You’ve heard from people that you need a podcast. However, you don’t know where to begin. You wonder what type of podcast you should create. You wonder what you will talk about during your episodes. You wonder the format of each episode.
All of this wondering does not necessarily lead to stuff getting done. Identifying what your episodes in your podcast show will revolve around is the critical piece that makes finding the other puzzle pieces much easier.
Now, you may wonder what you can do for your first podcast show. Here are some ideas:
#1: Your Thoughts
You can create an entire podcast revolving around your thoughts. As long as your thoughts are interesting, people who watch some of the episodes on your podcast may decide to stick around.
When creating a podcast show based on your thoughts, make sure your thoughts from each episode follow a common theme. Do you talk all politics? Do you only talk about animals? Make sure your thoughts follow a common theme.
#2: Interview The Experts
One of the best ways to leverage your podcast is by using it to connect with other experts in your niche. Having an expert on your show means more exposure for that expert (the people in your audience sees the podcast episode) and you (the expert will share the podcast episode with their audience).
If you get hundreds of experts who promote your podcast to their large audiences, we’re talking about a big stream of traffic. That big stream of traffic can potentially be life changing for your online credibility—which would skyrocket if you get well-known experts on your podcast.
#3: Answer Audience’s Questions
Some people may feel afraid of interviewing the top experts in their niche right away. In my case, I wasn’t afraid of people saying no. I was afraid of something going wrong with the audio.
My podcast was one of the few areas where I had a close-to-perfectionist mindset. I had to eliminate pops and sound as crisp as possible. The last thing I wanted to do when interviewing an expert—especially someone like Seth Godin—would be this:
Hello everyone [LOUD POP] I am Marc Guberti, the teenager entrepreneur [WEIRD BACKGROUND NOISE]…
I wanted to master the audio before I approached the experts. I am doing that by launching my own podcast episode where I didn’t interview anyone. However, I didn’t want to launch episodes for the sake of launching episodes.
I wanted to provide a valuable experience for my audience.
I did that by listening to my audience’s questions. I asked people what they were struggling with and got some fascinating questions.
I have written over 1,000 blog posts. Some questions were never addressed in any of those blog posts. Does that mean I’m a bad writer. NO (#Bias). That just means I now know other issues people have with growing their audiences—issues that I didn’t write solutions for.
My podcast lets me answer more questions and provide more value to my audience. By the way, if you have any questions about growing your audience, email me marc@marcguberti.com and your question may end up on the podcast!
#4: Your Blog Posts
If you feel uncomfortable with talking off-the-cusp, you can start your podcast off by reading your blog posts word for word while providing small tidbits. While your podcast in the long-run should have a better strategy for content creation, this is a good short-term strategy to gaining confidence.
You need to have confidence and comfort when doing podcasts before you can successfully go off-the-cusp. I did YouTube videos and training course videos for over three years before I started my podcast, so the transition to off-the-cusp podcast episodes went smoothly.
However, you will see in some of my first YouTube videos that I was not as sharp as I am now. Practice allowed me to get to where I am now.
You may stumble in the beginning. Stumbling is an uncomfortable but vital and unavoidable part of the process. Better to stumble now than later. Just get it over with.
#5: Something You Enjoy Talking About
Regardless of what you choose to talk about on your podcast, you must choose to talk about something that you enjoy. If you dread doing your next podcast episode, then don’t be surprised if your podcast doesn’t take off.
The most successful podcasters are the people who show passion for what they do in each of their episodes. They provide a meaningful conversation that touches upon certain points that most people skip over or don’t even think about.
That’s all for the list. Here are some other things you need to know about podcasting:
Audio Matters
We all know the value of a podcast episode impacts how long people continue listening. However, not as many people think about the audio as the second biggest factor. That’s because most of us take good audio for granted.
Take this for instance. Would you rather listen to someone with a crisp voice (crisp with the help of a microphone) or to someone with a low voice and loud static in the background. To top it all off, the person with the low voice drops a glass of water right on the ground and the glass shatters—and you hear the sound the glass makes.
The person with the low voice may have great things to say. However, the loud static and the noise the glass makes would result in fewer people sticking around. Your content matters, but your audio matters just as much.
If you are wondering what I use, the Blue Yeti Microphone works best for me. I also have a pop filter on the Blue Yeti microphone which prevents those pops I was fearful of earlier. I edit the audio on Audacity.
Promote Your Landing Page In Each Podcast Episode
I will always promote my landing page at the end of my podcast. Why? People who subscribe from my landing page then get emails from me—and the email list is how I make most of my money.
All of my efforts online now revolve around this one question, “Will it grow my email list or help me make more money?”
The email list is vital for success. My friend Steve Scott said on his Self-Publishing Questions podcast that everything you do must promote your email list. Those activities that lead to more subscribers are like the spokes of a wheel. Your email list is the center of the wheel.
Get Started Now
The advice here is simple to understand. The audio for your first video or podcast doesn’t matter right now. The audio for my first few YouTube videos were horrible in comparison to my new stuff. What matters is you starting.
If you do not know how to start a podcast, join us in the free 5 Day Podcast Launch mini course.
In Conclusion
Podcasting has been consistently growing in popularity year after year. More people are creating their own podcasts and more people with podcasts are reaping the rewards. If you don’t have a podcast now, this is the time to get started.
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