How should I prepare for the launch?
...So, you got your equipment, and you wrote your new show, recorded it, edited it, and finally called it wraps…now what…
- What do I do now?
- How many should I record?
- Where do I host it?
- How many downloads a month to make it all financially viable?
…Well, let's tackle these one at a time…
What do I do now?
Well, first off, celebrate! Truthfully! Go out to a bar and buy a round for you or your team. Then sober up and come back the next day…
How many should I record?
This really depends on your show. If it is going to be a weekly show, try and get as far ahead as you can. Trust me, when the trivial things of life creep up and you can’t record a show that week, you will love that you have a few in the bank to play. If I were to put a number on it, aim for at least 10 shows, before you even launch. That's going to make it all the easier to promote and keep building your audience, which ultimately comes with consistency.
When you're building an audience right at the beginning, you need to be consistent. Put in the work and embrace the drive to get there. But there are times when you can run out of gas.
When we started SMS, along with doing 50% of the writing and 50% of the co-hosting, I was doing 100% of the editing and sound-scaping. Which was a lot for me. Once we got the schedule and demand under control, with a number of episodes ahead, we could outsource the editing somewhat to the sound editor, to free up time and get further ahead. Once you can do that, the weekly pressure is reduced. This way we don’t run out of the fuel we need to create consistent quality that builds and grows a fan base…
…This way we don’t run out of the fuel we need to create consistent quality that builds and grows a fan base…
…The same goes for all the other release schedules. Whether that is bi-weekly, monthly, quarterly, etc. The further you can get ahead of the demand the more consistent you can be…
…The further you can get ahead of the demand the more consistent you can be…
…This is no truer than if you are cross promoting content and expanding an old audience base to a new pod, or, starting to build a new one from scratch. I would go as far as to say consistency is more important than having the best mic you can buy at the start of your journey…
…consistency is more important than having the best mic you can buy at the start of your journey…
…Something else, you should consider, and this is going to blow your mind, consistency is important, but the length of your podcast episode doesn't have to be long.
…Boom!
…10 episodes ahead might sound like a lot for a 20–30-minute podcast, but how about a 10 minute? 5 minutes? 2-3 minutes? You are the creator of your pod so choose a length of time that makes sense for what you are doing. And then just stick with it!
…choose a length of time that makes sense for what you are doing. And then just stick with it!...
…Your fan base will grow to appreciate that retinue. I would even recommend conceiving of the idea as being shorter in length than longer. Reason being that as you are making the podcast you will always be in a quiet courtroom in your mind, remember you can’t judge the viability of a podcast idea until you try it, if you find yourself losing the court battle, it's better to find that out pre-launch. Never be afraid to walk away from an idea if it is not working…
…Never be afraid to walk away from an idea if it is not working…
…Funny thing about making your own podcast, you can decide to make it whenever you want, and you can also decide to end it whenever you want, and you can decide to move onto another show whenever you want. This is one thing I love about podcasting. When something is done it is done, and you can move on if you like it, stay with it! It's up to you! My go to when pitching podcasts to potential partners is that I always pitch a podcast length that is 10 minutes or less.
When I started, “Tell me a ghost story”, I set up an email and a phone number hotline and told people to leave me a message of 10 minutes or less. So, essentially, each call could be an episode. But after I sent that email and hotline up, I only got one call! So, with limited first content, negotiating and adjusting the format made sense. Always be open to adjusting your idea, especially before launch…
…Always be open to adjusting, especially before launch…
…Accept it as just a part of the creative process for launching a new podcast. You can’t always predict or decide at the start what the best format will be for your podcast, it's best to have fluid expectations. There are no rules to podcasting. And if someone says they are, they are full of it! It's a messy and wild west like place industry to create in!
Where do I host it?
This question can be easily summed up as a platform hunt. I have switched hosting service 3 times for my podcasts. It can be upsetting because most platforms out there are not upfront about pricing. It made it easy for me to feel fleeced or abused. But you can’t let that get you down. You just pick up and look for greener pastures.
Here are the services I have used.
BuzzSprout: https://www.buzzsprout.com/?referrer_id=1990850
BuzzSprout essentially enables high fidelity video recording, because it's primarily a video hosting platform, but it allows you to upload audio. BuzzSprout lets you monetize right away if your podcast is over 23 minutes. Of course, if the podcast is only five minutes long, then it might not be the best for your podcast. Also, if it goes over, they charge you another $4. These sorts of fees are standard and come with the territory.
Spreaker will also let you monetize at once, right from the beginning. I have podcasting friends and colleagues that have collaborated with them forever and rave about them as people, which is kind of rare. For about $20 dollars a month you get this feature built in. It's great!
No matter where you host you should always link your show to where your audience is. Whether that is Spotify or Apple. Based on the numbers from these sites you will know where your audience is and know which to link to more in your marketing.
How many downloads a month to make that viable?
The more downloads you get a month, the better! A million is great. But more realistic is 10,000. How downloads translate to real dollars coming in is up to your monetization strategy (more on that later).
Ultimately, what that comes down to is SEO. And if you are a digital marketer, this area of podcasting is right up your alley. For me, when I started, this was all new. And that’s ok. SEO or Search Engine Optimization, essentially, is how easily your website or podcast comes up in search engine results, like google. It was a thing for me that sucked to learn. Simply because I never thought that way before about a digital product. And so now I've had to think in a way that I never would have before in the past. When I first designed my new podcast website for Newman Media. I had to first research a template for a podcast network and get examples of what new podcast pages looked like and low and behold websites services offer to build out all the SEO for you.
Podcast page is one I really like right now.
Podcast page: https://podcastpage.io?via=michelle78
They will automatically upload your episodes to the website and have been easy to use for SEO. Experimenting with SEO is a wonderful way to get yourself out there to a new audience. Simple things like what you name your podcast or themes/subject taglines, can help with SEO. For example, when coming up with the name for, “Tell me a ghost story”, I looked at gaps in the market. My creative partner saw that there was a gap for “true scary stories” and went with that. This is another reason writing your podcast description is so important. For example, this is my current website meta & SEO description for my main page: “From the mind of producer/host Michelle Newman, bringing you award-winning podcasts from comedy to the paranormal. Unforgettable stories are guaranteed!”
I’ll always be tweaking this. Make Sure you have a meta description for every page. Your domain names for your websites also play a key role in this. They are not always cheap, especially if the one that you want is taken, but the link below can get you some domain names for decent prices.
Name Cheap: https://namecheap.pxf.io/c/4560237/1632743/5618
You can find direct correlations with how many downloads you are getting based on your SEO and the changes you make with it. Don’t be afraid to experiment with it if you are not hitting the right number of downloads for your monetization strategy. Now that we are here and without further ado, let's dive headfirst into the deep end.