Ep 85: Are You Killing Your Podcast’s Growth?

Hello everybody and welcome

back to another episode of the

2

Lazy Girl's Guide to Podcasting.

3

I have a different setup

going on at the moment.

4

I am currently, and I am not exaggerating

at all here, I am currently in the

5

corner of my bedroom Everything,

including me, is sat on the floor.

6

My microphone is balanced on my knee.

7

The reason for this is, where I was

recording in this spare room, which I

8

was using as a little podcast studio,

has now been turned into a bedroom for

9

Dear Daughter 2, which is wonderful.

10

Don't get me wrong, I'm

just very happy with it.

11

And we had a great weekend as a family

designing it, putting it all together.

12

But, um, But it means that the

podcasting studio, and I'm very much

13

saying that in adverse commas, is now

corner of my bedroom and my husband's

14

bedroom, whilst we now figure out how

we are going to make that go forward.

15

But actually, I've already been

testing out the sound on GarageBand.

16

I'm now recording in Descript and

I'll come onto that in a little bit,

17

but I was recording in GarageBand

just to, just to play around with it.

18

And actually, I feel that the audio

is actually a little bit better

19

because it's carpeted in here.

20

I'm talking into like a bit

more of a corner, so I feel

21

like the audio is a bit better.

22

I'd be interested to know

what, what you all think.

23

As I said, I am recording

in D script at the moment.

24

I have for been recording in Riverside.

25

You all know, but I'm a huge,

huge advocate for Riverside.

26

But I just found that, I dunno, I just

feel like it's been kind of glitchy

27

over the last few months or so.

28

So I don't know, it could just be me,

but I decided that I was going to take

29

the opportunity canceled my subscription.

30

This isn't hating on them.

31

I was just finding that, I don't

know, maybe it's my bandwidth.

32

I don't know.

33

But I've cancelled my subscription

to Riverside and I'm now

34

taking the opportunity to try

out a few different things.

35

So, I was playing around with GarageBand

but then I decided, actually, I

36

have a free account on Descript.

37

Why don't I trip over to Descript again?

38

I used it at the beginning of the

Lazy Girls Guide to Podcasting.

39

So, I'm going to try it again.

40

So, here we are.

41

But we're not talking about

any of that for this episode.

42

What we're talking about for

this particular episode is, are

43

you killing your podcast growth?

44

And you're probably thinking, no,

I'm doing absolutely everything

45

I can to make my podcast grow at

an amazing rate just no verity.

46

What are you chatting about?

47

But I think you could possibly be

killing your podcast's own growth

48

without even realizing that.

49

And I'm going to explain that to

you and then stick around until the

50

end of the show where I'm actually

going to give you three top tips

51

that you can implement today.

52

To make sure that you are actually growing

your podcast at a rate that you want to

53

be seeing results from and getting your

podcast to whatever that point is that you

54

define as your podcast being successful.

55

So do stick around for those

top tips for how to grow your

56

podcast at the end of the show.

57

Let's unpick this Are you

killing your podcast growth?

58

And it's that idea.

59

I feel of Podcasters just being scared

to make changes, you know, we start with

60

a certain status quo You know, we stick

with the same software the same tech

61

the same marketing, whatever it is, we

have systems and processes in place.

62

And that's great.

63

But I think it's really important

to realize that people are creatures

64

of habits and therefore by default,

podcasters are creatures of habits.

65

And I think that there's this

massive conversation to be had around

66

people being scared to change things

because we don't like major changes.

67

So why would we want major

changes in our podcasting?

68

And, you know, changes could be anything.

69

It could be, like I've said, how I

have decided to stop using Riverside.

70

temporarily, might be permanent.

71

We shall see.

72

And I'm experimenting with Descript

or I might even go back to GarageBand.

73

That's a change that some people might

think, well, I'm not going to do that.

74

But actually through one

way or another, it might.

75

improve my podcast growth.

76

It could be that you find that you

have this little bug at the back of

77

your mind that you need to change

your podcast name or even just

78

tweak your podcast name slightly.

79

Maybe you want to insert some more

keywords or any keywords at all that

80

people are searching for to find your

podcast into your show name, but you're

81

scared to do that because, well, what if I

rebrand and I lose all of those listeners?

82

Yes, but what if you rebranded and

you gain loads of visitors as well?

83

And, you know, that was exactly my

experience with my first podcast.

84

It was originally called

bloggers creating courses.

85

I was really, really worried when I

changed it to the confident CEO that I was

86

just going to lose all those listeners.

87

But actually what I did was I.

88

Saw exponential growth with that change

with that name change because it was

89

much more specific I was using keywords

that people were searching for and I

90

carried those through to my show notes

through to my episode descriptions

91

through to the podcast description as

well And I think that's another key point

92

as well is looking at your show notes.

93

Are you somebody who's maybe just

used a couple of lines before?

94

And actually you could be writing show

notes that are much more in depth.

95

And if you're thinking verity, I

don't have the time to do that.

96

You could use a free

tool such as chat GPT.

97

You could use paid for systems

such as summarize or cap show.

98

And those tools will really help

to flesh out your show notes.

99

Get those keywords in there and it could

be that you change the format of your

100

episode slightly That again could be huge.

101

So I had so many people, when I

got rid of the introduction for

102

Lazy Girl's Guide to Podcasting,

being like, oh, what are you doing?

103

But everyone said you need a podcast

intro, and all these kind of things.

104

And I just think, you know what, if

you want a podcast intro, like, you

105

know, a formalised one with music and

stuff, fine, and I'm not saying I'll

106

never go back to that, but what I am

saying is that it seemed like a scary

107

change to implement, and not have a

kind of, you know, traditional, quote

108

unquote, Intro for my show, but actually

I found that it's been really, really

109

great at retention for the podcast.

110

And it's given people the opportunity

to message me in DM, particularly

111

on Twitter and say things like,

Oh, it's actually given me the

112

confidence to, to do this myself.

113

So what I mean when I say, are

you killing your podcast growth?

114

I think a lot of it is podcasters

kill their podcast growth by sticking

115

with a status quo and sticking with

strategies that just aren't working.

116

And I think sometimes we need to be

really critical with ourselves and

117

look at our show and if we're not

growing in the way that we want, and

118

that growth by the way, can look awful.

119

So many different ways.

120

It could be growth in

terms of download growth.

121

It could be growth in terms

of audience retention.

122

So having your audience listen

to your episodes for longer.

123

That growth is going to look

different for every single podcaster.

124

And we need to be out of the

mindset that growth doesn't exist.

125

Always equates to more downloads,

but I do honestly think that a lot

126

of people get in the way of their

own podcast's growth because they're

127

not willing to try new things.

128

So that then brings me on to these three

tips, which I promised you that I would

129

give you about how to grow your podcast

and you can implement these today.

130

So the first thing is to tell

everybody about your podcast.

131

The number one way of getting new

listeners and new ears on your podcast is.

132

to tell people about it.

133

Word of mouth referral is the top

way for people to discover podcasts.

134

So tell people about your podcasts.

135

And if you want more information about

that, clink the link in the show notes

136

where I've got a five day email challenge,

which focuses on those easy wins, those

137

strategies to help you grow your podcast

and make sure you signed up to that.

138

The second way to grow your podcast is

play around with different keywords in

139

your podcast title, and in your podcast

show description, really consider not

140

what you think your audience are searching

for in the keywords, but talk to your

141

audience and find out what kind of

keywords are they typing into the podcast.

142

Apple podcast, Spotify, et cetera,

and utilize that knowledge and utilize

143

those keywords because that is going

to help you rank in search results.

144

And finally, experiment with different

podcast podcast to be listed in.

145

So if you're in an education

category for your podcast, that's

146

not really working too well for you.

147

Well, maybe switch it up a little bit and.

148

Are you better suited in business or

equally if you've got a podcast in the

149

business category, but you're finding

it's not ranking too well and your

150

goal is to get in the charts, well

actually have you got a tech based

151

business podcast and you could put

yourself in the technology category?

152

You might find it doesn't work

and you want to put yourself back

153

in the business category again,

but experiment with these things.

154

Try yourself out in different

categories and see if that

155

helps with your podcast growth.

156

Consider to yourself when my audience

is searching for a podcast like mine,

157

which categories are they going to?

158

It's not the categories you think

they're going to or you want to rank in.

159

It's thinking about where people are

going in Apple podcasts, in Spotify,

160

which charts, which categories are

they clicking through and scrolling

161

through to find shows like yours.

162

So those are my top three tips.

163

Tell everyone about your podcast,

play around with different

164

keywords and experiment with

your podcast in different ways.

165

different categories.

166

Do you think that you're actually

guilty of killing your podcast's growth?

167

Jump on over to Twitter, send me a DM.

168

And if you have got a podcast friend

who you think could benefit from this

169

episode, I would love it if you could

share the link with them and see how

170

these strategies can also help them.

171

Otherwise, thank you so much for

spending another episode with

172

me and I will see you next time.