← Let's Start a Podcast! - A Step-By-Step Guide to Launching Your Show On Any Budget
Let's Start a Podcast! - A Step-By-Step Guide to Launching Your Show On Any Budget
What's In a Name? How to Name Your Podcast
00:10:03
The right name clicks. The perfect name sticks. In this episode, we break down exactly how to name your show so it gets found, gets remembered, and builds a brand worth growing. Episode Overview You might already have a name floating around. Maybe...
Loading summary
Transcript3 lines
- [00:07]
A
Okay, we are at a critical point in the creation of your podcast. This, the ever important naming of the podcast. The wrong name is going to confuse people. The right name clicks, but the perfect name, it sticks. So even though you might already have an idea of what you want to call your show, you should listen to this episode carefully because there might be reasons why you might want to change. Or maybe you already have the perfect one. We'll see. You might already have a few name ideas floating around. Maybe you got a like a brilliant pun. Or maybe you're stuck in a blank page paralysis. Or maybe you just want to call it the podcast and move on with it. Right? Whatever your situation is, this episode is going to help you go from clever idea to confident brand identity without falling into the traps that make your show hard to find, hard to remember, or hard to grow. So what makes a great podcast name? Let's start by breaking it down into four essential qualities. Number one, Clarity. People should immediately get what your show is about or who it's for just from the name. An example of a bad name. If you call your show Echoes an option. A better option might be Echo Echoes, Colon True Ghost Stories from the South. Don't try to be too mysterious. Clever is fine, but clarity is what converts. Number two, Memorability. Short, sticky, easy to say. Great podcast names kind of roll off the tongue. Think of Smartless or call her Daddy, the Daily Hidden Brain or Armchair Expert. Think about it this way. Is it easy to pronounce and easy to spell? Would someone remember it after hearing it once? And can it be easily recommended in a conversation? Yeah, I'm aware that our show, the Skeptic Metaphysicians violates a couple of those. Maybe more than a couple of those. I'm here to help you, guide you in not making the same mistakes we did. So just do as I say, not as I do. All right? Number three, SEO Friendly Makes it searchable. For those that don't know, SEO is search engine optimization. Your name should help people you not bury you in search results. An example of that is a podcast that might be called Flow. Might sound kind of cool, but it's going to get lost among all the plumbing services and yoga studios out there. So instead, you might want to think about keywords that people might search for and try to include one of those in your name or your subtitle. Number four, Emotional resonance. Does it evoke a feeling or an identity or transformation? Think of shows like Terrible. Thanks for Asking, that Hits emotionally, right? Or How I Built this Creates Intrigue and aspiration. How about the skeptic metaphysicians? Hey, that's us. We think that creates identity. In contrast, if your listener feels seen or curious just by reading the title, you've nailed it. Now, there's common mistakes that I've seen out there. When someone names their shows, these are the things that you want to try to avoid if you can. Number one, don't use your name unless you're already famous. The John Smith show doesn't say anything, doesn't tell me anything about why I should care unless I know who John Smith is. And the fact is, you're trying to reach way more people that don't know you than do. Number two, don't get too punny or obscure. Mike Drops Soup might be funny to you, but it might be huh to everyone else. Number three, don't use podcast cliches. Things like chat time or unfiltered or real talk or. In my head, those are used and abused so often that people just tune them out. Unscripted things like that. Probably not what you're going for. There's just too many shows out there with that exact same title or subtitle in their name, so you're going to get lost in the search results. And number four, don't make it too long. The longer the name is, the less likely people are going to repeat it. So the Skeptic Musician is a search for intelligent life in the world of witchcraft and mayhem and mysticism that has not at all what to do with what our show is about, but just. You get the idea, right? Subtitles are good, and we'll go into that a little bit later, but. But your title should be something that just, again, rolls off of someone's tongue, like the Skeptic Metaphysicians. It's a little harder to say, but it does get you going, huh? Anyway, you get the idea. All right, let's do a little brainstorming. Here's a couple of exercises to get your creativity flowing. Go ahead and pull out a piece of paper or your notes app or whatever it is you want to use. And you're going to make three lists, right? One is your core topics, for example, spirituality or creativity, business, parenting. Like, what's the show overall about? Second list should be feelings that you want to evoke with your show. Think about, like, empowered or curious, peaceful or inspired. Something like that. And the third list, it's who it's for. Women over 40 or entrepreneurs or introverts or artists or magicians. I don't know. I'M just throwing stuff out there anyway. Okay, and now, now take your three lists and mix and match from them. You might get something like the Curious mystic, right? Or Brave at Work, Quiet Power, A podcast for creative introverts. I just kind of mix and matches, gets one of them from one list and get another one from the other list. Put them together, let's see. See if something. One of those, some of those combinations kind of spark something in you because those three lists are essential to what your show is going to be. So it will help you to come up with a name that will specifically tell people what the show is about right off the bat. I mentioned it a little bit earlier, so let's dive into it now. The subtitle strategy. This is used when you need more context. When you show isn't 100% clear as to what it's about or who it's for, you don't need your entire show description in your name. That is what subtitles are for. However, if you go too crazy, you're going to go too crazy. So let me give you some examples of show names and their subtitles and how they work together. Right? Imagine there's a podcast named Lighten the Load. The subtitle Real Talk for Women Navigating Burnout and Big Dreams. You get it? You see how they go together. Lighten the Load. Could be almost anything but Real Talk for Women Navigating Burnout and Big Dreams. Well, that makes it very specific as to who it's for. All right, take another one. A show called Unspoken doesn't really tell me a lot. Right? But the subtitle could be Conversations We're Too Afraid to have. Oh, suddenly makes all the difference, right? Okay, one more. Spirit, comma, interrupted. Spirit, interrupted. Okay, but how about if you add the subtitle, A Skeptics Search for the Sacred. Oh, that kind of puts it all together, right? It just gives you something. It makes it something special. You can use a subtitle to add a search engine optimized keyword that's really important. And we'll go into that a little bit later as well. It can clarify your niche or your target audience. You can increase the emotional resonance behind the title. Once you have a short list of like three to five names that you've kind of narrowed things down to based on everything we just talked about, go ahead and test them out. Say them out loud. Ask your friends, your family, any listeners, if you already have them, what it makes them think of. Google them. Are they already taken really important step that I probably should have mentioned off the bat. Check the domain and the Instagram availability because you're going to want those two things for sure. And then imagine the name in your cover art and your intro, right? The big lights. Can you imagine it there? If it feels awkward to say or to spell repeatedly, get rid of it. If it feels natural, fun and yours? Bingo. All right, here's some bonus tools that I want to give you. Namechecker.com it's name checker with two Rs at the end.com allows you to check the availability across domains and social platforms. It's a really good tool to have a good way to check if the name is available. Just go to Spotify or Apple Podcasts and search for that name and see if anything comes up. Then there's always the standby, right? The big thing that's going around these days. AI. Ask your AI chatbot whether the name is taken and if it is, or if you find it on Apple Podcasts or Spotify or anything like that. Then ask AI for variations or ideas based on your theme around that name that might actually help uncrust your heart. When you find that the name you just found perfect is already taken, I hope that you got something out of that Next episode we're going to talk about show structure and script so you've got the name. Now the next step we're going to build the experience. We'll dive into creating your intro, shaping your episode flow and sounding like a pro, even if you've never even fired up a mic before. See you there.
- [10:03]
B
Safeway and Albertsons have made saving easier than ever, with great savings on family favorites this week at Safeway and Albertsons. USDA Choice Beef TABLE Boneless tri, tip, hole or flank and style ribs bone in are $6.99 per pound member price and asparagus are $1.99 per pound member price plus 16 ounce strawberries. Six ounce raspberries or blackberries are $1.97 each. Limit three member price with digital coupon. Hurry in. These deals won't last. Visit safewayoralbertsons.com for more deals and ways to save.
- [10:33]
C
When you manage procurement for multiple facilities, every order matters, but when it's for a hospital system, they matter even more. Grainger gets it and knows there's no time for managing multiple suppliers and no room for shipping delays. That's why Grainger offers millions of products in fast, dependable delivery so you can keep your facility stocked, safe and running smoothly. Call 1-800-GRAINGER Click grainger.com or just stop by Grainger for the ones who get it done.