There’s no magical formula for creating a great podcast, but there are some elements that make shows compelling and successful. The key is finding your niche in the world of podcasts – it could be as broad or specific as you want.

Podcasts are a great way to share your voice with the world. They can be informative, entertaining, and even inspirational. Unfortunately, podcasts take a lot of work including preparation time before recording, editing after recording or live streaming, and time spent promoting your podcast to get listeners.

If you’re not sure where to start with all these steps then this blog post is for you! It will give you 9 things that you need to remember when producing a podcast that gets people hooked from the first episode.

1. Be Interesting

The key to a successful podcast is interesting content. Think about who will find this fascinating and why before you start recording, because the more people enjoy listening in on your show makes sure that they’ll stay tuned week after week.

Make sure that every aspect of your podcast is worth listening to. If you’re not interested in something then why should your listeners be? It ensures that what you’re saying will hold people’s attention better than anything else.

2. Be Consistent

Maintain the same format and tone in every podcast. It avoids confusion for the listeners. With consistency comes recognition- and with recognition comes loyalty. If you want to grow a loyal following who are excited about what you’re doing on your podcast, make sure they know exactly what they will hear when tuning in each week.

Keep your listeners happy by planning ahead for next week’s topic (and maybe even months). This also helps with consistency over longer periods like seasons (if relevant).

3. Be Professional

Don’t let sloppy audio ruin your show. Investing in some basic production will ensure that you sound like a seasoned pro. Make sure your levels are all in the green (no clipping or peaking), use noise reduction plugins to get rid of background interference and invest in a decent microphone that suits the genre you’re producing. 

There are plenty of cheap microphones available that still produce great-sounding audio.

4. Be Yourself

People can tell when you’re trying too hard to be funny, serious, a certain kind of person- So, just relax! Speak how you would naturally and don’t force anything – it’ll quickly become apparent if something isn’t right so don’t overdo it.

5. Keep Your Topic Interesting

Don’t keep going on about whatever you were talking about – it’s boring! Shake things up by varying your tone or structure so that people don’t start thinking “yawn, again with the databases?” Your listeners will keep coming back for more if they are always intrigued as to what you will say next.

6. Make It Personal

People want to feel like they are part of something – personalisation is key here. Don’t just ask “What do you think?” – instead try something like “Now I know some of you might disagree with me but what would be your thoughts on this?”. See how much more interesting it build a relationship between yourself and your listener? People love being listened to.

7. Make Your Podcast a Platform for Learning

Podcasts are a great way to learn about topics of interest, but there is often no clear path for listeners to follow. The easiest way to make your podcast more engaging and educational is by creating an outline for the content in each episode or series of episodes. This will help organize all your show’s information into one cohesive document so it can be easily referenced when designing future podcasts.

8. Value High-Quality Audio

People can tell when the audio is bad and it leaves a sour taste – no one wants to listen to a recording of you sounding like you’re talking down a drain pipe. Invest in some decent equipment and do your best to stick to it (no popping, distortion, or hissing!) and make sure you (or someone else) record the audio if you’re not great behind the mic.

9. You Should be the Star of Your Podcast

Be yourself and let people get to know YOU as well as what you’re saying. Don’t spend too much time talking around the topic of your episode – get straight to it. No one wants to hear you chatter about irrelevant things for 5 minutes, just start with the interesting thing and once you’ve gotten that outlet your guests get on with it.

There’s no magical formula for creating an award-winning podcast, but there are some elements to producing a show that ensures it’s more likely to be compelling and successful.  To produce a successful podcast, you need professional audio equipment. You should also have the right mix of content and production value for your audience so that they can listen with ease. 

Conclusion

It’s important to know what makes your show compelling and how to tell an interesting story- even if it isn’t necessarily about yourself or the topic at hand. If you’re interested in improving your sound quality or are looking for assistance producing episodes of your own podcast, reach out to our expert podcast editors, we will surely help you sound your best! We would love to help take care of all the technical aspects while you focus on telling great stories that will captivate listeners from start to finish. Schedule a consultation and let’s get started!