There's no shortage of things to focus on when it comes to planning, launching, and running your own podcast.

From buying the right mic and choosing a hosting platform, to coming up with a show name and sorting out your cover art, these all fall under the umbrella of "podcasting". But all podcasting tasks aren't created equally. Some of the things you do can have a huge impact on your show's success, whilst others can be little more than a distraction.

On this episode of Podcraft, we decided to reflect on a combined 20+ years of podcasting. Of all the podcasts we've launched and ran between us in that time, which factors do we feel helped move the needle?

Also mentioned on this episode were our Podcraft community and the Portuguese translations of some of our top articles.

Podcasting Factors That Move the Needle (Or Don't)

We both scored each of the following out of 10 (10 for very important, 0 for not important at all), added up the scores, and ranked them into an overall list. The aim was for new and aspiring podcasters to help decide whether they were spending too much time on one thing, or not enough time on something else.

1. Defining Your Target Audience

The most important factor was identifying who you want to reach, and why. Not spending some time nailing this down in the planning stages can lead to your content being directionless and vague. You want new listeners to hear your podcast and think "this is exactly what I've been looking for."

For more help with this, check out the following articles:

2. Deciding on Your Podcast's Name

Naming your podcast can feel like a tricky barrier to overcome. It's also a very important one. If potential listeners don't immediately know what your show's about when they see it, then many of them will skip past it without even reading the description. With podcast names, there's no such thing as "boring". If you come up with an ultra-descriptive "as it says on the tin" name and it isn't already taken - grab it.

For more on this, check out How to Name Your Podcast.

3. Your Episode Titles

This is another huge factor in turning traffic (your target audience, searching for your topic) into listeners. Descriptive and compelling episode titles will help your show be found, and they'll also encourage those searching to hit play. Don't waste this important space by putting the word "episode" in there. You don't need to write your podcast name beside every episode title either.

For more on this, check out How to Title Your Episodes.

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