Spring is in the air and it's time to celebrate new life! If you've been looking to get a bit of a refresh for your podcast or simply want to procrastinate actual dusting and cleaning by working on your podcast, enjoy some things you can do to spring clean your podcast!
Check your website yourself or have a friend go through your website to make sure links are working and the contact button directs listeners where it's supposed to. Take a look at your website as a new listener would. Make sure it's easy for folks to find your podcast and play it easily on your website.
Check your social media links in your bio. You can use a service like linktr.ee to set up multiple links or simply use PodLink to set up an easy-to-click link for anyone to open up your podcast on whatever podcast app comes on their phone.
Check your podcast's description and update it. Has the schedule or cohosts changed? Make sure new listeners know what to expect when they find your show.
Check your copyright date in your podcast settings, website, and newsletter to be sure it's up-to-date. (Check out my annual reminder from Instagram in this post so you can see how to change it within the Libsyn settings 😉)
Validate your RSS feed to make sure it's running smoothly. One of my favorite tools for this is Cast Feed Validator (plus it's free!)
Check your episode listening retention stats. There are a lot of stats that get attention in podcasting, but one of the most insightful is listening retention stats, which shows how much your audience listens to your episode. Looking at these stats can help you find the spots where your listeners are tuning in the most or least. This information can help you plan where your ads or calls to action go. You can find these in your Apple and Spotify dashboards. Do your listeners drop off during ads or do the majority listen through? You may find your audience listens more to host-read ads vs. outside ads. Does the audience drop off heavily at the end of the episode before the call to action? It might be a good idea to move it further up in the episode.
Consider changing the cover art or updating your theme and branding colors. Sometimes a refresh or complete rebrand can be just what podcasters need to get them out of their comfort zone and into a new frame of mind for creating. Pro-tip: When changing your cover art, be sure to use a different file name than you used with the previous cover art. If the same file name is used, the artwork may not update in all podcast players.
Ask your audience! Don't be afraid to talk to your listeners and find out how their lives and listening habits have changed. You may find they're not asking the same questions they used to ask and you may want to find different guests than the usual. You may also find you stumbled on a subject your audience really enjoyed and want more of.
Are you refreshing your podcast this spring? Let me know either in the comments or over on Instagram 🙂
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