Podcasting Best Practices or Myths? Let's Find Out!

Interactive Transcript

spk_0 Today on episode number 1,000 and 4 have you ever wondered if the podcasting rules that

spk_0 you follow are actually helping you succeed?

spk_0 Well in today's episode we're going to pull back that curtain on podcasting best practices

spk_0 and some of these conventions are grounded in logic and proven results and others might

spk_0 just be myths that we're just blindly following.

spk_0 Hit it ladies!

spk_0 The School of Podcasting with Dave Jackson

spk_0 Podcasting Sense 2005 I am your award winning Hall of Fame podcast coach Dave Jackson

spk_0 thanking you so much for tuning in.

spk_0 If you're new to the show welcome aboard this is why I help you plan, launch and grow

spk_0 your podcast.

spk_0 My website is schoolofpodcasting.com.

spk_0 Use the coupon code listener when you sign up for either a monthly quarterly or yearly

spk_0 subscription and of course that comes with a money back guarantee.

spk_0 Now what kind of guarantee we're talking 30 days not 7 not 14 30 check it out schoolofpodcasting.com.

spk_0 So I was at a conference and I totally get the point that you should always be yourself

spk_0 because being someone else is a lot of work and no one else is better at being you than

spk_0 you but there was there was a hint that maybe some of the ways that people are doing it

spk_0 is a little old and there was just a hint a hint that some of the and I'm going to use

spk_0 giant air quotes here because it's you know best practices like oh you know those OGs

spk_0 and their best practices that that kind of vibe not a strong one just a hint and when I hear

spk_0 I'll let you know this kind of when people go oh man it's just an OG thing as an OG you've

spk_0 just got my attention because a lot of times what comes out of someone's mouth then is in my

spk_0 opinion what's the word for it again oh that's right nonsense and so I thought today I would

spk_0 very professionally and confidently explain some of these not let me give an example of what I

spk_0 feel is a best practice don't put your hand on a hot stove now why do we call that a best practice

spk_0 because it's been practiced and it turns out the best way to not get burned is to not put your

spk_0 hand on that now when I was five years old I stood next to the stove and there was a cast iron

spk_0 skillet on it and my sister was frying bacon and she accidentally hit the handle to where it came

spk_0 off the stove and I can tell you that hot bacon grease on your leg is not a fun time I've never

spk_0 seen my I still don't understand to this day my dad somehow jumped out of bed much like Superman

spk_0 just had a cape on he was in his robe ran down the hallway pick me up by my neck and stuck me in the

spk_0 bathtub it was really interesting but that's why I say you know best practices there's actually a

spk_0 podcast named this don't cook bacon naked yeah that's the best practice so let's talk about some

spk_0 podcasting best practices number one here's one that I recommend all the time and yet most people

spk_0 don't do it but here's it why is recording a test episode before you launch a podcast

spk_0 best practice will number one authors they have rough drafts when I wrote my book profit from your

spk_0 podcast it went through five different edits and there was a point when I was like what are we

spk_0 looking for here kids like didn't we get it in the last four but authors have rough drafts and

spk_0 athletes have pre-season actors have dress rehearsals in a previous life I was a musician and we

spk_0 never came out of the basement shorter than maybe four months because you had to learn 40 songs so

spk_0 when you publish the very first thing you record and I get it you're like look at that it took me

spk_0 17 hours to make this MP3 file I get it that you're like I just want this thing out I'm here to tell

spk_0 you I get it I'm just saying you are essentially publishing a rough draft I mean anytime you do anything

spk_0 for the first time the first time you tied your shoes probably awful at it first time you shot a

spk_0 basket probably not very good at it first time you wrote a bike yeah I still got skin knees yeah the

spk_0 first time you do something it's not as good as the second now hold on this doesn't mean you record

spk_0 your first episode like 37 times but you will learn things and often when you know that you're

spk_0 not gonna publish it it kind of takes some of the pressure off so keep that in mind that's why it's

spk_0 a best practice because you know other people actors athletes musicians people that are in the

spk_0 entertainment business and whether you like it or not when you're a podcaster you're in the

spk_0 entertainment business that's why I say that number two why is defining a clear topic or niche a

spk_0 podcast best practice now I often call this know who your audience is but there's actually many

spk_0 reasons for this number one podcasting is kind of hard it's simple right find out what your

spk_0 audience wants and give it to them but the weights delivered there are all sorts of things like this

spk_0 that make it a little challenging and so when you know who your audience is and you have a niche

spk_0 it makes it easier to create content so let's take this out of the podcasting space which is

spk_0 what I love to do a lot of times things make more sense when you get it away from podcasting so if

spk_0 I'm making dinner for a bunch of people coming over and I find out oh by the way they're all vegans

spk_0 I know what I can make and what I shouldn't so when you know who your audience is it's easier to

spk_0 make content for them this also then there's a double bonus here makes it easy to market because now

spk_0 instead of marketing to vegans and carnivores and anyone who's glucose intolerant and all that other

spk_0 stuff you know diabetics now I only have to focus on the vegans so it's easier to market saves you

spk_0 time there you go now what sometimes appears as a downside is you end up with a smaller audience

spk_0 because instead of having the vegans and the carnivores and the glucose and the diabetics and the

spk_0 whatever those people that like pineapple on their pizza right instead of having you you have one

spk_0 group and to again let's take this out of podcasting I like American football but I don't follow college

spk_0 football at all but that's football so okay let's niche down let's just talk about the NFL

spk_0 which between you and me I kind of feel is a little evil but anyway let's talk about the NFL well

spk_0 now you've got I think four different divisions and so we could talk about the NFL but do I really

spk_0 care about the Seattle sea hawks no because I live nowhere near Seattle you know so maybe let's go

spk_0 down to my division which I should know but I don't because my team is awful it's the Cleveland

spk_0 Browns we've had 41 quarterbacks yeah since they came back they left and now they've come if they're

spk_0 awful you suck and so I might care more about you know the Pittsburgh team and Cleveland and

spk_0 Cincinnati and whoever else is in my division yeah now it's a smaller audience but I would care

spk_0 about what's going on with those people because those are the people that I'm trying to beat to get to

spk_0 the Super Bowl but do I really care about the Pittsburgh Steel it's not really sorry Vinnie I know

spk_0 you're a huge fan and but if I did a show that was just about the Cleveland Browns boy would it be sad

spk_0 now that would be the name of it we call our stadium the factory of sadness and you know so now

spk_0 when I talk about just the Cleveland Browns okay much smaller audience but the people we are known

spk_0 in Cleveland actually live in Akrono high but the Cleveland fans are known for their enthusiasm

spk_0 they're very very fanatic about their team so I've reached down or niche take your pick to one team

spk_0 much smaller audience but much more fanatic much more likely to buy gear and swag and bark at people

spk_0 so that's the advantage of having a niche it's easier to make content because you know who you're

spk_0 talking to it's easier to market because you only need to go where those people are not where

spk_0 everyone is and you end up with a more loyal more fanatic fan base and there is no right or wrong

spk_0 answer here how often or how far you niche down as always with podcasting it depends

spk_0 I'm going to be right

spk_0 number three why is getting to the topic as soon as possible a podcast best practice to which I

spk_0 ask you a simple question do you have a ton of free time I don't but maybe you do but let's

spk_0 look at Netflix when you're binging something right now I've been binging Franklin and Bash

spk_0 and when I'm watching it and an episode is over I can click a button and skip the credits to which

spk_0 it goes to a new episode where I can you guessed it skip the intro so with this in mind that leads me

spk_0 to believe that getting to the actual content is something that's popular now if you disagree with

spk_0 that again it's your show we'll talk about chit chat a little later but for me the best practice is

spk_0 introduce the show so people know what the show is about introduce the content whatever the

spk_0 episode is about and then get to that content as soon as possible number four when I worked as a

spk_0 customer service representative this is like a lifetime ago the worst thing you can do

spk_0 to now for me it was a customer but it could be an audience is to ask them their opinion and then

spk_0 ignore them wow that's bad and so this one is wise engaging with audience and probably even better

spk_0 creating a community a best practice and this is kind of like we go back to know your audience

spk_0 right you know get to know your audience making these all that well how do you get to know them

spk_0 oh there's a novel idea maybe reply to every email maybe reply to every comment and every

spk_0 comment on YouTube and if you're on WordPress and wherever it is always do that and when

spk_0 somebody says hey Dave let's say that I really like that show such and such and such hey thanks

spk_0 so much for listening I might even ask them like why did you like it and then I always end with

spk_0 is there something else you'd like to hear me talk about on the show because this is how you get

spk_0 to know your audience by actually talking to them so again this could be on social it could be email

spk_0 any way that you can interact with your audience you should do it because I know that you know

spk_0 that I know that you know that I know but when they email you they're emailing the host of the show

spk_0 show show right and when you email them back they're like oh my gosh the host of the show show show

spk_0 show email me me me me me can't believe it believe it believe right it's they're freaking out which is

spk_0 weird because you know that I know that you know that I know that I'm just in a spare bedroom talking

spk_0 into a microphone but that's an easy way to build that relationship and have a better understanding

spk_0 of your audience which goes back to that dinner party we were talking about okay now we know we're

spk_0 talking to vegans but what do the vegans want so that's why that is a best practice number five

spk_0 why is prioritizing sound quality a best practice in podcasting well I don't know what if I sounded

spk_0 like this there you go that's not horrible at all I want to listen to this for three hours or

spk_0 just think about if I do this so that's going to be great to let us this one okay one for

spk_0 okay 1980s that's all get out the floor and boogie yeah that's not going to work it okay so

spk_0 when you want it to be easy I can't do that that's ridiculous you you want it to be easy to consume

spk_0 your content you don't want your audience to strain to consume your content so reverb I probably

spk_0 got some of that lying around here somewhere one of these reverb no this one this one there we go

spk_0 when your show sounds like this and then you're listening on the highway and you've got the sound of

spk_0 you know tires on yeah that's ridiculous it becomes a serious issue that's the thing I noticed

spk_0 when I was driving to different conferences I was like man if your volume is all over the place

spk_0 and things like that here's another way again let's take it out of podcasting do you wear glasses

spk_0 I wear glasses and just the next time you go to watch your favorite TV show take your glasses

spk_0 and smear them with Vaseline and try to watch something you know you can do it right I can watch

spk_0 you know whatever sign felt reruns through my Vaseline dripping glasses it's going to take a

spk_0 I mean even in videos if you're doing YouTube the key ingredient it's not lighting it's audio

spk_0 because if I can't hear what you're saying what's the point of if you're in the darker not it's

spk_0 ridiculous so keep that in mind and also you don't have to spend thousands of dollars on equipment

spk_0 I recommend you start off with audio first and then later once you get the hang of making content

spk_0 then jump into video and you can get started off a link in the show notes with something like a

spk_0 Samsung Q2U right now I'm using a road pod mic usb the Q2U is under a hundred bucks the road pod mic usb

spk_0 is around 200 if you want to do video again you could get the road wireless micro microphones these

spk_0 are okay like any lavalier is going to be okay but then you can start with your phone instead of

spk_0 spending thousands of dollars on a camera but yes a best practice is make your podcast sound as

spk_0 great as you can for your budget and again you do enough to spend thousands of dollars number six

spk_0 all right this I'm going to admit this is a bit of a rerun of get to the topic as soon as possible

spk_0 but I'm here to tell you I hear people do this sadly on a fairly regular basis and that is

spk_0 they press record before they know what they're going to say and I've heard shows where they're like

spk_0 well are we going to talk about the thing in the times or the poster I don't know what do you want to

spk_0 do I know and this is the beginning this is your first impression so I would recommend knowing what

spk_0 you're going to say before you press record now this does not mean writing a script unless you

spk_0 want to write a script but at least knowing when you hit record today I'm going to talk about blank

spk_0 right and for me again introduce the show introduce the topic and then get to the topic instead of

spk_0 going I don't know what do you want to do did you want to I thought we're talking about something

spk_0 hey thanks for letting me know you're really unorganized number seven having a clear call to action

spk_0 why is this important because there's a reason you're podcasting you have your own reason it might

spk_0 be to be seen as an expert or to reach a goal but whatever it is but if you don't get your why

spk_0 you're going to burn out in my from my chair people that don't get their wire like I don't even know

spk_0 why I'm doing this anymore well what's your why oh I wanted blah blah blah okay why are you

spk_0 getting blah blah blah and they go no not not a single blah blah blah is come my way and I'm

spk_0 like well that's why you want to quit so by having a clear call to action it helps your audience know

spk_0 what to do now I've actually I remember once I had a client that said we're not getting any kind of

spk_0 engagement with our calls to action and they had eight count them that seven not nine eight calls

spk_0 to action and I'm here to tell you if you give and I am guilty of this as well it's hard to do one

spk_0 call to action at the time notice what I added there at a time so what I mean by that is in the middle

spk_0 if you want to say in maybe use it as a transition you're listening to the blah blah show with blah

spk_0 blah subscribe to our newsletter at blah blah blah dot com slash newsletter and then you go

spk_0 into another subject that's one call to action easy remember versus like me on Twitter face on

spk_0 the book chat of the thing and the thread in the blah blah in the day nobody's going to remember

spk_0 that so and say them clearly have links to them in the show notes that's not even what I have written

spk_0 down that will you will get a sternly written letter from me if you have a guest on you talk about

spk_0 their book and I go to the show notes and there is no link you will get a sternly written email from

spk_0 me but have a click so that's that's a bonus tip always have links to things you talk about I just

spk_0 heard a show they were talking to some SEO guy and he said oh the tool I use and I forget what it was

spk_0 why because they didn't have it in the show notes and I'm like wait if the SEO guys using it I at

spk_0 check it out no link in the show notes so but getting back to my original one and that is have a

spk_0 clear call to action say it slowly specifically specifically yeah specifically and confidently we're

spk_0 leaving that in have your call to action and then have the call to action in your show notes remember

spk_0 to make it easy number eight pick a schedule and stick to it be consistent because what this does

spk_0 is you become part of someone's routine I listen to the show podcasting 2.0 every Friday night when

spk_0 it's there and this is also be consistent with your schedule but you become part of people's routine

spk_0 I start off my day by listening to James Krillin I listen to the newsworthy those are two things I

spk_0 listen to typically in the shower you become part of someone's routine and that is huge and we don't

spk_0 just want to be a good podcast Jay a condo is a great professional speaker coach she does a whole

spk_0 bunch of stuff he's a content creator he says you want to be someone's favorite and when you are

spk_0 someone's favorite to where they're like oh I listen to this show when I mode the lawn or whatever it

spk_0 is so the other thing when you're consistent in schedule you're seen as reliable so if you're

spk_0 podcasting for your business this is part of your brand you are seen as reliable but keep in mind

spk_0 as it is important to be consistent in your schedule I feel that it's more important to be

spk_0 consistent in delivering value I'd rather have a late show that was remarkable than an on-time show

spk_0 that was meh number nine come up with a brand and keep consistent I'm reading the book right now the

spk_0 visual marketer the marketers crash course for creating memorable and effective visuals I'm actually

spk_0 interviewing the author for the pod page monthly meetup I'll put a link to that that's open to

spk_0 but it's all about branding and when your brand is a trusted resource people are drawn to it

spk_0 so already said you can be a trusted resource because you're consistent and now when you see that

spk_0 logo people like oh I know that and so let me give an example I love Mountain Dew actually I love

spk_0 Mountain Dew a little too much but I kind of get worried because right now Pepsi they could come out

spk_0 with a flavor of like new orange pineapple you know whatever Mountain Dew and I'm like no no

spk_0 because I'm I am an OG when it comes to Mountain Dew it's the green stuff in a can don't give me

spk_0 that word plastic tasting stuff it's got to be in a can but rather than spend the money on coming

spk_0 out with new Sparky pineapple I don't know what's up with pineapple today's new Sparky pineapple

spk_0 drink from Pepsi they're just like well it's easier if we just put the word Mountain Dew on it

spk_0 and then maybe people will at least try it and we'll talk about that a little later we have

spk_0 something coming up about celebrities and when you put Mountain Dew on it there are people like oh

spk_0 I love Mountain Dew even though you know the new pineapple whatever prune Mountain Dew

spk_0 is not going to work so and then a logo comes in handy when you want to sell things like swag

spk_0 you know t-shirts and coasters and all that stuff but when people see that logo they go oh

spk_0 like for me if you look at some famous rock bands like kiss the Rolling Stones Van Halen they all

spk_0 had logos and when you saw that logo you got a little jazz so it's it's a best practice

spk_0 now is this something you need to do in fact all of these are like you don't need to it's your show

spk_0 again but the more I study branding the more I'm like yeah this is important and I also know look

spk_0 I'm the head of podcasting over pod page and there are people that take this brilliant tool and

spk_0 make websites that burn my cornyas and I'm like how does that even tie in to your artwork I do a

spk_0 a segment for pod page called the pod the website of the week and one of the things I'm looking for

spk_0 is hey does your do you have a consistent brand does the color in the artwork match the color

spk_0 on the website it's just it's less shocking it's less startling you know have a consistent brand

spk_0 and people go oh yeah that's Dave it's that weird kind of bluish greenish thing in the yellow and

spk_0 and occasionally gray so keep that in mind have a consistent brand it's a best practice number 10

spk_0 I'm in the process of I have the school of podcasting has been on WordPress for like you know

spk_0 whatever 20 years and I'm right now going to be pointing people to pod page where I have the

spk_0 school of podcasting episodes because they look a whole lot better and be I can and I could probably

spk_0 do this on WordPress but I I'm just not a fan anymore of WordPress but the best practice is put

spk_0 your best episodes out front and you go what do you mean my best episodes well this is easy

spk_0 going to whoever your media host is and go into your stats and sort by the number of downloads

spk_0 and the one with the most downloads more than likely is the one that resonated the most that's

spk_0 why it has the most downloads now in some cases like my show from 2005 your podcast your first podcast

spk_0 usually stinks that's the name of my first episode may have more downloads because it's been around

spk_0 for 20 years so you know use your own discretion but I think on your website you should put your

spk_0 best episodes first the ones that your target audience remember those people that you met at the

spk_0 dinner party and you gave them all the food that they really liked put those first why because

spk_0 they might tell their friends and when their friends come to your website they're like oh look

spk_0 at that that's exactly what I'm looking for they click on it they hear it it's your best episode

spk_0 it resonates and then they follow the show and now we're off to the races so that is something

spk_0 I am doing because it's just so easy to do on pod page to make a featured episodes and feature them

spk_0 on your front page I think that is a podcasting best practice this way instead of hearing that

spk_0 episode that you just put out and you kind of had to hurry about it because there was that wedding

spk_0 you had to get to and it's like it's not bad but it's not like you know yeah why make that your

spk_0 first impression purposely put out the best stuff for those new people coming to your website

spk_0 number 11 have a website and by that I don't mean link tree link tree has zero and by that I mean

spk_0 none zip not a huh and if you want to use pod page great I don't want to make this a giant pod

spk_0 page commercial WordPress whatever the thing about WordPress and wicks and Squarespace those all

spk_0 none of them typically let's go with wicks and Squarespace have an actual podcast theme

spk_0 and so you're you end up trying to squeeze your podcast into like a yoga studio theme but

spk_0 have a website why Dave why do I need a website well let's go with the whole video thing

spk_0 people like oh you need to be on YouTube we'll be talking about that in a bit because you know

spk_0 it's YouTube it's the number two search engine okay great what's the number one search engine

spk_0 Google at least for now great what is it searching a websites and I'm not getting any traffic

spk_0 to my podcast oh do you have a website no I wonder why you're not getting any traffic so it's a

spk_0 best practice to have a website and you don't have to be a giant nerd anymore there are many

spk_0 tools to make this super easy and it will help you get found so have a website for your podcast

spk_0 number 12 why does having keywords in your podcast in the show title why is that a best practice

spk_0 well your audience needs to find you before they consume your content and I've seen this happen

spk_0 there was someone that did a show about baseball I believe if I remember the show was called the

spk_0 and when you typed in baseball it didn't show up why because the name of the show was the

spk_0 dugout and you know that I know that the baseball player sit in the dugout when they play the game

spk_0 but nobody was searching for the dugout so this is where either a put the word baseball in your

spk_0 title or add a tag so it could be the dugout tag you know a fan based baseball MLB baseball show

spk_0 for such and such right and when you're like where do I get keywords there are tons of these

spk_0 whether it's man ghouls uber suggest keywords everywhere is another product SER ranking

spk_0 you can go into the google search tool and maybe that's another episode we'll do a whole thing

spk_0 on the google search console but there are easy ways to do that or just use the go and look at your

spk_0 reviews maybe and see what people are calling your show or what's in your community but you want to

spk_0 have those words that are common in your community and just reverse engineer what are people typing

spk_0 to find my show and then make sure those words are in the title of your show and when possible in

spk_0 the title of the episode I could go on with the ton of these but when we come back I'm going to talk

spk_0 about some things that seem like best practices but it may be the case that they've just been repeated

spk_0 so much that it's actually a myth that we've all bought into have you ever been driving along

spk_0 and your favorite song comes on and you're like yeah and you crank up the radio and then the phone

spk_0 rings and so you turn down the radio not all the way down because you still want to hear your jam

spk_0 but enough to where you can answer the phone well guess what haha you know how to mix audio

spk_0 and if you've ever attached a photo to an email you know how to upload an MP3 file to your media host

spk_0 and if you've ever deleted text in a word file then you know how to do it basically in audacity

spk_0 it's not that there's no learning curve there's a little one and I'll be right there next to you

spk_0 to help you flatten that learning curve I'm just telling you it's not as scary as you think

spk_0 go to schoolupodcasting.com use the coupon code listener when you sign up for either a monthly

spk_0 quarterly or yearly subscription and you can join worry free with the 30 day money back guarantee

spk_0 just go to schoolupodcasting.com use the coupon code listener it's time to go back to school

spk_0 are you ready to strip some creativity I am thrilled to invite you to a unique live virtual

spk_0 meeting happening on October 16th at 7 p.m. Eastern this is the first time I've done this and I

spk_0 need your help look I do this show for you and the best way to know what your audience wants

spk_0 is to ask them directly you can come here let me know what I'm doing right and anything that needs

spk_0 a little polish and you can help me shape future episodes of this very show I always say your

spk_0 podcast is a recipe it's not a statue so I'm going into my podcast kitchen to make your favorite show

spk_0 sign up to be notified at schoolupodcasting.com slash kitchen that schoolupodcasting.com slash kitchen

spk_0 all right so now let's talk about some things that I kind of contest and I'll explain why the first

spk_0 one is you need to launch with three episodes so which I go well if you only launched with one

spk_0 if it was really good would I not then follow the show so that when that second one comes out

spk_0 now I get it the idea is that if you launch with three episodes in the first one's good they can

spk_0 listen to the second one and the third one and that's going to show more consumption and it might

spk_0 help you get up the podcast charts in apple and I get that that's all true by the way that

spk_0 we'll talk about this in a second what I haven't proven yet though is does being on the

spk_0 Apple charts actually grow your show because I don't know anybody when I go how do you discover

spk_0 podcast that they go oh I go right to the charts they might go in there and search hence keywords

spk_0 but I don't know anybody go oh every Monday I go to the charts and see what's hot

spk_0 no now that's great by the way I'm not poo pooing being on the charts at one point I was a top 20

spk_0 podcast so I could put that out there now it's not for this show I think the show was in the top 50

spk_0 at one point but you know it's it's that whole marketing thing but this is what we'll just roll

spk_0 this into this one which is please rate and review me it helps me get found and I will quote from

spk_0 Apple themselves okay this is it so this is what the charts measure this is again I'm going to

spk_0 state it's from Apple this is not my opinion what the charts measure apple podcast charts reflect

spk_0 the most popular shows and episodes available in a given market meaning the country and our

spk_0 design to help people discover what to listen to next they do not reflect all time listening

spk_0 records and are not a measure of the largest podcast by listenerships so when you're on the top

spk_0 of the charts you are the top for today during this period in this country so while the exact

spk_0 algorithm cannot be shared because marketers ruin everything and they would just hack it

spk_0 to protect their integrity the charts measure a mix of the following listening so when listeners are

spk_0 engaging with the episode it's an indicator of the content popularity so this is where when you get

spk_0 three clicks to listen to that it's more than one totally get that follows while listeners follow

spk_0 a show to receive a new episode it's an indicator of their intent to listen so it's kind of like a

spk_0 friendship ring it's like not only do I like your show I'm following it and thank you to the I

spk_0 believe the last time I checked 92% of you are following the show and if you're not what's your problem

spk_0 school of podcasting.com slash follow and then this is the big one the completion rate so this

spk_0 is when people go I don't know what my why my show isn't growing the first thing I'm going to ask

spk_0 is let's go look at your completion rates and when it's like 22% they go is that good and I go I'm

spk_0 an old teacher I go by the 60 is a D 70 is a C 80 is a B 90 is an A 22 is a not good so that's what

spk_0 gets you up the charts and then they say although ratings and reviews and shares also help to

spk_0 indicate a podcast newness popularity and quality they are not factored into the algorithm that

spk_0 determines the rankings for top shows and top episodes so to this I say they are social proof

spk_0 they're absolutely 100% social proof and so maybe if somebody types in waffle podcast because

spk_0 they're hungry and it's breakfast time and they see that this waffle podcast on the left has 16

spk_0 reviews and this waffle podcast on the right has 120 they might be more likely to listen to the one

spk_0 with more reviews but in terms of helping you get found not sure and if you're like me I

spk_0 subscribe to both waffle podcasts and then vote with my ears but that's a survey of one but just

spk_0 so you know the whole help you get found nothing to do with the algorithms so keep that in mind

spk_0 another one is audiograms now here's the thing we're going to get into these and there's nothing

spk_0 against like headline there's a great company and when audiograms first came out we're all like

spk_0 oh looky on social to just say the thing with the little the little squiggly thing bump

spk_0 something down holding gosh yeah and that worked when they were new and people would stop and they

spk_0 would click now the question was did they then go to your show and follow it and listen to the whole

spk_0 episode and now that it's been years later I've heard no less than four kind of SEO not SEO

spk_0 social media gurus say yeah those don't really work now they're they're marketing it's keeping your

spk_0 brand in front of people but if the goal is to grow your show it's a trickle if anything audiograms

spk_0 are okay and fact there's a study that came out that they're finding now that when you cut out a

spk_0 whole let's say a question out of an interview that there are times that people will just listen to

spk_0 the shorts because you've kind of said hey here's one of the best parts of the show and then oh look

spk_0 there's another one and another one so I just listened to 12 minutes of a 45 minute show maybe

spk_0 I don't need to listen to the whole thing because you gave me the best parts yeah that's there's

spk_0 it I'll have to find that study I heard it from James Kremlin over at pod news and I haven't read it

spk_0 but I was like that's an interesting twist now another so I would say audiograms at this point

spk_0 years later we all kind of go yeah not really the cool thing we thought it was going to be

spk_0 and then other thing that we're going through right now and I'll try to keep this brief

spk_0 everybody knows they're going oh no he's going to talk about YouTube yeah YouTube this is being

spk_0 tested right now now there are people mainly YouTube saying hey you need to be on YouTube and of

spk_0 course they are and of course they should but there's a I've got a link in the show notes to an

spk_0 article called the truth about video podcast on YouTube by my buddy Colin Gray and it's it's really

spk_0 good because some people yeah you know they like this is working out other but there are a lot of

spk_0 people they're like not so much in fact there is a study uh that he did and when I looked at the

spk_0 graph only as we all think right you're probably thinking but everybody else is doing video and I'm

spk_0 not guess what 28% of people are actually doing full on video podcast on YouTube and if you're doing

spk_0 the static image on YouTube that is very much like an audiogram you're not going to get much traction

spk_0 on that but I would just here's my little bill mar story if you're regular listener you've heard this

spk_0 but to make a long story short bill launched club random I was working at lips and when he did this

spk_0 and bill didn't want to do audio he just wanted to do video we talked him into audio he then

spk_0 hired a PR firm to only promote the video not the audio and when the stats came in the audio

spk_0 outperformed the video 15 to 1 so this is why I'm saying this is not a tested best practice it is

spk_0 being practiced now and we will find out maybe in a year or two if this is really working to grow

spk_0 your podcast now it's growing your brand if you think about these big outdoor concerts lala polo

spk_0 zone all these other ones um it's like going from the big stage uh to another stage and you can

spk_0 pick which ones the big one and the small one but you are starting in front of a brand new audience

spk_0 you're not probably there there's a deaf deaf definitive I can I what's the word for that

spk_0 to define it definitive it's not a definite answer but you will probably grow your your reach

spk_0 by doing video but I don't think you're going to get many people who love video to go watch your

spk_0 audio so keep that in mind when I did the math on this this is back in March of this year there were

spk_0 six 65.3 million creators on YouTube making content for 2.49 trillion with a tea viewers so there's

spk_0 a huge audience over there and there were 358,000 audio creators making content for 200 and 2

spk_0 million listeners so definitely smaller numbers but when you do the math yeah what is that

spk_0 boil down to yeah 15 to 1 there are there's more audio listeners than there are video people

spk_0 so keep that in mind now we need to talk about chit chat and we need to talk about celebrities

spk_0 we look to celebrities because that's often who that's why I love celebrities they bring in new people

spk_0 into the podcasting space and they're like oh look at Conan look at Mel Robbins look at the of

spk_0 course we have to mention Joe Rogan and all these people they start their show and then they go

spk_0 into about two minutes of ads I just listened to the beginning of Conan O'Brien he did a minute and a

spk_0 half of ads and so was three three thirty second ads and so you're like oh so I can start with

spk_0 three thirty second ads except I don't know you you're having been on TV for 20 years you you know

spk_0 you haven't written best selling books you haven't been on the big bang theory what's your name

spk_0 mayhem blalic by like whatever great show prep today Dave but like her show was beyond annoying

spk_0 because she would be having this great conversation and have to stop for a me undies ad and I'm

spk_0 like didn't you get paid like 25 million an episode to do the big bang theory I'm like look okay

spk_0 and same thing Conan O'Brien needs a friend Conan O'Brien needs some cash apparently Conan will do

spk_0 a short a seven minute short on YouTube and a minute and a half of it is an ad drives me crazy

spk_0 but here's the thing what gives you the right to do ads at the beginning of your show and the answer

spk_0 is you've already built a relationship with your audience they already know who you are you already

spk_0 have that connection so they will tolerate a minute and a half of ads because they love you so much

spk_0 that makes sense I hate it but it makes sense and so when you start and you are nobody and I am

spk_0 nobody and I start off with two minutes of ads or I do five breaks this is not made up five breaks

spk_0 in the middle so there's five divided by five is two and a half minutes ads in the middle for me

spk_0 it's not the time it's not the two and a half minutes but when I hear a break and then another

spk_0 break and you're like okay surely they're coming back after nope they're back again here's a

spk_0 well surely I mean this is three are they going oh here's another one holy cow are they ever

spk_0 coming back and then a fifth one and then by the time they come back you're kind of mad at least I

spk_0 am that's a survey of one but keep in mind basing your show on how a celebrity does it when you're not

spk_0 a celebrity in my opinion not a best practice it's an opinion is not the way to go build your audience

spk_0 first then bring in the ads or at least if you bring in the ads I would not start them at the

spk_0 beginning this again not a best practice it's Dave's opinion I want the first thing you hear

spk_0 to be my voice and I don't want to sell you anything now I do mine very close like I do mine in

spk_0 the intro but they're very short but if you think about it in the only reason if you've ever

spk_0 wondered if I was coaching me I would say hey that whole thing you do with the coupon code like

spk_0 you haven't even given any information yet and I always keep those super short I do them at the

spk_0 beginning in the event you go wait what was that coupon thing I don't see it anywhere what was the

spk_0 cool it's right there at the beginning of the show so I can also just put it in the show notes

spk_0 which I do but keep that in mind when it comes to celebrities now the other thing is shit chat

spk_0 and I think my favorite example of this is James Kremlin and Sam Sathy to the weekly pod news wrap up

spk_0 something show it's basically pod knows it's like pod new pod news what's wrong with my mouth today

spk_0 it's like pod I'm just leaving these in pod news greatest hits for the week and then Sam and

spk_0 James talk about it and so they go through they have a very here's the top stories they usually

spk_0 have an interview they use chapters which is great by the way stay content shall we for crying

spk_0 out loud here comes another 10 second tangent 10 seconds indeed such absolute rubbish we talked about

spk_0 brands Daniel J Lewis is a brand and he launched pod chapters this week if your media host doesn't do

spk_0 chapters and you want them you can go over and make them with pod chapters dot com I was lucky enough

spk_0 because Daniel is a good friend of mine to be in his beta group and I got to tell you I do ask

spk_0 the podcast coach and that is a very hard show because we are taking questions from the audience so

spk_0 we are all over the place and most AI tools fail miserably at this and Daniel by far has done the

spk_0 best job of picking up all the different topics that we do it's over pod chapters dot com but speaking

spk_0 of chapters we're going to go back to James and Sam because they use chapters in the pod news weekly

spk_0 review. Oh finally back to the show and so they have all these topics that the use chapters on in the

spk_0 last thing that they say is Sam what have you been up to oh I've been doing this in my daughter

spk_0 and I was writing through the countryside and drinking wine James what were you doing well I flew

spk_0 all over the world and you know now I'm sick and I've got you know animals that are trying to

spk_0 kill me my backyard because I live in Australia etc etc and then they do their last calls to action

spk_0 and they're out and I listen to those why because I love that show I'm a fan of that show it's a

spk_0 great way to catch up with all the news in one episode I actually support them with money but for

spk_0 me the best place for the chit chat is at the end where your super fans are now if you're going to

spk_0 do chit chat at the beginning in that report I mentioned earlier the podcast study 33% of people

spk_0 do not want any chit chat 42% said but you got to keep it short and so for me I think short

spk_0 chit chat is tolerable if it's relevant to the title that you are using for the episode so if the

spk_0 title of the episode is podcasting best practices but the opening chit chat is about your cat chewing

spk_0 up the couch and the kid just pooped in the swimming pool while those are entertaining we tuned in

spk_0 for whatever is in the title of the episode and so that's where I say put the chit chat and

spk_0 look back and listen and go is it really is it a funny story or is it just you ranting about

spk_0 your husband or your wife or whatever because I'm here to tell you that's not going to go

spk_0 over well when they hear it so keep that in mind that's my suggestion again that's not the best

spk_0 practice what kind of is the best practice because that reports has looked 70% of people are not a

spk_0 fan of the chit chat and the problem with the way they worded that is they did not define what is

spk_0 short is that 10 seconds is it 30 seconds is it two minutes kind of scary but that's where I would put

spk_0 the chit chat yeah yeah yeah yeah now that's a good question we're digging into your listening habits

spk_0 I've seen this another surveys and thought hmm let's throw that out to this audience how many

spk_0 episodes do you listen to a week and of those episodes how many different shows are there so for

spk_0 example you might say I listen to five episodes a week but it's from one show that does a daily

spk_0 show so how many episodes do you listen to and how many different shows do you listen to in a week

spk_0 I need your answer by October 24th 2025 and don't forget to tell us a little bit about your show

spk_0 and don't forget to mention your website so I can put it in the show notes go to schoolapodcasting.com

spk_0 slash question

spk_0 all where am I going to be January 15th through the 18th in Orlando Florida I'll be speaking at

spk_0 the podfest multimedia expo then February 17th through the 20th in Nashville Tennessee I'll be

spk_0 speaking at the NRB 2026 International Christian Media Convention for more information go to school

spk_0 apodcasting.com slash where so again I totally agree with you should be yourself I'm being myself

spk_0 today I'm also operating without bullet points that's the problem what's going on that's why my

spk_0 brain and my mouth aren't working I have a blog post I wrote about this but I don't use my I don't

spk_0 stick you note on the monitor with my bullet points so best practices are things that have been

spk_0 practiced and found to work best and I want you to be yourself your podcast it's a recipe it's

spk_0 not a statue and you can do whatever you want and keep in mind that even with these best practices

spk_0 my audience is not your audience it may be completely different so feel free to test

spk_0 and report back to me hey Dave I tried this and it's going gangbusters I am always open to new input

spk_0 with the data of hey here's what happened and here's how it worked so keep that in mind my goal is

spk_0 to just answer the question hey are those best practices that we've been following forever

spk_0 still you know viable and if you are testing things like YouTube I would love to hear your input

spk_0 that might be something I might just take the page right out of Collins book there he did a great one

spk_0 where he interviewed a bunch of people maybe that's the question of the month I think we did that one

spk_0 already but that's one that's being tested and that's one I wanted to look into and when I looked

spk_0 at his data and I was like wait that's only 28% of everybody that's actually doing video some always

spk_0 open to suggestions I thank you so much for giving me your time I hope you got some value out of it

spk_0 if you did could you do me a favor and go to your phone and you know another podcaster or somebody

spk_0 that's maybe complaining about why their podcast isn't growing you might want to share this with

spk_0 them and go hey are you doing these things I hear these are the podcasting best practices it's from

spk_0 this guy named Dave Jackson he helps podcasters it's kind of what he does he's been doing it for 20

spk_0 years I would deeply appreciate that and until next week take care God bless class is dismissed

spk_0 when I wrote my book podcasting what the heck is the name of my book

spk_0 that's hilarious I don't know what he's called all right here we go

spk_0 I'm still almost laughing okay

spk_0 again there was this great study called the podcast report or now the podcast server again great great

spk_0 great hold on we're cutting this one out what is the name of that survey I yes the podcast study

spk_0 hey this is Doug from King's Acts and if you like what to hear go tell someone

Podcasting Best Practices or Myths? Let's Find Out!

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