Glow Up Your Podcast Game ✨

5 podcasting tips for 2023

Hi Besties!

I’ve been podcasting for a decade now, but technology and the industry are constantly changing, so I discover new ways of doing things every year. I’ve been working on my own podcast glow-up this year. I’m trying to take Private Parts Unknown and The Bleeders to the next level, and things are off to a good start — both shows are up in downloads, 25 and 59 percent month-over-month, respectively. I compiled my top tips for independent podcasters and want to share them with you today. These tips are quick to digest, though longer to implement; however, they’re all pretty budget-friendly.

Trying to up your podcasting game in 2023? Here are five pointers to consider:

1) You gotta use Descript.

If you don’t already know about this miracle software, it’s an AI editing tool that generates a transcript for you to edit, so you’re editing words instead of just editing waveform — although you can edit the waveform if you want! (I do that with rogue “ums” and noises all the time.) Descript makes editing non-intimidating. And it’s super easy to hand off to someone to mix or master if you want it to sound even more professional. (Or you could tackle that for yourself in your preference of DAW). If you’re a writer/producer/editor type, this is life-changing — it completely changed my process for the better when I started using it a few years ago, saving Mike and me countless hours.

2) Canva is the easiest and cheapest option for show art and social media assets.

Canva is like having a free graphic designer on your laptop at your service at any time. It’s the ultimate promotional hack. There’s a reason this is a multi-billion dollar company! I love working with designers, but if you’re on a budget, you could even do a logo that way. They have various templates for cover art, episode art — everything you need to promote your show on social media — and even more with their super affordable Pro plan. You can also have a graphic designer customize a template for your show that you can recycle over and over and over. It makes your branding cohesive.

3) Use Substack as a free podcast hosting platform with a built-in companion newsletter.

If I were starting a new podcast today and didn’t want bells and whistles on my podcast hosting service, I would use Substack and plan the content to pair with a newsletter. This creates a robust ecosystem for growing your audience because you’re getting listeners to sign up for your email list, which is invaluable for having a direct line to them. Substack also has a Recommendations feature that helps out with discoverability and some other features that are helpful for community-building and collaborations. And there’s also the option to offer paid subscriptions, opening up an additional revenue stream down the road, or you could even start from the beginning if you want to.

4) Dial in your SEO.

To be honest, I have neglected SEO in the past, even though it’s one of the most cost-effective ways to draw new listeners to your show. But it doesn’t work overnight. SEO is a long-game strategy. So if you’re starting a new show, NOW is the best time to implement an SEO strategy from the beginning. Keep your website up to date. Optimize for keywords in your niche not just afterward as you promote your podcast but beforehand as you plan your content. You can also refresh old web pages and metadata to give each episode maximum shelf-life. Make sure you have transcripts on your site for accessibility and the added benefit of boosting your searchability — giving the web crawlers a bunch of keywords to find and help you promote your show.

🔥 Another hot website tip:

When Twitter banned Linktree links, I was scrambling for an alternative, so I built my own on my website. It’s just courtneykocak.com/links, and I use Squarespace, so it’s super easy to update. I’d been meaning to do this for a long time, but I should have done it sooner because I realized how much traffic I’ve been sending to Linktree instead of my own site. Thousands of views every year. About three weeks ago, I made the switch on my personal website, and traffic is up 73 percent month-over-month. Not to mention, my links page is my most popular page. So 12 days ago, I did this for the Private Parts Unknown website, too — that site gets even more traffic — and I already see a lift. Overall traffic is up 24 percent month-over-month, and the links page is the 8th most popular.

5) Have a video-first social media strategy in 2023.

Promote your podcast with videos on social media via Instagram Reels, TikTok, and YouTube. This is another excellent method to grow an audience and organically attract new listeners to your podcast. Instagram and TikTok are currently pushing video content in their algorithm like crazy — and if a guest with a strong following on IG is willing to collaborate with you on a Reel that will be even better for your reach. And, of course, YouTube is an enormous search engine. It’s smart to lean into podcast promotion on whatever social media platform you enjoy the most to reduce resistance and where you already have a following, but don’t forget about video in your overall strategy. You might not have time to do it perfectly, but apps like Headliner can save you time and get you started repurposing your podcast on YouTube without much hassle. Plus, it’s cheap and fairly easy to make videos for social with Splice and iMovie — or even the Instagram and TikTok in-app editing features. Prioritizing your video promo experimentation for your most popular topics and guests is a good way to test and learn without investing a ton of extra time.

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• Pitch call for Inherited’s third season - Inherited is a critically acclaimed storytelling podcast about climate change produced by, for, and about young adults, especially BIPOC folks and those from systemically marginalized communities. First-time storytellers are welcome. This is an excellent, well-paid opportunity to develop podcast production chops while grappling with one of the most pressing issues of our time. Pitches are due by January 31st; more info on the submission form.

• Apply to The Ferriss—UC Berkeley Psychedelic Journalism Fellowship - The deadline is quickly approaching for this fellowship offering $10,000 to report on this era of psychedelics policy, science, culture, and business. They are interested in a variety of formats, including audio! The deadline is January 31st; more info here.

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Private Parts Unknown and Bleeders episodes, work stuff, guest spots, etc.

• The Bleeders: Allie Rowbottom Deep Dives the Writing & Publishing Processes for "Jello Girls" and "Aesthetica" - I’m so excited to have Allie Rowbottom on the latest episode! Allie is the author of one of my favorite memoirs, Jello Girls, and the new novel Aesthetica, which is incredibly zeitgeisty in its subject matter and has been getting rave reviews. Not only is Allie Rowbottom a super hot lit queen who can string together a hell of a sentence, but she’s also really nice and generous with information in this interview. She shares a top-secret tip for writing good fiction, how she handled writing about her family, THE most thoughtful and honest takes on publishing, and more.

• Private Parts Unknown: Mind Trip: Ayahuasca in Los Angeles, the Game Theory of Corporate Psychedelics & a Case for Caution Amid Psychedelic Mania - I interrupted the regularly scheduled sex programming for a special presentation of our Mind Trip series. I’m revisiting the series with some updates for this fifth episode on psychedelics. First, a refresher on the series thus far, then the director’s cut of a radio story I reported for KCRW about ayahuasca in Southern California, and finally, an interview with documentarian and podcaster Giancarlo Canavesio a few days after my first ayahuasca ceremony.

So… ROLL CALL! 🗣

What’s your top tip for podcasting in 2023?

Follow me @courtneykocak on Twitter and Instagram. For more, check out my website courtneykocak.com.

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