008: The One Thing EVERY Podcaster Should Have
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With so much information out there, it’s normal to feel overwhelmed by how many things - big and small - experts suggest for you to do as a podcaster to build a successful show. And when I say a successful show, I mean a show with lots of listeners. Of course, you can decide what success really means for you.
There is one thing that I believe can truly be a make or break, and I recommend it to every single one of my clients. Folks, you have to have a website for your podcast. Whether you are using your podcast to promote your existing company or to help you build a new brand — a website is the key to success.
You may already have a website for the company or brand you’re growing, and that’s perfectly fine. You can create a podcast tab within that website and reap the same benefits. And you should! But if you don’t have an existing website, then your show needs its own site. Either way, consider this site your listener’s one-stop shop and a place that you shouldn’t wait for a huge following to create but rather as leverage to help you create that larger listenership.
I am going to take you through how to build a podcast website, take out the overwhelm of options, and lay it out so you can be on your way to your well-deserved success. Be sure to stick around to the end of this episode. I’m sharing an exclusive offer for our community for website services at an accessible cost.
So why a podcast website over all the other ready-to-go options that I could use for sharing content? Because, as you will hear me say many times, podcasts are, unfortunately, hard to discover. The directories used to distribute podcasts, like Apple and Spotify, are not good at helping new listeners find shows, especially indie shows.
There are a number of platforms that are good at helping people find the content they are looking for. You’ve probably heard me talk about them before — they are Pinterest, YouTube, and of course, Google — and in order to be discovered by Google, you need a website. It’s that simple. So how do you create a website that Google likes and shows to prospective listeners in search of a new show? I’ve got all the tips.
First, you need to decide on your hosting platform.
Using an established website hosting platform like Squarespace means that you are using something tried and tested. The user experience is smooth, and the overall look and feel are professional, without the need to hire a professional. If your experience in building a website is new or limited, Squarespace is going to be your BFF.
They make it super easy to edit your page
You can customize easily (aka other options use templates that confine you to one look and don’t give you much to work with for individuality)
They encompass what other sites consider add-ons: hosting, marketing functionality, domain, templates, and more. So rather than having to remember to pay all of these add-ons annually to keep your website active, Squarespace has everything built into one affordable cost, which makes things so simple.
This isn’t an ad for Squarespace, they just make it super easy for newbies to build the web presence they need. There are other similar ready-to-go platforms like Wix, Weebly, and Shopify, but I’ve built over a dozen websites on Squarespace and find it to be the most reliable, design-centric, and continuously evolving.
Secondly, feature your podcast tab or link in your primary navigation.
When it comes to SEO or search engine optimization, It is important to be intentional with your navigation - you know the bar at the top of a website that directs people to different pages. Whether your website is solely used for the podcast, or if the podcast is just an aspect of a bigger brand or business website, make sure that the word Podcast is featured in your primary navigation. Google will scrape the navigation titles and deliver them to people searching for podcast content.
Once you have a podcast home page or tab within a larger website, you will want to include some key segments that are clear and easy-to-follow. Every bit of writing on your website is not only a chance to perform on the search engines, but it can also be used to showcase your brand. Critical website segments or pages include:
Your About the Show Page (or start here page) – essentially, “this is what you can expect from my podcast”
Your Contact Details – how can listeners, potential partners, and curious people reach you? How do you want them to reach you?
A Subscribe here buttons - links to every platform or at least the major directories like Apple and Spotify where listeners can click and subscribe or follow
Thirdly, give every podcast episode its own blog post or a separate page.
It may be tempting to put all of your episodes on a single page on your website, but when it comes to SEO, the more pages you have, the better. Each blog or article page you create is an opportunity to target new and specific keywords - ya know those words and phrases that your listener is searching for on Google. Most website builders like Squarespace have built-in blog features that make it easy to give each of your episodes its own page. Within that page you should include:
Any resources, links, or media mentioned
Your guests and where to find them (hint: ask your guest before you record where they want to be found, it could be socials, their work or others!)
Your long-form show notes
The meta description (more on that to come)
The transcript (more on that below)
Fourth, ensure every episode blog post page has a meta description.
This is the clearest, simplest, easiest way to summarise your content and draw the audience in. The meta description is the first few lines of text under your blog post title that will show up in search results aka your selling point.
Think about when you Google something, you’ll see about eight or so post titles that Google believes are the best match to your search, along with two lines of text below it to help you determine if it’s what you’re looking for. This is the meta description and if you haven’t been writing meta descriptions, Google will automatically just grab the first few lines of text on the page. This is an opportunity to write click-worthy meta descriptions because it’s not enough to just show up in Google results, you also need to get people to see your content and click through!
Fifth — include a full transcript of every episode on each blog post page.
A podcast transcript is a text document that — word-for-word — says what was spoken in the episode. Don’t stress! You don’t need to type this up, there are plenty of options of online services like Otter.ai or Descript that will do this for you (or you can hire a company to do it for you).
Why is this helpful? When you are talking on your podcast, you are inevitably using lots and lots of keywords and keyword phrases without even knowing it. That means that your transcript is full of those juicy keywords that Google will then scrape and deliver to the people searching. This will in turn help your SEO which will drive more people to your website and to your podcast, makes your podcast citable, helps generate content as well as makes you seem more legit and professional. It, of course, also helps with accessibility to those who for any reason cannot listen to the episode.
Lastly, make sure to use commonly searched keywords and phrases.
Your transcript is already going to help you with this, but be thinking about it for your show notes and meta description. Keywords are essentially what you think your audience will be searching for on Google, and you want the search engine to show your content as the results. This could be a variation on the title, maybe a simple version of the title, or keywords (or phrases) that make sense.
Don’t overcomplicate this.
A great place to start, and to create yourself a word bank, is to look at places your target audience is talking about the topics and pull keywords from things they are saying. You could look at common questions asked (even using Answer the Public.com as a way to find what people are asking about your subject), survey results, and comments on social media postings.
You want to ingrain as many of these words and phrases as you can on your website while still making things sound natural and helpful.
✦ As promised, my bonus extra helping hand just for you!
The Wave has partnered with a skilled female-owned branding company called Tart and we are offering podcast website services to The Wave community. If you have visited our brand new website recently then you will see in the incredible work of Tart in action.
If you’re interested in doing a free discovery call with Isabella, the founder of Tart to see what her team can do to help you create a discoverable podcast website that performs well on Google, fill out the intake form here!
Okay, so let’s round this up, shall we? Here is what you need to remember when building your (very essential) podcast website:
Decide on your hosting platform. We like Squarespace.
Feature your podcast tab or link in your primary navigation. It is important to be intentional with your navigation.
Give every podcast episode its own blog post or a separate page. The more individual pages on your website, the better.
Ensure every episode blog post page has a meta description. This is the clearest, simplest, easiest way to summarise your content and draw the audience in.
Include a full transcript of every episode on each blog post page.
Make sure to use commonly searched keywords and phrases.
Finally, if you’re interested in getting some help on your website, fill out the intake form in our show notes to speak with our website building partner, Tart.
So how do you grow a podcast in 2022? By making sure people can find it. A website is an easy and guaranteed way to increase your discoverability and give you the extra edge of professionalism. Don’t overthink it, and don’t feel overwhelmed, we have all had to start it from somewhere, and by following these tips, you can take it one step at a time to get yourself on the road to podcast success and the seal of “oooooh this was made by someone who really cares”.
Because we can’t resist bringing you even more value, here is one more thing! If you want to discover the many other ways to grow your podcast audience besides guest podcasting, download our free growth guide.
This highly detailed mini-guide includes the best strategies for growing your listenership through organic marketing and choosing the right monetization strategy based on your podcast size and niche. It’s the perfect partner for your pod.
Computer-Generated Transcript with Time Stamps
[00:00:00] You've likely asked yourself, what is the one thing I should be doing to help my show get ahead. In this episode, I'm going to reveal the one thing that I think all podcasters should have and why it's so important. Stay tuned.
[00:00:21] Hey, my name is Lauren Popish and I'm obsessed with podcasting a little meta, right. I started podcasting after a public speaking event. Gone wrong. Sparked a phobia of public speaking that almost ended my corporate career. Now I help women use podcasting to share their ideas, grow their businesses, start movements and leave their unique marks on the world.
[00:00:47] My company, the wave produces shows for some of the most influential women in health, business, spirituality, beauty, and more. And in this show, I'm taking all of the [00:01:00] strategies I've used to help my clients top the podcast charts, and I'm bringing them to you. If you're hoping to start grow. Or monetize a podcast you're in the right place.
[00:01:12] This is Podcast Like a Girl.
[00:01:21] With so much information out there it's normal to feel overwhelmed by how many things, both big and small experts suggest for you to do as a podcaster to build a successful show. And when I say a successful show, I mean, a show. That has a lot of listeners. Of course you can decide what success really means for you.
[00:01:44] There is one thing that I believe can truly be a make or break, and I recommend it to every single one of my clients. Folks, you have to have a website for your podcast, whether you're using your podcast to promote your existing company [00:02:00] or to help you build a new brand. A website is the key to success.
[00:02:06] You may already have a website for the company or brand that you're growing and that's perfectly fine. You can create a podcast tab within that website and reap the same benefit. And you should, but if you don't have an existing website, then your show needs its own ASAP. Either way, consider this site, your listeners one stop shop and a place that you shouldn't wait for.
[00:02:31] A huge following to go out and create, but rather as leverage to help you create that larger listenership that we're all looking for. I'm going to take you through how to build a podcast website, take out the overwhelm of options and lay it all out there for you. So you can be on your way to well deserved success.
[00:02:52] Be sure to stick around to the end of this episode, per usual, I'm sharing an exclusive offer for our community for [00:03:00] website services at an accessible. So why a podcast website over all the other ready to go options that I could use for sharing content, because as you will hear me say on this show, many, many times podcasts are unfortunately hard to discover the directories used.
[00:03:19] To distribute our podcasts like apple and Spotify. They aren't good at helping new listeners find shows, especially indie shows. There are a number of platforms that are good at helping people find the content they are looking for. You probably heard me talk about them before they are Pinterest, YouTube, and of course, Google.
[00:03:41] And in order to be discovered by Google, you need a website. It's that simple. So how do you create a website that Google likes and shows to prospective listeners in search of a new show? I've got all the tips. Don't you worry? First you need to decide on your hosting platform. [00:04:00] I know we're all familiar with hosting as it relates to podcasting, but there is hosting when it comes to your website as well, using an established website hosting platform, like Squarespace means that you are using something, tried and tested.
[00:04:16] The user experience is smooth and the overall look and feel are professional. Without the need to hire a professional. If your experience in building a website is new or limited, Squarespace is going to be your BFF. They may it super easy to edit your page. You can customize easily, AKA other options, use templates that can find you to one look and don't give you much to work with for individuality.
[00:04:43] They encompass what other sites? Add-ons hosting marketing functionality, domain templates, and more so rather than having to remember to pay all of those different add-on platforms to keep your website active Squarespace has everything [00:05:00] built into one affordable cost, which makes things so simple. I wanna be clear.
[00:05:05] This is not an for square space. They are not paying me to say this. They just make it super easy for newb. To build the web presence they need. There are other similar ready to go platforms like Wix, weeble and Shopify, but I've built over a dozen websites on Squarespace and find it to be the most reliable design centric and continuously evolving platform out there.
[00:05:30] Secondly feature your podcast tab or link in your primary navigation when it comes to SEO or search engine optimization, it's important to be intentional with your navigation. You know, the bar at the top of your website that directs people to the different pages, whether your website is solely used for your podcast, or if the podcast is just an aspect of a bigger brand or business website.
[00:05:57] Make sure the word podcast is featured [00:06:00] in your primary navigation. Google will scrape the navigation titles and deliver it to people searching for podcast content. Once you have a podcast homepage or tab within a larger website, you will want to include some key segments that are clear and easy to follow.
[00:06:17] Every bit of writing on your website is not only a chance to perform on the search engines. But it can also be a chance to showcase your brand critical website, segments or pages include. You're about the show page, or start here, Paige, essentially, this is what you can expect from my podcast type content, your contact details.
[00:06:40] So how listeners potential partners and curious people can reach you. How do you want them to reach you? Include that on this page, a subscribe here, button or multiple subscribe here. Buttons. These should link to every platform or at least the major directories like apple, Spotify, [00:07:00] Google, where listeners can click and subscribe or follow.
[00:07:04] Which brings us to the next section and most important piece of website content. Thirdly, give every podcast episode its own blog, post, or a separate page on your website. It may be tempting to put all of your episodes on a single page on your website, but when it comes to SEO, The more pages you have, the better each blog or article page you create is an opportunity to target new and specific keywords.
[00:07:35] You know, those words and phrases that your listener is searching for on Google. Most website builders like Squarespace have built in blog features that make it easy to give every single one of your episodes, its own page. And within that page, you should also include. Any resources, links or media mentioned in your episode, your guest information and where to find them [00:08:00] hint, ask your guest before you record where they want to be found.
[00:08:04] It could be socials their work or others, your long form show notes. These are paragraphs worth of writing that relates and summarizes your episode, the meta description, more on that to come. And lastly, the transcript from the episode, also more on that to.
[00:08:25] Hey there, I'm taking a quick break to tell you about an event we're hosting in a few weeks on September 1st. Something I talk about a lot on this podcast is just how hard it can be to help new listeners find your show. Someone who I look to for the most sustainable ways to market my podcast is Jeremy Enns.
[00:08:46] He's a longtime podcaster and the founder of the Podcast Marketing Academy. Jeremy has agreed to join me for this event to share the daily, weekly, and monthly habits you can take as a [00:09:00] podcaster to achieve continual podcast growth. I had a call with Jeremy this week and he said, these aren't necessarily tasks to add to your weekly to-do list.
[00:09:10] Instead he wants to help you identify the work you're already doing for your show and tweak it to achieve the optimal results. I know I'm going to be taking notes because honestly, that sounds great. This event is taking place on Thursday, September 1st from 4:00 PM to 5:30 PM Pacific. If you wanna join us for this event, tickets cost $35 and are on sale now by going to our show notes, or by going to the community page on thewavepodcasting.com.
[00:09:43] I hope to see you there now back to the show.
[00:09:53] Fourth thing for your website. Ensure every episode blog post page has a meta [00:10:00] description. This is the clearest simplest easiest way to summarize your content and draw the audience in the meta description is the first few lines of text under your blog post title that will show up in search results.
[00:10:15] AKA your selling point. Think about when you go to Google and you search for something, you'll see about eight or so. PostIts that Google believes are the best match for your search along with two lines of text, just below it to help you determine if it is what you're actually looking for. Those two lines of.
[00:10:36] Are the meta description. And if you haven't been writing meta descriptions, Google will just automatically grab the first two lines of text on the page and use that as your meta description. This is an opportunity to write very Clickworthy meta descriptions, because it's not enough to just show up in Google results.
[00:10:56] You also need to get people to see your content and [00:11:00] encourage them to click. Fifth thing for your website include a full transcript of every episode on each blog. Post page, a podcast transcript is a text document. That word for word says what was spoken in the episode. Do not stress about this. You don't need to type it up.
[00:11:19] There are plenty of options for online services like O AI or D script that will do this transcription for you. Or of course you can hire a company to do it for you. Why is this so helpful when you are talking on your podcast, you are inevitably using. Lots and lots of keywords and keyword phrases without even knowing it.
[00:11:41] That means that your transcript is just full of those juicy keywords that Google will scrape and deliver to the people. Searching for topics that you talk about. This will in turn, help your SEO, which drives more people to your website and to your podcast makes your podcast citable helps generate content as [00:12:00] well as makes you seem more legit.
[00:12:02] And professional it, of course also helps with accessibility to those who, for whatever reason cannot actually listen to your episode. Last thing for your website, make sure to use commonly searched keywords and phrases. We've been talking about these keywords. Your transcript is already going to help you out with this, but be thinking about it for your show notes and your meta description.
[00:12:27] Think about keywords before you. Even record your episode, keywords are essentially what you think your audience will search for on Google. And you want the search engine to show your content as a result of that search. This could be a variation on the title of your show, maybe a simple version of the title or keywords or phrases that make sense with the recording and the content.
[00:12:52] Don't overcomplicate this a great place to start and to use, to create a word bank for yourself is to look at those places. [00:13:00] Your target audience is talking about the topics that you discuss on your show and pull keywords, right? From what they're saying. You could look at common questions, asked even using answer the public.com as a way to find what people are asking about your subject survey results and comments on social media.
[00:13:19] These are great places to go search for that keyword inspiration you want to ingrain as many of those words and phrases as you can on your website while still making things sound natural. And of course helpful. As promised my bonus, extra helping hand for you friend is this, the wave has partnered with a skilled female owned branding company called tart, and we're offering podcast website services to the wave community.
[00:13:48] If you have visited our brand new website, which I. So proud of that we recently launched. Then you will see the incredible work of tart in action. If you're interested in [00:14:00] doing a free discovery call with Isabella, the founder of tart, to see what her team can do to help you create a discoverable podcast website that performs well on Google, fill out the intake form in our show notes.
[00:14:13] Now. Okay. Let's round this up. Shall we? Here is what you need to remember when building your very essential podcast website decide on your hosting platform. We like Squarespace, but choose the one that's best for you. Feature your podcast tab or link in your primary navigation. It's important to be intentional with your nav.
[00:14:37] Give every podcast episode its own blog, post, or a separate page on your website, the more individual pages on your website, the better ensure every podcast blog post has a meta description. This is the clearest simplest easiest way to summarize your content and draw that audience in include a full transcript of every [00:15:00] episode on each blog post page.
[00:15:03] Resources for tools that can do that for you in our show notes and make sure to use those commonly searched keywords and phrases throughout your website and throughout all of your content. Finally, if you're interested in getting some help on your website, fill out the intake form in our show notes, to speak with our website building partner tart.
[00:15:24] So how do you grow a podcast in 2020? By making sure people can find it. A website is an easy and guaranteed way to increase your discoverability and give you the extra edge of professionalism. Don't overthink it and don't get overwhelmed. We have all had to start it from somewhere. And by following these tips, you can take it one step at a time to get yourself on the road to podcast success and the seal of, Ooh, this was made by someone who really cares.
[00:15:56] Until next time. [00:16:00] That's all for today. Pod broads. Thanks for listening. Keep podcasting and enjoy the ride.
[00:16:09] I know just how many podcasts you could have been listening to, which is why I'm so grateful. You decided to spend the last 20 minutes with me. Speaking of. If you're a podcaster and you've ever wondered what else you could be doing with your week. If you didn't have to edit, write show notes and create marketing materials for every podcast episode, then let the lady pros at the wave.
[00:16:32] Treat you to some me time. Get 15% off your first month of a production package. By going to the wave podcasting.com/podcast. Any editing services and enter podcast. Like a girl, all one word lower. At checkout. Now the only question is which podcast you're gonna spend. All your new found time binging. See you back next week.[00:17:00]
[00:17:13] That's all for today, pod broads. Thanks for listening, keep podcasting, and enjoy the ride.
[00:17:22] I know just how many podcasts you could have been listening to, which is why I'm so grateful you decided to spend the last 20 minutes with me. Speaking of time, if you're a podcaster and you've ever wondered what else you could be doing with your week if you didn't have to edit, write show notes, and create marketing materials for every podcast episode, then let the lady pros at the wave treat you to some me time.
[00:17:48] Get 15% off your first month of a production package. By going to thewavepodcasting.com/podcast-editing-services and enter [00:18:00] podcastlikeagirl, all one word lowercase at checkout. Now the only question is which podcast you're gonna spend all your new found time binging. See you back next week.
