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Just One Tip from Your Podcast Performance Coach
227 Are Your Podcast Titles Killing Your Growth? Here’s How to Fix Them
00:07:49
Are your podcast episode titles helping your show thrive, or are they holding it back? A poorly written title can kill your downloads, lose listeners, and leave your podcast buried in search results. But here’s the good news: you can fix...
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Tim Wahlberg
Hey, podcaster, I'm Tim Wahlberg, your podcast performance coach, with another actionable tip so you can grow your podcast authority, generate leads, and convert with ease. Today's tip is amp up your underperforming episodes. Are your old episodes gathering cobwebs? When was the last time you checked back in on them? Are they still generating downloads and leads? Let's bring them back to life and get them working for you again. You know that saying, you can't change the past. It doesn't apply to podcast episode titles. In fact, updating past episode titles could give you an unexpected increase in downloads and leads. Yeah, Ken. Titles are a crucial part of a successful podcast. I've covered this a few times over the years on this show. Check out episodes 81 and139 because your episode titles can boost or bury your show. Think about it. When someone discovers your show for the first time, they're window shopping. They're having a look at your titles, deciding on whether they're going to dive in. If you don't have titles that grab them, create curiosity, or convince them that there is pure gold on the other side of that play button, they're moving on. And speaking of discovering your show, your podcast titles play a crucial role in your show being discovered. A good title that answers a question someone is searching for will put your episode right in front of them. And if they click play and like what they hear, you might have just earned a new subscriber or customer. So your episode titles should be helping you get found online and hooking the looky loos in for a taste. So, are they? If your answer is no or not sure, keep listening. We're going to give those old, tired titles a makeover. And yes, you can change an episode title after it's been published. They're episode titles, not the Ten Commandments. Okay, so first, let's figure out which of your titles need a revamp. Here are three signs. One, Low performance. Open up your analytics and have a look. Do you have any episodes with fewer downloads or engagement than your average? These are first in line for a title refresh. Number two, relevance. Sometimes old titles stop feeling valuable because they feel dated. And sometimes they literally are dated. For example, an episode titled Top 3 Golf Tips of 2021 is not going to feel valuable today, even if it's loaded with timeless information. And number three, SEO opportunities. Have you done any new keyword research since you've launched your podcast? Chances are things have shifted. So check old titles for old keywords that may not be aligned with your new niche or strategy, be on the lookout for old titles that don't have any keywords. Those are definitely primed for a do over. All right, so once you've found old titles to update, how do you make sure that they're better? Well, this show is called Just One Tip, and I've already given you that tip, so go and figure it out on your own. Just kidding. Okay, let me give you a few more tips on optimizing old episode titles. Number one, Be listener centric. If you've listened to my show before, this one is no surprise. Everything about your show should be listener centric, including the title. Focus on what your audience gets from the episode. Answer the question, what's in it for them? For example, an original title might be tips for growing your business. An optimized title would sound like this. Five proven strategies to scale your car wash business without burnout. Okay, number two, Use actionable language. It's not surprising that titles that start with action words or direct promises perform better. Your titles need to be results oriented so you can use words like learn, discover, boost, how to or avoid. Can't you just feel the urgency there? It's like Tom Cruise is going to come running through this episode any second. Oh, and there he goes. Okay. Another way to optimize titles is to leverage keywords. We've already talked about identifying titles for an update by their lack of keywords, so make sure you get some in there. Research what your audience is searching for and include those terms naturally. Another way to optimize titles is to include numbers or lists. People love structure and clarity in titles and numbers. Give them that. For example, five quick fixes for better podcast audio or three common mistakes killing your podcast growth. Your listener knows exactly what they're going to get. Okay, number five, make it intriguing. Use curiosity peaking phrases like something, something you won't believe or something something nobody tells you or the secret to something, something we all love a little bit of drama, so make it more dramatic. For example, marketing tips for coaches versus the marketing hack every coach should know. Okay, number six. Make sure you reflect the episode's value. Don't get caught up in optimizing your titles that you slip into the dark side of marketing. The old bait and switch. Don't over promise, don't lie. Don't trick your potential listener. It won't go well for you. Just make sure your title matches the content. And finally, the last tip on optimizing underperforming titles. Make them short and sweet. Keep it concise. Aim for under 70 characters to avoid getting cut off in podcast apps. Now that you know why and how to refresh old podcast episodes, it's time to get to work. I love treating this like an experiment, which means you have to track what you're doing. A simple spreadsheet will do you want the old title and the new title, the downloads before the makeover and the downloads after. It's pretty simple. Once you've done this with a group of titles, look for the trends. Did your audience respond to a certain style of title, or perhaps a specific keyword is driving attention? You'll only know if you track and measure performance over time. Use these tips to breathe new life into old episodes and perhaps create a new way of titling your future episodes. And I hope that's just the tip you need. Updating old titles could give you a surprising boost in downloads or even better, increase your leads. Your titles may be why your show is underperforming, but there are other factors to investigate. Want to know what those are? We run through them all in our free Podcast Audits. You can get that@podcastperformancecoach.com or find the link at the top of the Show Notes in your podcast player. If you're podcasting for your business, the audit is a great tool to check the alignment of your podcast with your organization. Follow the link in the Show Notes or find out more@podcastperformancecoach.com I'm Tim Wahlberg. Word See you.