What to Include in Podcast Show Notes

Have a podcast, but not sure what to write in the podcast show notes? Once a podcast is up and ready to go, it can be challenging to create show notes which are both helpful to the audience, and bring new listeners to the podcast. Here are some tips to get started.

Bullet Points

A few paragraphs to go along with each podcasting episode is fine, however, it’s important to break up the paragraphs so they’re easy to read. Bullet points are a great tool for this. They make the notes easy to skim so the reader can get back to the podcast quickly.

Links

Links serve an important purpose. If you reference anything in the podcast, it’s necessary to include a link. While listeners are capable of searching for the reference, they really shouldn’t have to. It’s also a good idea to include a link to the mp3 format of the podcast.

Use Keywords

Keywords are popular search phrases people can use to find your podcast. By researching keywords which are relevant to the podcast and including the keywords in the notes, you can attract more traffic.

Topics and Times

It can be beneficial for the listener to include a list of topics you’re going to cover in the podcast, along with the times the topics are going to play. This will allow the reader to jump to different parts of the podcast based on what they’d like to learn about. Also, if they don’t feel like listening to a portion of the podcast, they’re free to skip it. This benefits the listeners, and they’ll appreciate it.

Information About People in the Episode

Though it’s conceivable that your loyal audience already has an idea of who you are, such as Jason Hartman’s listeners, new visitors might not have a clue. For this reason, it can be helpful to include a little information in the notes about who you are and why they should listen to the podcast. Also, if you have a co-host or guest speakers, it’s important to include a little information about them as well, so listeners have an idea of who they’re getting information from.

Pictures

Blog post or podcast, at least one image in the text can work wonders to create interest. Though listeners won’t always be looking at show notes as they’re listening to the podcast, helpful images within the text can help the listener follow along with the podcast and notes. Another helpful benefit of images is the ability to market on Pinterest.

Interested in learning more about podcasting techniques? Listen to EscapePod with Steve Eley to learn from an expert. (Top Image: Flickr | Brady Withers)

The Speaking of Wealth Team