For the past 15 years, both as a podcaster and as a specialist in the podcast editing space, I've seen a lot of mistakes that are made in podcasts
…I made most of them myself!
Watch the 10 Mistakes I Made Podcasting so you can learn from my shortcomings!
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Summary of my 10 mistakes:
#1: I asked the Guest to introduce themselves
“Tell my listeners who you are” is a horrible way to begin an interview.
Build up your guest like the rock star that they are. Then you can get past the “I grew up on a farm in the midwest” and right to the good stuff!
👩💻 Editing tip: It feels natural to begin with that question, so let it happen – but edit it out in post-production.
#2: I Queued the Listener that the end is near
“We are almost out of time” or “Let me ask you on last question” notifies listeners that the show is coming to the end.
Why is this bad? If the listener isn't completely engulfed by the content then they know it's time to go.
If in-app recommendations or additional exposure to new listeners is important to you, then you want to increase the “completion rate”. This is the amount of the episode they consume.
Plus, they won't hear your CTA at the end!
👨🏻💻 Editing tip: Same as #1…just edit it out.
#3: I used the wrong CTAs
“CTA” is a call to action. It's directing the listener on what they need to do.
This was my BIGGEST regret. My podcast was supposed to help me find coaching clients, but instead I kept asking for ratings and reviews and stuff that didn't matter in my business.
🧑🏽💻 Editing tip: If your media host has dynamic insertion capabilities, add a CTA either as a midroll later in the episode or as a postroll. Otherwise, record a segment and stitch it into the episode.
#4: I had the volume all wrong!
My third episode had drastic variations in volume between me and my guest.
…and I didn't fix it in post!
Listeners don't want to deal with that. They want to hit Play and be able to hear everyone clearly and without having to raise or lower the volume themselves.
👩💻 Editing tip: Use a leveling tool to bring each person's volume up to the same level. Try to achieve -16 LUFS if possible.
#5: I Put episode numbers at the beginning of titles
How does this look to you:
007 MPSOS – We’re Not Talking Bonds
I was trying to be cute with Episode 7 being about savings bonds (007…Bond…get it? 😄)…but I used that same naming convention for ALL my episodes.
To get the most out of in-app search results, write an episode title with the juiciest keywords in the first 50 characters, which is about all a person will see in their podcast app before it gets truncated.
Plus, most media hosts have a field for the episode number. This will be displayed in some apps, so having it in the title as well is redundant.
👨🏻💻 Editing tip: If you really want episode numbers to be visible for people to see, put it at the beginning of the episode DESCRIPTION…like this https://stevestewart.me/itunes-episode-number-hack
#6: Really bad descriptions
I used to begin every episode description with “In this episode, “.
Well, of course it's in this episode! What episode would it be in if not this one?!?
Similar to #5, get the juicy keywords in the first 30-50 characters. It could help one more person click “Play” rather than scrolling past because “In today's episode…” (you know what I'm talking about).
🧑🏽💻 Editing tip: You can go back and change or update episode descriptions at any time. The same goes for episode titles and even the show artwork. Yay!
#7: Show artwork file size too large
Fortunately, this didn't happen to me. However, I've seen it happen to dozens of podcasters. What I find is someone's recent release won't update in some of the apps…and 90% of the time it's because the show artwork is too large.
The recommended file size of show artwork is 512kb or less.
👩💻 Editing tip: Use a tool like TinyPNG.com to compress show artwork without losing quality.
#8: Putting “The” in the show title
Podcast app search is not great. When starting a show name with “The”, you compete with other, bigger, shows that begin with The, like The Daily, or The Joe Rogan Experience.
You can say “The” when communicating your show name, but don't put it in your media host.
👨🏻💻 Editing tip: Update your show name in your media host.
#9: No follow buttons on your website?
Okay, so I didn't make this mistake. However, I see it happen so often that I had to include it in my list of mistakes.
If your show has a website, and I recommend it does, then follow/subscribe buttons NEED to be prominent on a landing page or on each blog post (aka: show notes).
🧑🏽💻 Editing tip: For WordPress, I use a plugin called “*Subscribe & Follow” which can feature more than two dozen podcast apps and almost as many social channels. *Disclosure: As an affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases through this link
#10: Ads in the wrong place
Another mistake that I haven't yet done myself, but I've heard in other shows.
Dynamic Insertion tools are amazing. They allow you to easily insert and/or remove content like ads or promos.
Setting the marker/insertion point in the right place is critical!
👩💻 Editing tip: Leave at least .5-1.0 seconds of dead air where you want an add to go. Most media hosts with dynamic insertion tools can provide a visual representation of the wave form, which makes it easy to locate. And, of course, review the insertion points to make sure they're correct.
Can you think of other mistakes podcasters make in their shows? Sharing these tips can help us all make better shows!
Want to have a chat about podcasting? I offer 30 minutes for free to any new podcaster of aspiring podcaster. Just book a call:
