Jul 10, 2020
2 years. 6 continents. 108 episodes. 162
countries. 207,000+ downloads.
and this is just the
beginning…
Today’s episode honors the two year anniversary of the podcast
with some celebration and my tips for starting and growing a
successful podcast. The Brainy Business podcast launched with its
first three episodes on Friday, July 6, 2018. We have had an
episode every single week since then and never missed a Friday
release or newsletter in those 2 years. Hooray!
That first month had 844
downloads, which I was incredibly excited about at that time! As
you’ll learn in this episode, my show actually hit the average
podcast download numbers in that first month...and since then
things have gone up and up. It took 483 days to hit the first
100,000 download milestone and less than half that time (only 237)
to get the next hundred thousand. If pace stays the same we will be
passing the quarter million mark around October, which is amazing
as well!
There have been listeners
on every continent (minus Antarctica) and 162 countries.
Shout out to the top
downloaders! Not surprisingly, the US tops the list, followed by
the UK, then Canada, Australia, India, Germany, Brazil, Mexico,
Israel, and Spain rounds out the top 10. Coming in at 11 we have
the Netherlands, followed by South Africa, Ireland, Sweden,
Denmark, New Zealand, Switzerland, Singapore, United Arab Emirates,
and France rounding out the top 20. Shout out to my friends in
Canada! The top Canadian provinces by downloads are Ontario,
followed by British Columbia and Alberta. And to those in the
states, we still have a lot of the same top 10 with a fairly
similar order: California has the most downloads followed by
Washington, Texas, New York, Illinois, Florida, Georgia, Virginia
and North Carolina.
What has made the podcast
successful, and what can you learn from my first two years in
podcasting? That’s what this episode is all about. I’ll
answer questions like:
How long does it take to
run a successful podcast? Do you really need to be weekly? How many
downloads does the average podcast get? Do most podcasts make
money? How should you strategically think about your cover art and
podcast name? What the heck is podfade, and should you be concerned
about it? All this and more covered in this week's
episode…[
PLUS
my awesome Podcast Episode Best Practices Checklist is now
available for preorder!]Show Notes:
- [00:46] This week is the two year anniversary
of The Brainy Business podcast, which launched with its first three
episodes on Friday, July 6, 2018.
- [01:38] There have been listeners in 162
countries.
- [04:04] I appreciate each and every one of you
who has ever interacted or connected with The Brainy
Business.
- [06:10] Podcasting is a growing medium, and
just like any exciting new format it can feel like “everyone” has a
podcast and that you “must” be there to be successful in
business.
- [07:24] If it isn’t worth your time to be there
and build it the right way, it probably isn’t worth
doing.
- [09:39] Sure, I could spend less time preparing
for each episode, but all those things are what make The Brainy
Business successful.
- [11:41] I did the research and invested in good
audio from the beginning.
- [13:45] Why is a podcast a good fit for your
business model and how will it support the work you do?
- [14:28] One other reason I started the show was
to help people understand what behavioral economics even is and how
it can apply to business.
- [16:36] Knowing your goals before you jump in
and create a podcast is incredibly important and should be used to
determine how you set up the structure of your
show.
- [19:03] Clear, concise, targeted content can
often take more time to create than something
longer.
- [20:35] Most podcasts don’t get past episode
seven.
- [21:27] Podcast stats aren’t as detailed as we
would all like them to be.
- [22:35] Most podcasts do not make money, and
actually cost money.
- [24:05] Podcast downloads are not a perfect
science and the numbers look at the average after an episode has
been live for 30 days.
- [26:54] According to Libsyn, the hosting
platform I and many other podcasters use, the average podcast
episode has 141 downloads after 30 days. (As you saw in the intro,
The Brainy Business was above this from the first month of
launching the show, even though I didn’t have a big list - the tips
in this episode are a big reason why.)
Preorder Your Podcast Episode Best
Practices Checklist NOW
- [28:22] Think about how you will stand out from
competitors.
- [28:56] Knowing which areas are searchable is
important in helping people find you.
- [30:45] Searchability and clear alignment to
the topic was most important.
- [32:43] The name and art should draw their eye
and make them want to click to get to the next step of reading your
full title and description and decide if they want to listen to an
episode.
- [33:38] If you are going to be investing in a
podcast, it should be a main driver of business for
you.
- [36:06] In my opinion, it is almost not worth
doing if you aren’t going weekly.
- [38:12] Start with your first three episodes
and go live with them on the first day. This allows people to begin
that binge listening and start forming that habit.
- [39:46] It is more important to pick a day that
works with your schedule so you can release great content on time
every time than it is to be on the “perfect’ day.
- [41:12] For each episode, I come up with the
topic and determine if it will be a guest or a solo episode. After
I determine my topic I start doing my research and write the full
script.
- [41:51] After all the preparation, I then
record using my ATR2100 mic into a system called Audacity. Then I
submit to the team for editing and creating social media graphics
and worksheets for the episode (using
Canva).
- [42:43] I listen to every single episode and
review and edit the show notes before approving.
- [43:26] I also create audiograms (using
Headliner), set up the newsletter (Active Campaign) and write the
social copy for all platforms.
- [45:11] Spend an hour making a list of every
topic you could possibly do an episode or post about. Break them up
into smaller pieces, combine some together, list as many as you
can.
- [46:09] Write down ideas in bulk when you don’t
need them right away. It is much easier to come up with a bunch of
topics when you don’t need them. When it is for next week’s show it
is a lot harder to create a topic from scratch.
NOW AVAILABLE FOR PREORDER: Podcast
Episode Best Practices Checklist
(This includes the Trello Template I use for
every episode and more!)
Thanks for listening. Don’t
forget to subscribe on
Apple Podcasts
or
Android. If you like
what you heard, please leave a
review on iTunes
and share what you liked about the
show.
Let’s connect:
More from The Brainy Business:
Articles and Past Episodes: