Look, I get it…
You hate the sound of your own voice. You’re unfamiliar with the tech. And you feel much more comfortable typing than you do talking into a mic.
So you may feel hesitant to start your own podcast. Maybe you even feel intimidated by the prospect.
But you should do it anyway.
Because podcasting can pay major dividends for you, your blog, and your business.
Podcasting has been on a steady increase over the years both in the quantity of shows produced and in the volume of listeners.
It reaches people across genres, languages, and economic status, and if you strategically bake podcasting into your content plan, you can reap its many dividends.
Here are seven ways podcasting can help you boost your blog and business.
#1. You Build a Network Your Competitors Will Envy
When you run a podcast, you can invite influencers as guests and interview them one on one. It’s an excellent way to build connections.
Most people like the idea of gaining free publicity for their work, so they’ll often agree to spend 30+ minutes with you to get exposed to your audience.
And when you spend time cultivating the relationship before, during, and after the interview, you can build a powerful network of people who can help you grow your business and blog.
Over the last two and a half years, I’ve interviewed more than 100 guests for my own podcast. While I’m not best friends with every person who’s come on the show, I have kept in touch with people with whom I had a strong connection.
And some cool business opportunities have come out of those, which wouldn’t have been possible if I hadn’t established the initial relationship through my podcast.
#2. You Can Bask in the Spillover of Other People’s Star Power
Some time ago, I had Tucker Max on my podcast. (In case you don’t know, he’s a three-time New York Times best-selling author.)
His team reached out to me and pitched Tucker as a guest to promote his new business, Book in a Box.
Once the episode went live, I got this message from a friend in my network:
Leveraging the authority of those you associate with is a smart way to build influence and social proof.
When you interview people for your podcast, particularly folks with larger followings than you, it boosts your credibility. Your audience will think, “If she has so-and-so on her show, she must know what she’s talking about!”
And you don’t have to wait for your dream guests to come to you. You can reach out to them and explain why coming on your show would benefit them.
Don’t know how? Here’s a great resource on how to land big guests for your show, even if you’re a newbie.
#3. Your Ideas Reach a Brand-New, Highly Engaged Audience
Through blogging, you can spread your ideas to a wide audience. But through podcasting, you can put those ideas in front of a new audience that your blog might never reach.
While there are some people who read blogs and listen to podcasts on a regular basis, many people do just one or the other.
And listenership continues to grow for podcasts — at more than 20% year after year.
Even better, data reveals podcast audiences are super-engaged. A whopping 85% of listeners hear all or most of a show and the average listener consumes five hours and seven minutes worth of podcasts each week.
People aren’t quick to turn off a podcast once they start listening, and they can listen to a podcast while doing something else, like cooking, driving or walking the dog. It’s an ideal medium for busy people.
So repurposing ideas you’ve shared on your blog for a podcast is well worth your time — especially the ideas that have already proven popular.
For example, here’s an article I published on my Inc. column that showed the results of research I’d done with entrepreneurs:
When I saw the message resonated, I switched up the headline, added a few additional points, and published it as a podcast episode.
With this one article and podcast episode, I was able to double the amount of people who were exposed to my message.
#4. Your Unfiltered Voice Builds an Even Deeper Bond with Your Audience
You can build a connection with readers on your blog, no doubt. But with podcasting, your audience hears your voice and personality, your inflections and emotions, as well as your laughter.
They’ll feel like they know you much more intimately, which bonds them to you more strongly.
A few years ago, researchers conducted a study where they asked participants to rate their degree of connectedness and bonding after having participated in in-person, video, audio, or written communication with a friend.
As you might’ve guessed, the greatest level of bonding occurred through in-person interactions, followed by video chats, followed by audio.
Instant messaging came in last among the options.
When you consider how the brain processes information, this phenomenon isn’t surprising. Researchers, educators, and consultants Louisa Moats and Carol Tolman explained it in more detail on Reading Rockets:
Spoken language is “hard-wired inside the human brain. Language capacity in humans evolved about 100,000 years ago, and the human brain is fully adapted for language processing… A related fact should be self-evident: Reading and writing are acquired skills for which the human brain is not yet fully evolved.” (Liberman, Shankweiler, & Liberman, 1989) Human brains are naturally wired to speak; they are not naturally wired to read and write.
Reading and writing are skills we may take for granted today, but these skills have only recently become prevalent among the human population. By contrast, we’ve been speaking and listening for ages.
It’s no surprise that hearing someone’s voice makes us feel more connected to them than just reading their words.
#5. Your Bank Account Will Get More Direct Deposits
Adding a podcast to your content marketing can directly increase the revenues for your blog and business.
The most common way people monetize their podcasts is through selling sponsorships, or commercial spots that are read before and during an episode.
John Lee Dumas is host of the hit podcast Entrepreneur on Fire. Every month he publishes an income report for the business he’s built around the show. For December alone, his sponsorship revenue for his daily podcast was more than $64,000.
The larger the audience is for your show, the better you position yourself to earn a decent income from third-party sponsors.
But getting sponsors for your show isn’t the only way to monetize your podcast. Many hosts promote their own products and services to their listeners through designated ad spots.
You could highlight your online course, your coaching packages, or even relevant affiliate offers.
My friend Vernon Foster is a podcast coach at PodParrot. He says many of his clients make a ton of money with their podcast by highlighting their own products. He recommends podcasters with audiences of all sizes do the same:
You don’t have to be Tim Ferriss, Lewis Howes or Gary Vee either. There’s [sic] a lot of real estate podcasts you’ve never heard of that are quietly making a small fortune selling high-ticket [offers].
Side note: I met Vernon through my podcast, which goes to show how it can help you build your network!
#6. You Give Google More Reason to Notice You
Bloggers have long been on the hunt for ways to drive traffic to their blogs through SEO. The good news is that podcasting can help you with that as well.
Whenever you publish a new episode, you can add relevant written content to the “show notes” page on your website, which is indexable by search engines. Transcripts and detailed notes with time stamps are smart ways to add content to your site that might rank for long-tail keywords and draw more traffic.
Not only that, podcasting can also help you get links, which can boost your site’s authority in the eyes of Google. Whenever you have a guest on for an interview, you have a good chance they’ll link back to it from their site.
Lastly, publishing podcasts on your blog can also increase the average amount of time people stay on your site. Google likes to see this as well.
Here’s what SEO expert Phil Singleton of Kansas City Web Design said on the subject:
To the extent that you can, adding rich media in, like a podcast audio or a video, is super important because one of the hottest topics in terms of on page SEO is increasing the amount of dwell time on the site. [. . .] If you can get people to land on the page and click the audio file on your website, they stay a lot longer. Your dwell time goes through the roof, even if it is only a few people because a 15-20 minute podcast has a lot more people listening through longer.
#7. You’ll Be Prepared When Oprah Calls
Podcasting will you get you ready for future speaking opportunities that can expand your reach.
Imagine your blog getting so popular that you get called for a talk show interview, a TEDx talk, or to be a featured speaker at a conference. You want to be ready, right?
Having experience speaking in both scripted and off-the-cuff formats will prepare you for when those calls come.
When you step up to the mic on a consistent basis, you will discover your most relevant messages, refine your voice, and overcome any fears of public speaking that might otherwise hold you back.
Through podcasting, you’ll build your speaking confidence until it feels natural.
A few months ago, I was a featured expert on a program with an NPR radio affiliate. The show’s producer read an article I published, and he invited me to speak more in-depth on the topic and to answer questions from listeners who called in.
My experiences in podcasting, both as a guest and a host, prepared me to be comfortable speaking without a script. As a result, I am ready to seize bigger opportunities that come my way.
It’s Time for You to Step Up to the Mic
Give your expertise an even bigger stage. A stage that enables you to transform the lives of even more people who crave your solutions.
Sure, it’ll take some practice.
But don’t most things that are worth it?
You don’t have to produce the next Serial, This American Life, or Smart Passive Income to reap the benefits of podcasting.
You’ve simply got to create a show that speaks to your ideal audience in a meaningful way.
You’ve already got the knowledge. And you’ve already got the ideas.
Now all you need is the mic.