Podcasting can be a lot of fun. It can also be a lot of work. Three years in on our podcasting journey, there are things that I wish I’d known when we started that could have saved time, energy, and stress. I’m sharing them here with you in the hope that they help you.
Lots of people launch a podcast because it seems like a good idea for their business, or it’s an interest of some sort. You may be able to make it an episode or two without having a ‘why’ for your podcast, but without this you will quickly find that it becomes harder to create content. Your episodes will also begin to seem scattered as the topics shift around and don’t appear to have a cohesive theme. It’s never too late to determine the ‘why’ of your show, but if you can have that figured out before you begin recording, you’re going to have a much easier go of things.
I’ve been guilty of this in the past. You get busy, work is hectic, things are going on in life, but you also have a committed time to record. You haven’t rehearsed and the microphone has just turned on. Can you feel the pressure? It’s too late to cancel and you have a producer, guest, or co-host staring back at you, you’re fumbling through the conversation and sounding awful.
Take the time to prepare for your podcast! Whether you have a full script or bulleted notes, be ready to discuss your topic and speak intelligently. Not only will you look and sound professional, the person who has to produce the episode will appreciate not having to spend hours cleaning up all your unnecessary errors.
This isn’t something I started doing until the third season of our podcast [Digitiv. The Podcast.]. A piece of paper or a Word document on your computer, pick a place and log your show topic ideas. They won’t all be winners, but as they accumulate, it gives you a place to return and grab ideas when you may be running short on material. If you work with a team or a co-host, make it a shared document online so your ideas are in a single place. This is a also a way that you can help each other take ideas that aren’t ready and flush them out to production perfection.
If you’ve already started your podcast, there are probably things you wish you’d done differently or been doing from day one. Share them in the comments blow.
