119: "How do you grow your audience and boost engagement for your podcast or blog?” {Pick My Brain!}
Want to know the secret behind growing your audience without spending a dime on ads? Today I’m answering a “pick my brain” question I got from one of my business buddies, Lauren, about how I've managed to regularly rank in the top 200 (and sometimes top 50!) marketing podcasts on Apple Charts in Canada.
I break down my three key strategies for boosting discoverability and growing your audience organically, including real examples. Whether you have a podcast, blog, or any other type of content platform, this is an episode you need to hear!
Plus, I reveal why some commonly-used naming conventions might actually be working against your growth, and how a few simple tweaks to your approach could dramatically improve your content's searchability.
Topics We Cover in This Episode:
The subtle naming mistake that could be making your content invisible to your ideal audience
The truth about "clever" episode titles and why they might be hurting your discoverability
The specific equipment change that could be the difference between listeners staying or leaving
A powerful keyword strategy that top-ranking podcasts use (but rarely talk about)
Have a burning question about copywriting, marketing, or growing your business? I'd love to feature your question in an upcoming "Ask Me Anything" episode! Head to speakpipe.com/kimkiel to leave me a voice message with your question, or text me directly. Make sure to include your name and contact info so I can give you a shoutout when I answer your question on air!
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[00:00:03]
Welcome to ill communication, copywriting tips and sales strategies for small business. I'm your host, Kim Keel. I'm a copy coach, sales strategist, and direct response copywriter. It's my mission to help women leaders and changemakers amplify their voices through copy. It's why I'm dishing out all the juicy tips, writing prompts, and sales formulas to help you generate more leads, book more calls, and get more high value clients on repeat. Sounds pretty good. It's time to ditch the overwhelm you might be feeling and find confidence in your copywriting so you can get your message out there and attract more soulmate clients. Let's get started. Hey hey my friend, welcome back to the IL Communication podcast. Today I'm answering a pick my brain question I got from one of my business buddies, Lauren. Lauren recently messaged me asking me a question about my podcast. But even if you don't have a podcast, the answer will help you with any kind of content you create for your business. Because what it really comes down to is searchability and naming. Whether it's for a blog, article or an offer or anything else. So Lauren writes hey! Hey stranger, I have a random question for you in terms of podcast discoverability and getting it out there, you seem to be crushing it. So how are you doing it? Are you doing any ads or just marketing? This is a great question and lately my podcast has been seeing some really decent growth.
[00:01:44]
I am currently not investing in any kind of ads, and I've been regularly hitting the top 200 and even sometimes the top 50 Apple charts for marketing podcasts in Canada and ranking on other Apple charts as well. It's not as consistent as I'd like, but I can see more downloads and more people joining my list and attending my events who come from the podcast. But it is a slow burn, and unless you're already a very famous name, podcasts do not typically shoot to the top of the charts or make any money. But I have done a few things, put a few things in place that help with discoverability and growing my listenership. The first is my podcast title. My podcast title. In the podcast host is Ill Communication Colon Copywriting Tips and Sales Strategies for Small Business. Now, Ill communication is a little bit of a clever title. It's a reference to a Beastie Boys album because I'm a superfan and on its own, the Ill Communication podcast would not be a great name, so I added the extension of copywriting tips and sales strategies for small business so that if people are typing into the search, copywriting tips, or small business, then hopefully my podcast will come up in the search. I think I could optimize the title even further, maybe do some updates to something like Ill communication, colon marketing, copywriting, and Sales tips for women entrepreneurs and business Owners.
[00:03:17]
That subtitle has even more keywords that people might type into the search bar on their podcast platform. Now, I didn't come up with this strategy on my own. One of my favorite resources for podcast growth and someone who I constantly refer is Adam Shibley's Podcasting Business School Podcast. He wonderfully breaks down how to name your podcast,
how to title your episode, and what to say in your podcast description to optimize discoverability. I'll link to Adam's podcast in the show notes. Please go and subscribe to his podcast because it's really, really great. But I followed Adam since I started my podcast, so I always had that subtitle, but there are few podcasters who are not leveraging the power of keywords in their podcast title. And when I looked at Lauren's podcast, which is an excellent no fluff business podcast, I saw a couple of things that were probably working against her. Her podcast is called The Biz Doctor Podcast, and that's it. There are no other keywords in there to qualify who her podcast is for, or what kind of content it shares. Heck, because it's called the Biz Doctor. It doesn't even have the word business in it. So if I were to quickly riff on a subtitle extension for her podcast, I might suggest updating it to something like the Biz Doctor Podcast.
[00:04:47]
Colon Smart strategies to scale your business, simplify your systems, and grow your team. Or maybe for something even more specific, it could be the Biz Doctor Podcast for seven and eight figure corporate CEOs who want to scale their business and grow their team without burning out. Now, as Adam teaches you, you don't actually need to change your podcast intro or your artwork to include that mouthful of a subtitle, but it's there in the title line of your podcast, so it shows up when people search those terms. So if Lauren wants to boost discoverability, she might want to add on a few key words into her podcast title. Along the same lines, you need to put some strategy into how you name your episodes. And this is something I've noticed that has made a big difference to downloads. When I first started my podcast, I've come up with kind of clever episode titles, or ones that I thought would build curiosity or create an open loop. Things like the Mary Poppins of copywriting formulas, or the golden formula for delighting your audience. But those titles don't tell you anything about what the episode is about or why you would want to listen. Over the last few months, I've been optimizing the titles by using words or phrases people might actually search, or that better explain what the episode is about.
[00:06:14]
And when I have the keywords really dialed in, I see a boost in downloads. I know a lot of podcasters who opt for more clever episode titles, or they use the friends episode technique of naming you know, the one where Monica gets a roommate. I've seen lots of podcasters who follow this naming convention, and I really don't think it helps with discoverability. Instead, opt for something a little less quirky and a little more conventional. For example, I searched Lauren's podcast and found an episode called What to Do When You Feel Like Throwing in the Towel. Now it is super intriguing and if I was already a listener, I'd relate and want to listen to it. But nobody is searching for terms like throwing in the towel. An optimized episode title might instead be something like six strategies for dealing with CEO burnout, Exhaustion and overwhelm. It's a little more boring, but it has the keywords CEO listeners might be searching for. And the final tip I have for boosting downloads and discoverability is having great content. Create content people want to consume. I recently recorded an episode about how I come up with a flow of content ideas, so I'll link to episode 113. How to continually come up with content ideas in the show notes.
[00:07:39]
But beyond the quality of your content, your podcast also has to sound good. I honestly can't believe when I hear a podcast today and it sounds like crap like it was recorded on a walk, or with a faraway laptop mic. Or even with AirPods. When a podcast doesn't sound good, people will not stick around to listen, even if the content is amazing. And if nobody listens to your episodes for very long, if they don't binge listen to several episodes at a time, then your podcast will never rank. And when your podcast starts ranking, more people will discover it. So whether you're a podcast host or a podcast guest, invest in a great external mic and use your mic properly. Keep it up by your mouth. Use wired headphones when you record. It doesn't have to be expensive. The mic I use for my recording is a sweet little mic called a roadie Nt-usb mini. It only costs around $100, but it's a great mic. It's better than the Blue Yeti mics that for some reason everyone loves but always underperforms. I'll link to my resources page where you'll find some more of my favorite podcasting resources in case you want to up level any of your equipment. Now the good thing with Lawrence podcast is. It sounds excellent. I believe she has a podcast production team.
[00:09:07]
She obviously has a great mic, so her podcast sounds really good on the ear and like everything she does, her content is a plus gold star. I'm going to drop the link to listen to Lauren's Baby's Doctor podcast in the show notes, because it's really great, especially if you're looking for tips to grow your business without burning out. So to summarize how to boost podcast discoverability and downloads, my three tips are one. Optimize the title of your podcast with keywords people would actually type into the search bar two. Use searchable keywords to name your episodes and three create good quality content. And remember, these tips apply to any kind of content you create for your business. Whether it's a podcast, a blog, a LinkedIn article, or even an offer, I want to thank Lauren for asking me that question, and at the time of recording, I see she's already updated her podcast title. But if you have a question or you want to pick my brain, please keep listening. To find out how to submit your question, I'd love to feature you on my next Pick My Brain episode. Thanks so much for listening today. I'll see you next time. Hey my sweet friend. I want to thank you for joining me today. I just love creating and sharing content to make your business, and especially writing for your business, a little bit easier, so I'd love to know what your biggest copywriting or marketing questions are.
[00:10:42]
What have you been struggling with, or do you want to pick my brain about a copywriting strategy or a tactic? I'm starting a new Ask Me Anything segment here on the pod. If you have a burning question about business, copywriting or marketing, or if you want to make an episode suggestion, I'm all ears. You can participate in two ways. Number one visit speakpipe.com/kim Keel. There you'll be able to record a voice note with your question or suggestion. Make sure you include your name and your email and maybe a little background info for context. Number two, you can send me a text. In the show notes of this episode. You'll see a link to text me a question or comment. When you click that link, it'll open up your text messenger where you can text me your question directly. Make sure you leave all the weird numbers that pop up, and please add your name and email address or mobile number so I can keep in touch. I can't wait to create these. Ask me anything or pick my brain episodes, so please play along. I can't wait to help you solve whatever's blocking you from getting your message out there. Find the links to ask me your questions in the show notes.
Resources Mentioned
Listen to Adam Schaeuble Podcasting Business School Podcast
Listen to Lauren Goldstein’s The Biz Doctor Podcast
Episode 113: “How do you continually come up with content ideas?” {Pick My Brain!}
Check out my favourite podcast recording resources on my Resources Page
Additional Resources
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