Improve Your Podcast In 5 Simple Steps

So you’ve got a podcast. That’s great to know. But as we’ve said here many times before, there are over 2 million podcasts and over 48 million episodes online. What can you do to improve your podcast to get people subscribing and tuning in?

Outside of finding your niche and narrowing your focus to a specific group, there are some universal things that can be done to dramatically improve your podcast success and I’m here to share my top five with you (I host the Being Responsible Show podcast, in case you’re interested).

Get Comfortable With Your Flaws, and Recognize Your Strengths

One of the most difficult things to improve your podcast is getting your authenticity and flow right. And you can’t do either of those if you’re not yet comfortable with or believe in yourself. It’s difficult because it means confronting the things that you’re not good at. It could be that your voice just isn’t as silky smooth as you’d like it to be, or that you’re not as funny as other podcast hosts. But by being honest about these things, you allow yourself to let go of any obsession you had about improving them or masking them, and you free yourself to focus on the things you’re good at, which could be that you do a bloody good interview, or you are bold enough to cover controversial topics. There’s so many things that you could be great at, but first get clear on them and let go of all the rest. It could be the difference between having an amazing podcast, and one that is just so-so.

Improve Your Podcast by Providing More Value

Spend some time clarifying what the main takeaway will be for the audiences listening to your podcast. Is it to listen to you talk about trending news? Is it to learn from guests how to improve their relationships? Is it to get some kind of release from the stresses of everyday life? Whatever it is, ensure that you’re 100% clear on that and do your best to plan and edit your show so that you maximize on that.

Find Out What Software Stack Offers Best Output and Ease-of-Use

This can be quite tricky when it comes to the less technically-minded of you, but I assure you, it will make a big difference—not only to your podcast quality, but to your mental and emotional well-being! Trust me, when I started I was using Zoom and the Adobe Creative Suite. And while those two products are arguably the leaders in their respective industries, it doesn’t mean they’re the best choices for me or my specific needs. For example, Zoom was never good enough in terms of recording audio or video quality and I struggled to justify this the further along I got with my episodes. I tested a number of different platforms and for my personal needs, I found that Zencastr came out on top. That may not be the case for you so go out there and test the services on offer!

Outsource the Technical Work to Improve Your Podcast

Building an in-house team may be out of reach of most people reading this, but as you become more confident and sure about the future of your podcast, having someone else handle the technical work will become unavoidable as the hours to produce all the episodes and content increases. By outsourcing, you’re investing in your business and freeing yourself up to work on the more important items like strategy and networking. Without your 100% focus on the vision of the podcast and the networking to ensure that it gets guests and subscribers, you’re shooting yourself in the foot and staying stuck at the beginner levels of the podcasting world.

Consistently Test Marketing to Find Out What Works

When you’re publishing your content, be on the lookout for what platforms get the most engagement. Then also be checking things like which hashtags, photos and graphics, descriptions, and times for posting work best. Purposefully publish things differently to find out if there’s more engagement waiting for you on the other side. The bottom line is that you don’t know until you know… copy what others are doing, follow your gut, and take actual feedback from campaigns to find out what to test next. The results may surprise you.