episodes Archives

5 Episode Ideas to Record Your Podcast FAST

January 12, 2024 Content

Let’s face it. You’re not always up to the task of recording and editing a full episode. You might have to book a guest, do research, have a long conversation, combine audio, and more. And while that works for most of your episodes, sometimes it’s good to have a few you can produce quickly in your back pocket. Here are 5 that you should be able to record and publish with little effort.

5 Ideas You Can Record Fast

Tell a Story. Something you know well, that you can give off the cuff. This cuts down on research and scripting!
Favorite Apps / Services. People love lists and have shiny object syndrome. Again, this is something where you can jot down a few ideas and just riff about what you like!
Your Take on a Twitter Thread. The only thing people love more than opinions is opinions on opinions! Take a popular Twitter thread and put your own spin on it.
Repurpose your own Twitter Thread. Ever send off a few tweets you had some thoughts on? Take those initial thoughts and build on them.
Behind the Scenes Content. People love this. They love seeing how the sausage gets made, and it’s something you’ll know really well, cutting down on prep time.

Low Effort and High Interest

The goal behind each of these is low effort in putting together a 15-20 minute episode, that your audience will be really interested it. Plus, if you can make it timeline, you can pre-record and batch a few for weeks where you have nothing!

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5 Content Ideas for Your Podcast

January 12, 2024 Content

Your business is stagnating. Maybe sales are as high as you’d like. Maybe you can’t seem to attract more customers.

Have you had that feeling? that no matter what you do, your sales and mailing list, and income, are flatlining? You know something needs to change, but you don’t know what.

I know what that feels like. I’ve been there. As I prepared to leave my full time job, I had a false sense of security for how much work I thought would come in. Boy was I wrong. I ripped through my small amount of work quickly.

Do what you set out to do

You didn’t start a business to struggle or worry about money. if you’re like me, you wanted freedom. But when you’re struggling in your business, it doesn’t feel like freedom. You feel chained to your desk, hoping more work comes in.

It doesn’t have to feel like that. And with a podcast, it won’t. Launching a podcast will help you establish yourself as an authority in your field, reaching a new audience, and generate more leads…

…with the right content.

Grow with Podcast Swaps (FREE Template)

Using Podcast Swaps, I more than doubled my monthly downloads for my already popular podcast, How I Built It, from 34,000 downloads per month to 71,000 downloads per month.

This Podcast Swap Outreach Database was integral to the process, and you can have it completely for free, in Airtable or Google Sheets:

5 Content Ideas

Here are some general ideas you can take – while I originally wrote this in the context of podcasting, you can use them for your blog, YouTube channel, live stream, or anything else you can think of!

1. Interviews

Interviewing experts in your field, as well as people that are relatable to your audience, can help you expand your network, reach new audiences, and establish yourself as an influencer in your field.

Some of My Favorite Interviews

2. Round Ups / Lists

Picking a topic and listing tools, tips, and resources gives your audience actionable tasks that they can start implementing the day the episode comes out. Stating your own recommendations can also generate more questions, allowing you to engage with your audience!

Examples:

5 ways to launch your online course
7 tips for building a landing page
9 creative ways to keep kids entertained on a rainy day

3. Tutorial / In-Depth Advice

Pick a topic and go deep on it. Tell listeners every step they need to take to do something, whether it’s how to set up a WordPress site, or how to cut your own hair. Show listeners you know everything there is to know about a topic.

And perhaps most importantly, give them a quick win. You want your listeners to try what you advise and be successful – not be frustrated.

4. Customer / Client Spotlight

Listeners love content they can relate to. If you can pick a customer or client and highlight how they’ve been able to improve using your product or service, that will be great content for you.

Be sure to make the episode about the client, and the audience, and not about you. And most importantly, let the guest do the talking!

5. Behind the Scenes

People love peaking behind the curtain, so a behind the scenes episode is great content. Show your listeners how you built a product, service, or process. Be detailed about it! It will prove that you think through your problems to find good solutions.

You can also combine this with number 4 and do a case study. Just be sure to get your client’s consent.

Bonus: Flip the Script

My most popular episode of all time is an episode where my friend Jeff Large interviewed me about how I created the podcast, to commemorate 100 episodes of the show.

This combines several different episode types: behind the scenes, interview, and in- depth advice. Listeners really seemed to love that episode and they’ll love yours too! You get to flex a little, and since your audience is also invested in your story, it will provide great insights for them.

You Can Do It!

Your business depends on growth. Stagnation means lost revenue and lost opportunities. The world is constantly changing, and if you don’t change with it, you won’t be in business for much longer.

Luckily, you’ve already taken steps to make the changes you need to make. With a podcast (or blog or YouTube channel), you can release unique and captivating content, reach a new audience, help people, and generate leads.

You podcast can do for you what my podcast has done for me.

Podcast Do’s and Don’ts

January 12, 2024 Tips

When I became a parent, there was no shortage of advice from anyone who had a kid at any point in their lives. From the most common, “sleep when the baby sleeps,” to the less common (but way more useful), “take the baby with you the first 2 months of their lives because all they do is sleep,” I was bombarded with a seemingly endless list of all the things I should and should not be doing as a freshly minted dad.

And while podcasting isn’t the same thing as being a parent, there is that same firehose of advice from everyone from people who started a podcast this week to people who’ve been doing it for 10+ years. This advice comes from a good place, but it’s easy to get overwhelmed.

Want to cut to the quick? Click: Do’s | Don’ts

Why This List is Different

When I started podcasting, I documented my journey. I wrote down the questions I had, and the answers I got. I made note of the hard parts, and the advice I didn’t get that I should have.

As a podcast coach, I check in with my students and clients. I ask them what they are struggling with. And I ask them what their revelations are, as they happen.

This list is the culmination of all of that — my 10+ years experience, and the new problems facing podcasters in 2023.

Podcasting Can Be Hard

As you start your podcast, you’ll be faced with tons of decisions to make, like format, if you should have video, what kind of gear to buy, and more. These lists should make it easier, without overwhelming.

Here are some dos and don’ts to help make your journey a little smoother.

Grow with Podcast Swaps (FREE Template)

Using Podcast Swaps, I more than doubled my monthly downloads for my already popular podcast, How I Built It, from 34,000 downloads per month to 71,000 downloads per month.

This Podcast Swap Outreach Database was integral to the process, and you can have it completely for free, in Airtable or Google Sheets:

Podcast Do’s:

Determine the purpose of your show (why are you starting it?)
Research your topics and guests
Send it to more than just Apple Podcasts
Send it to YouTube, even if it’s audio only.
Record a few episodes before officially committing to see if you like it
Make the audio quality as good as you reasonably can
Encourage engagement with your audience (ask for feedback, reviews, etc)
Have a website to share episodes
Start building your list as soon as possible. I recommend ConvertKit.
Grab the social media profiles
Consider Mini Podcasting
Have fun

Podcast Don’ts:

Sweat the Audio Quality too much (it should be listenable, but you don’t need to sound like NPR)
Feel like you need video (but consider it when it makes sense)
Be afraid of experimenting.
Stagnate. Change up the format from time to time!
Assume it will make you rich
Assume you will get thousands (or even hundreds) of downloads in the first week
Make your intro music too long (DO get to the good stuff)
Make it an hour long pitch (DO add value for your listeners so they trust you)
Get discouraged. Podcasting is a bit of a grind so make sure to have fun.

A Few More Resources

Just in-case you need a little bit more:

And hey…if you want some pointed feedback, I have some, get in touch. I offer 1-on-1 coaching.

And Happy Podcasting!

How to Make a Good Podcast Trailer

January 15, 2024 Tips

Recently I got a question regarding creating an “episode 0” (or podcast trailer) for your podcast – namely, “do I need an episode 0, and when should I do it?” The short answer is, you should do it as soon as you know you want to have a podcast. But let’s take a deeper look at your trailer and launching your podcast.

What is a Podcast Trailer?

Basically, it’s the very first episode in your podcast feed. Most people treat it as “Episode 0” because it’s not part of the show, but it’s crucial for submitting your podcast to directories.

They usually cover the following talking points:

Name of the show
The host
What listeners can expect from the show
A very general time frame for launch
A call to subscribe (don’t miss the first episode!)

Hook the Listener

You want a structured narrative that starts with a good hook. Give potential fans a reason to keep listening.

Here’s the trailer for my show, How I Built It:

Start with a Story

Much like a good talk, you should start with a story to hook the listener. It can be personal, or something from pop culture.

Once you hook them, tell them how it relates and the problem you’re trying to solve with the show. Then tell them who you are, and what they can expect.

Finally, tell them to subscribe wherever they listen to podcasts.

Grow with Podcast Swaps (FREE Template)

Using Podcast Swaps, I more than doubled my monthly downloads for my already popular podcast, How I Built It, from 34,000 downloads per month to 71,000 downloads per month.

This Podcast Swap Outreach Database was integral to the process, and you can have it completely for free, in Airtable or Google Sheets:

But WHY do You Need a Podcast Trailer?

The main reason you should put out a podcast trailer is because you need at least one published episode for podcast directories, like Apple Podcasts and Spotify, to accept your feed.

And while most directories approve within a couple of days, you don’t want to have to delay your launch because your show isn’t approved yet.

But it will also introduce your show to people in a preview/low commitment way to get them interested.

When Should You Publish Your Podcast Trailer?

I recommend you do things in this order, but it’s totally up to you:

Determine your show’s mission statement and format
Record a couple of episodes to see if you like podcasting
Write a script for the trailer that touches on everything I listed above
Record it and publish it as soon as it’s edited

You’ll want to make sure you actually like podcasting before you officially announce your show. You don’t want to announce and never launch, so you want to make sure you’re ready with a couple of episodes.

That said, you don’t want to announce too late and delay launch.

The real take away is this: think about your show, what you want to say in the trailer to hook people and get them to subscribe, and record it.

What do you think?

Are you working on your own podcast? Have questions about recording a podcast trailer? Let me know!