There comes a point in every podcast when it's necessary to say a URL. If for nothing else, at least your podcast's own home on the Internet. (And you should have a domain for your podcast!)

Beyond your podcast website, you might also want to share affiliate links, resources, episode notes, past episodes, sponsors, and more.

Here are 11 tips for how to share URLs effectively in your podcast.

(As an affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases through some of these following links. But I recommend things I truly believe in, regardless of earnings.)

1. Speak as few URLs as possible (per episode)

Every URL is essentially a call to action. That could be where to follow you on social networks, the episode's webpage, your support page, where to send feedback, and much more.

And calls to action are most effective when there are very few of them, but they are reinforced multiple times. This is why you'll hear most ads give the call to action (like visiting a website) at least 3 times.

That's a good practice for your podcast, too. But with all the URLs you might want to share, you'll start overwhelming your audience and making each URL less memorable.

For this reason, I recommend that you say as few URLs as possible—maybe only one!

But don't make it the same URL across all your episodes! For example, if I kept telling you to get the links for this episode at “TheAudacitytoPodcast.com,” that works best only when this is my latest episode. But the more episodes I publish, the more this episode gets shifted down my website's front page, and eventually pushed off the front page.

Thus, I recommend having a unique URL for each episode that will always take your audience to the correct information—whether they listen immediately or 5 years later. This is easy to do on WordPress with my favorite plugin Pretty Links Pro.

2. Defer to your chapters or episode notes

If you follow tip #1, then your single URL should be your episode webpage. There, you can include all the things you want your audience to get or see: images, videos, links, buttons, and more.

Make sure this stuff—at least the links—appear in your episode notes within the podcast apps, too! Because many publishing tools and podcast apps follow different standards, the best thing to do would be to ask the maker of your publishing tool how to ensure your links show in your top podcast apps, and they can give you the right guidance for your situation. But the most universal case is—unfortunately—that a full, ugly URL, like “https://theaudacitytopodcast.com” will work more often than an HTML hyperlink, like <a href="https://theaudacitytopodcast.com/">The Audacity to Podcast</a>.

Check out Knick Knack News for a great example of actionable episode notes (it's also a really fun podcast I highly recommend!). Their notes are not effective for SEO, but they are excellent for engagement inside the podcast apps! The hosts of that fun show, Alex and Anthony, often share things you will want to see or read for yourself. And they do that in very simple and actionable ways in their notes. Here's an example from an episode:

Anthony's Stories This Week:

Ketchup: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20231105470473/en/It%E2%80%99s-a-Big-Dill-HEINZ-To-Launch-New-Pickle-Ketchup-Nationwide

Ice Cream: https://www.mensjournal.com/news/baskin-robbins-thanksgiving-dinner-ice-cream-flavor

Alex's Stories This Week:

Beard: https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2023/11/09/Guinness-World-Records-David-Rush-Amazing-Race-chopsticks-beard/5131699551869/

Zelda: https://www.theverge.com/2023/11/7/23951339/the-legend-of-zelda-movie-live-action-nintendo

“What exactly IS pickle ketchup? Plus, how many chopsticks can you fit in a beard?” Knick Knack News

If you're listening along to their podcast, then these simple notes will make total sense to you and the notes don't get in the way of what you want.

Depending on how you're communicating around the URL(s) you want to share, you might also want to use chapters.

Both legacy chapters embedded in your MP3 files and Podcasting 2.0 chapters in a separate episode metadata file (in JSON format) support adding a single URL link per chapter.

In Knick Knack News, Alex and Anthony spend several minutes on each story, so each story would be perfect as a single chapter. And then they could add the relevant URL to each chapter.

But this gets complicated when you have multiple URLs within a single context. For example, if I share a list of my favorite podcast-hosting providers (currently Captivate, Buzzsprout, and Blubrry), I can't add multiple URLs to the same chapter.

So this is where you would want to defer that list of links to your episode notes.

However, I'm pushing hard for Podcasting 2.0 to turn our current podcast chapters into “super chapters” (a term coined by Dovydas from RSSBlue.com), allowing you to use a single chapter to display rich content, including but not limited to a gallery of images, a block of text, a numbered or unnumbered list, videos, and even multiple links for a single chapter. Then, I could make a chapter simply for “My favorite podcast-hosting providers” and that one chapter can link to the multiple options.

However, I urge you to maintain “backwards compatibility,” and that's where your episode webpage comes in.

If you're worried about your audience getting lost in a long episode webpage, you could actually link your chapters to specific sections of your page by adding an “anchor” or ID to each heading in your notes, and then link each chapter to that anchor in the URL. For example, https://theaudacitytopodcast.com/sharingurls#2 links to this section. In fact, each chapter of this episode links directly to its section in my notes. Try it!

3. Never say “https://” or “www.”

It's not the '90s anymore. It has been literally decades since anyone needed to type “http://” or “https://” in their browser.

Also, most websites don't use “www.” at all in their domain anymore. Or if they do (like YouTube still does), you can usually still get to the correct place without including the “www.” (Which, by the way, has to be the worst abbreviation because saying “W W W” is actually more syllables than what's it's an abbreviation for: “world wide web”!)

But you must test this first! I have run into a couple of badly configured sites that needed the “www.” because they weren't even forwarding their domain without the “www.”!

If I hear you say, “www.theaudacitytopodcast.com,” I won't come after you, but don't be surprised if poetic justice comes after you by making your neighbor mow his yard right when you want to record your podcast!

4. Simplify your URLs

If you do speak a URL in your podcast, make it as simple as possible!

I remember a commercial many years ago from Epson—you know, one of the biggest printer manufacturers who should have known better? The only thing I remember about their commercial was because I—as a teenager—recognized how bad their call to action was. I think the URL they spoke was “www.epson.com/what-if-you-could.” And yes, they actually said “dash” for every one!

Don't do that!

I highly recommend that any URL you speak should reinforce your brand. So make it a “/keyword” URL on your own domain. Consider the speakable URL for this very episode: “theaudacitytopodcast.com/sharingurls.”

This also goes for external resources, too. Instead of sending people to “patreon.com/[your podcast slug],” send them to a “/patreon” 307 or 302 temporary redirect on your own domain. Or even better, remove the third-party brand name completely and make it a generic URL like “/support” or something meaningful to your audience!

This not only reinforces your brand, but it also makes your calls to action future-proof because you can redirect that URL whenever you want (especially if it's a temporary redirect) and to wherever you want, even to a completely different brand! Like what if you wanted to stop using Patreon and switch to a membership on your own site?

5. Make friendly URLs that make sense

Whether you're sending your audience to your episode webpage, an affiliate product, or somewhere else, ensure the URL makes sense for that thing.

This is part of why I stopped using episode-number URLs for my own podcast a long time ago. Firstly, I realized that my episode numbers didn't actually matter; and secondly, even I was having a hard time remembering which numbers went with which episodes, so I could assume my audience would have an even harder time.

Now, I create redirecting short episode URLs match the content of my episode by making them keyword-focused, like how this episode's URL is “theaudacitytopodcast.com/sharingurls” instead of “theaudacitytopodcast.com/391” (which is the pointless number of this episode).

This is easy to do with Pretty Links Pro! You can make as many temporary and permanent redirects as you want and all using your own WordPress-powered website! Even many third-party website providers (like Podpage or Captivate) let you make such redirects. But what I like about Pretty Links Pro (and specifically the paid version) is that I can create the “pretty link” right in my post or page editor, so it goes live when I publish, reducing how many things I need to do outside of the post or page editor.

6. Say “slash” not “forward slash” or “backslash”

You can call this a pet peeve if you want, but it's simply a “slash,” not a “forward slash.”

“Forward slash” is redundant, like “PIN number,” “ATM machine,” and “please RSVP.”

And it's definitely not a backslash (“\”), either!

7. Slow down and speak clearly

Even though URLs don't have spaces, that doesn't mean you should speak like they don't have spaces!

It can be okay to say your own URL faster when it exactly matches your brand that you've already said several times in your podcast. For example, the website for The Audacity to Podcast is—duh—theaudacitytopodcast.com!

But when speaking any different URL, or especially if speaking that URL in front of a new audience, make sure you say it slowly and clearly enough so they can know what you said.

Check your podcast transcripts, too. This can be a good indicator of whether you're speaking the URL clearly and slowly enough. (And also remember to fix any incorrect URLs in your transcripts!)

8. Clarify or avoid ambiguity

There's the chance that you'll run into some confusion with any URLs you speak. For example, does your domain have the preposition “for,” the spelled number “four,” the numeral “4,” or something crazy like the roman numeral “IV”?

An interesting corporate example of this failure is Fifth Third Bank. Ironically for a bank, the secure URL “https://fifththird.com” doesn't actually work, but “http://fifththird.com” and “https://www.fifththird.com” do. However, the actual website (and redirection destination) is “https://www.53.com.”

And I hope no one types “5th3rd.com” into their browser, because that's a completely different website (“Online since 2000”).

There are three different ways you could avoid sending people to the wrong URL:

• Clarify any ambiguity, such as by spelling it when the context doesn't make it obvious. For example, I hear Clinton say this all the time: “Comedy4Cast.com—that's the number 4.”
• Create fallbacks to handle other versions—yes, I have “theaudacity2podcast.com”!
• Or avoid the ambiguity altogether—such as avoiding any single-digit numbers or ambiguously spelled words like “gray” and “grey.”

9. Be careful with top-level domains that aren't .com

A “top-level domain” or “TLD” is the “.com” part of the domain. You probably also know “.org,” “.net,” “.edu,” and “.gov.” But there are hundreds more! Some of them are full words, like “.photography”!

While it can be fun to have one of these modern TLDs, they might be expensive. And they might be confusing to non-savvy Internet users who probably assume a “.com” for everything (and also probably enter all their URLs into Google!).

Consider That Story Show for example. They have both “thatstoryshow.com” and “thatstory.show.” The host, James Kennison, now speaks the “.show” domain more often, but he still has and uses the longer “.com” version.

The more creative you get, the more it will cost you in both the domain itself and likely how many alternatives you might have to grab to ensure anyone who mishears you still gets to the right website—and it doesn't get stolen and used for malicious purposes!

10. Beware case-sensitivity

Case-sensitivity is still weird on the Internet. It really depends on the server configuration running the website.

When I started my first website, I specifically wanted a Windows server, instead of a Linux server, because I didn't want to mess with capitalization issues that I knew Linux can have!

Domains and subdomains are case-insensitive. So “TheAudacitytoPodcast.com” is handled the same as “theAUDACITYtopodcast.COM.” But anything after the domain could be case-sensitive in a URL. For example, capitalization matters with Bit.ly links, and it matters on some other website servers and hosting configurations, too.

11. Always test your URLs before you share them

Lastly, always ensure any URL you're going to share actually works! Type it with the “www.” and without. Make sure your redirects are functioning. And if your friendly URLs aren't activated until publishing (like all of my “/keyword” URLs from Pretty Links Pro for my podcast episodes), make sure you test the link after publishing your episodes!

Community corner

• 5-star review for “11 Warnings about Using AI in Content-Creation (including podcasting)” by Rich Bennett from April 19, 2024 on Goodpods: “Thanks for another informative episode Daniel”
• 1,000§ from Dwev saying, “Yep, you’re pronouncing it perfectly! Thanks Daniel!”
• Streamed satoshis from Bryan Entzminger, Dave Jackson, Dwev, and newcomer “garduss”

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Disclosure

This post may contain links to products or services with which I have an affiliate relationship. I may receive compensation from your actions through such links. However, I don't let that corrupt my perspective and I don't recommend only affiliates.

“Artificial intelligence” (“AI”) has made huge leaps in abilities within a very short time. It was only a few years ago that I felt on the cutting edge teaching how to use AI tools like Jasper (originally called “Conversion.ai” and “Jarvis”), even before ChatGPT was released.

Now, AI has become so prominent, that it's almost surprising if a software company of any size is not offering some kind of AI-based solution.

While inflation has skyrocketed the prices of almost everything, the cost for accessing AI has significantly dropped. When I first started using AI, a good plan with access to only one central AI system cost $99 per month. But now, you can use a tool like Magai to use a whole bunch of different language- and image-based AI tools starting at only $19 per month!

(As an affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases through these links. But I recommend things I truly believe in, regardless of earnings.)

All this potential means we need to quote the line from Spider-Man, “With great power comes great responsibility.”

And thus why I want to share these warnings with you, to advocate for responsible use of generative AI, large language models (LLMs), machine learning, or whatever you want to call it.

This warnings apply to any kind of content-creation, not only podcasting!

(And in case you're wondering, I did not use AI to create any of this content, but I might be using some AI to transcribe or help me market this content.)

Aside: most warnings apply to generative AI, but not repurposing or enhancement AI

Before I get into my list of warnings about using AI, I want to clarify that these are focused using AI to essentially create something from nothing. I still think AI can be a great assistant on your content. For example, processing audio or video, clipping excerpts, suggesting marketing approaches, improving how things communicate, repurposing, and more. All of those things start with your intelligence, and then the AI works from that.

But I see most of these warnings as applying solely to generative AI, or when you start with nothing but a prompt.

Now, on to the warnings!

1. Undisclosed use of generative AI can get you in trouble

YouTube, social networks, and lots of other websites and platforms are starting to require you to disclose whenever you're putting out content generated by AI. And I think this is a good thing to do as it helps the potential audience know what kind of quality to expect.

Even for things like podcast transcripts, it's good to disclose whether AI was used to transcribe the audio. As I mentioned in my previous episode about using podcast transcripts, someone on your podcast might say, “I love two li'l puppies,” but the AI might transcribe it as, “I love to kill puppies.” Sometimes, even omitting a single word can drastically alter the meaning. For example, imagine accidentally omitting the “not” in a sentence like, “I'm not guilty.”

This doesn't necessarily mean you must disclose every time you use AI in any capacity (like you need to disclose whenever you're compensated for anything you talk about), but you should be aware of the requirements of platforms and seek to always be above reproach.

And if you're concerned about how it might affect your reputation if you disclose every time you use AI, then here's a radical thought: maybe don't use AI! (More on this in #11.)

2. AI often “hallucinates” facts and citations

ChatGPT, Claude, Grok, Gemini, and all the text-based AIs we know are also called “large language models” (or “LLMs”). And I think that's a much better term, too, because they're not actually intelligent; they are simply good with language.

This is why you'll often see LLMs write something that grammatically makes sense, but is conceptually nonsense.

In other words, LLMs know how to write sentences.

For example, I sometimes like to ask AI, “Who is Daniel J. Lewis?” Not because of any kind of ego complex, but because I'm an interesting test subject for LLMs since I am partially a public figure, but I also have a name very close to a celebrity: Daniel Day Lewis. Thus, the responses LLMs give me often conflate the two of us (a mistake I wish my bank would make!). I've seen responses that both describe me as a podcasting-industry expert and highlight my roles in There Will Be Blood and The Last of the Mohicans. (And I'm not helping any LLMs scraping my content by just now writing those things together!)

So for anything an AI or LLM writes for you, I urge you to fact-check it! I've even seen some responses completely make up citations that don't exist!

3. AI lacks humanity

From the moment of conception, you have always been a unique being of tremendous value and potential with unique DNA, unique experiences, unique thoughts, unique emotions, and more. Like a snowflake, there will never be someone—or something—exactly like you! Not even an AI trained on all of your content!

AI is not an actual intelligence and I believe it never will be. And AI will never be human.

But you are. You can feel, express, and empathize through emotion. You can question, explore, change your mind, and change others' minds. You can create things of great beauty and originality with no outside prompting.

And it's because of this that I think AI can never replace you. While it might have better skills than you in some areas, it will never beat the quality and personableness that you can offer.

4. AI-created images can be humiliating

AI image models have produced some hilarious or nightmarish results and lots of things that are physically impossible! Like with how AI can hallucinate facts and citations, it can also make images that look real, until you actually pay attention to the details.

I think this teaser for Despicable Me 4 accurately explains it:

Or The Babylon Bee‘s explanation of ChatGPT:

Lest you think this is only outdated models producing bad content, here are some things I've actually seen from current-generation AI image models:

• Backwards hands
• Limbs that seamlessly merge into the surroundings
• Misspelled text that you might not notice unless you try to actually read it
• Device parts that disappear into nowhere
• Placements that are physically impossible
• Broken, slanted, or curvy lines that absolutely should be straight
• Incorrect size ratios

Watch out for these things! For any image you generate (or that someone else gives you that they might have generated with AI), look at it very carefully to ensure everything about it makes sense and isn't simply a pretty—but embarrassing—combination of pixels.

For this reason, you might actually want your image AI to make artwork that is obviously not photorealistic.

5. AI is biased because it was fed biased content and programmed by biased people

The following is not to push a particular political or moral direction, but just to expose some facts! Most LLMs lean a particular political and moral direction because they were trained with content that leaned that direction. Thus, even if not intentional, the outputs will often have that same leaning.

Imagine it this way. If the majority of content on the Internet—especially the most popular sites—said that 2 + 2 = 5, then LLMs trained from Internet content would also propagate that fallacy.

Furthermore, many of the companies behind these AIs or LLMs also lean the same political and moral direction as the majority of the Internet, and so they will favor content from the same echo chamber and sometimes even intentionally train the AI to push that agenda.

Look at the shamefully bad images of people that Google Gemini was originally generating, even going so far as to render Nazis as Asians or blacks instead of whites, because of “diversity, inclusion, and equity!”

And that's why there's a market for LLMs that lean the opposite direction.

Even taking out the political and moral leanings, I see LLMs regularly put out “mythinformation”—even in the podcasting space, like saying that podcast ratings and reviews affect your rankings in Apple Podcasts. That's not true! But it's been said so many times on the the Internet, that LLMs think it's true!

6. Content from AI always needs editing

It's because of warnings #2–#5 that I come to this one: edit, edit, edit!

I'd love to hear your opinion on this, too. But I'm starting to think it reflects worse on someone when they put out bad AI-created content than if they put out authentic content with typos or small mistakes. Do you agree?

For example, you might accidentally write about “George Wishington,” but an AI might say that George Washington fought in World War II! In this case, your typo is a human error and your meaning could probably still be understood by your context. But if you put out something that an AI hallucinated, then people have to wonder if you're actually that misinformed (AKA “stupid”).

7. AI-generated content raises copyright concerns

In the United States of America, and some other countries, anything you create is considered immediately and automatically protected by copyright, and thus you reserve all rights to it. (That's why it's really not necessary anymore to write “All rights reserved,” at least most of the time.)

But you also share or forfeit some of your rights when you consent to using some tools or publishing through some platforms. For example, most places have clauses in their terms of service that allow them to use the content you provide (in whatever form it is) in their own marketing materials. This could be as simple as your podcast cover art visible with 999 others on a grid image for an app's homepage. Or it could mean you granted the platform a license to clip your content in an advertisement for their platform.

While most of these terms of service have been safe (despite some fear-mongering), some places are starting to update their terms of service—requiring your consent—and giving themselves a license to use your content to train their AI tools. Even if your content has a registered copyright, you are still granting other places licenses to use your copyrighted content.

However, it's being uncovered that many LLMs were trained on copyrighted material without any license from the copyright holders.

And if you use an LLM to generate new content from nothing, you might potentially be infringing on someone else's intellectual property rights. And you would be held liable for that. Just like if you hire a cheap “designer” to make your podcast cover art and they steal images from a Google image search, you would be liable for that theft.

Some might argue that this isn't very different from going out, reading all the content yourself, and writing your own conglomeration of your newfound knowledge. But even then, you can be guilty of plagiarism by putting forth something as your idea, when it was actually someone else's.

And the more niche the subject, the less information there was to train the AI, and thus the higher chance of it outright copying other information, or making up something factually incorrect (see #2).

This is probably never a problem when you're using AI on your already-created content.

8. AI might already be “stealing” your intellectual property

I've had my own original content and images plagiarized or directly stolen before. But AI is only making it easier for that to happen and harder for me to catch it.

For example, I often talk about my Podcasting P.R.O.F.I.T. Paradigm: popularity, relationships, opportunities, fun, income, or tangibles (and why you should put podcasting PROFIT first). If someone used an AI to talk about podcasting profit and replaced only one of those words, it's still theft, but it wouldn't be as easy to spot.

And because LLMs have been trained on a large percentage of the Internet, it's very possible your own content has already been scraped and used in the training. But you might never know.

Many places are proposing legislation that would require AI companies to disclose their sources, allow people to have their content removed or exempted, or only use properly licensed content for training the AI models. (This is why some AI companies have taken an interest in purchasing publishing companies that own the rights to large amounts of content.) And I think you should have this protection over your content even without having to do the technical processes of blocking all the AI user agents from scraping your website (or transcribing your audio or video content).

And all it takes for social-media sites to do the same is a simple and non-obvious change to their terms of service, which most of us click “I have read and agree” without actually reading what we're agreeing to. For example, Reddit, Zoom, and X-Twitter have used (or continue to use) content on their platforms to train their own AI models—and we've probably given them the rights to do so.

Also watch out for terms of service that allow the AI to train itself from whatever you input into the AI. That's the case for ChatGPT, but supposedly not for any use of OpenAI's GPT models (what powers ChatGPT) through an API (such as what Magai uses).

9. Claiming “fair use” might require a higher standard

I think anyone using AI might face a more difficult time trying to use “fair use” as a legal defense, especially if they haven't properly disclosed their use of AI, like I talked about in warning #1.

One of my favorite things to test on an image-generating AI is giving it the prompt, “Harrison Ford as a pirate.” That's simple innocent fun that I will probably never publish for the public.

But imagine if I used AI to make a realistic photo of Harrison Ford using or endorsing my products. Or maybe using a voice or video AI to make Harrison Ford say something he didn't say.

Indeed, I've seen some intentionally hilarious results with AI. And those kinds of things are often allowed when they don't cause harm and are obviously parodies (this is not legal advice; it's only an observation).

But AI lets things easily get far more complicated. Copying or making a derivative have some clear limitations. But generating something that seems real and uses someone else's likeness or intellectual property might be in a whole different category.

Thus, while I cannot give you legal advice as to what you're allowed to do, I can urge you to not do anything that might get you in trouble! So maybe pretend there isn't even such a thing as “fair use” when it comes to how you use AI to create stuff for you.

10. Affiliate-marketing with AI might get you in trouble

AIs, LLMs, or whatever you want to call them are very good at creating a lot of content very quickly. And that is very alluring to people who want content only for the purpose of promoting their affiliate links. I even saw that years ago when I was among the early users of what's now called Jasper. I would see people frequently ask about what kinds of inputs could be used to get an AI to write a full “review” of an affiliate product.

But remember that thing about how large language models are good at writing sentences? They're not actually good at testing products, sharing experiences, and offering opinions. Thus, using AI to write a “review” could lead to misleading information.

For probably this reason and more, some places will probably start to forbid using AI to create content for promoting their products through affiliate links.

For example—and I haven't heard anyone talking about this!—the Amazon Associates Operating Agreement was updated on March 1, 2024, with the following addition:

Revised the language in Section 5 of the Participation Requirements to clarify that Program Content and Special Links should not be used in connection with generative AI.

“Associates Operating Agreement – What’s Changed,” March 1, 2024, accessed April 14, 2024.

That initially seems like it's forbidding the use of generative AI to promote your Amazon affiliate links. However, the actual points in the operating agreement seem to restrict using AI on the Amazon site content, and especially for training the AI.

2.(e) You will not, without our express prior written approval, access or use PA API or Data Feeds for the purpose of aggregating, analyzing, extracting, or repurposing any Product Advertising Content or in connection with any software or other application intended for use by persons or entities that offer products on an Amazon Site, or in the direct training or fine-tuning of a machine learning model.

…

5. Distribution of Special Links Through Software and Devices

You will not use any Program Content or Special Link, or otherwise link to an Amazon Site, on or in connection with: (a) any client-side software application (e.g., a browser plug-in, helper object, toolbar, extension, component, or any other application executable or installable by an end user) on any device, including computers, mobile phones, tablets, or other handheld devices (other than Approved Mobile Applications); or (b) any television set-top box (e.g., digital video recorders, cable or satellite boxes, streaming video players, blu-ray players, or dvd players) or Internet-enabled television (e.g., GoogleTV, Sony Bravia, Panasonic Viera Cast, or Vizio Internet Apps). You will not, without or [sic?] express prior written approval, use, or allow any third party to use, any Special Links or Program Content to develop machine learning models or related technology.

“Associates Program Policies,” accessed April 14, 2024. Emphasis added.

That first part is clearly forbidding using the Amazon API with an AI model to programmatically create content for you. However, it seems to still allow you to use AI to create your content about the product itself, and even use your affiliate links in that content.

But I still think you shouldn't!

I, for one, would love to see a stop to all the AI-generated worthless “reviews” on YouTube and other places. For example, the following video or probably anything from “The Smart Kitchen” on YouTube:

As an owner of a couple of affiliate programs myself, I know that I would not want anyone promoting my products with AI generated content. In fact, I'm going to update my affiliate terms to explicitly forbid that! I want real people with real experiences promoting my products! (For a good example, Danny Brown did this very nicely when he authentically promoted my Podgagement service in his recent episode of One Minute Podcast Tips about two ways for podcasters to get feedback from their audiences.)

11. Relying on AI can cost your authority and influence

Lastly, but certainly not least, I urge you to consider the intangible cost of relying on any kind of AI as you podcast or create any other content.

I've said for many years that what I love about podcasting is that it allows you to communicate with your own voice, so people can hear your authentic emotions and they can hear how well you communicate your thoughts, even if you do some editing.

Imagine if you used AI to create and communicate all “your” content, and then you're put on a stage in front of a live audience and you have done no preparation. Aside from any stage-fright, could you actually communicate your message authentically, understandably, and memorably?

Several years ago, I was invited to speak in person about podcasting to a Cincinnati business group. And for the first time ever in my life, I completely forgot about it! I remembered only because about about an hour before I was supposed to speak, the organizer sent me a kind message just to say how excited she was to have me and I think to give me a heads up about parking.

The event was about 45 minutes away, so I had only enough time to throw some stuff in my car, and think about my presentation on the way up.

Now imagine if AI was my crutch and most of my content had been created, organized, or even optimized by AI.

Instead, I was able to speak for half an hour and confidently and thoroughly answer 15 minutes of questions, all with no notes except a 5-word outline in my head. And I think I nailed it!

I could do that because I know my stuff! And I don't share this to brag about me or try to make you think I'm amazing, but to point out what a catastrophe that could have been if I was merely a fraud using ChatGPT.

So don't let AI cost your authority and influence.

Certainly, artificial intelligence can be a really powerful tool to help you do many things or save lots of time, but don't trade your value for AI.

Engage your audience and grow your podcast!

Do you ever feel like your podcast is stuck? Like you're pouring your heart into your podcast but it seems like no one is listening?

Try Podgagement to help you engage your audience and grow your podcast!

Get speakable pages to simplify engaging with your audience, accept voicemail feedback (with automatic transcripts), track your ratings and reviews from nearly 200 places, and more!

Ask your questions or share your feedback

• Comment on the show notes
• Leave a voicemail at (903) 231-2221
• Email [email protected] (audio files welcome)

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• Apple Podcasts, Spotify, other Android apps, or in your favorite podcast app.
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Disclosure

This post may contain links to products or services with which I have an affiliate relationship. I may receive compensation from your actions through such links. However, I don't let that corrupt my perspective and I don't recommend only affiliates.

Inside jokes can offer fun potential for your podcast, but also some potential costs. Here are some brief things for you to consider as you engage with your podcast audience.

In my signature fashion, I started preparing a whole list of pros and cons, and some big thinking on inside jokes.

But it's really not that complicated!

An inside joke is some form of callback, trope, catchphrase, or similar that only those “in the know” will get and enjoy. Because of this, inside jokes can be hilarious, but only for those who get them. Inside jokes can be a sort of reward your loyal audience, but alienate your new audience.

I've heard some people advise against inside jokes exactly because your new audience won't get them. But that seems overly focused on the new audience and at the cost of engaging your existing audience and making them feel special.

I think it really comes down to this simple guidance: avoid inside jokes with your cohosts and guests, but embrace inside jokes with your audience.

Where inside jokes come from

First, some examples of inside jokes I've heard from podcasts:

• “Lemons, lemons” from That Story Show
• “Hit in the mouth” from No Agenda
• “KEDAKAI!” from Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend
• “Super easy; barely an inconvenience” from Pitch Meeting (series on YouTube, so it is not a podcast!)
• “Mail Kimp” from Serial (first season)

If you've been a loyal follower of any of these shows, then you probably know exactly what these jokes are about, or at least can laugh at them.

So where do these come from?

Some jokes will arise naturally as your audience essentially feeds their growth. That's what I've seen with inside jokes from That Story Show, No Agenda, and Serial. While other things become inside jokes because of how often the host(s) use them, such as the examples from Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend and Pitch Meeting.

It's the audience-feed jokes that I think you should work more to embrace because they will more deeply reward and engage your audience.

What about the new listeners?

There are three approaches I've seen and experienced with podcasts regarding inside jokes:

1. Letting your podcast audience eventually catch on with your inside jokes (even if they might not know their origins).
2. Occasionally explaining or pointing to the origins.
3. Making a glossary of inside jokes—this could even be a supporter-exclusive or email opt-in incentive.

Your goal should be to both engage your existing audience and make them feel special and to create an environment welcoming to your new audience. This comes from having a good balance so that your podcast is not overfilled with inside jokes, but it does mature with loyalty.

Think of inside jokes like extra seasonings for a meal. They can add something special, and especially be appreciated by your “insiders,” and celebrated when your new audience gets in on the jokes.

And I think there is something special, like a sort of “leveling up,” when your audience becomes familiar with your tropes, catchphrases, and inside jokes. Then, they'll feel like one of the “cool kids” when they can throw around the inside jokes, too. And that's a precious moment for them!

Turn inside jokes into swag

When your audience starts using your inside jokes too, or further feeding them, that's a great time to turn those jokes into swag you can sell or giveaway. Consider putting them on T-shirts, posters, stickers, and more (like That Story Show does with several of their inside jokes). If you want to be on the cutting edge about it, maybe you could even turn those inside jokes into NFTs!

Community Corner

• Thanks for the streaming satoshis from Dwev, Dave Jackson, and Bryan Entzminger!
• 5-star review by John Moore from June 14, 2021 on Podchaser: “I’ve listen to just about every episode of this show over the last year. Excellent content and advice. I particularly like his SEO episodes.” There will be more podcast SEO content in the future!

Engage your audience and grow your podcast!

Do you ever feel like your podcast is stuck? Like you're pouring your heart into your podcast but it seems like no one is listening?

Try Podgagement to help you engage your audience and grow your podcast!

Get speakable pages to simplify engaging with your audience, accept voicemail feedback (with automatic transcripts), track your ratings and reviews from nearly 200 places, and more!

Ask your questions or share your feedback

• Comment on the show notes
• Leave a voicemail at (903) 231-2221
• Email [email protected] (audio files welcome)

Follow The Audacity to Podcast

• Apple Podcasts, Spotify, other Android apps, or in your favorite podcast app.
• Subscribe on YouTube for Podcasting Videos by The Audacity to Podcast
• Follow @theDanielJLewis on X-Twitter

Disclosure

This post may contain links to products or services with which I have an affiliate relationship. I may receive compensation from your actions through such links. However, I don't let that corrupt my perspective and I don't recommend only affiliates.

Monetization is not the only profit you can get from podcasting! And you shouldn't be the only one to profit, either! Nonetheless, here is why I think you should put P.R.O.F.I.T. first in every aspect of your podcast.

The order of podcasting cornerstones

Before we focus on podcasting P.R.O.F.I.T., I want to revisit how I've taught the 5 podcasting cornerstones for several years:

1. Content—What your podcast is about
2. Presentation—How you share your content
3. Production—The technical side to reduce distractions and increase understanding
4. Promotion—How you market and grow your podcast
5. P.R.O.F.I.T.—How you and your audience benefit from your podcast.

Despite the fact that these cornerstones have always had an alliteration problem with no suitable solution, I realized it had an even bigger problem while I was preparing to teach podcasting at the National Religious Broadcasters convention. The problem was the order: P.R.O.F.I.T. should not be last! It should actually be first!

But stick with me and don't click away because you think this doesn't apply to you! Before I can explain why P.R.O.F.I.T. should be first, I want you to understand what it is, and why I keep writing it like an over-obvious acronym (it's actually an acrostic).

The Podcast P.R.O.F.I.T. Paradigm™

Several years ago, I was inspired by a typo I let go to press in an advertisement for my now temporarily retired Podcaster's Society™. As a result of that typo, I wanted profit to stand for something! Not only in the metaphorical sense, but also literally as an acrostic.

Now, it's my Podcast P.R.O.F.I.T. Paradigm, which is a list of whys you can benefit from your podcast:

• Popularity—growing a following, being an influencer, becoming known
• Relationships—gaining friendships, building community, and finding your “tribe”
• Opportunities—opening doors for things like public speaking, travel, testing products before they're released, and such
• Fun—simply having a good time, with or without laughter
• Income—yes, earning money!
• Tangibles—getting things you get to use or keep, which is especially profitable when they're relevant to your podcast topic!

While most people think “profit” means “money,” I challenge you to change your thinking and look at the much bigger ways you can profit from your podcast—especially if you don't even want to monetize your podcast.

The other paradigm shift is that your podcast should not only give you P.R.O.F.I.T., but also offer it to your audience! I'll explain that more in a moment.

P.R.O.F.I.T. is for all podcasters, not only professionals

Lest you think P.R.O.F.I.T. is only for people who podcast for business purposes or to try earning a living, money is only one part of the Podcast P.R.O.F.I.T. Paradigm: the I for income. The other ways could complement income, but there's nothing wrong with podcasting simply for the fun of it!

When I hosted a clean-comedy podcast, the P.R.O.F.I.T. we were after was primarily to laugh and help others laugh, too! Along the way, we also formed relationships, were given fun tangibles from our audience, and we even made a little money on the side.

And if you are podcasting to build a business, don't neglect the other aspects of P.R.O.F.I.T.! It's okay to have fun with professional subjects! And always look for ways to position yourself for opportunities and more!

Your podcast P.R.O.F.I.T. should power your decisions

Why should P.R.O.F.I.T. come first? Because it's actually more important than your content. Consider the cornerstones in this way:

• Content is what attracts an audience
• Presentation is what keeps the audience
• Production is what makes your podcast stick
• Promotion is what brings an audience to you
• P.R.O.F.I.T. is the impact your podcast makes

Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action. And “why” is another way to think of P.R.O.F.I.T. with these two questions:

• Why are you doing this podcast?
• Why should anyone listen or watch?

When you start with P.R.O.F.I.T. in mind, then you can pick the right content to share. And the other cornerstones build from there. After you know your “why” and your content, then you can decide on the best way to present it. Then, the best way to produce that. Then you'll have things and methods to promote it.

But when you don't start with P.R.O.F.I.T., you won't know what content to share, and you won't know the best way to communicate it, and you certainly won't know how to produce it, and—frankly—you wouldn't offer much value worth promoting.

Here's a series of questions that follows the Podcast P.R.O.F.I.T. Paradigm to help you podcast the best way:

1. Why do you want to podcast? What value will your podcast give your audience?
2. What content best enables your P.R.O.F.I.T. goals?
3. What's the best way to present that content that moves you toward to your P.R.O.F.I.T. goals?
4. What's the best way to produce this that leads you and your audience in the right direction?
5. Whom should you promote your podcast to and what are the best ways to reach them?

Remember P.R.O.F.I.T. for your audience

I've heard some people say, “Podcast for yourself. If you're having fun, that's all that matters.” And I've also heard other people say, “You're podcasting for your audience, so focus on their needs first.”

While these might seem contrary, they're actually complementary and simply different sides of the same P.R.O.F.I.T. coin: both you and your audience need to get value from your podcast in order for your podcast, yourself, and your audience to improve and grow.

But the problem I see most often is that podcasters forget to focus on what value they offer their audience. Instead, they often fixate on the value they want from their audience, or on how they can essentially sell their audience to get value from someone else (like an advertiser).

As Jesus said, “Give and it will be given to you” (Luke 6:38).

Some podcasters also obsess over the production aspects of podcasting, without investing the same time and money into improving the more weight-bearing cornerstones.

It's fine if your podcast makes you popular, but how are you helping your audience to be popular, too?

It's great when you foster or form new relationships because of your podcast, but how are you helping your audience foster or form new relationships, too?

It's great when your podcast opens opportunities for you, but what opportunities do you help your audience find and pursue?

“It's fun to have fun,” as The Cat in the Hat said, but is your audience having fun, too?

Earning income is definitely rewarding! But how are you helping your audience earn more, spend less, save more, or be smarter with what they have?

And it can be exciting to get new tangibles, but what tangible benefits are you helping your audience gain, too?

Podcasting P.R.O.F.I.T. in one word: why?

“Start with Why” indeed!

Why are you podcasting?

Why should your audience keep consuming your episodes?

It's all in what P.R.O.F.I.T. (popularity, relationships, opportunities, fun, income, or tangibles) you pursue and offer!

Community corner:

I just made things easier for me and you with Podgagement! Now, we can easily copy all the text of a review with only two clicks! And you can copy it in plain text, markdown, HTML, or an iframe embed!

• 5-star review “Why and How Your Podcast Needs Loudness Normalization” by Marshy76 from November 23, 2022 on Apple Podcasts in the United States: “An excellent guide on the importance of Lufs with important links to related software in aiding one to create a well tuned podcast, which I incorporated into my latest “Mister Radio” podcast episode. Thanks for this excellent presentation! But, as I mentioned in my unedited review couldn't this also be done simply by listening and adjusting levels as one is recording, like I used to do when working the board in radio? Now I've got to check out my various DAWS to see if they have something to check my LUFS, besides the cans on my ears! And I did find a meter in Logic!” (I pasted that podcast review with only two clicks and a Cmd-V, thanks to Podgagement!)
• Thanks to Allen C. Paul, Jason Pickel, Rich Bennett, D.R., and Julio Fernandez for all the great ratings on Goodpods (all discovered for me by Podgagement!)
• Thanks for more streaming sats from Dave Jackson, Allen C. Paul, and Dwev! I believe that totals to 1,716§, which is currently worth about $1.15.

If The Audacity to Podcast gives value to you, I would be so grateful if you put that in a number to give back, either through a one-time gift or streaming sats back. You can do both with a modern podcast app like you can get from Podcasting2.org/apps!

Engage your audience and grow your podcast!

Do you ever feel like your podcast is stuck? Like you're pouring your heart into your podcast but it seems like no one is listening?

Try Podgagement to help you engage your audience and grow your podcast!

Get speakable pages to simplify engaging with your audience, accept voicemail feedback (with automatic transcripts), track your ratings and reviews from nearly 200 places, and more!

Ask your questions or share your feedback

• Comment on the show notes
• Leave a voicemail at (903) 231-2221
• Email [email protected] (audio files welcome)

Follow The Audacity to Podcast

• Apple Podcasts, Spotify, other Android apps, or in your favorite podcast app.
• Subscribe on YouTube for Podcasting Videos by The Audacity to Podcast
• Follow @theDanielJLewis on X-Twitter

Disclosure

This post may contain links to products or services with which I have an affiliate relationship. I may receive compensation from your actions through such links. However, I don't let that corrupt my perspective and I don't recommend only affiliates.

Apple provides a portal for you to submit and manage your own podcast in Apple Podcasts. It's called Podcasts Connect. Plus, countless other podcast apps and podcasting tools rely on Apple's data through their free API. Whether your podcast has been in Apple Podcasts for years, or you're just starting out, I suggest you check these 8 things right away!

1. Check that you have agreed to Apple's terms of service

Apple usually updates their terms of service when they launch major new features. For example, Apple started generating transcripts for all podcasts in February, 2024. And that requires your agreement to their terms of service so that they can make those transcripts, which they won't do until you agree.

Apple makes it easy to know whether you've agreed to the latest terms. Simply log into podcastsconnect.apple.com! If you're let into your account, then you've already agreed to the latest terms. If not, you will be prompted to read and agree to the terms before you're allowed to manage your podcast(s).

And if you're offering a paid subscription to your audience through Apple Podcasts, check the Business tab to see if there are any actions you need to take. There might be additional new terms you must agree to, or you might need to provide legal or financial information. (This page will also display your invoices and tax information if you have any sales.)

2. Check that your podcast is in your Apple Podcasts Connect account

Many podcasters don't actually control their own catalog listing for their own podcast! This is because they either submitted their podcast before Podcasts Connect existed, or they allowed someone else to submit their podcast for them. This might have been a podcast-hosting provider or someone helping them with their podcast.

But at least the process to reclaim ownership is fairly easy!

1. Make sure you've checked all your possible Apple ID accounts.
2. Log into the account you want to hold your podcast(s) and contact Apple through this form and select the “Missing podcast(s)” option (which should already be selected with this link).
3. Fill in all the other form fields completely.
4. Await and then follow Apple's instructions, which will have you enter a special code somewhere in your podcast RSS feed to verify your ownership or control of that feed.

This is crucial to do with all your podcasts, especially any duplicate podcast listings you might have (which is probably more likely if you've ever switched podcast-hosting providers).

The rest of these items to check require that you have access to your podcast in your own Apple account.

3. Check that your podcast information is correctly loaded in Apple Podcasts Connect

Click into your podcast(s) and look over your the “Show details” information. This includes your title, cover art, artist, descriptions, and more.

You can't change these details in Podcasts Connect! Instead, you would change these in the podcast-publishing tool that is creating your RSS feed. But viewing these details here lets you confirm that everything is properly loading from your feed into the Apple Podcasts system.

And if you're having trouble, the first thing I suggest doing is validating your podcast RSS feed through all of the following tools:

• Cast Feed Validator
• Podbase Podcast Validator
• TrueFans Podcast Validator

Especially watch for problems with your podcast cover art.

4. Check the optional Apple Podcasts information fields

On this same “Show Information” page are several optional fields that you should populate or verify. Currently, these include:

• Update frequency
• Content rights
• Show contact information (especially important if you've removed your email address from your RSS feed)

This information is proprietary to Apple Podcasts and thus—currently—not pulled from your RSS feed.

5. Check your Apple Podcasts distribution availability (affects other apps)

Switch to the “Availability” page and there are two important options to ensure your podcast can be discovered by as many people as possible:

• Countries or Regions: I recommend setting this to “Make this show available in all countries or regions.” You can click into the Edit view to ensure all 175 countries are selected. Despite this option, some countries still block explicit content, and it seems like communist China blocks almost everything anyway.
• Distribution: I recommend enabling “Make this show available for distribution.” This ensures that the countless other podcast apps and podcasting tools using the catalog API from Apple Podcasts will be able to see your podcast.

These are the default options for podcasts, but I suggest you verify they're set correctly anyway.

But if, for some odd reason, you do not want your podcast available to as many people as possible, then you can change these options to limit your reach.

6. Switch the transcript default to use your provided transcripts

On this same “Availability” page is a third option that I feel defaults inappropriately. It's the Transcripts option.

For some strange reason, Apple's (current) default is to use only their auto-generated transcripts for your podcast. So regardless of whether you already using Podcasting 2.0 transcripts, I suggest switching this option to “Display transcripts I provide, or auto-generated transcripts by Apple if one isn't provided.”

I think that's the way apps should behave anyway! They should use what you supply first and by default and generate their own transcripts only if you don't provide your own (through the Podcasting 2.0 transcript feature).

But you should also note that there is no way to disable all transcripts for your podcast. That's part of the terms of service you must accept for your podcast to remain in Apple Podcasts. If you really wanted to disable transcripts, you would have to either edit every episode in Podcasts Connect to use a custom episode-specific setting to not use any transcripts, or provide a nearly empty transcript file for all episodes through your RSS feed (you could share this same file for all episodes).

But because podcast transcripts are important for accessibility and usability, I highly recommend keeping them enabled. But just switch this setting so Apple will default to your transcripts if you provide them, and then fallback to their own transcripts if you haven't provided any.

7. Check your Apple Podcasts ratings and reviews

There is also a “Ratings and Reviews” page that lets you see your Apple Podcasts (and only Apple Podcasts) ratings and reviews. However, this requires you to switch between all 175 countries, before knowing if you even have any ratings or reviews in those 175 countries; it doesn't show your difference of ratings versus written reviews; and you can't search, sort, or filter your ratings and reviews. You also don't get notified whenever you get a new rating or review, so you would have to come back to check all 175 countries. You can download your reviews, but you would have to do that one country at a time.

Cumbersome, right?

That's why you should use Podgagement to engage your audience and grow your podcast! Podgagement not only tracks all these 175 places automatically for you, it also tracks the non-Apple places. Plus, with Podgagement's “Constellation” plan, you can easily collect written or voicemail feedback from your audience, discover podcast-networking opportunities, receive direct reviews from your audience, and more!

I personally created Podgagement for you because I believe engagement with your audience is the most powerful thing you can have with your podcast.

Click here to try Podgagement free!

(Or you can continue doing things the manual way, especially clicking thousands of times inside Podcasts Connect to see your ratings and reviews from Apple Podcasts!)

8. Check your Apple Podcasts analytics

Lastly, but probably most exciting, are the podcast stats you can get from Apple Podcasts!

Remember that these stats measure consumption only in Apple Podcasts. So any numbers you see will be of a smaller subset of your audience. Nonetheless, since Apple Podcasts is the #1 podcast app, I suspect the percentages and engagement levels you see would be close to an accurate—albeit smaller—reflection of your whole audience.

Here are some of the handy (and potentially addictive) data points you can see!

• Total followers
• Engaged listeners
• Average consumption / completion rates
• Where your audience skipped or stopped listening within your episodes
• Performance comparisons across your episodes
• And more!

As I hope you can see, even if you don't use Apple products or dislike their ecosystem, there are still many advantages to keeping your Apple Podcasts account current and especially learning from its data!

Community Corner

• Leslie Martin pointed out that 7,777§ is a Stryper boost, not a Rush boost (which would have been 2,112§). As I've said previously, hard rock is not actually my style, so I know nothing about these bands!
• 1,701§—a number I do recognize as the Star Trek Enterprise!—from Bryan Entzminger, saying, “Ugh! Mythinformation… wow.”
• Streaming satoshis from Bryan Entzminger, Dave Jackson, and Dwev
• 5-star review from Josh Liston, in Australia, saying, “A Perfect Mix of Fun and Expertise in Podcasting. Daniel J Lewis delivers a concrete, and well thought out Podcast about Podcasting. He rarely if ever goes off topic, and always recommends products and gear that work …and not just the products and services that return the most in commissions! DJL also manages to do what many others can't – in making often dry technical subjects a lot of fun – without wasting peoples time. Finally, he is part of the Podcasters' Roundtable core trio, which is quickly becoming my number 1 show about Podcasting!”

Engage your audience and grow your podcast!

Do you ever feel like your podcast is stuck? Like you're pouring your heart into your podcast but it seems like no one is listening?

Try Podgagement to help you engage your audience and grow your podcast!

Get speakable pages to simplify engaging with your audience, accept voicemail feedback (with automatic transcripts), track your ratings and reviews from nearly 200 places, and more!

Ask your questions or share your feedback

• Comment on the show notes
• Leave a voicemail at (903) 231-2221
• Email [email protected] (audio files welcome)

Follow The Audacity to Podcast

• Apple Podcasts, Spotify, other Android apps, or in your favorite podcast app.
• Subscribe on YouTube for Podcasting Videos by The Audacity to Podcast
• Follow @theDanielJLewis on X-Twitter

Disclosure

This post may contain links to products or services with which I have an affiliate relationship. I may receive compensation from your actions through such links. However, I don't let that corrupt my perspective and I don't recommend only affiliates.

You might have heard people talk about IAB podcast stats, measurement guidelines, compliance, and certification. Here's what all of that means, and whether it even matters!

Who is the IAB?

Once upon a time, podcast measurement was considered the “wild, wild west”: without standards. Everyone measured what was right in their own eyes.

But like most things that start with “Once upon a time,” that was only fairy tale. And yet a fairy tale that many corporate podcasting companies believed.

Many years ago, there was the Association of Downloadable Media (ADM) that included Blubrry, Libsyn, Podtrac, and other podcasting companies. The ADM came up with standards for measuring podcast downloads still in the extremely early days of podcasting.

The ADM eventually dissolved and top podcasting companies improved on the measurement standards within their own proprietary systems. Then along came the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB), involving many of those same original podcast-hosting providers but also large distribution networks like PodcastOne and more.

As its name implies, the IAB is all about internet advertising. And the podcasting industry needed a standard way to measure podcast ad impressions. And thus, the IAB podcast measurement guidelines were born with version 1.0 in September 2016!

What are IAB stats

IAB's podcast measurement guidelines are actually not rigid standards, but mere guidelines for podcast-analytics providers to use.

Like Elizabeth Swan said in Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl, “Hang the code and hang the rules! They're more like guidelines anyway!”

Without getting into the technical details, these guidelines are intended to filter out any kind of invalid podcast download in attempts to get an accurate count of how many people actually downloaded or streamed the episodes (and with the hopes, backed by survey data, that most of the people actually listen to most of those episodes).

(Sidenote: podcast “streams” are also downloads, simply not downloaded until the person presses play.)

These guidelines involve things like the following.

• Ignoring all downloads from an IP address blacklist (such as data centers, bot farms, and such)
• Ignoring all downloads from known invalid user agents (how a downloading app or service identifies itself)
• Ignoring duplicate downloads that look exactly the same within a period of time (usually 24 hours)
• Ignoring downloads that don't reach a threshold (one minute of audio)
• Whitelisting some IP addresses known to have a lot of users—like public wi-fi, businesses, colleges, and such—and allowing such downloads to be counted separately with the reasonable assumption that it is separate people

The top goal is to count people, not simply downloads. Because it's only people who buy things from ads, engage with the podcaster, and listen to or watch the episodes.

These IAB guidelines get updated every few years. As of March 2024, the latest version is 2.2 still in proposal stage for public comment.

IAB “compliance” versus “certification”

When the IAB guidelines were first released, many in the podcasting industry—including myself—expressed the importance that all podcasting companies that provide audience analytics should not only follow the IAB guidelines, but even get certified to be following them.

But there were also many others who disagreed with the guidelines—some people thought the guidelines were too conservative, others thought they were too liberal.

Because the guidelines are publicly accessible, anyone can build a tool that follows the guidelines. And that's where the term “IAB–compliant” came in. It was companies simply claiming compliance based on how they implemented the guidelines.

Then along came the certification program. This was a costly process—in both time and money—for a third-party organization to conduct tests and review code to ensure the companies were truly following the guidelines, and then certifying them.

You can see the list of certified podcasting companies here.

Not only does it cost to be certified, it also costs to be a member of the IAB. And it also costs to be recertified, which the IAB was pushing in 2023. And it costs to have updated access to the IAB's whitelists and blacklists of IP addresses. But with the high cost of these things, it seems that several companies are not so concerned about being “certified” anymore. And you can see in the list of certified “podcast compliance” that several companies are still certified only to version 2.0.

Why IAB-certified podcast stats are good

I agree with the premise of the IAB podcast measurement guidelines: to have a consistent measurement “standard” across the podcast industry. The dream of this standard is that no matter who you use for podcast hosting and analytics, the statistics you get will be essentially the same. Put another way, 100 people downloading your latest episode would be counted as 100 downloads on Blubrry, or 100 downloads on Captivate, or 100 downloads on Buzzsprout, or 100 downloads on any other provider.

If everyone is following the same standard, then there wouldn't be the heartbreak and confusion if you switch from one provider to another and see a significant drop in your stats—because there shouldn't be much of a difference if everyone is measuring the same way!

So it's definitely a good thing for a podcasting company to follow the IAB guidelines, and being certified means that a neutral third party can confirm the guidelines are being followed correctly.

But every standard will have loopholes

That dream is, unfortunately, not the reality. The biggest reason is that, going back to Miss. Elizabeth Swan, the IAB podcast measurement guidelines are exactly and only that: guidelines!

As such, some companies will implement those guidelines differently. Or they use different whitelists and blacklists.

And over the years, there have been multiple loopholes found that some companies independently patch even though the IAB guidelines might not account for them, yet. For example, “Twitter bombing” was a problem several years ago. That's where someone would post a direct link to their podcast media file (like an MP3) on Twitter, and then repeatedly post that link all day, every day. Companies like Blubrry and Libsyn caught this behavior fairly quickly and were able to filter it out so those misled (or outright deceptive) podcasters wouldn't have fraudulent stats.

I even caught a podcaster guilty of such a “crime” when they were Twitter-bombing my own guest appearance on their podcast. When I politely tried to share the truth with them, they deleted my episode!

Or more recently, some podcast networks put ads in mobile games where the podcast audio would start playing automatically and enough of the audio would pre-download (or “buffer”) that it would actually get counted as a legitimate download, even for IAB-certified providers!

In my past research for testing the fastest podcast hosting, I also discovered that some hosting providers counted some or even all of my bot downloads. And I didn't even attempt to disguise my bot downloads as real people using podcast apps! (Please note that some or—let's hope—all of those previously guilty companies have probably improved their measurement algorithms since that test in 2019! But probably not Soundcloud.)

Why you don't actually need IAB-certified podcast stats

Does it really matter anymore if your podcast-hosting provider has IAB-certified stats?

I think it's nice to know your numbers are certified, especially if you get paid by advertisers based on your downloads.

But at this point, I think it's safe to assume all the good podcast-hosting providers are following the guidelines and seek to filter out all non-person downloads. They could probably better invest the money it would cost to be certified instead into building better features for their customer: you!

And here is what I think is the even more important approach: do IAB-certified stats matter to your audience?

The answer is most likely a big fat “HUH?” Because your audience probably doesn't know or doesn't care, and they shouldn't have to know or care, either!

Your audience can celebrate milestones with you no matter whether those milestones are certified by an expensive neutral third party. Your audience cares much more about the value you deliver through your podcast than they care about how many downloads you are getting.

In other words, the answer to the audience's “What's in it for me?” is probably “nothing.”

Yes, more downloads could mean more P.R.O.F.I.T. (popularity, relationships, opportunities, fun, income, or tangibles) for both you and your audience, and it can mean a bigger community for your audience to engage with each other. But that comes with the actual people in your audience, not the standard by which you measure them!

I've changed my mind about IAB certification

Thus, because IAB certification really doesn't matter to your audience, I've stopped considering it a requirement for any podcast-hosting provider or analytics tool I recommend. It's nice to have, but not mandatory.

Instead, I'm far more interested in the innovations podcasting companies are making, so that the whole experience can be better for you and your audience. That's why I consider support for Podcasting 2.0 to be my litmus test for podcast-publishing tools, and no longer IAB certification.

New feature: The Community Corner

• 2,033 sats from “aqualith,” saying, “10k CAN be a lot for someone who doesn't feed their Fountain wallet, or equivalent, with outside funds and not currently podcasting themselves, despite engaging with the app daily. That said, thank you for this episode and this list. I immediately shared it with someone who's setting up their first podcast. Go podcasting!”
• 7,777 sats from Steve Web on “How to Use Podcast Transcripts,” saying, “GREAT episode, Daniel. While I have been using transcripts for some time on my shows, I wasn’t really sure I was doing it correctly. This episode will help me to make some changes going forward. Thank you, and may God bless you richly!”
• 333 from Allen C. Paul also on “How to Use Podcast Transcripts,” saying, “Couldn’t help but notice this episode doesn’t have a transcript! lol! but great info.” Allen has also been giving my episodes 5 stars on Goodpods!
• “A.J.II” from the United States gave me a 5-star review in Apple Podcasts, saying, “Advice is stellar. His style and topics along with the way he speaks and communicates is terrific.Thanks!”
• And Dave Jackson responded to my “mythinformation” line with a voicemail saying, “Daniel absolutely myth information and that is hard to say definitely made me chuckle.” (That voicemail and transcript were powered by Podgagement!)

Engage your audience and grow your podcast!

Do you ever feel like your podcast is stuck? Like you're pouring your heart into your podcast but it seems like no one is listening?

Try Podgagement to help you engage your audience and grow your podcast!

Get speakable pages to simplify engaging with your audience, accept voicemail feedback (with automatic transcripts), track your ratings and reviews from nearly 200 places, and more!

Ask your questions or share your feedback

• Comment on the show notes
• Leave a voicemail at (903) 231-2221
• Email [email protected] (audio files welcome)

Follow The Audacity to Podcast

• Apple Podcasts, Spotify, other Android apps, or in your favorite podcast app.
• Subscribe on YouTube for Podcasting Videos by The Audacity to Podcast
• Follow @theDanielJLewis on X-Twitter

Disclosure

This post may contain links to products or services with which I have an affiliate relationship. I may receive compensation from your actions through such links. However, I don't let that corrupt my perspective and I don't recommend only affiliates.

Transcripts have long been promoted as ways to make your podcast more findable and accessible. But it's only recently that podcast transcripts have become actually useful!

Although I didn't plan it this way, the timing of this episode is perfect because I just launched a new feature on Podgagement that automatically transcribes audio feedback from your audience!

This topic is also very timely because of the release of iOS 17.4, which brings podcast transcripts into Apple Podcasts! (Learn more about those implications from The Future of Podcasting.)

(As an affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases through some of these following links. But I recommend things I truly believe in, regardless of earnings.)

1. Don't believe the myths about podcast transcripts

For many years, people have been promoting transcripts for the wrong reasons. I've also been pitched by many transcription companies pushing the wrong approach.

While there are elements of truth in these two common myths, the ways people often promote and understand these two ideas are where the information become myth—of “mythinformation”?

Myth 1: “Transcripts are good for podcast SEO”

People have often said that you should publish podcast transcripts on your website to make your podcast findable through search-engine optimization (SEO). But that's not the full truth.

Yes, transcripts are better than nothing or a mere paragraph or list of topics. But transcripts result in a lot of words and actually very little content, resulting in very low quality writing (probably even worse than AI-created text or writing from non-natives of the language).

For example, a two-cohost podcast transcript might look like this:

Jack: Welcome to the our podcast, where we talk about things to help you do stuff! I'm Jack!

Jill: And I'm Jill.

Jack: Before we get into this topic, how are you doing, Jill?

Jill: The weather is sunny today, so I'm great!

Jack: Great!

Jill: Yeah. What about you?

Jack: I'm fine, but I don't know what the weather is, but—

Jill: That's sad.

Jack: What do mean?

Jill: I mean, you're saying that you haven't gone outside or even looked out a window in a while.

Jack: Yeah, but it's okay.

Jill: So anyway!

Jack: Yes! Let's jump into this week's topic.

…

Note that in this fictional example, there are a lot of words, but you've learned nothing from this excerpt!

That kind of back-and-forth is fine in a conversation and can even sometimes be okay in a podcast. But it writing, it becomes worthless.

Compare that to how the same “information” could be written in a way that's valuable:

Actually, that whole exchange could be edited out of the written content because there's little to no value in reading that!

Search engines prioritize high-quality content that is readable, but unless you're a professional speaker performing a refined monologue, transcripts are neither readable nor high quality. So, no, transcripts are not the “magic bullet” to making your podcast perform well for SEO, especially if you're relegating transcripts to a downloadable file or a web page separate from your podcast episode.

Myth 2: “Transcripts make your podcast accessible”

It's true that people with hearing impairments still consume podcasts! Thus transcripts have been lauded as the accessibility solution podcasts need!

But the problem is that most published transcripts are still difficult to read or—worse—are buried in a link or downloadable file that could actually be even less accessible!

It's like putting up a billboard with a QR Code that drivers can scan to watch a video to learn why they shouldn't be distracted while driving!

Good accessibility doesn't help only the hearing-impaired, it can also help memorability or engagement for the rest of your audience. For example, a word or URL that might be ambiguous, such as “to” versus “two” versus “2” versus “too.” This gets even worse if you've made up words!

Here, properly written show notes or an article can make the information far more memorable and actionable than a giant transcription page.

It's only properly formatted and properly published transcripts that make your podcast accessible! And more on that in a moment!

2. (Optional) Use transcripts with podcast-production tools

You can use the power of transcripts immediately after you record your episodes, even if you never publish those transcripts!

While you could pay for someone to transcribe your podcast for you, AI tools have gotten really good at making fairly accurate transcripts!

Yes, AI has become the ubiquitous tool for all kinds of content-creators. I've joked before, “Look, Daddy! Teacher says, ‘Every time a bell rings, an AI-powered app launches on AppSumo!'” But I'm a big fan of using AI on your content you made instead of for making your content.

The way AI-based tools work with your audio or video podcast is by first transcribing your content. Then, you can use that AI to do impressive and time-saving things with the transcript, like summarizing your episode, suggesting episode titles, and even helping you better edit your recording.

Here are my current favorite transcription-based tools to help when your episode is still in this early post-production stage right after you've record:

• Descript (audio and video)
• Adobe Podcast (audio)
• Adobe Premiere Pro (audio and video)
• Adobe Audition (audio transcript features coming soon?)
• Hindenburg (audio)

Each of these tools can make editing your recording as easy as editing a text document! Plus, they can even export the transcript from your finished production that you can use in the following other steps.

You can also upload your read-to-publish audio to some transcription-based tools to get suggestions for titles, chapters, show notes, social posts, keywords, and more! The best tools for that are:

• Castmagic
• Capsho
• Buzzsprout's Cohost AI addon

Even if you don't use any transcription-based tools, you can still use a transcript of your recording to help you find places to edit, excerpts for sharing, and reminders of your content. And you can do this without ever publishing those transcripts (but I still recommend that you do)!

3. Make properly formatted podcast transcripts

In order to be actually useful, a transcript needs to have more data with it. At a minimum, transcripts need timestamps for when lines or even words were spoken. But transcripts can also include the speakers' names, formatting, and more.

The most common transcript formats are VTT and SRT, but VTT—specifically WebVTT—is the superior format, but it's not as widely supported as SRT.

In its vanilla state, VTT and SRT will look similar:

00:01.000 --> 00:04.000 Never drink liquid nitrogen. 00:05.000 --> 00:09.000 It will perforate your stomach.

And then WebVTT can add a whole bunch of additional features and formatting over this.

You can get these properly formatted transcripts from the transcription-based editing tools I shared above, or you can generate them through AI or third-party help.

The most important thing here is to get the transcripts in the right format! A big block of text in a PDF or text document is not going to be as useful as the structured data like you get with SRT or VTT.

Easy access to artificial intelligence (AI) tools has made creating transcripts a whole lot faster, easier, and cheaper. The editing tools I mentioned all use AI to generate their transcripts, or you could use other services, too:

• Castmagic
• Capsho
• Auphonic
• Buzzsprout's Cohost AI addon
• Transistor's AI transcripts feature
• Otter.ai
• Rev

(This list might not be up-to-date because these features are coming to more tools quite frequently.)

I like the more modern AI-based transcription tools because they understand language better and are thus able to make transcripts that actually read well and are usually quite accurate. Compare that to transcripts from only a few years ago that transcribed what they thought they heard, even if it didn't make sense.

Most likely any tool that requires Internet access has limits to how much you can transcribe or has pricing based on your usage.

So, alternatively, consider these two fantastic apps you can install on your computer to generate the transcripts without the Internet or usage fees or limits. These use OpenAI's free and open-source Whisper model.

• MacWhisper Pro (macOS, free and paid versions)—this is what I used and usually get really good results from
• Whisper GUI (Windows, free)
• Run Whisper from the command line (free, but super geeky)

Because these apps run everything on your computer, you'll get much faster results on a more powerful computer. For comparison, MacWhisper Pro's largest language model on my M1 MacBook Pro can transcribe a 30-minute podcast episode in only a couple of minutes. But my maxed-out Intel iMac takes much longer to process the same audio with the same app.

With the launch of iOS 17.4 in March 2024, you now download the transcript Apple automatically generates for you through your Podcasts Connect account!

4. Edit your podcast transcripts

Regardless of whether you transcribe your podcast with AI or with a person, the transcript will most likely need some editing.

Some automatic transcription tools will smartly break lines at logical points, like on punctuation or at the end of sentences. But that's not mandatory.

The best thing to do would be to read your entire transcript to edit for accuracy. I think it could even be okay to edit for clarity. For example, if the speaker said, “There are 5 ways—I mean 6 ways—to do this,” you could edit the transcript to simply “There are 6 ways to do this.”

Pay close attention to anything that could cause you legal trouble, too! For example, your guest might have said, “I love two li'l puppies,” but your transcript might incorrectly say, “I love to kill puppies.” YIKES!

But this is where I notice the good modern transcription tools (like Whisper or Gemini Pro 1.5 and later) that use updated large-language models (LLMs) can often do a better job because they seem good at combining what they think they hear along with what makes grammatical and contextual sense.

But if you're in a hurry, here's the quick hack for editing your transcripts: double-check all proper nouns and URLs.

For example, one transcription tool I tried would always transcribe “Podcasting 2.0” as “podcasting 2 point oh.” Or even MacWhisper Pro sometimes transcribes “theaudacitytopodcast.com” as something like “the odacity2podcast.com.” For these things, I've made a list of the common errors so it's easy for me to run a find-and-replace operation on them. MacWhisper actually has that built in! And some transcription tools let you enter terms that are important to get right. For example, I might enter “Podgagement” since that's a made up trademark and the AI models might not understand it, yet.

But I've also been surprised, especially by Whisper, how often it not only gets the spelling right but even the capitalization!

5. Put the podcast transcripts in the right places

Now that you have an accurate transcript in a good format (SRT or VTT), we've had a standard place to put that in podcasting for a couple of years now, and even Apple Podcasts is now on board!

You only need to upload the transcript somewhere online (if it's not already publicly hosted for you) and link to it in your Podcasting 2.0 <podcast:transcript> tag in your RSS feed, which your podcast-publishing/hosting tool might do for you.

This makes the transcript visible to a growing list of Podcasting 2.0 apps, and now even Apple Podcasts supports the Podcasting 2.0 transcript!

Even if Apple Podcasts generates the transcript for you, the app will use your transcript if you provide it through the transcript feature in your RSS feed. This is so much better than how Spotify, Google, and Amazon currently do it!

Putting your SRT or VTT transcript in the right place also exposes it for other apps and services to use. As this becomes more popular, more podcast apps will use these transcripts to learn what your episodes are about and help expose your podcast in more relevant searches. For example, even if you keyword-stuff your title, author, and description tags with something like “real estate investing,” if you're not literally talking about real estate investing in your episodes, your podcast probably won't rank well for that term. What makes this podcast SEO different from the SEO myth I shared above is that this Podcasting 2.0 method exposes your transcript in a specific structure that make it easy for applications to read and process. You don't get that when you dump the whole transcript on your website (or in a download).

But if you really want to publish a transcript in a readable format, you can convert your SRT or VTT transcript into formatted text and offer that through your website. Just don't expect much to come from it!

6. (Optional) Use your podcast transcripts for promotion

I'm not a fan of creating new content with AI (also called “generative AI”). I think the results are cheap, unoriginal, and in a legal gray area because most generative AI models were trained with copyrighted content and without the content-owner's permission.

Putting aside those potential legal and ethical implications, I do love artificial intelligence as a different “AI”: assistive intelligence. So instead of creating new content for you, the AI analyzes the content you created and helps you describe it, improve it, repurpose it, and more.

And this all starts with a transcript of your podcast!

My favorite AI tool right now is Magai because it includes multiple models (not just ChatGPT) and you can now easily upload your entire podcast transcript to then work with inside Magai. For example, you could ask it to write a promotion for the episode in the first-person tone of your guest so you can send that to him or her to more relevantly share their appearance on your podcast.

Castmagic, Capsho, and Buzzsprout's Cohost AI also have features like this built in. For example, Castmagic (which I use, too) automatically recognizes separate speakers in the audio and can also automatically generate a whole bunch of different content from my content. This includes social posts, titles, X-Twitter threads, engaging questions, outlines, and more.

So even if a tool can't transcribe your content for you, yet (as is the case with Magai), you can still give it your transcript to analyze and use for many more purposes!

It all starts with the transcript of your content. (Or in my case, since I write such thorough articles for my podcast episodes, I frequently give Magai my published webpage URL instead of uploading a transcript.)

(And in case you're wondering, the entirety of this article and podcast episode were created solely by me. And even though some people might call my intelligence “artificial,” I didn't use any AI for this episode!)

You can also use a tool like Descript, Headliner, or Opus Clip to find good excerpts from your episode to share as clips, like I'm doing for this very episode! This, too, starts with your transcripts, and you'll probably get even better results if you can edit or provide a more accurate transcript.

Try Podgagement, now with automatic transcripts for voicemails from your audience!

Engage your audience and grow your podcast!

Do you ever feel like your podcast is stuck? Like you're pouring your heart into your podcast but it seems like no one is listening?

Try Podgagement to help you engage your audience and grow your podcast!

Get speakable pages to simplify engaging with your audience, accept voicemail feedback (with automatic transcripts), track your ratings and reviews from nearly 200 places, and more!

Ask your questions or share your feedback

• Comment on the show notes
• Leave a voicemail at (903) 231-2221
• Email [email protected] (audio files welcome)

Follow The Audacity to Podcast

• Apple Podcasts, Spotify, other Android apps, or in your favorite podcast app.
• Subscribe on YouTube for Podcasting Videos by The Audacity to Podcast
• Follow @theDanielJLewis on X-Twitter

Disclosure

This post may contain links to products or services with which I have an affiliate relationship. I may receive compensation from your actions through such links. However, I don't let that corrupt my perspective and I don't recommend only affiliates.

Podcasting 2.0 is revolutionizing podcasting for podcasters, audiences, and developers. Here are what I think are the best features you should try now, if you can.

For extra context, listen to my previous episode about Podcasting 2.0 and why it matters.

Some of these features are still in development. Visit our new Podcasting2.org website to see the apps and publishing/hosting tools that support these features. (In the near future, CanIPodcast.com will let you see the complete overview of what features are supported where.)

1. Cross-app comments

When I recently attended Podfest Multimedia Expo, I was talking with a woman interested to know more about Podcasting 2.0. She lit up with excitement over two things: cross-app comments and live streaming.

The vision of cross-app comments is simple. Imagine being able to comment on an episode you're listening without leaving your podcast app! Even better, others can reply to you from their different podcast apps!

This is what cross-app comments will allow: audience comments from multiple podcast apps but all going into the same stream of activity so you and others can engage from preferred apps.

While I think this is the most exciting feature for everyone, it's also proving to be the most complicated to implement. Developers have to think about performance, data portability, authentication, and giving you moderation control. But when these features are all solved, this will be a dynamite feature!

And the best part is that this engagement can occur completely without leaving the podcast app! (But there will be other systems to let you monitor and engage with your audience. For example, I'll be building this into Podgagement whenever the development issues are resolved.)

2. Live streaming

When I spoke with that woman at Podfest, the other thing she was most excited about was the ability to live-stream with live engagement directly into her audience's podcast apps.

That's what the “live item tag” (or sometimes called “LIT”) is designed to do!

Live-streaming isn't a good fit for all podcasts or podcasters. It presents a whole new layer of complexity and multiple distractions. But when you can manage it well, live-streaming is a fantastic way to engage your most loyal audience in real-time.

Podcasting 2.0's live feature will let you live-stream directly into the modern podcast apps. You start by scheduling your upcoming event, and your audience will see that in their apps. When you go live, you audience can receive push notifications and then jump to listening or watching live. There's even the potential to have your chat room there, too!

Best of all, this is all right inside your audience's podcast app! They won't have to leave to listen or watch on a separate page, they can engage without leaving their preferred podcast app!

Apps can even do smart things like automatically marking the later downloaded episode as played if the audience already played it live.

Learn more about the Podcasting 2.0 live streaming feature from Dave Jackson and me in The Future of Podcasting!

3. Micropayments

Don't let the “micro” part of “micropayments” make you think they're small and worthless!

Podcasting 2.0 enables you to receive financial support in any amount from your audience by leveraging the power of Bitcoin, specifically through the faster and cheaper Lightning Network. This is most commonly measured in Satoshis (abbreviated “sats” or “§”), which are 100 millionth of a Bitcoin. Here's the quick hack (at least for US Dollars) to understand the value. Every 1,000§ is worth the current value of Bitcoin in cents. So if Bitcoin is $45,000, then 1,000§ is worth 45¢.

This allows your audience to give as little as a few pennies to as much as they value your podcast—thus why this feature is called “Value for Value” and uses the <podcast:value> RSS tag.

But it doesn't stop there! Your audience can set their podcast app to stream the payments to you for every minute they listen to your podcast! So even something that seems as small as 100§ per minute would be 3,000§ for a 30-minute podcast. If Bitcoin is worth $45,000, that streaming payment would convert to $1.35—and that's 54 times as much as that one listener would be worth to an advertiser paying the common $25 CPM!

These kinds of “micropayments” would be nearly worthless or even impossible with common payment methods like PayPal or credit cards, who usually take a flat fee around 50¢ plus around 3% of the transaction!

Listen to my past episode, “Are Podcasting 2.0 Micropayments Worth It?” and read about “Value 4 Value” to learn more!

4. Super chapters

Shoutout to Dovydas from RSSBlue.com for coining the term “super chapters,” and I love it!

We've had chapters in podcasting since 2005, but they've always been very limited. They could only contain a title, a optional link, and an optional image. They were also embedded in the media file, so updating your chapters would mean replacing your media file. And that limitation meant that none of your audience who already downloaded the episode would be able to see anything new in the chapters.

Podcasting 2.0's “super chapters” build on these legacy features and move the chapters into an external metadata file.

Simply by being in an external file, you can now update the chapters anytime. And modern podcast apps are smart enough to check for updated chapters when your audience engages with your episodes.

The optional chapter images are also external URLs, allowing you to swap out the images anytime, or even do cool things like dynamically generated images with promotions, countdowns, dates, and more!

At this time, Podcasting 2.0 chapters still support only the same title, URL, and image fields like legacy chapters. But that will change soon with support for image galleries, videos, blocks of text, polls, and more!

5. Transcripts

I've long seen that transcripts were mostly a waste in the podcasting space. Transcripts are usually low-quality written content and thus are difficult to read and perform very poorly for search-engine optimization (SEO). Some podcasters would even relegate their transcripts to a separate download through their website, making them even less accessible for anyone who might actually need the transcripts for accessibility!

But Podcasting 2.0 changed that! Now, you can link to your episode transcripts (best in SRT or VTT file formats) right from your podcast RSS feed, and smart podcast apps will see them and even give your audience to see your line-by-line transcript in real time with your spoken content! Check out Steno.fm to see how it can highlight portions of the transcript as those words are being spoken.

It's “closed captions” for podcasts!

And the big surprise of 2024 was that Apple announced official support for Podcasting 2.0 transcripts starting with iOS 17.4! This is huge because it's the first Podcasting 2.0 feature Apple has supported! And since Apple is still an industry leader and trendsetter in podcasting, you can expect to see a lot of other popular apps start to support the same podcast standard. And that could also open the floodgates to much broader Podcasting 2.0 support!

Dave Jackson and I discussed the many implications of Apple's support for Podcasting 2.0 transcripts in this episode of The Future of Podcasting.

How can you use Podcasting 2.0?

My ultimatum is this: if your current podcast-publishing tool doesn't deeply support Podcasting 2.0 by now, switch!

Your four best options right now are:

1. Blubrry with PowerPress on WordPress
2. Captivate
3. Buzzsprout
4. Combine Podcast Mirror with your RSS feed from any legacy hosting provider

I spoke more about these hosting options in my previous episode/article, “Best Podcast Hosting Providers (2024).”

And if you're wondering how to make and use transcripts, that's what I'll talk about in my next episode!

Engage your audience and grow your podcast!

Do you ever feel like your podcast is stuck? Like you're pouring your heart into your podcast but it seems like no one is listening?

Try Podgagement to help you engage your audience and grow your podcast!

Get speakable pages to simplify engaging with your audience, accept voicemail feedback (with automatic transcripts), track your ratings and reviews from nearly 200 places, and more!

Ask your questions or share your feedback

• Comment on the show notes
• Leave a voicemail at (903) 231-2221
• Email [email protected] (audio files welcome)

Follow The Audacity to Podcast

• Apple Podcasts, Spotify, other Android apps, or in your favorite podcast app.
• Subscribe on YouTube for Podcasting Videos by The Audacity to Podcast
• Follow @theDanielJLewis on X-Twitter

Disclosure

This post may contain links to products or services with which I have an affiliate relationship. I may receive compensation from your actions through such links. However, I don't let that corrupt my perspective and I don't recommend only affiliates.

Get the latest top recommendations for the best podcast-hosting providers, whether you're just starting or you're wanting to upgrade your podcasting tools!

You need good podcast hosting to help you distribute your show, keep it online, and understand your reach. Now, podcast hosting can help you with much more, too!

How podcast-hosting has changed

As the podcasting industry is innovating and there are new ways to engage, grow, and monetize, podcast-hosting providers have to keep up!

Years ago, all we needed from a podcast-hosting provider was storage, bandwidth, stats, and maybe their RSS feed (because you might want to generate it separately). And if your show was big enough, you might have a chance at getting a sponsor through your hosting provider.

But today, podcast hosting includes innovative new features, like dynamic content insertion; automatic processing for audio, images, and video; content-creation assistance; marketing tools; engagement outlets; and even built-in ways to monetize your podcast directly from your audience.

This is why I've taken some time to reconsider my recommendations.

And as you'll quickly notice, there is no single best podcast-hosting provider because it really depends on your needs. Thus, I hope the following help you make the choice that's right for your podcast.

(As an affiliate for many providers, I earn from qualifying purchases through most of these following links. But I recommend things I truly believe in, regardless of earnings.)

Best all-inclusive podcast hosting (also for multiple shows): Captivate

I call Captivate the “Apple of podcast hosting” because their design and features are truly innovative. They show your stats in ways that are easy to understand, they offer beautifully designed sites, and they even sync with WordPress!

• Reliable, IAB-certified stats
• Distributed media hosting for fast downloads
• One price for unlimited shows and unlimited uploads
• Pricing based on total downloads per month
• Free migration
• Highly responsive support
• Branding-optional, embeddable, responsive player
• Podcasting 2.0 features
• Automatically sync with your WordPress site
• 7-day free trial

Host your podcast with Captivate

Captivate's podcast hosting has been revolutionary! They offer the most extensive range of features—not merely the typical media-hosting and analytics features, but even features to help you manage your content and monetization!

Their dynamic content insertion tool, AMIE, is—in my opinion—the best in the industry! Yes, you can use it for inserting ads, but you can do so much more with it, like using it for any kind of content! Plus, AMIE makes it quick and easy to prepare old episodes for dynamic content, or even replace old ads like painting over them!

You can also monetize your podcast directly from your audience through Captivate's membership system, donations, exclusive content, and more!

And if you have multiple shows, Captivate lets you run your whole podcast network with a single subscription, and the cheapest plan already supports up to 3 shows at no extra cost.

Pricing is primarily based on the size of your audience, either for downloading or the membership subscriptions.

On top of this, Captivate has the best Podcasting 2.0 support in the industry right now!

There's so much more I could say about Captivate, but I don't want this whole episode/article to be about one provider!

Captivate is my top recommendation for most podcasters!

I had the honor and pleasure of serving on Captivate's advisory board until Captivate was acquired. I don't recommend Captivate because I was an advisor, I accepted that role because I liked what Captivate was doing! I had even previously called Captivate the “Apple of podcast hosting” because of their attention to detail and innovative developments.

Honorable mention goes Transistor, who offer many of the same features as Captivate but actually allow unlimited podcasts on every plan. However, Transistor reserve some features for higher plans.

Best WordPress-based podcast hosting: Blubrry

If you're running a WordPress website, Blubrry's hosting integrates seamlessly with PowerPress—the #1 podcasting plugin for WordPress.

• Industry-standard stats
• Distributed media hosting for fast downloads
• Monthly upload limit, no download limit
• Flexible upload limit
• Free migration
• Phone and email support
• Unbranded, embeddable, responsive player
• Automatic ID3 tagging
• Manage everything from your WordPress site
• First month free with promo code “NOODLE”

Host your podcast media with Blubrry

While all my other podcast-hosting recommendations require using their publishing platform to manage your podcast RSS feed, Blubrry is my top recommendation if you want to manage your own publishing platform with WordPress.

WordPress lets you do almost anything with your website! Consider TheAudacitytoPodcast.com. Here, I publish articles, sometimes with interactive charts; I sell video courses, a WordPress plugin (with auto-updates), and even ID3 Editor licenses; I created multiple recommendation pages; I have countless redirects and automatic links; and I designed the site to look exactly how I wanted. All this extra functionality is powered WordPress's extensibility with plugins and themes.

Blubrry's podcast hosting connects seamlessly to all of this through their free PowerPress plugin, which I've used since I think 2007. While Blubrry supports the community so much that they've provided this plugin for free for many years, the best way to use it is pairing it with Blubrry's podcast hosting. Then, instead of going to another website to manage your podcast and possibly having to copy and paste a lot of stuff to your WordPress site, Blubrry integrates it all right in your normal WordPress workflow!

Simply create a post like you normally would in WordPress, and then upload your podcast episode and enter your episode information directly within the same post editor!

Blubrry is also leading the charge on including Podcasting 2.0 features—even some of the experimental ones!

And if you want to get on the bleeding edge of experimentation, you can even extend features of PowerPress yourself with the right tools!

Blubrry's top goal is to help you build your own platform, a platform that you own and fully control. No one else integrates as well with WordPress as Blubrry does!

Plus, PowerPress has become such a standard for podcasting with WordPress that many podcast-ready themes (like my favorites from SecondLine Themes) have built-in support to enhance the podcast players for your website audience!

If you use my link to try Blubrry, make sure you enter my promo code “NOODLE” to get a free month!

Best easy/simple podcast hosting without compromises: Buzzsprout

Buzzsprout is the easiest-to-use podcast-hosting provider but without compromising features!

• Reliable, IAB-certified stats
• Distributed media hosting for fast downloads
• Pricing based on hours of audio per month
• Free migration
• Highly responsive support
• Branding-optional, embeddable, responsive player
• Podcasting 2.0 features
• Sell premium subscriptions and exclusive content to your audience
• Magic Mastering (upgrade) for automatic audio enhancement
• Cohost AI (upgrade) for AI-powered help with titles, notes, and more

Host your podcast with Buzzsprout

So far, my recommendations have been feature-rich and all about giving you total power over every aspect of your podcast.

But with great power comes great anxiety!

Thus, I present the oasis of podcast hosting: Buzzsprout!

Buzzsprout has always been one of the easiest-to-use podcasting platforms. But don't let the whitespace and simple looks fool you! Buzzsprout has jumped into my top recommendations because they also provide impressive extra features to help you podcast better, but still without compromising their simplicity!

They offer three impressive features on top of their already great podcast hosting features:

1. Magic Mastering: Automatically process your podcast audio for clarity and ideal loudness!
2. Automatic dynamic content: Their AI will find the ideal places to place ads within your content, and even offer ways to grow your own podcast or grow your wallet through these opportunities!
3. Cohost AI: Get AI-powered suggestions on titles, notes, chapters, and more, right from your podcast-publishing workflow!

It is important to note that some of these features come at upgraded costs. But they can be worth it in the time and brain cells they save you!

Buzzsprout supports Podcasting 2.0, too!

Best “free” podcast hosting: RedCircle

I get it. Maybe podcasting is so much your hobby that you can't even afford the relatively low monthly fees for podcast hosting. While I still want to remind you that you will get what you pay for, RedCircle is the only free podcast-hosting provider I recommend.

Their feature offerings aren't as advanced as my previous recommendations, but RedCircle's dynamic-content insertion tools are quite nice, giving you opportunities to pay for your hosting with ads (and earn some money yourself, too).

While I still suggest that you invest in your podcast hosting, if you absolutely need something “free,” RedCircle is the way to go!

Dishonorable mention: Spotify for Podcasters (formerly “Anchor”). Do not use them! Spotify's actions make it seem like they hate the podcast industry because they keep arrogantly ignoring innovations, develop only proprietary features, and are more interested in having you build their platform than providing ways for you to build yours. Because of this and more, I think the true cost of Spotify for Podcasters is too high.

Honorable mention goes to Buzzsprout, but their free plan is limited to only your latest few episodes.

Best video podcast hosting: Libsyn

Regardless of where you host your website (or the CMS you use), Libsyn provides a stable RSS feed with your media, in addition to automatic crossposting to other platforms.

• Industry-standard stats
• Distributed media hosting for fast downloads
• Monthly upload limit, no download limit
• Flat-rate $25 migration fee for up to 10 GB
• Email support
• Libsyn-branded, embeddable, responsive player
• Crosspost to Spotify, Google Play Music, SoundCloud, Twitter, Facebook, WordPress, and more
• Standalone app option for iOS, Android, Windows Mobile, and Amazon Kindle Fire
• Automatic ID3 tagging
• Current and next month free with promo code “NOODLE”

Host your podcast media with Libsyn

Video podcasting is not nearly as popular as it was in the couple of years before YouTube stole the show. And don't believe the misinformation (maybe even “disinformation”) from corrupted surveys claiming that video podcasting is back or that most audiences prefer video podcasts. All those surveys I've seen are using invalid questions, allow invalid answers, and draw or have led to radically invalid conclusions.

All that said, if you do want a true video podcast, I recommend Libsyn.

Libsyn is the original podcast-hosting provider. And while they haven't innovated nearly as much as I wish (at least at this time), they still offer the best bandwidth bang for your buck, which is crucial for a video podcast!

But it's not only about value, I recommend Libsyn for video podcasting primarily because of this huge feature: integration with YouTube.

Because YouTube is where most people go for independent video content, I suggest everyone who makes a video show to also publish on YouTube! And if you want that exact same show to be both on YouTube and as a real podcast, Libsyn is the way to go!

Libsyn allows you to publish only once and then they will automatically upload your video to YouTube.

On top of that, I believe Libsyn is still the only provider to also bring your video stats back from YouTube and display them with your normal podcast download stats! So none of this checking your stats in two places or publishing your video in two places stuff! Libsyn makes it easy to do both in one place!

Use my promo code “NOODLE” to try Libsyn free for the rest of this month plus all of next month! (That's actually how my promo code always works, because Libsyn always bills at midnight GMT on the first day of the month.)

The best podcast hosting is the one that meets your needs

You can probably tell I rarely recommend a single option and that's because, in many areas, I think there is no single “best” that does everything for everyone. Like most things, my goal is to provide you with the information to make the right choice for yourself.

Engage your audience and grow your podcast!

Do you ever feel like your podcast is stuck? Like you're pouring your heart into your podcast but it seems like no one is listening?

Try Podgagement to help you engage your audience and grow your podcast!

Get speakable pages to simplify engaging with your audience, accept voicemail feedback (with automatic transcripts), track your ratings and reviews from nearly 200 places, and more!

Ask your questions or share your feedback

• Comment on the show notes
• Leave a voicemail at (903) 231-2221
• Email [email protected] (audio files welcome)

Follow The Audacity to Podcast

• Apple Podcasts, Spotify, other Android apps, or in your favorite podcast app.
• Subscribe on YouTube for Podcasting Videos by The Audacity to Podcast
• Follow @theDanielJLewis on X-Twitter

Disclosure

This post may contain links to products or services with which I have an affiliate relationship. I may receive compensation from your actions through such links. However, I don't let that corrupt my perspective and I don't recommend only affiliates.

If your podcast is listed twice in Apple Podcasts or another podcast directory, STOP! Don't do anything about it until you read or listen to this!

And if you want to avoid this problem, do not resubmit your podcast if it's already listed!

How duplicate podcast listings happen

There are two common reasons you might end up with a duplicate listing of your podcast, either by your own actions or by automation.

Reason 1: a secondary feed was automatically discovered and indexed

You might have used several different podcast-publishing tools, like your own website, PowerPress, multiple podcast-hosting providers, and such. Or you might have used some automation tools for crossposting, like Spreaker, AudioBoom, Podpage, and such. Or you used a feed proxy to mirror and rehost your RSS feed, like Feedburner or Podcast Mirror.

Any of these tools might have created another RSS feed for your podcast and may even be actively updating it. They could even be serving the exact same feed from multiple URLs, like HTTP and HTTPS (although not so common anymore), or from different subdomains.

Podcast Index, Google Podcasts (rest in peace), and maybe a couple of other systems search the web looking for podcast feeds to include and they'll often find those duplicates. Podcast Index has a fairly smart deduplication process, but Google Podcasts was a little annoying, often switching to the newly discovered feed (even if was only a redirect!) and requiring you to verify ownership of that new feed before you can switch back to your desired feed.

A couple of my own podcasts have had as many as 8 different RSS feeds discovered by Google Podcasts! And even though some of them were proper 301 redirects, the automated system still wanted to change to them instead of the feeds I had intentionally submitted for Google Podcasts to use. But at least that didn't create duplicates and it didn't interfere with my audience.

But other discovery systems might add the extra feeds as new podcasts, resulting in duplicates. (At this time, none of the most popular podcast apps use automatic discovery to build their catalogs.)

Reason 2: the podcast was resubmitted

Do not resubmit your podcast if it's already listed!

I see this problem happen far more frequently lately. When podcasters switch podcast-hosting providers, like from Spotify for Podcasters (formerly known as Anchor) to a provider such as Captivate or Blubrry, the podcasters sometimes submit their new RSS feeds as new podcasts instead of simply redirecting the old feeds.

This sometimes comes from bad advice, or from an attempt (albeit the wrong method) to reclaim ownership of a podcast in Apple Podcasts or another directory, or it might even be from thinking that you had to resubmit after changing the title or cover art. Whatever the reason, this usually results in listing the same podcast twice, even if you later properly redirect the old RSS feed. Apple Podcasts used to prevent the same feed from being submitted twice, but I'm seeing indications that system either isn't working, or isn't used anymore.

Again,do not resubmit your podcast if it's already listed! (And don't tell your long-time audience to follow your new listing, either!)

The duplicate podcast listing problem gets worse, especially in Apple Podcasts

When your podcast is listed multiple times in the same podcast directory, you risk splitting your ratings, reviews, chart and search rankings, and even your followers.

In most podcast apps, simply redirecting the incorrect RSS feed to the correct one will at least merge your split audiences. But it won't merge the other catalog features if they exist.

But it's even worse in Apple Podcasts since iOS 14.5!

Before iOS 14.5, your audience was connected directly to your podcast RSS feed. So regardless of what happened in the Apple Podcasts catalog, your audience would get whatever you put in your feed and would follow wherever that feed URL would redirect. Back then, you could simply redirect the duplicate listing and then delete it, and you wouldn't lose any of your audience.

But not anymore! This changed with iOS 14.5.

Now, even if your duplicate listing gets switched to your correct RSS feed, everyone who followed your podcast through that duplicate is connected to Apple's proxy of your podcast feed, and not connected directly to your feed. In other words, people in Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and maybe only a couple other proxy-based podcast apps subscribe to the catalog listing of your podcast in that app, not directly to your RSS feed. So if you delete that duplicate listing, you will lose its followers!

Even if you're okay with losing any ratings, reviews, and rankings that duplicate listing might have accumulated, I suggest that you should not accept losing your audience!

How to fix your duplicate podcast listing in proxy-based services like Apple Podcasts and Spotify

If the podcast app in question behaves like Apple Podcasts and Spotify, where your audience is connected to the platform's proxy of your podcast or the catalog entry of your podcast instead of directly to your own RSS feed, then the solution is a little complicated and incomplete. But these steps should help!

In all of the following steps, the “correct listing” will be the oldest one that has the majority of your followers, ratings, reviews, and rankings. That's the one you want to keep, even if it still has the wrong RSS feed.

Step 1: Ask the platform to merge your listings

While this is most likely not possible at this time, these platforms need to know how frequent these problems are. So here's what I suggest you send them (feel free to copy and update this for your own use):

Dear [Apple Podcasts/Spotify/platform],

My podcast, [Podcast Title], is listed multiple times in your catalog and that's negatively affecting me and my audience. If possible, would you please merge these listings so I don't lose any of my audience or earned engagement or rankings?

Correct listing: [URL or ID]
Correct feed: [feed URL, which may actually be different from the current listing]

Incorrect listing[s]: [URLs or IDs]

It's crucial for my audience's experience to ensure none of them are disconnected from my podcast through this merge process. Even if I have to lose other earned engagement or ranking, I need a promise that I won't lose any of my audience.

Thanks in advance!

If they actually can merge your listings and promise you won't lose your audience, great! But most likely, they'll come back saying either they can't merge the listings, or they might even give bad advice suggesting to delete the duplicate(s). Do not delete the duplicates, yet!

Please be kind in whatever interactions you have with the platform's support team! You should probably assume they won't be able to give the correct help, but I do still recommend asking anyway.

Since these proxy-based platforms (like Apple Podcasts and Spotify) most likely can't provide the correct solution, and deleting the duplicate listing will harm your audience, your only other option is to ask your audience to refollow the correct listing. But there's a clever way so you don't need to ask your whole audience!

Step 2: Redirect properly

Unfortunately, it seems most of these duplicates happen where the old-but-correct listing is using the “wrong” RSS feed, and your duplicate incorrect listing(s) might be using the new, correct feeds. So I know this will seem a little confusing.

The old listing most likely has more followers and reputation, so it's the listing you want to keep. Get that old feed URL to redirect to the new feed URL using a 301 permanent redirect. Ideally, that redirect should remain forever.

A redirect happens before the contents of the feed are loaded. So it really doesn't matter what's in the feed you're redirecting, or if it's even a feed anymore! It's the URL that's important.

It's just like forwarding mail from your old address to your new home. It really doesn't matter who lives in the old home because your mail will be forwarded before it even gets delivered.

Any half-decent podcast-hosting provider should be able to permanently redirect your old feed URL to the new one. Even bottom-of-the-barrel SoundCloud can do it!

If you control the URL of your old feed, you might be able to use tools from your website, web-hosting provider, or domain registrar to redirect the URL to your new feed. You could even use a third-party tool like Cloudflare to put a redirect on the domain's exact path and you wouldn't need web-hosting at all because the contents at that URL don't matter; it's only the URL that needs a 301 redirect to your new feed URL.

Step 3: Make a new RSS feed with a single announcement episode

Start by creating a new RSS feed with most of the same podcast information. The easiest way to get this would be a separate category feed from your publishing tool, if available.

If that won't work, you could open your RSS feed in your browser and save it as a file on your computer.

Change the title slightly by adding “DUPLICATE” or something similar, and you might want to add a “duplicate” banner in the cover art, too. The point is to make it easy for anyone to see that this is the duplicate, not the actual podcast you want them to follow.

Give this new RSS feed only a single episode explaining what you need your audience to do and link to your correct listings in all the affected apps. This announcement will be seen and heard only by those who actually need to do something. Feel free to copy the following script for your notes and spoken announcement.

Hi! We're changing some backend stuff with our podcast and that, unfortunately, breaks part of my/our podcast. I/we would love to keep you in our community, so I/we need you to do a couple of things to continue receiving my/our podcast.

First, refollow my/our podcast in your podcast app, but it needs to be the one without “DUPLICATE” in the title and cover art. You can probably get there from the link in this episode's notes, or by searching for the same title.

[Include your correct Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or other proxy-based platform links here in the notes.]

Then, when you can see that you're following the correct podcast with all the episodes, please unfollow this duplicate podcast and remove it from your library.

Make this new RSS feed available online (even if you merely upload the new XML file to your web hosting), but you will not be using any regular redirects to it or from it.

Step 4: Change the feed URL in the platform's portal

Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and other proxy-based platforms offer portals for you to manage your podcast listings. These portals sometimes allow you to change the source RSS feed for your podcast listing without having to redirect your feed URL. This is the thing that in the past, I've urged podcasters not to change in Apple Podcasts Connect, but now you do need it for this one purpose.

Log into each portal that has your duplicate listing and change that source RSS feed to the announcement feed you created in step 3. This will change the feed for only your followers on that platform. If you change this in the Apple Podcasts catalog, it will change the source RSS feed for any apps that use Apple's catalog in their app, but it won't change the feed for anyone's library using those other apps. And that's okay, because nearly all other podcast apps connect your audience directly with your RSS feed. So your audience would go wherever it points in those other apps. And if that duplicate listing is using your correct RSS feed, then your audience will get your podcast from that feed instead of from the app proxy.

Updating your source feed in these few proxy-based apps should then add the “duplicate” information and push that announcement out to only those who are affected.

Step 5: Redirect and delete after a few months

Leave this announcement feed online for at least 3 months. You can start shutting it down after that.

You need to do only two things with the announcement feed:

1. 301 redirect the announcement feed URL to your correct podcast feed.
2. Delete the duplicate listings through the podcast portals.

Once it's redirecting, you don't need to keep the announcement feed or episode online anymore.

Unfortunate conclusion: it's messy and you might still lose some numbers

I believe these steps are the current best way to do things if the platforms use their own proxies and can't merge your listings.

It's still possible and even likely you'll lose some numbers through the “cracks” inherent with this process. You might see your download stats drop, but it will most likely be disengaged audience members. And that's why I say you might lose some numbers, but maybe not people who were actually listening. After all, if those people don't follow you to the correct podcast listing, were they really that engaged with your podcast anyway?

I really wish this wasn't an issue at all! But bad instructions and platform limitations make this complication necessary if you hope to keep most of your audience.

Important reminder: do not resubmit your feed!

As much as I'd like to bring in Smokey the Podcast Bear to tell you that only you can prevent duplicate podcast listings, the unfortunate reality is that it's still possible for some hosting providers—most likely the unknowledgeable ones—to make this mistake and tell you to resubmit your podcast with the new feed, or even worse, they submit it for you.

DO NOT LET THIS HAPPEN!

The only exception is if you've completely lost control of your old RSS feed and it's absolutely impossible to get it back (but it usually is). Even in this case, it's still better to change the source feed of your podcast in all the podcast apps your can instead of resubmitting your podcast with the new feed.

Engage your audience and grow your podcast!

Do you ever feel like your podcast is stuck? Like you're pouring your heart into your podcast but it seems like no one is listening?

Try Podgagement to help you engage your audience and grow your podcast!

Get speakable pages to simplify engaging with your audience, accept voicemail feedback (with automatic transcripts), track your ratings and reviews from nearly 200 places, and more!

Ask your questions or share your feedback

• Comment on the show notes
• Leave a voicemail at (903) 231-2221
• Email [email protected] (audio files welcome)

Follow The Audacity to Podcast

• Apple Podcasts, Spotify, other Android apps, or in your favorite podcast app.
• Subscribe on YouTube for Podcasting Videos by The Audacity to Podcast
• Follow @theDanielJLewis on X-Twitter

Disclosure

This post may contain links to products or services with which I have an affiliate relationship. I may receive compensation from your actions through such links. However, I don't let that corrupt my perspective and I don't recommend only affiliates.

After sharing multiple considerations for refreshing your podcast branding, it's time to wrap it up with the big question: how?