How to Actually Grow Your Podcast

Shownotes for each episode

• Share with guests to send around
• Builds websites’s SEO with a Webflow site
• Gives listeners’s a reason to go to website so you can grab their email
• Include links to show on Apple, Spotify, etc. and direct play links (a weird number of people listen in browser).

Episode titles are headlines selling episodes

• Use topics, big guests
• Don't waste space calling out episode #
• Think of episode titles as SEO for shownotes.
• What questions are people asking about your topic?
• Fill in the pages that start getting traction (MVP SEO approach)

Get Apple Podcast Reviews 

• Reviews are social proof and boost your ranking in the algorithms 
• Tell friends and family to review to get the first 10+ 
• Easy to do it for them on their phone

Consistent Release Schedule

• Consistency builds a habit
• Try to release at same time on same day each week. 
• Record a few a week until you have a backlog 

Promotion Matters

• Share shownotes link for each episode on twitter, linkedin, reddit/facebook groups, email list
• Follow up with guests when episode is live & ask them to share shownotes on personal & company social profiles.
• Early listeners come from your guests’s following

Podcast Title

• Stuff keywords in here so you show up more in Apple Podcasts
• Apple is cracking down a bit on this, but it is still effective.
• This can be your company/personal name or it can be separate brand able name. Just make it memorable and descriptive.

Quality Cover art

• Use a big font that is easy to read on small sizes
• Most peoples’ first impression of your cover art will be as a 125x125 box in the search results.
• Polished design (nice font over an image is sufficient)

Launch Well

• Making the most of your first 8 weeks matters a lot
• Follow these tips to get listed in Apple’s New & Noteworthy

For more detailed instructions, get my course and guidebook on Marketing for Podcasters.