January 1, 2024 • 22 mins
In Episode 01 of How to Start a Podcast, you'll learn how to pick the right niche for your podcast and how to create the perfect name for your new show.
Next Steps:
- How to name your podcast (Video)
- How to identify your podcast's niche (Video)
- 80 Podcasting Tips to Start a Successful Podcast (Blog)
Resources We Mentioned:
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_03 (00:00):
If it's just connecting with people in your
(00:01):
field or if it's like, hey, meand my friends love getting
together and talking about BearsBattlestar Galactica
SPEAKER_02 (00:08):
beats,
SPEAKER_03 (00:09):
it's perfectly fine.
People are going to listen toyou.
Welcome to How to Start aPodcast, the podcast about
launching and starting yourpodcast show.
How
SPEAKER_01 (00:23):
to Start a Podcast.
Very descriptive name.
SPEAKER_03 (00:25):
Yeah, we wanted to make it easy for you to find.
So this is a podcast all aboutlaunching, growing, and starting
your show.
So who am I?
Who is this voice?
My name is Jalon Martz.
I work here at Buzzsprout.
I'm part of the support team aswell as the content team.
So I've been podcastingpersonally since 2017, which is
about five years now.
If you've watched any of theBuzzsprout PQA videos,
(00:46):
podcasting Q&A.
I'm probably on one or some ofthose.
And I also answered tons andtons of emails when you guys
write into support about whyyour audio is so low or you
don't know how to upload anepisode.
So I'm kind of completely dunkedin this world of podcasting.
And that's a little bit about meand why you should maybe listen
to the thoughts that I haveabout how to start a podcast.
SPEAKER_01 (01:06):
I'm Albin Brooke, and I'm the head of marketing at
Buzzsprout.
Worked in podcasting for sevenyears, been podcasting for a
good portion of that andteaching people how to podcast.
So I'm We're excited to take youon this journey.
Buzzsprout has been helpingpeople launch their podcast
since 2009 and over 300,000people have launched shows with
us.
So we're excited for you to be3,001 as long as you make it
(01:28):
through these next 10 episodes.
3,000 or 300,000?
300,000.
Did I say 3,000?
You said 3,000.
3,000
SPEAKER_00 (01:36):
groups of thousand.
I was wondering if you're goingto mention what Buzzsprout is.
So Buzzsprout, if you're...
I'm Travis.
I'll introduce myself in asecond.
Buzzsprout is a podcast hostingservice.
We'll tell you about what we doand why it's valuable to you
starting a show.
But just know, we all work for acompany that's in the podcasting
space.
My name is Travis Albritton.
I'm the head of content atBuzzsprout.
(01:56):
I've launched, I think, over adozen podcasts at this point.
And so I am playing the role ofthe producer for this show.
So Jelan and Alvin are going torun it.
And if you hear my voice in themiddle of the episode, something
has gone terribly wrong.
But it should not happen.
And I will chime back in at theend of each episode to give you
some next steps if you want togo deeper on the things that you
learn.
SPEAKER_03 (02:14):
For sure.
So on this first episode of Howto Start a Podcast, we are going
to just talk about some of thebasics if you are even just
considering hopping into thepodcasting space.
So first things first, whyshould I start a podcast?
SPEAKER_01 (02:28):
I think that is the question for our listeners to
decide.
We can tell you lots of reasonswhy you should start a podcast
and tell you some of the reasonsthat we love podcasts.
But this is kind of the criticalfirst step is figuring out why
are you even listening to us andwhy is this on your mind?
There's some reasons to do itand there's some reasons not So
should we jump in?
(03:15):
have seeing athletes and seeingcelebrities and all sorts of
stuff.
And we think we want to be thosepeople, but we probably don't
want to do the work that theyhad to do.
So if your reason to start apodcast was just that you want
to be popular, that probablyisn't going to work.
It's going to be reallydifficult.
If your reason to start apodcast is you've got a message
(03:37):
that you've got to get out tothe world, that you want to
become and present yourself asan expert in a field, if you
want to grow a business, youwant to just start growing
yourself as a person by gettingcontent out to the world and
facing something that's probablya little bit scary, those are
great reasons to start apodcast.
SPEAKER_03 (03:56):
I totally agree.
I think having a purpose beyondwanting to be seen or famous is
really important becausepodcasting, while everyone is
doing it, is not necessarilysuper easy to do, right?
It doesn't come without somelegwork and some investment.
And so having an idea about whyyou're starting, start with your
why, is really important to eventhe beginning steps of launching
(04:17):
a successful podcast.
SPEAKER_01 (04:19):
And if the answer you have is just to have fun and
to connect with friends and tomeet interesting people and talk
about things that you'reinterested in, that is a great
reason to do it.
So don't feel like you have tohave some super high minded goal
here.
It can just be this sounds likea ton of fun and I'm super
(04:40):
interested in X.
And now I want to discuss thaton a show.
SPEAKER_03 (04:43):
And really, I think that's those are some of the
Right.
So like you talked about acouple of reasons
SPEAKER_01 (05:08):
for
SPEAKER_03 (05:10):
starting a podcast.
So if it's to establish yourselfas an expert, maybe that would
be to kind of put your voice outthere so that people look to you
for information about like theoffice, like a show or look to
you for information about newsor health, mental health,
whatever.
(05:30):
So if it's to be out there tohave people see you as someone
who knows about this particulartopic.
Cool.
That's a great goal.
Establishing yourself as theexpert.
If it's a business thing, liketrying to reach more customers
and broaden your reach that way,podcasts are really good for
that as well.
If you are wanting to to havetough conversations that other
people aren't having.
That can be a really good way toguide you into what kind of
(05:52):
information you want to present,what kind of conversations you
want to have.
I feel like I've lost myself inthe sauce a little bit.
SPEAKER_01 (05:59):
Well, I love that you're talking about becoming an
expert because I had a goodfriend who moved out of the
construction industry intoprogramming and he didn't know
anybody in programming.
He didn't go to school for it.
He was totally self-taught.
And his solution to this was tostart a podcast about his
experience.
And through podcasting about it,when he went to interviews,
(06:21):
people would see, oh, youalready have this podcast.
It's on your resume.
And I listened to it and yousound really smart.
And I'm really liking the wayyou think about problems.
And it was something thatdifferentiated him from
everybody else that was applyingand doing a podcast or a YouTube
channel or a blog or something,putting some effort into a piece
of work really differentiatesyou from a lot of people.
(06:44):
So if you're trying to breakinto a Yeah.
And even
SPEAKER_03 (06:53):
when you talked about that, I think kind of
making people feel more seen,kind of like creating a
community around something.
So whether that's, hey, there'sconversations that aren't being
had about X or I, you know, I'mtrying to break into this
industry or I'm trying to justlike a 20 something, right?
Like just trying to figure outthis adulting thing.
I'm sure I'm not the only personthat feels this way.
People will gravitate towardsthat.
(07:13):
And so then there's this sharedsense of belonging.
Yeah, I love that.
Have you ever
SPEAKER_01 (07:24):
heard the phrase like, if your car is broken down
on the side of the road, no onestops.
But when you start pushing yourcar, people come and help you
push.
I think that kind of thepodcasting is your way of
starting to push saying like,I'm not comfortable where I am.
I want to be doing somethingdifferent.
I want these conversations to behad.
I want to learn about thisthing.
I want to teach people aboutthis thing, whatever it is that
(07:44):
you're passionate about.
Once you start actually doingsome work, people go, this is
someone I want to be involvedwith.
And now you have so many moredoors being opened.
(08:15):
Niche or niche, depending onlike how French you are.
So finding a niche is justfinding like a very specific
topic.
I see a lot of podcasters whobasically do, you said the
office quote earlier, they'relike, oh, we talk about bears,
beets, Battlestar Galactica.
We talk about all this stuff.
(08:35):
And what ends up happening isit's not clear who that podcast
is for.
You know, if you talk abouteverything that people don't
want to talk about,relationships and politics,
Politics and sports.
It's like, actually people aretalking about that nonstop.
All
SPEAKER_03 (08:49):
the time on podcasts.
SPEAKER_01 (08:50):
And the fact that you are talking about all these
topics means that it's kind offor everybody, but it's also not
for anybody in particular.
Podcasting, there are tons ofoptions for people to listen to
shows.
You're going to find the mostsuccess when you focus down on a
core audience and a core subjectthat you're talking about.
(09:11):
And now it becomes very clearwho it's for.
SPEAKER_03 (09:13):
It made me think of this quote from The Incredibles
because my brain works like achild where the villain was
basically saying wheneverybody's super then nobody is
and it's kind of very much likethat it seems kind of
counterintuitive to niche downbecause then it feels
exclusionary like our goal is togrow our audience what do you
mean we should try to excludepeople but if you don't make it
clear who your trumpet call isfor or who this podcast is for
(09:36):
then it just ends up appealingto nobody in particular and like
you said you end up talkingabout things at a low level and
so not really talking aboutanything specifically to anybody
in specific.
It's just shouting into thevoid.
And so that's definitely one ofthe benefits of finding your
niche or your niche, dependingon how you pronounce that.
So how do you suggest someone goabout finding their niche?
SPEAKER_01 (09:57):
Well, I think you've got to figure out what you are
interested in.
We all have lots of interests,but then you need to combine an
interest with some level ofexpertise.
And that doesn't mean you haveto have a degree.
It doesn't mean that you have tobe credentialed or you've spent
so many years in an industry orsomething.
But But you need to be spendingtime with this interest.
(10:18):
So I have an interest inarchitecture, but I'm not
starting a podcast because Icouldn't come up with a bunch of
topics.
And if you ask me aboutarchitecture topics, I wouldn't
know what to say about it.
I'd just be like, oh, the houselooks cool.
And this modern house kind of isa little bit bland to me.
It's a shabby chic.
(10:40):
What is this?
could your topic be?
I'd say, no matter what it is,try to focus even tighter.
You want to do a podcast aboutbusiness?
Go tighter.
Okay.
Now it's about marketing.
Go even more focused.
Okay.
I want to do a podcast aboutmarketing where I'm not just
talking about growing, but I'mtalking about doing it in a
(11:03):
healthy, sustainable way thatwon't burn out my team.
Now I focus down multiple times.
And the power of that is notonly do I have a direction for
all my episodes, because they'realways going to come back But
again, anyone wanting torecommend my podcast will say,
oh, you're kind of gettingburned out by growing your
(11:23):
business.
Check out this podcast.
It's actually about people whoare getting burned out by
feeling the need to grow reallyfast.
It might help you.
If you just have a generalinterest podcast, you're talking
about tons of stuff.
No one ever recommends itbecause nobody ever is like the
clear person who would beinterested in it.
SPEAKER_03 (11:41):
That's such a good point that your niche becomes
prescriptive.
away that like you know who thisis for and so then I can
recommend it when I'm sittingacross from my friend talking
you know to her about coffee andthen you also know immediately
like as you were talking I waslike oh those people that are
like grow your business in 90days and get it like that is not
who this is for and as a personwho like that kind of talking
(12:02):
makes me a little anxious I'mlike oh yeah steer away from
that let's go find this onethat's about sustainable healthy
growth and so it really doeshelp you find your tribe
SPEAKER_01 (12:10):
one of the ways that I think are really helpful in
knowing whether or not you'vefound a good topic is, can you
come up with 10 episode themesor topics?
So if you're starting a podcastabout architecture, and you
don't know much aboutarchitecture, you'd be like,
well, I know there's like a fewdifferent periods, like there's
modernism, and there's also thisother stuff.
(12:30):
And now I can talk about oneabout materials.
And now I'm kind of losing thetrail.
I don't know what the thirdepisode would be about.
That's because I'm not anexpert.
But like, what would you start apodcast on if you were to start
a new show right now?
SPEAKER_03 (12:43):
If I would start a new show, it'd probably be be
around like mental wellness,mental health, something like
that.
Maybe even like a spiritualspace.
I would niche down some too inthat.
And I could easily come up with10 topics because it's a space
that I like inhabit, eat, live,breathe.
I could talk about mental healthbooks.
I could talk about anxiety ordepression or mental health and
spiritual spaces.
(13:03):
What does it look like whenyou're looking for therapists?
There are all kinds of topicsand things that I could think
about as episode topics.
SPEAKER_01 (13:09):
Yeah.
And so the fact that you cancome up with those off the cuff
very quickly, not means thatthis is probably a good area for
you to be looking at.
So if you are right nowlistening to us and you think
you've got kind of a podcastniche, you've got this theme and
now you sit down and just startwriting, like write the titles
of all these episodes and seehow many you can write.
(13:32):
And if we're stalling out atthree or four, we might want to
do a little bit of soulsearching.
But if you're cruising past 12,13, this is an area that you
would probably be really goodat.
SPEAKER_03 (13:43):
Definitely.
All right, so now you've gotsome ideas about the direction,
the goal, the theme.
What about a name?
How do you come up with a name?
Should you be like, should youput your name in the title?
Should you have tons of keywordsso that you can find it when
people are searching?
What should you do?
SPEAKER_01 (13:58):
I think that this is one of those areas that there's
so many people that have gottenreally big using their own name,
like I think the Joe Roganexperience or something, or
names that aren't super clearwhat they are, like 99%
invisible.
Maybe people don't understandexactly what that is right in
the beginning.
When you hear those names, youthink, oh, I should be coming up
(14:19):
with like a brand or I should benaming it after myself.
And those actually for newpodcasters, especially for new
podcasters who are not
SPEAKER_03 (14:27):
well known.
SPEAKER_01 (14:28):
Yeah, they're not they haven't already done
something to grow themselves andtheir own personal brand.
Those are both kind of badideas.
Instead, you want to find a namethat is one unique and we can
kind of talk about that in abit.
But two makes it really clearwhat the podcast is So if we
were doing your mental healthpodcast, you could say mental
(14:49):
health in the church orsomething like something that
made it so clear that people seeit and they go, I know exactly
what that podcast is about.
SPEAKER_03 (14:55):
So what are some of the pitfalls of naming a
podcast?
SPEAKER_01 (15:00):
I mean, this is what I got.
I could go on a rant about this.
The cute names.
There's so many podcasts thatthey love puns.
If you've got a pun where it'slike, oh, my name is Albin.
And that kind of rhymes withthis.
I should have actually come upwith an idea, but like you're
trying to take your name and atopic and you're kind of trying
(15:21):
to mix it in, or maybe yourco-host's name is mixed in with
your name.
And have you ever seen thewebsite Epicurious?
Okay.
So it's Epicurean, like a personwho eats food or cares about
food and curious.
That's a cool brand now, but doyou know how difficult it was
probably to grow that brand whenpeople are like, what's
(15:42):
Epicurious?
Like, I don't understand.
They're like, oh, well, No, no.
It's like, it's people who arecurious about food and let me,
let me explain it.
And they're like, okay, well Ityped it in and I keep getting
Epicurean and Google sayinglike, didn't you mean, and like
is recommending something elseto me.
Well, if that's happening, it'sgoing to be way harder to grow.
SPEAKER_03 (16:01):
Not to mention, do people know how to spell
Epicurious or Epicurean?
SPEAKER_01 (16:05):
Well, probably no to both.
SPEAKER_03 (16:07):
Probably
SPEAKER_01 (16:08):
no to
SPEAKER_03 (16:08):
both.
So that's another, like, causeyou don't really want any
barriers with your name.
You know what I'm saying?
Like you're wanting a name thatLike you said, it can be unique.
That's perfectly fine.
But you also don't want to makeit difficult to be found if
someone searches it.
They hear about it becausethere'll be times when I'm
listening to a podcast andsomeone will recommend another
podcast.
And if I'm like, what did yousay?
You know, like I'm typing itout.
(16:29):
Is Google going to suggest thatto me?
Or is Google going to say like,oh, you misspelled this word.
It's actually Epicurious.
And so you don't want it to bedifficult to be found is
another, I think, big thing thatpeople should be mindful of when
they're naming their podcast.
SPEAKER_01 (16:41):
We see this all the time, for some reason, in the
software business, where peoplehave a cool name and it's a
normal name so it's like tickbut they're like oh but that's
already taken so it's actuallyTCK and so we dropped the I and
a lot of times people like dropvowels from the name and they
think it's like kind of cool andhip but it's not cool and hip
(17:01):
when someone's typing in thename of your podcast and not
finding it
SPEAKER_03 (17:05):
or finding someone else's podcast
SPEAKER_01 (17:06):
yeah so they typed in Epicurious and Apple podcast
was like I have no idea whatthis thing is you misspelled it
and so what I did pull up wasthe Epic Food Podcast.
And they went, maybe that's whatI heard.
I misheard them.
And they click on the Epic FoodPodcast.
Well, guess what?
Now we're two weeks in of themlistening and they're like, this
is really good.
But wasn't Jalon on thispodcast?
(17:28):
Like, I'm confused.
Oh, well, this is great stuff.
Well, you don't want to be inthat position, especially if
you're the one recommending tothem, hey, maybe check out my
podcast.
SPEAKER_03 (17:37):
Big problems.
Big, big problems.
So then what do you suggest whenpeople are naming their podcast?
SPEAKER_01 (17:42):
Well, first, we want it to be unique.
We don't I don't want you to bebattling with somebody else with
the exact same name.
That gives you issues whenpeople are searching for you in
the podcast apps, but alsoyou're not gonna be able to get
the Twitter handle.
There's gonna be somebody elsefighting you on Instagram or the
domain's probably not available.
There's a really good website,which this is gonna be ironic
(18:02):
when I tell you the name, it'scalled Name Checker, but there
is no E in checker in the secondE.
So it's namechecktheletterr.com.
So the fact that I had to spellthat out for you you proves the
point that maybe if they justused name check they've been
able to get that domain it wouldhave been better but what name
checker does is so good is youput in a name and it searches
(18:25):
all sorts of stuff it's lookingat hey is this twitter handle
available is the dot comavailable is the youtube channel
available and if stuff startscoming up across the board green
you know you're good if there'ssome yes and some knows that
maybe it's not a great idea do aa little more research.
And if it all starts coming upred, okay, somebody else is
(18:49):
already operating under thisbrand name.
So start writing out some names,come up with like phrases that
people might search for.
That is a great way for yourshow to grow.
I think of online marketing madeeasy, like that podcast, you
know, with Amy Porterfield isgrowing because people are
typing that exact phrase intoGoogle.
(19:10):
How do I make online marketingeasy?
How do I learn my marketing Andthen this podcast pops up and
they're like, oh, that's exactlywhat I want.
If she had made it some likekind of cutesy name, they would
never have found it.
And when they saw it, theywouldn't be sure that it was for
them anyway.
SPEAKER_03 (19:26):
Any other tips as we're talking about like podcast
conception?
Well,
SPEAKER_01 (19:30):
one of the things I know is at this stage, I see a
lot of people get interested inartwork.
And I think that it's time toput artwork to the side for just
a little bit.
Why would we do that?
That's blasphemy.
We're building the branding.
It's so much of the brand willcome out in your artwork.
It's a critical piece of yourbrand, but it's harder than
(19:51):
naming.
Naming is just you coming upwith it and you're typing it out
and your theme is going toprobably shift.
And what I don't want to happenis you've recorded a couple
episodes.
Now you've edited them.
You've done all this work.
You've got a mic and you'regoing, I'm not doing a mental
health podcast anymore.
I want to do like positivepsychology.
Like how do I not avoiddepression and anxiety, but how
(20:13):
do I live like the most abundantlife possible.
So maybe you've shifted thetopic and now in shifting the
topic, you've shifted the nameand you've shifted the brand.
Well, now you feel pretty sillythat you maybe spent a few
hundred dollars getting someoneto create a graphic for you.
And you're like, well, maybe Ijust stick with this graphic and
it doesn't fit perfectly, butI'll just do it.
(20:35):
If you held off on your artworknow, when the brand is a little
more locked in and you've got abetter idea, that's the right
time to make it or have someoneSo probably a few episodes down
the line, we will get in andtalk to you about that.
SPEAKER_03 (21:13):
So I've
SPEAKER_00 (21:17):
got a couple of resources to help you if you
want to go deeper on thosetopics that we discussed in
episode one.
The first one is a video allabout how to name your podcast.
And we go through tips andstrategies to really help you
flesh out the right approach foryou and coming up with the name
for the topics that you want todiscuss.
And we also have a video abouthow to identify your podcast's
(21:39):
niche and really niche down inthe way that Albin describes.
So you're creating the perfectshow for your podcast.
for a particular audience.
Both of those are videos thatyou can find on our YouTube
channel.
But if you want a blog to read,there's a really great blog on
the Buzzsprout blog called 80Podcasting Tips to Start a
Successful Podcast.
So if you want a 30,000 footview of what other podcasters
(22:01):
are saying, advice that theywould give to someone who is
just starting out, that is agreat resource to read.
You can find links to all ofthose resources in the show
notes for this episode.
Just kind of scroll down or overon Thank you so much, Travis,
SPEAKER_03 (22:23):
for all of that good information.
So definitely check that outbefore next episode.
And just as a little bit of ateaser, we are going to be
talking about podcast format forour next episode.
So should you do a solo?
Should you have a host?
Should it be scripted or notscripted?
How long should it be?
We're going to get into all ofthat.
So until next time, keeppodcasting.
If it's just connecting with people in your
(00:01):
field or if it's like, hey, meand my friends love getting
together and talking about BearsBattlestar Galactica
SPEAKER_02 (00:08):
beats,
SPEAKER_03 (00:09):
it's perfectly fine.
People are going to listen toyou.
Welcome to How to Start aPodcast, the podcast about
launching and starting yourpodcast show.
How
SPEAKER_01 (00:23):
to Start a Podcast.
Very descriptive name.
SPEAKER_03 (00:25):
Yeah, we wanted to make it easy for you to find.
So this is a podcast all aboutlaunching, growing, and starting
your show.
So who am I?
Who is this voice?
My name is Jalon Martz.
I work here at Buzzsprout.
I'm part of the support team aswell as the content team.
So I've been podcastingpersonally since 2017, which is
about five years now.
If you've watched any of theBuzzsprout PQA videos,
(00:46):
podcasting Q&A.
I'm probably on one or some ofthose.
And I also answered tons andtons of emails when you guys
write into support about whyyour audio is so low or you
don't know how to upload anepisode.
So I'm kind of completely dunkedin this world of podcasting.
And that's a little bit about meand why you should maybe listen
to the thoughts that I haveabout how to start a podcast.
SPEAKER_01 (01:06):
I'm Albin Brooke, and I'm the head of marketing at
Buzzsprout.
Worked in podcasting for sevenyears, been podcasting for a
good portion of that andteaching people how to podcast.
So I'm We're excited to take youon this journey.
Buzzsprout has been helpingpeople launch their podcast
since 2009 and over 300,000people have launched shows with
us.
So we're excited for you to be3,001 as long as you make it
(01:28):
through these next 10 episodes.
3,000 or 300,000?
300,000.
Did I say 3,000?
You said 3,000.
3,000
SPEAKER_00 (01:36):
groups of thousand.
I was wondering if you're goingto mention what Buzzsprout is.
So Buzzsprout, if you're...
I'm Travis.
I'll introduce myself in asecond.
Buzzsprout is a podcast hostingservice.
We'll tell you about what we doand why it's valuable to you
starting a show.
But just know, we all work for acompany that's in the podcasting
space.
My name is Travis Albritton.
I'm the head of content atBuzzsprout.
(01:56):
I've launched, I think, over adozen podcasts at this point.
And so I am playing the role ofthe producer for this show.
So Jelan and Alvin are going torun it.
And if you hear my voice in themiddle of the episode, something
has gone terribly wrong.
But it should not happen.
And I will chime back in at theend of each episode to give you
some next steps if you want togo deeper on the things that you
learn.
SPEAKER_03 (02:14):
For sure.
So on this first episode of Howto Start a Podcast, we are going
to just talk about some of thebasics if you are even just
considering hopping into thepodcasting space.
So first things first, whyshould I start a podcast?
SPEAKER_01 (02:28):
I think that is the question for our listeners to
decide.
We can tell you lots of reasonswhy you should start a podcast
and tell you some of the reasonsthat we love podcasts.
But this is kind of the criticalfirst step is figuring out why
are you even listening to us andwhy is this on your mind?
There's some reasons to do itand there's some reasons not So
should we jump in?
(03:15):
have seeing athletes and seeingcelebrities and all sorts of
stuff.
And we think we want to be thosepeople, but we probably don't
want to do the work that theyhad to do.
So if your reason to start apodcast was just that you want
to be popular, that probablyisn't going to work.
It's going to be reallydifficult.
If your reason to start apodcast is you've got a message
(03:37):
that you've got to get out tothe world, that you want to
become and present yourself asan expert in a field, if you
want to grow a business, youwant to just start growing
yourself as a person by gettingcontent out to the world and
facing something that's probablya little bit scary, those are
great reasons to start apodcast.
SPEAKER_03 (03:56):
I totally agree.
I think having a purpose beyondwanting to be seen or famous is
really important becausepodcasting, while everyone is
doing it, is not necessarilysuper easy to do, right?
It doesn't come without somelegwork and some investment.
And so having an idea about whyyou're starting, start with your
why, is really important to eventhe beginning steps of launching
(04:17):
a successful podcast.
SPEAKER_01 (04:19):
And if the answer you have is just to have fun and
to connect with friends and tomeet interesting people and talk
about things that you'reinterested in, that is a great
reason to do it.
So don't feel like you have tohave some super high minded goal
here.
It can just be this sounds likea ton of fun and I'm super
(04:40):
interested in X.
And now I want to discuss thaton a show.
SPEAKER_03 (04:43):
And really, I think that's those are some of the
Right.
So like you talked about acouple of reasons
SPEAKER_01 (05:08):
for
SPEAKER_03 (05:10):
starting a podcast.
So if it's to establish yourselfas an expert, maybe that would
be to kind of put your voice outthere so that people look to you
for information about like theoffice, like a show or look to
you for information about newsor health, mental health,
whatever.
(05:30):
So if it's to be out there tohave people see you as someone
who knows about this particulartopic.
Cool.
That's a great goal.
Establishing yourself as theexpert.
If it's a business thing, liketrying to reach more customers
and broaden your reach that way,podcasts are really good for
that as well.
If you are wanting to to havetough conversations that other
people aren't having.
That can be a really good way toguide you into what kind of
(05:52):
information you want to present,what kind of conversations you
want to have.
I feel like I've lost myself inthe sauce a little bit.
SPEAKER_01 (05:59):
Well, I love that you're talking about becoming an
expert because I had a goodfriend who moved out of the
construction industry intoprogramming and he didn't know
anybody in programming.
He didn't go to school for it.
He was totally self-taught.
And his solution to this was tostart a podcast about his
experience.
And through podcasting about it,when he went to interviews,
(06:21):
people would see, oh, youalready have this podcast.
It's on your resume.
And I listened to it and yousound really smart.
And I'm really liking the wayyou think about problems.
And it was something thatdifferentiated him from
everybody else that was applyingand doing a podcast or a YouTube
channel or a blog or something,putting some effort into a piece
of work really differentiatesyou from a lot of people.
(06:44):
So if you're trying to breakinto a Yeah.
And even
SPEAKER_03 (06:53):
when you talked about that, I think kind of
making people feel more seen,kind of like creating a
community around something.
So whether that's, hey, there'sconversations that aren't being
had about X or I, you know, I'mtrying to break into this
industry or I'm trying to justlike a 20 something, right?
Like just trying to figure outthis adulting thing.
I'm sure I'm not the only personthat feels this way.
People will gravitate towardsthat.
(07:13):
And so then there's this sharedsense of belonging.
Yeah, I love that.
Have you ever
SPEAKER_01 (07:24):
heard the phrase like, if your car is broken down
on the side of the road, no onestops.
But when you start pushing yourcar, people come and help you
push.
I think that kind of thepodcasting is your way of
starting to push saying like,I'm not comfortable where I am.
I want to be doing somethingdifferent.
I want these conversations to behad.
I want to learn about thisthing.
I want to teach people aboutthis thing, whatever it is that
(07:44):
you're passionate about.
Once you start actually doingsome work, people go, this is
someone I want to be involvedwith.
And now you have so many moredoors being opened.
(08:15):
Niche or niche, depending onlike how French you are.
So finding a niche is justfinding like a very specific
topic.
I see a lot of podcasters whobasically do, you said the
office quote earlier, they'relike, oh, we talk about bears,
beets, Battlestar Galactica.
We talk about all this stuff.
(08:35):
And what ends up happening isit's not clear who that podcast
is for.
You know, if you talk abouteverything that people don't
want to talk about,relationships and politics,
Politics and sports.
It's like, actually people aretalking about that nonstop.
All
SPEAKER_03 (08:49):
the time on podcasts.
SPEAKER_01 (08:50):
And the fact that you are talking about all these
topics means that it's kind offor everybody, but it's also not
for anybody in particular.
Podcasting, there are tons ofoptions for people to listen to
shows.
You're going to find the mostsuccess when you focus down on a
core audience and a core subjectthat you're talking about.
(09:11):
And now it becomes very clearwho it's for.
SPEAKER_03 (09:13):
It made me think of this quote from The Incredibles
because my brain works like achild where the villain was
basically saying wheneverybody's super then nobody is
and it's kind of very much likethat it seems kind of
counterintuitive to niche downbecause then it feels
exclusionary like our goal is togrow our audience what do you
mean we should try to excludepeople but if you don't make it
clear who your trumpet call isfor or who this podcast is for
(09:36):
then it just ends up appealingto nobody in particular and like
you said you end up talkingabout things at a low level and
so not really talking aboutanything specifically to anybody
in specific.
It's just shouting into thevoid.
And so that's definitely one ofthe benefits of finding your
niche or your niche, dependingon how you pronounce that.
So how do you suggest someone goabout finding their niche?
SPEAKER_01 (09:57):
Well, I think you've got to figure out what you are
interested in.
We all have lots of interests,but then you need to combine an
interest with some level ofexpertise.
And that doesn't mean you haveto have a degree.
It doesn't mean that you have tobe credentialed or you've spent
so many years in an industry orsomething.
But But you need to be spendingtime with this interest.
(10:18):
So I have an interest inarchitecture, but I'm not
starting a podcast because Icouldn't come up with a bunch of
topics.
And if you ask me aboutarchitecture topics, I wouldn't
know what to say about it.
I'd just be like, oh, the houselooks cool.
And this modern house kind of isa little bit bland to me.
It's a shabby chic.
(10:40):
What is this?
could your topic be?
I'd say, no matter what it is,try to focus even tighter.
You want to do a podcast aboutbusiness?
Go tighter.
Okay.
Now it's about marketing.
Go even more focused.
Okay.
I want to do a podcast aboutmarketing where I'm not just
talking about growing, but I'mtalking about doing it in a
(11:03):
healthy, sustainable way thatwon't burn out my team.
Now I focus down multiple times.
And the power of that is notonly do I have a direction for
all my episodes, because they'realways going to come back But
again, anyone wanting torecommend my podcast will say,
oh, you're kind of gettingburned out by growing your
(11:23):
business.
Check out this podcast.
It's actually about people whoare getting burned out by
feeling the need to grow reallyfast.
It might help you.
If you just have a generalinterest podcast, you're talking
about tons of stuff.
No one ever recommends itbecause nobody ever is like the
clear person who would beinterested in it.
SPEAKER_03 (11:41):
That's such a good point that your niche becomes
prescriptive.
away that like you know who thisis for and so then I can
recommend it when I'm sittingacross from my friend talking
you know to her about coffee andthen you also know immediately
like as you were talking I waslike oh those people that are
like grow your business in 90days and get it like that is not
who this is for and as a personwho like that kind of talking
(12:02):
makes me a little anxious I'mlike oh yeah steer away from
that let's go find this onethat's about sustainable healthy
growth and so it really doeshelp you find your tribe
SPEAKER_01 (12:10):
one of the ways that I think are really helpful in
knowing whether or not you'vefound a good topic is, can you
come up with 10 episode themesor topics?
So if you're starting a podcastabout architecture, and you
don't know much aboutarchitecture, you'd be like,
well, I know there's like a fewdifferent periods, like there's
modernism, and there's also thisother stuff.
(12:30):
And now I can talk about oneabout materials.
And now I'm kind of losing thetrail.
I don't know what the thirdepisode would be about.
That's because I'm not anexpert.
But like, what would you start apodcast on if you were to start
a new show right now?
SPEAKER_03 (12:43):
If I would start a new show, it'd probably be be
around like mental wellness,mental health, something like
that.
Maybe even like a spiritualspace.
I would niche down some too inthat.
And I could easily come up with10 topics because it's a space
that I like inhabit, eat, live,breathe.
I could talk about mental healthbooks.
I could talk about anxiety ordepression or mental health and
spiritual spaces.
(13:03):
What does it look like whenyou're looking for therapists?
There are all kinds of topicsand things that I could think
about as episode topics.
SPEAKER_01 (13:09):
Yeah.
And so the fact that you cancome up with those off the cuff
very quickly, not means thatthis is probably a good area for
you to be looking at.
So if you are right nowlistening to us and you think
you've got kind of a podcastniche, you've got this theme and
now you sit down and just startwriting, like write the titles
of all these episodes and seehow many you can write.
(13:32):
And if we're stalling out atthree or four, we might want to
do a little bit of soulsearching.
But if you're cruising past 12,13, this is an area that you
would probably be really goodat.
SPEAKER_03 (13:43):
Definitely.
All right, so now you've gotsome ideas about the direction,
the goal, the theme.
What about a name?
How do you come up with a name?
Should you be like, should youput your name in the title?
Should you have tons of keywordsso that you can find it when
people are searching?
What should you do?
SPEAKER_01 (13:58):
I think that this is one of those areas that there's
so many people that have gottenreally big using their own name,
like I think the Joe Roganexperience or something, or
names that aren't super clearwhat they are, like 99%
invisible.
Maybe people don't understandexactly what that is right in
the beginning.
When you hear those names, youthink, oh, I should be coming up
(14:19):
with like a brand or I should benaming it after myself.
And those actually for newpodcasters, especially for new
podcasters who are not
SPEAKER_03 (14:27):
well known.
SPEAKER_01 (14:28):
Yeah, they're not they haven't already done
something to grow themselves andtheir own personal brand.
Those are both kind of badideas.
Instead, you want to find a namethat is one unique and we can
kind of talk about that in abit.
But two makes it really clearwhat the podcast is So if we
were doing your mental healthpodcast, you could say mental
(14:49):
health in the church orsomething like something that
made it so clear that people seeit and they go, I know exactly
what that podcast is about.
SPEAKER_03 (14:55):
So what are some of the pitfalls of naming a
podcast?
SPEAKER_01 (15:00):
I mean, this is what I got.
I could go on a rant about this.
The cute names.
There's so many podcasts thatthey love puns.
If you've got a pun where it'slike, oh, my name is Albin.
And that kind of rhymes withthis.
I should have actually come upwith an idea, but like you're
trying to take your name and atopic and you're kind of trying
(15:21):
to mix it in, or maybe yourco-host's name is mixed in with
your name.
And have you ever seen thewebsite Epicurious?
Okay.
So it's Epicurean, like a personwho eats food or cares about
food and curious.
That's a cool brand now, but doyou know how difficult it was
probably to grow that brand whenpeople are like, what's
(15:42):
Epicurious?
Like, I don't understand.
They're like, oh, well, No, no.
It's like, it's people who arecurious about food and let me,
let me explain it.
And they're like, okay, well Ityped it in and I keep getting
Epicurean and Google sayinglike, didn't you mean, and like
is recommending something elseto me.
Well, if that's happening, it'sgoing to be way harder to grow.
SPEAKER_03 (16:01):
Not to mention, do people know how to spell
Epicurious or Epicurean?
SPEAKER_01 (16:05):
Well, probably no to both.
SPEAKER_03 (16:07):
Probably
SPEAKER_01 (16:08):
no to
SPEAKER_03 (16:08):
both.
So that's another, like, causeyou don't really want any
barriers with your name.
You know what I'm saying?
Like you're wanting a name thatLike you said, it can be unique.
That's perfectly fine.
But you also don't want to makeit difficult to be found if
someone searches it.
They hear about it becausethere'll be times when I'm
listening to a podcast andsomeone will recommend another
podcast.
And if I'm like, what did yousay?
You know, like I'm typing itout.
(16:29):
Is Google going to suggest thatto me?
Or is Google going to say like,oh, you misspelled this word.
It's actually Epicurious.
And so you don't want it to bedifficult to be found is
another, I think, big thing thatpeople should be mindful of when
they're naming their podcast.
SPEAKER_01 (16:41):
We see this all the time, for some reason, in the
software business, where peoplehave a cool name and it's a
normal name so it's like tickbut they're like oh but that's
already taken so it's actuallyTCK and so we dropped the I and
a lot of times people like dropvowels from the name and they
think it's like kind of cool andhip but it's not cool and hip
(17:01):
when someone's typing in thename of your podcast and not
finding it
SPEAKER_03 (17:05):
or finding someone else's podcast
SPEAKER_01 (17:06):
yeah so they typed in Epicurious and Apple podcast
was like I have no idea whatthis thing is you misspelled it
and so what I did pull up wasthe Epic Food Podcast.
And they went, maybe that's whatI heard.
I misheard them.
And they click on the Epic FoodPodcast.
Well, guess what?
Now we're two weeks in of themlistening and they're like, this
is really good.
But wasn't Jalon on thispodcast?
(17:28):
Like, I'm confused.
Oh, well, this is great stuff.
Well, you don't want to be inthat position, especially if
you're the one recommending tothem, hey, maybe check out my
podcast.
SPEAKER_03 (17:37):
Big problems.
Big, big problems.
So then what do you suggest whenpeople are naming their podcast?
SPEAKER_01 (17:42):
Well, first, we want it to be unique.
We don't I don't want you to bebattling with somebody else with
the exact same name.
That gives you issues whenpeople are searching for you in
the podcast apps, but alsoyou're not gonna be able to get
the Twitter handle.
There's gonna be somebody elsefighting you on Instagram or the
domain's probably not available.
There's a really good website,which this is gonna be ironic
(18:02):
when I tell you the name, it'scalled Name Checker, but there
is no E in checker in the secondE.
So it's namechecktheletterr.com.
So the fact that I had to spellthat out for you you proves the
point that maybe if they justused name check they've been
able to get that domain it wouldhave been better but what name
checker does is so good is youput in a name and it searches
(18:25):
all sorts of stuff it's lookingat hey is this twitter handle
available is the dot comavailable is the youtube channel
available and if stuff startscoming up across the board green
you know you're good if there'ssome yes and some knows that
maybe it's not a great idea do aa little more research.
And if it all starts coming upred, okay, somebody else is
(18:49):
already operating under thisbrand name.
So start writing out some names,come up with like phrases that
people might search for.
That is a great way for yourshow to grow.
I think of online marketing madeeasy, like that podcast, you
know, with Amy Porterfield isgrowing because people are
typing that exact phrase intoGoogle.
(19:10):
How do I make online marketingeasy?
How do I learn my marketing Andthen this podcast pops up and
they're like, oh, that's exactlywhat I want.
If she had made it some likekind of cutesy name, they would
never have found it.
And when they saw it, theywouldn't be sure that it was for
them anyway.
SPEAKER_03 (19:26):
Any other tips as we're talking about like podcast
conception?
Well,
SPEAKER_01 (19:30):
one of the things I know is at this stage, I see a
lot of people get interested inartwork.
And I think that it's time toput artwork to the side for just
a little bit.
Why would we do that?
That's blasphemy.
We're building the branding.
It's so much of the brand willcome out in your artwork.
It's a critical piece of yourbrand, but it's harder than
(19:51):
naming.
Naming is just you coming upwith it and you're typing it out
and your theme is going toprobably shift.
And what I don't want to happenis you've recorded a couple
episodes.
Now you've edited them.
You've done all this work.
You've got a mic and you'regoing, I'm not doing a mental
health podcast anymore.
I want to do like positivepsychology.
Like how do I not avoiddepression and anxiety, but how
(20:13):
do I live like the most abundantlife possible.
So maybe you've shifted thetopic and now in shifting the
topic, you've shifted the nameand you've shifted the brand.
Well, now you feel pretty sillythat you maybe spent a few
hundred dollars getting someoneto create a graphic for you.
And you're like, well, maybe Ijust stick with this graphic and
it doesn't fit perfectly, butI'll just do it.
(20:35):
If you held off on your artworknow, when the brand is a little
more locked in and you've got abetter idea, that's the right
time to make it or have someoneSo probably a few episodes down
the line, we will get in andtalk to you about that.
SPEAKER_03 (21:13):
So I've
SPEAKER_00 (21:17):
got a couple of resources to help you if you
want to go deeper on thosetopics that we discussed in
episode one.
The first one is a video allabout how to name your podcast.
And we go through tips andstrategies to really help you
flesh out the right approach foryou and coming up with the name
for the topics that you want todiscuss.
And we also have a video abouthow to identify your podcast's
(21:39):
niche and really niche down inthe way that Albin describes.
So you're creating the perfectshow for your podcast.
for a particular audience.
Both of those are videos thatyou can find on our YouTube
channel.
But if you want a blog to read,there's a really great blog on
the Buzzsprout blog called 80Podcasting Tips to Start a
Successful Podcast.
So if you want a 30,000 footview of what other podcasters
(22:01):
are saying, advice that theywould give to someone who is
just starting out, that is agreat resource to read.
You can find links to all ofthose resources in the show
notes for this episode.
Just kind of scroll down or overon Thank you so much, Travis,
SPEAKER_03 (22:23):
for all of that good information.
So definitely check that outbefore next episode.
And just as a little bit of ateaser, we are going to be
talking about podcast format forour next episode.
So should you do a solo?
Should you have a host?
Should it be scripted or notscripted?
How long should it be?
We're going to get into all ofthat.
So until next time, keeppodcasting.
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