Do You Really Need A Website For Your Podcast?
As a podcaster, you are not required to have a website. You don’t need a website to host and publish the podcast. However, having a website helps a ton with marketing and makes it easier for your audience to engage with you.
So, if you are new to podcasting you can initially put off creating a website but, as your audience grows, it’s always best to create a website. It will allow you as a podcaster to capture your audience better and allows them to reach you more easily.
If you can’t decide whether to create a website or not, here are a few reasons why you should consider creating one for your podcast :
Ease of listening
If you have just a Facebook, Instagram or Twitter page for your podcast, listeners won’t be able to listen to your podcast directly here, they would have to search a hosting platform such as Apple Podcasts, look for your podcast and then play it. This is a long and time-consuming process and not everyone will want to be bothered going through this length process looking for your podcast, thus you are losing potential listeners and fans. By having a website, your audience can easily access and listen to your podcast.
Currently, 10% – 40% of podcast listeners play the show on the show’s website itself as it is much easier than searching and playing it on platforms such as Spotify and Google Podcasts.
Improves marketing
If you are serious about your podcast or using your podcast to promote a business marketing of your podcast is a key target, by having a website you make it easier for listeners to find and reach out to you unlike when you have just a Facebook or Instagram page. You can have an interactive webpage where your fans can directly connect with you.
Having a website also allows you to set the tone of your podcast just click and enter your webpage. For example, if you host a coffee podcast you may have coffee beans as the background for your webpage or maybe a large coffee pot. A website gives you direct control of your brand and your content. A creative and interactive website makes more individuals interested in listening and subscribing to your podcast. You as a podcaster can include a short bio, transcriptions of episodes, images of the show, reviews, a press page, out-takes, contests, and giveaways on your website to better engage with your listeners and attract new ones. Further, you can even have a platform to market your podcast merchandise.
Added Value
Having a website gives you an edge over other podcasts as it allows you to do much more than provide a platform where your fans can listen and reach out to you.
Here are some extra features you can give include on your website to give it added value,
Bonus Material
You can provide your fans with bonus content on your website such as extras, outtakes, and downloadable PDF guides.
Sign up for newsletters
You can ask your fans to sign up for a newsletter. This way you can easily tell them about the next big thing happening on the podcast by sending them an email.
Repurpose podcast episodes
An episode can be turned into countless other forms of content. For example, you can create blog posts, ebooks, and videos.
Having a website gives you a platform to show off this content and easily provide your listeners access to them.
Monetization
You can have a shop and/or donate button on your website that allows your audience to purchase products or donate. Many fans are happy to give a few bucks to make sure their favorite podcast keeps running.
Additional promotion
Your podcast website can help you get in front of more people by selling affiliate products on the site. You can also send individuals who visit your website special offers and vouchers to buy products.
An accessible archive
As you gain listeners on the way, most times they’ve never heard your initial podcast episodes. Having a website will provide a place where you can publish all your podcast episodes and then your fans can dig into all the content they desire. You can create an accessible site searchable archive for listeners to find old and new episodes alike.
The easier you make it to find your content, it’s more likely that they will subscribe!
Raise discoverability by taking advantage of SEO
If you use SEO principles on your podcast, people find your podcast through search engine results. When people search for your podcast or topics you’ve covered in your podcast, your content will only appear if Google search can find matching content on your site to that of what’s being searched for. Google will not search audios on platforms such as Apple Podcasts or Spotify for the requested information hence if you don’t have a website your content will not be displayed even if you’ve done an episode on what’s being searched. Further, by having a website when individuals search for your podcast on Google, you provide them with a direct platform to listen to your podcast.
Analytics
Once you create your website, you can add Google Analytics to it. This will give you an insight into where your audience is coming from. You can even set an alert for when your website visitors goes above a certain threshold.