← The How To Podcast Series - Podcast Co-Hosts, Practical Podcast Tips, and Podcast Community
The How To Podcast Series - Podcast Co-Hosts, Practical Podcast Tips, and Podcast Community
E623 - Podcasting 101 - Naming Your Podcast So That Listeners Can Find You
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Okay, we're rolling. Hey, welcome back to the how to podcast series. It's Dave with you. Hope you're doing well. We are doing some podcasting 101 here on our YouTube channel. We're grouping these episodes together as a starting point. There's so many episodes, Dave, of your show. Where do I even start? Well, we're doing this thing on YouTube, creating little mini playlists that highlight certain topics that we cover on the show to make it easier for you to find the content you're looking for. You can listen on YouTube. It's an audio podcast on YouTube. I know all the gurus are not happy with me, but it's an audio podcast on YouTube. You can go through the playlist. They're easy to find, they're easy to go through, and again, they're just groupings of episodes and they could be all different numbers from all across the different episodes we've done here. But trying to group them together for you as an easy starting point because it is overwhelming. 623 episodes, it's a lot, I get it. But there's a lot of great content in here. Great interviews, great guest co hosted episodes, great topics, great tools for you as a podcaster. So we're trying to do our best to group them for you as these big podcast episode numbers go up and up and up. We want to make it as super easy as possible for you to not be overwhelmed and have a great starting point. You can start on YouTube. You could also jump over to your favorite podcast player, whatever that is. I personally listen on Spotify. Don't come for me. I love Spotify because it's got music, it's got videos, it's got everything. It also has music videos. Those two words together, which I love. MTV died and Spotify started up music videos. Interesting, right? Anyways, yeah, so I'm on Spotify. That's where I listen. And anyways, you pick the channel you like, pick the app you like, but we've grouped the episodes together to make it super easy. So there you go. Head over to YouTube and you can check out our, our YouTube channel. Love to have you there. Love to chat with you in the comments as well on YouTube. It's always fun. Come meet us over there. We're going to be talking about some one on one stuff today. Naming your podcast so that listeners can actually find you. There's a lot of talk in podcasting about the algorithm to dun dun dun. It's this thing that gives your content to people and says, hey, I think you should check this out. YouTube's great for that. They recommend videos. At the end of every video, even the middle of a video, they'll recommend a video. They're really good. They. They learn you. They learn what you like. TikTok, you click on one video, you're going to get a thousand more just like it. These algorithms really work to feed you content that you may enjoy and you may hate, but podcasting doesn't seem to have the same robust features that YouTube and TikTok and other places have. But what you do, what you can do, and how you can win is how you name your show. I want to kind of debunk some of the myths in podcasting around titling your show, your podcast, the whole podcast, not an episode, the whole. The name of your show. Why it's important to have a good name so people could find you. What's in a name? We'll find out. I'm glad you're here. I am a firm believer that the name of your show really, truly does matter. And anything that you do that confuses people, where they kind of know the name of your show, but they kind of don't know the name of your show. Remember one thing here, people really don't care about you. And I'm sorry for telling you that out loud, but it's true. People really don't care about you. They don't really think about you quite often. They've got this thing called a life, and they're busy doing that, and you are relegated to the. The fringes of their time and attention. So they're not thinking about you all the time. And you need to come to grips with that. You're not as big of deal as you think you are, and that's okay. And that's actually really good because you don't have to worry. You're not impressing anybody. You don't have to convince anybody to come like your show. You just need to do you and create content and just show up, and the rest is the rest. So people aren't worried about you as much. When people come across your show, it's got to be memorable to the point where I can talk about your show to somebody else, and you're not even there to make sure that I do it right. I should be able to tell people the context of your show, the name of your show, and kind of like what the show's about without any prompting from you at all. That's how your podcast becomes shareable. And I believe one of the most effective Ways to get new listeners is to make your podcast shareable. Where people talk about it, people talk about being remarkable. And simply that means that people will remark about your podcast. So you want to be remarkable, not just you want to have your podcast stand out. So a podcast name is not a throwaway thing you do at the end of the process. It is something that's super important. It's something that brings people to you and can help you be found. Look at the name of the show, the how to Podcast series. When people go online and type in how to podcast, we show up. We might not be the number one result, but we show up. If you go on YouTube, we show up wherever you go. The name of the show is highly searched. It's highly competitive, but it's highly searched. And having the word series in there is strategic. Why did I put the word series in the title of my show? It's because I do little mini series. Like this one is a Podcasting 101 miniseries episode I under the umbrella of our Podcasting 101 episodes. So it is a little series episode. So that's important. But I wanted the word series in there so that I could compete with all of the other how to Podcast search results. So having how to Podcast series puts my search above everyone else's. Because I have the word series in there. It's on purpose, it's with intent, it's not an accident. And I'm never changing the name of the show. Knock on wood, I'm never changing the name of the show. Why? Because I like the name of the show and I don't feel like I need to rebrand anything. I like the colors of my artwork. I love the, the fonts, I love the everything. I like that there's a yellow microphone on the, on the artwork. I don't care what the gurus say. I like it and I just do what I like. And I don't worry about all of these opinions and all of these so called experts who come down from the mountain and cast judgment on my show because I'm not doing it the right way. I tell them a goodbye. I don't care what you say because it's what works for you. But it doesn't always work for me. So keep that in mind. Gurus are going to come for you the moment you start a podcast with all this great fancy advice and, and affiliate links and a course and something to sell you. And those people I find quite annoying because I'm not looking to fix my show because there's nothing broken. You might think it's broken, but you might be wrong. So just keep that in mind. The name of your show matters, and I want to help you to come up with the right name for your show by helping you to avoid some mistakes that I see when I'm coaching podcasters just like you. That's what I do. And I want to help you to get beyond the point where you are so tied to your name that you will not let go, you will not change it, and you're not open to feedback about making your show title better. I want to get you before you get to that stage because it takes a lot of work to get you to release the grasp, the firm grasp that you have on the name of your show. When the name of your show is not working because you've fallen in love with it and you're love blind to the name of your show, let's get you before you get to that state, choosing the right name for your podcast really matters. It matters more than you might think. In a crowded world, in a crowded market, with millions of shows, millions of podcasts, your title is often the first thing that potential listeners will see or hear about. And it's the key factor in discoverability on platforms like Apple and Spotify, and it within Google search and on YouTube. I think that we need to consider that clarity and relevance has to come first when we create the name of our show. Your podcast name should signal what your show is about, including relevant keywords that describe your niche. For our friends in the U.S. your niche or the topic that helps both people and the algorithm to understand what your show is about. If your show title is confusing to the algorithm, which is what shows your stuff to people, they don't know what to do with your show because they don't understand what your podcast is about. They don't know who to show it to, so they're going to show it less often. When your podcast name is relevant, when it's something that's easy to understand and can be put into a bucket by the algorithm, the almighty algorithm, then at least you have a fighting chance. When you have the Dave podcast, the algorithm has no idea what to do with that. Nothing. But if I have the Dave Podcast, a finance podcast to help young entrepreneurs, then I have finance, I have young entrepreneurs. Those are keywords, and those are buckets that my podcast can be put into. So when I meet somebody and they're like, I always want to have the Dave podcast, what's it about? I don't know. Well, we don't know what to do with that. And if I don't know what to do with it as a listener, the algorithms, Google, YouTube, they don't know either. And you're going to be fighting uphill to get any kind of recognition for your name. If you find that new people aren't finding your show, you might be the problem. The name of your show might be the problem. When you replace letters with numbers and you have this weird combination that you have to explain every time you tell people about your show, or some weird name that nobody's ever heard of or some blending of two words to make a new word, people are like, what the what the what the what the what the? Make it super simple, be very generic and vanilla. And the name of your show. You can get cute in the episode titles, but keep your title nice and clear. I should be able to say it. I should be able to remember it. It should be obvious, not some kind of inside joke that only certain people are going to get. No acronyms, no short forms, no letters that represent words. No, stop. You need to explain what this show is about. I use this example often. If I said, I have the Chasing Dreams podcast, I'll give you a second. What do you think this show's about? I've started a new show. I haven't. The Chasing Dreams podcast. What is it? I'll wait. Tell me what you think this show's about. The Chasing Dreams podcast. Still waiting. What do you think it is? No, it's not that. You. You in the back. Nope. It's not that either. No, it's. It's not a business podcast. It's not a podcast about chasing your entrepreneurial dream. Nope. It's a sleep podcast to help you fall asleep and chase your dreams as you fall asleep. Right. Now, if I had the Chasing Dreams podcast, a sleep podcast to help you get better, rest. Don't you think that's a little bit more clearer than just the Chasing Dreams podcast? What if it's the Chasing Dreams podcast? How to break out of your 9 to 5 and start your own business. Chasing Dreams make sense now, right? Because there's something there to qualify the name of your show. So if you're going to get cute, make sure you have a qualifier that goes along with that. We in a book would have a subtitle, right? The name of the book. So if it was a book, Chasing Dreams. The book and the subtitle, right? How to find purpose in life. There you go. So the purpose in life part is the part that I would find. And the chasing dreams would be the secondary part of the search. So if you're going to get cute, make sure you have a qualifier, a subtitle, something that explains what you're trying to get to. If you just call it the Chasing Dreams podcast, I can tell you people are going to find you. It's a bad name. Hopefully there's nobody out there that has this. I'll have to look. It's a bad name because it's not clear. It's not something that people would remember, and it's not something that people would know to search for. I wouldn't go to a website, a search engine, an AI tool, and type in chasing Dreams. Most likely I wouldn't. But I would type in Sleep Podcast. I would type in Entrepreneur. I would type in Dreaming beyond my nine to five. All those things would be search things that I would think of if I don't know who you are. So make sure you pick your title and make sure it's clear and it's relevant. It's got to be super, super clear. That's a big part of discoverability. And when people complain to me that they're not finding new listeners, when I look at the name of their title, that seems to be the root cause in many, many of the situations where your name as the podcast title is not good enough. It's not. Unless your name is Joe Rogan or Mel Robbins or Theo Vaughn, nobody knows who you are and nobody's thinking of you right now. Just keep that in mind. So you gotta win people over with a great title. So here's another example. I'll give you this one. I have another show. I have nine shows. Another show called dad Space. DadSpace. CA is a website. It's a podcast for dads by dads. That's what it is. It's not a podcast for men, not a podcast for moms. There's a lot of great mom podcasts, but I can't. I can't do a mom podcast. I'm a dad. So I have a podcast for dads. It's not for men who don't have children. It's for dads. It's a very specific audience. It's super easy to remember. It's dad space. Two words. It doesn't even have the word podcast in it, just dad space. It's. It's something that's super easy to remember. It's. It's got great search engine results because it only has two. Two words in the title. That's really good by the way long flowing titles are really hard to remember and hard to type into a search engine. Dad space. Pretty straightforward, easy for anybody to say to anybody. If you're launching a parenting podcast, words like parenting, dad, or family can really improve your search visibility compared to vague and abstract titles. So think about how you use your words and use them well. When I, my kids were little. Speaking of dad, when my kids were little and they got frustrated and they're kind of whiny, what was that? What would I say? Use your words. Use your words. Tell me what you need. Are you hungry? Are you tired? Do you need something? What's wrong? Are you thirsty? Use your words. That's what I said to my kids when they're little. And it works today for you as a podcaster. Same way. Use your words. Tell me, what is your show about? Use your words and use them properly. It's going to help with your search. Keep your podcast title for your show simple, memorable and search friendly. How to Podcast Dad Space Podcast editing is support show Living the next chapter. That one's a little bit. That's a little bit gray because it's not exactly say book, but I have a subtitle. So keep your podcast title simple, memorable and search friendly. Short names are easy to remember, Say, spell, promote, share, and aim for roughly two to five words to avoid unusual spelling or symbols as well as a big thing that I see that I'm like, just a second, hang on. How am I supposed to know that I'm supposed to spell the word that way? You want me to spell a common word in an uncommon way? I'm always going to spell it the common way. I won't know to spell it your way. So you're, you're already causing a boundary offense between me and my search by you. Spelling your words some unique, special way that you love makes a lot of sense to you, makes no sense to the audience. So when you do things that make your audience confused, they give up. They again, nobody cares about you when you first start your podcast, so they're not looking for you. Oh, I hope there's a podcast with this weird spelling that I've never heard of before. Nobody does that. Nobody searches for that. Until you win an audience and build them over, they don't care about you. So just keep that in mind. I know that hurts, but it's true. When you first start, you have zero listens, you have zero followers, and you have zero chance to be found if you have a confusing title for your show, keep that in mind. The Simpler the name for your show, the less friction that listeners face when they're typing it into a search bar or trying to remember it to tell their friend. Make it super simple. I don't like the acronym KISS when it means keep it simple stupid. I think that's negative. How about Keep it super simple? Can we just re. Change that? Everybody, can we just agree on that for a second? Keep it super simple is a little more positive than Keep it simple stupid. I don't like the word stupid. I think that that's not really encouraging. Right? That sounds like a judge. American Idol sounds like a judge. I like Keep it super simple, which sounds more like a coach. You know, like the Voice. If you know, you know what I'm talking about. Keep it super simple. Make it easy for people. Don't confuse them. Balance your keyword use with your branding as well as you come up with a title for your podcast. Incorporating your keywords is helpful, but don't cover, don't overstuff your podcast title with keywords. Don't just slam them with a bunch of words that are. Is kind of relevant to what you talk about. That's just. That's messy. That's annoying. And having 25 words to describe your podcast and the title of your show, you're just playing games now. You're not talking to listeners. You're talking to the. To algorithms and bots. And is your show for an algorithm or a bot or is it for people? It's for people. I hope it is. Then make your title relevant to people. That's the most important thing. Your name will still need these personality and you should reflect your show's identity within the name of your show while helping with your search visibility by having good words. Google loves good words. Not just a ton of words. They love good words. Again, think of it from Google's perspective of Google was a person. They want to give the best results possible. When somebody asks a question, I'm looking for a podcast with podcasting. Well, how about the how to podcast series, right? Instead of, well, what about the Dave podcast? What's the Dave podcast? They want to give good results. So give them the material to give you and promote you as the result that people are looking for by balancing your keywords with your branding as well. When you're coming up with an idea for the name of your show, one of the last things people do, unfortunately, is check to see if the name is even available. We live in a very competitive space, and when somebody comes up with an idea for a show they're like, well, I'll just pick any name I want. And my question to them is, do you know there's 10 other podcasts with the exact same name as you, the one that you love? They're like, oh, well, that's fine. I'm like, well, you know, you're splitting all of the search potential across 11 different suggestions then. And how am I supposed to know which One of these 11 shows is your show? So I know it's hard to be creative and come up with a new name for a show, and there's no reason why somebody couldn't technically take the name of your show as well. So it's really hard to protect and it's hard to fight for. People will tell you that you can get all kinds of, you know, you can register it, blah, blah, blah, but there's really no nothing stopping somebody from taking your idea for your show. It's gonna happen. It can happen. It's bound to happen. So. But check availability before you decide on the show, not after. I've seen people create multiple episodes, record them, produce them, get them all done, and then go and look and go, wait a minute, somebody has the exact same show as I do, Same name, same concept. And I'm like, oh, no, what am I gonna do? I recorded all these episodes. Before you start, before you hit record early days, check the availability and the uniqueness of the name of your show. Before you fall in love with your podcast name, make sure it's available. Like, go do a Google search, go on your podcast app of choice, type it in exactly the way you type it, and see what comes up. You might find that somebody has the exact same name as you. Now what are you going to do? Are you going to just create a second podcast with the same title? A tenth podcast with the same title? Or should you tweak it? Maybe there's something you could do. Search the podcast directories, go through Google, go to AI, look at social platforms to avoid confusion with any existing show. Also check the domain, go to GoDaddy. That's where I get my website domains and do a search. You can do a search right there on GoDaddy and type in the domain of the name of the show that you're thinking of getting. So the Dave show dot com, right? Oh, it's gone. Okay, so the Dave podcast dot com, that's gone too. Okay, The Dave show podcast dot com still gone. Okay. Oh, right. Like you're gonna come up with something. Do your search, do your due diligence. When you first, start out to avoid any confusion, right? The other side of it is if the other podcast that has the same name as the one you love, they might have a lot of negative reviews. Maybe they're just terrible and people are really not happy with them. They could be very political. They could have said something or got in the news. They could have done something terrible. And you, the last thing you want to do is associate yourself with that. So don't name yourself after a show with terrible reviews. People might think that your show is that show and they're like, oh, look at that show with all the bad reviews. That's not my show. My show's over here. Don't set yourself up for failure by picking somebody else's name. It's not going to work. I really, really encourage podcasters to not just pick something because you love it, but because you've researched it and you know it's available. Spend some time on this. This is not something you just decide in the split second. You need to do your homework on this and think long term and be flexible with the name of your show. Your podcast show name should not be a dead end street. It should have lots of room to grow. It should have lots of room to go off in different ways and give you room to expand your topic without being closed off. Give yourself a name that has some legs, that has some length, that has some ability to grow and expand within the title of your show. Choose a name that will still fit your podcast as it evolves. Avoid overly narrow references or trendy buzzwords that come into the, into our vocabulary and leave just as fast. Avoid those things. It might date your show in a year or two and you're going to rebrand your show just like that. A strong title grows with your content. It doesn't limit your content. I've got a couple tips for you to consider as you decide the name of your show. So you might want to make note of these. They're in the show notes as well. So three tips. First, read it out loud. Say the name of your show out loud. Looks great on paper, looks great in canva, but say it out loud to ensure it sounds natural and easy to pronounce. If you have to explain a spelling, you know, like, oh, it's, it's this with two S's. Don't forget it's two S's. After you've said that 50 times, you're going to be annoyed. Why did I pick that name? Don't do that. Don't pick a name that you has to be explained. That has to have somebody like, oh, just so you know, it's this way, not that way. Every time you have to say that, you're expecting your audience to do that for you as well. They're not going to do that, so don't do that to yourself. Make it super easy and use common spelled words. Be careful here. Please read it out loud. Is it easy? Can you say it out naturally? Do you stumble over it? Change your name, then don't pick that name. Read it out loud. Second, test it with real listeners or peers to see if the name actually conveys the right message. Simple thing. Walk up to a bunch of people, say, thinking about starting a podcast. It's called blank, and say the name of it. And then say to them, with no explanation, what is the show about? What do you think it is? You're going to get some very interesting responses if the name's not clear. And that's where you're like, oh, I got to do some more homework. If you're. If you don't have a group of friends, then come join mine. Because I do have a group of friends over on Meetup. We'll actually work with you as a group of podcasters and community to help you. And I'm always available@howtopodcast.ca. let's talk about your, your dream, the name of your show, and I'll give you some feedback. I'd love to help you. The third part is consider a subtitle. We talked about this as books have subtitles. The name of the book, colon, and then a qualifying statement about what it is about. So I'm looking at one right here. It's an author that's been on my author podcast. Her podcast. Her book is called the Compassionate Writer. Good, right? It's a book about writing. I can take that just from the title. But then a subtitle says, find your voice, enhance your story and touch lives. Cool. All of those things. Find your voice, enhance your story and touch lives. Those are all things that help me to understand how the compassionate writer is going to help me. Your podcast can have a title and a subtitle, and you can play with the subtitle without touching the title of your show. Right. So consider that subtitle is super important. It's going to help people to understand clarity, and it's also going to help you to be found without stuffing a bunch of keywords into that primary title. Leverage your subtitles. They're super important. I can help you with this. By the way, the bottom Line here. A great podcast name does more than just sound great. It makes your show easier to find, it signals value to the listeners, and it sets you up for sustainable growth for the long term. Think like your audience. Think in terms of clear words, easy to remember, simple, descriptive and memorable, and you're gonna win every time. The algorithm only works if it knows what to do with you. If the algorithm doesn't understand you, if YouTube doesn't understand you, if Google doesn't know what to do with the name of your show, they're not going to show you to anybody. And that's where you lose out. So before you fall in love with some cutesy name that's all about you and has to be explained every time you say it, it's time for you to take a step back from that and think, how can I serve my audience with the name of my show? Everything has to come back to your audience. If you want one. You need to have a show that people can find. If you don't care about audience, then they can name your show whatever you want. But if you want to be found and you don't want to struggle and you want great results, think about how you name your show. And if you need help with this howtopodcast ca, there's 600 plus episodes here of how to podcast series and we talk podcasting here all the time. So if you find value in the show, consider helping the show out through our Buy me a coffee or reaching out to us through the website how to Podcast CA Calendar links right there. Love to connect with you anytime. Thanks for being here. Good luck on your journey as a podcaster. If you need support, remember, don't podcast alone. Always here to help you. Thanks for being here. Take care. Hey, it's Dave. Thank you for sticking around to the end. This is where we do our call to action or pathway to engagement as I like to call it. And here's what's interesting. I've been doing this podcast for years now, hosting meetups, helping podcasters, editing for people, doing a lot of the behind the scenes stuff. And when we have people who follow the show reach out to me and say, dave, guess what? I'm like, what? They said, I just hired my first consultant. I'm gonna go work with them and help me with my podcast. And I kind of go, wait a minute, you what? They're like, yeah, yeah, I found a podcast consultant and they're gonna help me with my show. It's hard to pretend to be happy. Why? Because I want to work with you, I like, wait a minute. Like Dave, you know, the guy Dave who's been doing the how to Podcast series and eight other podcasts, and the guy that's been with you the whole time, and we've done meetups, we've done time together, we've spent time together. And you've hired somebody else now. Maybe I'm not your person. That's okay. I'm totally fine with that. By the way, keep coming back. I love having you here. But if you're like, well, I didn't hire you because you don't have anything like that, do you? And I do, and I have been for a long time, and I don't talk about it enough, apparently, because people are going to other people looking for things that Dave does. So in the spirit of Dave and in the spirit of making better connections with you, I do have personal coaching in podcasting. I have podcast community. I have all of the resources. I have all of the background, the history in podcasting, and the love for you as a fellow podcaster. If you're looking for a podcast coach, somebody who can walk with you, somebody who cares about you, someone who is your challenger, your cheerleader, and your coach. Because even though I've said on the show you can't be all three, I think I am. And I want to help you. So. HowtoPodcast ca, please, before you go searching anywhere else, come to where we started and where we met first, right here. I'd love to help you. HowtoPodcast CA come reach out to me. I want to talk to you. Thanks. Okay, you're still here. Great. Okay, this is a little bonus content for the people who stick around to the very, very end. You know who you are. It's you. Other people are gone already. They probably won't even hear this. So it's just you and me. Glad you're here. I have a little trick for you. This is a tip, okay? A podcasting tip for you. When you record a solo podcast and there's no one else around, just you, your microphone, computer screen, and you're by yourself, and you're like, I feel so lonely. Grab yourself a little mirror. You know, just a little mirror, and put it somewhere around your computer screen so you can see it, and you can see yourself in the mirror and talk to yourself. I know talking to yourself is not encouraged, but in this situation, it's actually a good thing because you can see your face, your facial expressions, and you have something to. To talk to. It might seem weird. It might take a while to get used to. But setting up a mirror will help you to be more engaging. You'll have better, better eye contact. You'll have some point of reference. Instead of just staring at the blank wall in front of you, throw up a little mirror in front of you. Talk to yourself. Talk to your mirror. The image of you in the mirror. It's a great way to get over feeling so alone. When you're podcasting and recording by yourself, having a guest is great. You can see them on your screen. You have somebody to look at. Would you're all by yourself, trying to stay motivated, trying to stay engaging on the mic without sounding like a robot. Grab a simple little mirror, put it there below your monitor and talk to yourself. Look at yourself in the mirror. How do you look when you're talking? Do you look excited? Do you look engaged? Or do you look bored? If you look bored, you sound bored. If you look engaged and happy and excited, that's how you're going to show up on the mic. A mirror is a great way to shine a light back on you, on what your audience is experiencing through your voice, through your mic, into their ears. A simple, a simple little mirror could be all it takes to be a little bit more engaging on the mic. That's my challenge for you. Go try it. Let me know how it works. Go talk to yourself. It's okay. It's all you're allowed to. Nobody will see, nobody will know. Just you and your audience can tell the difference because you're showing up for them and you're a little more engaging. So go try it. Let me know how it works. Outerpodcast ca Take care.