3 Common Podcasting Mistakes to Avoid If You Want to Grow Your Show’s Audience
I’ve asked many hardcore podcast fans over the years about what keeps them listening to a show and what makes them stop listening. The three most common reasons they stopped listening to a show are:
- Bad audio quality
- Too many ad reads or annoying/irrelevant ad reads
- Lack of preparation or planning
Let’s talk about how to avoid these mistakes that can lead to losing listeners.
Common Podcasting Mistake #1: Bad Audio Quality
Publishing compelling content that sounds great is one of the best ways to help your show stand out in the competition for a podcast listener’s attention.
Poor audio quality distracts your listeners from the content of your show and will often cause brand new listeners to switch to another podcast that sounds better.
Things to pay attention to and fix:
- Constant distracting background noise
- Inconsistent volume levels (voices that are much louder or quieter than each other)
- Clipping or other audio artifacts that are unpleasant to our ears
- Lots of echo or reverb in the vocal track
Get the Best Microphone You Can Afford
You might be surprised at how many of these audio problems go away if you invest in a good microphone and learn a few things about recording audio with it.
You don’t have to spend thousands of dollars on a expensive mic, even a budget USB microphone like the Audio Technica ATR2100 or the Samson Q2U will increase the quality of your recording.
The mic I use and recommend (the Shure Beta 87A) only costs $250 new. One of the reasons I like it so much is that it picks up very little background noise, so I can bring it into nearly any room and know that I’ll still sound good.
If you’re looking for more gear recommendations, check out the podcasting equipment I recommend at kit.co/thepodcastdude.
How to Get Great Audio Recordings from Guests and Co-hosts
You might be wondering, “How do I get good audio recordings from my guests or co-hosts when I don’t have control over the gear they’re using or the room they’re recording in?”
If you want to get a clean, high-quality recording from a guest or a co-host, you may need to talk to them about how to record an audio file that sounds great.
This might means answering questions about which microphone they should invest in, why it’s important to wear headphones while recording, proper mic technique, and why it all matters.
The goal is to make sure listeners don’t get frustrated by bad sound quality and turn off the episode. No one wins if that happens.
You should also ask them about the kind of environment they’ll be recording in. Anything recorded in a noisy room with a lot of empty, reflective walls and surfaces will be harder to listen to than a recording made in a quiet room with lots of soft, sound-absorbing materials.
Finally, you should also ask them to record an audio file on their computer while they talk with you over Zoom or some other chat software (this is known in the industry as recording a double-ender).
Record Audio Locally If You’re Talking to People Over the Internet
There are many different options for recording conversations over the internet (Squadcast and Zencastr are currently my favorite), but I recommend also recording an audio file to your computer, phone, or tablet.
This is commonly called a local recording because you’re recording directly to your computer (or some other device).
Why should you always record locally? Two reasons.
First, audio has to be compressed and degraded in order to be quickly delivered through a chat app like Zoom or Skype call. If you listen carefully to recordings of Zoom or Skype calls, you’ll notice that they often sound noticeably worse than local recordings made with the same microphone in the same room. Local recordings = higher quality.
Second, if you are using a web app (like Squadcast or Zencastr) for recording remote conversations, it’s nice to have a second recording as a backup in case you need it, as software running in web browsers doesn’t always work 100% of the time. Better safe than sorry!
Whenever I need to record an interview with a guest, I open up Logic Pro X or Quicktime on my computer and record an audio file there as well. Once the interview is done, I stop the recording and export a high-quality uncompressed audio file.
I ask my guest to do the same on their end, and then send me a copy of their audio file via Dropbox or Google Drive once the interview is over.
Remember: If you know how to record audio that sounds good, help the guests or less experienced podcasters by sharing your knowledge over email or a quick phone call before the show. Don’t assume they know how it’s done: Have a conversation about it.
Putting the Audio Files Together for Editing and Post-Production Mixing and Mastering
Once you have all the audio files you need for the episode, drop them into your favorite editing software, and line up the different tracks so the conversation flows roughly the same as it did in real time.
You may need to do some editing and additional moving around if the recording is longer than 30 minutes (for reasons I won’t get into here, but you can look up audio drift if you’re curious).
Once your audio tracks are in place and lined up, you can improve the audio quality by using software plugins or effects to do things like removing or reducing background noise and applying compression and limiting to make sure everything is loud (but not too loud).
This step of the process is called mixing and mastering. If you’d like to learn more about mixing and mastering, there are lots of great tutorials available online, so I’d recommend searching Google or YouTube for tutorials for whichever editing software you’re using.
With just a little bit of time and effort and attention, you can learn how to produce a podcast episode with high quality audio that you can be proud of for years to come.
Mistake #2. Too Many Ads
Many podcasters sell their audience’s attention to advertisers. When it’s done right, it can be beneficial for all parties involved (the host, the listeners, and the advertisers). But if you include too many ad reads or if they aren’t relevant to your audience, you risk annoying your listeners and may even cause them to stop listening to your show forever.
How do you include ad reads in your podcast without turning off your listeners? Here’s 5 key things about podcast advertising to keep in mind:
1. Always respect your listener’s time and attention and use common sense when deciding which advertisers to work with.
Don’t sell ad spots to companies or brands that don’t align with your values or mission.
2. Provide value first, sell stuff second.
Get into the great content as quickly as possible, don’t start your episodes with 5 minutes of advertising. This is a sure way to annoy your listeners and make them start hitting the skip button.
3. Limit the amount of time you spend reading ads in each episode.
Try to maintain a high content-to-ad-read ratio. If your show is only 30 minutes long, don’t spend 10 of those minutes reading ads.
4. Keep ad reads short and to the point.
If your advertiser provides you with a script, make sure that it quickly communicates the important information that your listeners need. If they leave the ad read up to you, spend time to write something short and compelling with a strong call to action at the end. Personal recommendations go a long way too, so don’t be afraid to add a personal anecdote if it’s a product or service you really love!
5. Promote products or services that you believe in and know will be interesting or relevant to your audience.
Would you check out the product or service you’re promoting on your show if one of your friends told you about it? If not, why not? If you aren’t confident that your listeners will at least be mildly interested in what your advertiser is offering, reconsider accepting their money. Look for products or services that align with your listener’s interest.
Mistake #3. Not Enough Preparation / Too Much Rambling
Imagine you’ve been invited to give a 30 minute talk in front of 3000 people at a popular conference in a few months.
Would you prepare a presentation? Would you practice and review your notes before the big day? Or would you just show up and talk about whatever comes to mind for 30 minutes and hope that you say something interesting?
My hope is that you would prepare, but many podcasters don’t spend much time preparing before they start recording. They end up with an episode that doesn’t seem to have a point or any direction, and wonder why people aren’t listening or sharing it.
Listeners will only tolerate an unprepared host for a short time before they switch to another podcast that is better prepared and focused.
Things to keep in mind:
- Remember to treat your listener’s time as more valuable than your own. Think about what you want them to take away from the episode. Have a point. Share your message. Tell a story.
- Decide in advance what you’re going to talk about and how you’ll start and end each episode.
- Be ruthless about editing out unnecessary content or digressions that don’t work.
If you’re interested, here’s a podcast episode about how I prepare for podcast episodes: How to Outline a Podcast Episode.
A Little Preparation Goes a Long Way
Producing a great podcast takes time and effort, but if you avoid those three common podcasting mistakes, you’ll be well on your way towards having a podcast that your listeners will love and share with their friends.
Thanks for reading. And hey, if you liked this article, please share it with a friend. You’ll also enjoy my email newsletter and my podcast (they’re both about podcasting).
