Podcode blog posts

The term “show notes” is confusing. Let's take a loser look at show notes, and how to write ones your listeners will love.Read the post in fullLinks Transistor Podchaser Podcode+ Take the guesswork out of making, launching, and growing a successful podcast. Join the Podcode School.

I started a show in 2019 called List Envy. Each week I featured a new guest, and we had a conversation on a topic they chose. I started by chatting with my improv performer friends, which meant getting us both in the same room.Read the post in fullLinks Zoom H4n handheld recorder SquadCast Riverside Take the guesswork out of making, launching, and growing a successful podcast. Join the Podcode School.

Notion is a knowledge management app, with a generous free tier and flexible features. You can use Notion to build just about anything, and share it with the world. Here's how you can create a rich and interactive press kit for your podcast, using Notion.What is a podcast press kit?A podcast press or media kit is a document that provides vital info about your podcast, to those who need it. Typically these are people you hope will promote your podcast. A good press kit makes this job easy, by asking as little of the reader as possible. The more content a reader can cut-and-paste from our press kit, the easier we make it for them to spread the word.Who is a podcast press kit for?Newsletter authors, bloggers, journalists, influencers… anyone you hope will help spread the word about your podcast, but who isn't a fan. Your website should already do a great job of introducing your show to new listeners – your press kit is the professional face of your show.What should you include in a podcast press kit? The name of your podcast A summary of the show A link to your website A link for each of the apps/directories your podcast is listed in (here's an up-to-date list of where to submit your podcast) The highest-quality version of your artwork you have Contact details for whoever is in charge of the podcast going to be responsible for handling media enquiries An embed player for your trailer, or a good gateway episode Some nice-to-haves include A full list of upcoming episodes with release dates Photos and bios of everyone involved, including social media links A note on your show summaryThe summary you write for your press kit might differ from the description people read in Apple Podcasts. The language should communicate why your show will be a good listen, but without making the copy too salesy. We already assume your show is amazing, so just stick to the facts and let readers know why it's so good.If your show is new, add that to your summary. Likewise if you're relaunching for an interesting reason, add that context.Why build a podcast press kit in Notion?Press kits are often static files, like PDFs. You can use Notion to create a PDF for you, but it's far better to be able to point people towards a live document. As press coverage starts to come in, or as you start to garner five-star reviews, you can add them to your press kit in seconds. Reviews and testimonials are great social proof – put them to good use!Notion pages are far easier to share than Google Docs. Google can be finicky about who can see which pages, and sometimes ties itself in knots. Notion pages, on the other hand, have easy-to-access links, and you get to decide who – if anyone – can edit or leave comments.They're also far more interactive an Google Docs, as you'll see below.What does a podcast press kit made in Notion look like?Check out this video for a full reconstruction of a real-life press kit that was released for a podcast in 2021.What to do with your podcast press kit Send it along to podcast newsletter writers and journalists (here's a list of podcast newsletters to submit and subscribe to) Pitch to mainstream or local press, if you have an angle that would make your podcast newsworthy Add it as a link when talking to any gatekeepers about your podcast (these are people who probably aren't going to become listeners, but will help you find them… people like influencers, or people whose podcast you want to be a guest on) Don't just send people a link to your Notion page and tell them you have a new podcast. Use the email to explain why your podcast should be of interest to each recipient's readers. Maybe even reproduce the show summary – or a variation of it – in your email. Then you can link to the Notion page so they have all the info. This should strike the right balance between overloading writers' inboxes and giving them more work to do.Dive deeper into NotionIf you'd like to use Notion to manage your podcast workflow, our full session is available in Podcode+.Take the guesswork out of making, launching, and growing a successful podcast. Join the Podcode School.

There's a lot of industry buzz suggesting video is the future of podcasting, and that if you don't have a video strategy, you can't succeed. That's wrong for 99% of podcasts, including yours. Here's why.Setting the scenePundits have been suggesting video's rising importance in podcasting for years. And they're not wrong. For short-form marketing, you can't beat the human face. We click on thumbnails with people's faces more than we do those without. That's why you see your favourite vloggers gurning at the camera. That, and the Algorithm.Which brings us to the new trend in short-form video. TikTok, Instagram Reels, and whatever Facebook is trying today, want to grab attention and hold it. They do that by learning what keeps you from scrolling, and feeding you more of it. Scroll past something within a second, and the algorithm considers that a personal down-vote. The more you watch a clip, the more personal up-votes you give it.We are not a short-order cookUnless you meet one of these conditions, video marketing is probably not for you: you already have a huge social media following and people know your face you have a celebrity guest people will recognise you have a compelling (probably true-crime) story you can tell in pictures That doesn't mean you shouldn't use video to encourage listeners to your podcast, but that it's probably going to be an uphill battle. And we're increasingly discovering that audiograms – those little videos with animated waveforms – don't convert to new listeners.Podcasting is long-form contentAs a podcaster, you're in the business of creating deep connections with listeners, building trust, and reaching a thousand true fans. You're not in the business of making short, attention-grabbing video edited to within an inch of its life. You're taking the long way round.Every episode you create is building upon a body of work, making your podcast that little bit more valuable and noteworthy each time.Videos demand more attention from your audience. That might sound like a good thing, but ask yourself “when was the last time I did any of these?” with a video: Listen in the shower Go for a walk Listen on the way to work Fall asleep Do the dishes Listen while gaming I'm betting you do that for more with podcasts (which are audio) than you do with YouTube videos. And it's precisely the fact that we consume podcasts while doing other things that make them so vital.Your audience folds your content into their daily life and routine. You're along for the ride in what can be some deeply personal moments. That's where the idea of intimacy in podcasting comes from. It's about the time you spend alongside your listener. And you simply can't do that with video.How to succeed in audio when the world seems obsessed with videoI'm not down on video. I can lose hours to TikTok, and I also enjoy popping on a Twitch stream and letting it burble way to itself. What I'm writing here isn't to denigrate video. It's intended to give you some comfort, if you're worried that video is somehow “the future” of podcasting, or is going to majorly affect your success. It isn't, on both counts. Not for the kind of work we do.Video can convert quickly. That's one reason people in money-making podcasts like it. But those big podcasts are dealing with scales of audiences we don't yet have. So how can we compete? Firstly, stop trying to compete. Instead of competing, you define your own category. It's called the blue-ocean strategy. Next, do the things that don't scale. And finally, prepare for this to take a while. But everyone's doing videoMost of what we see in podcasting is skewed towards larger shows with larger budgets. That's because they can pay for scale, or they're built on pre-existing audiences. They're not doing anything special, but they're able to do it on a bigger stage. That means you're likely setting yourself an unattainable goal.Remember that blue ocean strategy. Think about what makes your show different from the larger shows that can afford to make beautiful videos, and spend the time editing them. Ask your listeners why they're listening to you, rather than to someone with a bigger following. If it's because they're your friend, think about what it is in your communication style that would attract others.You're already on the right trackDid you ever watch one of those “gigs in your front room” that were big during the 2020 lockdown? I watched a few, and was grateful for them. But as much as we might have needed to be with other people, to hear the crowd and feel the warmth of all those bodies, the performers needed it more.We need feedback to tell us if we're doing a good job or not. I used to do improv, and I was always listening out for audience reactions. If what we were doing got laughs, we kept doing that thing – or a variation on it – until the audience started to get bored.A lot of early-stage content creation involves putting work out and not getting feedback. We don't even have the luxury of seeing all those muted Zoom faces in the crowd while we do our gig from home. We just have to put in the hours, and keep making good stuff.I tell you that not to dishearten you, but to reassure you that there is no secret. It really is just about putting in the time.Video podcasting is largely a marketing issue for podcasts at scale. It may be an important aspect of their work, and if it's something that interests you, go for it. But don't feel you have to chase it, just because some industry person told you it's “the future”.Don't go it aloneSlow and steady growth is by far the best approach, but it can be disheartening. It took months of recording, writing, pivoting and improving before I gained any search traffic for this blog. It took about a year for my Hitchhiker's podcast to attract fan mail.The Internet is strewn with the projects I've abandoned because they didn't get the traction I wanted, in the time I thought they would. Unless you're one in 10,000, everything will take longer than you think it will, or should.So my advice is to be with people who get it. To find like minds who also want to go the long way round, because they know what lies at the end is o much more rewarding than a quick sale. If that sounds like you, our community is here and waiting to meet you.Take the guesswork out of making, launching, and growing a successful podcast. Join the Podcode School.

“Hey guys! Today I'm going to be talking to you about podcasting”. You might not have given it much thought, but why do so many YouTubers refer to their audience as “guys”? Gender element aside, the plural (”guys” instead of “guy”) is something we borrow from TV.TV presenters know it's common for two or more people to come together to watch a show. Families have been ding it since before you or I were born.Radio is much more personal. Lots more of us listen to radio on our own, so we expect to hear good presenters refer to us in the singular: “the listener”, as opposed to “all our listeners”.Intimacy in podcasting is a cliché because it's realWhen someone starts talking about the intimacy of podcasting, you can guarantee someone else's eyes will start rolling. But that cliché exists for a reason. The Guardian have set down in pixels what those of us who studied radio have known for years:When you listen to the human voice through headphones, you feel more intimately connected to that voice.But that intimacy doesn't just come from the distance between their voice and your ears. It's in the language. When you refer to me as “everybody”, I'm no longer connected to you. You've just severed that bond by reminding me I'm just one of hundreds or thousands of other people hearing your voice. Every time you say “all the listeners”, you're telling me I'm just a number.Speak to one personYou might talk about having a community of listeners. But you can also create a unique bond between you and every person who downloads your episodes.Every time you want to refer to your listeners, stop. Talk to them, not about them. I don't want to hear how all your listeners are appreciated. I want to be appreciated. If you want to thank me for listening, thank me. You don't have to know my name, where I'm listening, or what I look like. But just by saying “thanks for listening” rather than “thank you all for listening” or “bye, everyone”, you're helping create that cosy connection.And that connection makes me much more persuadable. So now I'm much more likely to be on your side, and to take the actions you recommend. Because I know it's just me you're asking. Yes of course I know I'm one of however many thousands of other people, so don't remind me. Let's just have this moment for ourselves.What if I'm talking about my community?This is where it gets subtle, and you'll likely find the right balance yourself, over time. My recommendation is to speak to an individual, and about a group. So here's a couple of examples: Thank you for listening. Don't forget you can join our community where you'll find other likeminded listeners. I asked our Patreon supporters to supply some questions, and they've given me some great ones. If you're not already a Patreon supporter, you can join now. Thank you for following the show, and to everyone who turned out to our live show last week. In summary, we add distance when we talk about groups, and reserve closeness for the individual.Audiences, co-hosts, and intervieweesIf you have a co-host and an interviewer, this can start to feel like a juggling act. If it isn't obvious who you're talking to when you say “you”, be explicit. Use the person's name when you ask them a question. If you then need to switch and talk to the listener, just say “you, the listener”. Yes, it's OK. I know you don't know me by name, but you're still acknowledging that it's just me sat here with my earbuds in.Picture the sceneGood podcasts are like eavesdropping on a conversation between friends. Yes it's another cliché, but let me offer a tweak.Imagine you're on-stage at a convention, and being interviewed by a good friend. This is what we used to call a “fireside chat”. There's an audience watching, and occasionally you might tip them a nod or a wink. But most of your attention is focused on your friend who's asking the questions.When you record your audio, remember that most of the time, you're talking to your friend, not to the audience. Picture them in your mind. Remember to speak clearly so the audience can hear you, but address that single person across from you.Once you're in the habit, it's as easy as falling off a log.Once heard, can't be unheardThe next time you listen to a podcast, think about how it makes you feel when you're referred to in the plural. You probably never noticed it before, and maybe there isn't that much of a shift. And you wouldn't notice it in the other direction. You probably can't think of the podcasts that refer to you in the singular. But I bet they're among the ones you've listened to the longest. And their hosts are likely the ones you have the strongest connection with.If you have a question on this or another aspect of podcasting, What's Your Problem? is the place to bring that question. You can book a slot to be a guest on the next episode, and essentially get 30 minutes of podcast coaching for free!Take the guesswork out of making, launching, and growing a successful podcast. Join the Podcode School.

If you're thinking about making a podcast, there's a lot to consider and it get overwhelming pretty quickly, even before you've got to grips with the tech. So let's start by looking at what you need to buy, and how much everything costs.MicrophoneA good mic is essential for creating a warm, cosy environment for you to nestle into your listeners' ears. Although your computer comes with a mic built-in, you'll always make a better-sounding podcast by plugging a mic in.The Samson Q2U is the safest bet. It's a versatile dynamic mic (dynamic mics sound warm, pick your voice up well, and are good at ignoring background noise). You can pick a new one up from Amazon for less than $100. That's a good deal for a high-quality mic.HeadphonesHeadphones are important for two reasons. Firstly, they help you hear if you're drifting off mic or coming in too loud. Secondly, they stop you and your guest from creating feedback when you're on a call together. If anyone on your call isn't wearing headphones, the other person's voice will be picked up by their mic and bounced back to you… it sounds horrible.Any pair of headphones you can plug into your computer will do, but closed-back headphones like the Audio-Technica ATH-M20X are better. You can pick up a pair for around $50.And speaking of callsYou'll probably be speaking with guests over the Internet. The best way to do this is to use SquadCast, as their browser-based software records each participant on their computer. That means if someone's Internet drops out for a second, the recording is unaffected. Plus, it sounds much better than recording over Zoom. Like, much, much better. And SquadCast costs only $20 a month.Editing your podcastIf you're new to editing audio, there's no better tool than Descript. Instead of starting with a whole bunch of confusing waveforms, you work through each episode by editing the words. Descript transcribes your audio, so you can edit your episode just like editing a Google doc.Transcripts are essential for making your podcast accessible to deaf listeners. They're also handy for SEO, and Descript even has tools to help you promote your content with audiograms. It's a no-brainer. All that from $12 a month. Bonkers.Hosting your audioYou've probably heard about Anchor, and it's tempting to think that free hosting is the way to go, especially as it's powered by Spotify. The problem is, they're moving ever closer to isolating Anchor from the podcast ecosystem, meaning they want your show to only be available to Spotify listeners (most people use other apps).Captivate is the best option for the newbie podcaster. It provides industry-standard analytics so you can be sure of your download numbers. They bundle in a customisable website which you can hook up to your own domain name. They help you manage guest bookings, and make it super-simple to submit to all the major podcast directories… and a few emerging ones too.Plus, they integrate with both SquadCast and Descript. All for $19 a month.Your grand total: $100 to get started + $50 a month (or thereabouts)$50 sounds like a lot to pay out each month, no question. But consider how you bill out your own time. Even if you don't charge people by the hour, your time still has value.By using Captivate to manage your guest bookings and setting up the recording in SquadCast, you're saving time that would otherwise be spent doing admin.By using Descript to edit your podcast, you're retaining full ownership over the project and not handing it off to someone else, who would charge you a lot more than $12 a month. Plus, Descript's filler-word removal tool means you can get rid of pesky umms and uhs in a flash, then just spend a bit of time finessing the edit.A great start, but there's so much moreIf you want to create impact with your voice, our Unmute program is your best way forwards. You'll join a squad of likeminded social entrepreneurs, change-makers and leaders, starting from scratch, and launching a compelling podcast in 13 weeks.Take the guesswork out of making, launching, and growing a successful podcast. Join the Podcode School.

Mark announces a change to this feed coming soon, reminds you to check out a newly-added show, and introduces yet another podcast! What's Your Problem?... with Mark Steadman Introducing Ear Brain Heart Take the guesswork out of making, launching, and growing a successful podcast. Join the Podcode School.

If you manage more than one podcast, or you're busy, it can be difficult to keep all the balls in the air that keep a podcast thriving. Over the years I've developed some techniques and workflows that help keep the process somewhat on the rails. Now I'm lucky to have some preproduction help, but when I started List Envy, my top-five list-building podcast in 2019, I knew I wanted it to be weekly, and that I wanted each conversation to be with someone new. I also knew that I was a fallible fleshy meat sack who would forget things… important things like dates, times, and names. These are things you need to know if you're going to have a weekly guest-based podcast.Thanks to my production assistant Stuart, my process is different – and a little less automated – but I wanted to put this out as these are still really relevant today.Hello TrelloSo, back in 2019, once I'd contacted the few friends I had who I thought might be up for guesting on the show, I put their names into a Trello board, with four columns: Inbox Asked Interested Confirmed Trello is an app that uses the kanban approach, where you have columns that can represent the state of a job, and cards – originally physical cards or PostIt notes stuck to a wall – that relate to each job. It's a great visual representation of repetitive or replicable work.Any time I had an idea for a guest to ask, I'd add a card with their name on it, to the Inbox column. When I was ready to contact them, I'd write them an email or send a WhatsApp message, and move their card to Asked, just by dragging it over to that column. If they got back to me and said they were up for it, they got moved to Interested, then once we'd fixed a date, I could move them over to Confirmed.Nowadays I manage all my episodes in Notion, and I'll be doing a Crowdcast on that topic in the coming weeks.But managing my episodes in Trello means I didn't have to try and remember who was in or out, who was a maybe, or whether there was a recording scheduled for tomorrow, as I could see it all in one place. But there's lots more to do than just asking guests… I had to schedule them.Enter CalendlyWith Calendly, I could – and still do – hook in all my calendars and let the app show my guests a bunch of recording time slots for them to choose from, safe in the knowledge the app would never recommend a time when I was doing something else, traveling (lol) or recording another episode. And because it works across time zones, I never had to do the maths to work out when would be a good time for us both. Once a time was confirmed, it was automatically added to my Recordings calendar, and I'd get an email confirmation.The booking form also allowed me to ask the guest a few important questions, like the name of the list they wanted to build, and their Skype handle. Now in 2021 I've pivoted to Riverside [affiliate link], which makes the recording process much easier, but does introduce a wrinkle in that each session has a separate webpage to send to the guest, and there isn't currently a way to automate that.Enter ZapierBecause there's usually something filling my brain up at any given moment, I knew I didn't want to trust myself to track the whole process of guest acquisition through to scheduling and recording, without a bit of help. So I built some Zapier workflows, that linked my Trello board and my Calendly account.Zapier is a web app that connects other web apps and services together, so that when something happens in app A, you can trigger something to happen in app B, without writing any code.With a Zapier workflow, whenever guests picked a time, their Trello card with their name on it would be moved to the Confirmed column for me, and some items would appear on my todo list, scheduled for a day before our recording time (so I could send them an email, asking them to record their end of the call, and so on). I use Things as my todo app, but they don't have an API for automation. However, you get a secret email address you can use to ping tasks into your Things inbox, so that's what would run when a guest was confirmed.All of this is achievable in Zapier with no code. It's a little technical, but you don't have to be a wizard to do it.Humans are inefficient machinesSome guests found the Calendly thing a challenge, not because the app is difficult to use (it isn't), but I think because they just want to give me a time that works for them, and the whole purpose of the app is to cut the back-and-forth. Some just want to use it as a guide, then message me to say “let's pick this time”. I didn't care what time they'd picked, because I'd setup the app so that it would only ever give viable options, so invariably I'd ask them to actually click the time and fill in the form.It helped when I explained that this wasn't for automation's sake, but that it kept a number of other things in check: like making sure I didn't double-book myself, or forget to research their topic, since I was often scheduling more than one call per week, and I wanted to give a couple of days' time for research.Taking the time to get my Trello, Calendly, Google Calendar and task manager setup was one of the key things that made recording List Envy a less stressful proposition. Nowadays there's a little more manual back-and-forth, since my beloved Notion doesn't have a public API (although I'm on the waiting list for the private beta), but I can do my planning, research, script writing and show note gathering all within Notion, and I can bring others in to help.But if you're a one or two person operation, I'd look into this setup. And if you've got questions, come and chat to me on Friday at 6pm GMT, where I'll be running open office hours.Take the guesswork out of making, launching, and growing a successful podcast. Join the Podcode School.

Every good album you love has that killer track – even albums with wall-to-wall bangers, you'll usually find the best bops around track 9 (sorry for the language; I'm too old to talk about music now). If you're new to a band, the hope is that the single is what gets you into the album. At least that's how it used to be, before algorithms and TikTok. Again, I'm old.The same can be true of TV shows, especially half-hour sitcoms. Maybe there's an episode of The Office you were recommended, or perhaps you caught the soup nazi episode of Seinfeld back in the day.In some cases it's not a matter of quality, but of how well a part reflects the whole. For me, it's the episode of Fawlty Towers with Mrs Richards, the troublesome guest with the hearing aid she won't turn on because it wears the batteries down.Mrs Richards in Fawlty TowersWe can take this principle and adapt it to podcasting. Every podcast has an episode that typifies it; that says “if you like this, you'll probably like the whole thing”. That might be your most recent episode, but it probably isn't, especially if your most recent episode was a bonus show or you went off piste from what you normally discuss.I have a podcast about the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, except since March last year it's not really been about Hitchhiker's at all, but about coming up with writings that fit Douglas Adams' style. Our episodes are less frequent and often a bit raucous, because they feel like special occasions and the chance for the four of us who record it to get together (virtually) and share a drink… or twelve.I'm really proud of each episode we put out, because each one is prepared, with pre-written material, and then edited to trim the fat. But if I'm telling people I have the definitive Hitchhiker's podcast, should I be pointing them to my latest episode?A gateway episode is a great way of showcasing the episode you feel best shows off your work. It's better than a trailer because it's a full episode, and you can chop and change your gateway episode as you see fit.So how do you make a gateway episode?The bad news is there isn't a standard for it. There's currently no way in your podcast feed to specify that a particular episode is the one you want new listeners to try first, and I'd strongly advise against doing any kind of tinkering with your episode dates or numbers to try and force it to the top of Apple Podcasts, because that'll just cause endless headaches.The good news is it's something you can do on your website. Your podcast does have a website, right?This week we at Podiant released a new feature that pins featured episodes to a podcast's homepage with a special label that says “Featured episode” (which of course can be changed to say anything), but if you maintain your own podcast website, you should already be able to do this, and if you haven't considered it, give it a go… it might just be a matter of adding a widget or dragging and dropping a block.Make sure the episode is featured as high up on your homepage as possible, and that listeners can play it directly from the page. You don't want them to have to click a link to another page, as you'll start to lose the thread. Get a big, bold, embeddable player for that episode – Apple and Spotify both provide them if your hosting company doesn't – and put it above the fold (above the bit where most people have to scroll down the page). Make sure it works well on a mobile, as that's probably where most of your visits will come from.What should be in your gateway episode?Don't make a special episode just for new listeners. A trailer is a good way to give people a sizzle-reel of best-bits. Your gateway episode should be one you've already picked, that you think really shows off your best work. Think about the episode you'd submit if you were applying for a podcasting award, and you had to submit just one episode.Pick one that doesn't lean too heavily on prior knowledge or in-jokes… maybe pick one that establishes a joke you call back to in later episodes. It should be one of your best-sounding episodes from a technical perspective, too.For my Hitchhiker's show, I've picked our “42nd anniversary special” as my gateway episode, because it bridges the gap between our previous episodes where we covered Adams' universe in alphabetical order, and our new format where we write new entries for the Guide. It also has the added benefit of making us look good, because we were able to plug my appearance on BBC Radio 4. (It's also our last pre-pandemic episode, and gosh, you can hear the difference!)What's your gateway episode?I'd love to know what you're using as your gateway episode, and if you already have one, how you're promoting it. Hit Reply or tag @amarksteadman on Twitter with the episode you're using to get new listeners to hit that Follow button.Take the guesswork out of making, launching, and growing a successful podcast. Join the Podcode School.

The next version of iOS, Apple's mobile operating system, brings a change to the in-built Podcasts app that is significant to all podcasters who want to promote their show via Apple's platform. You may have already heard or read that the language is changing from “Subscribe” to “Follow” (so all the call-to-action buttons are changing their text which means we need to tell our listeners to “follow us on Apple Podcasts”), but that's not nearly the most important thing about the change.Previous versions of the Podcasts app placed the word “Subscribe” as the primary call-to-action. You always had the option to audition the show beforehand by playing an episode or two, but “Subscribe” was what Apple wanted you to do. It's also what we as podcasters want our listeners to do, because once the listener is subscribed to our podcast feed, that's one less person we have to market each individual episode to, because they're already going to get it. It's good for our egos, it's good for our numbers, and it's good for our position within the Apple Podcasts store, since our ranking is based on the number of new subscribers we have (although that's set to change too… more on that in a bit).With iOS 14.5 however, the main call-to-action is to play the latest episode. That's great because it gets the listener one step closer to checking out and enjoying our show. But when it comes to subscribing to the show — or to use the verbiage, “following” the show – that action is relegated to the top-right-hand corner of the screen, which is incidentally one of the hardest parts to reach if you have a newer iPhone.Since the button isn't labeled, if we want new listeners to follow our show in Apple Podcasts, we have to say something like “Find us on Apple Podcasts, and click the plusbutton to follow the show”. Because at least for now, simply saying “follow us on Apple Podcasts” isn't enough.See my rough mockup of an improvement I'd like to seeI think the move to unify the language around subscribing to podcasts is good. I think follow is a better word than subscribe, because it's far less ambiguous – I'm just a little worried that we'll lose iPhone users who aren't podcast geeks.So maybe as well as thinking about the amending the wording in your outro, replacing the word subscribe with follow, consider borrowing from the YouTube playbook and inviting users to “tap the + button”.Take the guesswork out of making, launching, and growing a successful podcast. Join the Podcode School.

An interview podcast — a host speaking with a guest or two, over Zoom or in-person — is the easiest way to start building your authority, and get to grips with the medium of podcasting. In the countless hours of podcast editing I've done, hearing the work people want me to advise on, and being a rabid listener with a large backlog, I've found some common principles, tips, and mistakes that will apply to just about any podcast in the genre.These tips will apply to you whether you're the host of a podcast, someone who helps in pre-production, or a podcast editor at any level. When I refer to “you”, I'm talking about anyone with ownership over the success of the podcast.How to conduct a podcast interviewThe person conducting the interview has essentially one job: set the guest up for success. That means making them feel comfortable beforehand, ironing out any pre-production issues, and confirming how much time they have available.PROTIP: Contrary to the title of this piece, you're not conducting an interview, but more a conversation: an exchange of ideas, knowledge, viewpoints. The host isn't pumping the guest for information, there are no consequences for giving the wrong answer, other than it being cut in the edit, so loosen up.Some other things to consider: Be communicative over email or DM in the days running up to the interview. Show up early, so you can set everything up at your end before they join. Make sure you know how to pronounce the guest's name. If there's any doubt, ask the guest to say their name while you're recording, as part of a sound check. Find the guest on social media and check if they specify a preferred gender pronoun. Many people declare their pronoun within their social media bio or their profile name. If you don't have that info, try and normalise asking for it. It's ruder and more uncomfortable to make a bad assumption than it is to ask. If the guest is using wired earbuds, help them clear anything that might brush against the cable, like shoulder-length hair, shirt buttons, or a scarf. Apple EarPod mics are pretty serviceable, but that rustling sound — we've all heard it — is pretty maddening, and really hard to treat in post. Make sure the guest is wearing headphones. If you can, insist on it. You don't want you or your editor trying to compensate for Zoom or Skype trying to compensate for the feedback created when their mic picks up your voice and ping-pongs it back and forth between you. Everyone has headphones — /everyone/ — so there's no excuse not to pop them on for the interview. How to structure an interview podcastLet's assume your podcast has one host, and each week you have a new guest. You've recorded your interview, so now what to do with it?The best format I've found is the host-read wrap-around. That's where the host delivers an intro to the episode, hands over to the interview, then back to the host for the outro. These bits should be recorded after the interview, and as close to publication of the episode as possible.PROTIP: After the host's intro, the next voice the listener hears should be the guest. This is an old radio journalism trick, and works wonders. An example transition is “I began by asking my guest how he got started making widgets”. If you have transition music, put it there, then open with the guest answering that question.My show List Envy deviates very slightly from this formula. I start with what the TV industry calls a /cold open/: a brief snippet of audio, usually from the guest, with a punchy end that takes us into the short theme tune. I do my intro, hand over to the guest, then instead of doing my outro right at the end of the episode, I record a segment where I thank the guest, handle my listener calls-to-action, do any ad reads or paywall plugs, briefly push the next episode, and then hand back to the pre-recorded chat for the last segment of the episode, usually giving the guest the final word.Some podcasts do an intro, mid-section, and outro, some do an intro and no outro, some have pre-recorded bits. Your mileage may vary, but a host-read intro and outro will serve you well if you're just getting started.How to start each episode of an interview podcastThis is really simple and often mishandled by newcomers. Simply welcome the listener to the show, explain briefly what the show is, introduce the guest, then hand over to the interview. That's it. No “hey guys”, “what is up my peeps”, “this one's for all you MailChimp fans out there”.PROTIP: Podcast and radio listeners like to be referred to in the singular, not the plural, so when you record your intro and outro, imagine you're sat in a comfy chair on stage in a tiny theatre, and you're having a chat with a friend. The audience can hear your conversation and are enjoying it, but all your attention is focused on your friend: a single person, rather than the audience as a group.In this scenario, the friend you're talking to is your listener. It's a way of helping you think about the way you address that person, and avoiding phrases that feel unnatural or slipping into an approximation of a radio voice… something I'm still guilty of from time to time.A good structure works like this: Hello and welcome to the podcast, where we talk about the stuff. This week's guest is this person, who does this thing or has this specific knowledge. I started by asking them a question. If you're the host, then you're in charge, and you should do what feels natural and fits your audience and personal style best. These are just guidelines.And finally, no voice-over artist should come anywhere near your podcast in any professional capacity, other than as a guest. This is the host's space, and the listener is here for the authority the host brings. Intimacy is based on authentic connection, and an over-slick intro, however good the voice artist is, puts a barrier up between the host and the listener. (I often work with voice-over artists, and love doing so. They do great work — they just don't belong in podcast intros.)How to end each episode of an interview podcastJust as with the intro, it works best if you transition from one person to another, so let the guest have the last word before you insert any transition music and wrap up with your closing remarks.Podcast listeners are used to the transition, and understand — if subconsciously — that the intro and outro are probably recorded separately from the interview, so don't feel you have to fake a smooth transition. In many cases, it actually sounds unnatural to thank the guest as if they're still on the line and then carry on with your calls-to-action without the guest getting another word in. Put a full-stop in as soon as possible, politely closing the metaphorical door on the guest, and then handle the admin.If you have ads, it might be that a middle section works best for you here. It's entirely possible listeners will skip the outro, especially if it's formulaic, so if you have something you want to mention in the outro that is important to you and of value to the listener, tease this in your intro.Each valuable nugget of conversation between the host and guest builds a little trust capital, so spend this wisely. Try and leave the listener having received more value from the episode than you have from them listening. You also don't want to dilute any calls-to-action you want them to perform, by asking too many things of your listener. Focus on the best outcome you'd like from the episode (subscribing to a newsletter, buying the accompanying book, etc) and make that your main ask.A good structure for an outro works like this: Thanks to my guest for being on the show. Links to their work are in the show notes, which you'll find at mywebsite.com. You can support me by doing this thing (backing this Patreon, going to buymeacoffee.com etc). If you can't do that, tell a friend about the podcast. (If you like, and if it's applicable) Next week I'll be talking to so-and-so about such-and-such. Thanks for listening, and talk to you next time. Again, this is a guide, not a collection of rules to live and die by. Of course, you don't have to have the same call-to-action each week, and running an experiment over a few weeks, then switching your call-to-action can be a handy way of finding out which ones work best.How to edit an interview podcastPreferred editing software and styles differ across the board, but here are some useful rules-of-thumb.If you use music, have no more than 5 or 6 seconds before the host's voice comes in. You want just enough to set the tone, and not so much that the listener is drumming their fingers waiting for the show to start.Although not an interview podcast, the best example I have of this is Back to Work, with Merlin Mann and Dan Benjamin. Each episode starts with a drum hit and two strummed electric guitar chords, then straight into the discussion.If your music is longer, it should duck (reduce in volume) by a few decibels just as the voice comes in, then fade out over a few seconds. You can do this manually or using dynamic compression. You can hear a good example of this in the design-focused podcast Presentable.Finding a natural point at which the music should duck out of the way of the host will vary entirely on the piece of music, and the style of the intro. Editors with a good grasp of music theory can usually find this point, as it's about locating a phrase in the music that suits. This is very much an art rather than a science.Apply enough EQ and effects to make the sound uniform between the people speaking, and to promote clarity of speech. Interview podcasts are about packing knowledge and insight into a relatively tight space, so make the voices as loud as they can go, without causing distortion or making them sound over-processed. Again, this is a sweet spot and needs to be judged by ear, and it will differ depending on who's speaking, and the platform you're recording on.Being able to hear every word is more important than creating a beautiful soundscape, so don't overly stress about sound quality, as long as the words are clear through inexpensive headphones, and the listening experience is comfortable. Background noise reduction is good, but should be used sparingly so it doesn't make the person speaking sound like they're underwater.When it comes to editing the meat of the interview: Reduce the satellite delay effect you get with remote calls by looking for gaps of longer than half a second where no-one's talking, and trim them back, just a bit. Like a sculptor carving a statue out of a block of marble, the editor's job is just to chip away the bits of the call that don't serve the episode. That doesn't mean removing every “um”, “err” or stumble; just giving the conversation a little buff and sparkle. What you should end up with is an MP3 file between 64kbps and 96kbps, in mono (stereo episodes waste bandwidth, and there's no benefit to having each person on a different channel — sometimes it's a detriment).Around 45 minutes to an hour is a great length for an episode, but really the duration should be served by the content of the episode, not the other way around. If it takes two hours to have the discussion, then the episode is two hours long. Again, your mileage may vary.How to publish and promote an interview episodeI'll cover writing show notes in more depth another time, but good show notes — the descriptive text that accompanies an episode — should be visible on the web and in-app, link to the guest's bio and to relevant topics of discussion, describe briefly the content of the episode, optionally include quotes from the guest, have artwork that uniquely identifies the episode or the guest. Each episode needs its own home on the web, what techies call a canonical URL or permalink. That URL points to a page that contains an embedded player for the episode, and all the accompanying show notes. I've seen podcasters host their show on one platform, and then put show notes on an entirely different website. All the relevant content for each episode should be in one place, that can easily be referred to. Also, show notes should always appear in full — as much as possible — in the listener's app. Your hosting company can help with this, if you're unclear.Once you have that URL for your episode, pass it to your guest so they can help you promote it. Their social proof, and the proof of other listeners, is your most valuable marketing asset. Audiograms (videos with animated waveforms) are fun, but they don't really move the needle in terms of driving listenership.As with many of the marketing techniques pushed at podcasters with smaller audiences, social audio clips can suck up a not inconsiderable time that could have been spent on the show itself. After all, sometimes the best podcast marketing tool is making a really good episode in the first place.– Caroline Crampton, Hot PodThe best way to promote episodes on social media is with short, concise, enticing posts that link directly to the episode's canonical URL (not Apple Podcasts, or Spotify or any other platform — you should always link directly to the webpage with the episode player and the show notes, and encourage others to do so).Episode promotion is an ongoing experiment. In my years working on my own podcasts, I find that the occasional tweet or Facebook message can drive a little interest, but what really helps is your friends and fans sharing your content. People — and I suspect algorithms — are weighted against self-promotion, even when humble and well-meant, and weighted heavily towards social proof. So if your podcast is small, concentrate on asking your listeners to share your episodes, and make your episodes truly worth sharing.There are many like it, but this one is yoursThis is your podcast, your audience. You have the knowledge, as do your guests. I'm not trying to fundamentally change the personality of your podcast, but suggest formulas and practises that I know work. Ultimately you'll choose the ones you feel are worth implementing, and discard those that don't apply.Also don't feel you have to implement all of these things from the get-go, especially if you're new to podcasting. You can apply them in layers, building up bit by bit, until your podcast is a well-oiled machine.I wish you loads of luck in your continued podcast journey. Let me know if I can help in any way.Take the guesswork out of making, launching, and growing a successful podcast. Join the Podcode School.