38. Podcasting FAQs: How Long Should Your Episodes Be? And Other Questions!

I'm always asked how long podcast episodes should be, why we care about the Apple Podcasts charts, and many other things. In today's episode, I'm answering 5 of my most frequently asked questions.

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Transcript

Hey. Hey. And welcome back. Today, I am here with another round of podcasting FAQs. I have gotten questions over and over and over, the same questions over and over and over. And so today, I'm going through 5 more frequently asked questions in case these are some questions that you may have as well. So question number 1, I don't use any Apple devices. How can I get my podcast on Apple? And so I totally understand this question if you're not an Apple device user that Apple Podcasts may seem like this foreign land, but it's just as simple as creating an account with Apple and Apple ID.

This is a free account, and it's just signing up for it, creating a email username, password just like you would with any other company signing up for a free account with a company. And so you simply sign up for an account, and you can do this on your Windows device or on your Android phone by using your web browser. So you can do this through any device that you have. You do not have to have an Apple device. And then once you have your account set up, then you can go through the process of following the steps to get your podcast on Apple, connecting your tech. So the account is free. You just have to simply sign up and create that initial account, and then you're good to go. Okay.

Second question. So also speaking of Apple podcasts, Julia, you, the podcast teacher, always talk about making the Apple podcast charts whenever you're talking about appearing on the podcast charts. And so the question is, do other platforms have their own charts? And so the answer to that is yes. A lot of the other platforms, I'd probably say most of the other platforms, do have their own charts. However, Apple Podcasts is the largest podcast player, and so their charts are kind of seen as the most prestigious and the ones that really matter. So you can certainly go to any other kind of smaller podcast player, and you can see that you're making the charts on their platforms. And that is something to be celebrated. Don't get me wrong.

However, you're dealing with a small portion of listenership. And so when we're talking about Apple Podcasts and we know that 60 to 70% of podcast listeners listen through their Apple Podcasts app, then the Apple Podcasts charts are the place to be. So that's why when you hear me or anyone else talking about making the charts, it's always about the Apple Podcast charts. And if you'd like more information on the Apple Podcast charts and some strategies to make the charts, I'll refer you back to episode number 6 of this podcast, which is where I debrief my podcast launch and how I made the charts, replicating a process that I have used with students and 1 on 1 clients as well. Alright. 3rd question. What equipment do I need to start my podcast, and how much is this gonna cost me? Well, you really only need a microphone and some headphones. So for a professional microphone, that's probably gonna run you somewhere around 70 US dollars, at least for the microphone that I recommend.

And then you'll need a pair of headphones to use during your editing process if you're gonna be doing that yourself. You don't need anything fancy for these headphones. You can use kind of just a simple $10 pair of earbuds, and that is totally fine. Of course, you can spend a little bit more and get a nicer pair of headphones, which can be beneficial in some circumstances, but you certainly don't have to. So for less than a $100, you have all the equipment that you need to get started with your podcast. And if you'd like more information on podcasting equipment for beginners, I will refer you to episode number 7 of this podcast, which is all about equipment for beginners. Alright. Question number 4.

What if my podcast's purpose is to entertain and not inform? And this question came from my podcasting 1 on 1 workshop, and we were talking about identifying your ideal listener and, specifically, their pain points and really drilling down into what problems are you trying to solve for them, what big desires are you trying to work towards. And I mentioned that if your podcast is for entertainment or inspiration purposes rather than more tangible, practical information purposes that you have a little bit more wiggle room in your ideal listener. Maybe you don't have to get quite as specific as I was teaching. And so I had quite a few people participating this round whose podcasts are entertainment focused. And so I got quite a few questions about, well, my listeners don't necessarily have pain points. I'm not trying to solve a problem for them. So how do I identify my ideal listener? Is this important? All that good stuff. And my answer to them was that you still need to figure out what's in it for them when it comes to your podcast.

Why is listening to your podcast worth their very valuable time? What are they going to get out of it? And so when it comes to podcasts that are inspirational or entertainment, we could stick on the very surface and say, well, of course, my inspirational podcast's purpose is to inspire someone. It's worth their time because they're going to leave feeling inspired. If it's entertainment focused, they're going to get a laugh. That's why it's worth their time. And that's a fantastic start. But then I would challenge you to ask, why your show? Why not another show that's entertaining or another show that's inspirational? Why yours? Why is your show in particular worth their time going to give them some type of benefit? What's kind of your unique proposition? So if you're out there and you have an entertainment idea for a podcast or maybe you're just focused on inspiration, hopefully, that helps you figure out kind of who you're talking to a little bit and why that you would be tuning in. And the 5th and final question for today is, is there an ideal length for podcast episodes? So there's a short answer and a long answer to this question. The short answer is no.

There is not an ideal time length for podcast episodes. The long answer goes into, of course, each content area and each audience is unique. So you need to figure out what is best for your audience and their needs and what makes sense for your content. Obviously, if you were doing an interview podcast, if you're looking to get into an in-depth conversation, that's probably not going to be accomplished in 5 to 10 minute episodes. But if you're trying to give bite sized pieces of information, that absolutely can be accomplished in 5 to 10 minute episodes. So take a look at your content, take a look at your audience, and see what might be best. You can also experiment as you are starting your podcast and as you're gathering data and kind of see which episodes land with your audience. Are people tuning in for a longer episode that may be a little out of the norm for you? If they are, great.

Continue doing those. If they're not, maybe that's a, oh, maybe we should scale it back a little bit. Once your podcast has been live for a little while and you've gotten some traction with listeners, you can log in to the back end of specifically your Apple Podcasts Connect account, and you can look at something called your consumption rate. Your consumption rate tells you how much of an episode people are listening to. And a good consumption rate is 70% or higher. You want your audience to be listening to 70% of your episode or more. Obviously, if you have a 10 minute episode, that means they only have to listen to 7 minutes. So that kind of barrier to entry is a little bit lower than if you have an hour long podcast.

Listening to 70% is a much more time intense investment. If you go in to look at your consumption rate and you're seeing that on a regular basis, your consumption rate is lower than 70%, that could be a sign that your episodes are too long for your content, for your audience, or something that you need to kind of tighten them up a little bit. Of course, if an episode is fulfilling the need of the listener, they're going to keep listening no matter how long it is. But if you get pulled down a rabbit hole that doesn't necessarily relate to the topic at hand, then people might say, okay. I have better things to do right now. This is not helping me solve my problem. I am going to tune out. So it all comes back to your content and your audience.

And once you've been up and running for a little bit, you can look at some of that data to help you decide what could be an ideal length for you in your podcast episodes. Alright. So that's it for today. Five frequently asked podcasting questions. If you have a podcasting question, please take a look at the episode description. There is a little button that says, send us a text message. You can send me a text here at the podcast and tell me what your question is, and I will answer it in an upcoming episode. Until next week, happy podcasting.