We focus a lot on how to grow and improve a podcast. There are also some things you may be doing unintentionally to ruin your podcast. Let’s dive into 5 ways you can ruin your podcast.
The only thing worse than a lot of silence between your commentary is a lot of “um” and “like”. “Um” generally gives your listeners the impression that you aren’t prepared and don’t know what you’re going to say next. “Like” gives the impression of inexperience.
It can take practice to get these two phrases out of your common use vocabulary, and until you do, be sure you are editing them out of your show before publishing as much as possible.
We always say consistency is key when releasing episodes. The same is true of your seasons. If you allow huge spans of time to pass between seasons of your podcast the audience may forget or replace you with other shows. This is not to say you can’t take some time off between seasons. Ensure you are communicating with your audience via social media when a season is wrapping up and for how long.
It’s very easy to speak ill of ourselves these days. In fact, a lot of people do it in a joking manner when they are uncomfortable as a defense mechanism. Be sure you are not doing this when recording your podcast or in any comments associated to your podcast on social media. “Our show sucks.” “Nobody is even listening.” They may be meant in jest, but they are a real turn off to listeners.
If you can’t get behind yourself, no one else is going to either.
Most podcast shows have intro and outro music. Ensure you have purchased the rights to the music you are using, or use Creative Common music from a source like SoundCloud.
It’s possible the owner of the music you’ve helped yourself to without permission could come across your podcast and drag you into court. It’s not worth paying the expensive fines and legal fees. Always, use music you have paid for the rights to include or Creative Common music that you can attribute to the artist.
We also have a post of places to get your music. Check it out here.
Not every word you and your co-host, if you have one, say are going to be gems. There are going to be pieces of the conversation that are boring or down right useless when it comes to the topic of your episode. Don’t include them just because you recorded them. If certain portions of conversation don’t make the episode better, edit them out. The episode may be shorter, but you’ll be delivering better content that delivers what it promises more efficiently.
