Your Podcast Website – Do I really Need One?
You Look More Professional
You look more trustworthy when you have your own domain with a website. You establish that you're not going anywhere anytime soon. Think of it this way, would you buy a car from someone who looks like they can take off any minute because they sell cars out of a tent? One way to kill this look is to not invest in a domain (which is under $20 per year). Places like coolerwebsites.com and namecheap.com make it easy to find a domain and buy it. Then you can point it or use it with your website.Google Loves Podcasts Websites
If you write a decent description for your episode explaining what is in the episode with some links to anything mentioned in the episode, Google is going to love your site because it gets updated on a regular basis, and if you write out the topics or questions for those that do interviews, that text might trigger your episode to appear in results. I type enough in my media host to allow my listener to decide if they want to listen. I then copy that same text and paste it on my website and expand on the description to ensure that Google finds it.
Think of it this way, a podcast episode is like a blog post with a player on it. How long does it take to copy and paste your latest episodes onto your website? I would say about 30 seconds if not less.
I know the knee-jerk reaction is to have your show transcribed via REV or Scribie, and copy and paste and you're done. Remember wants GOOD words, and we often don't write like we talk or talk like we write. Capsho is a tool designed for podcasters and they transparently say they will get you 80% of the way there. You want the overall user experience to be a good one.
Grow Your Audience
The search function in many apps is awful. When you say, “find me wherever you listen to podcasts” your show may not appear. When I was in a grocery store working as a teenager if someone asked me where the green beans were I didn't say, “In aisle three with all the other fine vegetables in a can.” NO! I took the customer to the aisle, showed them what we had, and put the can into their cart. I wanted it to be easy for the customer to come back. We want to do the same for a listener.
Instead of saying “Subscribe to my podcast on Spotify, Apple podcasts, Google podcasts, and wherever you find audio content” even though you're being more specific, people still need to find you. A podcast website should have a dedicated page designed to make it easy for new listeners to follow and subscribe to your podcast. You can add the word “follow” or “subscribe” to your navigation to point them to that page.
Reinforce Your Brand
When you say “Go to yourwebsite.com / follow ” you are reinforcing your podcast website, and making it easy, Your podcast website helps people by taking them directly to the button of their preferred podcast app. So they go to one website and click one button to follow and subscribe to your show. You can see my example at www.schoolofpodcasting.com/follow and www.schoolofpodcasting.com/subscribe
Grow Your Rankings in Google
More Links To Your Website
If you have designed part of your website to be focused on subscribers and followers, it makes it easier to share your website with other potential listeners. So if your listeners start to share podcast website, those links can boost your SEO. So be sure to have some sort of share button for your listeners to share on social media. If you want to monitor your rankings on Google, Monster Insights works great with WordPress.
More Time on Site
If people find your show via a Google search, they may click on play and sit and listen to the episode. Looking through the eyes of Google, when people visit your site, they tend to stay there longer than other sites (which translates to “This must be good content”) and they may send you more traffic.
Learn More About Your Audience
While you can get download and geographic data from your media host, you can get additional stats from Google analytics from your website. If an episode is getting more downloads than others, but you don't see the same bump on your website, you might “punch up” the text to attract more visitors to your site.
Make It Easier For Listener Engagement
While you can put links in your description that show up in apps, you can have more control over the design of your website, and if you're monetizing your podcast, you now have their attention and it is easy for your listeners to engage and take action. As some people say, “This is where the magic happens.” You can optimize your site, boost your marketing, and have your audience:
Sign up for your newsletter
Show their loyalty and send you a tip
Contact you via a contact form or via newsletter, or leave a message using something like speakpipe or podinbox.
Monetize Your Podcast
If you have a product or service, you can have links to them here. You can see the funnel here. You make it easy to subscribe. By subscribing and following your loyal listeners get more excellent value from your podcast, That value and consistency in your podcast inspire them to subscribe to your email newsletter. With a solid marketing message, your podcast can lead to more of your audience purchasing your products and services, affiliate items, and other streams of income you may have in place.
For more tips on podcast monetization, I know a really good book. 🙂
THE MP3.com Effect – Don't Build on Rented Land
When mp3 files were new there was mp3.com and there were musicians who were making a living on that site. Consequently, they didn't have their own website. So they used another company as their own brand. They would promote their music on another service they had no control over. Eventually, music was uploaded from people who didn't own it, lawsuits, selling of the site, more selling of the site and the end result is nobody talks about mp3.com anymore. Those musicians who didn't use their own website as their “home base” and then point to mp3.com as a “satellite” offshoot lost all access to their audience, and their audience had no way to contact them. The musicians disappeared.
Now I realize that you are always paying for some sort of hosting that could go out of business, but by owning your domain, your audience knows where to find you and you can point that domain at NY service you use in the future. If you have a newsletter, you can keep them in the loop as to what is going on.
You Don't Need to Be a Nerd To Build Your Podcast Website
Sites like Squarespace and Wix often have you feeling like you're forcing a square peg into a round hole (Wix even copies your media files onto their servers which means any listens on your site DO NOT COUNT as a download in your media host. I will be talking about platforms specifically designed for podcasters in a future post (like Podpage (learn podpage for free), podcastpage and others).
Yes, as a podcaster you need a website for your show. It reinforces your brand, makes you look more professional, gives you more information about your audience, makes it easier to share and boosts time on site while you monetize your site and show.
Ready to Start Your Podcast?
You may fear technology, but when you have Dave Jackson in your pocket, he's going to make sure you don't waste your time or money. You'll enjoy the step-by-step courses, the community, and the comfort of knowing you're not doing it alone. Don't just start a podcast, start a good podcast. Join worry-free with a money-back guarantee and unlimited flexible face-to-face coaching calls.
Go to www.schoolofpodcasting.com/start
