Bonus: 3 Things I'd Do Differently If I Started Podcasting Today

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Hi, and welcome to this special bonus episode of One

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Minute Podcast Tips. If you take a look online, whether that's

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Twitter, Facebook groups, Reddit, etc., you frequently come across

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questions about starting a podcast. From there, you'll see

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a lot of answers about sharing equipment to buy, which hosting

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companies to use and more. All well, all good, but what you

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don't often see is what you shouldn't do and why. Based on

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personal experience and lessons learned. So while this is in no

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way an exhaustive list of do's and don'ts, here are three

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lessons that will shine on When I started podcasting seriously

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back in 2016.

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Number one, I would have had a plan If you discount my

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first foray into podcasting, a single episode on Blogtalk Radio

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way back in two thousand and nine my first real podcast was

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an old hobby podcast called Life Through a Dram. It basically

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consisted of me talking about a topic that caught my eye that

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week and ruminating on it while savoring a dram of single malt

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whisky. While it was fun for a while and let me indulge in one

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of my favorite pastimes. It soon run out of steam as I began to

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struggle on what I should talk about. Should I recount news

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stories? And if so, how serious should they be? Should I talk

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about my personal life? Should I have friends on? And would it

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matter if it was infrequent? All these questions and more came

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about because I didn't have a plan when I started out. Instead,

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I saw some people podcasting and thought, How hard can it be? I

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also expected that tons of people would want to listen to

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my missives - how wrong I was on that one. So needless to say,

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because of this and because of all the questions I was now

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asking myself, I soon fell out of like with the show and it

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tapered off. Today, whenever I start a podcast, I have a plan

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already in place with the questions I want to answer

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before I even start in a show format. Goals, Marketing Plan,

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Community outreach. If I meet my goals, then what? And how do I

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pivot if needed Do I? These are just some of the notes I go over

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with each new podcast and plan out a framework of what

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everything looks like when it comes to answering each point.

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Without that, I won't launch a podcast because I know I'll

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probably run out of steam with that one down the road. Now,

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this is different from a podcast reaching its natural end, just

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to highlight that difference. So plan ahead and know what you

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want from the show. And if you're in that boat at the

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minute at Captivate, where I'm Head of Podcaster Support and

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Experience, we've got an awesome free launch course, no strings

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attached, no email required, to help you get started properly,

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and I'll leave a link to that in the show notes.

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Number two, I wouldn't sweat the numbers. This is

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probably one that all podcasters could nod along to: that

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obsessive pull to check your analytics every minute. That was

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me. Seriously, every damn minute New episode dropped. Check the

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stats. New share on social media. Check the stats. I haven't

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checked the stats in a minute. Yep. You got it. Check the stats.

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I guess it's a natural thing for a new podcaster. You're excited

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that you've launched and you want to see how many others

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share that excitement. After all, you've told your friends, your

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family, your connections, and you just know they're all going

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to listen right? Right. So I checked the stats and checked

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and checked once more, just for good luck. And of course, the

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difference was minimal and that was deflating. Even though that

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first podcast was a hobby one and one that I didn't plan for,

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it still felt discouraging to be doing something that few people

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want to hear. But then why would they? I didn't have a marketing

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plan in place. I didn't have an email list. I didn't network

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with other podcasters. Most importantly, I didn't give

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anyone a reason to listen. I just simply recorded, uploaded,

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published, and that was it. Maybe I was expecting my Field

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of Dreams moment, but like the listeners, it didn't come.

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Building a podcast takes time. Even with a kickass marketing

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plan and a growth strategy. There's so much that goes into

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it that it's almost impossible to hit the ground running with

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great analytics to show for it. So, don't sweat the numbers

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because you're not getting the thousands of downloads all the

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gurus tell you you should be getting from day one. Instead,

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look at the data that you can use to optimize your show.

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Listen to growth recommendations from listeners and other

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podcasters. Churn rate and stickiness of episodes and where

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listeners are dropping off. Most effective referral channels.

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Analytics are great because they inform us on where we're

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succeeding and where we either need to put more effort or cut

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our losses and run, but use them. Don't be chained to them. For

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some really insightful thoughts around this, there's a great

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thread over on Twitter from Mark Asquith, which includes this gem.

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A podcast episode must be constructed in such a way that

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it benefits the listener, not us. Rather than creating a simple,

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repeatable format for the show we should be focused on creating

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a simple, repeatable formula that results in a depth of

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content. It's a really good thread on growth and analytics.

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And again, I'll leave the link to that in the show notes so you

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can check it out

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And number three. I would have learned how to edit. I

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cannot state this one enough. When I first started, I really

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wish I'd learned editing and the importance even the slightest

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tweaks can make. Instead, Life Through a was recorded and

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uploaded raw. And man, when I listened back to it, it's

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long gaps in the audio, coughing, rambling sentences

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that go nowhere, and lots of echo and background noise. Now,

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some of that was always going to happen. I was in a large room

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with lots of hard bare surfaces with either the AC or the heater

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running. Our windows open and lots of outside noise coming

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through. But knowing what I do now, through hours and hours of

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watching YouTube videos, asking other podcasters and just

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getting to know more about the production process in general,

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there really was no excuse for not learning at least some basic

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editing processes. I think the problem back then was twofold. A

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I was ignorant as to why sound mattered. I know that sounds

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silly though. And b, I was just too lazy. Editing was something

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professional podcasters did. It cost a lot of money and it took

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a lot of time. Why would I be bothered about that? But then

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maybe that's one of the reasons my show wasn't growing. Maybe

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the audience took a listen and thought, If he doesn't care

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about our experience, why should I care about him? Think about it.

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You go to see a new movie. You've been looking forward to

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it and you spent a small fortune to get a seat in one of the VIP

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lounges with the Dolby Atmos sound. You're all set for an

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experience. And then the movie starts. There's hissing in the

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audio, and there's no editing, and the visuals just sharp cuts

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when the cameras stopped rolling, etc.. It would seriously dampen

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your enjoyment of the movie if you stayed around to watch it,

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that is. Podcasting is the same. Create the experience for your

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listener that they deserve. So learn about audio levels and

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normalization. Learn about LUFS, what it is and why it matters.

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Learn about filler content and unwanted noise Learn mic

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technique and learn about the importance of a good recording

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environment. This last one is probably one of the most

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overlooked yet one of the easiest to fix. If you're in a

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room with bare, hard surfaces, it's going to echo. Yes, you can

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get close to your mic, but then that can cause new issues like

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plosives, for example. So add softness to the room. Cushions,

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pillows, a rug, curtains, a soft chair. All of these dampen your

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voice bouncing off the hard surfaces in the room, which

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makes it a lot easier to edit afterwards. Now there are some

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podcasters who say they never edit and don't need to. And

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that's fine. If it works for you, great. But for everyone else, I

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highly recommend learning the basics of editing and different

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audio production tricks and techniques. Trust me, it's worth

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it. There are some great options for editing to depend on, on

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your budget, hardware and learning curve. So for example,

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there's GarageBand for Mac and Audacity for Mac and PC, and

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they're both free. There's Hindenburg Pro, which I use.

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Reaper, Logic Pro, and Adobe Audition just to name a few. So

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these are three things I'd do differently if I was starting a

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podcast today There are more, like not giving transcripts the

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respect they deserve, for example. But these three are

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probably the ones I could easily have avoided right from the

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start. I hope you've enjoyed this bonus episode and it might

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give you some pointers if you're looking to start a new podcast

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soon. Until the next time, happy podcasting.