Ep 73: 7 Podcasting Rules That I Don’t Follow

[00:00:00] Verity: Okay then. We have got 10 minutes because my episodes are only 10 minutes long for the Lazy Bells guide to podcasting, and I have got 7 podcasting rules that I do not follow when it comes to podcasting rules. So let's dive into these and see how many or how lot quickly I can get through 7 of these. Hi there, everybody. I'm Verity.

00:00:21 The Lazy Girl's Guide to Podcasting

[00:00:21] Verity: This is the Lazy Girl's Guide to Podcasting. And as I said, we are going to be talking through the podcasting rules that I don't to follow. Let's go. So first of all, number 1, I don't have an intro. And when I say I don't have an intro, I mean that I don't have a traditional kind of intro with a bit of intro music and Hi.

[00:00:38] Verity: I'm Verity. This is the podcast. This is what you get out of the podcast and then a little bit more music. I did have one, and to be quite honest with you, I just Felt like it didn't really fit my show format in terms of the short episodes that I've got. So I just got rid of it, and, I found that my retention has increased.

[00:00:58] Verity: The retention percentages for each episode have increased. Now don't get that confused with the dynamic ads that I have inserted promoting at the moment. At the time of recording, they are promoting the lazy pod club membership. Don't confuse those for intros and outros because those are, as I said, dynamically inserted ads. But that then brings us onto the 2nd podcasting rule that I don't follow is I don't have an outro.

00:01:24 Not Following Podcasting Rules

[00:01:24] Verity: I don't have an outro that has, again, play some music and tells you to go and subscribe to the podcast and whatever it is that I will join the newsletter. Again, I used to, but I just found that It wasn't really working for my show because I really was keen to keep to those 10, 15 minutes episode slots, particularly more than 10 minutes. So I found that my time was just being wasted with that kind of an outro. And to be honest with you, I just found, like, a lot of people weren't listening to it. So I thought, do you know what?

[00:01:55] Verity: I'm just gonna replace it with a dynamic ad instead. Number 3, Podcasting rules that I don't follow, got to get this the right way around, I don't ignore transcripts. So I guess I could actually turn this into a do of I do include transcripts in my episodes for a couple of reasons. I include them for SEO reasons because, you know, the more keywords that you've got in your transcripts, the more that helps you with SEO in my view and that has been researched as well but that's in a conversation for another episode really. So I do include transcripts.

00:02:34 Don'ts: The podcasting rules I don't follow

[00:02:34] Verity: I don't not include transcripts since this is an episode about don'ts. The other reason why I include transcripts is because I never know. I might have somebody who prefers to read the episode, or who prefers to just scroll through to a certain point of I don't know. Some Some people just prefer reading and prefer transcripts. And, actually, interestingly enough, we have got on Apple Podcasts, we have recently had that update where they, they being Apple Podcasts, they are going to be transcribing the episodes for you anyway.

[00:03:12] Verity: And I covered this in episode 67, an Apple Podcast Update made for Lazy Girls. So that was episode 67, where we were talking about as Well, but what you'll be able to do with Apple Podcasts generated transcripts is actually just scroll through, click on the part of the transcript that looks interesting to you, and the episode will just play from there. So transcripts, I think, are super important. The 4th podcasting rule I don't follow is this idea of upgrading my equipment. I don't really get it.

00:03:43 Are Microphones the Key to Podcast Success?

[00:03:43] Verity: Now I'm probably on my own here, but to me, a microphone is a microphone. Now don't get me wrong. There are some microphones, which I love, and, ah, yes, I was at the London Podcast Show last year. And, yes, I completely geeked out over some of the microphones, and I'm going back again to the London Podcast Show this year. Yes.

[00:04:02] Verity: I will geek out over microphones again, But I'm a firm believer that even if I get a new microphone, that that is not gonna suddenly bring in thousands of listeners to my podcast. I'm could go and get a, I don't know, a microphone that cost me, like, $1,000. That's not gonna bring in my, you know, more podcast listeners. And actually that $1,000 could be better spent on other things and, you know, marketing the podcast in in other ways. The next thing I don't do is I don't hire out an expensive studio.

00:04:38 The Lazy Girl's Guide to Podcasting

[00:04:38] Verity: Absolutely no hate podcasters who do decide to Hire out a studio space, be it for audio only, be it for video, or for audio. That's not me. It's not the ethos of this podcast. And I don't think it's the ethos of a lot of my listeners. As I said, absolutely no hate if that is you and you are hiring out A studio you do you, that's absolutely fine.

[00:05:04] Verity: But the whole premise of The Lazy Girl's Guide to Podcasting is that anybody can podcast and you do not need a huge budget. So for me to then go and hire out an expensive studio. First of all, I just don't wanna spend the money on that. But second of all, I wanna, you know, practice what I preach. So if I'm telling people, yay.

00:05:24 The Confessions of a Podcaster

[00:05:24] Verity: You can podcast on the cheap, and then I'm not doing it myself, it just seems a bit contradictory. So I don't yeah. It's just not something that I do. Like I said, no hate if you do. And if I had god knows how much money, I would love to be able to hire out an amazing studio.

[00:05:43] Verity: And I can just picture the setup now with, like, neon lights and a couple of plants and a sofa and stuff. But as I said, it's not the ethos of this podcast, so I'm not gonna feel guilty about that. Number 6, I barely bother with video. Oh, shock horror because everybody you know, everybody says Video is king. Content is queen.

[00:06:03] Verity: Whatever. But, you know, video is is at the top. We love consuming video in this day and age. And, you know, you should be creating more video. Just on a Tech Thursday episode that I've recorded literally 5 minutes ago, all about promoting your podcast with video, but I don't really bother with video.

[00:06:22] Verity: And I think that's absolutely okay. It's not affecting My downloads, yes, sometimes I will record video with the episode if I feel up to it. Other times, I won't at all. Like, Right now, I am recording. My hair is soaking wet because I've just jumped out the shower.

[00:06:41] Verity: I've just washed my hair, and I'm in my pyjamas. It's Sunday night, and Nobody is going to see that. And I don't wanna create do the video. I just don't wanna bother with it. So I will use static audiograms to promote this podcast episode, but I barely bother with video in terms of having a setup.

00:06:58 Why interview only episodes may be detrimental to bringing in clients

[00:06:58] Verity: I don't own a ring light, and there's probably people absolutely cringing at me saying that. But, Yeah. I don't I don't worry about recording myself and being camera ready because to me, and as I said, this is a personal opinion, It's a podcast. The audio comes first. It's the content of the audio that comes first.

[00:07:17] Verity: And number 7, I don't do interview only episodes. So what I mean by this is, yes, I do have some interviews on the podcast. Those are strategic. I love my guests that have come on to The Lazy Girl's Guide to Podcasting. I'm incredibly grateful to them.

[00:07:38] Verity: But I don't only do interviews on this podcast, or the vast majority of the episodes that I do are not interviews. And there's a few reasons for that. Now, first of all, it's challenging, in my opinion, to actually interview somebody for only 10 minutes. 10, 15 minutes. It is challenging.

[00:07:58] Verity: And you've probably noticed that I break up or I tend to break up a lot of my interviews into 2 or 3 parts, maybe even 4. I've done one interview where I did break it into 4 different episodes, and That is because I still wanna keep with the ethos of the episode length that I that I produce. Also, the other thing with doing interview only episodes is You're not able to show your own expertise. You're giving everybody else a platform. And if anything, all you're doing is demonstrating that you can that you can interview.

[00:08:32] Verity: And sometimes podcasters aren't even doing that because their guests are so good at being interviewed that they carry the interview. So some podcasters don't even get to show off their amazing interview skills. I mean, don't get me wrong. There are some podcasts out there that would only work being interview only. But then there's a lot of podcasts out there and podcasters out there who are saying things like, I can't get any coaching clients or the podcast isn't working.

[00:09:02] Verity: And it's because they're constantly interviewing other people and showing off other people skills. So they're not actually showing off to their audience what they know and what they can bring to the table. So I think that's something that really needs to be considered. And I think I'll probably do an extra episode on that. Why doing interview only episodes could really be detrimental to bringing in clients, particularly coaching clients for your podcast.

00:09:31 Breaking Podcasting Rules: 7 Podcasting Rules That I Don't Follow

[00:09:31] Verity: Those are my 7 podcasting rules that I don't follow. So to recap, I don't have an intro, don't have an outro. Don't mistake those, as I said, for dynamically insert ads. I don't not include transcripts in my episodes, so double negative. I do have transcripts.

[00:09:47] Verity: I don't upgrade my equipment. I Don't believe their equipment is gonna bring me in loads of new views. I don't hire out an expensive studio. I barely proper with video. And I also don't do interview only episodes.

[00:10:03] Verity: But with all of that, The podcast still does well. We are growing month on month. We have ranked the podcast in multiple subcategory charts, and main chart categories on Goodpods, on Apple Podcasts, on Chartable. Yeah. Okay.

[00:10:21] Verity: There's different charting charts of different weights and what have you. But my point is is that The podcast is going from strength to strength every month, and we are doing well. And I don't follow any of those traditional, quote unquote, traditional podcasting rules. So with that in mind, I hope that this episode gives you the confidence that if there is a podcasting rule that you are not feeling is aligned with you, is not aligned with your podcast, with your brand, whatever it is. Take this as permission to break that rule and don't follow it.

[00:10:52] Verity: Do what's good for you. Do what's good for your podcast And enjoy the podcasting process because that's what it's about all you know, at the end of the day, that's what it's all about. So as ever, I hope you found this episode useful, and I will see you next