Every podcaster wants the same thing: A growing audience and listener base that flocks to your content. The truth is there are tons of ways to grow an audience.
Our favorite way? Repurposing your podcast episodes into compelling blog posts people truly want to read. Some of the biggest podcasts use this as a strategy to build their audiences and set themselves apart.
But for many podcasters, this does require a bit of a mindset shift. That’s because you need to see yourself as a media brand; not just a podcast.
As a media brand, you have to embrace distributing content so that it reaches your audience wherever they might be. And don’t just take it from us…
While repurposed content won’t skyrocket your growth overnight, it will 100% help you grow with time and consistency. To help you do this efficiently, we’re highlighting tools we use, common mistakes to avoid, plus examples on how optimizing your audio for text can take your podcast to the next level.
Should you repurpose podcast content? Yes!
Google receives 63,000 searches per second, according to one estimate. That’s 228 million searches per hour and 2 trillion searches per year — talk about a massive growth opportunity.
In fact, The Podcast Consumer from Edison Research found searching the internet is the most frequently cited method to discover podcasts.
So, why are search engines still the most neglected growth channel for podcasters?
Overlooking Google is a missed opportunity to make sure your podcast reaches listeners when they’re searching for content related to your topic. Repurposing your podcast content is one of the easiest ways to create SEO-rich content because you don’t have to create something totally new — you just need to optimize it for text.
Besides giving listeners (and future listeners!) another way to find you outside podcast apps and social media, creating captivating blog posts from podcast episodes also lets you introduce your audio content to people who prefer to read an article.
Plus, we always encourage a call-to-action (CTA) to draw readers back to your podcast. Link the episode within the blog post along with ways to subscribe to your podcast at the end of the post.
Look at it this way: Repurposing your content grows awareness of your podcast + introduces new audiences to your brand = a win-win.
Is podcast repurposing worth your time?
Repurposing probably isn’t the first thing you should do to grow your podcast.
It’s a great tool to add to your arsenal once you’ve been podcasting for a while and have a good production process in place. Here’s how to know if this is a growth strategy you should pursue.
❌ Don’t try this at home if you:
- Have published less than 10 episodes.
- Want short-term results.
- View downloads your only success metric.
✅ Repurposed podcast content will help you grow if:
- You think more people could benefit from your content.
- Your content is mostly evergreen (meaning it won’t go out of date).
- You have an established production process.
- You’re open to being discovered on multiple channels.
To prove how text content can help you build traffic and your audience, here are three examples:
1️⃣ Traffic growth
It didn’t take too long for Brendan Hufford, the brains behind SEO for The Rest of Us, to see a rise in search traffic to his website. After repurposing just 13 podcast episodes into compelling blog posts, he saw his traffic grow.
For Brendan, there’s no debate on the value of blog content when it comes to podcast discoverability. Posting substantive articles based on the insights gained from podcast episodes will eat your show notes for lunch.
2️⃣ Guests dig itInterview podcasts have become so common, so it can be challenging to get guests to share episodes when they publish. But a podcast interview transformed into an article highlighting the guest’s expertise? That’s something your guest is likely to share.
Rob Roseman, host of the popular podcast Dad the Best I Can, noticed he could get his guests to share podcast episodes more enthusiastically if he created blog posts based on the interviews.
3️⃣ Reach new audiences
Nathan Beckord, host of the How I Raised It podcast and founder of Foundersuite, turns many episodes of his podcasts into blog posts that he submits to publications read by his target audience. For example, we helped Nathan turn an interview into an article that was published in TechCrunch. Now, TechCrunch readers can discover him, plus he has an awesome, noteworthy feature (based on a podcast episode!) in a major tech publication.
Bonus material: Foundersuite’s exact process for using guest posts to grow its podcast
Convinced that repurposing your content could be helpful? Next, we’ll share our system for doing exactly that.
The 4 step process for repurposing podcast content
You can optimize your audio for text in four easy steps. 👇
1. Start with the end in mind
Before you listen to or repurpose your episode, decide whether you’ll produce content for your website (and build your search traffic) or for other publications (get in front of new people).
If you opt to pitch your blog posts to websites like Business Insider or TechCrunch to reach a larger audience, your best bet is to check out the publication to familiarize yourself with its format for content — if you follow their style, you’ll increase your likelihood of getting published.
While you don’t have to worry about pitching and guest posting at this part of the process, it helps to know how to shape your content before you begin.
💡 Pro-tip: Most publications have writer’s guidelines available on their website for contributors. You can also Google the publication name followed by “contributor guidelines” to find information about word counts and guidance on how to submit.
2. Listen for tips and strategies
This seems obvious, but we’ll tell you anyway: Actively listen to the podcast episode and take notes as you listen along with the transcript. (We use Otter.ai!)
Whether you repurpose an interview you lead or one where you were the guest, listen for tips and tactics with your audience in mind to separate your content from the rest.
Rather than focus on your experience with the interview, think of the most important strategies your target listener and reader would find valuable. When you can identify what your audience cares about and their pain points, you can write your article with those nuggets of wisdom in mind.
As you listen, try PodReacher Managing Editor Jessica Lawlor’s “Huh!” test as a barometer to spot the most compelling content. While listening, notice which parts of the episode make you go, “Huh! I didn’t know that!” Those are the interesting bits you can guess readers will appreciate, too!
3. Ready, set, write
Finally, it’s time to craft your piece.
The structure and organization will depend on where you plan to publish, but the basic structure we follow fits almost anywhere: Start with a brief intro, then include three to five subheadings with key takeaways.
Next, keep these key tips in mind as you write:
- Use direct quotes sparingly. Only quote someone when they say something memorable — paraphrase the rest into terms that resonate with your target reader.
- Discard parts of the interview. To pull out the most useful elements, don’t try to use every part of the conversation — it’s not unheard of to discard 50% of what was said.
- Ignore chronology. Your goal is to create a coherent story, so it often makes sense not to stick to the order of the podcast conversation.
- Tighten your introduction. Your introduction is a crucial element that hooks your reader. To keep them on the page, be concise and aim for 200 to 300 words.
- Brainstorm multiple headlines. We often write 10 or more headlines in a mix of different styles before choosing the best one. Your first headline idea likely won’t be the strongest, so get creative and experiment.
- Spot the gems. The answers to your interview questions are important, but don’t overlook the worthy bits of content that arise during side conversations. (This also helps to squash a stiff Q&A tone.)
💡 Pro-tip: There are several tools to help get your creative headline juices flowing and improve your headlines. Headline Analyzer is a free one you can try.
4. Editing: refine and position
Want to know the secret to great content? Editing. That doesn’t mean you have to hire someone else to edit your work, but an extra set of eyes is helpful. Self-editing also counts as editing: Just step away from your draft for a bit or sleep on it. You’ll probably identify ways to improve it the next time you look!
Besides spelling and grammar, editing is also about checking the content overall: Does the blog speak to your audience? Does it flow well? Is it interesting to read?
Another aspect to consider is positioning and how you can appeal to your target audience.
One way we do that is to use industry-specific terms and buzzwords, especially in headlines and subheadings. When editing, you always want to look for opportunities to make people curious about your content and make them feel like it addresses a specific question or problem they might have.
And don’t forget: Look for opportunities to link to other relevant content — i.e. your other podcast episodes.
It’s your turn to give it a try
If the process of turning your audio into readable, shareable text sounds consuming, that’s because it can be — we won’t lie. However, there are ways around that.
For starters, you don’t have to repurpose every podcast episode. Instead, you might try selecting the best of your new episodes and publish two per month or once a week. Another option is to do occasional roundups that aggregate the top nuggets from 20 or 30 interviews.
If there’s ever been a way to have your cake and eat it, too, with content strategy, this is it.
Next steps: Want a more detailed tutorial on turning podcast episodes into high-quality content? Get our free training video now.
Want it done-for-you instead? Give PodReacher a try! Submit your first episode for $75.
Farrah Daniel has been writing and creating content professionally since 2016, covering sex education, health and wellness, personal finance, small business and entrepreneurship and much more.
