How to Write Your Own Podcast Show Notes

How to Write Your Own Podcast Show Notes

There’s a lot more to a successful podcast than having top-quality audio. You want to retain your loyal listeners while also attracting new listeners to your show. Beyond that, it’s important to provide solid information during your podcast episodes, share resources mentioned in a user-friendly way, and craft a show that listeners can’t wait to share with their friends!

Inside, you’ll learn how to catch the reader’s attention through the strategic use of key phrases, find out how to craft powerful yet concise episode summaries, and learn what you can do to drive traffic simply by tweaking your episode’s title.

Putting these show notes podcast strategies in place will have you showing up in search engines, serving existing listeners well, and using all the opportunity available for expansion via your podcast show notes.

What Are Show Notes for a Podcast?

If a potential listener or someone new has stumbled upon your podcast, they’ll likely click around evaluating your cover art, your show summary, your episode titles, and even glance briefly at each episode’s summary while they decide if listening to your show is worth their time and energy.

Sounds harsh, but it’s the truth.

So, your podcast show notes serve two main purposes (other layers of their purpose are explained below, but these are the main two.):

1) To give new folks a “taste” – Your brief summary tells them what they can expect from your podcast episode. Your notes pages help the listener grasp the message, the purpose, and a little about who you are, what types of guests you invite/allow, and your show’s format.

2) To give returning folks a short summary – Even if you already have a few raving fans (hey, your mom and best friend count!), they might simply want a quick overview of the topic they’re about to listen to. Plus, if they already listened to and loved the entire episode, there might be sections they want to hear again – timestamps and bullet points to the rescue!

Alright, time to settle the debate:

What’s the Difference Between an Episode Description and Show Notes?

Maybe to your surprise, folks get confused all the time between episode descriptions and show notes. That’s because in most podcast listening apps and many podcast hosts, the text to describe an episode is labeled differently.

For example, in Apple Podcasts, it says Episode Description and in Libsyn, it says just simply Description. However, in the world of podcast management and production services, that same blurb of text is lovingly referred to as show notes.

So, yes, they are the same thing.

Open up your favorite podcast app right now. Find your favorite show. Now, notice there is a Show Description. That should be an all-encompassing, brief summary of your entire podcast show. While these can be long (up to 4,000 characters on some podcast hosts), who’s really going to read all of that? Your show description should be able to entice potential listeners in just 400-600 characters with the show’s purpose, enticing features, and benefits to the listener.

Now, move to one of the episodes of your favorite show. The text description directly related to the specific episode are what we’re talking about throughout this article. Some people call them episode descriptions, while others call them show notes. I call them podcast show notes, and my dedicated writers are “show notes writers” because writing excellent podcast show notes is a very different craft from drafting blog posts or any other type of content.

Do Podcasts Need Show Notes?

The simple answer is, yes.

Remember what you read above about how the two different types of listeners use podcast show notes?

In short, you and your audience will benefit deeply from strategically written show notes that provide exceptional value. The show notes for your podcast serve as one more potential opportunity for your listeners to engage with you and your show by clicking links or following through on your call to action.

In addition to the show notes being available on every podcast player app via your podcast host and RSS feed distribution, you can post them on your website and on social media with a link to the episode. There’s so much more you can do with the combination of text and audio than you can with only one or the other. Consider how you might share a call to action or promote search traffic from your social media feed – you’re going to need those show notes!

Benefits of Writing Podcast Show Notes

Podcast show notes serve to enhance an episode’s message by providing written content in addition to the audio. Your episode audio is the superstar, and your podcast show notes are the supporting cast.

Including show notes on your website can help you increase the overall impact of your podcast, both in the eyes of your current listeners and in the eyes of Google, as you’re providing on-page content that will draw listeners in via search traffic.

Reasons you should write podcast show notes

• Engage your audience

• Boost your Credibility

• Cross-Promote Your Brand

• Improve your Podcast’s SEO power

   

Engage Your Audience

For your listeners, podcast show notes provide another resource and another opportunity to engage with you beyond just listening to your voice. Once a listener decides they like your show, they don’t stop there. They love to follow you on social media, explore your website, and check out products and services you recommend.

The show notes compel listeners to “participate” by clicking on links, learning more about the episode topic, and can even provide an opportunity to submit a review or send a comment your way. Spreaker and Breaker are two podcast listening apps that allow users to like, share, and comment on episodes – cool, huh?

It’s your chance to deliver a call to action, encourage them to show their support for your message and your guests, share with their friends, and take part in the conversations you’re having.

The reality is the more you interact with your listeners, the more likely they will return. Show notes are your opportunity to get more loyal fans.

Boost Your Credibility

You can share CTA’s (calls to action) and links to your stuff all day, but the real way to build credibility is to honestly recommend other peoples’ services, products, and free resources too. Especially when the solution (of someone else’s creation) varies slightly from yours or solves a different problem than you do within your niche.

This may challenge you to shift your perspective from viewing other creators within your niche not as competitors but as potential collaborative partners. What if you could swap interviews and each share your offer on each other’s shows?

When you explore and share the BEST solution for your listeners’ problems, you come off as a person who is both thoughtful and authentic, which will make your listeners love you even more!

Podcast show notes express that while you care about your podcast, you also care about your dedicated followers and are constantly searching for ways to help them out. Casual listeners are more likely to stick around simply because you focused on the little things – a complete guest bio and relevant links to external resources in a simple, skimmable notes format they enjoy.

Cross-Promote Your Brand

One of the top checklist items I walk a new podcaster through during a podcast launch package is that we work in a call to action toward your brand. That can be done with a little “commercial” that airs in the first 30% of the episode or during the outro, but it’s important your listeners know what you offer and how to buy the thing.

Beyond prompting your own services or products, similar to the credibility discussion above, you’ll have more leverage if you cross-promote your guests’ businesses or causes. When guests have a favorable interview/promotional experience on your show, they

a) are happy to come back in a future episode

b) tell their podcaster friends how great it is to be on your show

This allows you to easily reach more guests, have those guests say “yes!” to your invitation, and earn increased favorability as a result. This is especially true as you build momentum and begin to have a more significant following.

It’s a simple gesture that shows them you’re in it for them as much as you are for yourself by including resource links in your show notes (as well as social media channels). Sure, you want them to be on your podcast because it can potentially benefit you, but you also want to serve your listeners by providing them with more solutions, resources, content, etc.

Take into consideration how your guest will feel when they understand you’re genuinely encouraging your audience to get to know them better. It’s a win-win-win when guesting & cross-promotion are done well!

Improve your Podcast’s SEO using Show Notes

Search engine optimization (SEO) will provide the most bang for your buck on every platform. Creating an SEO-friendly episode title and keyword-rich show notes blurb with a complete guest bio (if applicable) is FREE. It only takes a few steps, a little time, and some light search engine-related knowledge.

If you want to dive deep into SEO and how it’s used to craft a boss-mode blog post, read this. But if you’re only interested in getting what you need to rank in search engines so you can do the dang thing, Stay right here.

The first thing you need to know is that, unlike websites, podcasts don’t have to be connected to Google Analytics or Google Search Console. Slowly but surely, podcast apps are integrating more search technology within their platforms and expanding from only show and episode title searchability to fully-indexed show notes and descriptions.

This means that a few years back, when you typed a phrase in the search bar of your podcast app, only show titles and episode titles containing that phrase were displayed in the list of results. Now, however, your search might produce a list of episodes containing that phrase and related phrases in their episode description (i.e., podcast show notes).

So, when you include keywords in your show notes, you’re making your show more discoverable because it’s easier for people to find. You can definitely grow your listenership in other ways, but there is a significant benefit in optimizing your SEO through podcast show notes.

How To Write Great Podcast Show Notes

Now that you understand show notes’ necessity to every party involved, you’re probably itching to get started with some extra effort toward writing excellent podcast show notes.

Let’s look at what goes into show note writing. Here are the steps to write great podcast show notes.

Episode Transcript

A podcast transcript is a word-for-word account of what you said during the episode recording. Although you cannot (and should not) upload your podcast transcript on Apple Podcasts or other similar platforms, your episode transcript is an extremely useful reference tool to help you write content based on your episode (including show notes!).

One free way you can generate a transcript during your recording process is to use Google Recorder. As you speak your episode use your podcast recording software to record the show, Google Recorder can simultaneously record and translate your episode into a valuable document.

If you need a transcript made from your audio recording, try Rev.com (1st 45 mins free, $0.25/min thereafter), Otter.ai (600 mins live for free/mo), Descript ($12/mo), Scribie ($0.10/min), or Trint ($48/mo).

There are numerous advantages to having a transcript of an episode. You may:

• Publish each episode transcription on your website to help those with hearing impairments (editing the auto-transcripts is often necessary)

• Turn your transcript into at least 1 blog post to extend SEO reach and become more discoverable

• Source social media content from inside each of your older episodes

What Should Be Included in Your Podcast Show Notes?

Before we get into the meat of how to write show notes for your own podcast, you need to know what to include. No matter how long or short your podcast episode is, you always want to include the key points discussed during the episode.

Here’s a comprehensive list of the various pieces of information you should collect as you prepare to outline your show notes draft:

Guest Bios

Inform your audience about your guests in a summary form. Your goal isn’t to give away all of the juicy details, but to provide just enough to pique the interest of your audience. Also, make sure you have their social media handles, as well as any promo codes, links to free downloads mentioned, or other offers.

Timestamps

Post a short section of 3-5 time stamps so listeners can jump straight to the main points or takeaways of each episode. You can easily pull these from your transcript so you don’t have to listen to your episode over again to draft your podcast show notes.

Memorable Episode Quote

Was there anything your guest said that stood out to you? Your show notes might get off to a terrific start with 1-2 memorable quotes sprinkled throughout the brief summary. A catchy hook like this could entice listeners to tune in. Using these and similar key phrases in your time stamps is also an option.

Additional Resources Mentioned

Include links to your website or other related additional resources. If you reference older episodes on a similar or related topic, definitely link out to them so listeners can binge on every discussion you’ve produced in that niche.

Podcast Show Notes Template

Now that you have a grip on what show notes are, what should be included, how to reference previous episodes and why, plus how show notes benefit you and your listeners, lets get into the thing you’ve been waiting for:

The show notes template!

This is the step-by-step you need to put some extra effort into writing show notes. Each particular episode’s main points should be summarized and formatted using bullet points and timestamps, plus short, skimmable paragraphs.

Use this template like an outline; copy the example show notes below and replace each section with your own text:

Title:

3-6 words that encompass the topic and meaning of the episode. When people read these words, they know exactly what they’re getting into

Intro Paragraph:

3-5 sentences. Hook listeners in with a carefully crafted episode summary that includes a bit of a teaser so they can’t help but want to listen.

In this episode, listen for:

• main point 1

• main point 2

• main point 3

Must-listen moments:

[00:01:00] timestamp 1 they won’t want to miss

[00:02:00] timestamp 2 they can’t live without

[00:03:00} timestamp 3 they’ll want to share with their friends

Episode Summary:

This is the meat of your show notes. Persuade the person who is reading the summary to hit play without being outwardly persuasive. Explain to your audience what they’ll learn and how they’ll benefit from listening to this episode. Ensure your guests are highlighted in your show notes if applicable. Explain who they are, but avoid giving too much information away. The main talking points in this section should be enticing.

Follow Links:

Each episode’s show notes should include your web address, social media handles, and links to any resources discussed or referenced. If you don’t add links, podcast listeners have no way of engaging further with you, learning more about your business, or buying your stuff. Silly, right?

Repurpose Your Podcast Episode Into an SEO-Optimized Blog Post 

One way to excellently repurpose podcast content is to break each episode into 1-3 blog posts. Using your show notes and transcript, pull sections of the conversation into their own outline, and craft a ~1000+ word, SEO-optimized blog post for each piece. Curious about how to write SEO-optimized blog posts? I got you covered!

If you’d rather simply repurpose the transcript instead of writing fresh blog posts based on keyword research for each particular episode, that’s possible too.

How to Create a Blog Post from your Transcript

If you’re repurposing the transcript straight into a blog post, the first step is to ruthlessly edit the transcript. Auto-transcriptions from any online service are rarely perfect and are generally filled with grammatical errors, misinterpreted words, and a ton of filler words.

Filler words, also called crutch words are the little things we say like “um,” “you know,” and “right?” that flow in normal face-to-face conversation but that you’d never want to be written.

Eliminate the following items:

• Empty words –  so, well, like, you know, actually, and right are a few.

• Hesitations – ums, uhs, ers, and other verbal hesitations 

• Repetitions – any unnecessarily repeated words, phrases, or sentences 

• Restarts – sometimes people restart their sentences as they form more complete thoughts

As you remove these conversational mistakes from the transcript, it should become significantly shorter and more readable.

Next, separate your transcript into sections based on the topic, and assign clear and descriptive headings and subheadings to give the document a little structure. It’s always a great idea to break up long paragraphs, add a picture or two, and insert helpful links to resources (link to your own site and external sources).

When you publish this blog post, consider adding a podcast player embed to the blog page so people can listen there too! Work toward creating your own little “ecosystem” where no matter how someone discovers you, they can easily find other various forms of your content.

Ready to Write Great Podcast Show Notes

Writing show notes for a podcast doesn’t have to be complicated. There’s an abundance of podcast listeners out there just hoping to find a show like yours, and drafting excellently written show notes for your podcast increases your show’s searchability. With this template, you’ll be able to draft show notes for your episodes quickly and confidently.

Your loyal listeners will be grateful for more a comprehensive, yet still short, summary of each episode where they can quickly glean the most important lessons, takeaways, or points for your episode. In fact, if done well, your well-written show notes will entice potential listeners to click play!

If you would rather show notes writing be done for you, the team and I here at Podcast Abundance are happy to help. Simply book a call, and we’ll get writing on your behalf!