Podcasting Q&A
On Podcasting Q&A, you'll hear the best tips and strategies to launch and grow your podcast with confidence. Whether it's getting more podcast listeners, promoting your podcast on social media, or how to produce high-quality episodes in your editing software, Podcasting Q&A has everything you need to succeed. New episodes come out every Monday.
Podcasting Q&A
Podcast Show Notes: What Matters Most
Discover why brevity is your friend when it comes to show notes—you want to hook potential listeners without giving away your entire episode. In this episode, we explore the delicate balance of providing value through relevant resources while maintaining intrigue that drives your listeners to press play.
Check out our blog post for 5 free show note templates you can use for your podcast!
If you have questions about preparing for your podcast, email us at support@buzzsprout.com.
Have a topic or question we should address on a future episode? Text us or email the Buzzsprout Podcaster Success Team at support@buzzsprout.com
Keep podcasting!
Welcome to Podcasting Q&A brought to you by the people at Buzzsprout. I'm your host, Cara Passetti, and I'm bringing you the best tips and strategies to keep you podcasting with confidence. I'm excited for today because Megan, who is a part of our marketing team here at Buzzsprout, is here with me. What some of you may not know about Megan is she spent the first part of her time here as a podcaster success specialist, serving our podcasters in support and since she has both experience in marketing and in the support world, I'm so grateful we get to tackle today's question together. Thank you for being here today, Megan.
Megan Nelson:Oh my gosh, what an intro. Thank you for having me. I'm excited to be here.
Cara Pacetti:Yes, I am too. This is exciting. We're in the podcasting space now, not in support, so this is fun.
Megan Nelson:I know this is new for you and me. I like it.
Cara Pacetti:Yeah, well, today's question that we're going to tackle is which elements make up good podcast show notes. So there's a delicate balance for creating perfect show notes for your podcast and your listeners. While you don't want to leave anything important out, you also don't want your listeners to have to wade through repetitive or maybe even unnecessary content in order to grab a link or a resource that you were discussing. So today we're going to cover some elements that we feel should definitely be a part of your show notes and why they're so important.
Megan Nelson:All right, let's get into it. I'm excited. I feel like show notes is like everyone does them, so it's important to know what you're looking for.
Cara Pacetti:Absolutely so. Megan, I'm sure you've come across some pretty lengthy show notes, and so have I. Can you give us your take on really how long should show notes be and some guidance on what to include?
Megan Nelson:Yeah. So I know it's really tempting right To write like these super long show notes or really long descriptions, because you want to include every ounce of information possible. You don't want to leave anything out for your listeners, but it's actually better to keep your show notes relatively short. You don't want to give away the whole episode because you want people to actually go and listen to the episode. So I feel like show notes should be just long enough to give the information that gets them hooked.
Megan Nelson:It's also a great place to provide resources for your listeners, but that doesn't mean you have to promote everything that you have or every single thing that you do. It should really just be the resources that are relevant to the episode, like a link to another podcast that you maybe talked about or your guest's social media information. And if you're not sure what that looks like, we actually have a blog post on the Buzzsprout blog that shares different templates or frameworks that you can use to get started. I can share that with Kara so she can link to it in the show notes and see that's a relevant thing to put in your show notes.
Cara Pacetti:I was going to say that is such a great example of something that we will link in the show notes. Absolutely, I will add that and it is a really great resource, so appreciative of that. So there's a lot of talk about SEO out there. First of all, can you help us understand what does SEO stand for and what role does it play in podcasting?
Megan Nelson:Yeah, so SEO stands for search engine optimization and this is a little bit different for podcasting. Show notes are mostly used for podcast directory SEO. So specifically on Spotify and YouTube, they're going to look at your show notes as a piece of the puzzle to determine when you appear in search results. They're not the only factor, but having keywords in your description can help you appear in search results. For podcasters who are looking for new shows to listen to, those keywords are typically answers to questions of what someone would be searching for in the search bar to find your episode. You can do this keyword research on your own or you can use free keyword finder tools, but I have found what works best for me is trying to focus on answering questions about your episode and then answering those questions in your show notes.
Cara Pacetti:That's a great point and you know, as a podcaster, you know your listeners best, so you know what questions you're answering through this episode. You know what is communicating. So, as much as you can use the finders, which are super helpful, you, as the podcaster, can really identify those keywords and add them to your show notes. One thing I'd like to clarify about keywords in podcasting is that it's not like social media, so they're not like hashtags, where you run them all together and put the hashtag symbol in front of them. They're actually just the words that you're adding in your title, so we don't need to worry about grouping them all together with no spaces. It's just a part of your title and you're just being really intentional about the words that you're using. Is that?
Megan Nelson:right, megan. Yeah, and you can include them in your title and also throughout your show notes as well. Both will be great places to include those keywords.
Cara Pacetti:Perfect. So the main goal for your show notes is to summarize what your episode is about and make readers want to listen, make it clear on how the episode can benefit them or help them solve a problem, and be sure to sprinkle in a couple terms for SEO along the way. I want to move on to the next element that we recommend for creating great podcast show notes. So the next element that we recommend is to include a call to action. This can be many things. One call to action that's really popular is asking your listeners for reviews. The purpose behind reviews is simple Humans like to know someone else has tried something first and that they'll vouch for it. Megan, can you explain what a podcast review is and how podcasters can ask for them from their listeners?
Megan Nelson:Yeah, so a podcast review is a comment from a listener sharing what they think about your show. These reviews are public so other people can see them. A lot of the times they help other listeners determine what your show is about and if it's something they would want to listen to. You can kind of think of it as a word of mouth recommendation from other podcast listeners. There are a lot of podcasts out there, so these can help persuade a listener to listen to your show instead of another one. A great way to ask for podcast reviews is at the end of your episode or at the beginning of your episode, just sharing with your audience how important these are to you and saying it takes 30 seconds, If you don't mind writing a review for my podcast. It really helps to grow my show or it really helps me to know how I can improve. Anything like that is great as a way to get your listeners to participate.
Cara Pacetti:Absolutely, and including that in your show notes written out will just be that visual reminder that that's what we're asking for from our listeners to leave a review.
Cara Pacetti:So while asking for reviews are a great call to action, another call to action is to invite your listeners to explore some of the resources that you are providing. Say, there's a newsletter or a course that's associated with your podcast. A call to action in your episode would be to go check those out, go register for that course, go sign up for that newsletter so they're not missing anything. Of course you'll want to highlight that during your episode and talk about it, but the show notes is a great way to navigate from your episode to that resource that you are highlighting during your episode. The same principle applies for linking merchandise. So if you're selling podcast merchandise or maybe even a product that you recommended during your episode, the show notes are a great place to link that purchasing site. Again, we're just trying to make it really easy for your listener to navigate from that episode where you mentioned that resource over to that site. That allows them to do that next actionable step.
Megan Nelson:Yeah, that's awesome. It's also a great place to include any resources about your guest. So sometimes, if you have a guest on your podcast, it can be helpful to share their social media or their website anything that they're trying to promote. It's like a show of good faith that you want to promote your guests as well. It will help them want to come back on your show and also help your audience get connected with them.
Cara Pacetti:And, of course, you'll always want to get permission from your guests on which resources they want shared and if they're okay with that. But that's a really great point. The last element I recommend including in your show notes are any affiliate links or important resources as it relates to your episode. Oftentimes when you're working with an advertiser, they will ask you to mention their product during your episode. We see this a lot with companies like Skillshare or Audible or even Amazon. When you mention the company during your episode, you want to provide a resource for your listeners again to access that external site. So your show notes is a great place to add an affiliate link that maybe an advertiser has provided for you.
Megan Nelson:If you don't have any affiliates, you don't need to freak out. If you're a Buzzsprout podcaster, you can promote Buzzsprout as your affiliate. We have a Refer a Friend program that is really awesome in your account and it allows you to share a Buzzsprout link with friends and if they sign up, you both get rewarded for that. So it's a great way to start with affiliates if you don't have any.
Cara Pacetti:So some of the information that you do share in your show notes become a little bit repetitive, whether it's social media channels or maybe a website, or even if you're a medical podcast and you have a disclaimer or there's just something that you are always going to be copying and pasting in your show notes. I want to point out our episode footer. So the episode footer is a great spot to add that information that you know you're just going to copy and paste with every episode, and so when you make an edit in your episode footer on any of your episodes, it will automatically apply to all of the episodes in your back catalog. So that's a great place for that information that, just without a doubt, has to be included on all of your episodes.
Megan Nelson:Yeah, the episode footer saves so much time because you're not having to put it in every single time.
Cara Pacetti:Absolutely yeah, it reduces the risk of mistakes, right? Yes, Super helpful.
Megan Nelson:If it feels like we're saying resources a lot, we definitely are. I think that's a good thing to point out is that your show notes are a great place for your audience to go after your episode or to continue learning about your episode. It shouldn't give away every single piece of your episode, so resources is really a great way to guide your show notes, like a short description of your episode and then just get into what your audience needs to continue engaging with your content. All right, Well.
Cara Pacetti:I hope that this episode has been helpful for you today. There's a lot of things that you can add inside of your show notes, but I think the main takeaways are, like we said just keep it brief. Make sure that you are including resources and external links in your show notes, and be sure to ask for that call to action. Your listeners want to feel involved in your podcast. They want to communicate and connect with you, so don't feel like it's rude to ask for a review. Remember they're supporting you, so I think that they'll be happy and eager to do it. You just have to ask.
Cara Pacetti:So if you have any questions about your show notes, our podcast for success team is always eager to help you with any questions you have, so you can reach out to us at any time by emailing us at support at buzzsproutcom. If you have a question that you want us to answer on a future podcasting Q&A episode, make sure you click the send us a text link in the show notes and we can hopefully get that question answered on a future episode. This has been so fun. Thank you for joining me today, megan. I really appreciate it. Be sure to join us every Monday to kickstart your week. Thanks for listening and, as always, keep podcasting.
