108. Want More Listeners? 3 Podcasting Growth Strategies to Double Your Downloads

Almost every podcaster wants more listeners and more downloads… and I’m guessing you do too! In this episode, I’m sharing 3 proven podcasting strategies (plus a bonus tip!) to help you grow your audience without working overtime. Tune in to learn how to work smarter—not harder—and start taking real steps toward doubling your downloads.

Check out the Podcast Growth Collective: www.ThePodcastTeacher.com/collective

This episode was produced by me, The Podcast Teacher! Contact me at Hello@ThePodcastTeacher.com.

Take the quiz to find out what you need to focus on for podcast growth: www.ThePodcastTeacher.com/quiz

Transcript

Hey. Hey. And welcome back. This is your podcast teacher, Julia Levine, and you're listening to Podcasting for Solopreneurs. The show that helps online business owners grow their podcast to get more listeners, leads, and sales. If you started your podcast with big goals, but lately you're feeling stuck with the same number of downloads week after week, you are not alone. Today we're talking about one of the most common desires that I hear from podcasters. How do I grow my audience and get more downloads? Now, I want to start by saying that downloads are not the only metric that matters, but they do play a big role in looking at your podcast's overall performance, especially if you're using your podcast as a tool to bring leads into your business.

Because the thing is is that the average conversion rate from podcast listener to client is around one percent. So if you're hoping to get, say, 10 new clients from your podcast, you don't need 10 new listeners or even a hundred new listeners, you need a thousand. And so that is why download growth really matters. It's not just about vanity metrics or chasing big numbers. It's about giving yourself more opportunities to connect nurture and convert your listeners. So today I'm walking you through three podcasting strategies that can help you double your downloads. Plus, a bonus strategy at the end that is totally optional, but super effective when the time is right. Let's dive in with the first strategy.

If you've been around here for a while, you know that I am a big fan of podcast SEO, and that's because it works. Your ideal listener is already searching for the content that you're creating. The problem is if your podcast is not optimized for search, they are not finding it. Inside the podcast growth collective, we spend time identifying the best keywords for your show and placing them strategically within your podcast. Because the truth is that even the best content is not going to grow your show very well if no one is discovering it. Podcast SEO is one of the most overlooked ways to attract new listeners organically, and it's a strategy that continues to work long after the episode is published. You've heard me say it before, and I'm gonna say it again. I am all about working smarter, not harder.

And in my opinion, SEO is an incredibly smart strategy. To give you just an idea of how powerful SEO can be, my student Nadia, her podcast grew by 221% in just one month when we dialed in her SEO. 221% no other changes or strategies just SEO. There's a reason it's the number one strategy on my list. Moving into strategy number two, this is a seventy two hour burst of marketing. Most podcasters publish a new episode, maybe make an announcement post about it on social, and then they move on, probably to work on the next episode. Marketing is not my favorite task, and I have been guilty of this myself. So no shame if this is you too.

While it's not nearly as finicky as the social media algorithm, there is an algorithm in the podcast player, and it is happiest when your episode gets a lot of listens within the first seventy two hours. So if you can drive traffic to your episode during that window through email, social media, LinkedIn, repurposed clips, etcetera, you are then signaling to the algorithm that your episode is worth showing to even more listeners, placing it higher in the search results and potentially placing it in the you might also like suggestions for a new listener. I recommend striving for a burst of five marketing assets within your episodes first seventy two hours in an effort to drive traffic to it from other places. However, if you are doing little to no marketing right now that might seem a little overwhelming. So start by using your favorite place to connect with people, whether that's social media, on your email list, or somewhere else. Once you have incorporated that one into your weekly routine, then you can add another and another until you reach that five. It doesn't have to happen overnight. And that brings us to strategy number three, which is guest staying on other people's podcasts.

One of the most powerful and underutilized growth tools available to podcasters is to be a guest on other people's shows. This works so well because it's targeting people who are already podcast listeners. You're not asking them to switch platforms to go from social media into their podcast player. You're not asking them to consume content in a different way. You are capitalizing on people who already enjoy consuming content via a podcast. Guesting of course also leverages another person's audience, a different group of people who may not know who you are or at least not know you very well. And if a podcast host is bringing you on to their show, it's essentially an endorsement. So if the listener already knows, likes, and trusts that podcast host, they are likely then to give you a chance because the host is putting you in the spotlight.

It is important to point out here that you don't need to try to be a guest on the biggest and most popular podcasts for this to work. Go for a quality audience over quantity. You want to connect with a host whose show complements yours in terms of topic, style, and values. You are much more likely to get audience members coming over to your show by guesting on a show with a small but aligned audience rather than a huge show with an audience that's not so aligned. Alright, so those are the three main podcasting growth strategies to double your downloads. SEO, so that people can actually find your content, a 72 marketing push to drive traffic within the algorithm's prime window, and appearing as a guest on other podcasts so that you show up in front of an aligned audience who already loves podcasts. I do have a final strategy for you today, and I am presenting this one to you as a bonus because you need to have a budget for this, and I realize that not everyone is in a place for that. This bonus strategy is using paid ads.

And when the timing is right for you, this strategy can work really, really well. It is a bit more advanced because in addition to having a budget available, you also need to have your content and positioning dialed in first. If your titles are not clear or your episodes are not retaining listeners, paid traffic is not going to solve that problem. So ads are not a magic fix, but if your show is already working and you just want to multiply your results, paid ads can really move the needle for you. There are a lot of different platforms where you can run ads and I have found some of them to be more lucrative than others. If you want help implementing paid ads or any of these other strategies inside of a supportive space with coaching, community, and a library of high impact resources, come join us in the Podcast Growth Collective. This is where you will get the clarity, structure, and strategy to grow your show without guessing, burning out, or doing it all on your own. Head to the podcastteacher.com/collective to learn more.

I would love to support you there. Until next time, happy podcasting.