What Every Podcaster Should Know About Their Website

(Disclaimer: This page may contain images that contain affiliate links. By clicking and potentially purchasing products through these images and links issues a commission to Shannon Hernandez for recommending these products.) 

By this point you have either created a podcast or are still in the beginning phases of collecting all that you need to get your podcast off the ground.   It can get overwhelming, right?

I want you to understand that building a podcast with a website doesn't happen overnight.  It does take time and patience. If you're in this for the long haul, you'll need to remind yourself that small steps are better than no steps.  Here are a few things you should know about having your website if you've got an accompanying podcast.

YOUR WEBSITE GETS YOU MORE LISTENERS. SERIOUSLY.

When you start producing podcasts you may hear from your research that your podcast needs to be embedded on your website.  This is true, but depending on who you talk with, they may only be telling you half the story.

Your website is not only a great place to embed your podcasts, but it does much more than that.  

Since Google can't figure out how to read audio or video, podcasters have to input text through their website. Why do you do this?

Ever done a search inside of Google or YouTube and come up with the exact result that you're looking for? That's because the content creator took the time to input text into their blog post and descriptions so that it can be discovered easier.  In other words, the content creator was very cognizant of optimizing his post for Google.

A website with a thorough description of show notes is key to having your website indexed by Google and other search engines.

There's no point of having a podcast if you're not writing up show notes to put on your website.  In fact, having show notes is just part of the podcasting process and it's almost necessary if you're looking to have people discover your program.

The common length on a blog post that holds an episode of your podcast should be around 500 words.  That's the MINIMUM, but don't go for the minimum.

I recommend that if you have some extra funds, you look into Rev.com to have your podcast transcribed.  If you have an hour long podcast, get the first 15 minutes transcribed. That will put you roughly at 1500 to 2000 words.

Check out this video on transcribing your podcast:

YOUR BLOG BECOMES RELEVANT, WHICH MAKES YOUR PODCAST RELEVANT

Your podcast just isn't discovered in iTunes or other podcatchers. You have to think like your listener/consumer.  

What does your listener do when they're looking for something on the internet?  They typically look up a common key phrase in Google. 

"The benefits of keto diet podcast"

"Fixing a garage door opener for home improvement ."

"Where to buy the best clothes in Chicago."

You and I both do the same thing and if you've ever notice the results in Google or YouTube, you get results that have common keywords that are in the title of the search result or in some type of description.

You'll also see some of the keywords bolded out to help you find your result better:

If you aren't familiar with basic Search Engine Optimization (SEO), you will need to make it a priority when you're posting your podcast to your website. 

Before you think it won't matter, I'll tell you that if you are marketing your website that holds the show notes with podcast embed player, you're going to get hits. But you'll only get hits if you're pushing people to that page where the podcast and show notes live.  The key is to market your program on social media to get traction through social sharing.

ENCOURAGE LISTENERS TO COMMENT ON YOUR BLOG

Most of the people who read this newsletter found me on YouTube. 

And if you ever venture to my YouTube channel, you'll notice that I'm wildly active in the comments and answer as many questions as I can about podcasting.  

There are a couple of reasons why I do this:

1) YouTube is a social network that lets me connect with my viewers so that I can build a relationship with them. 

2) Helps new viewers find the answer they are looking for in the comments.

This is very similar to what you do on your blog, however, it really REALLY REALLY counts on your blog than it does on YouTube.

Just as leaving a detailed transcript on your blog about your podcast, blog comments are great for SEO. Although it's not as important as it was in the past, it still matters.  

Sending listeners to your blog also helps the rank authority for that particular podcast page too.

"English, Shannon, ENGLISH." (What does that mean??)

In other words, the more people you have interacting on a particular episode's blog page, the more relevant it becomes in a Google search.  

You always want to be relevant.

If your page has rich content with rich comments, your likelihood of being found in Google increases if you keep driving traffic to it.

GET OTHER WEBSITES TO LINK BACK TO YOUR WEBSITE/BLOG POSTS

One way search engines give preference to your page when someone is looking for a result is whether or not you are getting someone to link to your website.  Fundamentally, this is called "backlinking" your website. 

Backlinking all about having a content-rich blog post that has thorough show notes and your podcast that is embedded in your site.  The more trusted websites you have backlinked to your website, the likelier your website will be more relevant when someone searches out a certain phrase for your website.

This also means that you should be linking back to website that you think your readers/listeners will find helpful.  

Having a website that is backlinked sends signals to Google that your site will have more "authority" than your competitors in the search results.  So as you can see, text-rich/content-rich websites have the ability to show up as a top result.

If you've ever wondered why your favorite BBQ recipe is ranking as the top result on Google, it's because they have pushed traffic to that particular page and have backlinks pointing to that particular post.

Backlinking is all about setting your website up for future marketing as you get more ears on your podcast.

Over time, your website and specific blog posts will gain traction and get popular if you've optimized your website appropriately. 

By no means am I a superior SEO expert, but I do know that a content-rich website is vital to the success of your podcast.

It was confirmed to me earlier this year when I spoke with an SEO content marketer from GoDaddy who couldn't figure out why podcasters weren't putting transcriptions on their website for SEO. 

If you don't want to take it from me, take it from the guy from GoDaddy. 

I hope this information helps you out.