketchup: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20231105470473/en/It%E2%80%99s-a-Big-Dill-HEINZ-To-Launch-New-Pickle-Ketchup-Nationwide

Ice Cream: https://www.mensjournal.com/news/baskin-robbins-thanksgiving-dinner-ice-cream-flavor

Alex's Stories This Week:

Beard: https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2023/11/09/Guinness-World-Records-David-Rush-Amazing-Race-chopsticks-beard/5131699551869/

Zelda: https://www.theverge.com/2023/11/7/23951339/the-legend-of-zelda-movie-live-action-nintendo

“What exactly IS pickle ketchup? Plus, how many chopsticks can you fit in a beard?” Knick Knack News

If you're listening along to their podcast, then these simple notes will make total sense to you and the notes don't get in the way of what you want.

Depending on how you're communicating around the URL(s) you want to share, you might also want to use chapters.

Both legacy chapters embedded in your MP3 files and Podcasting 2.0 chapters in a separate episode metadata file (in JSON format) support adding a single URL link per chapter.

In Knick Knack News, Alex and Anthony spend several minutes on each story, so each story would be perfect as a single chapter. And then they could add the relevant URL to each chapter.

But this gets complicated when you have multiple URLs within a single context. For example, if I share a list of my favorite podcast-hosting providers (currently Captivate, Buzzsprout, and Blubrry), I can't add multiple URLs to the same chapter.

So this is where you would want to defer that list of links to your episode notes.

However, I'm pushing hard for Podcasting 2.0 to turn our current podcast chapters into “super chapters” (a term coined by Dovydas from RSSBlue.com), allowing you to use a single chapter to display rich content, including but not limited to a gallery of images, a block of text, a numbered or unnumbered list, videos, and even multiple links for a single chapter. Then, I could make a chapter simply for “My favorite podcast-hosting providers” and that one chapter can link to the multiple options.

However, I urge you to maintain “backwards compatibility,” and that's where your episode webpage comes in.

If you're worried about your audience getting lost in a long episode webpage, you could actually link your chapters to specific sections of your page by adding an “anchor” or ID to each heading in your notes, and then link each chapter to that anchor in the URL. For example, https://theaudacitytopodcast.com/sharingurls#2 links to this section. In fact, each chapter of this episode links directly to its section in my notes. Try it!

3. Never say “https://” or “www.”

It's not the '90s anymore. It has been literally decades since anyone needed to type “http://” or “https://” in their browser.

Also, most websites don't use “www.” at all in their domain anymore. Or if they do (like YouTube still does), you can usually still get to the correct place without including the “www.” (Which, by the way, has to be the worst abbreviation because saying “W W W” is actually more syllables than what's it's an abbreviation for: “world wide web”!)

But you must test this first! I have run into a couple of badly configured sites that needed the “www.” because they weren't even forwarding their domain without the “www.”!

If I hear you say, “www.theaudacitytopodcast.com,” I won't come after you, but don't be surprised if poetic justice comes after you by making your neighbor mow his yard right when you want to record your podcast!

4. Simplify your URLs

If you do speak a URL in your podcast, make it as simple as possible!

I remember a commercial many years ago from Epson—you know, one of the biggest printer manufacturers who should have known better? The only thing I remember about their commercial was because I—as a teenager—recognized how bad their call to action was. I think the URL they spoke was “www.epson.com/what-if-you-could.” And yes, they actually said “dash” for every one!

Don't do that!

I highly recommend that any URL you speak should reinforce your brand. So make it a “/keyword” URL on your own domain. Consider the speakable URL for this very episode: “theaudacitytopodcast.com/sharingurls.”

This also goes for external resources, too. Instead of sending people to “patreon.com/[your podcast slug],” send them to a “/patreon” 307 or 302 temporary redirect on your own domain. Or even better, remove the third-party brand name completely and make it a generic URL like “/support” or something meaningful to your audience!

This not only reinforces your brand, but it also makes your calls to action future-proof because you can redirect that URL whenever you want (especially if it's a temporary redirect) and to wherever you want, even to a completely different brand! Like what if you wanted to stop using Patreon and switch to a membership on your own site?

5. Make friendly URLs that make sense

Whether you're sending your audience to your episode webpage, an affiliate product, or somewhere else, ensure the URL makes sense for that thing.

This is part of why I stopped using episode-number URLs for my own podcast a long time ago. Firstly, I realized that my episode numbers didn't actually matter; and secondly, even I was having a hard time remembering which numbers went with which episodes, so I could assume my audience would have an even harder time.

Now, I create redirecting short episode URLs match the content of my episode by making them keyword-focused, like how this episode's URL is “theaudacitytopodcast.com/sharingurls” instead of “theaudacitytopodcast.com/391” (which is the pointless number of this episode).

This is easy to do with Pretty Links Pro! You can make as many temporary and permanent redirects as you want and all using your own WordPress-powered website! Even many third-party website providers (like Podpage or Captivate) let you make such redirects. But what I like about Pretty Links Pro (and specifically the paid version) is that I can create the “pretty link” right in my post or page editor, so it goes live when I publish, reducing how many things I need to do outside of the post or page editor.

6. Say “slash” not “forward slash” or “backslash”

You can call this a pet peeve if you want, but it's simply a “slash,” not a “forward slash.”

“Forward slash” is redundant, like “PIN number,” “ATM machine,” and “please RSVP.”

And it's definitely not a backslash (“\”), either!

7. Slow down and speak clearly

Even though URLs don't have spaces, that doesn't mean you should speak like they don't have spaces!

It can be okay to say your own URL faster when it exactly matches your brand that you've already said several times in your podcast. For example, the website for The Audacity to Podcast is—duh—theaudacitytopodcast.com!

But when speaking any different URL, or especially if speaking that URL in front of a new audience, make sure you say it slowly and clearly enough so they can know what you said.

Check your podcast transcripts, too. This can be a good indicator of whether you're speaking the URL clearly and slowly enough. (And also remember to fix any incorrect URLs in your transcripts!)

8. Clarify or avoid ambiguity

There's the chance that you'll run into some confusion with any URLs you speak. For example, does your domain have the preposition “for,” the spelled number “four,” the numeral “4,” or something crazy like the roman numeral “IV”?

An interesting corporate example of this failure is Fifth Third Bank. Ironically for a bank, the secure URL “https://fifththird.com” doesn't actually work, but “http://fifththird.com” and “https://www.fifththird.com” do. However, the actual website (and redirection destination) is “https://www.53.com.”

And I hope no one types “5th3rd.com” into their browser, because that's a completely different website (“Online since 2000”).

There are three different ways you could avoid sending people to the wrong URL:

• Clarify any ambiguity, such as by spelling it when the context doesn't make it obvious. For example, I hear Clinton say this all the time: “Comedy4Cast.com—that's the number 4.”
• Create fallbacks to handle other versions—yes, I have “theaudacity2podcast.com”!
• Or avoid the ambiguity altogether—such as avoiding any single-digit numbers or ambiguously spelled words like “gray” and “grey.”

9. Be careful with top-level domains that aren't .com

A “top-level domain” or “TLD” is the “.com” part of the domain. You probably also know “.org,” “.net,” “.edu,” and “.gov.” But there are hundreds more! Some of them are full words, like “.photography”!

While it can be fun to have one of these modern TLDs, they might be expensive. And they might be confusing to non-savvy Internet users who probably assume a “.com” for everything (and also probably enter all their URLs into Google!).

Consider That Story Show for example. They have both “thatstoryshow.com” and “thatstory.show.” The host, James Kennison, now speaks the “.show” domain more often, but he still has and uses the longer “.com” version.

The more creative you get, the more it will cost you in both the domain itself and likely how many alternatives you might have to grab to ensure anyone who mishears you still gets to the right website—and it doesn't get stolen and used for malicious purposes!

10. Beware case-sensitivity

Case-sensitivity is still weird on the Internet. It really depends on the server configuration running the website.

When I started my first website, I specifically wanted a Windows server, instead of a Linux server, because I didn't want to mess with capitalization issues that I knew Linux can have!

Domains and subdomains are case-insensitive. So “TheAudacitytoPodcast.com” is handled the same as “theAUDACITYtopodcast.COM.” But anything after the domain could be case-sensitive in a URL. For example, capitalization matters with Bit.ly links, and it matters on some other website servers and hosting configurations, too.

11. Always test your URLs before you share them

Lastly, always ensure any URL you're going to share actually works! Type it with the “www.” and without. Make sure your redirects are functioning. And if your friendly URLs aren't activated until publishing (like all of my “/keyword” URLs from Pretty Links Pro for my podcast episodes), make sure you test the link after publishing your episodes!

Community corner

• 5-star review for “11 Warnings about Using AI in Content-Creation (including podcasting)” by Rich Bennett from April 19, 2024 on Goodpods: “Thanks for another informative episode Daniel”
• 1,000§ from Dwev saying, “Yep, you’re pronouncing it perfectly! Thanks Daniel!”
• Streamed satoshis from Bryan Entzminger, Dave Jackson, Dwev, and newcomer “garduss”

Engage your audience and grow your podcast!

Do you ever feel like your podcast is stuck? Like you're pouring your heart into your podcast but it seems like no one is listening?

Try Podgagement to help you engage your audience and grow your podcast!

Get speakable pages to simplify engaging with your audience, accept voicemail feedback (with automatic transcripts), track your ratings and reviews from nearly 200 places, and more!

Ask your questions or share your feedback

• Comment on the show notes
• Leave a voicemail at (903) 231-2221
• Email feedback@TheAudacitytoPodcast.com (audio files welcome)

Follow The Audacity to Podcast

• Apple Podcasts, Spotify, other Android apps, or in your favorite podcast app.
• Subscribe on YouTube for Podcasting Videos by The Audacity to Podcast
• Follow @theDanielJLewis on X-Twitter

Disclosure

This post may contain links to products or services with which I have an affiliate relationship. I may receive compensation from your actions through such links. However, I don't let that corrupt my perspective and I don't recommend only affiliates.

The post 11 Tips for Sharing URLs in Your Podcast first appeared on The Audacity to Podcast.

Now, AI has become so prominent, that it's almost surprising if a software company of any size is not offering some kind of AI-based solution.

While inflation has skyrocketed the prices of almost everything, the cost for accessing AI has significantly dropped. When I first started using AI, a good plan with access to only one central AI system cost $99 per month. But now, you can use a tool like Magai to use a whole bunch of different language- and image-based AI tools starting at only $19 per month!

(As an affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases through these links. But I recommend things I truly believe in, regardless of earnings.)

All this potential means we need to quote the line from Spider-Man, “With great power comes great responsibility.”

And thus why I want to share these warnings with you, to advocate for responsible use of generative AI, large language models (LLMs), machine learning, or whatever you want to call it.

This warnings apply to any kind of content-creation, not only podcasting!

(And in case you're wondering, I did not use AI to create any of this content, but I might be using some AI to transcribe or help me market this content.)

Aside: most warnings apply to generative AI, but not repurposing or enhancement AI

Before I get into my list of warnings about using AI, I want to clarify that these are focused using AI to essentially create something from nothing. I still think AI can be a great assistant on your content. For example, processing audio or video, clipping excerpts, suggesting marketing approaches, improving how things communicate, repurposing, and more. All of those things start with your intelligence, and then the AI works from that.

But I see most of these warnings as applying solely to generative AI, or when you start with nothing but a prompt.

Now, on to the warnings!

1. Undisclosed use of generative AI can get you in trouble

YouTube, social networks, and lots of other websites and platforms are starting to require you to disclose whenever you're putting out content generated by AI. And I think this is a good thing to do as it helps the potential audience know what kind of quality to expect.

Even for things like podcast transcripts, it's good to disclose whether AI was used to transcribe the audio. As I mentioned in my previous episode about using podcast transcripts, someone on your podcast might say, “I love two li'l puppies,” but the AI might transcribe it as, “I love to kill puppies.” Sometimes, even omitting a single word can drastically alter the meaning. For example, imagine accidentally omitting the “not” in a sentence like, “I'm not guilty.”

This doesn't necessarily mean you must disclose every time you use AI in any capacity (like you need to disclose whenever you're compensated for anything you talk about), but you should be aware of the requirements of platforms and seek to always be above reproach.

And if you're concerned about how it might affect your reputation if you disclose every time you use AI, then here's a radical thought: maybe don't use AI! (More on this in #11.)

2. AI often “hallucinates” facts and citations

ChatGPT, Claude, Grok, Gemini, and all the text-based AIs we know are also called “large language models” (or “LLMs”). And I think that's a much better term, too, because they're not actually intelligent; they are simply good with language.

This is why you'll often see LLMs write something that grammatically makes sense, but is conceptually nonsense.

In other words, LLMs know how to write sentences.

For example, I sometimes like to ask AI, “Who is Daniel J. Lewis?” Not because of any kind of ego complex, but because I'm an interesting test subject for LLMs since I am partially a public figure, but I also have a name very close to a celebrity: Daniel Day Lewis. Thus, the responses LLMs give me often conflate the two of us (a mistake I wish my bank would make!). I've seen responses that both describe me as a podcasting-industry expert and highlight my roles in There Will Be Blood and The Last of the Mohicans. (And I'm not helping any LLMs scraping my content by just now writing those things together!)

So for anything an AI or LLM writes for you, I urge you to fact-check it! I've even seen some responses completely make up citations that don't exist!

3. AI lacks humanity

From the moment of conception, you have always been a unique being of tremendous value and potential with unique DNA, unique experiences, unique thoughts, unique emotions, and more. Like a snowflake, there will never be someone—or something—exactly like you! Not even an AI trained on all of your content!

AI is not an actual intelligence and I believe it never will be. And AI will never be human.

But you are. You can feel, express, and empathize through emotion. You can question, explore, change your mind, and change others' minds. You can create things of great beauty and originality with no outside prompting.

And it's because of this that I think AI can never replace you. While it might have better skills than you in some areas, it will never beat the quality and personableness that you can offer.

4. AI-created images can be humiliating

AI image models have produced some hilarious or nightmarish results and lots of things that are physically impossible! Like with how AI can hallucinate facts and citations, it can also make images that look real, until you actually pay attention to the details.

I think this teaser for Despicable Me 4 accurately explains it:

Or The Babylon Bee‘s explanation of ChatGPT:

Lest you think this is only outdated models producing bad content, here are some things I've actually seen from current-generation AI image models:

• Backwards hands
• Limbs that seamlessly merge into the surroundings
• Misspelled text that you might not notice unless you try to actually read it
• Device parts that disappear into nowhere
• Placements that are physically impossible
• Broken, slanted, or curvy lines that absolutely should be straight
• Incorrect size ratios

Watch out for these things! For any image you generate (or that someone else gives you that they might have generated with AI), look at it very carefully to ensure everything about it makes sense and isn't simply a pretty—but embarrassing—combination of pixels.

For this reason, you might actually want your image AI to make artwork that is obviously not photorealistic.

5. AI is biased because it was fed biased content and programmed by biased people

The following is not to push a particular political or moral direction, but just to expose some facts! Most LLMs lean a particular political and moral direction because they were trained with content that leaned that direction. Thus, even if not intentional, the outputs will often have that same leaning.

Imagine it this way. If the majority of content on the Internet—especially the most popular sites—said that 2 + 2 = 5, then LLMs trained from Internet content would also propagate that fallacy.

Furthermore, many of the companies behind these AIs or LLMs also lean the same political and moral direction as the majority of the Internet, and so they will favor content from the same echo chamber and sometimes even intentionally train the AI to push that agenda.

Look at the shamefully bad images of people that Google Gemini was originally generating, even going so far as to render Nazis as Asians or blacks instead of whites, because of “diversity, inclusion, and equity!”

And that's why there's a market for LLMs that lean the opposite direction.

Even taking out the political and moral leanings, I see LLMs regularly put out “mythinformation”—even in the podcasting space, like saying that podcast ratings and reviews affect your rankings in Apple Podcasts. That's not true! But it's been said so many times on the the Internet, that LLMs think it's true!

6. Content from AI always needs editing

It's because of warnings #2–#5 that I come to this one: edit, edit, edit!

I'd love to hear your opinion on this, too. But I'm starting to think it reflects worse on someone when they put out bad AI-created content than if they put out authentic content with typos or small mistakes. Do you agree?

For example, you might accidentally write about “George Wishington,” but an AI might say that George Washington fought in World War II! In this case, your typo is a human error and your meaning could probably still be understood by your context. But if you put out something that an AI hallucinated, then people have to wonder if you're actually that misinformed (AKA “stupid”).

7. AI-generated content raises copyright concerns

In the United States of America, and some other countries, anything you create is considered immediately and automatically protected by copyright, and thus you reserve all rights to it. (That's why it's really not necessary anymore to write “All rights reserved,” at least most of the time.)

But you also share or forfeit some of your rights when you consent to using some tools or publishing through some platforms. For example, most places have clauses in their terms of service that allow them to use the content you provide (in whatever form it is) in their own marketing materials. This could be as simple as your podcast cover art visible with 999 others on a grid image for an app's homepage. Or it could mean you granted the platform a license to clip your content in an advertisement for their platform.

While most of these terms of service have been safe (despite some fear-mongering), some places are starting to update their terms of service—requiring your consent—and giving themselves a license to use your content to train their AI tools. Even if your content has a registered copyright, you are still granting other places licenses to use your copyrighted content.

However, it's being uncovered that many LLMs were trained on copyrighted material without any license from the copyright holders.

And if you use an LLM to generate new content from nothing, you might potentially be infringing on someone else's intellectual property rights. And you would be held liable for that. Just like if you hire a cheap “designer” to make your podcast cover art and they steal images from a Google image search, you would be liable for that theft.

Some might argue that this isn't very different from going out, reading all the content yourself, and writing your own conglomeration of your newfound knowledge. But even then, you can be guilty of plagiarism by putting forth something as your idea, when it was actually someone else's.

And the more niche the subject, the less information there was to train the AI, and thus the higher chance of it outright copying other information, or making up something factually incorrect (see #2).

This is probably never a problem when you're using AI on your already-created content.

8. AI might already be “stealing” your intellectual property

I've had my own original content and images plagiarized or directly stolen before. But AI is only making it easier for that to happen and harder for me to catch it.

For example, I often talk about my Podcasting P.R.O.F.I.T. Paradigm: popularity, relationships, opportunities, fun, income, or tangibles (and why you should put podcasting PROFIT first). If someone used an AI to talk about podcasting profit and replaced only one of those words, it's still theft, but it wouldn't be as easy to spot.

And because LLMs have been trained on a large percentage of the Internet, it's very possible your own content has already been scraped and used in the training. But you might never know.

Many places are proposing legislation that would require AI companies to disclose their sources, allow people to have their content removed or exempted, or only use properly licensed content for training the AI models. (This is why some AI companies have taken an interest in purchasing publishing companies that own the rights to large amounts of content.) And I think you should have this protection over your content even without having to do the technical processes of blocking all the AI user agents from scraping your website (or transcribing your audio or video content).

And all it takes for social-media sites to do the same is a simple and non-obvious change to their terms of service, which most of us click “I have read and agree” without actually reading what we're agreeing to. For example, Reddit, Zoom, and X-Twitter have used (or continue to use) content on their platforms to train their own AI models—and we've probably given them the rights to do so.

Also watch out for terms of service that allow the AI to train itself from whatever you input into the AI. That's the case for ChatGPT, but supposedly not for any use of OpenAI's GPT models (what powers ChatGPT) through an API (such as what Magai uses).

9. Claiming “fair use” might require a higher standard

I think anyone using AI might face a more difficult time trying to use “fair use” as a legal defense, especially if they haven't properly disclosed their use of AI, like I talked about in warning #1.

One of my favorite things to test on an image-generating AI is giving it the prompt, “Harrison Ford as a pirate.” That's simple innocent fun that I will probably never publish for the public.

But imagine if I used AI to make a realistic photo of Harrison Ford using or endorsing my products. Or maybe using a voice or video AI to make Harrison Ford say something he didn't say.

Indeed, I've seen some intentionally hilarious results with AI. And those kinds of things are often allowed when they don't cause harm and are obviously parodies (this is not legal advice; it's only an observation).

But AI lets things easily get far more complicated. Copying or making a derivative have some clear limitations. But generating something that seems real and uses someone else's likeness or intellectual property might be in a whole different category.

Thus, while I cannot give you legal advice as to what you're allowed to do, I can urge you to not do anything that might get you in trouble! So maybe pretend there isn't even such a thing as “fair use” when it comes to how you use AI to create stuff for you.

10. Affiliate-marketing with AI might get you in trouble

AIs, LLMs, or whatever you want to call them are very good at creating a lot of content very quickly. And that is very alluring to people who want content only for the purpose of promoting their affiliate links. I even saw that years ago when I was among the early users of what's now called Jasper. I would see people frequently ask about what kinds of inputs could be used to get an AI to write a full “review” of an affiliate product.

But remember that thing about how large language models are good at writing sentences? They're not actually good at testing products, sharing experiences, and offering opinions. Thus, using AI to write a “review” could lead to misleading information.

For probably this reason and more, some places will probably start to forbid using AI to create content for promoting their products through affiliate links.

For example—and I haven't heard anyone talking about this!—the Amazon Associates Operating Agreement was updated on March 1, 2024, with the following addition:

Revised the language in Section 5 of the Participation Requirements to clarify that Program Content and Special Links should not be used in connection with generative AI.

“Associates Operating Agreement – What’s Changed,” March 1, 2024, accessed April 14, 2024.

That initially seems like it's forbidding the use of generative AI to promote your Amazon affiliate links. However, the actual points in the operating agreement seem to restrict using AI on the Amazon site content, and especially for training the AI.

2.(e) You will not, without our express prior written approval, access or use PA API or Data Feeds for the purpose of aggregating, analyzing, extracting, or repurposing any Product Advertising Content or in connection with any software or other application intended for use by persons or entities that offer products on an Amazon Site, or in the direct training or fine-tuning of a machine learning model.

…

5. Distribution of Special Links Through Software and Devices

You will not use any Program Content or Special Link, or otherwise link to an Amazon Site, on or in connection with: (a) any client-side software application (e.g., a browser plug-in, helper object, toolbar, extension, component, or any other application executable or installable by an end user) on any device, including computers, mobile phones, tablets, or other handheld devices (other than Approved Mobile Applications); or (b) any television set-top box (e.g., digital video recorders, cable or satellite boxes, streaming video players, blu-ray players, or dvd players) or Internet-enabled television (e.g., GoogleTV, Sony Bravia, Panasonic Viera Cast, or Vizio Internet Apps). You will not, without or [sic?] express prior written approval, use, or allow any third party to use, any Special Links or Program Content to develop machine learning models or related technology.

“Associates Program Policies,” accessed April 14, 2024. Emphasis added.

That first part is clearly forbidding using the Amazon API with an AI model to programmatically create content for you. However, it seems to still allow you to use AI to create your content about the product itself, and even use your affiliate links in that content.

But I still think you shouldn't!

I, for one, would love to see a stop to all the AI-generated worthless “reviews” on YouTube and other places. For example, the following video or probably anything from “The Smart Kitchen” on YouTube:

As an owner of a couple of affiliate programs myself, I know that I would not want anyone promoting my products with AI generated content. In fact, I'm going to update my affiliate terms to explicitly forbid that! I want real people with real experiences promoting my products! (For a good example, Danny Brown did this very nicely when he authentically promoted my Podgagement service in his recent episode of One Minute Podcast Tips about two ways for podcasters to get feedback from their audiences.)

11. Relying on AI can cost your authority and influence

Lastly, but certainly not least, I urge you to consider the intangible cost of relying on any kind of AI as you podcast or create any other content.

I've said for many years that what I love about podcasting is that it allows you to communicate with your own voice, so people can hear your authentic emotions and they can hear how well you communicate your thoughts, even if you do some editing.

Imagine if you used AI to create and communicate all “your” content, and then you're put on a stage in front of a live audience and you have done no preparation. Aside from any stage-fright, could you actually communicate your message authentically, understandably, and memorably?

Several years ago, I was invited to speak in person about podcasting to a Cincinnati business group. And for the first time ever in my life, I completely forgot about it! I remembered only because about about an hour before I was supposed to speak, the organizer sent me a kind message just to say how excited she was to have me and I think to give me a heads up about parking.

The event was about 45 minutes away, so I had only enough time to throw some stuff in my car, and think about my presentation on the way up.

Now imagine if AI was my crutch and most of my content had been created, organized, or even optimized by AI.

Instead, I was able to speak for half an hour and confidently and thoroughly answer 15 minutes of questions, all with no notes except a 5-word outline in my head. And I think I nailed it!

I could do that because I know my stuff! And I don't share this to brag about me or try to make you think I'm amazing, but to point out what a catastrophe that could have been if I was merely a fraud using ChatGPT.

So don't let AI cost your authority and influence.

Certainly, artificial intelligence can be a really powerful tool to help you do many things or save lots of time, but don't trade your value for AI.

Engage your audience and grow your podcast!

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Disclosure

This post may contain links to products or services with which I have an affiliate relationship. I may receive compensation from your actions through such links. However, I don't let that corrupt my perspective and I don't recommend only affiliates.

The post 11 Warnings about Using AI in Content-Creation (including podcasting) first appeared on The Audacity to Podcast.

In my signature fashion, I started preparing a whole list of pros and cons, and some big thinking on inside jokes.

But it's really not that complicated!

An inside joke is some form of callback, trope, catchphrase, or similar that only those “in the know” will get and enjoy. Because of this, inside jokes can be hilarious, but only for those who get them. Inside jokes can be a sort of reward your loyal audience, but alienate your new audience.

I've heard some people advise against inside jokes exactly because your new audience won't get them. But that seems overly focused on the new audience and at the cost of engaging your existing audience and making them feel special.

I think it really comes down to this simple guidance: avoid inside jokes with your cohosts and guests, but embrace inside jokes with your audience.

Where inside jokes come from

First, some examples of inside jokes I've heard from podcasts:

• “Lemons, lemons” from That Story Show
• “Hit in the mouth” from No Agenda
• “KEDAKAI!” from Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend
• “Super easy; barely an inconvenience” from Pitch Meeting (series on YouTube, so it is not a podcast!)
• “Mail Kimp” from Serial (first season)

If you've been a loyal follower of any of these shows, then you probably know exactly what these jokes are about, or at least can laugh at them.

So where do these come from?

Some jokes will arise naturally as your audience essentially feeds their growth. That's what I've seen with inside jokes from That Story Show, No Agenda, and Serial. While other things become inside jokes because of how often the host(s) use them, such as the examples from Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend and Pitch Meeting.

It's the audience-feed jokes that I think you should work more to embrace because they will more deeply reward and engage your audience.

What about the new listeners?

There are three approaches I've seen and experienced with podcasts regarding inside jokes:

1. Letting your podcast audience eventually catch on with your inside jokes (even if they might not know their origins).
2. Occasionally explaining or pointing to the origins.
3. Making a glossary of inside jokes—this could even be a supporter-exclusive or email opt-in incentive.

Your goal should be to both engage your existing audience and make them feel special and to create an environment welcoming to your new audience. This comes from having a good balance so that your podcast is not overfilled with inside jokes, but it does mature with loyalty.

Think of inside jokes like extra seasonings for a meal. They can add something special, and especially be appreciated by your “insiders,” and celebrated when your new audience gets in on the jokes.

And I think there is something special, like a sort of “leveling up,” when your audience becomes familiar with your tropes, catchphrases, and inside jokes. Then, they'll feel like one of the “cool kids” when they can throw around the inside jokes, too. And that's a precious moment for them!

Turn inside jokes into swag

When your audience starts using your inside jokes too, or further feeding them, that's a great time to turn those jokes into swag you can sell or giveaway. Consider putting them on T-shirts, posters, stickers, and more (like That Story Show does with several of their inside jokes). If you want to be on the cutting edge about it, maybe you could even turn those inside jokes into NFTs!

Community Corner

• Thanks for the streaming satoshis from Dwev, Dave Jackson, and Bryan Entzminger!
• 5-star review by John Moore from June 14, 2021 on Podchaser: “I’ve listen to just about every episode of this show over the last year. Excellent content and advice. I particularly like his SEO episodes.” There will be more podcast SEO content in the future!

Engage your audience and grow your podcast!

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Get speakable pages to simplify engaging with your audience, accept voicemail feedback (with automatic transcripts), track your ratings and reviews from nearly 200 places, and more!

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Disclosure

This post may contain links to products or services with which I have an affiliate relationship. I may receive compensation from your actions through such links. However, I don't let that corrupt my perspective and I don't recommend only affiliates.

The post Should Your Podcast Have Inside Jokes? first appeared on The Audacity to Podcast.

The order of podcasting cornerstones

Before we focus on podcasting P.R.O.F.I.T., I want to revisit how I've taught the 5 podcasting cornerstones for several years:

1. Content—What your podcast is about
2. Presentation—How you share your content
3. Production—The technical side to reduce distractions and increase understanding
4. Promotion—How you market and grow your podcast
5. P.R.O.F.I.T.—How you and your audience benefit from your podcast.

Despite the fact that these cornerstones have always had an alliteration problem with no suitable solution, I realized it had an even bigger problem while I was preparing to teach podcasting at the National Religious Broadcasters convention. The problem was the order: P.R.O.F.I.T. should not be last! It should actually be first!

But stick with me and don't click away because you think this doesn't apply to you! Before I can explain why P.R.O.F.I.T. should be first, I want you to understand what it is, and why I keep writing it like an over-obvious acronym (it's actually an acrostic).

The Podcast P.R.O.F.I.T. Paradigm™

Several years ago, I was inspired by a typo I let go to press in an advertisement for my now temporarily retired Podcaster's Society™. As a result of that typo, I wanted profit to stand for something! Not only in the metaphorical sense, but also literally as an acrostic.

Now, it's my Podcast P.R.O.F.I.T. Paradigm, which is a list of whys you can benefit from your podcast:

• Popularity—growing a following, being an influencer, becoming known
• Relationships—gaining friendships, building community, and finding your “tribe”
• Opportunities—opening doors for things like public speaking, travel, testing products before they're released, and such
• Fun—simply having a good time, with or without laughter
• Income—yes, earning money!
• Tangibles—getting things you get to use or keep, which is especially profitable when they're relevant to your podcast topic!

While most people think “profit” means “money,” I challenge you to change your thinking and look at the much bigger ways you can profit from your podcast—especially if you don't even want to monetize your podcast.

The other paradigm shift is that your podcast should not only give you P.R.O.F.I.T., but also offer it to your audience! I'll explain that more in a moment.

P.R.O.F.I.T. is for all podcasters, not only professionals

Lest you think P.R.O.F.I.T. is only for people who podcast for business purposes or to try earning a living, money is only one part of the Podcast P.R.O.F.I.T. Paradigm: the I for income. The other ways could complement income, but there's nothing wrong with podcasting simply for the fun of it!

When I hosted a clean-comedy podcast, the P.R.O.F.I.T. we were after was primarily to laugh and help others laugh, too! Along the way, we also formed relationships, were given fun tangibles from our audience, and we even made a little money on the side.

And if you are podcasting to build a business, don't neglect the other aspects of P.R.O.F.I.T.! It's okay to have fun with professional subjects! And always look for ways to position yourself for opportunities and more!

Your podcast P.R.O.F.I.T. should power your decisions

Why should P.R.O.F.I.T. come first? Because it's actually more important than your content. Consider the cornerstones in this way:

• Content is what attracts an audience
• Presentation is what keeps the audience
• Production is what makes your podcast stick
• Promotion is what brings an audience to you
• P.R.O.F.I.T. is the impact your podcast makes

Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action. And “why” is another way to think of P.R.O.F.I.T. with these two questions:

• Why are you doing this podcast?
• Why should anyone listen or watch?

When you start with P.R.O.F.I.T. in mind, then you can pick the right content to share. And the other cornerstones build from there. After you know your “why” and your content, then you can decide on the best way to present it. Then, the best way to produce that. Then you'll have things and methods to promote it.

But when you don't start with P.R.O.F.I.T., you won't know what content to share, and you won't know the best way to communicate it, and you certainly won't know how to produce it, and—frankly—you wouldn't offer much value worth promoting.

Here's a series of questions that follows the Podcast P.R.O.F.I.T. Paradigm to help you podcast the best way:

1. Why do you want to podcast? What value will your podcast give your audience?
2. What content best enables your P.R.O.F.I.T. goals?
3. What's the best way to present that content that moves you toward to your P.R.O.F.I.T. goals?
4. What's the best way to produce this that leads you and your audience in the right direction?
5. Whom should you promote your podcast to and what are the best ways to reach them?

Remember P.R.O.F.I.T. for your audience

I've heard some people say, “Podcast for yourself. If you're having fun, that's all that matters.” And I've also heard other people say, “You're podcasting for your audience, so focus on their needs first.”

While these might seem contrary, they're actually complementary and simply different sides of the same P.R.O.F.I.T. coin: both you and your audience need to get value from your podcast in order for your podcast, yourself, and your audience to improve and grow.

But the problem I see most often is that podcasters forget to focus on what value they offer their audience. Instead, they often fixate on the value they want from their audience, or on how they can essentially sell their audience to get value from someone else (like an advertiser).

As Jesus said, “Give and it will be given to you” (Luke 6:38).

Some podcasters also obsess over the production aspects of podcasting, without investing the same time and money into improving the more weight-bearing cornerstones.

It's fine if your podcast makes you popular, but how are you helping your audience to be popular, too?

It's great when you foster or form new relationships because of your podcast, but how are you helping your audience foster or form new relationships, too?

It's great when your podcast opens opportunities for you, but what opportunities do you help your audience find and pursue?

“It's fun to have fun,” as The Cat in the Hat said, but is your audience having fun, too?

Earning income is definitely rewarding! But how are you helping your audience earn more, spend less, save more, or be smarter with what they have?

And it can be exciting to get new tangibles, but what tangible benefits are you helping your audience gain, too?

Podcasting P.R.O.F.I.T. in one word: why?

“Start with Why” indeed!

Why are you podcasting?

Why should your audience keep consuming your episodes?

It's all in what P.R.O.F.I.T. (popularity, relationships, opportunities, fun, income, or tangibles) you pursue and offer!

Community corner:

I just made things easier for me and you with Podgagement! Now, we can easily copy all the text of a review with only two clicks! And you can copy it in plain text, markdown, HTML, or an iframe embed!

• 5-star review “Why and How Your Podcast Needs Loudness Normalization” by Marshy76 from November 23, 2022 on Apple Podcasts in the United States: “An excellent guide on the importance of Lufs with important links to related software in aiding one to create a well tuned podcast, which I incorporated into my latest “Mister Radio” podcast episode. Thanks for this excellent presentation! But, as I mentioned in my unedited review couldn't this also be done simply by listening and adjusting levels as one is recording, like I used to do when working the board in radio? Now I've got to check out my various DAWS to see if they have something to check my LUFS, besides the cans on my ears! And I did find a meter in Logic!” (I pasted that podcast review with only two clicks and a Cmd-V, thanks to Podgagement!)
• Thanks to Allen C. Paul, Jason Pickel, Rich Bennett, D.R., and Julio Fernandez for all the great ratings on Goodpods (all discovered for me by Podgagement!)
• Thanks for more streaming sats from Dave Jackson, Allen C. Paul, and Dwev! I believe that totals to 1,716§, which is currently worth about $1.15.

If The Audacity to Podcast gives value to you, I would be so grateful if you put that in a number to give back, either through a one-time gift or streaming sats back. You can do both with a modern podcast app like you can get from Podcasting2.org/apps!

Engage your audience and grow your podcast!

Do you ever feel like your podcast is stuck? Like you're pouring your heart into your podcast but it seems like no one is listening?

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Get speakable pages to simplify engaging with your audience, accept voicemail feedback (with automatic transcripts), track your ratings and reviews from nearly 200 places, and more!

Ask your questions or share your feedback

• Comment on the show notes
• Leave a voicemail at (903) 231-2221
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• Apple Podcasts, Spotify, other Android apps, or in your favorite podcast app.
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Disclosure

This post may contain links to products or services with which I have an affiliate relationship. I may receive compensation from your actions through such links. However, I don't let that corrupt my perspective and I don't recommend only affiliates.

The post Why You Should Put Podcasting P.R.O.F.I.T. First first appeared on The Audacity to Podcast.

1. Check that you have agreed to Apple's terms of service

Apple usually updates their terms of service when they launch major new features. For example, Apple started generating transcripts for all podcasts in February, 2024. And that requires your agreement to their terms of service so that they can make those transcripts, which they won't do until you agree.

Apple makes it easy to know whether you've agreed to the latest terms. Simply log into podcastsconnect.apple.com! If you're let into your account, then you've already agreed to the latest terms. If not, you will be prompted to read and agree to the terms before you're allowed to manage your podcast(s).

And if you're offering a paid subscription to your audience through Apple Podcasts, check the Business tab to see if there are any actions you need to take. There might be additional new terms you must agree to, or you might need to provide legal or financial information. (This page will also display your invoices and tax information if you have any sales.)

2. Check that your podcast is in your Apple Podcasts Connect account

Many podcasters don't actually control their own catalog listing for their own podcast! This is because they either submitted their podcast before Podcasts Connect existed, or they allowed someone else to submit their podcast for them. This might have been a podcast-hosting provider or someone helping them with their podcast.

But at least the process to reclaim ownership is fairly easy!

1. Make sure you've checked all your possible Apple ID accounts.
2. Log into the account you want to hold your podcast(s) and contact Apple through this form and select the “Missing podcast(s)” option (which should already be selected with this link).
3. Fill in all the other form fields completely.
4. Await and then follow Apple's instructions, which will have you enter a special code somewhere in your podcast RSS feed to verify your ownership or control of that feed.

This is crucial to do with all your podcasts, especially any duplicate podcast listings you might have (which is probably more likely if you've ever switched podcast-hosting providers).

The rest of these items to check require that you have access to your podcast in your own Apple account.

3. Check that your podcast information is correctly loaded in Apple Podcasts Connect

Click into your podcast(s) and look over your the “Show details” information. This includes your title, cover art, artist, descriptions, and more.

You can't change these details in Podcasts Connect! Instead, you would change these in the podcast-publishing tool that is creating your RSS feed. But viewing these details here lets you confirm that everything is properly loading from your feed into the Apple Podcasts system.

And if you're having trouble, the first thing I suggest doing is validating your podcast RSS feed through all of the following tools:

• Cast Feed Validator
• Podbase Podcast Validator
• TrueFans Podcast Validator

Especially watch for problems with your podcast cover art.

4. Check the optional Apple Podcasts information fields

On this same “Show Information” page are several optional fields that you should populate or verify. Currently, these include:

• Update frequency
• Content rights
• Show contact information (especially important if you've removed your email address from your RSS feed)

This information is proprietary to Apple Podcasts and thus—currently—not pulled from your RSS feed.

5. Check your Apple Podcasts distribution availability (affects other apps)

Switch to the “Availability” page and there are two important options to ensure your podcast can be discovered by as many people as possible:

• Countries or Regions: I recommend setting this to “Make this show available in all countries or regions.” You can click into the Edit view to ensure all 175 countries are selected. Despite this option, some countries still block explicit content, and it seems like communist China blocks almost everything anyway.
• Distribution: I recommend enabling “Make this show available for distribution.” This ensures that the countless other podcast apps and podcasting tools using the catalog API from Apple Podcasts will be able to see your podcast.

These are the default options for podcasts, but I suggest you verify they're set correctly anyway.

But if, for some odd reason, you do not want your podcast available to as many people as possible, then you can change these options to limit your reach.

6. Switch the transcript default to use your provided transcripts

On this same “Availability” page is a third option that I feel defaults inappropriately. It's the Transcripts option.

For some strange reason, Apple's (current) default is to use only their auto-generated transcripts for your podcast. So regardless of whether you already using Podcasting 2.0 transcripts, I suggest switching this option to “Display transcripts I provide, or auto-generated transcripts by Apple if one isn't provided.”

I think that's the way apps should behave anyway! They should use what you supply first and by default and generate their own transcripts only if you don't provide your own (through the Podcasting 2.0 transcript feature).

But you should also note that there is no way to disable all transcripts for your podcast. That's part of the terms of service you must accept for your podcast to remain in Apple Podcasts. If you really wanted to disable transcripts, you would have to either edit every episode in Podcasts Connect to use a custom episode-specific setting to not use any transcripts, or provide a nearly empty transcript file for all episodes through your RSS feed (you could share this same file for all episodes).

But because podcast transcripts are important for accessibility and usability, I highly recommend keeping them enabled. But just switch this setting so Apple will default to your transcripts if you provide them, and then fallback to their own transcripts if you haven't provided any.

7. Check your Apple Podcasts ratings and reviews

There is also a “Ratings and Reviews” page that lets you see your Apple Podcasts (and only Apple Podcasts) ratings and reviews. However, this requires you to switch between all 175 countries, before knowing if you even have any ratings or reviews in those 175 countries; it doesn't show your difference of ratings versus written reviews; and you can't search, sort, or filter your ratings and reviews. You also don't get notified whenever you get a new rating or review, so you would have to come back to check all 175 countries. You can download your reviews, but you would have to do that one country at a time.

Cumbersome, right?

That's why you should use Podgagement to engage your audience and grow your podcast! Podgagement not only tracks all these 175 places automatically for you, it also tracks the non-Apple places. Plus, with Podgagement's “Constellation” plan, you can easily collect written or voicemail feedback from your audience, discover podcast-networking opportunities, receive direct reviews from your audience, and more!

I personally created Podgagement for you because I believe engagement with your audience is the most powerful thing you can have with your podcast.

Click here to try Podgagement free!

(Or you can continue doing things the manual way, especially clicking thousands of times inside Podcasts Connect to see your ratings and reviews from Apple Podcasts!)

8. Check your Apple Podcasts analytics

Lastly, but probably most exciting, are the podcast stats you can get from Apple Podcasts!

Remember that these stats measure consumption only in Apple Podcasts. So any numbers you see will be of a smaller subset of your audience. Nonetheless, since Apple Podcasts is the #1 podcast app, I suspect the percentages and engagement levels you see would be close to an accurate—albeit smaller—reflection of your whole audience.

Here are some of the handy (and potentially addictive) data points you can see!

• Total followers
• Engaged listeners
• Average consumption / completion rates
• Where your audience skipped or stopped listening within your episodes
• Performance comparisons across your episodes
• And more!

As I hope you can see, even if you don't use Apple products or dislike their ecosystem, there are still many advantages to keeping your Apple Podcasts account current and especially learning from its data!

Community Corner

• Leslie Martin pointed out that 7,777§ is a Stryper boost, not a Rush boost (which would have been 2,112§). As I've said previously, hard rock is not actually my style, so I know nothing about these bands!
• 1,701§—a number I do recognize as the Star Trek Enterprise!—from Bryan Entzminger, saying, “Ugh! Mythinformation… wow.”
• Streaming satoshis from Bryan Entzminger, Dave Jackson, and Dwev
• 5-star review from Josh Liston, in Australia, saying, “A Perfect Mix of Fun and Expertise in Podcasting. Daniel J Lewis delivers a concrete, and well thought out Podcast about Podcasting. He rarely if ever goes off topic, and always recommends products and gear that work …and not just the products and services that return the most in commissions! DJL also manages to do what many others can't – in making often dry technical subjects a lot of fun – without wasting peoples time. Finally, he is part of the Podcasters' Roundtable core trio, which is quickly becoming my number 1 show about Podcasting!”

Engage your audience and grow your podcast!

Do you ever feel like your podcast is stuck? Like you're pouring your heart into your podcast but it seems like no one is listening?

Try Podgagement to help you engage your audience and grow your podcast!

Get speakable pages to simplify engaging with your audience, accept voicemail feedback (with automatic transcripts), track your ratings and reviews from nearly 200 places, and more!

Ask your questions or share your feedback

• Comment on the show notes
• Leave a voicemail at (903) 231-2221
• Email feedback@TheAudacitytoPodcast.com (audio files welcome)

Follow The Audacity to Podcast

• Apple Podcasts, Spotify, other Android apps, or in your favorite podcast app.
• Subscribe on YouTube for Podcasting Videos by The Audacity to Podcast
• Follow @theDanielJLewis on X-Twitter

Disclosure

This post may contain links to products or services with which I have an affiliate relationship. I may receive compensation from your actions through such links. However, I don't let that corrupt my perspective and I don't recommend only affiliates.

The post 8 Things You Should Check in Apple Podcasts Connect first appeared on The Audacity to Podcast.

Who is the IAB?

Once upon a time, podcast measurement was considered the “wild, wild west”: without standards. Everyone measured what was right in their own eyes.

But like most things that start with “Once upon a time,” that was only fairy tale. And yet a fairy tale that many corporate podcasting companies believed.

Many years ago, there was the Association of Downloadable Media (ADM) that included Blubrry, Libsyn, Podtrac, and other podcasting companies. The ADM came up with standards for measuring podcast downloads still in the extremely early days of podcasting.

The ADM eventually dissolved and top podcasting companies improved on the measurement standards within their own proprietary systems. Then along came the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB), involving many of those same original podcast-hosting providers but also large distribution networks like PodcastOne and more.

As its name implies, the IAB is all about internet advertising. And the podcasting industry needed a standard way to measure podcast ad impressions. And thus, the IAB podcast measurement guidelines were born with version 1.0 in September 2016!

What are IAB stats

IAB's podcast measurement guidelines are actually not rigid standards, but mere guidelines for podcast-analytics providers to use.

Like Elizabeth Swan said in Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl, “Hang the code and hang the rules! They're more like guidelines anyway!”

Without getting into the technical details, these guidelines are intended to filter out any kind of invalid podcast download in attempts to get an accurate count of how many people actually downloaded or streamed the episodes (and with the hopes, backed by survey data, that most of the people actually listen to most of those episodes).

(Sidenote: podcast “streams” are also downloads, simply not downloaded until the person presses play.)

These guidelines involve things like the following.

• Ignoring all downloads from an IP address blacklist (such as data centers, bot farms, and such)
• Ignoring all downloads from known invalid user agents (how a downloading app or service identifies itself)
• Ignoring duplicate downloads that look exactly the same within a period of time (usually 24 hours)
• Ignoring downloads that don't reach a threshold (one minute of audio)
• Whitelisting some IP addresses known to have a lot of users—like public wi-fi, businesses, colleges, and such—and allowing such downloads to be counted separately with the reasonable assumption that it is separate people

The top goal is to count people, not simply downloads. Because it's only people who buy things from ads, engage with the podcaster, and listen to or watch the episodes.

These IAB guidelines get updated every few years. As of March 2024, the latest version is 2.2 still in proposal stage for public comment.

IAB “compliance” versus “certification”

When the IAB guidelines were first released, many in the podcasting industry—including myself—expressed the importance that all podcasting companies that provide audience analytics should not only follow the IAB guidelines, but even get certified to be following them.

But there were also many others who disagreed with the guidelines—some people thought the guidelines were too conservative, others thought they were too liberal.

Because the guidelines are publicly accessible, anyone can build a tool that follows the guidelines. And that's where the term “IAB–compliant” came in. It was companies simply claiming compliance based on how they implemented the guidelines.

Then along came the certification program. This was a costly process—in both time and money—for a third-party organization to conduct tests and review code to ensure the companies were truly following the guidelines, and then certifying them.

You can see the list of certified podcasting companies here.

Not only does it cost to be certified, it also costs to be a member of the IAB. And it also costs to be recertified, which the IAB was pushing in 2023. And it costs to have updated access to the IAB's whitelists and blacklists of IP addresses. But with the high cost of these things, it seems that several companies are not so concerned about being “certified” anymore. And you can see in the list of certified “podcast compliance” that several companies are still certified only to version 2.0.

Why IAB-certified podcast stats are good

I agree with the premise of the IAB podcast measurement guidelines: to have a consistent measurement “standard” across the podcast industry. The dream of this standard is that no matter who you use for podcast hosting and analytics, the statistics you get will be essentially the same. Put another way, 100 people downloading your latest episode would be counted as 100 downloads on Blubrry, or 100 downloads on Captivate, or 100 downloads on Buzzsprout, or 100 downloads on any other provider.

If everyone is following the same standard, then there wouldn't be the heartbreak and confusion if you switch from one provider to another and see a significant drop in your stats—because there shouldn't be much of a difference if everyone is measuring the same way!

So it's definitely a good thing for a podcasting company to follow the IAB guidelines, and being certified means that a neutral third party can confirm the guidelines are being followed correctly.

But every standard will have loopholes

That dream is, unfortunately, not the reality. The biggest reason is that, going back to Miss. Elizabeth Swan, the IAB podcast measurement guidelines are exactly and only that: guidelines!

As such, some companies will implement those guidelines differently. Or they use different whitelists and blacklists.

And over the years, there have been multiple loopholes found that some companies independently patch even though the IAB guidelines might not account for them, yet. For example, “Twitter bombing” was a problem several years ago. That's where someone would post a direct link to their podcast media file (like an MP3) on Twitter, and then repeatedly post that link all day, every day. Companies like Blubrry and Libsyn caught this behavior fairly quickly and were able to filter it out so those misled (or outright deceptive) podcasters wouldn't have fraudulent stats.

I even caught a podcaster guilty of such a “crime” when they were Twitter-bombing my own guest appearance on their podcast. When I politely tried to share the truth with them, they deleted my episode!

Or more recently, some podcast networks put ads in mobile games where the podcast audio would start playing automatically and enough of the audio would pre-download (or “buffer”) that it would actually get counted as a legitimate download, even for IAB-certified providers!

In my past research for testing the fastest podcast hosting, I also discovered that some hosting providers counted some or even all of my bot downloads. And I didn't even attempt to disguise my bot downloads as real people using podcast apps! (Please note that some or—let's hope—all of those previously guilty companies have probably improved their measurement algorithms since that test in 2019! But probably not Soundcloud.)

Why you don't actually need IAB-certified podcast stats

Does it really matter anymore if your podcast-hosting provider has IAB-certified stats?

I think it's nice to know your numbers are certified, especially if you get paid by advertisers based on your downloads.

But at this point, I think it's safe to assume all the good podcast-hosting providers are following the guidelines and seek to filter out all non-person downloads. They could probably better invest the money it would cost to be certified instead into building better features for their customer: you!

And here is what I think is the even more important approach: do IAB-certified stats matter to your audience?

The answer is most likely a big fat “HUH?” Because your audience probably doesn't know or doesn't care, and they shouldn't have to know or care, either!

Your audience can celebrate milestones with you no matter whether those milestones are certified by an expensive neutral third party. Your audience cares much more about the value you deliver through your podcast than they care about how many downloads you are getting.

In other words, the answer to the audience's “What's in it for me?” is probably “nothing.”

Yes, more downloads could mean more P.R.O.F.I.T. (popularity, relationships, opportunities, fun, income, or tangibles) for both you and your audience, and it can mean a bigger community for your audience to engage with each other. But that comes with the actual people in your audience, not the standard by which you measure them!

I've changed my mind about IAB certification

Thus, because IAB certification really doesn't matter to your audience, I've stopped considering it a requirement for any podcast-hosting provider or analytics tool I recommend. It's nice to have, but not mandatory.

Instead, I'm far more interested in the innovations podcasting companies are making, so that the whole experience can be better for you and your audience. That's why I consider support for Podcasting 2.0 to be my litmus test for podcast-publishing tools, and no longer IAB certification.

New feature: The Community Corner

• 2,033 sats from “aqualith,” saying, “10k CAN be a lot for someone who doesn't feed their Fountain wallet, or equivalent, with outside funds and not currently podcasting themselves, despite engaging with the app daily. That said, thank you for this episode and this list. I immediately shared it with someone who's setting up their first podcast. Go podcasting!”
• 7,777 sats from Steve Web on “How to Use Podcast Transcripts,” saying, “GREAT episode, Daniel. While I have been using transcripts for some time on my shows, I wasn’t really sure I was doing it correctly. This episode will help me to make some changes going forward. Thank you, and may God bless you richly!”
• 333 from Allen C. Paul also on “How to Use Podcast Transcripts,” saying, “Couldn’t help but notice this episode doesn’t have a transcript! lol! but great info.” Allen has also been giving my episodes 5 stars on Goodpods!
• “A.J.II” from the United States gave me a 5-star review in Apple Podcasts, saying, “Advice is stellar. His style and topics along with the way he speaks and communicates is terrific.Thanks!”
• And Dave Jackson responded to my “mythinformation” line with a voicemail saying, “Daniel absolutely myth information and that is hard to say definitely made me chuckle.” (That voicemail and transcript were powered by Podgagement!)

Engage your audience and grow your podcast!

Do you ever feel like your podcast is stuck? Like you're pouring your heart into your podcast but it seems like no one is listening?

Try Podgagement to help you engage your audience and grow your podcast!

Get speakable pages to simplify engaging with your audience, accept voicemail feedback (with automatic transcripts), track your ratings and reviews from nearly 200 places, and more!

Ask your questions or share your feedback

• Comment on the show notes
• Leave a voicemail at (903) 231-2221
• Email feedback@TheAudacitytoPodcast.com (audio files welcome)

Follow The Audacity to Podcast

• Apple Podcasts, Spotify, other Android apps, or in your favorite podcast app.
• Subscribe on YouTube for Podcasting Videos by The Audacity to Podcast
• Follow @theDanielJLewis on X-Twitter

Disclosure

This post may contain links to products or services with which I have an affiliate relationship. I may receive compensation from your actions through such links. However, I don't let that corrupt my perspective and I don't recommend only affiliates.

The post Do IAB-Certified Stats Matter for Your Podcast? first appeared on The Audacity to Podcast.

Although I didn't plan it this way, the timing of this episode is perfect because I just launched a new feature on Podgagement that automatically transcribes audio feedback from your audience!

This topic is also very timely because of the release of iOS 17.4, which brings podcast transcripts into Apple Podcasts! (Learn more about those implications from The Future of Podcasting.)

(As an affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases through some of these following links. But I recommend things I truly believe in, regardless of earnings.)

1. Don't believe the myths about podcast transcripts

For many years, people have been promoting transcripts for the wrong reasons. I've also been pitched by many transcription companies pushing the wrong approach.

While there are elements of truth in these two common myths, the ways people often promote and understand these two ideas are where the information become myth—of “mythinformation”?

Myth 1: “Transcripts are good for podcast SEO”

People have often said that you should publish podcast transcripts on your website to make your podcast findable through search-engine optimization (SEO). But that's not the full truth.

Yes, transcripts are better than nothing or a mere paragraph or list of topics. But transcripts result in a lot of words and actually very little content, resulting in very low quality writing (probably even worse than AI-created text or writing from non-natives of the language).

For example, a two-cohost podcast transcript might look like this:

Jack: Welcome to the our podcast, where we talk about things to help you do stuff! I'm Jack!

Jill: And I'm Jill.

Jack: Before we get into this topic, how are you doing, Jill?

Jill: The weather is sunny today, so I'm great!

Jack: Great!

Jill: Yeah. What about you?

Jack: I'm fine, but I don't know what the weather is, but—

Jill: That's sad.

Jack: What do mean?

Jill: I mean, you're saying that you haven't gone outside or even looked out a window in a while.

Jack: Yeah, but it's okay.

Jill: So anyway!

Jack: Yes! Let's jump into this week's topic.

…

Note that in this fictional example, there are a lot of words, but you've learned nothing from this excerpt!

That kind of back-and-forth is fine in a conversation and can even sometimes be okay in a podcast. But it writing, it becomes worthless.

Compare that to how the same “information” could be written in a way that's valuable:

Actually, that whole exchange could be edited out of the written content because there's little to no value in reading that!

Search engines prioritize high-quality content that is readable, but unless you're a professional speaker performing a refined monologue, transcripts are neither readable nor high quality. So, no, transcripts are not the “magic bullet” to making your podcast perform well for SEO, especially if you're relegating transcripts to a downloadable file or a web page separate from your podcast episode.

Myth 2: “Transcripts make your podcast accessible”

It's true that people with hearing impairments still consume podcasts! Thus transcripts have been lauded as the accessibility solution podcasts need!

But the problem is that most published transcripts are still difficult to read or—worse—are buried in a link or downloadable file that could actually be even less accessible!

It's like putting up a billboard with a QR Code that drivers can scan to watch a video to learn why they shouldn't be distracted while driving!

Good accessibility doesn't help only the hearing-impaired, it can also help memorability or engagement for the rest of your audience. For example, a word or URL that might be ambiguous, such as “to” versus “two” versus “2” versus “too.” This gets even worse if you've made up words!

Here, properly written show notes or an article can make the information far more memorable and actionable than a giant transcription page.

It's only properly formatted and properly published transcripts that make your podcast accessible! And more on that in a moment!

2. (Optional) Use transcripts with podcast-production tools

You can use the power of transcripts immediately after you record your episodes, even if you never publish those transcripts!

While you could pay for someone to transcribe your podcast for you, AI tools have gotten really good at making fairly accurate transcripts!

Yes, AI has become the ubiquitous tool for all kinds of content-creators. I've joked before, “Look, Daddy! Teacher says, ‘Every time a bell rings, an AI-powered app launches on AppSumo!'” But I'm a big fan of using AI on your content you made instead of for making your content.

The way AI-based tools work with your audio or video podcast is by first transcribing your content. Then, you can use that AI to do impressive and time-saving things with the transcript, like summarizing your episode, suggesting episode titles, and even helping you better edit your recording.

Here are my current favorite transcription-based tools to help when your episode is still in this early post-production stage right after you've record:

• Descript (audio and video)
• Adobe Podcast (audio)
• Adobe Premiere Pro (audio and video)
• Adobe Audition (audio transcript features coming soon?)
• Hindenburg (audio)

Each of these tools can make editing your recording as easy as editing a text document! Plus, they can even export the transcript from your finished production that you can use in the following other steps.

You can also upload your read-to-publish audio to some transcription-based tools to get suggestions for titles, chapters, show notes, social posts, keywords, and more! The best tools for that are:

• Castmagic
• Capsho
• Buzzsprout's Cohost AI addon

Even if you don't use any transcription-based tools, you can still use a transcript of your recording to help you find places to edit, excerpts for sharing, and reminders of your content. And you can do this without ever publishing those transcripts (but I still recommend that you do)!

3. Make properly formatted podcast transcripts

In order to be actually useful, a transcript needs to have more data with it. At a minimum, transcripts need timestamps for when lines or even words were spoken. But transcripts can also include the speakers' names, formatting, and more.

The most common transcript formats are VTT and SRT, but VTT—specifically WebVTT—is the superior format, but it's not as widely supported as SRT.

In its vanilla state, VTT and SRT will look similar:

00:01.000 --> 00:04.000
Never drink liquid nitrogen.

00:05.000 --> 00:09.000
It will perforate your stomach.

And then WebVTT can add a whole bunch of additional features and formatting over this.

You can get these properly formatted transcripts from the transcription-based editing tools I shared above, or you can generate them through AI or third-party help.

The most important thing here is to get the transcripts in the right format! A big block of text in a PDF or text document is not going to be as useful as the structured data like you get with SRT or VTT.

Easy access to artificial intelligence (AI) tools has made creating transcripts a whole lot faster, easier, and cheaper. The editing tools I mentioned all use AI to generate their transcripts, or you could use other services, too:

• Castmagic
• Capsho
• Auphonic
• Buzzsprout's Cohost AI addon
• Transistor's AI transcripts feature
• Otter.ai
• Rev

(This list might not be up-to-date because these features are coming to more tools quite frequently.)

I like the more modern AI-based transcription tools because they understand language better and are thus able to make transcripts that actually read well and are usually quite accurate. Compare that to transcripts from only a few years ago that transcribed what they thought they heard, even if it didn't make sense.

Most likely any tool that requires Internet access has limits to how much you can transcribe or has pricing based on your usage.

So, alternatively, consider these two fantastic apps you can install on your computer to generate the transcripts without the Internet or usage fees or limits. These use OpenAI's free and open-source Whisper model.

• MacWhisper Pro (macOS, free and paid versions)—this is what I used and usually get really good results from
• Whisper GUI (Windows, free)
• Run Whisper from the command line (free, but super geeky)

Because these apps run everything on your computer, you'll get much faster results on a more powerful computer. For comparison, MacWhisper Pro's largest language model on my M1 MacBook Pro can transcribe a 30-minute podcast episode in only a couple of minutes. But my maxed-out Intel iMac takes much longer to process the same audio with the same app.

With the launch of iOS 17.4 in March 2024, you now download the transcript Apple automatically generates for you through your Podcasts Connect account!

4. Edit your podcast transcripts

Regardless of whether you transcribe your podcast with AI or with a person, the transcript will most likely need some editing.

Some automatic transcription tools will smartly break lines at logical points, like on punctuation or at the end of sentences. But that's not mandatory.

The best thing to do would be to read your entire transcript to edit for accuracy. I think it could even be okay to edit for clarity. For example, if the speaker said, “There are 5 ways—I mean 6 ways—to do this,” you could edit the transcript to simply “There are 6 ways to do this.”

Pay close attention to anything that could cause you legal trouble, too! For example, your guest might have said, “I love two li'l puppies,” but your transcript might incorrectly say, “I love to kill puppies.” YIKES!

But this is where I notice the good modern transcription tools (like Whisper or Gemini Pro 1.5 and later) that use updated large-language models (LLMs) can often do a better job because they seem good at combining what they think they hear along with what makes grammatical and contextual sense.

But if you're in a hurry, here's the quick hack for editing your transcripts: double-check all proper nouns and URLs.

For example, one transcription tool I tried would always transcribe “Podcasting 2.0” as “podcasting 2 point oh.” Or even MacWhisper Pro sometimes transcribes “theaudacitytopodcast.com” as something like “the odacity2podcast.com.” For these things, I've made a list of the common errors so it's easy for me to run a find-and-replace operation on them. MacWhisper actually has that built in! And some transcription tools let you enter terms that are important to get right. For example, I might enter “Podgagement” since that's a made up trademark and the AI models might not understand it, yet.

But I've also been surprised, especially by Whisper, how often it not only gets the spelling right but even the capitalization!

5. Put the podcast transcripts in the right places

Now that you have an accurate transcript in a good format (SRT or VTT), we've had a standard place to put that in podcasting for a couple of years now, and even Apple Podcasts is now on board!

You only need to upload the transcript somewhere online (if it's not already publicly hosted for you) and link to it in your Podcasting 2.0 <podcast:transcript> tag in your RSS feed, which your podcast-publishing/hosting tool might do for you.

This makes the transcript visible to a growing list of Podcasting 2.0 apps, and now even Apple Podcasts supports the Podcasting 2.0 transcript!

Even if Apple Podcasts generates the transcript for you, the app will use your transcript if you provide it through the transcript feature in your RSS feed. This is so much better than how Spotify, Google, and Amazon currently do it!

Putting your SRT or VTT transcript in the right place also exposes it for other apps and services to use. As this becomes more popular, more podcast apps will use these transcripts to learn what your episodes are about and help expose your podcast in more relevant searches. For example, even if you keyword-stuff your title, author, and description tags with something like “real estate investing,” if you're not literally talking about real estate investing in your episodes, your podcast probably won't rank well for that term. What makes this podcast SEO different from the SEO myth I shared above is that this Podcasting 2.0 method exposes your transcript in a specific structure that make it easy for applications to read and process. You don't get that when you dump the whole transcript on your website (or in a download).

But if you really want to publish a transcript in a readable format, you can convert your SRT or VTT transcript into formatted text and offer that through your website. Just don't expect much to come from it!

6. (Optional) Use your podcast transcripts for promotion

I'm not a fan of creating new content with AI (also called “generative AI”). I think the results are cheap, unoriginal, and in a legal gray area because most generative AI models were trained with copyrighted content and without the content-owner's permission.

Putting aside those potential legal and ethical implications, I do love artificial intelligence as a different “AI”: assistive intelligence. So instead of creating new content for you, the AI analyzes the content you created and helps you describe it, improve it, repurpose it, and more.

And this all starts with a transcript of your podcast!

My favorite AI tool right now is Magai because it includes multiple models (not just ChatGPT) and you can now easily upload your entire podcast transcript to then work with inside Magai. For example, you could ask it to write a promotion for the episode in the first-person tone of your guest so you can send that to him or her to more relevantly share their appearance on your podcast.

Castmagic, Capsho, and Buzzsprout's Cohost AI also have features like this built in. For example, Castmagic (which I use, too) automatically recognizes separate speakers in the audio and can also automatically generate a whole bunch of different content from my content. This includes social posts, titles, X-Twitter threads, engaging questions, outlines, and more.

So even if a tool can't transcribe your content for you, yet (as is the case with Magai), you can still give it your transcript to analyze and use for many more purposes!

It all starts with the transcript of your content. (Or in my case, since I write such thorough articles for my podcast episodes, I frequently give Magai my published webpage URL instead of uploading a transcript.)

(And in case you're wondering, the entirety of this article and podcast episode were created solely by me. And even though some people might call my intelligence “artificial,” I didn't use any AI for this episode!)

You can also use a tool like Descript, Headliner, or Opus Clip to find good excerpts from your episode to share as clips, like I'm doing for this very episode! This, too, starts with your transcripts, and you'll probably get even better results if you can edit or provide a more accurate transcript.

Try Podgagement, now with automatic transcripts for voicemails from your audience!

Engage your audience and grow your podcast!

Do you ever feel like your podcast is stuck? Like you're pouring your heart into your podcast but it seems like no one is listening?

Try Podgagement to help you engage your audience and grow your podcast!

Get speakable pages to simplify engaging with your audience, accept voicemail feedback (with automatic transcripts), track your ratings and reviews from nearly 200 places, and more!

Ask your questions or share your feedback

• Comment on the show notes
• Leave a voicemail at (903) 231-2221
• Email feedback@TheAudacitytoPodcast.com (audio files welcome)

Follow The Audacity to Podcast

• Apple Podcasts, Spotify, other Android apps, or in your favorite podcast app.
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Disclosure

This post may contain links to products or services with which I have an affiliate relationship. I may receive compensation from your actions through such links. However, I don't let that corrupt my perspective and I don't recommend only affiliates.

The post How to Use Podcast Transcripts first appeared on The Audacity to Podcast.

For extra context, listen to my previous episode about Podcasting 2.0 and why it matters.

Some of these features are still in development. Visit our new Podcasting2.org website to see the apps and publishing/hosting tools that support these features. (In the near future, CanIPodcast.com will let you see the complete overview of what features are supported where.)

1. Cross-app comments

When I recently attended Podfest Multimedia Expo, I was talking with a woman interested to know more about Podcasting 2.0. She lit up with excitement over two things: cross-app comments and live streaming.

The vision of cross-app comments is simple. Imagine being able to comment on an episode you're listening without leaving your podcast app! Even better, others can reply to you from their different podcast apps!

This is what cross-app comments will allow: audience comments from multiple podcast apps but all going into the same stream of activity so you and others can engage from preferred apps.

While I think this is the most exciting feature for everyone, it's also proving to be the most complicated to implement. Developers have to think about performance, data portability, authentication, and giving you moderation control. But when these features are all solved, this will be a dynamite feature!

And the best part is that this engagement can occur completely without leaving the podcast app! (But there will be other systems to let you monitor and engage with your audience. For example, I'll be building this into Podgagement whenever the development issues are resolved.)

2. Live streaming

When I spoke with that woman at Podfest, the other thing she was most excited about was the ability to live-stream with live engagement directly into her audience's podcast apps.

That's what the “live item tag” (or sometimes called “LIT”) is designed to do!

Live-streaming isn't a good fit for all podcasts or podcasters. It presents a whole new layer of complexity and multiple distractions. But when you can manage it well, live-streaming is a fantastic way to engage your most loyal audience in real-time.

Podcasting 2.0's live feature will let you live-stream directly into the modern podcast apps. You start by scheduling your upcoming event, and your audience will see that in their apps. When you go live, you audience can receive push notifications and then jump to listening or watching live. There's even the potential to have your chat room there, too!

Best of all, this is all right inside your audience's podcast app! They won't have to leave to listen or watch on a separate page, they can engage without leaving their preferred podcast app!

Apps can even do smart things like automatically marking the later downloaded episode as played if the audience already played it live.

Learn more about the Podcasting 2.0 live streaming feature from Dave Jackson and me in The Future of Podcasting!

3. Micropayments

Don't let the “micro” part of “micropayments” make you think they're small and worthless!

Podcasting 2.0 enables you to receive financial support in any amount from your audience by leveraging the power of Bitcoin, specifically through the faster and cheaper Lightning Network. This is most commonly measured in Satoshis (abbreviated “sats” or “§”), which are 100 millionth of a Bitcoin. Here's the quick hack (at least for US Dollars) to understand the value. Every 1,000§ is worth the current value of Bitcoin in cents. So if Bitcoin is $45,000, then 1,000§ is worth 45¢.

This allows your audience to give as little as a few pennies to as much as they value your podcast—thus why this feature is called “Value for Value” and uses the <podcast:value> RSS tag.

But it doesn't stop there! Your audience can set their podcast app to stream the payments to you for every minute they listen to your podcast! So even something that seems as small as 100§ per minute would be 3,000§ for a 30-minute podcast. If Bitcoin is worth $45,000, that streaming payment would convert to $1.35—and that's 54 times as much as that one listener would be worth to an advertiser paying the common $25 CPM!

These kinds of “micropayments” would be nearly worthless or even impossible with common payment methods like PayPal or credit cards, who usually take a flat fee around 50¢ plus around 3% of the transaction!

Listen to my past episode, “Are Podcasting 2.0 Micropayments Worth It?” and read about “Value 4 Value” to learn more!

4. Super chapters

Shoutout to Dovydas from RSSBlue.com for coining the term “super chapters,” and I love it!

We've had chapters in podcasting since 2005, but they've always been very limited. They could only contain a title, a optional link, and an optional image. They were also embedded in the media file, so updating your chapters would mean replacing your media file. And that limitation meant that none of your audience who already downloaded the episode would be able to see anything new in the chapters.

Podcasting 2.0's “super chapters” build on these legacy features and move the chapters into an external metadata file.

Simply by being in an external file, you can now update the chapters anytime. And modern podcast apps are smart enough to check for updated chapters when your audience engages with your episodes.

The optional chapter images are also external URLs, allowing you to swap out the images anytime, or even do cool things like dynamically generated images with promotions, countdowns, dates, and more!

At this time, Podcasting 2.0 chapters still support only the same title, URL, and image fields like legacy chapters. But that will change soon with support for image galleries, videos, blocks of text, polls, and more!

5. Transcripts

I've long seen that transcripts were mostly a waste in the podcasting space. Transcripts are usually low-quality written content and thus are difficult to read and perform very poorly for search-engine optimization (SEO). Some podcasters would even relegate their transcripts to a separate download through their website, making them even less accessible for anyone who might actually need the transcripts for accessibility!

But Podcasting 2.0 changed that! Now, you can link to your episode transcripts (best in SRT or VTT file formats) right from your podcast RSS feed, and smart podcast apps will see them and even give your audience to see your line-by-line transcript in real time with your spoken content! Check out Steno.fm to see how it can highlight portions of the transcript as those words are being spoken.

It's “closed captions” for podcasts!

And the big surprise of 2024 was that Apple announced official support for Podcasting 2.0 transcripts starting with iOS 17.4! This is huge because it's the first Podcasting 2.0 feature Apple has supported! And since Apple is still an industry leader and trendsetter in podcasting, you can expect to see a lot of other popular apps start to support the same podcast standard. And that could also open the floodgates to much broader Podcasting 2.0 support!

Dave Jackson and I discussed the many implications of Apple's support for Podcasting 2.0 transcripts in this episode of The Future of Podcasting.

How can you use Podcasting 2.0?

My ultimatum is this: if your current podcast-publishing tool doesn't deeply support Podcasting 2.0 by now, switch!

Your four best options right now are:

1. Blubrry with PowerPress on WordPress
2. Captivate
3. Buzzsprout
4. Combine Podcast Mirror with your RSS feed from any legacy hosting provider

I spoke more about these hosting options in my previous episode/article, “Best Podcast Hosting Providers (2024).”

And if you're wondering how to make and use transcripts, that's what I'll talk about in my next episode!

Engage your audience and grow your podcast!

Do you ever feel like your podcast is stuck? Like you're pouring your heart into your podcast but it seems like no one is listening?

Try Podgagement to help you engage your audience and grow your podcast!

Get speakable pages to simplify engaging with your audience, accept voicemail feedback (with automatic transcripts), track your ratings and reviews from nearly 200 places, and more!

Ask your questions or share your feedback

• Comment on the show notes
• Leave a voicemail at (903) 231-2221
• Email feedback@TheAudacitytoPodcast.com (audio files welcome)

Follow The Audacity to Podcast

• Apple Podcasts, Spotify, other Android apps, or in your favorite podcast app.
• Subscribe on YouTube for Podcasting Videos by The Audacity to Podcast
• Follow @theDanielJLewis on X-Twitter

Disclosure

This post may contain links to products or services with which I have an affiliate relationship. I may receive compensation from your actions through such links. However, I don't let that corrupt my perspective and I don't recommend only affiliates.

The post Top 5 Podcasting 2.0 Features You Should Try first appeared on The Audacity to Podcast.

You need good podcast hosting to help you distribute your show, keep it online, and understand your reach. Now, podcast hosting can help you with much more, too!

How podcast-hosting has changed

As the podcasting industry is innovating and there are new ways to engage, grow, and monetize, podcast-hosting providers have to keep up!

Years ago, all we needed from a podcast-hosting provider was storage, bandwidth, stats, and maybe their RSS feed (because you might want to generate it separately). And if your show was big enough, you might have a chance at getting a sponsor through your hosting provider.

But today, podcast hosting includes innovative new features, like dynamic content insertion; automatic processing for audio, images, and video; content-creation assistance; marketing tools; engagement outlets; and even built-in ways to monetize your podcast directly from your audience.

This is why I've taken some time to reconsider my recommendations.

And as you'll quickly notice, there is no single best podcast-hosting provider because it really depends on your needs. Thus, I hope the following help you make the choice that's right for your podcast.

(As an affiliate for many providers, I earn from qualifying purchases through most of these following links. But I recommend things I truly believe in, regardless of earnings.)

Best all-inclusive podcast hosting (also for multiple shows): Captivate

I call Captivate the “Apple of podcast hosting” because their design and features are truly innovative. They show your stats in ways that are easy to understand, they offer beautifully designed sites, and they even sync with WordPress!

• Reliable, IAB-certified stats
• Distributed media hosting for fast downloads
• One price for unlimited shows and unlimited uploads
• Pricing based on total downloads per month
• Free migration
• Highly responsive support
• Branding-optional, embeddable, responsive player
• Podcasting 2.0 features
• Automatically sync with your WordPress site
• 7-day free trial

Host your podcast with Captivate

Captivate's podcast hosting has been revolutionary! They offer the most extensive range of features—not merely the typical media-hosting and analytics features, but even features to help you manage your content and monetization!

Their dynamic content insertion tool, AMIE, is—in my opinion—the best in the industry! Yes, you can use it for inserting ads, but you can do so much more with it, like using it for any kind of content! Plus, AMIE makes it quick and easy to prepare old episodes for dynamic content, or even replace old ads like painting over them!

You can also monetize your podcast directly from your audience through Captivate's membership system, donations, exclusive content, and more!

And if you have multiple shows, Captivate lets you run your whole podcast network with a single subscription, and the cheapest plan already supports up to 3 shows at no extra cost.

Pricing is primarily based on the size of your audience, either for downloading or the membership subscriptions.

On top of this, Captivate has the best Podcasting 2.0 support in the industry right now!

There's so much more I could say about Captivate, but I don't want this whole episode/article to be about one provider!

Captivate is my top recommendation for most podcasters!

I had the honor and pleasure of serving on Captivate's advisory board until Captivate was acquired. I don't recommend Captivate because I was an advisor, I accepted that role because I liked what Captivate was doing! I had even previously called Captivate the “Apple of podcast hosting” because of their attention to detail and innovative developments.

Honorable mention goes Transistor, who offer many of the same features as Captivate but actually allow unlimited podcasts on every plan. However, Transistor reserve some features for higher plans.

Best WordPress-based podcast hosting: Blubrry

If you're running a WordPress website, Blubrry's hosting integrates seamlessly with PowerPress—the #1 podcasting plugin for WordPress.

• Industry-standard stats
• Distributed media hosting for fast downloads
• Monthly upload limit, no download limit
• Flexible upload limit
• Free migration
• Phone and email support
• Unbranded, embeddable, responsive player
• Automatic ID3 tagging
• Manage everything from your WordPress site
• First month free with promo code “NOODLE”

Host your podcast media with Blubrry

While all my other podcast-hosting recommendations require using their publishing platform to manage your podcast RSS feed, Blubrry is my top recommendation if you want to manage your own publishing platform with WordPress.

WordPress lets you do almost anything with your website! Consider TheAudacitytoPodcast.com. Here, I publish articles, sometimes with interactive charts; I sell video courses, a WordPress plugin (with auto-updates), and even ID3 Editor licenses; I created multiple recommendation pages; I have countless redirects and automatic links; and I designed the site to look exactly how I wanted. All this extra functionality is powered WordPress's extensibility with plugins and themes.

Blubrry's podcast hosting connects seamlessly to all of this through their free PowerPress plugin, which I've used since I think 2007. While Blubrry supports the community so much that they've provided this plugin for free for many years, the best way to use it is pairing it with Blubrry's podcast hosting. Then, instead of going to another website to manage your podcast and possibly having to copy and paste a lot of stuff to your WordPress site, Blubrry integrates it all right in your normal WordPress workflow!

Simply create a post like you normally would in WordPress, and then upload your podcast episode and enter your episode information directly within the same post editor!

Blubrry is also leading the charge on including Podcasting 2.0 features—even some of the experimental ones!

And if you want to get on the bleeding edge of experimentation, you can even extend features of PowerPress yourself with the right tools!

Blubrry's top goal is to help you build your own platform, a platform that you own and fully control. No one else integrates as well with WordPress as Blubrry does!

Plus, PowerPress has become such a standard for podcasting with WordPress that many podcast-ready themes (like my favorites from SecondLine Themes) have built-in support to enhance the podcast players for your website audience!

If you use my link to try Blubrry, make sure you enter my promo code “NOODLE” to get a free month!

Best easy/simple podcast hosting without compromises: Buzzsprout

Buzzsprout is the easiest-to-use podcast-hosting provider but without compromising features!

• Reliable, IAB-certified stats
• Distributed media hosting for fast downloads
• Pricing based on hours of audio per month
• Free migration
• Highly responsive support
• Branding-optional, embeddable, responsive player
• Podcasting 2.0 features
• Sell premium subscriptions and exclusive content to your audience
• Magic Mastering (upgrade) for automatic audio enhancement
• Cohost AI (upgrade) for AI-powered help with titles, notes, and more

Host your podcast with Buzzsprout

So far, my recommendations have been feature-rich and all about giving you total power over every aspect of your podcast.

But with great power comes great anxiety!

Thus, I present the oasis of podcast hosting: Buzzsprout!

Buzzsprout has always been one of the easiest-to-use podcasting platforms. But don't let the whitespace and simple looks fool you! Buzzsprout has jumped into my top recommendations because they also provide impressive extra features to help you podcast better, but still without compromising their simplicity!

They offer three impressive features on top of their already great podcast hosting features:

1. Magic Mastering: Automatically process your podcast audio for clarity and ideal loudness!
2. Automatic dynamic content: Their AI will find the ideal places to place ads within your content, and even offer ways to grow your own podcast or grow your wallet through these opportunities!
3. Cohost AI: Get AI-powered suggestions on titles, notes, chapters, and more, right from your podcast-publishing workflow!

It is important to note that some of these features come at upgraded costs. But they can be worth it in the time and brain cells they save you!

Buzzsprout supports Podcasting 2.0, too!

Best “free” podcast hosting: RedCircle

I get it. Maybe podcasting is so much your hobby that you can't even afford the relatively low monthly fees for podcast hosting. While I still want to remind you that you will get what you pay for, RedCircle is the only free podcast-hosting provider I recommend.

Their feature offerings aren't as advanced as my previous recommendations, but RedCircle's dynamic-content insertion tools are quite nice, giving you opportunities to pay for your hosting with ads (and earn some money yourself, too).

While I still suggest that you invest in your podcast hosting, if you absolutely need something “free,” RedCircle is the way to go!

Dishonorable mention: Spotify for Podcasters (formerly “Anchor”). Do not use them! Spotify's actions make it seem like they hate the podcast industry because they keep arrogantly ignoring innovations, develop only proprietary features, and are more interested in having you build their platform than providing ways for you to build yours. Because of this and more, I think the true cost of Spotify for Podcasters is too high.

Honorable mention goes to Buzzsprout, but their free plan is limited to only your latest few episodes.

Best video podcast hosting: Libsyn

Regardless of where you host your website (or the CMS you use), Libsyn provides a stable RSS feed with your media, in addition to automatic crossposting to other platforms.

• Industry-standard stats
• Distributed media hosting for fast downloads
• Monthly upload limit, no download limit
• Flat-rate $25 migration fee for up to 10 GB
• Email support
• Libsyn-branded, embeddable, responsive player
• Crosspost to Spotify, Google Play Music, SoundCloud, Twitter, Facebook, WordPress, and more
• Standalone app option for iOS, Android, Windows Mobile, and Amazon Kindle Fire
• Automatic ID3 tagging
• Current and next month free with promo code “NOODLE”

Host your podcast media with Libsyn

Video podcasting is not nearly as popular as it was in the couple of years before YouTube stole the show. And don't believe the misinformation (maybe even “disinformation”) from corrupted surveys claiming that video podcasting is back or that most audiences prefer video podcasts. All those surveys I've seen are using invalid questions, allow invalid answers, and draw or have led to radically invalid conclusions.

All that said, if you do want a true video podcast, I recommend Libsyn.

Libsyn is the original podcast-hosting provider. And while they haven't innovated nearly as much as I wish (at least at this time), they still offer the best bandwidth bang for your buck, which is crucial for a video podcast!

But it's not only about value, I recommend Libsyn for video podcasting primarily because of this huge feature: integration with YouTube.

Because YouTube is where most people go for independent video content, I suggest everyone who makes a video show to also publish on YouTube! And if you want that exact same show to be both on YouTube and as a real podcast, Libsyn is the way to go!

Libsyn allows you to publish only once and then they will automatically upload your video to YouTube.

On top of that, I believe Libsyn is still the only provider to also bring your video stats back from YouTube and display them with your normal podcast download stats! So none of this checking your stats in two places or publishing your video in two places stuff! Libsyn makes it easy to do both in one place!

Use my promo code “NOODLE” to try Libsyn free for the rest of this month plus all of next month! (That's actually how my promo code always works, because Libsyn always bills at midnight GMT on the first day of the month.)

The best podcast hosting is the one that meets your needs

You can probably tell I rarely recommend a single option and that's because, in many areas, I think there is no single “best” that does everything for everyone. Like most things, my goal is to provide you with the information to make the right choice for yourself.

Engage your audience and grow your podcast!

Do you ever feel like your podcast is stuck? Like you're pouring your heart into your podcast but it seems like no one is listening?

Try Podgagement to help you engage your audience and grow your podcast!

Get speakable pages to simplify engaging with your audience, accept voicemail feedback (with automatic transcripts), track your ratings and reviews from nearly 200 places, and more!

Ask your questions or share your feedback

• Comment on the show notes
• Leave a voicemail at (903) 231-2221
• Email feedback@TheAudacitytoPodcast.com (audio files welcome)

Follow The Audacity to Podcast

• Apple Podcasts, Spotify, other Android apps, or in your favorite podcast app.
• Subscribe on YouTube for Podcasting Videos by The Audacity to Podcast
• Follow @theDanielJLewis on X-Twitter

Disclosure

This post may contain links to products or services with which I have an affiliate relationship. I may receive compensation from your actions through such links. However, I don't let that corrupt my perspective and I don't recommend only affiliates.

The post Best Podcast Hosting Providers (2024) first appeared on The Audacity to Podcast.

And if you want to avoid this problem, do not resubmit your podcast if it's already listed!

How duplicate podcast listings happen

There are two common reasons you might end up with a duplicate listing of your podcast, either by your own actions or by automation.

Reason 1: a secondary feed was automatically discovered and indexed

You might have used several different podcast-publishing tools, like your own website, PowerPress, multiple podcast-hosting providers, and such. Or you might have used some automation tools for crossposting, like Spreaker, AudioBoom, Podpage, and such. Or you used a feed proxy to mirror and rehost your RSS feed, like Feedburner or Podcast Mirror.

Any of these tools might have created another RSS feed for your podcast and may even be actively updating it. They could even be serving the exact same feed from multiple URLs, like HTTP and HTTPS (although not so common anymore), or from different subdomains.

Podcast Index, Google Podcasts (rest in peace), and maybe a couple of other systems search the web looking for podcast feeds to include and they'll often find those duplicates. Podcast Index has a fairly smart deduplication process, but Google Podcasts was a little annoying, often switching to the newly discovered feed (even if was only a redirect!) and requiring you to verify ownership of that new feed before you can switch back to your desired feed.

A couple of my own podcasts have had as many as 8 different RSS feeds discovered by Google Podcasts! And even though some of them were proper 301 redirects, the automated system still wanted to change to them instead of the feeds I had intentionally submitted for Google Podcasts to use. But at least that didn't create duplicates and it didn't interfere with my audience.

But other discovery systems might add the extra feeds as new podcasts, resulting in duplicates. (At this time, none of the most popular podcast apps use automatic discovery to build their catalogs.)

Reason 2: the podcast was resubmitted

Do not resubmit your podcast if it's already listed!

I see this problem happen far more frequently lately. When podcasters switch podcast-hosting providers, like from Spotify for Podcasters (formerly known as Anchor) to a provider such as Captivate or Blubrry, the podcasters sometimes submit their new RSS feeds as new podcasts instead of simply redirecting the old feeds.

This sometimes comes from bad advice, or from an attempt (albeit the wrong method) to reclaim ownership of a podcast in Apple Podcasts or another directory, or it might even be from thinking that you had to resubmit after changing the title or cover art. Whatever the reason, this usually results in listing the same podcast twice, even if you later properly redirect the old RSS feed. Apple Podcasts used to prevent the same feed from being submitted twice, but I'm seeing indications that system either isn't working, or isn't used anymore.

Again,do not resubmit your podcast if it's already listed! (And don't tell your long-time audience to follow your new listing, either!)

The duplicate podcast listing problem gets worse, especially in Apple Podcasts

When your podcast is listed multiple times in the same podcast directory, you risk splitting your ratings, reviews, chart and search rankings, and even your followers.

In most podcast apps, simply redirecting the incorrect RSS feed to the correct one will at least merge your split audiences. But it won't merge the other catalog features if they exist.

But it's even worse in Apple Podcasts since iOS 14.5!

Before iOS 14.5, your audience was connected directly to your podcast RSS feed. So regardless of what happened in the Apple Podcasts catalog, your audience would get whatever you put in your feed and would follow wherever that feed URL would redirect. Back then, you could simply redirect the duplicate listing and then delete it, and you wouldn't lose any of your audience.

But not anymore! This changed with iOS 14.5.

Now, even if your duplicate listing gets switched to your correct RSS feed, everyone who followed your podcast through that duplicate is connected to Apple's proxy of your podcast feed, and not connected directly to your feed. In other words, people in Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and maybe only a couple other proxy-based podcast apps subscribe to the catalog listing of your podcast in that app, not directly to your RSS feed. So if you delete that duplicate listing, you will lose its followers!

Even if you're okay with losing any ratings, reviews, and rankings that duplicate listing might have accumulated, I suggest that you should not accept losing your audience!

How to fix your duplicate podcast listing in proxy-based services like Apple Podcasts and Spotify

If the podcast app in question behaves like Apple Podcasts and Spotify, where your audience is connected to the platform's proxy of your podcast or the catalog entry of your podcast instead of directly to your own RSS feed, then the solution is a little complicated and incomplete. But these steps should help!

In all of the following steps, the “correct listing” will be the oldest one that has the majority of your followers, ratings, reviews, and rankings. That's the one you want to keep, even if it still has the wrong RSS feed.

Step 1: Ask the platform to merge your listings

While this is most likely not possible at this time, these platforms need to know how frequent these problems are. So here's what I suggest you send them (feel free to copy and update this for your own use):

Dear [Apple Podcasts/Spotify/platform],

My podcast, [Podcast Title], is listed multiple times in your catalog and that's negatively affecting me and my audience. If possible, would you please merge these listings so I don't lose any of my audience or earned engagement or rankings?

Correct listing: [URL or ID]
Correct feed: [feed URL, which may actually be different from the current listing]

Incorrect listing[s]: [URLs or IDs]

It's crucial for my audience's experience to ensure none of them are disconnected from my podcast through this merge process. Even if I have to lose other earned engagement or ranking, I need a promise that I won't lose any of my audience.

Thanks in advance!

If they actually can merge your listings and promise you won't lose your audience, great! But most likely, they'll come back saying either they can't merge the listings, or they might even give bad advice suggesting to delete the duplicate(s). Do not delete the duplicates, yet!

Please be kind in whatever interactions you have with the platform's support team! You should probably assume they won't be able to give the correct help, but I do still recommend asking anyway.

Since these proxy-based platforms (like Apple Podcasts and Spotify) most likely can't provide the correct solution, and deleting the duplicate listing will harm your audience, your only other option is to ask your audience to refollow the correct listing. But there's a clever way so you don't need to ask your whole audience!

Step 2: Redirect properly

Unfortunately, it seems most of these duplicates happen where the old-but-correct listing is using the “wrong” RSS feed, and your duplicate incorrect listing(s) might be using the new, correct feeds. So I know this will seem a little confusing.

The old listing most likely has more followers and reputation, so it's the listing you want to keep. Get that old feed URL to redirect to the new feed URL using a 301 permanent redirect. Ideally, that redirect should remain forever.

A redirect happens before the contents of the feed are loaded. So it really doesn't matter what's in the feed you're redirecting, or if it's even a feed anymore! It's the URL that's important.

It's just like forwarding mail from your old address to your new home. It really doesn't matter who lives in the old home because your mail will be forwarded before it even gets delivered.

Any half-decent podcast-hosting provider should be able to permanently redirect your old feed URL to the new one. Even bottom-of-the-barrel SoundCloud can do it!

If you control the URL of your old feed, you might be able to use tools from your website, web-hosting provider, or domain registrar to redirect the URL to your new feed. You could even use a third-party tool like Cloudflare to put a redirect on the domain's exact path and you wouldn't need web-hosting at all because the contents at that URL don't matter; it's only the URL that needs a 301 redirect to your new feed URL.

Step 3: Make a new RSS feed with a single announcement episode

Start by creating a new RSS feed with most of the same podcast information. The easiest way to get this would be a separate category feed from your publishing tool, if available.

If that won't work, you could open your RSS feed in your browser and save it as a file on your computer.

Change the title slightly by adding “DUPLICATE” or something similar, and you might want to add a “duplicate” banner in the cover art, too. The point is to make it easy for anyone to see that this is the duplicate, not the actual podcast you want them to follow.

Give this new RSS feed only a single episode explaining what you need your audience to do and link to your correct listings in all the affected apps. This announcement will be seen and heard only by those who actually need to do something. Feel free to copy the following script for your notes and spoken announcement.

Hi! We're changing some backend stuff with our podcast and that, unfortunately, breaks part of my/our podcast. I/we would love to keep you in our community, so I/we need you to do a couple of things to continue receiving my/our podcast.

First, refollow my/our podcast in your podcast app, but it needs to be the one without “DUPLICATE” in the title and cover art. You can probably get there from the link in this episode's notes, or by searching for the same title.

[Include your correct Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or other proxy-based platform links here in the notes.]

Then, when you can see that you're following the correct podcast with all the episodes, please unfollow this duplicate podcast and remove it from your library.

Make this new RSS feed available online (even if you merely upload the new XML file to your web hosting), but you will not be using any regular redirects to it or from it.

Step 4: Change the feed URL in the platform's portal

Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and other proxy-based platforms offer portals for you to manage your podcast listings. These portals sometimes allow you to change the source RSS feed for your podcast listing without having to redirect your feed URL. This is the thing that in the past, I've urged podcasters not to change in Apple Podcasts Connect, but now you do need it for this one purpose.

Log into each portal that has your duplicate listing and change that source RSS feed to the announcement feed you created in step 3. This will change the feed for only your followers on that platform. If you change this in the Apple Podcasts catalog, it will change the source RSS feed for any apps that use Apple's catalog in their app, but it won't change the feed for anyone's library using those other apps. And that's okay, because nearly all other podcast apps connect your audience directly with your RSS feed. So your audience would go wherever it points in those other apps. And if that duplicate listing is using your correct RSS feed, then your audience will get your podcast from that feed instead of from the app proxy.

Updating your source feed in these few proxy-based apps should then add the “duplicate” information and push that announcement out to only those who are affected.

Step 5: Redirect and delete after a few months

Leave this announcement feed online for at least 3 months. You can start shutting it down after that.

You need to do only two things with the announcement feed:

1. 301 redirect the announcement feed URL to your correct podcast feed.
2. Delete the duplicate listings through the podcast portals.

Once it's redirecting, you don't need to keep the announcement feed or episode online anymore.

Unfortunate conclusion: it's messy and you might still lose some numbers

I believe these steps are the current best way to do things if the platforms use their own proxies and can't merge your listings.

It's still possible and even likely you'll lose some numbers through the “cracks” inherent with this process. You might see your download stats drop, but it will most likely be disengaged audience members. And that's why I say you might lose some numbers, but maybe not people who were actually listening. After all, if those people don't follow you to the correct podcast listing, were they really that engaged with your podcast anyway?

I really wish this wasn't an issue at all! But bad instructions and platform limitations make this complication necessary if you hope to keep most of your audience.

Important reminder: do not resubmit your feed!

As much as I'd like to bring in Smokey the Podcast Bear to tell you that only you can prevent duplicate podcast listings, the unfortunate reality is that it's still possible for some hosting providers—most likely the unknowledgeable ones—to make this mistake and tell you to resubmit your podcast with the new feed, or even worse, they submit it for you.

DO NOT LET THIS HAPPEN!

The only exception is if you've completely lost control of your old RSS feed and it's absolutely impossible to get it back (but it usually is). Even in this case, it's still better to change the source feed of your podcast in all the podcast apps your can instead of resubmitting your podcast with the new feed.

Engage your audience and grow your podcast!

Do you ever feel like your podcast is stuck? Like you're pouring your heart into your podcast but it seems like no one is listening?

Try Podgagement to help you engage your audience and grow your podcast!

Get speakable pages to simplify engaging with your audience, accept voicemail feedback (with automatic transcripts), track your ratings and reviews from nearly 200 places, and more!

Ask your questions or share your feedback

• Comment on the show notes
• Leave a voicemail at (903) 231-2221
• Email feedback@TheAudacitytoPodcast.com (audio files welcome)

Follow The Audacity to Podcast

• Apple Podcasts, Spotify, other Android apps, or in your favorite podcast app.
• Subscribe on YouTube for Podcasting Videos by The Audacity to Podcast
• Follow @theDanielJLewis on X-Twitter

Disclosure

This post may contain links to products or services with which I have an affiliate relationship. I may receive compensation from your actions through such links. However, I don't let that corrupt my perspective and I don't recommend only affiliates.

The post How to Fix Duplicate Listings in Apple Podcasts (or Other Podcast Apps) first appeared on The Audacity to Podcast.

This is my last episode in my miniseries about refreshing your podcast branding. Please review these past episodes/articles for more information:

• 6 Benefits of a Podcast Branding Refresh
• When Should You Refresh Your Podcast Branding?

Reminder: What is “podcast branding”?

Your “podcast branding” is one or more features that uniquely identify your podcast. It's the first impression for new audiences, and it's how your loyal audience recognizes your podcast distinctly from others.

Podcast branding is more than only your cover art. It could be the logo inside your cover art (and that logo can be used for all kinds of things)—and a logo is difference from cover art. It's the audio and video elements you use throughout your episodes. It's your podcast description. It's in your repeated phrases. It's even in how you communicate and host your podcast.

A “branding refresh” would then be updating any or all of these elements, but keeping the core of your podcast the same. A “rebrand” would be if you change much more of your podcast, including what you talk about and whom you try to reach.

1. Evaluate the needs

Do you actually need to refresh your podcast branding, or are you merely bored with it?

Most likely, your needs will fit within one or more of the benefits to a podcast branding refresh that I've previously shared:

1. Attract a new audience
2. Increase your perceived quality
3. Adapt to the latest trends
4. Strengthen or reset your podcast's identity and message
5. Infuse new energy for your audience and yourself
6. Stand out from others

Your actual needs should be the biggest influence over all your other branding-refresh decisions. For example, my now retired Once Upon a Time TV aftershow podcast got me a friendly call with one of Disney's lawyers because my visual branding looked so much like theirs, that they actually thought I was using their images. So all I needed to do to satisfy the almighty Mouse was refresh the visual branding and make some more prominent disclaimers that we weren't affiliated. That was an immediate and important need for that podcast's visual branding, but it didn't change anything about how we ran the podcast (and the Disney lawyer was clear that they did not want us to stop our podcast).

2. Understand your own podcast

You've seen the cliché plot line before: you journey up a mountain on a path to self discovery and you're met by some sage who helps you discover that the magic was within you all along.

Understanding your own podcast won't have you climbing mountains, but it does mean trying to step out of your own position and objectively look at your podcast as both an outsider and as an audience member. Seek to understand what makes your podcast unique. What are your recurring elements? What is your podcast known for? What does the audience like and dislike? Why is your audience listening? And why are you even making the podcast?

Look for the things you should emphasize more, and the things you should remove.

For the branding refresh I did of The Audacity to Podcast a few years ago, I realized that my visual elements weren't really communicating the idea of “audacity”: boldness, courage, guts, and such. But those were definitely recurring themes. After all, that's why I named by show The Audacity to Podcast! So I knew that the magic was in me all along, I just had to let it go!

Another aspect of this is realizing that your podcast's branding might not match your own preferences. For example, the music I have always used The Audacity to Podcast, a song called “Vegas Shuffle,” is not actually the kind of music I enjoy. In fact, I don't really like hard rock or electric guitar music. But I love that song for this podcast because I think it perfectly fits the vibe of my podcast branding. (Watch me get inducted into the Podcast Hall of Fame to hear my “walk out music” that actually fits me better!)

3. Consider the timing

An effective branding refresh will take time to do it with excellence. So consider not only how much time the process will take, but when is actually the right time to launch the new branding.

For example, if your show is seasonal (and for good reasons, I hope!), the start of a new season could be a great time to launch the new branding—either with the first episode of that season, or with the trailer preceding the new season.

Other good times for a branding refresh could be around milestone episodes or anniversaries. Learn more in my previous episode/article about when to refresh your podcast branding:

1. When your podcast significantly changes
2. When your branding stops growing with you
3. When you enter new “seasons”
4. When you can improve the quality
5. When there's enough compelling feedback
6. When you determine the benefits outweigh the “costs”

It's also best if you can time your branding refresh to launch in all your properties at the same time. Super-loyal fans of The Audacity to Podcast might have noticed that it took me about a year before I updated the website to match the new branding in the podcast. If I wasn't going through the personal hardships at that time, the best thing for me to do would have been to launch the new site with the new visual and audio branding in the podcast. But when I did a complete rebrand of My Podcast Reviews to Podgagement, I launched it all together: the app redesign, the website redesign, the new logo, the new domain, even the new social IDs.

4. Prepare your audience

Although a branding refresh is not as major as an actual rebrand, it might be good to announce it to your audience ahead of time, especially if your show doesn't use seasons for good reasons. This can reduce potential confusion when someone's podcast library suddenly looks different and they can't find your podcast because it looks different from before (if you did a visual branding refresh).

You could mention the upcoming refresh in your episodes leading up to it. But my recommendation would be to publish a separate episode as a “trailer” specifically to announce the upcoming refresh. And then a couple of weeks after you launch the new branding, you can easily delete that announcement episode.

The more drastically different the new branding is, the more important it will be to prepare your audience for it.

5. Decide to delegate or DIY

Refreshing your podcast branding will cost! It will obviously cost money if you delegate it to someone you hire. It could also cost you time if you do it yourself—and maybe a lot of time if you're not skilled or comfortable with the process.

The first place I recommend looking for help would be within your own audience. For example, No Agenda, with Adam Curry and John C. Dvorak, makes a big deal about letting their audience contribute artwork and reusable audio elements for every episode. Look at NoAgendaArtGenerator.com for examples of all the thousands of submissions they've received!

Feel free to have fun with it, like running a contest (with or without prizes), having your audience vote, or making a game of it. Just be prepared with how you might handle it if your audience doesn't give you very high quality work or they don't respond well to your decision.

If you want to hire a highly skilled professional to help, here are my recommendations:

• Visual branding: Mark Des Cotes at PodcastBranding.co (an alternative would be 99designs, but probably not Fiverr)
• Drawn visual branding: James Kennison from DrawYouaPicture.com
• Complete audio branding: Music Radio Creative or hire out for pieces of your branding with some people on Fiverr
• Content or presentation branding: a podcast consultant, such as me, Dave Jackson, Erik K. Johnson, or whoever is your favorite
• Video branding: maybe someone from Fiverr (but I'm looking for a better recommendation!)

And if you have the tools, skills, and determination to do it yourself, expect to spend way too much time obsessing over some particular details.

When I was doing the complete rebuild and rebranding from My Podcast Reviews to Podgagement, I kept hitting mental walls with the new logo. So I reached out to James Kennison since I knew he's a great artist and extremely creative. We went back and forth over some of my rough ideas, but nothing was working very well and he was actually about to give up. But then a moment of inspiration hit him and I fell in love with his new idea, which became the logo! (Can you spot the hidden thing in the Podgagement logo? When you see it, you'll recognize why I loved James's brilliance so much!)

6. Avoid clichés like the plague …

I hope you know the visual podcast clichés by now: microphones, RSS icons, headphones, audio waveforms, and all the stuff that visually represents podcasting, but most likely not what your podcast is actually about. Unless your podcast is about microphones, audio, and such, then you should avoid using those visual clichés in your branding probably 99.99% of the time. And even the remaining 0.01%, I would still challenge you to avoid the clichés.

Your particular niche might also have its own clichés. Those might be okay to use, but I still recommend thinking outside the cliché first!

For example, I once designed podcast cover art for a Christian podcast that was all about the working of the Holy Spirit. But my client was very clear that they did not want the cliché dove in the design. I think that was a great decision!

There are non-visual clichés, too, both in the podcasting industry and probably within your niche. For example, avoid using “on fire” or “thinking outside the box” in your podcast title. Maybe even avoiding naming the show after yourself! Check out my previous episode/article to learn more about what you should avoid in your podcast title.

There can be clichés with music, too. In the early days of podcasting, it seemed like half the podcasts were using the same music from GarageBand because there weren't many affordable alternatives back then. Now, there are so many great options (my favorite is PremiumBeat) and so many more podcasts that you'll likely not pick the same thing as someone else.

Another sort of cliché is trying to be like someone or something else. For example, trying to make the epic movie-trailer voice. But note that I said, “trying.” If you actually have that great voice, use it!

But even then, it might seem too cliché to use the movie trailer style for your audio branding in trailers or episodes.

Colors can even be cliché! For example, the old My Podcast Reviews branding color was the purple color from Apple Podcasts! And I've now seen too many podcasting apps and services use a similar color to Apple Podcasts. But I chose the new Podgagement branding color scheme completely separate from anything else, and inspired and driven by the concepts the new rocket logo was already promoting.

7. Break some rules

And here's my favorite “rule”: break rules! But do so intentionally and with good reasons.

For example, red is generally considered a bad color, and yet it very perfectly communicates the theme of boldness for The Audacity to Podcast. And that's why red is now my branding color.

There might be some clichés that you need to use in order to better clarify what your podcast is about.

In other words, don't pick something just because you like it or avoid it just because it's cliché. Instead, make choices—even breaking rules if necessary—when you have a good “why” behind it.

Engage your audience and grow your podcast!

Do you ever feel like your podcast is stuck? Like you're pouring your heart into your podcast but it seems like no one is listening?

Try Podgagement to help you engage your audience and grow your podcast!

Get speakable pages to simplify engaging with your audience, accept voicemail feedback (with automatic transcripts), track your ratings and reviews from nearly 200 places, and more!

Ask your questions or share your feedback

• Comment on the show notes
• Leave a voicemail at (903) 231-2221
• Email feedback@TheAudacitytoPodcast.com (audio files welcome)

Follow The Audacity to Podcast

• Apple Podcasts, Spotify, other Android apps, or in your favorite podcast app.
• Subscribe on YouTube for Podcasting Videos by The Audacity to Podcast
• Follow @theDanielJLewis on X-Twitter

Disclosure

This post may contain links to products or services with which I have an affiliate relationship. I may receive compensation from your actions through such links. However, I don't let that corrupt my perspective and I don't recommend only affiliates.

The post How to Refresh Your Podcast Branding first appeared on The Audacity to Podcast.

1. The Audacity to Podcast won a Podcast Award!

The People's Choice Podcast Awards, started by Todd Cochrane, are the longest-running podcast awards. I was surprised back in 2012 when The Audacity to Podcast won best technology podcast and I was handed the trophy by Leo Laporte, one of my podcasting heroes. And I was surprised and honored again to win in 2023!

THANK YOU!

Here was my acceptance speech:

2. Podgagement has launched!

After more than 4 years in development, I completed the revolutionary upgrade of My Podcast Reviews to Podgagement! This new service carries over all the review-tracking features of My Podcast Reviews, but adds a whole lot more to focus on helping you engage your audience and grow your podcast. Thus the new name, Podgagement. (Is it really a podcasting product if it doesn't have “pod” or “cast” somewhere in the name?)

Podgagement brings new features and a whole-new feature tier with even more benefits!

In short, everything from My Podcast Reviews has been migrated to the new “Astro” tier, and the brand-new “Constellation” tier offers even more features! The Constellation-exclusive features include collecting voice and written feedback from your audience; tracking your in-app podcast networking through recommendations, Podcasting 2.0 “Podroll” feature, and more; and many more upcoming features like chart-tracking, SEO tracking, AI-powered audience-engagement enhancement, monetization features, and more.

Read more about the launch of Podgagement in my announcement post here.

Or here me talk about in in my guest appearance on Podnews Weekly Review with James Cridland and Sam Sethi and on School of Podcasting with Dave Jackson.

3. I'm being inducted into the Podcast Hall of Fame!

This announcement has been burning a whole in my drafts for several weeks! I'm being inducted into the Podcast Hall of Fame this year at the 10th anniversary Podfest Expo in Orlando! I hope that you can be there to celebrate with me!

A personal aside

If you've followed me for a while, you know that the last few years have been very difficult for me, both personally and professionally.

There have been many ups and downs. I would start to rebuild on apparent stability in life, but then something would radically change and shake up everything again.

So I see these 3 big wins as amazing and unmerited blessings from God and huge motivators for me to keep going helping you to have the audacity to podcast!

With both the rush of working to launch Podgagement and the changing stability in my fatherhood responsibilities both now seemingly at a steady place, I'm ready and eager to get back to regular podcast episodes!

And if you've been missing me for the last few months, have you checked out The Future of Podcasting that I've been cohosting biweekly with Dave Jackson? Instead of focusing on the “how” like I do here in The Audacity to Podcast, The Future of Podcasting‘s focus is right there in the title! We discuss what's coming in the podcasting industry and why and how you can take advantage of the industry-leading innovations. I hope you'll listen there, too!

Engage your audience and grow your podcast!

Do you ever feel like your podcast is stuck? Like you're pouring your heart into your podcast but it seems like no one is listening?

Try Podgagement to help you engage your audience and grow your podcast!

Get speakable pages to simplify engaging with your audience, accept voicemail feedback (with automatic transcripts), track your ratings and reviews from nearly 200 places, and more!

Ask your questions or share your feedback

• Comment on the show notes
• Leave a voicemail at (903) 231-2221
• Email feedback@TheAudacitytoPodcast.com (audio files welcome)

Follow The Audacity to Podcast

• Apple Podcasts, Spotify, other Android apps, or in your favorite podcast app.
• Subscribe on YouTube for Podcasting Videos by The Audacity to Podcast
• Follow @theDanielJLewis on X-Twitter

Disclosure

This post may contain links to products or services with which I have an affiliate relationship. I may receive compensation from your actions through such links. However, I don't let that corrupt my perspective and I don't recommend only affiliates.

The post Exciting News: Podcast Award, Podgagement, and Podcast Hall of Fame first appeared on The Audacity to Podcast.

This post will be updated as quickly as we can. For the quickest alerts, sign up for our Podcasting Deals emails, or follow @PodcastingDeals on X-Twitter.

(As an affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases through these links. But I recommend things I truly believe in, regardless of earnings.)

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The post Best Black Friday / Cyber Monday Podcasting Deals for Podcasters (2023) first appeared on The Audacity to Podcast.

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The post Best Prime Day Deals for Podcasters 2023 first appeared on The Audacity to Podcast.

A metaphor you could imagine is that podcast branding is like your wardrobe. When do you change what kinds of clothes you wear? You most likely do that based on weather, current styles, fit, and condition. You can think of your podcast branding in the same way!

What is “podcast branding”?

Your “podcast branding” is one or more features that uniquely identify your podcast. It's the first impression for new audiences, and it's how your loyal audience recognizes your podcast distinctly from others.

Podcast branding is more than only your cover art. It could be the logo inside your cover art (and that logo can be used for all kinds of things)—and a logo is difference from cover art. It's the audio and video elements you use throughout your episodes. It's your podcast description. It's in your repeated phrases. It's even in how you communicate and host your podcast.

A “branding refresh” would then be updating any or all of these elements, but keeping the core of your podcast the same. A “rebrand” would be if you change much more of your podcast, including what you talk about and whom you try to reach.

1. When your podcast significantly changes

All podcasts will change and—I hope—mature over time. But you might decide to significantly change your podcast in a short amount of time. For example:

• Niche/focus: instead of talking about cake-decorating, you switch to focusing on the business of cake-baking.
• Subject: instead of being a podcast about dating, you change it into a podcast about marketing and networking.
• People: you add or remove a regular cohost, or you change your target audience (while keeping the rest of your podcast mostly the same).
• Brand: you do more than only a “branding refresh” but a complete rebrand.

These and other significant changes are a good time to refresh your branding to make it match and support the new changes.

2. When your branding stops growing with you

Like with clothing, you might someday outgrow your branding. This isn't the result of an immediate, significant change (like #1 above), but the gradual process of how your podcast changes over time. So you're looking for something that fits better now and with the hopes that it will last for a long time.

Although not podcast branding, this is a big reason I'm rebuilding My Podcast Reviews and actually rebranding it this year. I currently refer to it by the codename “v2,” and it will be built on all-new code that will grow much better with the service, a new brand that will grow with the features, and lots of all-new features that will grow with you and your podcast! I hope you'll check out My Podcast Reviews and watch for v2 launching in summer 2023!

You might have been an amateur podcaster when you started, but you're now a highly skilled host. Make sure your branding fits how you and your podcast have grown!

3. When you enter new “seasons”

I think “podcast seasons” are a commonly misunderstood thing in podcasting. Listen to my episodes, “Should You Podcast in Seasons?” and “Should You Include Seasons in Podcast Episode Titles?” to learn more about effectively using seasons with your podcast.

If your seasons bring new themes, then that can be a great time to do some mild brand-refreshing. I don't mean a complete redesign that makes your podcast unrecognizable, but something that continues some of the same elements while giving them a fresh look—just like how every new menu item from Taco Bell is the same few ingredients merely in a different form!

If you change the artwork for every podcast season, try to keep the overall look consistent. For example, look at how some TV shows maintain the same look in each season's physical packaging. You can look at any season of the branding and clearly recognize it, but you'll also see obvious differences between each season.

Even if your podcast doesn't publish on a seasonal schedule or have thematic seasons, you might still look for new “seasons” of your podcast. Just like how we talk about different seasons or chapters of life. These “seasons” might not have definite beginnings and endings (but they could), and they're far less rigid than traditional seasons.

For example, I used to say that my former clean-comedy podcast had four “seasons,” based on our approach to the content. The only way our audience knew about those seasons was from our talking about them. Even these pseudo-seasons could have been good times to refresh our branding—and that's exactly what we did with one of those “seasons.”

4. When you can improve the quality

One of my favorite things I've heard my older brother say is, “You don't have to be a rocket scientist—even though I am.” And in podcasting, you don't have to be a graphic designer, professional audio engineer, or acclaimed marketing and branding manager to have great podcast branding. If you're independent and podcasting as a hobby, you probably can't invest in high-quality stuff. That's okay! You can upgrade your branding later, either when you have more skills, or when you can afford to get the right help—or maybe even have someone in your audience who would love to give back to your podcast with some great branding!

This and reason #2, “when your branding stops growing with you,” were the biggest reasons I refreshed the branding of The Audacity to Podcast a few years ago. I knew the old visual branding didn't convey how my podcast had grown—both in professionalism and in purpose. The old branding looked dated, low quality, and was actually very difficult to work with in my own graphic design—and I was the one who made the branding!

And even though I've used the same music for The Audacity to Podcast since the beginning (“Vegas Shuffle,” by Charlie Crowe), I improved the quality of my audio branding by actually reducing it. It used to take me up to 90 seconds just to get through my audio and spoken branding before getting into the unique episode content. Now, you hear something unique from the first second, and then I'm usually fully into the episode content only about 10 seconds later.

So maybe your podcast branding could use a refresh to be much better!

5. When there's enough compelling feedback

I've seen podcasters swayed by only a single piece of negative feedback. I've even seen podcasters swayed by only a single piece of positive feedback. Unfortunately, these have sometimes not been in the right direction.

So I'm not suggesting that you refresh your branding whenever anyone says something negative about your existing branding. Instead, I suggest looking for how compelling the feedback is: either by breadth or by depth.

That feedback will usually come from your audience, but it might also come from your peers, your cohost(s), your guest(s), people you've hired to work with you (like hiring me!), or even from your own mind! Each of these has its own weight that you must determine yourself.

Just remember that some people hate change, and some people just love to hate.

The most valuable feedback (and try to practice this whenever you give feedback) is what offers possible solutions, especially with reasons. For example, low-value feedback could be, “Red is bad; don't use red.” But high-value feedback could be, “Your show is all about growth and friendship, so instead of red, you might want to consider greens or blues, which convey growth and friendliness. Or maybe even a warm orange that could feel like you're huddled around a campfire.”

6. When you determine the benefits outweigh the “costs”

It might not be a strong single reason that helps you decide to refresh your branding but the sum of multiple things. Listen to my previous episode, “6 Benefits of a Podcast Branding Refresh,” to learn more about some of those good things a branding refresh might bring you, your podcast, and your audience.

For a quick review, those 6 things are:

1. Attract a new audience
2. Increase your perceived quality
3. Adapt to the latest trends
4. Strengthen or reset your podcast's identity and message
5. Infuse new energy for your audience and yourself
6. Stand out from others

When you can objectively determine your podcast would greatly benefit from a branding refresh, and it's a good time to do it, then press on and make it great!

Top resources to help refresh your podcast branding

There are many places you can hire designers to help you with a visual branding refresh. The two I recommend most highly are my friend Mark Des Cotes from Podcast Branding, who is a highly skilled designer and a podcaster (I earn a commission from referrals who mention they heard about Mark from me or The Audacity to Podcast). I also less-frequently recommend 99designs (I earn commissions from qualifying purchases here, too), where you can get designers to compete for your business. 99designs will give you more options, but maybe not from people who understand podcasting; and Podcast Branding will work with you to understand your whole podcast's branding.

For audio branding, I recommend Music Radio Creative.

I usually recommend against Fiver because I've seen too much low-quality work and even intellectual-property theft.

Engage your audience and grow your podcast!

Do you ever feel like your podcast is stuck? Like you're pouring your heart into your podcast but it seems like no one is listening?

Try Podgagement to help you engage your audience and grow your podcast!

Get speakable pages to simplify engaging with your audience, accept voicemail feedback (with automatic transcripts), track your ratings and reviews from nearly 200 places, and more!

Ask your questions or share your feedback

• Comment on the show notes
• Leave a voicemail at (903) 231-2221
• Email feedback@TheAudacitytoPodcast.com (audio files welcome)

Follow The Audacity to Podcast

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Disclosure

This post may contain links to products or services with which I have an affiliate relationship. I may receive compensation from your actions through such links. However, I don't let that corrupt my perspective and I don't recommend only affiliates.

The post When Should You Refresh Your Podcast Branding? first appeared on The Audacity to Podcast.

What is “podcast branding”?

Your “podcast branding” is one or more features that uniquely identify your podcast. It's the first impression for new audiences, and it's how your loyal audience recognizes your podcast distinctly from others.

Podcast branding is more than only your cover art. It could be the logo inside your cover art (and that logo can be used for all kinds of things)—and a logo is difference from cover art. It's the audio and video elements you use throughout your episodes. It's your podcast description. It's in your repeated phrases. It's even in how you communicate and host your podcast.

A “branding refresh” would then be updating any or all of these elements, but keeping the core of your podcast the same. A “rebrand” would be if you change much more of your podcast, including what you talk about and whom you try to reach.

1. Attract a new audience

Refreshing your podcast branding might help you capture the attention of more people by standing out or appearing more relevant. This might help you appeal to new demographics or even recapture the interest of people who previously scrolled passed your podcast, for whatever reason.

For example, if your podcast focuses on helping Asian entrepreneurs, then you will probably be more likely to attract that ideal audience by showing an Asian in your cover art (and that might be your pretty/handsome face!). It can be a powerful thing when your potential audience can “see themselves” in your branding or messaging.

Or maybe the description of your podcast isn't communicating your content or purpose very well, so a refresh of this aspect of your podcast branding can better convince people to listen after they've already been attracted by the title and cover art.

2. Increase your perceived quality

I've come to loathe the phrase, “don't judge a book by its cover.” I think that really only applies to people, whose character can be completely different from their unchangeable appearance (but will be reflected in their willful changeable appearance). But we can, do, and I think should judge other things by their covers! Because if the cover isn't good, how can you trust that the contents will be better? As my friend Mark Des Cotes says, “If your podcast cover artwork looks cheap and amateurish, people will assume your podcast is cheap and amateurish and choose a different show to listen to.”

Instead, a well-executed brand refresh can make your podcast look or sound more professional, which is great even for hobby podcasts! (Please don't think that “professional” is a negative thing for hobbyists! Listen to “Labeling Podcasters: Amateur vs. Skilled” for some more thoughts on that.) This can improve your potential audience's first impression and entice them to continue exploring your podcast.

Some people or places (including Apple Podcasts) may be more interested to feature your podcast when it has better branding, and less interested when your cover art is ugly or the rest of your branding experience is negative.

3. Adapt to the latest trends

Industries change all the time. What's hot or “standard” now might be radically different in a few years. For example, look at the rise and fall of designing apps and websites to look like objects from the physical world (this design principle is called “skeuomorphism”). Apple very publicly moved away from skeuomorphism in 2013 with the release of iOS 7.

Or look at how much wider the selection is for affordable audio branding elements now compared to 2005. Updating your branding can help your podcast catch up with these trends so you're not yet another podcast using music from GarageBand, the picture of headphones around an RSS icon, or anything else cliché!

4. Strengthen or reset your podcast's identity and message

After you've been podcasting for a while, you probably have a better grasp on what makes your podcast unique and how you want to do things. That could mean rebranding to match your podcast's new direction, or updating your existing branding to reinforce what you've realized your strengths are. For example, red is generally seen as a negative design color, but it also has powerful meanings that I realized align perfectly with an audacious perspective. So when I redesigned The Audacity to Podcast‘s visual branding, I intentionally chose red as a branding color because it fits so well. Then, I combined that with strongly contrasting white and black.

I did this because I wanted to reinforce the core that my branding has had from the beginning in 2010: giving you the guts, the courage, the power, the audacity to podcast!

Part of my branding was in a hidden exclamation point in my logo. But that was too hidden in my old design. (Did you even know it was there?) My new design makes it more prominent.

Plus, the old font looked more playful and worked great for the Ramen Noodle (my first podcast, a clean-comedy show, now offline). The new font is bolder—both in style and emotion.

All of these things combined for me to strengthen the identity and message I already had. And yet I think I was able to keep the logo similar enough to appear as an evolution instead of something completely different.

A good branding refresh can help you visually and audibly reinforce what your podcast is about and who it's for, all without your saying a single word!

5. Infuse new energy for your audience and yourself

Do you know the good feeling of that new car smell, learning a new skill, wearing new clothes, reorganizing your stuff, or repainting your room? Similar to these things, a fresh brand can breathe new life into your podcast, both for your existing audience and even for yourself. When I redesigned The Audacity to Podcast‘s video branding, it made me much more eager to publish new video content because I was so proud of what I made!

Similarly, I'm one of those types who reads update notes (or “changelogs”) and gets excited when there are user-interface (UI) changes in apps. It feels “fresh”!

Call it whatever you want, most people get excited about new things (even if only in certain contexts). Refreshing your podcast branding might be just the trick you need to re-enthuse even yourself about your podcast.

6. Stand out from others

By refreshing your podcast branding with unique visual and audio elements, you can set your show apart from its “competitors.”

Consider, for example, if all the podcasts in your niche have predominantly blue cover art. Then making your cover art anything other than blue will make it stand out. Or maybe the other podcasts use photos in their cover art, so you stick with flat icons or only styled text.

Since your podcast branding can also include your content-presentation format, that offers another way to stand out from others. Back when Once Upon a Time was airing on ABC, there were more than a dozen fan podcasts about the TV show. While my own, ONCE podcast, stood out for being in-depth, there were some other podcasts that stood out by having a tight “5 things” format or even one that existed only to make fun of the show. Another of the podcasts stood out by including a rhyming recap of each episode.

It's like that saying, “When they zig, you zag.”

Top resources to help refresh your podcast branding

There are many places you can hire designers to help you with a branding refresh. The two I recommend most highly are my friend Mark Des Cotes from Podcast Branding, who is a highly skilled designer and a podcaster (I earn a commission from referrals who mention they heard about Mark from me or The Audacity to Podcast). I also less-frequently recommend 99designs (I earn commissions from qualifying purchases here, too), where you can get designers to compete for your business. 99designs will give you more options, but maybe not from people who understand podcasting; and Podcast Branding will work with you to understand your whole podcast's branding.

I usually recommend against Fiver because I've seen too much low-quality work and even intellectual-property theft.

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Disclosure

This post may contain links to products or services with which I have an affiliate relationship. I may receive compensation from your actions through such links. However, I don't let that corrupt my perspective and I don't recommend only affiliates.

The post 6 Benefits of a Podcast Branding Refresh first appeared on The Audacity to Podcast.

1. Bloopers

We all mess up. Sometimes, our mess ups can be hilarious!

Instead of only cutting out your mistakes, consider setting them aside for a blooper reel. With some good editing, and even a little fun music, simple mistakes can become hilarious outtakes that your audience will want to hear.

How you edit these bloopers can make them funny or boring. I generally suggest tighter edits. Look at other blooper reels from movies and shows for some ideas.

2. Behind-the-scenes

When you've developed a good relationship with your audience, they sometimes want to see how you make the magic. Your behind-the-scenes content could be an unedited video version of your podcast recording session (live-streamed or recorded), or your could show your audience your process as if they were in the room asking you, “How do you make the podcast?”

Like with bloopers, good editing can make this kind of content far more engaging. For example, if you have to go to a store to buy something for your podcast, record the whole trip but edit it down to only the interesting bits.

3. Sneak peeks

Sneak peeks come before the content you'll be publishing. It's not quite a trailer, but it is a way to build anticipation for what's coming.

You could make behind-the-scenes sneak peeks, or simply tell your audience a little of what's coming.

For example, a podcast about personal finances might offer a sneak peek like this.

This next episode might change your life! I talked to Jane Smith and she told me about a free money-saving app she uses. And when I tried it myself, I was blown away by how easy it was and how effectively it helps me save money. Just in the few days I've been trying it, I've already saved $100 I would have never thought of before! So make sure you listen to this next episode and tell me what kind of results you get from trying Jane's method!

This might work only when you have a longer lead time before your episode publishes. But even without lead time, you can give your audience a peek at what you're planning to do, or something you just discovered that you'll talk about in a future episode.

4. Extended editions

Remember The Lord of the Rings and it's extended edition? And then its director's cut? And then its extended director's cut? And then the extended extended extended uncut director's extended cut?

Fans bought these and there are plenty of advocates who will insist everyone should watch only the extended editions.

You could do the same thing with bonus content for your podcast!

While you might edit something down to make your podcast episode flow better, some of what you edited out might still be valuable content, just not a good fit for the published episode. Or you could save specific parts of content for the extended editions or bonus content.

That Story Show and The Babylon Bee Podcast do this well, saving some bonus stories or bonus conversation for the extended editions that are available only to premium subscribers.

5. Audience engagement

Interacting with your audience can be one of the most fun parts of podcasting! I don't suggest locking all interactions behind a paywall, but you could consider producing some of it into something your broader audience could enjoy.

For example:

• Questions and answers or “ask me anythings”
• Chats with audience members
• Reading and responding to feedback
• Trying suggestions from your audience

Similar to how reading reviews of your podcast (collected by My Podcast Reviews!) helps you get more reviews, sharing audience engagement will further engage your audience. Plus, this helps turn those featured audience members into super-fans!

6. Quick content

Even if podcast episodes are hours long, there are probably countless bits you could share in quick formats (not simply excerpts). This could be a selfie-style video, a short email, or other messages.

For example, I have a weekly email newsletter that shares multiple podcasting tips. Much of it is content I've already shared elsewhere, but I keep my emails very short. Plus, people might read my emails months or years separated from when I talked about the same content (but in a different way) in my podcast.

Your quick content can standalone behind your premium subscription, or it could help you promote your existing episodes to the public.

7. Downloadable resources

With some brainstorming, you can probably think of several things you could offer as bonus downloads for your podcast—maybe even for every episode!

These can be handy for your premium subscribers, but they also work really well as gifts for people to join your email list. (These are often called “opt-in incentives” or “lead magnets.”)

For example, here are some past episode-specific downloadable resources I've offered for joining my email list.

• In my episode using text-expansion for podcasting, I offered a bunch of TextExpander snippets to download.
• In my episode about everything to do before you record each episode, I offered a printable “preflight” checklist.
• In my episode about how to make podcast cover art, I offered a resource toolbox in a PDF.
• In my episode about speeding up your website, I offered bonus tips and tools in a PDF.

These free downloads have been huge for building my email list!

Brainstorm some ideas and try them yourself. It could be anything! Even an AI-generated wallpaper that somehow represents your whole podcast or even an individual episode could be enticing enough to attract your audience!

8. Community

Lastly, never forget the value of relationships! The bonus “content” you offer could simply be connecting with you and other audience members in real time through an online community. You could create that on Facebook, Slack, Discord, or anything else you and your audience would use.

For example, I've recently purchased and completed several programming courses to help me as I build My Podcast Reviews v2 to launch in summer 2023. All of these courses also included access to private Discord servers, often with some course-specific access. So when I have questions about something related to one of those courses, I can ask in the community and I might get the answer I need from the teacher himself, or even from fellow members. In one community, a fellow member made a browser extension that fixed two frustrations many of us were having with the learning-management system hosting the courses. I would have never seen and benefited from that without being part of the community. And that's a wonderful bonus!

What bonuses have you tried for your podcast?

Engage your audience and grow your podcast!

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Get speakable pages to simplify engaging with your audience, accept voicemail feedback (with automatic transcripts), track your ratings and reviews from nearly 200 places, and more!

Ask your questions or share your feedback

• Comment on the show notes
• Leave a voicemail at (903) 231-2221
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• Apple Podcasts, Spotify, other Android apps, or in your favorite podcast app.
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Disclosure

This post may contain links to products or services with which I have an affiliate relationship. I may receive compensation from your actions through such links. However, I don't let that corrupt my perspective and I don't recommend only affiliates.

The post 8 Bonus Content Ideas for Your Podcast first appeared on The Audacity to Podcast.

Sidenote: “genre” and “category” are often used interchangeably in podcasting, but I'll stick with the “category” term for this episode.

Categories in Apple Podcasts

Apple was the first company to popularize RSS features to standardize podcasting back in 2005. For more than a decade, Apple offered 68 categories. Apple offers 110 categories you can use for your podcast (19 of which are parent categories). And since nearly all podcast feeds use the “iTunes” RSS namespace to make podcasting possible, most other podcast apps also use Apple's categories, at least the top levels.

While Podcasting 2.0 is also seeking to build an expanded category list that apps can use, Apple has laid a nice foundation that will probably be built on for many other innovations and improvements.

Podcasts can be in more than one category

Publishing tools have a variety of limits, but Apple's official statement is “You can choose up to two categories or subcategories that best reflect the content of your show” [source]. So even if your publishing tool lets you pick 5 categories, assume only the first 2 or maybe 3 will actually matter.

If you pick a subcategory, you are also automatically included in the parent category. Here's how that looks in the RSS feed:

<itunes:category text="Religion & Spirituality"> <itunes:category text="Christianity" /></itunes:category>

So don't worry about trying to put yourself in both the subcategory and its parent. Focus on a subcategory if you can.

The primary category matters most

No matter how many categories you put in your feed, the first one is what matters most.

Your secondary and other additional categories will help you show up in those category collections, editorial features, searches, and browsing. But Apple says that in addition to what your secondary category/categories do for your podcast, it's your first category that is used for top charts, displaying on your podcast, and even for recommendations on other podcasts in the catalog and “Listen Now.”

4 steps to pick the right categories for your podcast

With this in mind and so many podcast categories to choose from, here are some steps to help you pick the right one!

1. Ignore the charts and saturation

Look at the number of podcasts in each category from Podcast Industry Insights and you'll see that “Education” and “Society & Culture” have the most total podcasts by large margins. But filter out the inactive podcasts and you'll now see four categories fighting for having the highest numbers of 90-day active podcasts: Education, Religion & Spirituality, Business, and Society & Culture.

And as for what category the 90-day active podcasts mark as their primary, “Society & Culture” still leads by more than double the runners-up, and then it's a close battle for second place between Comedy, Education, Business, and Sports.

These stats are based on the top-level, parent categories. If we drilled down to the subcategory level, these stats would start drastically splitting apart and you would find categories that have hardly any podcasts.

But this shouldn't really matter! Just because a Movie News podcast could top a subcategory's charts doesn't mean it should be in the Tennis category! Look at these statistics only as informational, not as guidance.

2. See where your “competitors” are

There are probably other podcasts talking about similar things, or maybe even your exact niche! See how they categorized their podcasts.

While you might think it best to avoid the same categories as your “competitors,” I think it would actually be best to choose the same categories.

This makes it more likely for podcast apps to recommend your podcast as relevant to the other one, it gives you more opportunity to be featured within that category in case there's ever a special collection, and I think it even increases your chances to be discovered because your podcast could appear in the same relevant contexts as your “competitors.”

Think of it this way: grocery stores don't put ice creams with pet food! Sure, it might stand out to see an ice cream next to pet food, but when someone wants ice cream, they'll go to the ice cream shelves of the frozen foods section. So if your brand of ice cream was being sold next to pet food instead of with all the other ice creams, probably none of the ice-cream-motivated shoppers would see or buy your ice cream!

Or to quote the philosophy I remember from young Haley Mills in Disney's 1961 film The Parent Trap, “Let's stick together, yeah, yeah, yeah.”

3. Pick what best describes your content

While your podcast can probably fit under several categories, or maybe you feel like it doesn't fit under any of them, look at the list and consider what can actually describe your content the best.

Take The Audacity to Podcast for example. I cover podcast marketing, how-tos, and technology. This show appeals to geeks, entrepreneurs, businessmen, businesswomen, and hobbyists. So what actually describes my content the best? Looking at my archive of episodes and plans for the future, I can see that I talk about technology the most and what that technology enables you to do. Sometimes, that's marketing; sometimes, I explain exactly how to use something; and sometimes I step completely away from technology and focus on motivating you—whether you're a professional or a hobbyist. Thus, I think the “Technology” category is the best fit for The Audacity to Podcast. And that gets confirmed by seeing that most of the other podcasts about podcasting are also in “Technology.”

Yes, some of my “competitors” are primarily in the “Marketing” category, but The Audacity to Podcast talks about technology and what you can do with that technology more than about marketing.

And while I think all my content is educational, not every episode is formatted like a “lesson” or “tutorial.”

So I still include “Marketing” and “Education ➜ How To” as additional categories. And in the 2023 People's Choice Podcast Awards, I submitted The Audacity to Podcast in the Technology category and the Education category. And in the 2023 Spark Media Podcast Awards, I submitted my show in the “Business” category.

(Sidenote: please vote for The Audacity to Podcast in these awards when voting opens soon!)

To see if you chose the right category that best describes your podcast, try describing it to someone else as “I host a [category] podcast” where you can pick only one category. For example, “I host a technology podcast,” “I host a TV aftershow podcast,” or “I host a personal journal podcast.” The one that fits best is probably the one you should use.

Yes, I know this isn't always so clear. You may just need someone else to look at the list of relevant categories and tell you which one they think best describes your podcast. For example, there was an unsuccessful campaign a couple of years ago to get a “Climate Science” category in Apple Podcasts. But I think “Earth Sciences” fits those podcasts just as well.

And if Apple ever wanted to make a featured collection of podcasts about climate science, they would probably look in the “Earth Sciences” category first.

4. Pick where your audience would expect to find your podcast

Similar to seeing how someone else would primarily describe your content, consider where people might expect to find your podcast when browsing different charts, categories, and features.

Bringing back my ice cream example, if someone is searching for organic ice cream, they'll probably go to the frozen organics section first. And if there is no such section, they'll go to the ice cream section. They won't go to the pet food section looking for ice cream!

Similarly, where would your ideal audience go and expect to find your podcast there? I think that's in the “Technology” section for The Audacity to Podcast, and your show could be completely different.

Engage your audience and grow your podcast!

Do you ever feel like your podcast is stuck? Like you're pouring your heart into your podcast but it seems like no one is listening?

Try Podgagement to help you engage your audience and grow your podcast!

Get speakable pages to simplify engaging with your audience, accept voicemail feedback (with automatic transcripts), track your ratings and reviews from nearly 200 places, and more!

Ask your questions or share your feedback

• Comment on the show notes
• Leave a voicemail at (903) 231-2221
• Email feedback@TheAudacitytoPodcast.com (audio files welcome)

Follow The Audacity to Podcast

• Apple Podcasts, Spotify, other Android apps, or in your favorite podcast app.
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Disclosure

This post may contain links to products or services with which I have an affiliate relationship. I may receive compensation from your actions through such links. However, I don't let that corrupt my perspective and I don't recommend only affiliates.

The post How to Choose the Right Podcast Categories first appeared on The Audacity to Podcast.

Start with audio

It's both my recommendation and my assumption for the rest of this episode that you start your podcast with only audio. Listen to my past episode, “Should Your Podcast be Audio, or Video?” to learn more about why I recommend this.

In other words, consider video only as something in addition to audio you already publish.

Think real video first, fake video last

“Fake video” is when the “video” is really only audio. It might have a static image or even an animated waveform or embedded captions, but it's still only audio. I've done a previous episode about the problems with fake video, and I plan to create a follow-up at some point.

Consider, for example, that even though YouTube has a (fake) “podcasts” section, you still can't upload an audio file or submit your podcast RSS feed (regardless of media format).

All the positive metrics are many times higher for real video than for fake video. Even in some misreported studies, surveyed people confirmed that they prefer to watch videos instead of listening to videos.

Thus, please consider all of the following through the premise of producing real video.

Video costs more

It takes more time to prepare, more expensive gear, and more time and resources to produce even halfway decent video. With audio-only, you need only a microphone, a way to record it, and a quiet space. With video, you need that plus a camera and lighting. Also, you might need a completely different microphone that works better for video, and a completely different editing app for editing the video. Then, you need extra stuff to make the video actually interesting and worth watching instead of merely hearing.

After that, hosting the video costs more. Someone has to pay for that bandwidth! So either you pay for it with money, or you and your audience pay for it with ads.

Consuming video also costs more. People can't watch videos in as many places as they can listen to audio. Consider driving, mowing the yard, operating heavy machinery, working a job, and more. Audio can be easily consumed in all these places, but video can't or shouldn't be. I actually recently got some IPX7 waterproof earbuds so I can listen to podcasts in the shower—but there's no way I'm putting my iPhone or iPad in the shower to watch a podcast through shampoo in my eyes!

Video can actually be “lazy” in a good way

While high-quality video requires a good microphone, good lighting, and a good camera, I've observed that people are much more forgiving of some lower-quality production in video.

For example, look how many people simply record with their smartphone in selfie mode and how few people complain about the non-studio sound or look.

But this comes with a huge caveat! Listen to my recent episode debunking the myth “It's not hurting their podcast!” Just because it's working doesn't mean it should go without improvement! Consider if those selfie-style videos actually used a better microphone. Wouldn't you appreciate being able to hear the person better?

Nonetheless, I think some of the forgiveness for sub-par quality is because video gives far more context to communicate the message: facial expressions, body language, imagery, lower thirds and other enhancements, and even simply seeing the words spoken instead of only hearing them.

So please don't think that adding video to your workflow means going all-out on a video studio! It could simply be selfie-style video from your smartphone (just please don't let the video record horizontally flipped backward!)

Video can be in more places

While the podcast ecosystem is mostly audio (although video podcasts have existed from the beginning and were actually quite popular before YouTube), publishing video offers even more opportunities to get your message out.

Just like audio podcasting allows your content to be places written content can't be, video allows your content to be places that audio can't be (or doesn't work well), like YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, and more.

Video also tends to be more shareable. I think a huge part of this is because of how easy social networks actually make it to share videos. For example, dropping a YouTube link on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Mastodon, and other places will automatically display a preview and even embed the video so it can be played right there without leaving whatever context the audience is in at that moment. But the same platforms have not made it so easy for audio. So the sharing experience is superior with video.

I think the consumption experience with shared video is also easier. This is not only because of that easy embedding, but also because some video can be enjoyed without actually hearing anything! This could be because the words appear in the video, or even simply because “a picture is worth a thousand words,” and the visual communicates effectively without words. Consider, for example, all the animated GIFs people share as reactions.

Your video can be completely different from your audio

One fairly easy approach to publishing video is to simply turn on the camera while you record your audio. You could live-stream or publish the video when you publish your audio. This style is often called “talking head” because that's really all people see: your head, talking.

And that can be fine! It's certainly much better than fake video!

A challenge you'll probably face with talking-head video is ensuring the experience is still great for your primary audience. And since I'm basing this episode on the assumption that you already publish an audio podcast, your primary audience will probably be only listening, not watching. So you have to remember that your listening audience can't see what you see, so you'll have to include extra descriptions or outright exclude some content. An easy way to think about this is to replace the word “this” with some kind of description whenever the “this” refers to something visual.

But don't think that you have to do your entire episode in talking-head style or with a fancy video studio! Yes, you could make video snippets of smaller sections. Or you could re-record some of the same information, but presented in a different way and—this is the most important part—focused primarily on the viewing experience because you would be publishing it primarily to be watched.

Some ways you can try adding video to your audio podcast

1. Live-stream! If you can go live at a consistent time, this can be a great way to engage your audience in real-time and enable them to build community with each other. This is less about building a new audience and more about deepening the relationship you have with your existing audience.
2. Record talking head(s). It's not exciting, but some people like watching you talk instead of only listening.
3. Create snippets. Snippets can be very short video excerpts of your content. These are best when they include the words on the screen (but please display phrases at a time, not word-by-word!). These can actually work well as fake video because they're so short.
4. Respond to comments. You can make videos sharing and replying to comments or questions you receive—either in response to episodes you already published, or general questions related to your niche.
5. Show behind the scenes. People often like getting a peek into what things are like on your side of the production.
6. Repurpose your information. Perhaps the best approach is when you can share the same information in your podcast, but segmented and shorter. So you're not merely cutting content into snippets, but recording an all-new presentation of the same information. This can be a great way to crosspromote the episode from which you're getting your information.
7. Special content. I have both a YouTube channel and video podcast, but the only times I publish to those channels lately is when I have something I need to show instead of merely tell. For example, my on-the-floor interviews from conferences, or product reviews, tool demonstrations, or tutorials that have to be seen.
8. Other updates your audience would enjoy. Imagine many of the same things you would post on Twitter or Facebook, but in video form.

Don't stress; you don't need video

Yes, video presents all kinds of new opportunities and potential. But you don't have to do it! So don't stress yourself out if you don't want to do video!

Right now, as a full-time daddy, the only time I can work is when my son is in school or he's sleeping. So I have fewer hours now to run my business and develop my products than I had before. Thus, I simply don't have the margin to create video right now, even though I want to and for several reasons! So although I can't do much video right now, I don't think it's really costing me a lot of opportunity because I'm already so present in other ways. And that's what I'm able to do well right now.

But if you want to try video along with your audio podcast, I hope this episode has given you some ideas and maybe even relieved some mental stress!

Engage your audience and grow your podcast!

Do you ever feel like your podcast is stuck? Like you're pouring your heart into your podcast but it seems like no one is listening?

Try Podgagement to help you engage your audience and grow your podcast!

Get speakable pages to simplify engaging with your audience, accept voicemail feedback (with automatic transcripts), track your ratings and reviews from nearly 200 places, and more!

Ask your questions or share your feedback

• Comment on the show notes
• Leave a voicemail at (903) 231-2221
• Email feedback@TheAudacitytoPodcast.com (audio files welcome)

Follow The Audacity to Podcast

• Apple Podcasts, Spotify, other Android apps, or in your favorite podcast app.
• Subscribe on YouTube for Podcasting Videos by The Audacity to Podcast
• Follow @theDanielJLewis on X-Twitter

Disclosure

This post may contain links to products or services with which I have an affiliate relationship. I may receive compensation from your actions through such links. However, I don't let that corrupt my perspective and I don't recommend only affiliates.

The post Does Your Podcast NEED Video? first appeared on The Audacity to Podcast.

Read the FTC's resources

In the United States of America, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) maintains a fantastic guide on working with “endorsements.” This applies to sponsorships, affiliates, “pay to play,” and more.

I highly recommend you read their guide and consult with a lawyer if you have further questions because none of the following is legal advice, only sharing things I think you should do to honor the law and your audience, not things you can “get away with.”

Why should you disclose compensation?

Many countries have laws and enforced guidelines requiring you to disclose any time you're compensated for endorsing, mentioning, including, or referring to something or someone. Basically, you should disclose if you're compensated in any way.

The point is for your audience to have the information they need to make their own decisions about your opinions and whether your recommendations are tarnished by your being compensated. Even if your opinion is not swayed by compensation, you still need to disclose when you're compensated.

You might think, “Won't they stop caring if they know I get compensated?” And yes, that's a possibility, but it's the moral thing to do anyway! Besides, there are many things you can do to earn your audience's trust anyway, and I'll share some further here.

Take BlueHost and its many relatives for example (and yes, I earn from purchases through my own BlueHost affiliate link). These web-hosting providers get highly recommended all over the Internet and they are extremely popular hosting companies. But what you might not know is that they also pay some of the biggest affiliate fees of all, which is probably why they're recommended so much!

Now that you know that, does it change your opinion of BlueHost or what you think when someone recommends BlueHost?

That's not to say BlueHost is horrible and should never be recommended, only that you need to let your audience use their critical-thinking skills when you share an opinion and might get compensated in any way for it.

The same goes for any guests you might have in your podcast or at your events, or any products you have visible or even merely mention! If your guest is compensating you in any way to be on your podcast, your audience needs to know that! And if you were given a product to show off or were paid to use it, you need to disclose that!

This is all because it helps your audience make their own decisions about how much to trust your opinions.

Put yourself in the audience's place. Wouldn't you want to know if the person you were reading, watching, or listening to had some kind of financial or other compensation relationship with the products, services, and people that they showcase?

What kinds of compensation should you disclose?

While I'm not licensed to give legal advice and tell you what you're allowed to get away with, I can recommend you always take a higher moral approach and disclose whenever you're compensated in any way.

Your compensation could be a discount, an affiliate fee paid to you, a payment for mentioning (like a sponsorship), letting you keep something for free, or earning some other kind of perks like bonus credits that you get to use without paying.

You don't have to disclose the terms of your compensation agreement, but you do need to make it obvious that you were, are, or will be compensated (to the best of your knowledge).

It doesn't really matter whether you're compensated for merely mentioning, using, including, or displaying something or someone; or you're compensated only if someone takes a particular action. You need to disclose it anyway!

For example, I record my audio podcasts with an Electro-Voice RE320 microphone and a first-generation RØDECaster Pro. Both of these were given to me free of charge and with no conditions. I don't have to tell you everything I was given when I'm merely using it, but when I'm endorsing these products in any way, I try to disclose that they were given to me, as well as disclosing that I have affiliate relationships with retailers of these products.

When should you disclose compensations?

I hope you understand by now that the basic answer to “When should I disclose?” is essentially “always.” But exactly when and where do you include that disclosure relative to the thing you're endorsing or the guest who paid to be on your podcast?

The first of two most important things about disclosures is that they need to be prominently placed.

For example, the following, alone, would not be good disclosure placements:

• A mention in your Twitter bio that “tweets may contain affiliate links”
• A note in your website footer saying you earn commissions from affiliate links
• A disclosure page on your website
• A message at the end of your podcast episodes, whether to cover products or that your guest paid to be on your podcast (“pay to play”)

Instead, here are more ideal places to disclose:

• At the beginning of your content including the person or thing for which you're compensated
• Within close proximity to your mention

Disclosing should not be an afterthought, but it also doesn't have to be obnoxious (like repeating your disclosure every couple of minutes). It's really best to be upfront about it so your audience can keep that in mind—if they want—as they consume your content.

How should you disclose compensation?

The second important thing about disclosures is that they need to be easily understandable.

This is a big reason I suggest avoiding the word “may,” as in “I may earn commissions from purchases through my links.”

Well, which is it? Are you or are you not being paid?

Podcast sponsorships are usually easy because they can include things like “This podcast is sponsored by,” or “Here's an ad from our sponsors,” or the radically different production makes it obvious it's an ad (like commercials on TV compared to the actual show you're watching). Nonetheless, I still sometimes hear podcasters do this wrong because they start recommending something or talking about something, and it's not clear whether they merely like that thing, or they are being compensated to talk about it or to refer business.

Some affiliate programs have very specific language they require—or maybe they're more like guidelines. But the point is that you must be clear about it!

Here's a way I like to say it (so much that it's a TextExpander snippet—and yes, I earn from TextExpander referrals, too!):

(As an affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases through [this link / these links].)

I think that's concise and clear. Sure, a “qualifying purchase” doesn't give every possible detail (for example, only if you purchase within 30 days of clicking, or only if you're from the USA, and such), but it's good enough to make it clear that I do earn, instead of “I may earn.”

I also have shorter versions I can use, depending on the clarity of the context:

(I earn from qualifying purchases.)

I see some people recommend adding merely “#ad,” “#sponsored,” “#affiliate,” or “#aff” (with or without the “#”). But I think these are either inaccurate or not easily understood.

For example, imagine you really like a book you just read, so you're posting about it on Twitter using an affiliate link. If you include “#ad,” it sounds like it's an advertisement and that you're being paid to simply mention it. Yes, that's sometimes the case, but it's not true with an affiliate link because you would get paid only if someone takes the appropriate action, not if you simply mention the product. On the other side, saying “#affiliate” or “#aff” would make sense probably only to people already familiar with affiliate programs (like you!). In other words, would your grandma know that you get paid if she purchases the book through your link?

Yes, some places are very limited in how long your messages can be. In such cases, even “#aff” or “#ad” is better than nothing, and also better than something like pushing your disclosure to the landing page or a followup comment,

When it comes to products or services I get to test or review, I disclose a little bit differently.

If I get to keep the thing, I would say something like the following early in my review:

[Company] provided this to me for free, but I don't let that affect my opinions.

Or if it's something I get to try for free, but only for a short time, I might say something like:

[Company] provided this for me to review at no cost, but I don't get to keep it.

Watch at the 47-second mark to see an example of how I did this in my review of the Sound Devices MixPre series:

And if your podcast guest compensated you to be on your podcast, you could start the episode saying, something like one of these:

This episode is sponsored by [Company] and my guest is [Name] from [Company].

This episode is brought to you by [Product] from [Name]. And I got to interview [Name] …

Thanks to [Name] for sponsoring this episode, and I'm thrilled to be talking with [him/her] about …

But you don't have to disclose if you compensated your guest to be on your podcast.

How to use disclosures to earn trust instead of losing it

Your audience needs to know whether you're being compensated so they can decide whether that tarnishes the value of your opinions, but there's plenty you can do to prevent negative perceptions and demonstrate even greater value!

1. Always disclose! This is not only the law in many places, but it also demonstrates your transparency. Your audience will learn that you're not trying to hide the fact you earn something.
2. Don't be swayed by earnings. It shouldn't matter how much a company pays you to talk about or promote something. If you don't like something or you find a fault, be honest and say so! Always prioritize morals over money!
3. Reinforce your ethics to your audience. Almost wherever I include an affiliate link, I also reinforce that I don't let earnings affect my opinion. In fact, it's in my full primary TextExpander snippet for disclosures: “(As an affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases through [this link / these links]. But I recommend things I truly believe in, regardless of earnings.)”
4. Mandate your policy with companies. When you're given or loaned something for review, ensure the company knows and accepts that you will be honest with what you say, as if you weren't compensated at all, and that you will disclose that you're being compensated.
5. Recommend things you don't earn from, and disclose that! I think it's good for your audience to also know when you are not being compensated in any way because that helps them see your genuineness. Consider, for example, what I said about Hindenburg in my recent episode about the best audio-editing apps for podcasting—I showered praise on Hindenburg as it took my #1 spot, and yet I earn nothing from them (at least currently, but I certainly want to)!
6. Never endorse something merely because of earning potential. You might have multiple options you can recommend or guests you could accept. But include what is truly better, not merely what earns you more. For example, BlueHost referrals pay me many times what SiteGround referrals do, but I recommend SiteGround more highly because I think their service is better and they're not part of the massive EIG company that owns BlueHost, HostGator, and many other hosting companies.
7. Always be honest and do what's right. This is really what it's about. Don't deceive your audience so you can earn more, and don't try to hide things. The right morals will always be right.

These 7 tips mostly apply to sponsorships, too, but with the exception that you're being paid to say good things, not bad things. So do right by your sponsor and contract, and just make it obvious to your audience that it's a sponsorship, not necessarily a personal endorsement (unless it truly is).

Remember to apply this to “pay for play” guest spots, too! Your audience needs to know if you're being compensated to have a particular guest on your podcast. And you should mandate this same kind of policy if you ever pay to be a guest on someone else's show or you compensate someone else for endorsing, using, or talking about your own products or services.

How to account for potential future earnings

Things change. What you recommend without compensation today may offer compensation later. For example, I've recommended Auphonic for many years, and I still do. All those years of recommendations were with absolutely no compensation—until 2022 when they finally launched an affiliate program that I was happy to join! You can account for this kind of thing with some good planning!

One way of doing that is by outright saying you might someday earn, just like I did in my recent mentions of Hindenburg and Capsho in recent episodes. I didn't earn anything then, but I did say I would absolutely join and use the affiliate programs if they were ever offered, and I would earn from purchases after that. (As it turns out, Capsho does have an affiliate program, but I'm still awaiting the invitation to that.)

The other thing you can do is to send your audience somewhere that could easily be changed as necessary. For example, I promote Hindenburg Pro with my link TheAudacitytoPodcast.com/hindenburg. That's currently a 307 temporary redirect with Pretty Links Pro (another thing I earn commissions from qualifying purchases). So if Hindenburg ever offers an affiliate program, I can easily change that redirect to use my affiliate link (and that's why I recommend 307 or 302 temporary redirects for all external links or anything that can someday change). Another, and even better option, is that I can point that link to a page on my site with more information about why I recommend Hindenburg Pro and prominently include my affiliate disclosure there. For example, check out my short landing page for my Captivate podcast-hosting affiliate link or my landing page for the Jasper AI writing assistant.

Although you should always disclose whenever talking about or outright promoting a product you could earn from, making landing pages like this will help you to make old non-compensated promotions more compliant by letting you prominently disclose your present affiliate (or other) relationship on the landing page.

This is another good reason to send people back to your site or at least your domain for the actual affiliate link, instead of giving the direct link in your podcast—regardless of whether it's an affiliate. For example, instead of my telling you to visit Auphonic's website, I can either tell you to get the link from my notes or point you to TheAudacitytoPodcast.com/auphonic, which is my landing page that contains more information and my disclosure. So when Auphonic finally did offer an affiliate program after my years of using and promoting their service, I can easily update my landing page and external link with the appropriate disclosure and affiliate-tracking URL.

Summary

I know it can be annoying to disclose these things, but it's the right thing to do and—when done properly—can actually boost your authority and influence!

Always try to be above reproach instead of trying to figure out the bare minimum you can get away with. A great starting place is the FTC's Endorsement Guide and whatever other guides and laws might apply in your locale.

And I want to give a special thanks and shoutout to my own lawyer, Gordon Firemark, also known as The Podcast Lawyer, for reviewing this content before I published it. I don't get compensated for endorsing his personal legal services (that would be illegal!), but he's been a good friend and business associate for a long time. (I do, however, earn from qualifying purchases of his great courses and products for podcasters, like his “Easy Legal for Podcasters” course or his legal forms and templates for podcasters, which I do highly recommend!)

Thanks for the boostagrams!

And speaking of shoutouts, I want to catch up with some of the boostagrams I've received.

• On my episode about Podcasting 2.0 micropayments, Adam Curry, the podfather and host of Podcasting 2.0 and No Agenda, sent 77,777§ (the “Stryper boost”) and said: “By FAR the best explanation of Value4Value! This needs to be a video animation and I'm going to ask Dame Jennifer about doing this if OK with you. Excellent work Daniel.”
• In response to the same episode, Merry Oscar, creator of the Fountain podcast app, sent 100,000§ (WHOA!) and said, “Incredible overview of how micropayments and value for value are a better monetisation option for podcasters. Thanks so much for putting this together Daniel! ⚡️”
• Although below my current threshold of 10,000§ for a shoutout, I really like what “iluvsush” said with 5,000§, “Although this is a podcast aimed at podcasters, I wanted you to know that it inspired me (a listener) to see micropayments in a new way. Very timely since I was just questioning whether or not the meagre amount I can afford to send is even worth it to the podcaster. Thank you for the clear and helpful explanation.”
• Kyrin from Mere Mortals sent 12,345§ and said, “I quite like the idea of asking for 10k sats for a review. Very novel! I'll put my hand up and be first in line if you want to check out the Mere Mortals podcast. We do our V4V segment once a week on our live episodes with the dark grey episode cover art. Hope you enjoy!”

Engage your audience and grow your podcast!

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Disclosure

This post may contain links to products or services with which I have an affiliate relationship. I may receive compensation from your actions through such links. However, I don't let that corrupt my perspective and I don't recommend only affiliates.

The post You MUST Disclose Whenever You’re Compensated! first appeared on The Audacity to Podcast.

It usually sounds like this: “XYZ does / doesn't do this thing and it's not hurting their podcast!” (Where “XYZ” is usually Joe Rogan or some other highly popular, highly successful podcaster.)

While that might seem logical, it's based on several assumptions and it can't actually be tested or validated.

Unless we have a parallel universe for split-testing (like in Amazon's The Peripheral), or unless we have a time machine, or unless we can interview every person everywhere with an honest and 100% response rate, or unless we are omniscient like God, we can't really know what is negatively affecting a successful podcast.

Maybe his or her audience would be bigger if they did or didn't do that thing. Maybe their sponsorship or licensing payments would have been more significant if they did or didn't do that thing.

If that thing actually is negatively affecting their show, you can't actually know! Can you monitor a parallel universe where the only difference is that podcasting thing? Can you travel back in time to have him or her do or not do that thing and then remeasure the results from the present? Can you interview every person everywhere in the world to collect data on whether that thing is affecting that person's relationship with that podcast? Are you God?

(In case you're wondering, the answer to all of these questions is “no.”)

So instead of assuming successful podcasters are infallible, which is what this excuse is essentially doing, I suggest approaching every idea with critical thinking and a focus on your audience.

Even if something does contribute to someone else's success, it doesn't mean it will give you the same success. Think about how many “on fire” podcasts there have been that interviewed entrepreneurs. How many of those podcasters got anywhere near the success John Lee Dumas has? How many of those podcasts are even still active?

There will always be outliers, too. Marc Maron's show contains excessive profanity—that doesn't mean yours should! Dan Carlin's Hardcore History publishes inconsistently—that doesn't mean you should be inconsistent! No Agenda releases two 3-hour-or-longer episodes every week with multiple, long donation segments—that doesn't mean you should do the same! Plenty of highly popular podcasts focus on controversial moral and political issues from any side you can imagine—that doesn't mean you should include a tangent about them in your podcast! And on and on.

Some of these podcasters found success despite some of the things they're doing or not doing, not because of those things.

The key to successful podcasting is what works for you, your show, and your audience.

And just like real love, I think your podcasting focus should be on serving your ideal audience more than serving yourself or anyone else.

Engage your audience and grow your podcast!

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Disclosure

This post may contain links to products or services with which I have an affiliate relationship. I may receive compensation from your actions through such links. However, I don't let that corrupt my perspective and I don't recommend only affiliates.

The post Debunking the Myth: “It’s Not Hurting Their Podcast” first appeared on The Audacity to Podcast.

This subject was inspired by feedback from my listener Marc Johanssen:

I'm seeking an instructional resource (aka a link) that I can forward to a podcaster in order to “nudge” them to take action(s) needed in order to allow access [to] ALL their earlier podcast episodes. At present, one can only access [the latest 50 episodes] via an app or via their website ….

Here are some things to consider!

1. Podcast feed versus website archive

Think about the main two places your episodes live: in your podcast feed and on your website (you do have a website for your podcast that has a separate webpage for each episode, RIGHT?).

Many publishing systems will let you limit how many episodes are in your RSS feed (the most-common defaults are 10, 50, and 100), but such limits most likely won't affect your website. If an episode is no longer in your feed but still on your website, it is technically still online and available, but it's no longer very practical because it's not available in your audience's podcast apps. Unless they have smart tools for moving website audio into a podcast app, the only way your audience could hear or watch that old episode is through the webpage and their browser. That makes it difficult for your audience.

Thus, most of these considerations will focus on what is in your podcast RSS feed, but keep your website in mind, too!

2. Is your content still valuable?

When your podcast episodes from months or even years ago are still valuable and relevant today, then you've made timeless content.

Timeless content is highly valuable for both you and your audience. It gives you more content that you can promote, either through marketing or direct recommendation. For example, I still send people to my episode from 2014 about whether episode numbers are really necessary. Even when I considered reapproaching that content (and ultimately made a completely new episode about episode numbers in titles), I listened to that old episode and realized it was still just as relevant today as back then.

Timeless content also gives your audience more great stuff to enjoy or learn from—either for the first time or to replay later!

The other kind of content is time-sensitive. It's when your podcast episodes have a kind of “shelf life.” Imagine a “best if used by” date on your episodes. This is common for podcasts about current events (like the news). Podcasts about current trends (such as a TV show) are mostly time-sensitive—because most people will be interested only when that trend is current—but this can still have some timeless value. In the case of a simultaneous TV aftershow podcast, the value might be more difficult as people can more easily binge the show and your episodes will be easily outdated. But if someone gets your podcast while watching the show, as it was back when the show was live, then they could experience it all the same way, except without the direct engagement with your podcast and community. Alternatively, a rewatch-style podcast (such as Office Ladies) weighs more on the timeless side because such a podcast can discuss the show without theorizing or worrying about spoilers, and it's designed generally for people who have already seen the show and not necessarily watching it for the first time.

Ask yourself, “Will most of my episodes still be relevant in a year?” If yes, then you probably have timeless content and should consider keeping your episodes available. But if not, it would probably be okay to limit how many episodes are available.

3. Does your old content have good SEO?

Most podcast apps will search episode titles. So your episodes become a portfolio that helps your podcast be found for all kinds of keywords! Instead of trying to stuff those SEO terms into your podcast title (and risk getting kicked out of podcast apps), make separate, well-titled episodes about those subjects you want people to search for and find your podcast. This helps in podcast apps, websites, and social networks.

If your old episodes have good search-engine optimization (SEO), then I highly recommend keeping them available, both on your website and in your podcast feed. This will ensure your podcast can still be found for those things you talked about and found wherever people are looking.

4. Do you sell your back catalog?

A good way to monetize a popular and deeply engaging podcast can be to limit the number of publicly available episodes (in the feed and on the website) and then sell access to the rest.

There are several ways to sell access to your old episodes:

• Through a creator-support platform like Patreon, Glow.fm, or Supercast
• Through your own membership system, like with WordPress and MemberPress
• By bundling episodes together and selling them as downloadable packages, like with WordPress and Easy Digital Downloads
• Using podcast subscription platforms like the Apple Podcasters Program and more (and these might integrate with Patreon, Glow.fm, Supercast, and the like)

This approach works great for podcasts that aren't designed to sell something (like your own products and services) except for their own inherent value. And this only works when the audience will actually want those old episodes. I see this used most often for entertaining podcasts, like a comedy show where your old episodes are just as funny as the new episodes, or the older seasons of a drama are available only for sale while you keep your current season free.

If you sell your old episodes, please remember to remove any advertising from them! And this would be the ideal situation to limit your feed and website to only your latest episodes.

5. What P.R.O.F.I.T. are you seeking with your podcast?

I make “P.R.O.F.I.T.” stand for something! It's what both you and your audience can gain from your podcast: popularity, relationships, opportunities, fun, income, or tangibles.

If your episodes regularly help build your PROFIT, then it would probably be most profitable for you to keep them online as long as possible. If they have good SEO, they'll continue attracting people. And if they have good calls to action or other PROFIT-building value, then they'll probably continue returning that value for as long as they stay online!

For example, I still get a request every now and then for me to design a website or podcast cover art for someone because I had promoted those personalized services back when I offered them myself—years ago! (I now refer that out, so you're still welcome to ask for my recommended referrals!) And I continue to receive new subscribers to my email newsletter through past episodes that promoted exclusive resources. I also continue to receive new members to My Podcast Reviews and customers to my other products and services because of how they were relevantly promoted in timeless content, even from years ago!

If I took my old episodes offline, I would be losing all those opportunities to build my brand, authority, and influence!

So if your podcast itself is a form of marketing for something else you offer, then you would probably want to keep the older episodes online.

6. Is your feed getting too big?

A complication arises when you have so many episodes and such large notes for each episode that your podcast RSS feed grows to multiple megabytes (MB). With my own article-style notes for each episode, multiplied by the hundreds of episodes I've published, I only recently realized my own RSS feed was over 5 MB! I never really noticed because I use Blubrry's Podcast Mirror service as a proxy for my RSS feed, to keep it fast and stable. But it was still so big that some podcast apps and services were starting to choke on it, even causing some old episodes to not display anymore.

I could have reduced the number of episodes in my feed, but then that would have cost me SEO (#3) and PROFIT (#5). And until my proposal to support notes in chapters is adopted into Podcasting 2.0, or PowerPress changes how it generates podcast feeds from WordPress, I didn't want to remove my full articles from my RSS feed. Instead, I enabled PowerPress's “Feed Episode Maximizer,” which allows full content on only my latest 10 episodes, and then minimal content (especially omitting my lengthy articles) on all older episodes. This reduced my feed with nearly 400 episodes from over 5 MB to the sweet spot of under 1 MB.

I highly recommend you listen to or read these past three episodes/articles to learn more about feed limits and considerations:

• What You Need to Know about Episode Limits and Your Podcast RSS Feed
• How to Shrink Your Podcast RSS Feed and Why It Matters
• What to Do When You Have Too Many Podcast Episodes in Your RSS Feed

So consider the complexity you might be introducing by allowing all your episodes to remain in your feed, and look for optimization options.

7. Think carefully before expanding your RSS feed

If you've decided you want more of your old episodes in your feed, you need to know what could happen if you expand the limit.

First, there's the size to consider, as I addressed in #6.

There are also potential consequences for automations and the audience experience.

Most podcast apps track each podcast episode by the episode's globally unique identifier (GUID). This is an RSS tag you don't have to worry about unless you're migrating hosting providers or publishing tools—in which case, worry a lot because the GUIDs should never change! Some apps will remember only the GUIDs that still exist in the feed and forget anything no longer in the feed. When you expand the feed to include more old episodes, those old episodes might look completely new to podcast apps because the apps have forgotten the GUIDs or they've never seen those episode GUIDs). Then, the app will probably download or redownload those old episodes, even if they were already played. At the least, they might be displayed as new and unplayed, and thus confuse or frustrate your audience.

Unfortunately, how these apps handle your reappearing old episodes is outside your control. So consider whether this “cost” is worth it to you and your audience.

Alternatively, you could create a separate RSS feed to hold your older episodes, like 100 episodes at a time, each with its full-text content. This would keep those old episodes available (especially if you submit the archive feeds to podcast apps and directories), but their own SEO would build the archive feed's ranking, not that of your active feed. If you make archive feeds, this would be a great opportunity to do two important things:

• Insert audio in all those archive episodes to promote following your active podcast for your latest episodes.
• Create a “channel” with Apple Podcasts and the upcoming Podcasting 2.0 alternative.

When old episodes reappear in your RSS feed, you might also have similar troubles with some automation tools. For example, something that automatically tweets whenever you publish a new episode. But from my observations, most of these tools look for only what's new at the top of an RSS feed (where new items are) or only episodes the have a date more recent than the last time the automation ran. Thus, reappearing old episodes probably won't trigger any automations, but it's still possible, and you might not even know until it happens.

Engage your audience and grow your podcast!

Do you ever feel like your podcast is stuck? Like you're pouring your heart into your podcast but it seems like no one is listening?

Try Podgagement to help you engage your audience and grow your podcast!

Get speakable pages to simplify engaging with your audience, accept voicemail feedback (with automatic transcripts), track your ratings and reviews from nearly 200 places, and more!

Ask your questions or share your feedback

• Comment on the show notes
• Leave a voicemail at (903) 231-2221
• Email feedback@TheAudacitytoPodcast.com (audio files welcome)

Follow The Audacity to Podcast

• Apple Podcasts, Spotify, other Android apps, or in your favorite podcast app.
• Subscribe on YouTube for Podcasting Videos by The Audacity to Podcast
• Follow @theDanielJLewis on X-Twitter

Disclosure

This post may contain links to products or services with which I have an affiliate relationship. I may receive compensation from your actions through such links. However, I don't let that corrupt my perspective and I don't recommend only affiliates.

The post Should You Limit Your Available Podcast Episodes? first appeared on The Audacity to Podcast.

The following is not financial or investment advice!

What is a micropayment?

As you can probably guess from the word itself, micropayments are very small transactions. The business world often considers any transaction below $20 to be a micropayment. But where our personal finances are concerned, we might think of micropayments closer to $5 or below.

With a Podcasting 2.0 podcast app, audiences can stream satoshis (“sats”) to Podcasting 2.0 compatible podcasts by automatically sending small amounts (such as 100 or 1,000 sats) for every minute of listening. Another way is to send a “boostagram,” which is a one-time payment that can include a message—the “gram” part comes from the idea of a telegram, and the “boost” part (a term often used in podcast apps) comes from the idea of boosting how much you're supporting because you liked something you heard at a particular point in the episode. Perhaps even boosting beyond the amount you normally stream to the podcast.

You might hear some podcasters mention their boosts or streams from only a couple hundred sats to a hundred thousand or more. While these numbers seem large, they still convert to small amounts in USD (at least as of March 2023).

But that's actually a good thing! And before I can explain that, we need to look at a current big problem.

The legacy problem with micropayments

PayPal and Stripe are popular methods of receiving payments. It's now quite easy to put a button on your website, allowing your audience to support your podcast through one-time or recurring donations, even with a credit card.

It used to be that the only way you could take credit card payments was with a “merchant account” that would have its own monthly fees. But PayPal, Stripe, and other services have made it far more affordable and accessible to receive payments, including ACH transfers, paying from a balance, or debit/credit-card payments.

Even though there's no monthly fee for these modern payment methods, there are transaction fees. As of March 2023, those fees are usually about 2.9% of the transaction plus a flat fee of 30–50¢.

You might already see the problem: if your audience wanted to donate $1 via PayPal, you would get less than half of that after PayPal's 2.89% fee and the 49¢ flat fee. Even worse, those fees will likely be even higher outside the USA!

Losing around 50¢ might not seem like much, but multiply that by how many people might be willing to give you $1 donations per episode or per month. At that small of an individual donation, you would lose half your income in payment fees!

Even worse, this makes 50¢ donations impossible!

Podcasting 2.0's “value” feature makes micropayments possible

The “value” feature in the Podcasting 2.0 standard (added with the <podcast:value> RSS tag) allows you to receive sats from your audience via a Podcasting 2.0 podcast app. They can choose to send any amount of satoshis, and you will probably pay only a small percentage in fees—but no additional flat fees!

Consider the $1 example again. Legacy payment systems would take around half of that. But receiving the equivalent amount in Satoshis would cost you only around 3–5¢, depending on the small fees in the payment chain. While that 3–5% could obviously be higher than other payment methods, that percentage is all you pay!

Thus, you could receive even a 10¢ donation and still keep nearly all of it!

The community value of the “value” feature

When you send a payment via PayPal or Stripe, those large corporations are receiving those fees.

Even when if you use a donation system built for content-creators—like Patreon, Glow.fm, or Supercast—the payment fees (often much higher, like around 10%) are going to those companies.

But when you use the Podcasting 2.0 “value” feature for micropayments, you and your audience can know that any fees are going to the people actually making the podcasting engine run!

For example, if you generate your RSS feed with Blubrry's free PowerPress plugin for WordPress, then a small percentage goes to Blubrry for maintaining the free PowerPress plugin. Another small percentage probably goes to the podcast app, like Fountain, to support its development and to keep it free or inexpensive. And another small percentage might go to Podcast Index, which maintains a free and open podcast catalog and robust API for podcast-app developers, keeping this ecosystem open, free, and away from corporate control or censorship.

This means what little fees are taken out are supporting the people actively involved in helping you engage with your audience. I think that's much better than seeing those fees go to large, faceless corporations who care very little about what you do.

Plus, this makes your audience the sponsors of your podcast, more deeply engaging them. And if you thank your audience supporters in your episodes, you're investing that time back into relationships with them instead of shilling for a sponsor.

What are Podcasting 2.0 micropayments worth?

A satoshi is only one hundred millionth of a Bitcoin. Kraken provides a handy converter for USD, but here's a quick way to do the math yourself: every 1,000 sats equals the cost of Bitcoin in pennies.

So if Bitcoin is worth $25,000, 1,000 sats would be worth 25¢, 10,000 sats would be worth $2.50, and 100,000 sats would be worth $25. (I'm sorry that I can't provide the conversion for other national currencies.)

Receiving only 1,000 sats per episode might sound pointless, but multiply that by how many episodes you publish and how many people would be willing to give you a mere 25¢ if it's easy and integrated into their podcast apps! Plus, remember that such a small transaction would be completely impossible with most other payment systems, and yet you get to keep nearly all of it!

Micropayments can be easier for your audience

Many studies regularly confirm that usually only 3–5% of an audience will buy or donate. I often wonder why that number is so low. Could it be because the price is too high? Could it be because the process has too many steps? Or could it be because they can't take immediate action?

The beauty of these modern micropayments is that they're being built directly into the podcast apps! This means your audience would be able to automatically stream sats to you while they listen, or it could take only a few taps for them to boost or send a boostagram all without leaving their podcast app or interfering with their listening experience!

I know that right now, it's still a little complicated for audiences to get into this ecosystem. But developers know that has a high barrier to entry, so they are working to make it much easier. And I feel quite confident that the process will improve every month. Imagine how much easier it could be in only a year!

Micropayments allow fun creativity

Some people enjoy sending hidden messages or being meaningful with their donation numbers. For example, a donation with the numbers “1776” has been called the “liberty” donation because of the United States' declaration of independence in 1776.

But maybe your patriotic audience can't actually afford $17.76. But they can afford 1,776 sats!

And if they feel that the amount is actually too low, they can simply add some zeroes on the end, multiplying the value by 10 or more!

As another example, Podnews Weekly Review receives regular sats donations from Buzzsprout where the number of sats represents the number of new customers Buzzsprout received in the week.

I remember a little book from my childhood Sunday school that taught kids to use a calculator with different numbers from the Bible, and then you turn the calculator upside-down to solve the riddle. For example, 37818 on a traditional calculator would spell “BIBLE” upside-down.

This highly divisible micropayment approach offers limitless yet affordable possibilities for fun numerology in your donations!

Compare micropayments to CPM-based sponsorships

You might be thinking that none of this is worth it when your audience could be sending you only pennies.

First, remember that you get to keep nearly all of those pennies!

But you might still be thinking a traditional CPM-based sponsor would be more profitable. “CPM” stands for “cost per mille,” which means per thousand. And maybe it would be profitable for some podcasters—usually those who get thousands and thousands of downloads per episode.

And yet consider the math of it all.

With a $25 CPM sponsorship deal (that's still about the average for a host-endorsed ad spot), you'll get paid $25 for every 1,000 qualified downloads your sponsored episode delivers, usually limited to the first 30 days. “Qualified downloads” would filter out bots and many repeat downloads, but it might also have to exclude downloads outside of the target market. For example, counting only downloads from the United States and Canada, but nothing from anywhere else.

Assuming your 1,000 downloads per episode all qualify for the sponsorship, a $25 CPM makes each listener worth only 2.5¢!

This gets even worse with dynamically inserted programmatic ads that might pay only $10 CPM (or less), making each listener worth only 1¢!

Compare that to accepting micropayments from your audience. If you could get only 5% of the same 1,000 listeners to give only 50¢ per episode, you would make the same $25 per episode—but in a far more fun, engaging, and community-focused way! This is why the Podcasting 2.0 micropayment system is commonly included in the bigger idea of “value4value” (modeled by the Podfather himself, Adam Curry, and his cohost John C. Dvorak on No Agenda): you're giving value to your audience through the content you publish, they give value in return (“time, talent, and treasure,” as Adam Curry says, inspired by Christian Scripture), and even the podcast-app-developers along the way are giving and receiving the value, too!

Also consider that the only way to increase your income from CPM advertising is to either grow your audience or—yuck!—insert more ads!

It reminds me of this hilarious scene from Ready Player One:

But there are countless other ways to increase your income from your existing audience: providing more value through your content, engaging your audience better, offering shout-outs or special titles for particular support levels, or even simply asking for more (you could ask for merely 100 more sats)!

An old study found that asking to cut in line for a copier and giving a reason (any reason, even if it didn't make sense!) resulted in people allowing the researcher to cut 93% of the time! Compare that to only 60% when he merely asked to cut in line without giving a reason.

Yes, micropayments from your audience are worth it!

This Podcasting 2.0 approach to micropayments and support from your audience might not only be more financially profitable, but it's also more engaging, makes your audience feel more involved, builds deeper loyalty, and is more fun—priceless!

So don't think of it like, “My listener gave me only 25¢!” Instead, recognize that your listener quantified their value far beyond what they're worth to a sponsor, and they willingly—probably even eagerly—gave that value back to you!

I think that's worth it!

Want a shoutout to participate in my own value4value exchange?

You might remember that I accepted some sponsors for The Audacity to Podcast in the far past. And I'm not entirely opposed to accepting sponsors again because I do need my business to provide for my son and me—but I would only accept sponsors if I believed they were totally relevant and valuable to you.

Even then, I still often think that I actually can't afford to have sponsors because of what that costs me in growing my business through the products and services I personally made and sell, and what it would cost you and me both in our relationship.

Instead, The Audacity to Podcast accepts streaming sats and boostagrams. I've actually had that enabled for a while and have earned over 100,000 sats—all without my asking for it, promoting, and I've only once said I even had it set up! In the past, I've given shoutouts for podcast reviews, which have their own value. But starting now, I want to try a season of giving shoutouts to your podcast for any boostagrams of around 10,000 or more satoshis. (And I have to reserve the right alter this or to not promote things or share messages as I see fit.)

You might be tempted to skip listening to such segments in upcoming episodes. but even if you give nothing at all, I still encourage you to observe and deconstruct so that you can improve your engagement with your audience—whether that's innovating on something I do or trying the total opposite!

Listen to The Future of Podcasting to study this further

I'm thrilled to be cohosting The Future of Podcasting with Dave Jackson, from School of Podcasting. In our shared show, we discuss emerging podcasting trends and technologies. And in our very next episode, I'll be asking Dave about his experience and mindset behind why he has given micropayments to other podcasts.

And beyond that, we're having a lot of fun endeavoring to make Podcasting 2.0 and other modern podcasting trends and technologies more understandable and actionable so you can improve your podcast and leverage new opportunities.

Click here for The Future of Podcasting!

Engage your audience and grow your podcast!

Do you ever feel like your podcast is stuck? Like you're pouring your heart into your podcast but it seems like no one is listening?

Try Podgagement to help you engage your audience and grow your podcast!

Get speakable pages to simplify engaging with your audience, accept voicemail feedback (with automatic transcripts), track your ratings and reviews from nearly 200 places, and more!

Ask your questions or share your feedback

• Comment on the show notes
• Leave a voicemail at (903) 231-2221
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Disclosure

This post may contain links to products or services with which I have an affiliate relationship. I may receive compensation from your actions through such links. However, I don't let that corrupt my perspective and I don't recommend only affiliates.

The post Are Podcasting 2.0 Micropayments Actually Worth It? first appeared on The Audacity to Podcast.

Here are some ways you can improve your podcast description.

1. Remove unnecessary or redundant details from your podcast description

The title goes in the title, the author goes in the author, and the description goes in the description. When you mix these things together, it creates redundancy and might waste valuable space.

Avoid phrases like:

• “This is a podcast hosted by [your name]”—Your name is already in the author field and displayed prominently with your podcast!
• “[Podcast title] is about …”—This is redundant because your podcast description inherently says what your podcast is about.
• “Looking for a podcast about …?”—People often aren't asking these questions, and this tends to focus on features more than benefits (more on that in #3).

Watch out for information in your podcast description that really isn't necessary to convince someone to hear or watch your podcast, like your contact information or what day you publish episodes.

2. Focus your podcast description on “why” and “WIIFM”

In most places, podcast descriptions don't actually affect your podcast SEO. But even if they did, the most important thing is still to answer two basic questions:

• “Why should I get this podcast?”—Try emphasizing either the “I” or the “this” in that question!
• “What's in it for me?” (WIIFM)—In other words, how will your audience get PROFIT (popularity, relationships, opportunities, fun, income, or tangibles) from your podcast?

Whenever someone has clicked through to something they're considering—a podcast, a product, a movie, or really anything else—the core information they're seeking is why they should choose that thing, maybe even in comparison to alternatives.

I highly recommend you read Start with Why by Simon Sinek.

You don't have to use the words “why” or “because” in your description, but I do suggest you imagine someone asking you, “Why should I get your podcast?” and then what follows after “Because …” is a good starting point for your description.

3. Replace features with benefits for a more compelling podcast description

A “feature” is a simple fact about your podcast, like “we talk about [topics].” The first way to improve this is to extend the sentence with “so that ….” Then, shift that benefit to the spotlight.

Here are a couple of examples:

• “We talk about cake-baking” ➜ “Learn how to bake better cakes”
• “This podcast shares marketing techniques” ➜ “Grow your audience”
• “Get communication tips” ➜ “I help you communicate better”

You can loop back through this process to make your benefits even better! Try adding a “so that” either directly or through some rewriting to focus on the outcome you want your audience to get. For example, instead of saying, “Learn how to grow your business,” you could add, “so that you don't have to worry about your bottom line.”

Then consider shifting that new benefit to the spotlight as well! “You'll stop worrying about your bottom line by implementing our techniques to grow your business.”

It can be a healthy exercise to loop through this multiple times, adding “so that” to your marketing over and over until you arrive at something that connects much better. For example, “I talk about movies so that you'll know what the best movies are so that you won't waste time and money on bad movies so that you'll have fun so that you can share the experience with your friends so that you can build deeper relationships around mutual interests so that you can live a more fulfilling life so that ….” This doesn't mean you have to use everything after a “so that,” but it can help you make something far more enticing than a simple feature. Taking this same (slightly exaggerated) example, your podcast about movies could be described as “Live a more fulfilling life with deeper relationships by learning more about the movies you and your friends love.”

4. Try common marketing approaches when describing your podcast

Because your podcast description is marketing a kind of “product” (your podcast) that your audience needs to “buy” (by following it), you can try different marketing frameworks to write a better, more compelling, and more relatable podcast description.

Here are three popular marketing frameworks:

AIDA (attention ➜ interest ➜ desire ➜ action) describes the four stages someone goes through before making a decision (like following your podcast or buying something). Following this framework, your podcast description can first catch someone's attention, get them interested in what you offer, trigger a desire for your podcast, and then give them the action to take.

PAS (pain/problem ➜ agitate ➜ solution) takes a slightly different approach, focusing first on the problem, agitating that with specificity, and then providing your podcast as the solution. Focusing and then further specifying the pain your audience has demonstrates how you understand and empathize with them, helping them think, “He/she totally gets me!”

BAB (before ➜ after ➜ bridge) takes a more evidence-based approach. It starts with relating the condition your audience is in before your podcast or before applying your teaching, then the results after they take action, and then your podcast is the bridge that gets them there.

These frameworks have helped many marketers increase their profits. And even if you're not actually selling something for money, marketing your podcast as if it is a product for sale can help you better reach and convert people to a loyal audience.

5. Take inspiration from descriptions of the best podcasts

Study the consistently top-ranked podcasts, regardless of their topic. Look at how their descriptions are written. Do they tell a story? Do they follow a marketing framework? How do they try to empathize with you? How do they communicate without wasting space? You might notice they use several of these methods.

For practice, copy the descriptions from some of those popular podcasts and replace points about their podcast with points about yours. Then try rewording it to flow better and connect better with your ideal audience. But don't simply copy and word-spin someone else's description! Use it as inspiration and then go make your own!

6. Get opinions on your podcast description

When you have a description you think is good, try it on some people who don't know your podcast and see how it piques their interest. If you're willing to spend a little money on this, you could go to a local coffee shop and offer to buy someone's drink in exchange for 5 minutes to get their opinion (promise them you want only their opinion, not for them to buy anything or opt into anything).

This kind of “man on the street” research can be extremely valuable because you might get someone who doesn't even know what a podcast is, and if you can pique their interest, you probably have a winning podcast description.

7. Use artificial intelligence (AI) to help improve your podcast description

Wouldn't it be cool if there was a tool that could help you do these exact things? There are actually several great tools now that can do this through the power of AI!

Since early 2021, I've been using Jasper (formerly known as “Jarvis”, and I earn from qualifying purchases through my link) to help me write better, build some writing momentum, and get new ideas. By now, you've probably also heard of ChatGPT or some other tools.

Jasper and some other tools offer templates you can fill in and then generate multiple potential results. For example, AIDA, PAS, and BAB marketing frameworks for “product” descriptions; a features-to-benefits template; or a template to simplify your language as if explaining to a child.

Jasper and ChatGPT also offer a flexible chat model where you can type as if talking to a writing assistant. You could paste in your current description and ask it to rewrite the description following a marketing framework, convert your features to benefits, and more.

Or look at a podcaster-focused tool like Capsho, which helps build episode descriptions and more from your already-recorded audio.

I think AI is great for these kinds of improvement and reformat techniques because it's taking your original content and making it better.

8. Apply these same principles to your episode descriptions

Although I focused this episode on your top-level podcast description, try all these same things for your individual episode descriptions, too! That can seriously help your SEO. And if you try improving your episode descriptions before you even record your episodes, you might even discover new ways to make your episodes better, too!

How I'm improving my own podcast description

In preparation for this episode, I made several changes to my own podcast description and will continue doing so.

Here was my description before this episode:

I believe anyone can share a message to change the world, and podcasting is the BEST way to spread that message! I'm Daniel J. Lewis and this is where I give you the guts and teach you the tools to launch or improve your own podcast for sharing your passions and finding success! I cover all things podcasting: audio gear, video equipment, editing software, WordPress and plugins, social media promotion tools, marketing, and more with understandable in-depth information and easy-to-follow steps. If you want to know how to podcast or grow the show you already have, this show is for you! Have a podcasting question or suggestion? Email Feedback@TheAudacitytoPodcast.com or call (903) 231-2221. Please subscribe and I will give you THE AUDACITY to podcast!

And here's my new description, or at least the work-in-progress as of recording this episode:

I believe podcasting is the BEST way for YOU to share a message to change the world! I give you the guts and teach you the tools to launch and improve your own podcast for passion and P.R.O.F.I.T.! Through each episode, I strive to help you communicate better, fully leverage audio and video gear, use podcasting tools for higher quality and efficiency, become an engaging interviewer, improve your podcast website, grow your podcast, and more! My goal is to help you and your audience get P.R.O.F.I.T. from your podcast: popularity, relationships, opportunities, fun, income, or tangibles. From each episode, you'll get inspiration, learn easy-to-follow steps, and discover resources to help you podcast better. Please join me, Daniel J. Lewis, and I will give you THE AUDACITY to podcast!

Note that I specifically changed my features to benefits and removed the unnecessary contact information.

Engage your audience and grow your podcast!

Do you ever feel like your podcast is stuck? Like you're pouring your heart into your podcast but it seems like no one is listening?

Try Podgagement to help you engage your audience and grow your podcast!

Get speakable pages to simplify engaging with your audience, accept voicemail feedback (with automatic transcripts), track your ratings and reviews from nearly 200 places, and more!

Ask your questions or share your feedback

• Comment on the show notes
• Leave a voicemail at (903) 231-2221
• Email feedback@TheAudacitytoPodcast.com (audio files welcome)

Follow The Audacity to Podcast

• Apple Podcasts, Spotify, other Android apps, or in your favorite podcast app.
• Subscribe on YouTube for Podcasting Videos by The Audacity to Podcast
• Follow @theDanielJLewis on X-Twitter

Disclosure

This post may contain links to products or services with which I have an affiliate relationship. I may receive compensation from your actions through such links. However, I don't let that corrupt my perspective and I don't recommend only affiliates.

The post 8 Ways to Improve Your Podcast Description first appeared on The Audacity to Podcast.

Listen to The Future of Podcasting in your favorite podcast app or through the website, and remember to stream and boost us some sats!

The post Follow The Future of Podcasting Now! first appeared on The Audacity to Podcast.

Disclosure

This post may contain links to products or services with which I have an affiliate relationship. I may receive compensation from your actions through such links. However, I don't let that corrupt my perspective and I don't recommend only affiliates.

Hear this episode with different mics

I recorded this episode with all of the following mics, all with the same settings, and processed the same except for any amplification difference necessary to reach my target of -19 LUFS. The main podcast release of this episode switches between mics for each section, but you can each the entire episode from each mic below.

iPhone 12 Pro:

Audio-Technica ATR2100x-USB via XLR:

Shure MV7 via XLR:

Shure SM7B:

Electro-Voice RE320:

4. Any mic when used properly and effectively

The Blue Yeti gets a lot of hate from experienced and professional podcasters. Why? Because it's the most overpriced, overhyped, oversized, confused, misused, and abused microphone in podcasting—that's all!

But you can actually get great audio from Blue Yeti!

You can also get good audio from earbuds, your smartphone's built-in mic, and even the internal mic on your laptop.

It's all in how you use the microphone and what you expect from it!

I teach that the two most important things to record good audio are environment and technique—actually more important than the microphone itself!

Environment: Microphones aren't magical. If you're in a noisy or reverb-heavy environment, you will get noisy and reverb-heavy audio. A bad mic in a quiet and acoustically treated room will probably always be more listenable than a fancy mic in a noisy echo chamber.

Technique: You can actually mitigate some of the noise and reverb with proper mic technique. This is usually about where you position and point the mic, and where you position and point your voice.

Consider the Blue Yeti, for example. Point the front (not the top) toward you, switch it to cardioid mode, and keep it close to you (about 4–6 inches or 10–15 cm away) and at a 45º pivot away from the front of your mouth.

Yes, processing algorithms in Auphonic, Descript, Adobe Podcast (listen to my episode about best audio-editing apps for podcasting), and other tools are getting much better and smarter, especially in putting artificial intelligence (AI) to good use. But you'll always get better quality if you start with better quality.

3. Audio-Technica ATR2100x-USB ($80)

This is my most-recommended microphone for starting out because it produces great quality, it's very affordable (it's been as low as $59), and it offers both USB and XLR connections. You can even connect the mic to a tablet or smartphone with the proper USB adapter! So your podcast gear could be as simple as the ATR2100x-USB, a pair of headphones, and your “computing” device (computer or mobile).

Having XLR means that if you ever need to upgrade to something like a Focusrite Vocaster Two, Zoom Podtrak P4, or RØDECaster Pro II, you don't have to throw away your microphone because you can simply switch to using the XLR cable instead! (USB-only microphones lack this ability to grow with your podcast needs.)

I know of many highly successful podcasters still using an ATR2100x-USB or models like it (the old ATR2100-USB, AT2005USB, or Samson Q2U).

While this microphone might seem mostly the same as my previous favorite, the Samson Q2U, I now recommend the Q2U only if you're on a really tight budget—the Q2U has been as low as $35! But I think the ATR2100x-USB (specifically the newer “x” model) is worth the extra cost because of several seemingly small but greatly appreciated improvements:

• Zero latency headphone monitoring on the ATR2100x-USB, but the Q2U has just enough latency to make yourself sound weird, cause headaches, or stuff your ears.
• Consistent self-monitoring via headphones on the ATR2100x-USB so you can hear yourself no matter how you adjust the input or output volume on your USB-connected device, but the Q2U headphones output is affected by the input and output volume on your USB-connected device.
• The ATR2100x-USB was roughly 10 dB louder than the Q2U in my tests, making it about 13 dB louder than the old ATR2100-USB.
• The ATR2100x-USB offers a lifetime warranty! The Q2U offers only a 1-year warranty.
• Both mic kits include plastic stands that won't last long. So even though the Q2U includes a handy 3-inch (7.5 cm) riser, the plastic contacts will lose their grip.
• The ATR2100x-USB has a USB-C port, which I think should last longer than the old ATR2100-USB (non-“x” model) because USB-C plugs don't have upsides or downsides.

The main complication you might run into when recording over USB is that the mic does not loop back USB audio. So your guest's audio will not be recorded with your ATR2100x-USB unless you add a little only-moderately-complicated input-mixing on your computer.

2. Shure MV7 ($249)

Imagine all that versatility and future-proofing of the ATR2100x-USB, some built-in processing and effects, and packaged in a more professional, even higher quality mic. That's the Shure MV7!

The MV7 works best when paired with the ShurePlus MOTIV app so you can control the microphone's built-in EQ, limiter, and compressor. You can also use the app to adjust how the headphone monitoring is mixed between how much of the mic and how much of your device audio you hear (if you have the MV7 connected to something via USB for additional audio).

The one feature I dislike about the MV7 compared to the ATR2100x-USB is that the MV7's headphone monitoring is subject to your USB-connected device's output volume. So if you're connected to a PC and you turn down the PC's volume, you'll hear your own voice less through the MV7's headphones output. But the ATR2100x-USB maintains your self-monitoring level no matter the input or output volumes of the USB-connected device.

Also, while the MV7 has a somewhat similar physical design to the Shure SM7B, it has the XLR plug on the back of the microphone instead of vertically from the top.

Like the ATR2100x-USB, the main complication you might run into when recording over USB is that the mic does not loop back USB audio. So your guest's audio will not be recorded with your MV7 unless you add a little only-moderately-complicated input-mixing on your computer.

Honorable mention: Shure SM7B ($399)

I love the quality, sound, and physical design of the Shure SM7B. I love how it has built-in shock-protection and its XLR plug is vertical instead of horizontal, so it helps with cable management and concealment. The main thing I don't like about the SM7B is how much gain it needs in order to avoid background hiss in your recordings. You need a really good preamp for the SM7B, so that means either additional hardware or upgrading your gear.

The latest generations of interfaces and recorders—like the Focusrite Vocaster, Zoom Podtrack P4, and RØDE RØDECaster Pro II—do finally provide enough gain without needing an additional preamp. But if you're on anything older, you might have to deal with background hiss until you upgrade.

Honorable mention: the mic that suits your unique needs

I usually recommend what are generally called “studio microphones” because the best place to record a microphone is usually in some kind of “studio” setting—whether that's a closet in your basement or a fancy recording studio. Just like you can be the “CEO of your cubicle,” any dedicated place you record your podcast can be your “studio.”

Many microphones serve the unconventional needs of being away from a studio. For example, a handheld microphone for “man on the street” interviews, a micro headset mic for active movement or public presentations, a mic and headphones combo headset for noisy environments (like at a sports game), a wireless mic for videos or crowded spaces, a hidden or unobtrusive mic for natural-looking videos, and more! Your unique needs might be better served by something that is not a studio dynamic microphone!

1. Electro-Voice RE320 ($299)

Now we come to my favorite mic of all time: the Electro-Voice RE320.

I like this microphone because, in my experience, it's the most natural-sounding and complimentary for all voices. Plus, its strong neodymium magnets make this mic need less gain than most other dynamic mics popular for podcasters, so the RE320 is much friendlier for whatever recorder or interface you're using.

I originally bought into the hype of the Heil PR40 when I bought my first good microphone. And it is indeed a good microphone! But I started hearing it too much in all the podcasts I listened to, and I started noticing all those podcasts emphasized the same frequencies that sounded more “radio booming” instead of natural and relatable. And the more I heard my own voice on the PR40 (even though I didn't use the same multiband compression settings many other PR40 podcasters used), I was regularly annoyed with some audio artifacts. So when I heard Dave Jackson, from School of Podcasting, switch to a RE320 and his voice suddenly sounded so much clearer and more natural, I knew I wanted that microphone!

Electro-Voice was so kind to send me the RE320 (review), RE20 (review), and RE27N/D for testing and review (but I couldn't keep them). Even though I had more highly praised the RE20 in my original reviews, the more I watched my own videos and listened to myself on the RE320, the more I loved its natural sound. Then, I had the opportunity to meet and interview Rick Belt, the creator of the RE320, at NAB Show 2015. He had already loved the reviews I had made, and when I told him that I was “coveting” the RE320 as I was using my PR40, and I planned to someday switch, he pulled one from a cabinet and gave it to me! So in full disclosure, I have not paid for the RE320 I use, but I would have switched anyway when I could afford it and I wish I had always used the RE320 instead of the Heil PR40!

Should you switch podcasting microphones?

Maybe, like I was, you're now “coveting” a different microphone. But I encourage you to consider whether you really need to upgrade to a better microphone.

If you're using a Blue Yeti or a similar microphone that's cumbersome, difficult to work with, or requires you to balance like a TV antenna from the old days just to get some good audio, you should probably upgrade. I remember that it was such a wonderful upgrade for me when I bought my first lav mic for recording videos because I didn't have to have a big studio mic in the shot or frame my shots close to my face! And then when I upgraded to a wireless system, I saved a lot of time and frustration from trying to align my separately recorded audio and video!

If you're already using one of the specific mics I recommend and it's meeting your needs, then you have to consider whether the maybe 5–10% boost in quality is worth spending an additional $300—or more if you need additional connecting gear! In other words, your podcast might have 99 problems, but is your microphone really one of them? You might do better to invest that money elsewhere to fix your audio issues or grow your podcast.

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Disclosure

This post may contain links to products or services with which I have an affiliate relationship. I may receive compensation from your actions through such links. However, I don't let that corrupt my perspective and I don't recommend only affiliates.

The post Best Podcasting Microphones in 2023 first appeared on The Audacity to Podcast.

Sidenote: I prefer the friendlier phrase “audio-editing app” instead of the commercial term “digital audio workstation” or “DAW.”

(As an affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases through some of these links. But I recommend things I truly believe in, regardless of earnings.)

4. Audacity (02:24)

I suspect that most podcasters have used Audacity at some point or even still do. Audacity has been a staple in audio-editing because it was capable and—maybe what keeps it most popular—it's free.

I recommend Audacity exactly because it's free and yet still very capable! Unlike GarageBand (which is free on macOS), Audacity sticks to conventional audio-editing tools and principles. These conventions make it easier to learn audio-editing on Audacity and later move up to more advanced software. Plus, the latest versions of Audacity are making huge leaps forward in improving the software.

Audacity runs on macOS, Windows, and Linux.

3. Adobe Audition (4:40)

Several years ago, I forced myself to step up from Audacity to Adobe Audition, and I found it significantly improved my workflow. There were several things that Audition made faster or easier for me, and yet there were some things Audition couldn't do that Audacity did. However, many of those items might be moot at this point.

Audition is premium software that comes at a price. And unfortunately, that is only a subscription price: currently $31.49 per month without a contract, or $239.88 per year (essentially $19.99 per month) at the “best” price. (There's tax on these prices, too.)

I won't pay that and I don't think you should, either.

However, if you are a slave to Adobe Creative Cloud, like I am, then you already have Adobe Audition along with all of Adobe's other software in the complete subscription suite for $599 per year (about $50 per month, plus tax). I already pay for Adobe Audition along with Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Adobe Fonts, Premiere Pro, Lightroom, and After Effects. And it's because I'm already paying for it, that I use Adobe Audition with my audio-producer John Bukenas. But if I didn't need the rest of Adobe's apps, I would switch to my #1 podcast-editing app in a heartbeat.

At $239.88 (plus tax) per year, I think Adobe Audition is too expensive for most podcasters unless they already subscribe to Adobe Creative Cloud. So if you can afford it, then I think Audition is one of the best audio-editing apps you can use!

Audition runs on macOS and Windows and offers a free trial.

2. Descript (7:35)

A few years ago, I got to meet the team behind Descript when they were exhibiting at the Podcast Movement conference. I loved their idea and I expected big things to come from them!

Why? Because Descript takes an industry-leading intuitive, user-friendly approach to editing audio. Although you can edit with a conventional audio waveform (like in other apps), Descript transcribes your audio to let you edit audio like editing a text document. You can see the words, select them, and then move or delete them with ease!

There are also several options for significantly improving the audio of low-quality recordings by leveraging the power of artificial intelligence (AI)!

On top of that, Descript now lets you edit video with this same text-based simplicity!

There is a very limited free plan. After that, pricing starts at $144 per year for longer recordings and extended features.

Descript is browser-based, so it will work on nearly anything!

Honorable mention: Reaper (9:39)

Although I have never personally used it, I see a lot of podcasters highly recommend Reaper as a great upgrade from Audacity.

Reaper is a conventional audio-editing app, but it seems to me like its user interface is stuck in a past decade or intended only for people who are extremely comfortable editing audio. A quick look at their not-mobile-friendly website might overload you with technical terminology and technical-looking images.

But the pricing is reasonable: currently $60 for personal use or commercial use if your yearly revenue is below $20,000. Beyond that, it's $225 for a commercial license. However, these are one-time licenses that include free upgrades for quite some time. (The current version 6.75 license promises free upgrades through version 7.99!)

Reaper is available for Windows, macOS, and Linux and it offers a fully functional 60-day trial.

Honorable mention: Adobe Podcast (11:16)

Formerly known as “Project Shasta,” Adobe Podcast is an even simpler text-based audio-editor similar to Descript, but significantly optimized for even easier use. For example, instead of having variable controls over audio-processing settings, Adobe Podcast offers a simple toggle switch for different AI-powered effects. Nonetheless, the simple results still sound great (and some people think they sound even better that Descript's “studio” sound.)

There's no audio waveform in Adobe Podcast; you're editing only with sections of transcript and audio clips. But there is actually a built-in guest/cohost audio-recording feature you could use instead of Squadcast, Riverside, Zencastr, or StreamYard.

Adobe Podcast is currently in beta that you can request to try for free. I expect it will be included in the Adobe Express subscription, which offers a limited free plan and an expanded premium plan for only $99.99 per year. And like the Adobe Express tools, Adobe Podcast will probably be included in the more expensive Creative Cloud subscription.

I'm looking forward to how Adobe Podcast improves, and how Adobe might bring some of those great features into Audition and Premiere Pro.

Adobe Podcast is also browser-based, so it should work on nearly anything!

1. Hindenburg (13:43)

And now we come to my #1 suggestion for editing your audio podcast: Hindenburg (formerly known as “Hindenburg Journalist”)!

While Hindenburg initially looks like many other conventional audio-editing apps, I've recommended it for years because it contains extra features designed specifically for editing spoken-word content, which is exactly what nearly all podcasts are! So you'll find intuitive features like automatic loudness normalization for every clip, a handy clipboard (great for your audio-branding clips and bumpers!), and even text-based editing features coming in Hindenburg Pro 2.

I also expect Hindenburg to be the first to support Podcasting 2.0 features, like better chapters, the transcript tag, and more.

Plus, Hindenburg offers a perpetual pay-once license! It's $99 for Hindenburg Lite or $399 for Hindenburg Pro. Or, you can subscribe to Hindenburg Pro for $120 per year and that will include upgrades for as long as you maintain your subscription. This pricing might change with 2. And they sometimes offer big sales around significant radio and podcasting events. Get price-drop alerts from PodcastingDeals.com!

It's the combination of conventional editing, podcasting-focused benefits, and flexible pricing options that lead me to recommend Hindenburg as the best podcast-editing app! And I don't even—currently—earn any commissions from recommending Hindenburg! (Though I keep asking for an affiliate program and will update my links if they ever offer an affiliate program.) If I wasn't already paying for Adobe Audition, I would immediately switch to Hindenburg—and I often consider it anyway!

Hindenburg runs on Windows and macOS.

When and why should you upgrade? (16:69)

Before you rush out to switch apps, I suggest you listen to my old episode “When to Upgrade Your Podcasting Tools.” In short: upgrade when the new solution provides something you actually need. In most cases, upgrading will not improve your audio quality, but the upgrade could make it easier to get better audio. For example, the AI-powered sound enhancement currently from Descript and Adobe Podcast can give you results that rival spending hours learning to use and then fine-tune compression, EQ, gating and expansion, noise and reverb reduction, and more.

So if you need something simpler, try Descript or Adobe Podcast. If you need something conventional but better, try Hindenburg.

Engage your audience and grow your podcast!

Do you ever feel like your podcast is stuck? Like you're pouring your heart into your podcast but it seems like no one is listening?

Try Podgagement to help you engage your audience and grow your podcast!

Get speakable pages to simplify engaging with your audience, accept voicemail feedback (with automatic transcripts), track your ratings and reviews from nearly 200 places, and more!

Ask your questions or share your feedback

• Comment on the show notes
• Leave a voicemail at (903) 231-2221
• Email feedback@TheAudacitytoPodcast.com (audio files welcome)

Follow The Audacity to Podcast

• Apple Podcasts, Spotify, other Android apps, or in your favorite podcast app.
• Subscribe on YouTube for Podcasting Videos by The Audacity to Podcast
• Follow @theDanielJLewis on X-Twitter

Disclosure

This post may contain links to products or services with which I have an affiliate relationship. I may receive compensation from your actions through such links. However, I don't let that corrupt my perspective and I don't recommend only affiliates.

The post Best Audio-Editing Apps for Podcasting in 2023 first appeared on The Audacity to Podcast.

Yes, there are plenty of highly popular podcasts with less descriptive titles. But they became successful despite their titles because they had a lot of good marketing. However, even a look through the current top charts in Apple Podcasts left me having to do very little guessing about the subjects of most of the top shows because of their mostly descriptive names and relevant cover art.

Most of us podcasters don't have vast marketing budgets to compensate for “bad” titles. But there are some words I suggest avoiding in your podcast title, to help you optimize for search, uniqueness, branding, comprehension, and usage.

The following are only guidelines not “laws.” So if you break these, break them intentionally and with good reasons!

1. Ambiguous cuteness (01:39)

It can be cute to replace words like “to” and “for” with the numbers 2 and 4, but that cuteness can cause confusion, especially if your current or potential audience will need to type it in. Or maybe you get cute with the spelling, like “Wut Nuw wit U?” or replacing C's with K's or S's with Z's.

If you do cute things with your title, you might have to always clarify it, like saying, “That's the number 2,” or having to always spell it out.

I'm not suggesting avoiding all forms of cuteness—although you should still consider it—but avoiding what would be ambiguous to a listener.

If you do go with cuteness, try to get the other potential understandings of your titles as domains and social-media IDs (where you promote) and point those misunderstood or “typo” versions to the correct place.

If you're worried about your cute title being used uncutely by someone else, then the best protection will come from claiming it as a trademark and registering that trademark where you can.

2. Easily misunderstood made-up words or mashups (03:53)

Similar to being cute, it seems the “dot com era” made it popular to make up new words or mash parts of words together—the latter actually being called a portmanteau. For example, I could mash up “entrepreneur” and “father” to get “entrefather” or “fatherpreneur.” Or I could mash up “investment” with “analytics” to get “investalytics.”

However, the key is to avoid easily misunderstood things. I actually think these mashups might be easy enough to understand. And made-words or mashups are much easier to trademark because of their distinctiveness. (I have a pending trademark that leverages this same idea.)

Language changes, and some portmanteaus are so popular that they've been defined in the dictionary, spellchecks don't flag them, and most people wouldn't even have to wonder what you're talking about. For example, “smog” was a combination of “smoke” and “fog” that started way back in the 1800s! Everyone knows what “brunch” is. “Infotainment” is inherently clear that it is combining information (or “info”) and entertainment. And, of course, our own word “podcast” is a portmanteau of the words “iPod” and “broadcast.”

So it's not inherently bad to make up words or portmanteaus; it's only bad if it's easily misunderstood.

For example, “BuyFryer”—a podcast about purchasing air-fryers—could be misunderstood as “ByFriar”—a podcast critiquing the writings of a past friar. (Even the word “fryer” might be commonly misspelled as “frier” like “whoa” is commonly misspelled as “woah.” And it delights my heart to see my spellchecker still flag “woah.”)

When you have a title for your podcast, try speaking it to someone unfamiliar with your podcast to see if they properly understand what you're saying and can even correctly guess what your show is about. And if there is still potential confusion, either consider a different title or follow the same tip from #1 to get the alternative versions for domains and social-media IDs if you want to catch misspellings.

3. Starting with “the” (07:05)

I've seen many strong brands weakened with a simple, unnecessary “the”! For example, consider the hilarious conservative satire site with “bee” in the title. Is it “The Babylon Bee” or “Babylon Bee”? Their own website isn't even consistent with it! The logo and social IDs have “the,” but the website domain and copyright line exclude “the.”

I'm a bit of a stickler for this. If an official title has a “the,” then I will speak that title no matter what! That's my own style choice, and you might have your own preference. For example, how would you refer to their website? “The Babylon Bee's website,” or “the The Babylon Bee's website”? Or try verbal gymnastics to avoid that wording problem?

Using a “the” seems to de-emphasize the rest of the title. In this same example, it makes me think there are other kinds of “bees,” as if it's a well-known genre of content or publishing style, and this is merely the “Babylon” one.

There are, however, some times when “the” is still good for clarity. I consider my own show title to be an example of this: “The Audacity to Podcast.” And I debated the inclusion of the word “the” when I first created the title in 2010! Because I always wanted to emphasize “audacity” to mean guts, courage, boldness, and the like, I could not hear that as much with “Audacity to Podcast.” Plus, you've might have noticed that I've been emphasizing it stronger in how I say it in the audio podcast, too.

Starting with “the” might still be a good practice if your title must include the word “podcast” or “show,” like “The Katie Smith Show.” And that leads into my next suggestion!

Just if you do have to start with a “the” in your title, make sure you also get domains and branding without the starting “the.” (Which The Babylon Bee has done.)

4. “Podcast” or “show” (10:44)

Let me address the potential elephant in the room, since I brought up the title of my own show, “The Audacity to Podcast.” I'm using the word “podcast” as a verb in my show title. You could replace that word with any other verb and the title would still make sense. For example, “The Audacity to Bake,” “The Audacity to Invest,” “The Audacity to Read,” or “The Audacity to Think.” You could also replace it with a verb phrase, like “The Audacity to Cook Dinner” or “The Audacity to Drive Cars.” But replace “podcast” with a noun, like “The Audacity to Movie” or “The Audacity to Carrot” and you'll see the title doesn't make sense anymore or it sounds even childish. Thus, if I used “The Audacity to Podcast” as a bigger brand name, my audio podcast could accurately be referred to as “the The Audacity to Podcast podcast.”

Yeah, that's weird. Don't do that to yourself!

But most of the time I see podcasters want to use the words “podcast” or “show” in their titles, their usage would be as a noun and probably unnecessary. On top of that, they're usually combining it with an unnecessary “the” at the beginning, too!

Consider which title sounds stronger as a brand: “Impactful Living” or “The Impactful Living Show”? I think the shorter, cleaner version sounds better. Imagine the podcast openings: “Welcome to Impactful Living” versus “Welcome to The Impactful Living Show.”

I suggest also considering your search-engine optimization (“SEO”). Searching in podcast apps is still not the best experience at this time. While some apps might smartly search for “and” when you type “&” and vice versa, and even handle different forms of words and some misspellings, they can also be dumb sometimes.

However, I think it might be untrue when some people say that adding the word “podcast” makes your podcast suddenly less findable because it's competing with all the other podcasts that have the word podcast. At least that's my observation with my own show in Apple Podcasts. It really depends on how the search is treating each word.

With an even deeper, technical aside, this is a difference between “AND” and “OR” boolean operators. Using “The Audacity to Podcast” as an example, the words “the” and “to” might be considered irrelevant or stop-words by some search engines, so that leaves “audacity” and “podcast” as the only search terms. The “AND” operator would show results that have both “audacity” and “podcast.” But the “OR” operator would show results that have either “audacity” or “podcast” (or both).

You don't have to type these operators in most searches anymore, but some search engines automatically use one or the other. A simple way to find out would be to see if adding more words gives more results (that's “OR”) or fewer (that's “AND”).

For example, the Podcast Index search currently shows 11 results for “The Audacity to,” but only 3 results for “The Audacity to Podcast.”

So it's not a universal rule that adding the word “podcast” makes your show compete in the search results for all other podcasts with “podcast” in the title. Nonetheless, it's usually an unnecessary word for your title.

Where it's good to break this rule is when the podcast is using a recognized name from a bigger brand. For example, if Microsoft started a podcast, it would be better to be called “The Microsoft Podcast” than simply “Microsoft” because the brand is so much larger than the podcast. However, even in this case, I would suggest a completely different name, like “Microsoft's Bussiness Computing” or even move the brand name to the artist field, which is also already searchable in all podcast apps I've tested.

Also, I still think it's fine to use “podcast” or “show” to help you get a domain that fits your podcast title. For example, I hosted a fan podcast about Disney's TV show Once Upon a Time (note that I didn't say “the Once Upon a Time show”!), and we called our podcast simply “ONCE” but we used the domain and social branding of “ONCEpodcast” (and “ONCEshow” just didn't sound right).

5. Publishing frequency (“daily,” “weekly,” “monthly,” etc.) (19:38)

This one is easy! If you add a publishing frequency to your title—especially the end—then you're binding yourself to that frequency. If you ever want to change your publishing frequency, you would have to change titles. And if you ever skipped a normal publishing cycle, then the name has essentially become a lie.

There seems a noteworthy difference between using the term at the end of the title versus anywhere else in the title. For example, “Daily Bible Reading” versus “Bible Reading Daily.” Maybe it's only me, but putting “daily” at the end sounds more like it's a news broadcast reporting on something daily, while putting the frequency anywhere else sounds like it's helping to do that thing daily, even if the podcast isn't published daily. For example, “Improving Your Daily Health.”

So it's not the frequency word itself that's bad, it's really how you use it.

6. Obscenities [21:05]

Apple Podcasts used to forbid obscenities in show and episode titles or descriptions—really any text in your RSS feed. But they've since removed that rule (except for podcast cover art) because their system can automatically censor written obscenities. Nonetheless, I recommend avoiding them in your title because it will make it easier for other people to talk about your podcast, and reduce some friction some people might have in creating content promoting your podcast or in even following your podcast.

For example, you might have noticed that I never refer to Marc Maron's podcast by its name. This is because I don't use profanity, and I consider even his show name's abbreviation to be obscene because nearly everyone knows what it means anyway, so abbreviating it really isn't cleaning it up or making it family-friendly. It's similar to if I censored the word “p*dc*st” by removing the vowels—you still know I'm saying or writing “podcast” so it wasn't really censored.

And before you say, “Having an obscene title hasn't hurt Marc Maron's show!” Consider that you really can't know that for sure. His show could very easily be even bigger under a different name. Also, I know of some people who will not listen to or recommend his show exactly because of its name, even if the content was the same!

Plus, other podcast apps and directories might have different rules, especially in other countries. Even if your content contains obscenities, it might be prevented from being featured or included only because of the name. I actually do this same thing when I feature podcasts—I won't feature anything with obscenities or profanity in the title or cover art.

And back to Apple Podcasts, which does censor the text automatically under certain circumstances, they do not censor images and they have a specific rule that there must not be obscenities in images. So if your podcast name uses obscenities, then you would have to censor your cover art in order to not get kicked out of Apple Podcasts. And then that's weakening your visual branding to not have your cover art accurately reflect your title.

7. “with [your name]” (24:21)

To clarify, I'm referring specifically to adding your name to the end of your title, like “with John Smith.” I'm not referring to building your show title around your personal brand, like “The Joe Rogan Experience,” “The Mel Robbins Podcast,” “The Charlie Kirk Show,” or “Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend.” Instead, I mean tacking “with [your name]” onto the end of your great show title.

Several years before Apple Podcasts, there was a glitch in iTunes that prevented podcasts from being found by their artist names. So if you searched for “Daniel J. Lewis,” The Audacity to Podcast would not show up. So a popular podcast consultant back then advised everyone to put their names in their podcast titles so they could still be found. That would heave meant renaming my show to “The Audacity to Podcast with Daniel J. Lewis.”

But that was a temporary glitch! (I think it lasted for only a few weeks at most.)

Unfortunately, that bad advice's damage was already done and a wave of highly popular podcasts redundantly included the host names in the show titles.

This is unnecessary for several reasons:

• Your podcast's artist text should already contain your name and it's almost always displayed prominently with the title of your podcast.
• Every podcast app I've tested already searches the artist/author text, returning podcasts with your name.
• Voice-based assistants from Apple, Google, Amazon, and other assistant tools will often speak or return both the title and author of podcasts when you ask for them. So Siri, for example, might respond, “Now playing The Audacity to Podcast with Daniel J. Lewis, by Daniel J. Lewis.”

This is similar to when Apple started cracking down on keyword-stuffed podcast titles back in 2018. Podcast-publishing tools have multiple fields intended for specific content, and the content should not be repeated where it's not supposed to be. The title field should have only the title, the artist/author field should have only the artist/author names, the description should have only the description, episode titles should have only episode titles (and not season or episode numbers), the copyright field should have only the copyright, and so on.

I asked my podcast lawyer, Gordon Firemark, about trademarks. (I earn no commissions by referring his personalized legal services.) He said that putting your name in an otherwise non-distinctive title, like “Daily News with Jane Smith,” does not make the title any more trademarkable because it's still highly descriptive, not distinctive.

If your title is so generic that there are many other podcasts with the same title, this might be a good case for putting your name in the title, just like “Daily News with Jane Smith,” even though that can't be trademarked. The non-distinctness of the title allows other people to do the same but adding your name to this kind of title can help your audience be more confident they're picking the right podcast.

8. “Pod” and “cast” (30:02)

Please avoid the cliché of stabbing your podcast title with “pod” or “cast.” Your show doesn't need to be “PodCooking” or “CookingCast.”

Other than “pedia” from “encyclopedia,” I couldn't think of any time the media or distribution format term was chopped and stabbed into another word in the title. Can you imagine trying to make mashups with the word “movie” in titles like “StarMov Wars” or “Indiana JonesVie”? Or making portmanteaus with “music” and the latest music album titles?

I think this meta/cliché/portmanteau practice is fine when you're making a product or service for podcasting. For example, PodMatch, Castopod (2 points for this one!), and Pod Decks. Clichés aren't always bad, but you should try to avoid them like the plague.

9. Emoji 😮 (31:15)

While emoji can be fun for your cover art or even episode titles, avoid them in your podcast title. Some podcast apps still can't display emoji correctly. They might either omit the emoji altogether, or they would replace each emoji with “??” in the title, which can cause some unintended meanings. Any place that generates a URL for your podcast might also have problems or make a really messy URL in order to properly encode the unicode necessary to display an emoji.

If you use emoji in your title, you might have to always remind your audience not to type the emoji as part of your domain or social-network IDs. Nonetheless, they might try to search for your podcast with the emoji anyway, and how would someone even be sure they're using the correct emoji?

10. #Hashtags (33:33)

Hashtags like “#podcasting” are pointless in titles and descriptions. They do nothing for your SEO and they will look weird (but not as weird as emoji). The only place hashtags are currently of any use is when you post on social networks, like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Pinterest, Mastodon, and even YouTube descriptions (but not titles). Each of these is a place where you would post about your podcast, not your full podcast content itself. So while it is good to hashtag the appropriate keywords from your title and description in messages you post on social networks, don't put the hashtags in your podcast title.

A good exception to this is when your podcast is about something known by its hashtag, and it's primarily known by that hashtag. For example, while Podcast Movement 2022 had its own hashtag, #PM22, that podcasting conference was not primarily known by that hashtag. But titling a podcast “#MeToo Survivors” would be instantly recognizable because it was known as the “#MeToo movement,” and thus this would be a good reason to use a hashtag in the title.

But don't start hashtagging keywords in your title merely because you think it will help your SEO; it won't.

11. Words that aren't your actual podcast title (36:57)

I hope this is obvious by now: your podcast title should be only your podcast title. It shouldn't be a tagline or a list of keywords in attempts to manipulate SEO.

This was very popular before 2018, and even I had recommended adding keyword-optimized taglines to your title and author tag. For example, The Audacity to Podcast‘s full title was “The Audacity to Podcast – how to launch and improve your podcast” and my author text was “Daniel J. Lewis, podcasting industry expert and how-to-podcast teacher.” That was an effective SEO trick back then, but some people caught on and then abused the system with titles that would look like “My Awesome Podcast – Entrepreneurship, Marketing, Passive Income, Relationships, Bitcoin, Business, SEO, and Vanilla Cream Soda.” That simulated title is 127 characters long, but I've seen some that were longer than 250 characters!

Apple cracked down on this keyword-spamming in 2018 and I shared some observations and testing around it. Now, I think it's actually quite nice to see concise titles that are only the titles!

There are some exceptions where you can include a short sort of “expansion” of the title. For example, Apple allowed our podcast about Once Upon a Time to remain under the title “ONCE – Once Upon a Time podcast,” and you can find some other, even high-ranking podcasts with similarly formatted titles. But if your title has to be explained, then it might not be a good title!

Engage your audience and grow your podcast!

Do you ever feel like your podcast is stuck? Like you're pouring your heart into your podcast but it seems like no one is listening?

Try Podgagement to help you engage your audience and grow your podcast!

Get speakable pages to simplify engaging with your audience, accept voicemail feedback (with automatic transcripts), track your ratings and reviews from nearly 200 places, and more!

Ask your questions or share your feedback

• Comment on the show notes
• Leave a voicemail at (903) 231-2221
• Email feedback@TheAudacitytoPodcast.com (audio files welcome)

Follow The Audacity to Podcast

• Apple Podcasts, Spotify, other Android apps, or in your favorite podcast app.
• Subscribe on YouTube for Podcasting Videos by The Audacity to Podcast
• Follow @theDanielJLewis on X-Twitter

Disclosure

This post may contain links to products or services with which I have an affiliate relationship. I may receive compensation from your actions through such links. However, I don't let that corrupt my perspective and I don't recommend only affiliates.

The post Avoid These Words in Your Podcast Title first appeared on The Audacity to Podcast.

This episode is not sponsored, but I still want to promote my friend Mark Des Cotes from PodcastBranding.co. Please mention that you heard about him from me and I'll earn a commission, but I recommend Mark's personalized design services because I believe in him and his niche skills, not because of any potential earnings.

1. How well-known are you?

“Celebrity” and “influence” come in all sizes. You might not be known to the average person, but if you're known outside of your own audience within a niche, then it might be helpful to include your face in your podcast cover art.

One of the benefits of this is when someone recognizes you from a collection of other podcasts. That will make your podcast stand out more. Imagine what you would do if you recognized one of your favorite celebrities with their own podcast.

For example, if you watched the American version of The Office, you would probably instantly recognize Angela Kinsey and Jenna Fischer on the cover art for Office Ladies. In fact, you might recognize them so much that you would just assume it's a podcast about The Office because that's how you know them. And even if their podcast wasn't about The Office, you might still be interested to try the podcast because of how much you enjoyed those actresses.

So if you are already well-known (even if only widely within your niche), then you might want your photo in your cover art. And even if you're not well-known, yet, then keep reading!

2. What is your show's focus?

Does your podcast focus on specific topics, or does it focus on your perspective on various topics?

For example, what is Joe Rogan's podcast primarily about? It's actually right in the title: “The Joe Rogan Experience.” It's about his experiences and perspectives through the variety of conversations he has with diverse guests. Thus, it's very fitting for the cover art to have his photo in it.

I would suggest the same for any kind of “The [your name] Show.”

But when your show focuses more on the topic than on the person, your photo might actually be stealing space that could otherwise be used for a relevant visual element. And that visual element might better communicate the topic of your podcast and better attract an audience for that topic than your face would.

3. What are your podcasting goals?

Maybe you're not a celebrity or influencer at any level, yet, but you want to be! How would you know this?

• If you'd like to be cited as an expert in your field
• If you'd like to present about your field at conferences
• If you'd like to be recognized by others in your field
• If you'd like your personal brand to unlock more opportunities within your field

If any of these points resonate with you, then you probably do want to build your personal brand. And having your photo in your cover art is a great way to help with that!

This can lead to people recognizing you at events before they hear your voice. This can also make it easy for them to see a gallery of speakers and know they want to attend your session regardless of what you say, only because they recognize and trust you.

This is all part of your personal brand.

But if you aren't interested in building a personal brand (and you do not have to!), then you probably shouldn't include your photo in your podcast artwork.

Another consideration is if your goal is to connect more deeply with your audience. A photo literally puts a face to your voice, so it will be easier for your audience to relate with you. This can be extremely important for podcasts on more emotional subjects, like mental health, recovery, relationships, and more. Or if you're in a visually unique demographic and you're targeting that same demographic, like women, Asian, black, bodybuilders, etc.

4. How good is your photo?

Lastly, consider how good and usable your photograph is. I'm not referring to how attractive you are, but the quality and versatility of the photos you have.

For example, I've seen a couple of people who simply don't pose well for portraits. So even if you hire a professional photographer, but your photos make you look like a creep, you might not want to use these photos. But instead of giving up, try finding or taking some better candid photos, or try different expressions. Maybe your smile—whether posed or genuine—just looks weird, so you could try a more serious expression, or maybe an action photo of you doing the thing your podcast is about (unless your podcast is about murder!).

And if you're working with a designer, always give him or her multiple photos to try, like multiple poses, all high-resolution, and as uncropped as possible. Mark Des Cotes told me he often finds the photo that works best is not the podcaster's first choice. And when you work with a skilled professional designer, like Mark, they can ensure the photo fits in nicely with the rest of your visual branding. For example, a photo of you in a Hawaiian shirt and straw hat would not fit well with a podcast about emotionally supporting your loved ones in the days leading up to their death. You don't have to go “cliché,” but you also don't want to visually clash.

The lighting, composition, and background of the photo can also make a huge difference in how you or a designer (like Mark) can use the photo. For example, a dramatically lit portrait that leaves a lot of shadows on your face might not coordinate with a predominantly light-colored cover art.

My face coming to your podcast app soon?

As you consider these things for your podcast, I'll use myself as an example, I actually think my photo should be on the cover art for The Audacity to Podcast! Why?

• I'm already known enough within the podcasting industry to be recognized.
• My goal is to build my personal brand through the resources that I provide.

These have actually been my thoughts for several years, but I haven't done it before because I simply didn't like the thought of plastering my face in my cover art—as if it would seem conceited or narcissistic. But I think the benefits for me outweigh my personal reservations. So you might see my face show up in your podcast app soon! (But please do share your opinion with me!)

Need help with your podcast branding?

You can design your own podcast cover art with tools like SoVisual.co or Canva. Or you could try hiring a random designer from 99designs or DesignCrowd. But I think your best choice would be to work with a skilled designer who knows the unique qualities of podcast-branding and even has podcasting experience. And that's why I recommend Mark Des Cotes from PodcastBranding.co.

(As an affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases through these links. But I recommend things I truly believe in, regardless of earnings.)

Engage your audience and grow your podcast!

Do you ever feel like your podcast is stuck? Like you're pouring your heart into your podcast but it seems like no one is listening?

Try Podgagement to help you engage your audience and grow your podcast!

Get speakable pages to simplify engaging with your audience, accept voicemail feedback (with automatic transcripts), track your ratings and reviews from nearly 200 places, and more!

Ask your questions or share your feedback

• Comment on the show notes
• Leave a voicemail at (903) 231-2221
• Email feedback@TheAudacitytoPodcast.com (audio files welcome)

Follow The Audacity to Podcast

• Apple Podcasts, Spotify, other Android apps, or in your favorite podcast app.
• Subscribe on YouTube for Podcasting Videos by The Audacity to Podcast
• Follow @theDanielJLewis on X-Twitter

Disclosure

This post may contain links to products or services with which I have an affiliate relationship. I may receive compensation from your actions through such links. However, I don't let that corrupt my perspective and I don't recommend only affiliates.

The post Should Your Photo Be in Your Podcast Cover Art? first appeared on The Audacity to Podcast.

• Website homepage?
• Apple Podcasts link?
• Spotify link?
• Tell them to find your podcast?
• An episode webpage?
• Your RSS feed?
• A YouTube video?
• A third-party landing page (like FollowthePodcast.com or LinkTree)?

To address this properly, you need to first decide whether to share your whole podcast, or only a specific episode.

Share your podcast link for general promotion to new audiences

“General promotion” is when you're telling someone to follow your podcast and you're not promoting a specific episode. For example, when you get to mention your podcast on another podcast (if you're not talking about the same thing as one of your episodes), in your digital or print marketing materials (business cards, banners, ads, swag, and such), or when you're making any other kind of general promotion for your show as a whole.

I suggest the following guidelines for the scenarios you'll typically face.

1. Promote your website when you need simplicity

Your podcast needs its own domain! Make sure it's branded to your podcast and points to a page that has multiple follow options: most importantly, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, something popular for Android (Google Podcasts or SubscribeOnAndroid.com), and your RSS feed URL.

It would be best for the page to detect the person's type of device and automatically show or hide links appropriately. For example, hiding Apple Podcasts from Android devices (since there's no Apple Podcasts app for Android—at least not yet) but showing Google Podcasts or SubscribeOnAndroid.com. And then doing the converse for Apple devices: showing Apple Podcasts but hiding the Android-only options. This requires some complicated backend code. So the easiest solution I recommend for you is the FollowthePodcast.com page you get when your track your podcast with the My Podcast Reviews service I created for you.

If possible, don't actually link to your RSS feed if you display a plain RSS option. Instead, display the feed URL or—even better—make the link automatically copy the URL to their clipboard when they tap or click the link. (Try it on my own FollowthePodcast.com/audacity page!)

Whether you create this multi-option page yourself or let another service create it for you, this is the single page you share when you need a simple call-to-action: like when you're a guest on another podcast, on your marketing materials (a typed domain or QR Code), in conversations, and such.

It's essentially “Go here to listen.” Then you're delegating the details and options to the next step.

2. Promote multiple links when the person has the mental and visual space to choose

When people visit your podcast landing page (like I described in the previous point), they have the margin to consider their options and tap or click on what's best for them. You don't want to overwhelm them with options, which is why it's important to show only the options that work on their devices (like you get with the FollowthePodcast.com feature from My Podcast Reviews).

And there are contexts where you can promote these multiple options instead of only a single page.

For example:

• On your website homepage
• On your episode webpages
• In your email newsletter
• On social-network posts

Each of these places might give you enough space to include multiple links with their appropriate labels. For example:

Learn how to start and grow your own podcast by following my podcast, The Audacity to Podcast!

Apple Podcasts: https://theaudacitytopodcast.com/applepodcasts
Spotify: https://theaudacitytopodcast.com/spotify
Google Podcasts: https://theaudacitytopodcast.com/googlepodcasts
More options: https://theaudacitytopodcast.com/follow

This message is still short enough to fit in a tweet. Just remember that some platforms (like Facebook) might embed a widget or “card” for only the first URL. That's great for single-URL posts, but it could be confusing for multi-URL posts like this. If that happens, you can usually “remove the preview” from the post.

3. Rotate links in short-lived contexts

If you post often on a social network with short-lived messages, such as Twitter, then you could consider promoting each major platform separately.

This also increases your chances that the platform will reshare your promotion because they like promoting things that promote themselves, not their competitors.

Here's a sample template:

[Benefit] by following my podcast, , on with your [device]! [app link]

Here's an example:

Learn how to start and grow your own podcast by following my podcast, The Audacity to Podcast, on @ApplePodcasts with your iPhone! https://theaudacitytopodcast.com/applepodcasts

Note that I lead with the benefit!

Even if someone without an Apple device sees that message, they can still see the benefit your podcast provides and copy the title to search their own podcast app. Or they might simply reply asking for a link for their preferred app.

I suggest you post no more than 1 or 2 messages like this per day, but even less if you're not already posting multiple other, non-linking messages every day.

You could use a publishing tool (like MeetEdgar) to schedule and repost these messages at random times so you don't end up always promoting the same thing at the same time on the same day of the week.

You even can mix this in with your messages from #2 that promote your top platforms.

Share your episode web page to promote specific episodes

When you want to encourage listening to or watching a specific episode, then promote that episode's link.

Generally, the best link to promote is your episode's webpage with its own embedded episode player. That will work on anyone's device! And if you have high-quality show notes or an article, the visitor can potentially even get the information they want from you more quickly, or be further convinced on the value of your episode.

In most Internet contexts, the length and branding of the URL don't matter anymore because it's usually automatically shortened or hidden. But in spoken contexts, like if you're a guest on another podcast to talk about the same topic you covered in an episode, I recommend having a keyword-based redirect on your own domain.

For example, if you had me on your podcast to talk about this very subject, and my episode provides additional, relevant value beyond our conversation, then I might say, “I covered this in a lot more detail in my episode about it at TheAudacitytoPodcast.com/bestlink.”

Podcasting 2.0 will, of course, provide a better method

Within the Podcasting 2.0 project, we're working on a new style of follow links, called “Fast Follow.” This would allow a Podcasting 2.0 podcast app to use your camera to scan a QR Code or even a URL and jump straight to that podcast inside the same app and without leaving the app!

You might have experienced this same kind of thing at conferences, like Podcast Movement, where people have QR Codes on their badges. If you scan the QR Code with your normal camera app, it opens your browser to a page about that person. But if you scan the same QR Code with the conference app, it either takes you directly to his or her profile inside the app, or it might instantly connect you with each other and share your contact information with each other. Brilliant! And that's the kind of fast simplicity we're bringing to podcast-follow links.

Fast Follow is still under development, and I'm advocating for some ways to make it so easy that you wouldn't have to regenerate any QR Codes or update any web pages.

If you're overwhelmed, simply do this

I understand that this can be daunting. That's why I made this simple for you with the FollowthePodcast.com feature you get included when you track your podcast's social proof through My Podcast Reviews. You get a clean and simple page that smartly shows and hides options depending on your visitor's device. Plus, you can customize the URL so it's easily speakable. For example, I can say, “Follow the podcast to get every episode automatically through FollowthePodcast.com/audacity!”

And it will even support Fast Follow when that Podcasting 2.0 standard is finalized!

Try it for free!

Engage your audience and grow your podcast!

Do you ever feel like your podcast is stuck? Like you're pouring your heart into your podcast but it seems like no one is listening?

Try Podgagement to help you engage your audience and grow your podcast!

Get speakable pages to simplify engaging with your audience, accept voicemail feedback (with automatic transcripts), track your ratings and reviews from nearly 200 places, and more!

Ask your questions or share your feedback

• Comment on the show notes
• Leave a voicemail at (903) 231-2221
• Email feedback@TheAudacitytoPodcast.com (audio files welcome)

Follow The Audacity to Podcast

• Apple Podcasts, Spotify, other Android apps, or in your favorite podcast app.
• Subscribe on YouTube for Podcasting Videos by The Audacity to Podcast
• Follow @theDanielJLewis on X-Twitter

Disclosure

This post may contain links to products or services with which I have an affiliate relationship. I may receive compensation from your actions through such links. However, I don't let that corrupt my perspective and I don't recommend only affiliates.

The post This Is the BEST Link to Share Your Podcast first appeared on The Audacity to Podcast.

Is your guest well-known to your audience?

“Celebrities” come in all sizes and niches. So consider whether they'll be known to a broad audience, or even to your own audience.

For example, imagine you have a podcast about dogs and you invite me as a guest. Even though I've had a couple of dogs, I'm known for talking about podcasting and helping podcasters. So your audience wouldn't know me. And any “celebrity” or influencer status I might have is constrained to a couple of small niches, and “dogs” is not one of them.

Since my name would not be known to your audience or niche in this case, you could deprioritize it in your episode title or remove it altogether.

And if you have a guest whose celebrity status is mainstream—like Elon Musk, Michelle Obama, President Donald Trump, or Tim Cook—then definitely put their name prominently in your episode title!

Consider your SEO

Proper and ethical techniques for search engine optimization (SEO) can help your podcast be found for relevant searches. And one such relevant search might be your guest's name.

This usually works better for names of people outside of mass popularity. For example, while Pat Flynn is not a mainstream celebrity, he's been a guest on so many podcasts and there's been so much content about him that you probably wouldn't receive much of an SEO boost by being yet another podcast that interviews Pat Flynn. Thus, there's not as much SEO value in his name alone anymore.

However, if there's someone strongly associated with your own niche and known within it, then their name could provide huge SEO benefit to your podcast. For example, if you interview a cast member from a TV show you podcast about. They're probably a true celebrity, but there's not a flood of content about them and interviews with specifically that one person. So the associations with their name can help boost your SEO.

Consider your guest's SEO

Now flip this around and think about the value you offer to your guest.

Sidenote: having guests on your podcast should be primarily about the value they bring to your audience and the value you can give them, and much less about the value they might give you.

If you can focus your conversation around your guest's expertise (and I recommend that you do!), then having their name in your descriptive episode title will help boost their SEO, authority, and influence. This works by associating those special keywords in your title with their name.

Let's go back to the example of having me on your podcast about dogs. Although I like dogs (and they're much better than cats!), that's not a subject for which I'm trying to build any authority or influence. Thus, I would be less interested in having my name associated with the subject. But if you have me on your podcast to talk about getting more podcast reviews, that is a subject I want to be known for and would appreciate having my name associated with those relevant keywords.

(Speaking of podcast reviews! Are you still manually checking for all your reviews and giving complicated or alienating instructions to your audience? Check out My Podcast Reviews to save you tons of time tracking your reviews, and get awesome new tools to help you get and use more podcast reviews!)

Consider what's more important: the what, or the who?

First, recognize that every person has value—no matter their niche, skills, size, status, and such. So I'm not referring to whether they are important as a person. Instead, I mean what's most important in the context of your podcast content and your audience.

For example, if you could get an interview on your podcast with Elon Musk, Michelle Obama, President Donald Trump, or Tim Cook, that would probably be far more exciting than whatever they're talking about! Look at what happened when Marc Maron got to interview President Barack Obama. It reached 1 million downloads faster than any other episode ever at that time! And that's because of who the guest was more than what he was talking about. Lots of people who didn't normally listen to Marc Maron's show listened to that one episode because they wanted to hear whatever that guest said in the podcast.

But if you have little me on your podcast about dogs, what I share in your podcast would be more important for your podcast and your audience than who I am. And let's be honest: with such a podcast, the audience probably wouldn't care at all who I am—at least not until after they hear what I have to share.

Structure the title to prioritize what matters to your audience

Almost everything you do with your podcast should filter through the question, “What matters to my audience?”

Thus, use that criterion when you consider applying my previous points to how you structure the title of your episodes.

My general guideline is to make what's most important to your audience be the first thing in your episode titles. If the “who” is more important than the “what,” then put their name first. But if the “what” is more important, then put their name later or omit it completely (depending on these other factors I've shared).

Here are a few title format examples.

• “Elon Musk Shares Why He Bought Twitter”—Since the name is most important, it goes first in this title.
• “Daniel J. Lewis Shares How He Built a Business around Podcasting”—If your podcast is also about podcasting and has an audience of podcasters, then my name might be recognizable enough to put first.
• “Differences Between Raising a Big Dog and a Little Dog”—Here, the stories and information I share will be far more important to your audience than my name. In fact, your audience probably wouldn't care at all who I am, and raising dogs is not a subject for which I'm trying to build authority and influence, so you could put my name last or even omit it entirely.
• “When Should You Edit Your Own Podcast, or Hire Someone Else? With Darrell Darnell”—While Darrell's name may not matter as much to your audience, he is building his authority and influence in podcast-editing because he runs a podcast-production company. So this helps his SEO and it could help yours, too.

Note that these examples are straightforward with putting the name first or last. I've seen some interesting hybrid approaches, too. For example:

• “New iPhones: What Jony Ive Thinks about Apple's New Design”
• “15 Reasons Adam Curry Wants You to Use Podcasting 2.0”
• “Ben Linus Actor, Michael Emerson, Shares Stories from Acting in Lost”

The “trick” here is to simply think about what matters most to your audience, and make that the first part of your episode title, as much as possible.

Use more than their name

Regardless of how important your guest's name is to your audience and the broader world, I urge you to make your title be more than only their name or a verbose pattern with their name (like “Interview with …”).

Don't obsesses over the character length of your titles, as long as they're short enough to share! I see little to no actual benefit in having ultra-short episode titles. Plus, what would you do if you had the same guest back for another episode? And even if they're a super-celebrity, their name alone still won't be as compelling or well-performing for your engagement and audience growth as if you also describe what the episode is about.

Don't forget the author and person fields!

Lastly, no matter how you title your episodes, remember to include your guests' names in your episodes' <itunes:author> (which might be deprecated at the episode/item level) and Podcasting 2.0's <podcast:person> tags. These tags will overwrite your show-level information for this episode (instead of inheriting it, as usual), so make sure you repeat whatever would regularly show.

For example, while my show-level tags are set to “Daniel J. Lewis,” if I ever again have a guest on my podcast, I would set the episode-level author and person tags to “Daniel J. Lewis” and the guest's name (in accordance with how the separate tags work).

Engage your audience and grow your podcast!

Do you ever feel like your podcast is stuck? Like you're pouring your heart into your podcast but it seems like no one is listening?

Try Podgagement to help you engage your audience and grow your podcast!

Get speakable pages to simplify engaging with your audience, accept voicemail feedback (with automatic transcripts), track your ratings and reviews from nearly 200 places, and more!

Ask your questions or share your feedback

• Comment on the show notes
• Leave a voicemail at (903) 231-2221
• Email feedback@TheAudacitytoPodcast.com (audio files welcome)

Follow The Audacity to Podcast

• Apple Podcasts, Spotify, other Android apps, or in your favorite podcast app.
• Subscribe on YouTube for Podcasting Videos by The Audacity to Podcast
• Follow @theDanielJLewis on X-Twitter

Disclosure

This post may contain links to products or services with which I have an affiliate relationship. I may receive compensation from your actions through such links. However, I don't let that corrupt my perspective and I don't recommend only affiliates.

The post Should You Include Guest Names in Your Podcast Episode Titles? first appeared on The Audacity to Podcast.

In short: publish either in the morning or as soon as possible.

Please listen to my previous episode about the best day of the week to publish for considerations on that. But this episode is only about the time of whatever day you choose.

1. Consistency

Like with your publishing day of the week, consistency is most important. Try to publish at the exact same minute of the same hour on every publishing day.

This helps some legacy systems, including Apple Podcasts, to learn your publishing schedule so they know when to expect new episodes and can catch them more quickly when you publish. (This legacy and resource-intensive process can be replaced with the much faster and resource-conserving Podping protocol in Podcasting 2.0.)

All good podcast-publishing tools will let you schedule when your episode publishes. (So if your publishing tool does not allow scheduling, get a better tool!) And when you know what the published URL will be (as most tools will show you even before you publish), you can even schedule your initial promotion, like posts on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram (through a Business account), an email newsletter, and more.

Just ensure any caching system you use will also automatically update when you publish the new episode. (Most of them do anyway. But watch out for offsite caching systems like Cloudflare.)

2. Usually mornings for your majority audience

So what is the best time? Look at your podcast stats to see how your show performs in different countries and regions. I suggest usually publishing in the early mornings for the time zones of most of your audience. For example, I publish The Audacity to Podcast at 6:00 AM Eastern Time, which is 3:00 AM Pacific time, making the episode available for most of my American audience's morning routines.

Remember these time-zone differences, especially if you're behind the time zones where most of your audience is. For example, 6:00 AM in California is 9:00 AM in Florida. So publishing at 6:00 AM Pacific Time might be too late for the audience in Eastern Time to catch the episode before they start their daily routines.

3. ASAP for urgent content

If you have truly urgent content, then don't worry about being totally consistent. Just publish the episode as quickly as you can!

For example, I once hosted a podcast that discussed a TV show. We did two episodes every week: a short “initial reactions” episode right after the TV episode aired, and a longer “full discussion” episode midway between TV airings. (Aside: it's great to be in Eastern or Central Time for TV aftershow podcasts because you get the first viewing and largest audience since most TV shows air simultaneously in ET and CT.) We recorded that “initial reactions” episode 15 minutes after the TV show aired, and we would live-stream it, too. Then, we would rush to publish it as soon as possible on the same night. We almost always had it up before those in Pacific Time even saw the TV episode, so our podcast episode was already there waiting for them.

Although some legacy apps (that is, those that aren't using Podping from Podcasting 2.0) might not always catch these ASAP episodes quickly, your audience might come to expect them and might be eagerly manually refreshing their apps in order to catch your episode right away.

4. What about after-work content?

You might think that if your podcast is not about business or targeted toward business people, that you should postpone publishing until the afternoon or evening. But I still recommend mornings even in these situations because business people often like to consume non-business content while at work, or commuting to or from work.

In other words—and this applies to this whole concept of timing—don't worry about trying to perfectly time when your episode publishes. Simply stick to mornings for consistency, or as soon as possible for more time-sensitive content and your audience will listen when they want, as long as your episode is available by that time.

Engage your audience and grow your podcast!

Do you ever feel like your podcast is stuck? Like you're pouring your heart into your podcast but it seems like no one is listening?

Try Podgagement to help you engage your audience and grow your podcast!

Get speakable pages to simplify engaging with your audience, accept voicemail feedback (with automatic transcripts), track your ratings and reviews from nearly 200 places, and more!

Ask your questions or share your feedback

• Comment on the show notes
• Leave a voicemail at (903) 231-2221
• Email feedback@TheAudacitytoPodcast.com (audio files welcome)

Follow The Audacity to Podcast

• Apple Podcasts, Spotify, other Android apps, or in your favorite podcast app.
• Subscribe on YouTube for Podcasting Videos by The Audacity to Podcast
• Follow @theDanielJLewis on X-Twitter

Disclosure

This post may contain links to products or services with which I have an affiliate relationship. I may receive compensation from your actions through such links. However, I don't let that corrupt my perspective and I don't recommend only affiliates.

The post What’s the Best Time of Day to Publish Podcast Episodes? first appeared on The Audacity to Podcast.

In short: publish the same day as your previous episode.

(Watch for my next episode and article about the best time of day to publish!)

1. Consistency

Consistency is more important than the day itself. Even consistency down to the same minute of the same hour! This is because some legacy systems, including Apple Podcasts, try to learn your publishing schedule so they know when to expect new episodes and can catch them more quickly when you publish.

These kinds of legacy processes (and especially the not-so-smart ones) require a lot of server computing power, but they can be replaced with the much faster and resource-conserving Podping protocol in Podcasting 2.0. (That's where apps and services get pings about your updates within seconds of your publishing the update.)

So first consider what day you can publish on with 100% consistency (except for hiatuses). And don't worry about managing this yourself! All the good podcast-publishing systems let you schedule when your episodes will publish so they can go out “on the dot” and without your presence.

2. Consider your audience

After consistency, think about what might work best for your audience. While content for business people is generally best in the middle of the work week and probably not on the weekends, people are interested in hobbies and entertainment at all times (but may be too engaged in the hobby/entertainment on the weekends).

The point isn't necessarily to publish on the exact day they will play your episode, but to ensure it's ready for them to watch or hear soon after you publish.

However, consistency is still more important because your audience will adapt and might even start to expect your episodes on whatever day you choose.

3. Consider your content

What you talk about might have an inherent schedule or routine to it.

In addition to considering business-focused versus hobby-focused content, consider the rhythm of your topic. For example, a weekly TV show, weekly news wrap-ups, and such.

For subjects that already have a consistent schedule, I recommend recording and publishing your content about halfway between each occurrence. This gives your audience enough time to catch the recurring thing your talk about, enough time to send feedback for your episode, and enough time to play your episode before the next recurring thing happens. Because these things could occur on any day of the week, your podcast about it could also be any day of the week that's around the halfway point, but still consider the other factors I've already mentioned.

If you publish too long after the thing you're talking about, your audience might not have a chance to play your episode, or they might even forget the details of the things you're talking about.

4. Consider your “competition”

Lastly, find other podcasts covering your same subject and consider when they publish.

You'll see studies that show the most popular days for publishing episodes. But that doesn't mean you should publish on those days or even avoid those days. If you're going to look at when other podcasts publish, look only at other podcasts in your same niche and ignore the rest.

You could try publishing before them to try getting your content played first.

You could try publishing after them to ensure your content is unique, cross-references, improves, or is the “last word.”

And you might try to avoid publishing on the same day as others in your niche so your audience doesn't get overwhelmed on that day and choose to skip your episode.

5. Your audience will do whatever they want

Lastly, remember that podcasting is time-shifted, so your audience might hear or watch your episode days, weeks, months, or even years later. And this has little to nothing to do with the “downloads versus streams” debate.

This is why I give these things only as considerations, but consistency is still the most important thing.

Engage your audience and grow your podcast!

Do you ever feel like your podcast is stuck? Like you're pouring your heart into your podcast but it seems like no one is listening?

Try Podgagement to help you engage your audience and grow your podcast!

Get speakable pages to simplify engaging with your audience, accept voicemail feedback (with automatic transcripts), track your ratings and reviews from nearly 200 places, and more!

Ask your questions or share your feedback

• Comment on the show notes
• Leave a voicemail at (903) 231-2221
• Email feedback@TheAudacitytoPodcast.com (audio files welcome)

Follow The Audacity to Podcast

• Apple Podcasts, Spotify, other Android apps, or in your favorite podcast app.
• Subscribe on YouTube for Podcasting Videos by The Audacity to Podcast
• Follow @theDanielJLewis on X-Twitter

Disclosure

This post may contain links to products or services with which I have an affiliate relationship. I may receive compensation from your actions through such links. However, I don't let that corrupt my perspective and I don't recommend only affiliates.

The post What Is the Best Day of the Week to Publish Podcast Episodes? first appeared on The Audacity to Podcast.

Please share this episode with anyone struggling to make their episode artwork appear!

Quick tips for episode artwork

There are a bunch of different images you could make for your podcast and individual episodes (I've previously talked about 7). Here are a few quick guidelines for episode images.

• Follow the same specs as podcast cover art: 1,400- to 3,000-pixel square, RGB color, JPEG or PNG, and smaller than 512 KB (preferably closer to 200 KB).
• Keep your branding as consistent as possible: fonts, colors, layout, icons, mood, and such.
• Include your logo or podcast name, but it doesn't have to be as prominent.
• Focus the artwork on the episode's title and simple imagery that supports that title and the episode's content.
• Ensure the most important parts can be understood if you shrink the artwork to a 1-inch (2.5-cm) square, but most episode artwork will display almost as wide as your smartphone's screen.
• Remember that this artwork will show most prominently in the “now playing” interface of the app, possibly the lock screen, and possibly an attached device (like a smartwatch, TV, or in-car display).

Now that you have episode artwork, there are three places you should put it to make it show up in podcast apps.

1. ID3 tags

Audio files can have metadata embedded in the files through the “ID3 tags.” This includes the title, author, chapters, other text, and images.

(Aside: I couldn't find that “ID3” actually stands for anything!)

Overcast and several other podcast apps use the image inside your ID3 tags. Some automations (such as Zapier, Repurpose.io, webpage-embedded players, and platform importers) also use the image in the ID3 tags.

Any ID3 editor should let you add at least one image (and I recommend adding only one to your ID3 tags). Here are the ID3 editors I recommend:

• ID3 Editor from PA Software ($15, Windows and macOS)—This was the best $15 I've spent in podcasting!
• iTunes (free; Windows, OS X, and macOS up to 10.14) / Apple Music (macOS 10.15 and later)
• Mp3Tag (free for Windows, $19.99 for macOS)
• Your podcast-hosting provider's built-in tagging tools

This should be the first and most important place for your episode artwork. Even if you don't make unique images for each episode, make sure your episodes always include your main podcast cover art in the ID3 tags.

2. RSS feed

There are two RSS tags that can hold your episode-level artwork: the <itunes:image> tag from Apple's “iTunes namespace,” and the <podcast:images> tag from the Podcasting 2.0 “podcast namespace.”

You'll see these (especially the legacy tag from the “iTunes namespace”) at the top level for your whole podcast (called “channel-level”), and they can also be used for individual episodes (called “item-level”). These link out to the cover art hosted somewhere.

Like with all things Podcasting 2.0, the <podcast:images> tag lets you do more! You can already specify different images for different sizes. For example, an image with only an icon at 150 pixels wide, an image with the title and icon at 600 pixels wide, and an image with more at 1,200 pixels wide. There might be other features in the future, too!

Interjection: Apple Podcasts still won't display episode artwork

Ironically, Apple Podcasts doesn't actually display episode images from RSS feeds using Apple's own namespace tag! Their documentation even still encourages using it for an “episode-specific image you would like listeners to see”!

Episode tag: <itunes:image>

Parent tag: <item>

The episode artwork.

You should use this tag when you have a high quality, episode-specific image you would like listeners to see.

Specify your episode artwork using the href attribute in the tag. RSS Feed Sample.

Depending on their device, listeners see your episode artwork in varying sizes. Therefore, make sure your design is effective at both its original size and at thumbnail size. You should include a title, brand, or source name as part of your episode artwork. To avoid technical issues when you update your episode artwork, be sure to:

• Change the artwork file name and URL at the same time
• Verify the web server hosting your artwork allows HTTP head requests

Artwork must be a minimum size of 1400 x 1400 pixels and a maximum size of 3000 x 3000 pixels, in JPEG or PNG format, 72 dpi, with appropriate file extensions (.jpg, .png), and in the RGB colorspace. These requirements are different from the standard RSS image tag specifications.

Make sure the file type in the URL matches the actual file type of the image file.

“A Podcaster’s Guide to RSS,” retrieved December 19, 2022. Emphasis added.

For some years now, the only places your episode artwork showed in Apple podcasts were in episode search results, on the Apple Podcasts webpage preview, and when playing an episode from the catalog—not from the library! But apparently, sometime in 2022 (maybe with the release of iOS 16 or one of its updates), Apple ended even these behaviors. We used to wonder which behavior was the “bug”: not displaying episode artwork to followers, or displaying it at all. Now, it seems that displaying it at all was the bug. So now, it seems the only place Apple displays the episode artwork is on the Apple Podcasts episode webpage preview, like this one.

Until Apple Podcasts fixes this—if they ever do—there's one trick I figured out to still get episode artwork to show in Apple Podcasts.

And I'm not referring to the trick of changing your show-level artwork every time you publish a new episode (like No Agenda does)! This might seem to work, but only for the latest episode. It leaves old episodes to show the same image in Apple Podcasts and any app that ignores episode-level images.

3. Chapters (episode artwork workaround for Apple Podcasts)

While Apple Podcasts does not currently support its own <itunes:image> tag for episode artwork, it does support chapters and chapter images! In fact, I used it for this very section of the podcast to demonstrate a different image in a chapter.

Chapters are a way of dividing your content in podcast apps. This allows your audience to quickly see your content outline; skip to or away from sections; and see a title, optional image, and an optional hyperlink for each chapter. (I've proposed for Podcasting 2.0 to expand chapters to support rich content, like image galleries and basic-formatted text.)

Like episode artwork, chapters are a way of enhancing the experience for your audience. And you can use chapters as a trick to force the Apple Podcasts app to display episode artwork!

You can use a different image for each chapter, and Apple Podcasts and other apps will switch to that image while that chapter plays. When a chapter is playing without an image, podcast apps will switch back to the main podcast cover art.

If you have only a single episode image, there are three ways you could force this to display using chapters, but each has some drawbacks.

• Make only a single chapter and make it include the episode artwork. This can work, but the presence of any chapters (even only one) will trigger the chapter interface in podcast apps. That becomes wasted space and potentially confusing to see only a single chapter. It's like giving you notes to a speech and the whole outline is merely the word “Speech.”
• Put the episode artwork in every chapter. Since a chapter without an image will revert to the podcast cover art, you could insert the same image into every chapter and your audience would never see it change. But this is cumbersome to do. It also unnecessarily bloats the MP3 because each chapter's image takes up more space, even if it's the same image on multiple chapters.
• Put the episode artwork in only the first chapter(s). A hybrid of the previous methods, this will cause the episode artwork to display when your audience first starts playing the episode and for as long as that first chapter continues. If your first chapter is really short, then you could put the image in the next chapter, but not all the chapters. This won't take as much space as repeating the image across all chapters, but it also means Apple Podcasts will revert to the show-level podcast cover art after moving past the chapter with the image.

While this tip focuses on Apple Podcasts, I suspect it would also work for any other app that supports chapters but not episode artwork.

Is episode artwork worth making?

(I seem to be asking “Is it worth it?” questions a lot lately!)

You need to keep in mind it's possible a podcast app or directory still won't display your episode artwork even if you implement all three of these methods.

Besides that, some of your audience might never even see your beautiful episode artwork because their device screen is off or covered during the whole time they listen to your episode.

So is it really worth the effort to make individual artwork for each episode?

I think it is! First, because it enhances the experience for your audience. And second, because you can use the episode artwork (along with several other layouts of the same design) to make your podcast look better when you embed it and promote it! For example, I take the exact same square artwork I put in my episode and I post it on my Instagram (@theDanielJLewis) to promote my new episode.

Please check out my previous episode for resources on how to create your episode images: “7 Kinds of Podcast Images for Marketing and Branding.”

Engage your audience and grow your podcast!

Do you ever feel like your podcast is stuck? Like you're pouring your heart into your podcast but it seems like no one is listening?

Try Podgagement to help you engage your audience and grow your podcast!

Get speakable pages to simplify engaging with your audience, accept voicemail feedback (with automatic transcripts), track your ratings and reviews from nearly 200 places, and more!

Ask your questions or share your feedback

• Comment on the show notes
• Leave a voicemail at (903) 231-2221
• Email feedback@TheAudacitytoPodcast.com (audio files welcome)

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• Apple Podcasts, Spotify, other Android apps, or in your favorite podcast app.
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Disclosure

This post may contain links to products or services with which I have an affiliate relationship. I may receive compensation from your actions through such links. However, I don't let that corrupt my perspective and I don't recommend only affiliates.

The post How to Make Episode Artwork Show in Podcast Apps (even in Apple Podcasts!) first appeared on The Audacity to Podcast.

Seasons share many similarities with episode numbers, so please read or listen to my previous episode, “Should You Include Episode Numbers in Episode Titles?” That will give you the extra context upon which this episode will build. But we can be thankful that seasons are not as complicated as episode numbers!

Do you even need seasons?

I made an episode back in 2015, “Should You Podcast in Seasons?” that I think answers the question in great detail (maybe even exhausting detail). So please go back to read or listen to that for more information. And here's a concise and updated summary of my thoughts about seasons.

Similar to whether you should use episode numbers, I challenge you to question whether seasons will matter to your audience, especially if they listen a year from now.

I recommend you use seasons only when each season follows a particular theme or arc. For example, each season of Serial told a completely different story, each season (and sometimes half season) of serial TV shows has a separate story arc, and I've heard other podcasts follow different formats in different seasons (like a “tools” season, a “top 10” season, a “client stories” season, and beginner/intermediate/advanced seasons).

Put another way, the audience can easily associate a theme or arc with the season because the seasons actually make sense and serve an obvious purpose.

But if you are thinking of using seasons merely for your schedule, then I don't think you should use seasons. If you need a planned hiatus, then simply announce and take the planned hiatus! There's no need to use seasons if you only need a break. Your current and future audience likely won't care about these “seasons,” and they won't even make sense to your future audience.

If your audience will not notice any big content changes progressing immediately from one season to the next, then the seasons are probably not necessary.

But with the assumption that your show does need seasons, let's consider how to best display them with your episodes.

Use the season RSS tags

Both the Apple “iTunes Namespace” and Podcasting 2.0 “Podcast Namespace” offer RSS tags for indicating seasons.

For Apple Podcasts, the season tag is <itunes:season>, which allows only a non-zero number. For Podcasting 2.0, the tag is <podcast:season>. But, of course, the Podcasting 2.0 season tag offers more by letting you give each season a name instead of only a number. So the first season could be labeled “Getting Started,” the second season could be “Growing,” and the third season could be “Improving.” Use both tags as well as you can until all apps upgrade to the modern Podcasting 2.0 standard.

When you use these season tags, modern podcast apps can more intelligently display the season information in appropriate contexts and possibly group your episodes by season. It can even cause an entire season to download or start playing at the beginning of the latest season when you combine this with the “serial” podcast type.

Apple started offering this season tag with the release of iOS 11 back in 2017. Pocket Casts supported it quickly, too. Both Apple Podcasts and Pocket Casts provide good examples of how the seasons might be displayed.

First, neither app (and probably no other podcast app out there) will put the season number in the episode title, like Apple Podcasts sometimes does with episode numbers.

If your podcast type is “episodic” or not indicated (which defaults to “episodic”), Apple Podcasts does not display the season number in the episode listing or player, but only in the meta information when you open an episode.

If your podcast type is “serial,” Apple Podcasts groups episodes by season, lets you filter by season or all episodes, and shows the season number in the meta information both when opening and playing an episode.

Pocket Casts, however, does not seem to display “episodic” or “serial” podcast types any differently. In Pocket Casts, the season number is shown with other episode meta information in the episode listing, but apparently not anywhere else.

Podcasting 2.0 apps usually support the <podcast:season> tag and display the season name, if present. Some apps might group episodes under their seasons, like Apple Podcasts does for “serial” podcast types; and other apps might merely show the season with other meta information in the episode listing, like Pocket Casts.

As you can tell, this is much simpler and less prominent than episode numbers. And this makes sense because seasons are a much larger context and are more important in making groups of episodes than indicating individual episodes.

Use your webpage field and groups, if available

You might have your podcast website from your podcast-hosting provider (like Captivate), on WordPress with a great podcast theme like SecondLine Themes, or with a third-party tool like Podpage or Podcastpage. (I will have a future episode about how to choose from these options.)

Each of these website-management methods might offer a season field that, like the RSS tag, allows the website to display the season number in better places. But since the season information is not very important to individual episodes, any kind of display will probably be only in the episode meta information and maybe with separate collections for each season.

Even if your content-management system (CMS) doesn't support podcast seasons, you easily group episodes of a season together by giving them the same tag or category. Then, your website probably allows you to make a page, episode list, or player that contains only that season's episodes (based on the shared tag or category), just like you could make a collection of episodes based on any other tag or category.

Seasons in titles

Seasons are simpler than episode numbers, and I couldn't find any CMS or podcast app that automatically puts the season number inside the episode titles.

So should you?

While I already think your audience probably does not need episode numbers, I think they need season numbers even less. So for this reason, I suggest not including the seasons in your titles, with a couple of exceptions.

Include the season in the title if your episode is about a season, like “Season 2 trailer,” “Behind the scenes of season 3,” or “Season 1 bloopers.”

If your podcast is about other content that has seasons, like a TV aftershow podcast, you might want to include the TV show's season and episode numbers in the titles, but not the podcast's own season and episode numbers, which could be different. For example, my retired podcast about the Once Upon a Time TV show would have 2–3 episodes per week while the TV show would have only 1 episode per week. This is because we would usually have an “initial reactions” episode the night of the TV episode, a “full discussion” episode halfway between TV episodes, and sometimes a “spoilers” episode shortly after that (or included at the end of the “full discussion” episode). So by the time the whole TV series ended, we had published more than 350 episodes, and our episode numbers would not align at all with the TV show's. But we did align our seasons, and would indicate the TV show's season and episode number we were talking about within our episode titles since some people might actually search for content about the TV show by its season and episode numbers.

And that's it! These same guidelines can probably apply to all the other contexts and that full list of 6 places where you could have separate titles:

1. The RSS feed item's future <podcast:title> tag from the Podcasting 2.0 namespace (when this tag is finalized), which is the title Podcasting 2.0 apps will use
2. The RSS feed item's <itunes:title> tag from the “iTunes” namespace, which is the title Apple Podcasts and a few other apps will use first
3. The RSS feed item's <title> tag, which is the fallback if #1 and #2 are missing or unsupported
4. The webpage's HTML metadata titles for social networks, which show in embedded previews when the post is shared on some social networks
5. The webpage's HTML <title> tag, which shows in the tab bar, bookmarks, search-engine previews, and is the default message text for social-sharing
6. The post title/heading (usually in an <h1> HTML tag), which shows prominently on the webpage

If you would (very unlikely) need the season in one of these titles, you'll most likely need it in all of them, unlike episode numbers.

And if you include seasons in your titles, please don't make the season and episode number the only things in your titles!

Put seasons on all episodes, if possible

If you start using seasons, consider editing even all your old episodes so they contain the relevant season information. If you have some episodes with seasons and some without, Apple Podcasts will group all the non-season episodes into “Unknown season.” They used to do that for any podcast with seasons, but it seems they've now limited that behavior to only podcasts with the “serial” podcast type.

And remember that seasons will likely affect groupings, too. So if your website has separate lists for episodes from each season, any episode marked for season 1 will be listed in season 1, no matter when it's published. This is the same way Apple Podcasts works with “serial” type podcasts. And it will play all of a season's episodes in order with this podcast type. But other apps most likely play and display episodes by published date.

How to write the seasons

If you're going to include seasons in your titles, or refer to episodes by their season and episode number, I think there are only two popular conventions for it:

1. Uppercase S, season number, space, uppercase E, episode number (without leading zeros), like “S2 E7″—This is how Apple Podcasts and Pocket Casts will abbreviate season and episode numbers. I've also seen variations without the space, with lowercase letters, and with leading zeros. But I recommend the capitalized and spaced version.
2. Less popular: Season number, lowercase X or × (multiplication sign), episode number (possibly with one or two leading zeros for clarity), like “2×07″—WordPress will probably automatically change the letter x in this format to the multiplication sign.

Either of these would be in places where you're referring to only a single episode. But don't follow this format for whole-season content, like “Season 1 trailer” and such.

Whether you write “season 1” or “first season” is up to you. “Season 1” seems to be easier to read, but “first season” is more formal and it's also how most TV shows write it. I think this might simply be a matter of what sounds or looks best in its context. But when in an episode title, such as for a trailer, I think the “season 1” format is better because it's shorter and the number is clear.

Are seasons worth it?

We don't face the same complications with season numbers (and season names in Podcasting 2.0!) as we face with episode numbers. You're also probably even less likely to need seasons unless they make sense to your audience beyond a schedule.

So the technical “cost” of using seasons is much less than episode numbers. And their usefulness is less, too (except for serial-type podcasts).

To figure out whether seasons are worth it and how you should include them in your titles and meta information should come down to what makes the most sense for your audience and actually enhances their experience. If it doesn't enhance your audience's experience, then it's probably not worth the small additional effort.

Engage your audience and grow your podcast!

Do you ever feel like your podcast is stuck? Like you're pouring your heart into your podcast but it seems like no one is listening?

Try Podgagement to help you engage your audience and grow your podcast!

Get speakable pages to simplify engaging with your audience, accept voicemail feedback (with automatic transcripts), track your ratings and reviews from nearly 200 places, and more!

Ask your questions or share your feedback

• Comment on the show notes
• Leave a voicemail at (903) 231-2221
• Email feedback@TheAudacitytoPodcast.com (audio files welcome)

Follow The Audacity to Podcast

• Apple Podcasts, Spotify, other Android apps, or in your favorite podcast app.
• Subscribe on YouTube for Podcasting Videos by The Audacity to Podcast
• Follow @theDanielJLewis on X-Twitter

Disclosure

This post may contain links to products or services with which I have an affiliate relationship. I may receive compensation from your actions through such links. However, I don't let that corrupt my perspective and I don't recommend only affiliates.

The post Should You Include Seasons in Podcast Episode Titles? first appeared on The Audacity to Podcast.

But I'll give this warning: it's, unfortunately, more complicated than it should be!

Do you even need episode numbers?

I originally intended this episode to be about whether you should even use episode numbers. But then I listened to “Are episode numbers REALLY necessary?” from May 2014, and I think I've already addressed that question in enough detail in that old but timeless episode. So go back to listen if you haven't already heard it or if it's been a while.

In short: does your audience need episode numbers? If not, then neither does your podcast. But if you answered yes, then here's the follow-up question: do they “need” episode numbers because you make your audience need them?

You also need to consider possible confusions, like “2. Ways to Skin a Cat,” which could easily be misunderstood as there being only two ways. Or consider the confusion of multiple numbers together, like “10. 9 Ways to Be Awesome”—is it 10 ways, or is it 9 ways?

Generally, I think most podcasts don't need episode numbers (especially if episode titles frequently already start with numbers), and would be better not to use them. The only kinds of podcasts I would say with confidence do need episode numbers are those that need to be consumed in a particular order. For example:

• A fiction podcast that only makes sense chronologically (this is a great use for the “serial” podcast type)
• A training series where each episode builds on the previous episode like lessons in a course
• Any show that discusses other chronological content, like fan podcasts about book series, movie sagas, serialized TV shows (as most are these days), and historical miniseries

If you use episode numbers to point your audience to a “/[number]” URL, then you can probably still do without episode numbers by switching to keyword-based URLs (I use Pretty Links Pro for this). I've done that with The Audacity to Podcast ever since that old episode about episode numbers. There are some exceptions to this, like a news podcast that covers so many stories that there's no one logical keyword, and a date-based URL would be too complicated.

So with the assumption that your show does need episode numbers, let's consider how to best display them with your episode titles.

Use the episode-number RSS tags

Before diving in, I should define that “namespaces” are the way to extend the features of an RSS feed. Both the Apple Podcasts RSS specs (called the “iTunes namespace”) and Podcasting 2.0's “podcast namespace” offer RSS tags for episode numbers. If you ever look at the raw code for your RSS feed, you can easily spot namespace-added tags by anything that has a colon. For example, <itunes:image> or <content:encoded>.

For Apple Podcasts, the episode-number tag is <itunes:episode>; for Podcasting 2.0, the tag is <podcast:episode>. But, of course, the Podcasting 2.0 episode tag offers more features. You can use decimals, like “20.5,” for partial or in-between episodes, but I don't actually recommend that kind of numbering. The 2.0 tag also lets you change the display text, such as “Chapter 6” or “Day 6” instead of “Episode 6.” Use both tags as well as you can until all apps upgrade to the modern Podcasting 2.0 standard.

When you use these episode-number tags, modern podcast apps can more intelligently display the episode number in more appropriate contexts, and even ensure proper chronological playback (when combined with the “serial” podcast type tag).

Apple started this episode-number tag with the release of iOS 11 back in 2017, and the Apple Podcasts app provides great examples of how the episode numbers might be displayed:

• In the list of episodes, the episode number might be added to the beginning of the episode title, like “5. Starting Your Website.” (Displaying like this requires using the <itunes:title> tag, which I explain below.)
• When opening the episode, the episode number might be displayed above the title with other meta information. This might look like, “July 20 • Episode 5 • 47 minutes.”
• Sometimes, the episode number might not display at all until you open or play the episode; or it might even stop displaying when you open or play the episode. This depends on how you use other RSS tags.

Pocket Casts was another app quick to support Apple's new tags, so it displays the episode numbers similarly. And as Podcasting 2.0 apps are being developed, they're usually already including support for the <podcast:episode> tag.

Use your webpage field, if available

You might have your podcast website from your podcast-hosting provider (like Captivate), on WordPress with a great podcast theme like SecondLine Themes, or with a third-party tool like Podpage or Podcastpage. (I will have a future episode about how to choose from these options.)

Each of these website-management methods might offer an episode-number field that, like the RSS tag, allows the website to display the episode number in better places and maybe use it for some additional features (like a special player or a badge).

On The Audacity to Podcast‘s website, I enter the episode number into a field that SecondLine Themes gives me. This displays the episode number along with post meta information, like date, category, length, and comments. But the episode number does not display inside the title.

I chose this way for my show because I do still populate the episode-number field, at least for now. But this is as prominent as my episode numbers get right now.

How episode numbers work with title tags

Depending on how you create your website and RSS feed, you could have up to 6 places to insert an episode title!

1. The RSS feed item's future <podcast:title> tag from the Podcasting 2.0 namespace (when this tag is finalized), which is the title Podcasting 2.0 apps will use
2. The RSS feed item's <itunes:title> tag from the “iTunes” namespace, which is the title Apple Podcasts and a few other apps will use first
3. The RSS feed item's <title> tag, which is the fallback if #1 and #2 are missing or unsupported
4. The webpage's HTML metadata titles for social networks, which show in embedded previews when the post is shared on some social networks
5. The webpage's HTML <title> tag, which shows in the tab bar, bookmarks, search-engine previews, and is the default message text for social-sharing
6. The post title/heading (usually in an <h1> HTML tag), which shows prominently on the webpage

You might have noticed that this is also the general order of priority and fallback. Or put another way, all publishing systems let you enter the post title, and then likely carry that over into the HTML title and the RSS item's title. But some systems give you full control to write each title separately. And episode numbers provide a good reason to leverage that extra control!

First, let's crush a myth that came from a misunderstanding. This is, unfortunately, a little complicated, which is probably why it was so easily misunderstood.

Apple will not kick out your podcast if you have episode numbers in your normal episode titles. But if you use Apple's <itunes:title> tag, it must contain only the title—no episode numbers, season numbers, or your podcast name. If you violate this rule and put episode numbers in Apple's <itunes:title> tag, that could lead to a suspension. But to say it again, you won't get in trouble for episode numbers in the normal <title> tag.

And the complexity continues!

If you use the<itunes:episode> tag (for the episode number) but don't use <itunes:title>, then this episode number will probably display only when opening the episode or maybe playing the episode (depending on some other factors). I made a few episodes of The Audacity to Podcast like this to demonstrate it.

In these example episodes, I put the episode numbers in only the <itunes:episode> tags for each episode and I did not use the <itunes:title> tag. I also did not put episode numbers in the normal RSS <title> tag. So in this case, Apple Podcasts displays the episode number when opening the episode view, but not in the episode player or list of episodes.

But if you appropriately use both the <itunes:episode> and <itunes:title> tags on an “episodic” podcast type (which is the default and what most podcasts are), then Apple Podcasts shows the episode numbers in the title within the episode list, as I show in three more examples from The Audacity to Podcast:

Even when using both tags are used properly, the episode number will not display in the episode player for “episodic” podcast types (the default show type). But if your podcast type is “serial,” then the episode number will display in both the minimized and full-screen players in Apple Podcasts, and even differently in episode lists. I randomly found a “serial” type podcast to illustrate this:

Complicated, right?

In Apple Podcasts and other apps that use the <itunes:title> or <podcast:title> tag, that title text will be used instead of the normal <title> tag. And if you don't use those specialized tags, then whatever text you put in the normal <title> tag will display in all podcast apps. The only exception I've seen to this is for Overcast and maybe a couple of other apps that remove verbatim repetitions from the start of your titles. For example, Emily Prokop's old—but still great—podcast, The Story Behind, used to title all episodes similarly: “The Story Behind [Thing],” resulting in Overcast's displaying only the “[Thing]” part. But Emily has since removed “The Story Behind” from her episode titles, even though this was a case where it actually made sense to repeat the show title.

And as these screenshots show, how you use other tags also affects how your episode numbers display in Apple Podcasts and some other apps.

I think this is good. It means you actually have more control over how your episode information displays. And the whole reason Apple did this is to improve the experience for your current and potential audiences.

Put episode numbers in normal titles as fallbacks (yes, this is acceptable)

All that complicated mess of different titles and ways of displaying episode numbers can be overwhelming, but remember this: it's still entirely acceptable to put episode numbers in your normal <title> tag! I still suggest also using the <itunes:episode> and <itunes:title> tags if you want to leverage the smarter display features in Apple Podcasts and similar apps.

But the <title> tag is the fallback and what most apps still use. So if you need to show episode numbers in every podcast app, put the episode number in this normal title.

This might seem redundant—because it is! But the redundancy is necessary to fully leverage all the features in all the apps and provide the proper fallbacks when features aren't supported.

Put episode numbers in post titles for website visitors

Depending on whether your website smartly uses episode numbers, you might want to put episode numbers in your post titles as well so they display when browsing your site or opening episode webpages.

As I shared above, episode numbers aren't important for The Audacity to Podcast, so I don't put them in titles, only in the meta information fields.

If, however, the episode numbers are important for the enjoyment of your show, then include the numbers in your post titles so they display prominently on your site.

Do not include episode numbers in the HTML <title> or social shares

Outside your context—that is, your website or a podcast player with your show—episode numbers in the titles probably won't matter at all, even if they matter to the audience of your show.

Think about how your episodes display in website search results or when shared on social networks. In these external contexts, the episode numbers are far less relevant and can probably be omitted from the titles.

For example, make your tweet or search results say “Starting Your Website” as the title instead of “5. Starting Your Website.”

To accomplish this, your website content-management system (CMS) needs to let you edit the HTML <title> tag separately from the post title. To do this on WordPress, you need an SEO plugin, like Yoast SEO or All in One SEO, which will add the additional field to overwrite the HTML <title>. Otherwise, WordPress will simply use your post title in the HTML <title>.

It's also this HTML <title> tag that will populate social-sharing, by default: both the text of the share (like a tweet) and how the post might be embedded like a card.

But other tools can let you modify these, too, at least to some extent!

On WordPress, I like Social Warfare to add social-sharing buttons to my posts. This also lets me customize the text of these buttons to Tweet and or share to Pinterest. And it sets the hidden metadata used for the embeds. Yoast SEO and All in One SEO can also set that hidden metadata.

The tags look like this:

• <meta property="og:title" content="" /> for Facebook
• <meta name="twitter:title" content="" /> for Twitter

Because these are generally seen outside your context, they should probably not include episode numbers.

How to write the episode numbers

There are countless conventions for how you actually write the episode numbers in your titles.

According to my tests, it seems every app that smartly reads an episode-number field and shows that with the title will put the number in the front, followed by a period and a space. For example, “5. Starting Your Website.”

I've previously taught some alternative ways of writing episode numbers, primarily under the general suggestion to avoid front-loaded patterns. That's any kind of pattern—verbatim or in format—that repeats across multiple episodes. For example, show notes that always start with, “In this episode, we talk about ….”

Front-loaded patterns are generally bad, and I think the tiny space an episode number uses is the one possible exception.

So if episode numbers are necessary for your audience, then do put the episode number first. But the only way I recommend writing that is in the smallest way possible: episode number, period, space, and then the episode title, like “5. Starting Your Website.”

Don't use a pound sign (“#”) or the word “Episode.” Things like these will only waste space and distract. Just consider how much wider and more pixels it takes for a pound sign versus a period!

If the episode numbers are not necessary for your audience, then move the episode number to the end of the title, or remove it altogether. If it's at the end of the title, then you could write something longer, like “episode 5” or use more special characters. You might also want to consider this expanded writing style for your website where it might not be obvious that it's a podcast episode or it's surrounded by non-podcast posts. But I'm referring to this for only places outside podcast apps.

On a website context where you have a lot more content than podcast episodes, you might even want to write “podcast episode #5” on the end of the title. But this can start looking messy, too. Since you usually have more options on a website, I would more highly recommend making a “Podcast Episodes” list or page for your episodes instead of mixing them in a list of non-podcast content. Also consider other aspects of your website context to determine how to best write the episode number in your title, if at all. For example, if your episode posts are always displayed with episode players or a particular background color, even in search results.

I no longer recommend the show abbreviation format like I used to do: ” – TAP359.” In fact, I'll be having these removed from all past episodes. A potentially good reason to do this is when a podcast network offers an RSS feed of all podcasts in the network, and it's necessary to see which episodes are to which show. But I now also doubt it's even necessary or beneficial to create such an all-inclusive feed anyway.

I also recommend that you not include any zeros before your episode number. Just write “5” instead of “005.” You might do this differently for season-and-episode indicators, but I'll discuss that more in a separate episode.

If the episode numbers are already built into your sequential-style titles, like “Chapter 5: …” or “Day 6: …,” then you might not need to write or display the additional episode numbers at all.

Are episode numbers worth it?

As you can recognize, properly including episode numbers can be complicated with several technical options and multiple contexts to consider.

You need to decide whether it's even worth it.

You could take the “lazy” approach and put the numbers in your regular titles and let them display everywhere. But that could negatively affect the experience in countless places. Even though that's the way podcasts have done it since the beginning, we have more and better options now that make the audience experience better.

So maybe none of this is worth the hassle at all, and you could podcast completely without episode numbers. I stopped even mentioning episode numbers with The Audacity to Podcast, now referencing episode webpages only by a keyword URL instead of a number URL. And absolutely no one has complained and it has made my processes easier!

Currently, the only place you'll see my essentially meaningless episode numbers (except for some of my tests) is in the file name, ID3 metadata, and on the webpage's meta information. But I don't speak these episode numbers to you. This gives me the freedom to reorder episodes however I want. That freedom is especially handy if I've already recorded episodes I want to reorder before I publish them!

What should you do?

There are many factors, and I hate that some of these can be confusing and inconsistent! But no matter the processes (which will improve), it's ultimately your decision to do what's best for your podcast and your audience.

And the priority there should what's best for your audience.

Please comment on this episode if you have additional thoughts or follow-up questions!

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Disclosure

This post may contain links to products or services with which I have an affiliate relationship. I may receive compensation from your actions through such links. However, I don't let that corrupt my perspective and I don't recommend only affiliates.

The post Should You Include Episode Numbers in Episode Titles? first appeared on The Audacity to Podcast.