Having a guest on your show does require some forethought, though. Not only do you want to ensure an entertaining episode for your audience, you also want to make sure it’s a pleasant experience for the guest! These tips should help you to prepare and pull off an unforgettable episode!

Before the Interview

The best piece of advice we can offer is preparation. Preparing goes beyond compiling a list of questions, it means diving into your guests’ works and truly understanding the value they bring to your topic. 

Research Your Guest

Be sure to do your homework! Research your guest: what works have they accomplished? What are their opinions on the subject? What have others said about them? Diving deeply into your guest and their work can help you craft questions that explore the chosen topic at length. 

Check out some of their other interviews for ideas, too. Listening to previous interviews your guest has given allows you to form more unique and interesting questions. Avoid the ones asked over and over again, and instead focus on something less explored. This won’t only be a treat for your listeners but for the guest too!

Mind Your P’s and Q’s

Once you’ve done your research, you’re well-prepared to compile your list of questions. You want to think of the interview as a story; you and your guest are constructing a story together, one that will captivate your collective audience. So, choose questions that allow for good back-and-forth. Open-ended questions work best for this rather than yes/no ones. The latter type of question doesn’t leave much room for conversation!

It’s also vital to keep in mind that you don’t ask any “leading” questions. These types of questions (sometimes) subtly direct the guest to give a desired answer. You want the interview to be an authentic exchange.

And finally, dig into the why and how of an answer. Go beyond hearing that your guest accomplished something, ask them how they did it and what drove them to do so. Digging deeper creates a much richer discussion that will have your listeners hanging on to every word.

Don’t forget to share the questions with your guest before the interview so they have time to think them over!

Do a Little Self-Promo

You’re not the only one who should be prepared! Brief your guest on your show: let them know what you’re about, what subject you’re exploring, and the demographics of your audience. Giving them that information upfront allows them to tailor their answers to your audience. 

During the Interview

Hopefully, you’ll be well-prepared by the time the interview rolls around! With your list of questions in hand, you’re ready to conduct an amazing interview with your guest. But before you rush on with the questions, allow your guest to get comfortable with you and your audience. Joke with them or ask how they’ve been doing lately. Give them space to be a real person with thoughts other than the subject you’re discussing. This also helps your audience quickly get to know your guest and feel connected with them in the same way they connect with you.

Once your guest is comfortable, you can jump into your questions! Remember, you and your guest are collaborating on a story together. You’re weaving a tale where they play a major role. In addition to asking the right questions, you need to make sure you’re actively listening to their answers, not just nodding along and moving on to the next question on your list. 

Being an active listener can also help to keep the interview as authentic as possible. Don’t be afraid to stray away from your prepared list of questions if a particular answer piques your interest. Ask follow-up questions to help expand the thought and get to the heart of it.

After the Interview

Even though the interview is winding down, there are still some final things to complete. First and foremost, be sure to thank your guest for taking the time to speak with you! This can be done verbally after you stop recording, or a quick email expressing your gratitude, or even a small gift (if it’s relevant to the show or their work.) Thanking your guests is key if you want them to be a guest again, or even to recommend their peers appear on your show.

Give your guest time at the end of the interview to promote their work to your audience. Be sure that they share their social media handles, website, or any other contact information so your audience can follow them, too.

Lastly, when uploading the podcast to your hosting platform, be sure to add in your guest’s information in your show notes. Link to their website, their socials, or any other relevant links so your audience can easily find them. Encourage your guest to post about the episode in their own social media circles to increase listenership, too.

Inviting folks to guest on your show can be a wonderful experience for your audience, your guest, and yourself! It’s a worthwhile way to inject freshness into your podcast and expand your audience. With these tips, you’ll be an interviewing champ in no time!

The post How to Interview Guests for Your Podcast appeared first on RedCircle Blog.

In short, SEO (Search Engine Optimization) refers to the keywords search engines, like Google, use to populate information for the searcher. Optimizing these keywords helps to pull your content to the very first page of search. An overwhelming majority of people click on links found on the first page of a search engine and rarely venture to the second page (even rarer for the third page and beyond!)

One of the best ways to grow your podcast is to get it out there. And one of the best ways to get it out there is to utilize tools like SEO to your advantage. SEO can sound intimidating but it’s so much easier than you expect!

Add Keywords to Your Titles, Descriptions, and More

The key to optimizing your podcast is to, well, use keywords. You want to use words that quickly summarize your content but also rank your episodes and show highly in the results. This may seem a bit tricky, so we’ve collected some tips to make it easier:

• Choose words that have high volume, but low competition
• Post that keyword everywhere you can! In the title of the episode, in your episode descriptions a few times, even in social posts about the episode.
• Be sure to select different keywords for different episodes

Free keyword research tools can help you to narrow down the right words and make it easy to select them.

You should start to see your podcast grow in no time!

Take Advantage of Distribution Channels

A great way to reach a wider audience is to ensure you’re distributing to every place they might be. Distribute your podcast to all the major listening platforms and then some. Don’t be afraid to share your show through every possible channel.

An often overlooked listening platform is Google Podcasts. Google Podcasts in particular can help to populate your show on the world’s most-used search engine: Google!
RedCircle automatically takes care of distribution to Google Podcasts for you. Simply sign up with RedCircle, create your podcast, or import it from your previous host, and we’ll do the rest!

Make a Podcast Website

What better way to take advantage of SEO than by creating an accompanying website for your podcast. A podcast website allows you to create corresponding blog posts for your episodes, which can include your targeted SEO keywords and furthering your reach and rankings.

You can also post the full script to your episodes on your podcast website. Posting anything related to your podcast and episodes on a secondary site will only help to increase your searchability!

There are plenty of options for creating websites, from the free (and well-established) like WordPress to the paid, but famously great, Squarespace. Just like a podcasting hosting platform, select a website builder that best suits your needs.

The Power of Social Media

Never underestimate the power of social media and sharing. You can reach audiences far beyond your own with a simple repost. Take advantage of trending topics and hashtags to promote your show and recent episodes.

Be sure to use your selected SEO keywords to create yet another avenue for high search rankings. Don’t be afraid to encourage your followers to repost and share your podcast with their social circles. The more reposts, the higher the chances are that the various search engines pick up on those posts.

These SEO tips and tricks will help you to reach the top rankings in no time! The more you think about SEO and how to best utilize it for your show, the higher your episodes and podcast will rank on popular search engines and listening platforms.

The post Podcasting SEO Tips to Help Grow Your Podcast appeared first on RedCircle Blog.

Build a Strong Foundation for Your Podcast

Your podcast’s success largely depends on how well you lay its foundation. Shows without direction won’t garner an audience. You should have a clear and defined idea on what you want your podcast to be. This doesn’t only include the audio content of your show, but its look and its audience.

To grab the attention of your target audience, it’s important to identify your podcast’s niche early on. Determine the type of content you’ll be producing, your podcast’s theme, and the topics you’ll be discussing. Then, identify your ideal listener and tailor your content to them. Doing this will enable you to create a more focused podcast that speaks directly to your audience.

After figuring out the direction of your podcast, it’s time to create some complementary visual content. Your podcast’s brand image and messaging should be consistent and easily recognizable. Design a logo, choose a color scheme, and develop a tagline that embodies your podcast’s vibe and essence. Use these elements on all your social media accounts, website, and marketing materials.

You may want to immediately start with the best equipment, but be careful not to be fooled into thinking the better the equipment the better the podcast. The quality of the content is far more important than the quality of the audio. Of course, this isn’t to say that you shouldn’t care about audio quality at all. Weigh your options and find the equipment that works best for you and your budget!

Finally, be sure to post your content consistently. Listeners may lose interest and drop off if they’re unsure whether new episodes are coming.

The most important thing to keep in mind is to provide value to your audience. Whether that’s through insightful interviews, engaging stories, or useful information, your listeners need to feel that your podcast is worth their time and attention. By focusing on providing value and creating a community around your podcast, you’ll be well on your way to success!

Engage Your Audience

An audience can make or break a podcast. Take the time to invest in building a community of loyal listeners and you’ll surely be rewarded. It’s easy to say you need to build an audience, but how does one go about that anyways? Simple! Meet them where they are. Interact with your audience on social media, create a blog where they can get more information on your episodes, or create a newsletter to keep them in the loop about your show. The more vocal you are online about your podcast, the more people will be drawn in.

Social media is an excellent way to promote your podcast and engage with your audience. Share your podcast episodes on all platforms, engage with your followers, and encourage them to share your content. Be sure to create content they can share with their followers! There’s a wide variety of shareable content you can create like audiograms, infographics, blog posts, video clips, and more.

Some folks enjoy receiving emails (we know a few of us even enjoy good old snail mail!) Email newsletters are a great way to keep your listeners informed about new episodes, events, and special promotions. Regular promotional emails can help you to convert subscribers into loyal listeners. A great example to look to is Les from Balanced Black Girl. She created an email newsletter that complements her podcast. Using it to keep her audience informed on everything she does.

Be sure not to let those audience engagements go to waste! Encourage subscribers to leave reviews and ratings by including calls-to-action in your social posts, emails, etc. You can also offer incentives, such as exclusive content or discounts, to encourage subscribers to spread the word about your podcast.

Network and Build Relationships

Podcasting creates a unique community among creators. One of the best highlights is the ability to easily collaborate with thousands of people doing the same thing you do!

One of the easiest, and quickest, ways to begin collaborating is to invite guests onto your show. Their audience will want to tune in to the episode of your show they’re featured on. Both of you may gain permanent listeners through a single episode!

An even easier way to promote each others’ shows is to participate in a Cross-Promotion campaign. You simply record a promotion for your show, share it with your partner, and it automatically runs on their show until a set number of downloads is met.

Finally, attending podcasting events and conferences is a great way to network with other podcasters, learn from industry experts, and generate buzz for your own podcast. Do some research online to find events that are relevant to your niche and budget. Look for events that offer panel discussions, workshops, and networking opportunities. One of the best places to network in the podcasting industry is by attending Podcast Movement or Podcast Movement Evolutions (the former being the world’s largest podcaster event!) Check out Podcast Movement in August 2023 and Evolutions in March 2024. See the Podcast Movement website for more details!

Before attending an event or conference, it’s important to prepare some souvenirs of your podcast for everyone you meet. These could include business cards, stickers, or other branded content.

At the event, take advantage of the opportunity to meet other podcasters and industry experts. Don’t be afraid to introduce yourself and strike up a conversation with others! Exchange business cards and follow up with new contacts after the event. Building relationships with other podcasters can lead to collaboration opportunities, shared audiences, and exposure for your podcast.

By implementing these marketing strategies, you can build a strong brand, cultivate a loyal following, and take your podcast to new heights. Remember to stay consistent, engage with your audience, and always look for new ways to grow your reach. With dedication, creativity, and a little bit of hustle, you can become a podcasting superstar and make a real impact in your field.

The post How to Market Your Podcast & Grow Your Audience in 2023 appeared first on RedCircle Blog.