You need to start thinking about how you are going to get more podcast downloads.
Your podcast downloads are not the same things as your listens, even though the two are often confused. Your downloads are a count of how many listeners have requested your feed (but does not necessarily mean they listened to the show). Most podcast hosting platforms will provide you with these figures.
You podcast downloads are a huge part of your podcast. They are how many people have downloaded your episode to their devices, ultimately giving you a metric by which to base the success of your podcast.
As an important KPI for your podcast, you can use these figures to your advantage to drive the success of your show further, build your audience and grow in popularity. These statistics will help you understand what episodes perform best, what type of episodes your audience are interested in most, what length of episode they engage with best etc., ultimately arming you with the information to create the ideal show for your listeners.
Your download metrics also increase your chances for income opportunities and advertising partnerships when you can pitch the data to others. Podcast advertisers usually pay based on the CPM or cost per mille model, meaning more downloads will equate to more revenue.
Key areas to look at for boosting your downloads is:
How are you going to achieve these?
Check out these 18 tips for How to Get More Podcast Downloads.
Starting with the basics – produce a high-quality, value-driven podcast if you want a dedicated audience and a show that will grow over time. If your quality is not good, people will not want to listen to your show and your podcast downloads will likely never grow. This goes for both the value you are providing your listeners and the audio-quality and listening experience of the show.
The more places where your podcast can be discovered, listened to, and interacted with, the more people will consume your podcast. This leads to growth and a boost to that download traffic
If you’re not sure what directories you want your show to be available on, check out our Top 15 Podcast Directories here.
One of the most important things to invest some time getting right for your podcast is your Search Engine Optimisation. For boosting your discoverability and promoting your show, your SEO is going to do wonders for growing your audience. By extension, the more listeners you have – the more downloads you will rack up.
Check out how to rank your podcast on search engines here.
It goes without saying a podcast website (or a dedicated web page for your podcast on your existing site) is a must-have for podcast discovery and growth. It can drive new listeners to your podcast who may not have known about the show previously, and thus increasing the chances boosting your downloads.
You want to entice as many people as possible to listen to your show. Writing great episode descriptions, letting your audience know what the episode is about and why they should listen to it, is an important way to boost your listenership and your download traffic.
Not only do you want to have your podcast easily discoverable, but you also want it to be discoverable by the right audience. Don’t sabotage your growth opportunities by misplacing your podcast in the wrong category. Think about your content, your niche and your target audience and be sure to have your podcast listed under the right category.
Letting your audience know about upcoming episodes and creating hype and interest inits release will help with getting more listeners and downloads. Your audience will be eagerly await the release of the latest episode and will be sure to give it a listen.
If your audience don’t know that your new episode has been released, how will they know to listen to it? Good promotion and marketing are essential for your podcast’s success. Social media can be one of the best ways to generate hype for a new episode and expand your reach.
Check out our 10 Best Podcast Promotion and Marketing Strategies.
Another way to let your listeners know your latest episode has been released is to let them know through your mailing list. The more ways you can promote your episode the better as it will all work towards growing our downloads.
If you have great guests, industry leaders or other content creators/podcasters on your show, you have a huge opportunity at your disposal to tap into their audience base, increase your contact range and reach a whole new cohort of listeners that may never have listened to your podcast before.
You are also giving your existing audience variety in their listening experience, and a chance to learn from others, all the while boosting the value of your podcast for your listeners. The more value you can give, the more dedicated your audience and the more download traffic.
Check out our post on how to find great podcast guests!
Ask your audience to subscribe to your podcast. Using this as your podcast’s call-to-action will drive subscriptions to your show and boost your download statistics.
We have our tips on How to Create Effective Call-to-Action’s in your podcast here.
You can also ask your audience to leave a review and rate your podcast. Again, this is great for SEO, discoverability, and your credibility. If potential new listeners understand the value and enjoyment others get from your show your audience base will grow– all adding to your podcast downloads.
Keeping to a regular release calendar will make it easier for your audience to tune in to your latest episode releases. Maintaining a consistent posting schedule will mean that you will retain more listeners to your show, preventing your existing audience losing interest.
From boosting SEO, improving your show’s accessibility and inclusion, and creating reusable content, sharing your episode transcriptions is another way you can grow your audience and boost your podcast downloads. Find out more about Podcast Transcription - why and how you should be doing it in our blog post here.
Writing a blog post based on your episode is another essential strategy when it comes to podcast growth. From SEO and accessibility benefits, blog posts will ultimately lead to growth in your download numbers.
A clever way to grow your downloads is to set up Autoplay. This is similar to what you would have experienced on YouTube. Most podcast services will include this feature whereby the next episode will automatically play for your listeners when the current one ends.
We are big advocators for the benefits of video podcasts. They are another way you can grow your audience and appeal to different types of podcast consumers, which all ultimately lead to your download traffic growth.
If you are interested in Launching a video podcast, check out our guide here.
When people are searching for the latest trends, why not have your podcast appear on their Search engine Results Page? Keeping on top of the latest trends and current topics of interest will help you get discovered and grow your audience.
By utilising these 18 tips, your show’s download metrics, popularity and success will be sure to grow and grow!
You can always find a professional or a podcast production agency to manage all of this for you.
