The Essential Items For Your Podcast Website
Let me state, that this has nothing to do with Wordpress vs Wix vs Squarespace. These are the items that I feel should be on your website (and why)
A Play Button
Think of this as a free sample. If someone is going to subscribe to your show, they need to hear it first. This is why there is a guy with the chicken on a toothpick at the mall. It is the teaser, the free sample of your podcast with no commitment to buy.
A Contact Button/Page
I'm not making this up. I just read an article in Pod to Pod, and I read a story about a podcaster that might have a good "Because of My Podcast" story. There wasn't any contact button at the top, bottom, left, or right side of the screen. It wasn't on the about page, it wasn't there. The only way to contact the person was via twitter. Being somewhat of a geek, I pulled up his RSS feed and dug through the code to find it. Realize, nobody is going to dig through your RSS feed to get your email address. Make your contact button easy to find, and don't get cute and name it something like "Let's get coffee." Be sure to test your button/page to make sure you get the messages from your website.
Your About Page
There are two answers here. If your website is primarily the home of your podcast then the first paragraph should be about the show. If your website is the home of your brand (products, press, etc) then the first paragraph should be about the host. Then a second paragraph about the show. In my travels, the about page is one of the pages that receive the most traffic. If you've been podcasting for a bit and have some reviews, take some of the phrases used by your audience and use it in your about page (use the native tongue of your audience).
Subscribe Buttons
We all love to talk about iTunes/Apple Podcasts, as we should. They have a huge amount of the market. There are android phones as well and it's a bit of a chicken or the egg. More podcasts are consumed on Apple products than Android. Well, most podcasters talk about subscribing on Apple products (and leave the android people out to dry). If Google would get off their butt and make a native app for podcast listeners that would be great (they did just purchase the 60 db app). So make sure people can subscribe to your show. You REALLY want to avoid telling people to "Find me in iTunes."
Extra Credit
Don't just make a subscribe page, but add directions with screenshots. You could even do a quick presentation on YouTube Live on how to subscribe to your show, and then send people to the video on YouTube.
There is more power in subscriptions than reviews.
Because Of My Podcast Scott Orr is Going to the Movies for Free
Scott Orr does the Code 3 Podcast and was approached by the people behind the new movie Only the Brave. Check out Scott's podcast for Firemen at code3podcast.com
Not sure what is up with Scott's voice? Check out the first 30 seconds of his show at code3podcast.com
Always Be Open For New Input
I've heard reports from one person or another. Anything on the internet that is repeated enough becomes an undeniable fact. With this in mind, I always stay open to new feedback. I always consider the source and always allow new ideas to challenge my beliefs. If I'm going to believe something, it is typically based on things I believe to be facts. Beliefs are based on input and your ideas and feelings (your feelings can skew the input).
Actions are based on beliefs. Beliefs are based on perceived facts. Facts are based on input into your brain. For example, I don't like coconut. Any candy bar with coconut, I'm not a fan. The one day someone handed me a drink. I wasn't sure what it was, it was supposed to some drink better than soda. It was white. It turned out it was some sort of vanilla coconut mix. I have input. I now can say, I don't like something that is predominantly coconut, but I don't mind it mixed with vanilla. You have to be open to someone challenging a belief (I don't like coconut) and taking a look at the other side of the story (having a sip). Then allowing that information to influence your beliefs, which then influence your actions.
New and Noteworthy Insights
I've been begging people to share their before and after numbers if they got into New and Noteworthy and that is just what Matthew McClain did on this post about downloads from Apple
He states before being on the Front Page of New and Noteworthy, "In this period we had an average of 71 downloads per day." This is with two episodes (36 downloads per episode - DPE)
On their first day, the traffic went, "from 26 total downloads the day before (our lowest day ever) to 241." (122 DPE)
He does say, "We released episode two on the 8th which pretty much doubled the recent total downloads to 1,447" (so he now had three episodes counting his trailer) (482DPE)
One day they reached 1,928 downloads for the day (1928/3 = 642 DPE)
He states, " At the time of writing, episode one has 6,978 downloads, episode two 6,161, and episode three 2,295. So 37% of listeners followed the podcast from episode two to episode three.
According to VP of Podcast Relations Rob Walch when it comes to iTunes/Apple Podcasts rankings, "“100% about the total number of new subscribers in the past 7 days, with a weighted average for the last 24, 48, and 72 hours”
Things to Consider
This was on the FRONT PAGE of iTunes/Apple Podcasts New and Noteworthy (not a category)
Their genre may fit a wider audience than yours.
If you don't make New and Noteworthy, your life is not over. iTunes/Apple Podcasts is a directory, a phone book if you will. It is a central location where people can put in the full name of your show and do a search.
Plays From Your Website Add Up
Ravi Jayagopal (the man behind Digital Access Pass, and the Cool Cast Player along with being the host of the Subscribe Me show sent a link to a post. Last week I mentioned how there are a ton of players out there, but the majority of downloads come via mobile devices. In his post, he pointed out that:
A player on a website is more suitable for "introducing" someone to your podcast - not necessarily for long-term consumption. Introduce on your site, lead them to subscribe on a mobile app on your actual show.
Promote your website to cold and luke-warm traffic, like ad traffic and social-spraying content marketing, so you can cookie/pixel them for later retargeting, promote your brand, show them your face, maybe connect with them with a personable video, offer them your lead-magnet and get them to maybe give your their email id, etc etc. But once they're on your list, promote Apple Podcast and Stitcher and Google Play links to those already on your "list", because they don't need to be "convinced" or "converted" anymore about the value that you provide.
Here is a link to the Facebook Post.
He shows how he is getting thousands of new plays on different websites.
Launching Your Podcast With a Massive Amounts of Downloads
Most good ideas are not a single thought. A single idea comes up, and someone says, "You know what else, you might try this..." I always want people to know that:
- When you launch with more than one episode, the additional episodes do not download automatically.
- New and Noteworthy will not deliver you 10,0000 downloads per episode (if that is the goal)
- While you should focus on generating buzz when you launch, a podcast is a marathon and not a sprint.
Some Reasons Why You Might Not Want to Launch with a Ton (25) New Episodes
- If you record 25 episodes and find out at episode two that people hate your super jumbo deluxe lightning round, they have to sit through 23 episodes (unless you go back and edit them) until you put out a "new" episode with the changes.
- You might pre-fade. What I mean by this is you never make it to episode 25 because you aren't seeing the downloads, getting any feedback, and so you quit before you ever launch.
- People will need to go and download your earlier episodes. By default, they will download your latest episode, and then manually download 1-24.
Some Reasons Why Might Want to Launch with 25
- You maybe have found your voice by episode 25, and with episode 26 you sound more confident, organized and professional. Maybe it's not such a bad idea.
- If you can't come up with 25 episodes, maybe you shouldn't be podcasting?
A Compromise on Launching Your Podcast with 25 Episodes
Instead of putting all your 25 episodes out at the same time, release your episodes (one at a time) to your website, and to your feed. However, don't submit your show to any directories like iTunes/Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn, Google Play music just yet. You can tell your friends if you want, but any traffic will come from people searching for your content via search engines. You might also use Facebook to assemble a "Focus Group" and ask people for feed.
This way you can get feedback as you are creating it. When you get to a certain number where you feel confident your show will have a positive impact on your target audience, submit it to the directories, sound out an email blast, tell your friends, family, and neighbors, and do your "launch."
Questions Of The Month
I have two questions for you to chime in on.
- What will you be doing differently in 2018 with your podcast? (please answer by 11/20 put "2018" in the subject line to email dave"at" schoolofpodcasting.com). This will be used the last week of November
- What is your ONE favorite podcast and WHY? (please email that by 11/20 with the email subject line "my favorite podcast is 2017").This will be used in our Year End "My favorite Podcast is" episode.
Podcasting in Six Weeks Starts in January 2018
This will be a live group coaching session. If you're interested (more information next week) get on the waiting list at startapodcastinsixweeks.com
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