Podcasts may be all about audio, but written content also plays a vital role here. You can share valuable information about your episodes with show notes with your listeners.
Show notes help summarize what the podcast episode has to say and provide your listeners with social media links that they can use to share content.
So, writing show notes are essential to help your podcast grow to acquire more listeners. But how do you write podcast show notes? Let’s explore.
What are Podcast Show Notes?
Podcast show notes are nothing but pages that explain the contents of each episode. Besides talking about what the show has for listeners, they also have guest bios and other relevant, accompanying content.
Now, there are two aspects of podcast show notes. The first aspect is the summary or the script of the show or episode, and the second is the notes themselves.
The main difference here is that the summaries appear along with the notes on podcast applications. So, for example, if you are listening to a podcast on Spotify, you can click on the episode to reveal the notes.
Here, the notes also summarize what that episode is all about.
Besides the summary and a host of valuable resources, podcast show notes also consist of a brief call-to-action that lets listeners communicate with the creators.
However, not all applications have this feature, as most are restrictive regarding the HTML markup text within the description.
So, as a creator, you may not be able to link your listeners directly to your shows from within such applications. However, you can provide your users’ information for a blog post hosted on your website.
Benefits of Writing Podcast Show Notes
Writing podcast show notes helps in many ways. For instance, they can enhance an episode’s message as they also come with imagery, articles, and audio content.
Similarly, here are a few other benefits of writing podcast show notes.
#1 It makes it Easy to Share information
While your podcast shows contain valuable audio content, some users may be looking for visual content. Writing podcast show notes helps provide them with this visual content.
Also, since most podcast episodes contain a call-to-action, it would be better to write the same to make it more effective.
So, by combining audio content with writing, you can make your podcast shows more effective and gain a host of listeners.
#2 Engages Listeners
You may think that the shows alone might be enough to engage with your audience since they contain audio content. Most people would want to listen to something rather than read.
However, most listeners who look up podcasts tend to read the description first and then listen to that show.
So, this means that those descriptions and other written content you offer to your listeners can go a long way in making your podcasts stand out.
Moreover, you can also bring more organic traffic to your website with your podcast show notes as they urge listeners to subscribe to your content.
Likewise, another crucial aspect of writing podcast show notes is that it allows you to retain your listeners, as such content is sharable.
So, by offering valuable content through your podcast show notes, they will want more of your content and will keep coming back to listen to your episodes.
#3 Boosts SEO and Accessibility
Podcast show notes can also help boost traffic to your website since they consist of relevant keywords incorporated into them.
That is, your show notes may be centered around your target audience, but you can also add some keywords to make them more discoverable.
Doing this helps your listeners find your podcasts and attract more users.
Best SEO Practices for Writing Podcast Show Notes
It isn’t enough to write podcast show notes and leave it at that, and it would be best to optimize them to become more discoverable to get more listeners.
A lot of effort goes into this process, but if you can get it right, your shows or episodes will be up and running in no time, and you will have hundreds of subscribers.
But how do you do it? Here is a four-step process that you can follow to make your podcast show notes SEO-friendly and allow search engines and your listeners to find them.
#1 Transcribe Episodes
The first step is to transcribe your episodes. Transcribing your podcast shows or episodes helps in two ways. You can find those relevant keywords, not to mention copy and paste the text into them, making them more SEO-friendly and discoverable.
However, if you are not willing to transcribe them yourself or don’t know how to do it, you can always hire a freelance transcriber who can do it for you cheap.
You can find such freelancers on Upwork or Fiverr.
#2 Incorporate Relevant Keywords
The most crucial element that makes your Podcast show notes SEO-friendly and helps search engines and listeners find them is keywords.
You need to incorporate keywords into your summary and your titles. So, this is how it works. Your listeners search for your podcasts depending on the title or the name.
For this, you will need to put relevant keywords into your titles so that search engines can list your shows and your users can find them.
To do this, you must first transcribe the show or episode and narrow it down to a few topics and themes.
Using a keyword research tool, you will need to find relevant keywords for those themes or topics and use them naturally when writing the show notes.
So, you will need to dig into your shows or episodes and find those essential topics you covered.
Once you do this, feed those phrases into a keyword research tool, and analyze the results to know which ones are trending. Then, pick out a few keywords from the list, and sprinkle them organically into your notes.
#3 Format Your Notes
Remember to keep a low word count when writing your notes. Also, your notes should read like a blog post, as most people tend to find them easier to read than their traditional counterparts.
However, also be careful not to make it too short. According to a recent study by Backlinko, the average word count for the first page of Google’s search results was about 1,447
So, this means that while you should keep the word count for your podcast show notes low, you should also make sure that you have enough to give to your listeners.
If you fail to do this, your episodes won’t rank in the search engine results, and users won’t find your shows.
#4 Optimize Your Notes
Once formatted, it’s time to optimize your podcast show notes. Optimization may not come easy as you have already written the notes.
So, you cannot optimize them by traditional means by incorporating keywords that you narrowed down.
However, you can get that on-page optimization by optimizing the title or mentioning the keywords that you have targeted a few more times in your write-ups.
Similarly, you can add those internal links from your pages, and you could also use external links to other pages containing podcast show notes.
So, you can use these four tips to optimize your podcast show notes best and enable listeners and search engines to find them.
Some Podcast Templates
Before recording your shows, you must develop a template or structure. A podcast structure helps you in many ways.
For instance, it allows you to become more creative with your shows. Likewise, it also reduces intermittent deliveries and gives a path for your episodes.
While you can create your structure, here is an example of a podcast template that you can follow.
- Sponsor Message: Podcasts always start with the sponsor message and the opening music laden with jingling effects.
- Introduction: In this segment, you must introduce your show by stating the name and setting up the theme for your episode. You can also include other things like who you are and why you have created the podcast.
- The Topic: Main Point: It would be best to introduce the topic by discussing the main point here. You must also state how long you are going to speak.
- The Topic: Supporting Point: Your podcast show must also have an accompanying supporting point that acts as proof or evidence for the main point.
- The Topic: Supporting Data: Here, you must state the facts to support whatever you have mentioned in the main point.
- The Topic: Supporting Quote: If you have any quotes to include that can help support your topic, you can include them in this segment.
- Closing Remarks: You can end the show with a few closing remarks that sum up the episode. Here, you can also talk about the key takeaways. That is, what your audience has learned from your podcast.
Tips to Write Podcast Show Notes
It would help if you prepared rigorously to produce a podcast show or episode, and writing the show notes can go a long way in your preparation.
If you are a newbie to podcast creation and are unsure how to write the show notes, these tips should help you get started.
#1 Cover the Basics
Your podcast show notes must cover the basics, including what the episode is about and how it can help your listeners.
When writing the notes, you mustn’t forget to include the episode title and number and the date and time. If you had guests on the show, you could mention that in your notes as well.
Remember that you are writing show notes to educate your users or listeners about your show or episode and improve the overall experience.
#2 Include a Summary
Your podcast show notes must consist of a summary of the episode that lets your users or listeners know what they are tuning into and how they can benefit from it.
Remember that your listeners won’t download your episodes if they feel that it isn’t worth their time. So, you must make the summary as brief and exciting as possible.
#3 Add Key Takeaways and Quotes
Your podcast show notes must also contain key takeaways. That is, what your listeners will learn from tuning into your podcasts, and how it can benefit them.
The key takeaways should convince your listeners that they will learn something valuable from your podcast episodes and compel them to download your shows.
#4 Link Your Notes to Credible Sources
You must always add credible or verifiable links to your podcast show notes. That way, you will gain the trust of your listeners.
#5 Include Guest Bios
If you have guests appearing on the show, make sure that you include their bios in the notes so that your listeners will know who that person is and whether they want to listen to them.
#6 Include a Call-to-Action
Your listeners have tuned in to your show. Now, it is time for them to act. Including a call-to-action in your show notes will help listeners take a step forward and apply what they have learned to various situations or contact the host for more information.
#7 Maintain Consistency
When writing your podcast show notes, you should also be as consistent as possible. That is, you must follow the same structure for all your shows.
You can prepare a template but make sure that you stick to it when writing the notes.
Closing Words
Writing notes for your podcasts can help get them to the top of the search results. However, it would help make your notes SEO-friendly and listener-centric to achieve this.
You should get the basics and mention the episode title, description, and key takeaways. Also, don’t forget to be as consistent as possible when writing show notes.
You could also include the bios of the guests that appeared on your shows. So, follow these tips and tricks to write your podcast show notes, and you will see your episodes soar in no time.
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