PodCraft | How to Podcast & Craft a Fantastic Show

Michael of Night Moodz wonders how to turn casual listeners into subscribers, followers, and even, supporters. This is a question with many layers as the first and most obvious move is simply to ask in your Calls to Action. You might also want to show them how by creating a 'how to subscribe' page on your website. A final and essential piece of the jigsaw, though, is to make folks want to come back for more. Our free Podcast Planner tool can help you hone your message and your content, and make sure your show is optimised for growth!Support the show

How do you get useful analytics to present to potential sponsors and advertisers? That's one of the questions on the mind of Karen from BankTalk Podcast. And, one that we'll try our best to answer on this episode of PodCraft. Your Apple Podcast Connect and Spotify for Podcasters dashboards can give you a good sample of listening patterns. Granted, these won't be the full picture, but, for many podcasters, this is at least 50% of their audience. Listener surveys are an optimal way to get first-hand data from your audience. You might also track conversions and clicks from advertising your own products, services, or events, too. We would also recommend using Rephonic's Podcast Audience Graph tool. This shows you the podcasts your listeners also subscribe too. You could check a few of them out and see what (if any) brands are advertising on them. Support the show

Kay is the co-host of the In Da Trenches Podcast and asks about optimising their name, outline, and theme. Sometimes it helps to take a step back and look at the bigger picture of your podcast, asking questions such as:What’s its purpose?Who’s it for?What does success look like for me?You can then start to work backwards from these. Another very useful exercise is to use our free Podcast Planner Tool. And we have thorough guides on Podcast Names, Descriptions, and Formats for a deeper dive on those topics, too. Support the show

Laurent of the Puissante Panoplie podcast asks us about breaks between seasons. He feels that these can halt his momentum, and make him feel a bit like a headless chicken, jumping from task to task with no real plan in mind. Once the break is over, Laurent adds, he feels anything but rested or organised going into his new season. On this episode, we talk about ways to better structure your breaks in between seasons. We also cover the benefits of running an audience survey during these periods. You can even collect listener feedback in voice form, as we're doing on this season of PodCraft. Support the show

Our question this week comes from Teresa of the Homeschool Mama SelfCare Podcast. Teresa's asking us about the optimal position of podcast ads so as to optimise their impact and minimise the chance of them annoying the listeners. On this episode, we cover:Is there a "right" time to play a podcast adThe difference between pre, mid, and post-roll adsThe difference between pre-recorded and host-read ads How you can make ads part of your contentAnd why ads might not be essential to the monetisation of your show, going forward. This episode was sponsored by (and made with) Alitu, The Podcast Maker. Support the show

On this new season of PodCraft we're going to be answering your podcasting questions. Here's how to submit yours! This time around, we have a question from Brooke of Let's Talk Art With Brooke. Brooke has been podcasting for six years and as well over 200 episodes, but is concerned with lack of audience growth. This is a big question in and of itself (so big, in fact, that we actually wrote a book about it). But we find that there's always a few low-hanging fruits that can have an impact right away. These include good, compelling episode titles, Calls to Action, thorough SEO-friendly shownotes, and appearing as a guest on other relevant podcasts. Support the show

It's part two of our dive into the Podcaster Cares Survey data. This time around, we're talking NFTs, measuring success, social media, loudness, and bitrates.We also take a look at some interesting differences between podcasters of five years or more, and folks who've been doing it less than five years. Podcasters of 5 years or more have stronger opinions on Apple Podcasts and RSS Feeds67.5% of the 5 years or more group agreed that a podcast isn’t really a podcast if it doesn’t have an RSS feed.Of the folks in podcasting for fewer than five years, 39.8% agreed, whilst 38.9% didn’t care. 25.3% in the 5 years or more group didn’t care about RSS feeds.44.6% of the 5 years or more group believe that Apple could and should be doing more to help podcasters. This is compared to 34.9% of the newer podcasters group.53% of the newer podcasters have no real opinion on Apple either way, compared to 34.9% of the 5 years or more group. Newer podcasters pay less attention to podcast loudness & bitrates60.2% of podcasters of 5 years or more have a set and consistent loudness level for their show.This is compared to 31.4% of folks podcasting for 0-5 years. 29.7% of newer podcasters don’t worry about loudness levels.This is compared to only 15.7% of the 5 years or more group. 42.9% of newer podcasters have no idea what bitrates are. Only 15.7% of the 5 years or more group thought the same. Get the full Podcaster Cares Survey Report right here. Support the show

The more podcasting grows, the more people talk about it. Some of it is genuine news, and some of it is gossip or clickbait. Rather than waste your time with articles about irrelevant topics, we want to know what the average podcaster cares about most.So, we put up a survey and invited our entire audience to take part through the blog, email and social. We offered a few prizes to say thanks, including a 1st prize gift voucher and a few of our own books (The Podcast Host Planner and Podcast Growth manual). We were delighted to see responses from over 500 podcasters (537 in total!) who generously shared their opinions with us. Let’s take a look at what podcasters think of the topics that spark debate in the content creation community.Get the full Podcaster Cares Survey Report right here. Support the show

Welcome to Pocket-Sized Podcasting, brought to you by Alitu: The Podcast Maker. And on this episode, we’re talking about choosing a format for your episodes.The format you choose is really personal, and depends on who’s involved. If it’s just you, you’re not doing a co-hosted show any time soon, for example.None of this is set in stone, either. So whilst it’s good to have an ‘average’ format, so your listeners know what to expect, you don’t have to stick to it every single time.You might do your first few episodes using a certain format – for example, solo - then decide it isn’t for you. In this case, you could pivot and start doing interviews. Or, you could bring on a regular co-host.The first format you try might feel perfectly natural to you, in which case, great. Or you might opt for a ‘mixed bag’ approach where you never stick to any one set format. The beauty of it is that it’s your podcast, and you get to make the rules.We’re going to dig into the pros and cons of each podcast format in the next few episodes, so make sure you’re subscribed to the show on your listening app of choice!Support the show

Welcome to Pocket-Sized Podcasting, brought to you by Alitu: The Podcast Maker.And on this episode, we’re talking about niches (nitches?) and narrow topics.There’s a bit of a misconception in podcasting that, the wider and more open your topic, the bigger your audience will be.I know, it makes sense because covering lots of ground means there's loads more people who might be interested in your show.The reality, though, is that listeners love podcasts that feel like they were made just for them.So instead of our personal trainer doing a podcast about general health, diet, or exercise, it might be “the fitness podcast for single parents”, or “the keto diet podcast for vegetarians”.In other areas, niche podcasts could be “The travel podcast, for D&D players”, or “The business startup podcast, for military veterans”.You might have a fear that this'll limit your audience, but, actually, the opposite is true. When your target listeners find your show, and see how closely it scratches their itch, they’ll think “this is perfect!”, hit subscribe, and go on to become fanatical fans. On the other hand, if keep it general, everyone just sees it, goes 'meh' and moves on. When you try to target everyone, you really target no-one in particular.So what would you rather have - a tight, defined group of fanatical listeners, or a big group who just might be interested in listening?For a really detailed look at defining your niche topic, go to ThePodcastHost.com/topicSupport the show (https://pod.academy)