Podcasting Q&A

Podcast Directories: Everything you need to know!

June 14, 2021 Buzzsprout
Podcasting Q&A
Podcast Directories: Everything you need to know!
Show Notes Transcript Chapter Markers

In Episode 04 of our Podcast Marketing Series, you'll learn how to maximize the size of your audience by submitting your show to the top podcast directories.

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Record your podcasting question at Speakpipe.com/Buzzsprout to be featured on a future episode.

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Travis:

podcast directories are one of the most important elements of growing your show and reaching new listeners. So in this video, we're going to explain what podcast directories are some things you need to have in place before you can get show listed in a podcast directory. And then what are the main directories you want to focus on, especially if you're just getting started. So what is a podcast directory, you can think of that it kind of like a phonebook or a yellow pages if you're old enough to remember those where you would just have a book full of phone numbers and you could go through and you could find plumbers, you can find general contractors and your local business down the street. And the whole point was, you have all this information in one place to make it really easy to find what you're looking for somebody's phone number, and podcast directories function in a very similar way that if you want to go and download a new show by NPR, you go to Apple podcasts or Spotify or Google podcasts, and you start typing it in. And it takes all the shows that are listed in that app, and gives you results based on what you search. And so if that show has been listed in that directory, you can go ahead and subscribe right there and start downloading episodes. Now before you can submit your show to a podcast directory, most of them are going to require a couple of standard things. Essentially, you need to have your podcast ready to go before you can submit your show. They don't want just like a piece of artwork or a random episode, but there's like pieces missing. If they're going to list your show in their directory, you need to essentially have a podcast someone can listen to you. So that includes things like the name of your podcast, a brief description of what your show is about a live episode that someone can download, whether that's a trailer episode or the first episode in your show, you need to have one of those live in your podcast. You also need to identify the language, the main language that you speak on your show so we can index properly in these podcast directories. You also need to mark it as explicit if there is explicit profane content within your show. From there, you'll also want to identify at least one category that your show fits into most directories take the categories from Apple podcasts. And so if you're using a host, like Buzzsprout, all the categories that you see listed, there are the apple podcasts, categories, but other directories will borrow those as well. And so you want to identify like technology, or education or business, whatever is the best fit for your show. And then from there, the only other thing that you need is some custom artwork. Now this piece can be a huge hurdle for podcasts who's just getting started, they finally got that microphone, they got their first episode done, and it's like, oh, wait, I gotta be a graphic designer too. That's why Buzzsprout has rolled out a new Canva integration. So you can design some incredible artwork right inside of your Buzzsprout dashboard. And if you want to learn more about how to do that, then you just click up in the cards here or in the video description below, we have a link to a tutorial on how to use that new Canva feature, all of these things you will want to have in place before you start going through the submission process to these various podcast directories. If not, if you're missing some of these pieces, then your show will get rejected, which is not what anybody wants, right. So just make sure you have these things in place before you start submitting your show. And now we can actually start getting your podcast out there. There are three main podcast directories that you absolutely must list your podcast in, if you want to reach as many people as you possibly can. And there are two others that are runner ups that we'll talk about. After those three, the first podcast directory to focus on his Apple podcasts, Apple podcasts and a lot of people's minds is synonymous with podcasting in general. So you want to make sure that you get your show listed there. A nice benefit to submitting your show to Apple podcasts is that there are other apps that use that directory to populate their own listing. So apps like overcast castbox and Castro also pull shows directly from Apple podcasts in order to populate their apps as well. So it's like a one for four bang for your buck deal that you're getting there. They do have a very unique submission process. If you want to go through a step by step tutorial about how to submit your show to Apple podcasts, there are instructions instead of the Buzzsprout dashboard. If you use a host that's different than Buzzsprout they probably have their own process, but it is well worth it. The only thing that's different about Apple podcasts that you'll want to know going into it is you need an Apple ID. That way you can claim your show inside of Apple, and they can kind of keep everything registered within their own ecosystem of apps and things that they like to do. So if you don't have an apple id, we'll leave a link in the description for this episode where you can go and create one for free. And you'll just need to have that in place before you can submit your show to Apple podcasts through podcast Connect. The second directory you should get listed in is Spotify. Spotify is relatively new on the scene only having podcast for a few years. But they've quickly gained a lot of ground and are introducing a lot of people to podcast listening. So you definitely want to make sure that you are in Spotify as well. Now their submission process is super simple. Once you have all the things that we talked about in the last section, all you have to do is click one button to submit your show to Spotify. Now, if you're self hosting your files or you're on a podcast host that doesn't have one click submission which is rare. There is a step by step processes you can go through and we'll link to a tutorial In the shownotes, you can go and watch that if you need to. But if you're using Buzzsprout, or if you're using another podcast host that has that one click submission process, it should simply be as easy as one click and your shows in Spotify. And then big directory number three is Google podcasts. Now, Google likes to march to the beat of their own drum. So they don't actually have a manual submission process that you can go through to say, hey, Google, my podcast is here, please start showing it to people. Instead, Google uses their internet domination, infrastructure technology to crawl through the internet and discover podcasts that it didn't know existed before and list them in Google podcasts. In order for that to happen. You need a publicly viewable website with your podcast on it. Now, if you have a paid plan inside of Buzzsprout, we create that website for you and do everything that you need to do to make sure that you are listed in Google podcasts. But if you're using your own website, or if using a different podcast hosts, you just want to make sure and check with them to make sure that they are providing a website that Google podcast can look for and find and list inside of the directory. Now there are two other directories that have recently come on the scene that we think are gonna be really important moving forward. And luckily for you, they're both one click submissions from inside of Buzzsprout. The first one is amazon music and audible. Amazon is a big player, they have lots of money, and they're recently getting very serious about the podcast game. And so if you want to get your show in front of more listeners, go ahead and go through that submission process is really simple. And then the other big index, kind of giving it away here that's going to be important is the podcast index, which is a completely independent podcast directory. We think that the podcasting 2.0 group that is organizing the podcast index is really important to keep podcasting open and free and independent. And a lot of third party apps are now using it instead of Apple podcast directory, to populate their apps. So if you want to get into some of the more niche third party apps that are starting to grow and get more listeners and subscribers, then you want to make sure you submit to the podcast index as well. And luckily for you, it is also a one click submission inside of Buzzsprout. Now from there, there are more podcast directories that you can submit your show to just by going to the directories tab here inside of Buzzsprout. You can see there are lots The good news is most of these are a one click submission. So all you have to do is click in there, click the button saying yes, I want my podcast and podcast addict. I want to in pod chaser, I wanted to play FMO, one and listen notes. And it's very simple. You might be wondering, is this really worth doing? Like is it worth doing this work to get listed in all these different apps and directories. And the thing that I want you to keep in mind is this is only something you have to do one time, once your show gets listed in a podcast directory, it is there unless you actually take it out. So go ahead and do the work to get listed in as many places as you possibly can. Knowing that that's going to allow more people to find your podcast to discover what you're doing and to fall in love with your content. You want your podcast to be everywhere so that anyone can listen to it. If you have a question you want us to answer on a future episode of Podcasting Q&A. All you have to do is go to speakpipe.com/B zzsprout or click the link in the show notes and you can sub it a brief audio message Podcast ng Q&A is available both as a vi eo and a podcast. So if you pre er watching video, you can sub cribe to the Buzzsprout YouTube channel to see the video version of this episode. Or you can sub cribe to Podcasting Q&A, your fa orite podcast listening app. We l that's it for today. Thanks or listening and as always eep podcasting

Intro
What is a podcast directory?
Things you need to have in place
The Big 3
Honorable Mentions
Everything Else...