Have a Podcast for Your Business? Here’s 4 Reasons to Ditch Your Show Notes
Adding show notes (bullet points about what you’ve covered on your last podcast episode) to your website is a common practice among all types of content creators and business owners - but it’s actually costing you instead of helping you.
I absolutely love this topic because SO many business owners with podcasts miss out on this opportunity.
And I love being able to support podcasters through my SEO services. I’ve worked with dozens of online business owners, but I see a massive potential for podcast businesses to get more eyes on their content and sell more digital products.
Instead of adding a few bullet points of show notes, it’s much more beneficial to your website to transcribe and format your podcast episodes into blog posts - and in this post, I’m going to explain why.
1. It appeals to people who consume information in different ways
Though podcasts are popular these days, not EVERYONE enjoys listening to podcasts.
There are several different types of learners out there, and some learn much better through reading than listening!
In addition, there are all different types of people out there who may not have the time to sit down and listen to podcasts, or may even have a hearing disability - preventing them from listening to your shows.
Not to mention that if you’re like me and only listen to podcasts on the go from your phone, only seeing show notes on a website when you’re really interested in the topic can be frustrating.
This means that if you’re ONLY offering content on your website in a way that caters to listeners, you’re only reaching listeners.
By taking an extra chunk of time and formatting your podcast episode into a blog post through a transcription tool, you can reach double the people for far less than double the time.
You can always still link your audio file at the top of your blog post in case a reader decides they want to listen instead - and they will appreciate being given the option!
2. It increases your website’s SEO authority
If you know anything about me, you know I’m SEO-obsessed - and for good reason!
SEO (or search engine optimization) is paramount for getting your website seen by those browsing the internet. (And I am so obsessed that I actually became an SEO strategist in addition to being a Squarespace website designer!)
Adding quality blog posts to your website boosts your SEO by providing Google with quality content that it can read, store, and examine.
Show notes, on the other hand, are usually very thin (AKA short and choppy) leading Google to take them less seriously than it takes a quality blog post.
Transforming your podcast episodes into blog posts is a fast, easy, and effective way to boost your website’s search engine optimization authority each week.
3. It improves your bounce rate.
Long-form content of any kind (including blog posts) helps reduce bounce rate by keeping your visitors on your website for longer.
If you just have show notes and someone is looking to consume the information in a written format, they’re more likely to leave your website right away.
Think of someone finding your website through Pinterest and realize that they have to listen to a podcast instead of reading a blog post (which is mainly what people are using Pinterest to find).
In addition, adding links to other pages on your website throughout your blog post is a great way to keep presenting visitors with new pages to visit, encouraging them to stay on your website (and giving them somewhere to go if they do!)
4. Beyond transcribing: recommended steps
Transcribe the episode using Temi or Rev
Google doesn’t have access to the audio from Temi or Rev, so both are great tools to use to transcribe your episode for easy blog-post formatting.
These tools make it super easy to transform your audio into readable text, helping you save time and reap all the benefits of posting your information as a blog post, too - without the hassle of listening to your podcast yourself and writing everything down!
So which one is best?
Temi is cheaper and automated, meaning that the robots might incorrectly transcribe certain words. Rev is more expensive but there’s a human on the other side so your transcriptions will be much more accurate.
Clean up the transcription
When you’re speaking, you probably naturally use words like “um,” or “like.”
When listening to an audio clip in a human voice, people naturally ignore these, and they can even make your podcast more conversational - but they stick out in writing and are a major red flag to readers!
For this reason, it’s important to clean up the transcription before formatting it as a blog post by removing these unnecessary words or sounds.
In addition, your transcription tool may not pick up on all the sentence breaks in your audio (or you may ramble at times,) meaning it’s also valuable to go through your transcription and add punctuation wherever necessary.
In writing, long-winded sentences should be avoided and your information should be clear to the reader.
Add headings and subheadings to break up content
People are probably not going to sit down and read your entire blog post from beginning to end (no matter HOW interesting it is) - so making sure there are plenty of headings and subheadings that break up content and allow for easy skimming is a great way to help your readers find what they are looking for.
Otherwise, just posting the transcription as is can look like an essay, which is typically overwhelming to a reader.
Headings and subheadings will need to be added as you format your transcription into a blog post, as the breaks of silence or changes in tone that indicate a switch in topic on a podcast won’t show through in the transcription.
Leave direct quotations only where it makes sense
A podcast is essentially a long recording of direct quotations - but, in order to make your transcription read like a blog post, you should leave these direct quotations only where necessary and otherwise style your post as a summary of the info you covered.
This point is specifically for interviews where you’re going and back between two people. The direct transcriptions of these kinds of episodes can sound and look awkward.
It’s better to go through and edit the content to more resemble a blog post.
Make sure your post title includes the actual topic of the episode
Don’t simply call your blog post “Episode 20 Recap.”
Make sure it features a real blog post title which explains the topic of your content, like “How to start a business from scratch” or “Fitness tips with a top instructor” instead of something vague and numerical.
This will help your visitors know exactly what they are about to read, and entice them to read it in the first place!
Hopefully, this post has encouraged you to ditch the show notes and start transforming your podcast episodes into blog posts on your website!
Doing so will help support your business and brand, and make your content more accessible to people of all learning types and abilities.
If you’re looking for someone to help create or revamp your website altogether (or do all the dirty SEO work you have no idea how to go about starting,) I’m your gal!
I’m a Squarespace website designer and SEO strategist who knows exactly how to take your website to the next level in ways that show through client bookings, inquiry calls, and sales.
I can’t wait to learn more about working with you!
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