Podcasting is the fastest growing media on the planet right now. With that distinction, many people are “trying” to become podcasters without giving much thought to what their new listeners will hear.
Instead of just posting content for the sake of it, plan out your episodes. Plan what you will say. Plan the environment in which you will be recording. Plan how the final product will sound to your listeners.
In other words, approach this from the perspective of your listeners and not from the convenience of you just making the recordings.
To help you in this area, I’ve put together a quick list of some common mistakes new podcasters will make when entering this new medium of communication. By paying attention to these simple things, the quality of your podcast will improve and your listeners will come back for more!
Don’t use a cheap microphone! Although many smartphones, tablets, and computers have built-in microphones, if this is your recording source, be careful.
1. Stay close to the microphone source. These microphones pick up a lot of background noise. The further away you are, the more background noise will affect your recording.
2. Try to record in a relatively quiet environment to maximize the microphone’s ability to record only your voice.
3. Please try upgrading to a different microphone as soon as possible. A good USB microphone is not that expensive and will sound better than your computer or smartphone microphone.
Unless the purpose of your podcast is to emphasize the elements of a live stream (type of podcast on the spot), you’ll need to edit each episode.
1. Don’t post an episode without some kind of Intro. This simply tells the audience what your podcast is about and who you are. Without an introduction, they’re just guessing whether they want to listen to your show or not. Most of the time, it will be “no.”
2. Don’t post without some kind of call to action! If your listener has stuck around to the end, use this time to invite them to “subscribe” or “receive this free resource” etc.
3. If someone contacts you, through comments, email, etc., don’t ignore them! If they have taken the time to communicate with you, it means they want to build a relationship in whatever your niche is. If you like coaching or something similar, this is a very good reason to build that trusting relationship through their effort to reach you.
Use a good podcast host that can support your download numbers. There is nothing worse than trying to host your podcast on your own website and visitors getting slow downloads.
1. Download speeds may vary from one website host to another. Also, if your podcast really starts to get massive traction, your website host has the option of slowing down access to your website! This will cause you to lose listeners.
2. Don’t post long episodes thinking this will attract more listeners. In this world, the shorter the better. Although it may take you longer to create 3 ten minute episodes than one 30 minute episode, your listeners will consume more of your content with the shorter versions. Why? Because they could listen to one episode now and the other episodes later.
3. Don’t leave your listeners hanging at the end! Make sure you use a good strong closing and tell them where you want them to go and what you want them to do next. This is what makes a great call to action. By including this in your Outro, you will see more participation from your listeners.
By simply implementing these quick strategies, your quality will improve, and once a new listener discovers your podcast, they’ll want more of your content. If you fail in these areas, it will be very difficult to cultivate any kind of long-term following.