Podcasting Best Practices or Myths? Let's Find Out!

In today's episode, we're going to pull back that curtain on podcasting best practices. And some of these conventions are grounded in logic and proven results, and others might just be myths that we're just blindly following. I explain why I think these are legit, and explain why some of these are not accurate. As always your audience may be different than mine, but based on 20 years in podcasting, these are the just some of the best practices I teach at the School of Podcasting.

Why is Recording a Test Episode before launch a Podcast Best Practice?

1. Authors have rough drafts
2. Athletes have pre-season
3. Actors have dress rehearsal
4. When you publish the first thing you record, you are essentially publishing a "rough draft." Anytime you do something for the first time, it's not as good as the second.

Why is Defining a Clear Topic or Niche a Podcast Best Practice?

1. It makes it easy to create content. If I'm making dinner for a bunch of vegans, I know what I can make and what I couldn't.
2. This makes it easier to market. Now instead of marketing to Vegans, Carnivore, or those who are Glucose Intolerant, etc.
3. You can also lump this in with the advice of "Know your audience."
4. What appears is a downside may be an upside: a smaller but more loyal audience.

Why Is Getting to the Topic ASAP a Podcast Best Practice?

1. Do you have a ton of free time?
2. Look at Netflix, when an episode is over it give you an option to skip the credits and go to the next episode. When you go to the next episode, it prompts you to skip the intro. This leads me to believe it is best to get to the content asap.

Why is Knowing Why Your Are Podcasting a Podcast Best Practice?

1. When a podcaster doesn't get the result they had hoped to receive, they quit (often before their 10th episode).
2. If you were hired by a company to earn more money, and then they paid you the same (or less) would you stay?

Why is Engaging with Audience and Creating a Community a Podcast Best Practice?

1. The previous best practice was "Get to know your audience." This is how you get to know them.
2. This can be on social, email, anyway you can interact with your audience you should do it.

Why is Prioritizing Sound Quality a Podcast Best Practice?

1. You want it to be EASY to consume your content. You don't want the audience to strain to consume your content. Reverb or "room noise" can become a serious issue when the listener is in a car with the noise of the tires on the road. Think of it this way, smear vaseline on your glasses and try to watch something. You can do it, but it takes extra effort. We need it to be EASY
2. Even in videos, the key ingredient is not lighting but audio. If I can see you but can't hear you what's the point.
3. You don't need to spend thousands of dollars on equipment. You can get started with a Samson Q2U microphone. If you want to do video, you can get a pair of Rode Wireless Micro microphones and use your phone as a camera.

Why is Knowing What You're Going to Say Before Your Press Record a Best Practice?

1. I always say, less planning equals more editing. This can lead to it taking longer to produce an episode
2. While you want it to feel conversational like a phone call with your best friend, it is a performance for a global audience.
3. Without focus, you again tend to ramble, repeat yourself, or fall into unrelated chit-chat.
4. I've actually heard episode where people discuss what they are going to talk about on the episode - in the episode. The audience doesn't care how the sausage is made. They just want the sausage.

Why is Including a Clear Call to Action a Podcast Best Practice?

1. Your audience may be driving, or some other activity where they can't push buttons and take action. Making it clear, and easy to remember can help them.
2. When you include more than one at a time, it makes it hard to remember.
3. If you don't get your WHY you burnout. How do you get your WHY? By asking for it.

Why is Sticking to a Consistent Schedule a Podcast Best Practice?

1. You become part of the audience's routine. This is HUGE. You don't want to be a good podcast, you want to be someone's favorite (Jay Acunzo)
2. You are seen as reliable. If you're podcasting for your business this is part of your brand.
3. Keep in mind it's more important to be consistent in value than schedule. I'd rather have a "Late" show that was remarkable than an on time show that was "Meh."

Why is Having a Consistent Brand a Podcast Best Practice?

1. This is somewhat branding 101. When your brand is a trusted resource, people are drawn to it.
2. Mountain Dew is a brand. It has raving fans. So when Pepsi has a new flavor, instead of creating a new brand, they use the Mountain Dew brand to introduce it.
3. A logo can signify that something is official (like swag).
4. For more information see the book The Visual Marketer: The Marketer's Crash Course for Creating Memorable and Effective Visuals

Why is Having Your Best Episodes Featured On Your Website a Podcast Best Practice?

1. You only get to make a first impression once. According to The Podcast Study, 41% of your audience will NOT give you a second chance. Your latest episode may not be your best. Lead with your best stuff based on your stats.

Why Does Having Keywords In Your Podcast Title a Podcast Best Practice

1. Your audience needs to find you before they consume your content. If they search for "baseball" and your show is called "The dugout" it may not be found.
2. Check out Mangools, Ubersuggest, Keywords Everywhere, SERanking, (there are TONS of these types of tools).

Best Practices That Are Contested

Launching Your Podcast With Three Episodes

1. The thought is that people will consume all of your content. It give them a chance to make a deeper connection, and if they follow the show it boosts your chances of going up the charts. This is all true. What I've not been able to prove is how many people discover shows looking at the charts. This is often more for marketing material, "A Top 20 Podcast."

Rating and Reviews Help You Get Found

This is a fallacy that gets repeated almost hourly on podcasts every day. Here is the quote FROM APPLE:

What the charts measure:

Apple Podcasts Charts reflect the most popular shows and episodes available in a given market and are designed to help people discover what to listen to next. They do not reflect all-time listening records and are not a measure of the largest podcasts by listenership.

While the exact algorithm cannot be shared to protect their integrity, the charts measure a mix of the following:

• Listening: When listeners are engaging with episodes, it’s an indicator of content popularity.
• Follows: When listeners follow a show to receive new episodes, it’s an indicator of their intent to listen.
• Completion Rate: When listeners complete episodes, it’s an indicator of content quality.

Ratings, reviews, and shares

Although ratings, reviews, and shares also help indicate a podcast’s newness, popularity, and quality, they are not factored into the algorithm that determines the rankings for Top Shows and Top Episodes.

Source: https://podcasters.apple.com/support/3146-apple-podcasts-charts

Using Audiograms To Promote Your Show on Social

While this first worked when it was introduced (because it was new). I've heard no less than four social media experts explain that audiograms don't really help get people to your show. This is partly due to people just wanting to scroll more and more, and it should be seen more as a branding tool. It reminds people your show is here, and if they haven't checked out the latest episode they may go listen to it later. Many people don't stop the scroll. So this is a trickle.

YouTube

This is a test that is currently underway. There is no definitive "guaranteed success." While YouTube will tell you you MUST DO VIDEO (and of course they do), I've heard a few podcasters who have made the trip, started doing video, and quit. Only 28% of Podcasters are doing full video on Youtube based on data from the Podcast Host. Check out this post on "The truth about "video podcasts" on YouTube."

Audio Outperforms Video 15 to 1

When I worked at Libsyn Bill Maher launched Club Random. We had to twist Bill's arm (hard) to add audio. He only wanted to do video. When it launched Bill hired a PR agency that only promoted the video version. In the end the audio outperformed the video 15 to 1.

In March of 2025, there were 65.3 Million creators on Youtube making content for 2.49 Trillion viewers.

There were 358 thousand audio creators making content for 202 million listeners.

Yes, the numbers are much bigger, but in the end for every creator there are 564 listeners / 38 viewers. When you divide 564/38 you get 15.

But YouTube has the algorithm! I know. It knows what I like and it suggests things for me to watch. I have one of those too. His name is Doug (my brother).

It pains me when a person comes to me to start a podcast and they won't start because they heard you HAVE to do video. "Everybody" is saying you need video is a company called YouTube (and of course they are).

There are more opportunities to listen than watch. If you have the time to chase the algorithm, the budget, and desire to be on YouTube - be on YouTube. Just realize you don't HAVE to.

Last point on YouTube Podcasts. I know HUNDREDS of podcasters and only one uses YouTube Music to listen to podcasts.

The Celebrity Effect: Don't Follow In Their Footsteps

I know celebrities start their show with large amounts of ads, and often have many more ads throughout their show. They often consist of nothing but what appears to be "podcasting chit-chat" so that means you can do the same thing, right?

No, these people have already made their connection to their audience on another platform (you haven't). So people will sit through two minutes of ads (Conan, Mel Robbins) because they know and love these people. When you start people don't know you (yet) and so this would be a horrible way to start your show (in my opinion).

What About Chit Chat?

My favorite show that has a "Chit-chat" is the Podnews Weekly Review with Sam Sethi and James Cridland. Why? Because they do it at the end of their show with the "Super listeners" are still listening. The Podcast Survey shows how most people don't want any chit-chat, and it it's there it needs to be related and short (but they don't define what short is).

Mentioned In This Episode

School of Podcasting

The Podcast Study

The Truth About ‘Video Podcasts’ on YouTube

Podnews Weekly Review

Podchapters

Mentioned in this episode:

Question of the Month: The Smallest Amount of Downloads

We all want a bigger audience. We all put a lot of work into our shows. With this in mind, what is the smallest amount of downloads you would do the show for? If it drops below a number would you stop, or put effort into finding out why? Does the size of your audience matter? Go to schoolofpodcasting.com/question by August 28th (and don't forget to say a little bit about your show and your website address so I can link to it in the notes)

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