What Makes A Good Podcast

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What makes a good podcast? There's not one answer to this question. However, there are many techniques you can use to make sure your podcast is one of the best on the podcasting charts.

30 Top Tips for a Successful Podcast

According to recent studies, 63% of podcast listeners tune into their favorite shows while at home relaxing. So, if your listeners spend their valuable downtime listening to your show, you better make sure it's a good podcast! Check out the podcast tips in this guide and learn about podcast best practices to elevate your show and skyrocket your listenership.

1. Smoothly Integrate Advertisements into Your Podcast

Integrating marketing into your podcast production can seamlessly monetize your podcast without alienating your listeners. When using advertisements, choosing advertising partners that align with your podcasting brand is essential.

Choosing ad partners that resonate with your audience's likes and interests is essential! If you use advertisements unrelated to your podcast or the interests of your listener demographic, you can alienate them and make your show seem inauthentic.

2. Adapt and Grow alongside Your Audience

A good podcast learns and grows with its audience to ensure it brings excellent content week after week. Considering audience feedback is paramount to building trust and maintaining your listener count! Ask your audience to get involved, and you can create episodes that make them feel valued.

For example, if your listeners love one type of episode and you notice a higher listener count, create more podcast episodes in a similar style or on a similar podcast topic.

3. Connect with Your Listeners through Storytelling

Podcast best practices include creating high-quality podcast content for your listeners. Engaging podcast interviews use storytelling, opening the floor for your guests to delve into personal experiences through anecdotes and painting a vivid picture for listeners. Creating a narrative that resonates emotionally with your audience will allow them to connect with you and your guests, inviting them into the conversation and boosting audience engagement.

4. Focus on What Defines Your Podcast’s Identity

What makes a good podcast? A strong identity! Creating valuable content starts with a strong vision and brand identity. Your podcast's identity will act as the foundation on which you build your content. Whether it's a podcast episode, blog post, or marketing material, your content needs to be cohesive and streamlined to achieve success.

Clarity on your podcast's identity will enhance the quality of your content and attract potential listeners. Creating your podcast identity can include the following:

• Maintaining a specific storytelling style.
• Creating a signature episode format or question type.
• Choosing a unique tone of voice to talk to your audience (and guests).

5. Pay Meticulous Attention to Every Detail of Production

What makes a great podcast? It might be one of the most obvious and yet the most overlooked tips for creating a good podcast: pay attention to detail! During pre-production planning and research, episode recording, and post-production editing, you must ensure your podcast is better than all the rest.

To do this, you'll need to have a keen eye for detail to ensure it's the best it can be. Record high-quality audio, research interesting topics to discuss, record a high-quality video podcast, choose appropriate podcast guests, and maintain the best audio quality throughout the process. The list is endless! But these are some of the most important points to keep an eye on.

6. Craft a Comprehensive and Sustainable Business Strategy

Business strategies aren't just for mass corporations and sales-based businesses; your podcast needs one, too! Crafting a business strategy involves laying out the steps your podcast will need to take to succeed, grow, and evolve. Having a comprehensive plan is a part of podcast best practices that will help you keep on track, achieve milestones, and become one of the best shows in the podcast industry.

For example, your goal might be to land a top spot on the Apple Podcast charts. To do this, you'll need to keep up a regular schedule of podcast episodes, maintain excellent audio quality, and maybe even start a video podcast, too! Think about achieving your goals and creating a strategic plan to succeed.

7. Define a Clear and Compelling Purpose for Your Podcast

What makes a great podcast? A clear purpose is a great place to start. Defining a purpose for your podcast is notably different from creating your podcast identity. Your purpose is a clear goal that you want to achieve with every episode. For example, you might want to help your listeners better their mental health, provide financial advice, or make them laugh! Whatever your podcast purpose is, define it and make it the central theme of every episode.

8. Create Moments of Insight and Revelation for Your Listeners

When recording your episode, create insightful moments for your listener to have an "a-ha!" moment. It's easy to keep speaking on and on, so when you're recording your podcast episode, take a moment to reflect on the topic being discussed, offer insights, and deliver thought-provoking narratives that your listener can take away from the episode.

9. Inspire Action and Engagement among Your Audience Members

Inspiring action is one of the most used podcast best practices. Leave your guest with a lasting impression and actional advice to inspire action. Maintaining a group of loyal listeners is essential for a successful podcast, so engage with them and give them helpful advice that keeps them coming back for more. This technique is particularly powerful with self-help podcasts, financial advice podcasts, or solo podcasts discussing everyday life.

11. Create a Signature Question for Your Podcast

Signature questions are used in all of the most successful podcasts. The host can ask the guest or the audience their signature question at the end of each episode. Some signature questions are the same each week, and some evolve with the topic discussed. The key to writing an excellent signature question is to make it thought-provoking and related to your podcast topic.

For example, if you have a self-help podcast, ask your guest three key self-care practices to share with your audience. If you have a business podcast, ask your guest the advice they would give to their younger self. 

12. Feature Diverse and Engaging Voices to Enrich Your Narrative

It's important to diversify your podcast by having a range of guests on your show. Bringing unique insights and experiences to your listeners will provide value. In contrast, if you stick to the same type of guest week after week, content can fall flat.

Look for guests who fit your niche, but don't be afraid to look beyond the scope of your own interests. Instead, consider the interests of your target audience and search for guests who align with those requirements.

13. Use a High-Quality Microphone

What makes a good podcast? High-quality equipment! A good podcast is only as good as the equipment you use. No matter the quality of your podcast content, you can't create a great episode if no one can hear you.

Investing in a high-quality microphone that improves sound quality is paramount to a successful podcast. Sound quality is perhaps the most important thing to consider when creating a popular podcast; ensuring the audio is clean and clear is essential.

14. Offer Unique Perspectives to Deepen Engagement

As the host of an interview podcast, you want to create space for your guest. But that doesn't mean you can't share your insights and experiences. Share personal anecdotes with your guest and your audience to build a strong, trusting relationship and connect on a deeper level. The more personal you get with your audience, the more they will feel connected to you, making it more likely that they will tune in for future episodes.

15. Invest Time and Effort into Meticulous Pre-production Planning

What makes a good podcast? Pre-production planning! Pre-production planning ensures you're prepared for every outcome so your podcast recording will run smoothly. Pre-production planning can include outlining your episode by researching the topic, writing questions to ask your guest, detailing your recording setup, testing your equipment, and more. 

16. Record Your Podcast for Video

What makes a good podcast? Video content! Video content has rapidly become one of the most popular podcast formats available. Creating video content with your podcast can reach new audiences, boost listener engagement, and create excellent short-form video clips for use across social media.

Upload your video content to YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, and podcasting platforms like Apple and Spotify to enhance listener experience and build a human connection with target audiences.

17. Practice Good Lighting Techniques

Using great lighting enhances your video quality, shows your audience that you are professional and take your podcast seriously, and makes editing easier. Choose a high-quality light and position it correctly to give your video that "studio-made" feel. Try using a backlight or a two-point lighting system to make your video look sleek and professional.

18. Use Background Noise and Stingers

Podcast audio is more than just the voice recording. Adding background noise and audio stingers to your podcast audio is a part of the editing phase. These sound effects can be added using post-production audio editing software.

Background music creates a more engaging podcast episode that will keep your audience engaged. Stingers are sound effects used throughout your podcast to indicate transitions and new topics or to add dramatic effect.

19. Maintain a Consistent Schedule While Ensuring Each Episode Is Enjoyable

Releasing episodes on a regular schedule will keep your listeners entertained, boost your ranking on search engines, and increase your likelihood of success. However, you mustn't just churn out content without value.

When planning your podcast schedule, prioritize quality and entertainment value. A great technique for this is to create a bank of three or four episodes so that you're always ahead of schedule. It takes the pressure off and allows you to put time into planning your content.

20. Create an Intro/Outro for Your Podcast

What makes a good podcast? Having an intro/outro! Every podcast should have a unique intro/outro. Investing in the creation of an intro/outro will show your audience that you're serious about your podcast and reaffirm your brand identity. All types of podcasts should have a custom-made intro/outro that your listeners can associate with your show.

21. Use Industry-Standard Editing Software

Investing in quality recording equipment is important, but investing in industry-standard audio and video editing software is just as important. Editing your audio recording makes a huge difference in creating high-quality content.

Many great types of editing software are available, such as ProTools, Adobe, Cubase, and more. However, if you don't have the time or money to invest in editing, outsource this process to a podcast production team! Learn more by clicking here.

22. Facilitate Easy Recommendations through Memorable Content

Create content that your audience wants to share with their friends! When recording your podcast, keep in mind that you want listeners to feel compelled to share the episode with their friends and family. Facilitate meaningful conversations and share key insights from your own experience to create valuable and memorable content.

23. Build a Thriving Community Around Your Podcasting Brand

What makes a good podcast? A strong community! Podcasting isn't just about creating content. It's about creating a community of listeners. Encourage listeners to engage and interact by commenting on posts, sending in questions for you to answer on the show, and following or getting in touch via social media. Once you have a strong community of fans, you can start planning live podcast events and meetups to grow your brand even further.

24. Create a Welcoming Atmosphere Akin to Conversing with a Friend

Provocative podcasts have had their moment, but it's time to create warm and inviting podcasts that your listeners want to engage with. When hosting guests on your show, welcoming them and making them relaxed is key to opening the floor for honest and captivating conversation. It will also make your listeners feel like they are sitting with you, and they will feel a part of the conversation, too.

25. Ensure Accessibility for All Listeners Regardless of Barriers

What makes a good podcast? Accessibility! Accessibility is essential for all content, so make your podcast accessible to all. This can include providing transcripts, audio descriptions for video podcasts, alt text on images, translation to different languages, and more.

26. Break Down Complex Ideas into Digestible and Understandable Concepts

It can be easy to speak on topics you're knowledgeable about, but remember that not everyone listening has the same experience. Break down complex ideas and simplify concepts so that it's easy for listeners to understand.

27. Create Social Media Content to Promote Your Podcast

What makes a good podcast? Effective social media marketing! Promoting your podcast on social media will allow you to engage with new audiences and demographics. Not only will marketing your podcast increase your viewership, but it will also establish you as a serious brand that takes pride in its content. Developing a succinct and professional social media presence amplifies your voice and expands your listener base.

28. Use Headphones When Recording

A common error when recording a podcast is that many hosts forget to wear headphones. Wearing headphones when recording a remote interview is essential for recording a clean audio track with only your voice. Similarly, the guest should do the same. It can be beneficial to wear headphones in the studio for the same reason. Wearing headphones creates clean audio files that are easier to edit and sound better in your podcast.

29. Target Your Content to a Specific Audience for Maximum Impact

Identifying your target demographic is essential to ensure your podcast succeeds. Tailor your content to resonate with your target audience's interests, preferences, and demographics. For example, suppose you have a property podcast to encourage investments. In that case, you'll need to target your content towards people with a higher income who are able to and interested in investing and at the age where this is possible.

30. Prioritize the Listener Experience in Every Aspect of Your Podcast

What makes a good podcast? Prioritizing listener experience! Last but not least, prioritize the listener at every step. It's natural to want to inject your own personality and flair into your podcast, and this is totally fine! However, remember that the podcast's content isn't for you; it's for your listener. At every stage, from pre-production to recording and then marketing, keep your audience at the forefront of your mind.

Start Your Podcast Journey with Saspod

With these top tips in mind, it's time to jump in and start your podcast venture! Get in touch with our team today for a FREE consultation. Whether you need advice on where to start, a helping hand setting up your studio, or looking for podcast editing services, we've got you covered. Contact us today by clicking here.