Podscribers

“Another way to think about [podcasting SEO] is to give your page all the contextual clues it needs to point people/Google to that page. Things like making sure you have a title that people are searching for, a meta-description or SEO snippet that'll show up in search results, and a description that your target audience will care about and find interesting.”

Amanda Natividad is the Head of Marketing at Growth Machine and the host of the Growth Machine Marketing Podcast. 

(0:57) - Quick intro to Amanda, why she revitalized the Growth Machine podcast. She shares how she grew the podcast organically, and how she gets her guest to help promote it.

(4:22) - Amanda’s measure of success is whether the podcast generates additional content. Two is how it’s been generating new leads.

(5:30) - Every Growth Machine episode has detailed and informative show notes. Amanda’s thoughts when writing them: “include everything that is necessary to help someone make the decision to listen to the episode and to stay on that page.” Writing the show notes also helps her think about why the episode would be informative and/or interesting.

(8:13) - Amanda turns each podcast episode into at least one other piece of content, like a blog post, or a case study.

(10:20) - Amanda writes content based on whether people would be interested in it. Ie: are people searching for it on Google? Are there communities who want this content? Are there certain questions that come up anecdotally?

(11:35) - How to gauge interest in a topic if you don’t have access to ahrefs using Moz and google keywords. This is important because you can then make podcasts which can then answer questions based on that.

(12:40) - Amanda uses Otter.ai to transcribe her podcasts, but she hasn’t published them. It’s important to vet transcripts so that missed words and phrases don’t lead a reader to think that a person said something other than what he actually said on the podcast. Transcripts are used to reference episodes more quickly, to write quotes, and to write further content.

(14:53) - Working with a freelance writer to turn episodes into blog posts.

(16:45) - Do transcripts need to be 100% accurate? A bit of back and forth. Two things to consider: are the errors materially changing what the speaker is saying? And is the transcript useful for the reader?

(18:37) - Peter Attia uses his transcripts to add in extra medical and scientific context for listeners who might not be MDs like him and his guests.

(20:52) - How to prepare your podcast, transcripts, and websites for SEO if you don’t have access to SEO tools like ahrefs. Think about what you want your headline to be, what the content should be, what listeners are looking for on google.

(23:56) - Successful podcasters who build community are those who create content to have discussions for the sake of community. Kristin LaFrance comes to mind as the host of Resilient Retail.

(26:18) - A few more thoughts on how to SEO without any SEO tools: timestamps, meta-descriptions, etc.

Thanks for coming onto the podcast Amanda!

“I really like just being down in the trenches with people. Discord is a place to have moments where a topic springs up in a channel, and for the next hour you have one of the most heartfelt, beautiful conversations.” Michael Garfield is the host of the Future Fossils podcast, Complexity podcast, and the social media director at the Santa Fe Institute.

(0m 42s):

How Michael came to host both the complexity podcast and the future fossils? Michael learned on stage that not only was he a musical performer, but he was also great at public speaking. Pretty soon, people were asking him to interview people and record it! So he started the Future Fossils podcast with his friend Evan Snyder.

(5m 29s):

Future fossils is a podcast about time, complex systems, philosophy, and technology.

(7m 3s):

A takeaway of the podcast: remain epistemologically flexible. Stories form our worlds. There are many ways of looking at the world. Also, “there are important symmetries between the pre-modern world and the postmodern world.”

(11m 9s):

How Michael started the Complexity Podcast for the Santa Fe institute.

(15m 39s):

Michael grew the Santa Fe’s social media assets from scratch, and promotes the podcast on them. He also promoted it in Nautilus magazine. He spends $0 on ads.

(16m 43s):

How Pete’s email, personality, and experimental new product sold Michael on our transcripts. Something Michael wants to get to eventually: creating networked diagrams of the topics covered in the podcast (also covered at the 21m 19s mark).

(24m 24s):

Michael is the only client we’ve seen who actively outsources his editing work to listeners! Here’s how he sourced volunteers - step by step - and shared responsibilities. He also shared some tips on what he’ll do differently moving forward.

(29m 9s):

Other future uses for the transcripts.

(32m 41s):

Michael has studied complexity, so does he have any insights into the pandemic as of yet? He did a 10 part episode series on COVID last year - you should listen to it.

His conversation with Shane Moss and Chris Kutarna on the Future Fossils podcast is a great episode to listen to if you can’t listen to the 10 parts (linked below).

But one point: “we’re awakening to the realities of being networked individuals.” Personal health affects the economy, public health, other people, etc. Furthermore, biological contagions mimic ideological contagions. Lastly, it has shoved our relationships into the digital sphere, causing more polarization. Our society has become more fragile.

(40m 57s):

Michael started a discord server to build a community that wasn’t on facebook. “People are looking for their own sort of bespoke little digital campfires that they can hang out at.” That’s where all of the heartfelt conversations occur.

“I don't think it's ethical at this point to try and grow a podcast as large as you possibly can, any more than it's ethical to try and grow a company as large as you possibly can. Like, there’s more than one bottom line.”

To join the discord channel, check out the future fossils shownotes, or just reach out to Michael on twitter.

“He'd say, are you hungry? We'd say, no, we're full. Oh, no, you sure you're not hungry? No, we're definitely full. Oh, I’m going to call my mother because she cooks better than my wife. And then three hours later, we would be sat eating into the night. So when I say 'oh, I traveled in Iraq,' people think that it must have been so dangerous. But it was the most welcoming place I've ever been to. And it also changed me because I hadn't been to many, say, dangerous destinations before that. I wasn't so adventurous.”

Stephen Bailey is an award winning travel writer and the head of Kated’s UK office.

(0m 15s) An introduction to the podcast and to the company.

(5m 15s):

Stephen’s thoughts on how the pandemic will affect travel's longterm future and sustainability.

(10m 2s):

Kated Travel uses the speaker names in transcripts as headings instead. Here’s how his team came up with it.

(10m 58s):

They originally got transcripts to give listeners a choice in how to consume the podcast. Now they’re used to also write content.

(15m 42s):

How the hospitality of Kurdish freedom fighters changed his views on humanity.

“I’m building that community of heart-centered sales people, because my movement with that show is to try to change 'sales' from an icky, sleazy, pushy job to one that comes from a place of, 'Hey, I really care about you. I'm committed to you.' There's an element of love ('heart-centered') where I want to help you with whatever it is that you're struggling with, using my solution.” Connie Whitman is a master seller, an entrepreneur, a coach, and the host of two podcasts. 

(0:37) Who Connie is - she helps professionals learn how to sell themselves.

(2:30) How she started the Enlightenment of Change Podcast and the Heart-Centered Sales Leader podcast. Connie’s unique and empathic approach to selling.

(4:17) What she talks about on the show, how it connects to overall health and welness.

(7:11) How Connie uses her facebook group to build community

(8:57) How she promotes and grows her podcast exponentially using her email list and social media.

(10:40) One thing unique about Connie’s podcast is that she asks her guest to write down topics which they could talk about in their podcast together. She explains how it leads to a more comfortable and genuine conversation.

(14:52) Connie got transcripts to make content creation easier! She uses transcripts to share insights with her email list, and is thinking about writing a book with them too! Lastly, it’s an online resource for her community. Podscribe is efficient.

(20:41) More uses for transcripts - content creation, webinars, masterclasses, zoom transcription.

“We also are not perfect at podcasting or anything we do. So we have a bell that we will ring. So if we make a mistake, there's a bell that rings and then we have to take a drink. So it's in line with the podcast. And I think people are really enjoying playing along at home.” Amy Faulkner hosts the Dead Men of Whiskey Podcast

0:22 - How Amy started a podcast about the History of Whiskey. Her goal was to tell the interesting stories behind all of the creators of whiskey.

2:58 - She promoted the show by tapping into her existing network of spirit fans on social media.

3:43 - On top of promotions, she also has a merchandise store, and is building a community on Twitch and Discord. If she or another speaker on the podcast makes a mistake, they ring a bell and then take a drink. People play at home.

6:12 - She got transcripts to boost her website's SEO. Transcripts are also great for pulling in interested readers to find new topics/characters in the history of whiskey.

7:26 - Amy will soon use the all-search widget to figure out whether topics have already been spoken about on the show already or not.