How To Write Podcast Show Notes That Engages Listeners
Podcast show notes give your audience a quick summary of the podcast episode, encourage casual listeners to tune in, and provide some SEO boost to your podcast show if done well. Are you writing your own show notes well enough? Let’s get into the best tips in this post!
By Niall Mackay
Podcast show notes are essential and hugely underrated. Have you ever seen new podcasters skipping show notes or writing a 5000-word essay under the show note section that scares listeners?
Whether you are falling into one or the other, it is not your fault. I’ve been through the same thing in the past three years of my podcasting journey. However, these dos and don’ts tips accelerated my writing and helped me engage listeners.
What are podcast show notes?
Podcast show notes are the descriptions under the podcast episodes where listeners can find more information about the topic, business, or resources mentioned in the episode.
Imagine walking into a huge mall, and you don’t know where to find your favorite clothing store. First things first, you’ll get to the information desk, right? Now, the podcast show note is like the information desk for listeners. It helps them navigate where they are and what the episode is going to be about.
Are podcast show notes essential for podcasters? The answer is YES.
Why do you need podcast show notes?
Keep reading if you haven’t spent so much time on your podcast show notes. Podcast show notes are important for listeners to judge if they want to tune in to the episode or not. Here are four reasons why podcast show notes are important:
Podcast show notes introduce the episode to new listeners
There are millions of podcasting episodes on the internet. Therefore your podcast show notes could be your chance to stand out from the crowd and let people tune in to your show. Make sure you are concise when writing and include key points of the core goal of the episode.
What are the issues or topics that you want to solve in your show? What makes YOUR podcast show unique from other shows in the same niche? You can also create a template for this section and reuse it for every show note.
Podcast show notes can navigate listeners to your business
At the end of the day, know why you started a podcast. As a business, you want people to follow you on social media, check your latest products, or sign up for your e-mail list.
Include those links in your podcast show notes to help our listeners take the next step and engage in your business.
Podcast show notes can be repurposed content
Writing your show notes probably takes hours to summarize and clarify. Don’t throw that invested time away! As a podcaster, one way to get more listeners is to build a marketing strategy.
Those podcast notes can be part of a short social media caption, later expanded to be a blog post or social media story. – The creativity of how you repurpose that piece of writing is YOURS.
Podcast show notes help your podcast’s SEO
In my podcast SEO post, I got more detail on this. However, if you already know SEO basics such as keyword research and heading optimization, it should not surprise you that podcast show notes are where you can practice all the SEO best practices.
In the podcast show notes, you can include specific keywords relevant to your business and episode that could help your ranking but also for listeners to identify whether your show satisfies their search quickly.
How to write podcast show notes?
We got all the main reasons why podcast show notes are essential. Now, let’s turn your show notes into a converting and engaging piece of writing.
Understand that podcast show notes are here to make your listener’s podcasting experience easier.
Even though providing educational information is essential, you should not overdo it and flood your podcast show notes with every tiny detail and long description.
A great podcast show note has a mix of informational and engaging writing that includes relevant call-to-action for listeners to stay engaged with the show.
Here are a couple of do’s and dont’s to give specific examples of good podcast show notes.
Do’s and Don’ts When Writing Podcast Show Notes
Do’s on Podcast Show Notes
- Summarize the episode’s key points in 3-4 simple sentences.
- Include headings and subheadings with your seed keyword
- Include a short and catchy call-to-action with your website link or social media to grow your marketing channels and generate leads
- Mention key benefits of listening to the episode or refer to the Treasure Hunting technique
- Use bullet points that help the reader understand the main issues easily
- Include 2-3 internal links in the description that can lead to your blogs (if any)
Don’ts on Podcast Show Notes
- Write long paragraphs to summarize your episode.
- Use long and wordy sentences that confuse the reader
- Include ALL your products and services in one go and create a spammy description
- Miss key benefits that the reader could learn from the podcast episode
- Use many interlinks in your description (even links that aren’t related to the episode) that create a spammy paragraph
- Not using keywords in your descriptions, not using Headings and Subheadings.
With this being said, I highly recommend downloading my simple podcast show note template and editing your podcast show notes today.
Bottom line: Keep podcast show notes simple, be straightforward, and focus on what could be easily digestible from the listeners’ point of view.
Podcasting with SMB Podcasts
Are you looking to upgrade your podcasting game? At Seven Million Bikes podcasts, I helped numerous businesses start and improve their podcast channels.
Join the SMB Podcasts community on Facebook, and feel free to book a free consultation to review your podcast show.
